The Ringer NBA Show - What Does Raja Think? James Harden and the Cavs, Burner Accounts, Adam Silver’s Tanking Remedy, and More! | Real Ones

Episode Date: February 20, 2026

Raja is back! Raja joins Logan, who is back from NBA All-Star weekend in Los Angeles for a game of “What Does Raja Think?” Logan asks Raja for his thoughts on the NBA’s most recent headlines like KD’s alleged burner account, Adam Silver’s remedy to tanking, Jayson Tatum’s injury recovery plan, and more! Then they share their Real One of the Week to wrap up the episode! (0:00:00) Intro (1:38) James Harden and the Cavs (10:03) Cade Cunningham and the Pistons (21:08) Burner accounts (36:17) Adam Silver’s tanking remedy (45:20) Jayson Tatum’s recovery plan (54:22) Real One of the Week Hit the mailbag: [e-mail] Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Video/Audio Producer: Victoria Valencia Production Supervision: Ben Cruz and Conor Nevins 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

It's popping. Real ones. Logan Murdoch here. Roger Bell, in a few. We are back behind our desks for the backstress of the season. Had a really, really fun time doing shows in Los Angeles with Howard Beck and Tyler Parker. We had a blast. Can't wait to do it again. But on today's episode, we're back with Raja, who we haven't heard from in a while. And we play a game of, what does Raja think about that? Where we bring storylines to his attention and we get his thoughts. It was a really, really fun episode, and can't wait for you to listen. So, without further ado, Victoria, play the theme music.

It's popping. Logan Murdoch here, Roger Bell there. How you doing, buddy? I haven't seen you in a minute. Yeah, I'm doing well. A little cold, a little cold, but, like, had a week off. Recharge the batteries. I'm ready to rock and roll.

Let's go. Okay, all right. We haven't, like you said, we haven't heard from you in a while, Rogers. So I figured we play games since Howard is out and it's just me and new old school, real ones vibes. All right. I want to play a game of what does Raja think about this, right? I'm just going to throw you some stuff that you miss. And I just want to get your opinion on it and your expertise and talk through it for the next hour and change.

So are you ready to play the game? There's no prize or anything, but like, you know, just the prize of us talking about. Yeah, I like games. We can get right into it. All right. James Harden has played three games with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He's averaging 20.6.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds. And last night was just pretty much amazing. They blew out the Brooklyn Nets. But he was great in that game. And the three games that you've seen from James Harden over the last week or so, what have you thought about? What does it say about what's going to be the future of the Cleveland?

Cavaliers over the next few weeks. I thought that James Hardin going to Cleveland was going to work out for Cleveland and James Hardin the way it has worked out through three games. He is a much better facilitator, playmaker, unlocker of others than they had previously. He's used to playing with stars that score the ball like Donovan Mitchell, but he unlocks the other guys that can't naturally go get it themselves in a way that they did not have before. So it's been a pretty seamless transition for him. I think the team has obviously functioned well with him there, but they will continue to get better. They're not a finished product

yet. That is going to continue to look better and better. Now, once you get into the playoffs, and we're talking about what you're cut from and how you react in those high pressure situations and James Harden has his, you know, career long, you know, evidence to support, you know, that there are some struggles there. I don't have the answer for what that's going to look like. But as far as did they get better for a run at it this year in the Eastern Conference with James Hardin, the answer to that's yes. And I expected as much.

I'm not getting into the contract moving forward. I'm not getting into what that does to Cleveland and all of the things outside of the lines. But inside those lines, are they more dangerous? Are they a better team? Absolutely. Well, you know, one of the things that I, you know, I was watching them last night, and granted they were playing the Nets. And it's been a small sample size.

I don't think they really played anybody of significance. They played the Kings. I forget the other thing they played with. But in regards to this argument, with the Nets and the Kings from the games that I've seen. And one of the things that I have seen from his game, who's the beneficiary of his game, is the Biggs, right? Evan Mowgli and Jared Allen, Jared Allen in particular,

over his career. And this was from the Amazon Prime telecast last night. With James Hardin, he is averaging 21 points a game, 10 rebounds a game, on 77% shooting on 11 field goals per game. It was funny because James Hardin said, I can't lie to y'all, Jared Allen was way better than I thought he was. He said that last night, which was hilarious. But what you're seeing, though, is an unlocking of the bigs. And then when you, like, James doesn't get enough credit for how great of a passer that he is. I don't think even though he led the league of the assist a few years back.

But he's able to like kind of play with him that pick and roll structure. And I think what you've seen even in Los Angeles is his ability to mature his game to come off screens. But I think he has unlocked this team through three games and provided point guard plan that they just haven't seen before because he's able to get into the lane because he is able to play with. him to pick and roll. And can you just speak on like how the bigs are going to be able to feast with him on the team now? You know, first of all, he's one of the best pick and roll players of all time. Like when you put him in a pick and roll and if you said to a kid, hey, go watch X, Y, and Z play in pick and roll or pick a handful of them and study all of them, see how your game might, you know, compare to theirs, like find one and then, you know, use him as your

blueprint. Like he would be one of the guys that you'd say, hey, include him in the film you watch because he does some really interesting stuff in pick and roll. Do you remember what Clint Capella looked like when he was kind of prime running with James Harding? Yeah. He looked like a better version of what Dwight Howard was supposed to be on that team. So, so like he he has an ability to do that for a lot of players. The better the finisher, the better the IQ of the person playing in pick and roll with him, the more you're going to eat. He puts, it's defenders in a very, very tough spot in terms of whether you're going to stop him or whether you're going to allow him to continue to probe and get downhill. And, you know, a lot of guys

bite at the opportunity with the ball in their hand to shoot the shot over and over and over again. And they don't include the big necessarily to the degree that you could include a big. He just has a really good balance of the two. Like he will eat and pick and roll. If you don't pick him up, I mean, he will eat. He will float you to death or get to the rim or, you know, Stop and pop that three, but he never forgets about as big. And, you know, bigs often get forgotten about and they can get really sensitive, you know, and they want to touch. Wait, wait, wait. That's that can't be historically factual, can it?

No, bigs are sensitive? What? Are you serious? But it's, but look, they do a lot. We ask them to do a lot of work, especially on the defensive end. And so, including them and to some degree unlocking their ability to score the ball, if they're not a ball in the hand big, is, is, is, like the value of that is, you know, you can, I don't know what the multiple is, but like that's super valuable because he's bought in now.

He's getting a taste. He's finishing around the rim. You're including him on that end and then on the other end. Like typically you just get more buy-in, more effort, more willingness to do the things that you really need them to do on the defensive end of the court. So not only does it unlock them offensively, but it gives them a level of buy-in that would help them on the defensive end of the floor as well, not that they weren't defend it.

So like, let's say you're a big, right? And obviously, you and I would have different skill levels. You're a big that I can throw the ball to a la Nicola Yolkich on a pick and pop, and you can go create it yourself, right? I'm a big that I don't really want it all the way out there where I have to beat my primary defender, but I'm good on a short role, meaning like you can give it to me. I can make a decision on whether or not the defender is picking me up, and then I'll make one more pass or if he's not picking me up, I can go and finish that, right?

So that's another level. And then let's say Howard was here, and Howard is a big that can't play in a short role. He doesn't want the ball on a pick and pop because he can't beat his man and make decisions. But he's a lob threat. Like he will finish it around the rim. You as a point guard have to understand who you're playing with and where and when they want the ball, what they can do. Aside from his skill set, James Hardens, that is, he's mastered understanding who he's playing with in any given pick and roll. From minute to minute, from substitution to substitution, he does.

generally gets that right. He knows where and when that big wants the ball. And it's not as simple as just knowing when they want it. It then becomes his job to orchestrate and manipulate the defense in a way that he can get it to them where and when they want it. And he's mastered that. And that is why he unlocks so many different bigs. It's his ability to keep defenders, you know, occupied in a way where he can get his guy the ball in the perfect and ideal. a situation for them to convert. Yeah, it's so interesting that you say that because when you talk about that, what comes to mind is just the nomadic nature of his career, right?

He's played with so many different types of players. And I remember when he first got to Houston and the adjustment it took for him to play alongside Dwight Howard, right? And if you look at those first couple of seasons, I believe when Dwight got there was 13, 14 season, there were a lot of mislobs during that beginning of that season. And then towards the end, he had totally mastered the lob and pick and roll. And I think that that experience has really educated how he plays alongside Biggs. He's really, he's one of the most confounding players in NBA history, but he's one of the greatest.

And one of the reasons why is because he can adapt to so many different types of offenses. He is a hub, but he's an adaptable hub nonetheless. And it's been really good to see. I don't really care what happens at this point in a couple of them. months because right now it's really fun of the lot. So we'll see what happens. Okay. The next question of what does Rajah think about? I texted in a group chat last night to crickets during the Knicks game. But Kane Cunningham balled out. And this is this was one of the first games without Duren, without Isaiah Stewart.

And one of the big things that we want to see is like, how are the Pistons going to be able to manage without two big pieces in their lineup? And they didn't miss a beat last night. They beat the Pistons, 126, 111, and it wasn't even that close. And Cade had, I think he had 42, 13 and live, I believe, to something nasty. I think it was the first time a player. I think Taylor Rook said last night it was the first. time a player has had 43 and 10 since Ron in the garden. So what do you think about the Detroit Pistons at this stage?

And what do they need to do to continue what we saw last night? They're the class of the east right now. You know, I often come on and talk about like what I like tears where I think a team is like, you know, especially in the Western Conference this year where I've always thought Oklahoma City was playing just a tier above everybody else. And then there'd be a group of three or four teams behind that. Yeah, I think Detroit's in a tier kind of solo right now in the Eastern Conference. Cade Cunningham is, is, what number would I use?

He'd be a top. He's phenomenal. Like, I'm not going to get into like the debate of whether he's top five. He told ZQ he was the best American player. He might not be bullshit. Like, that's not. He's real deal. Like, I'd like play a game of like, who would you take Kate Cunningham or said player?

like that'd be fun to do because he's a problem. Kate. Oh, why is that? Why? I think he is a three level. I get to the rim. Not as explosive a player. Maybe not as many highlights purely as what Ant can provide you.

And not as good a three-point shooter. Shot it well last night. But a way better setter of the table, a way better chess piece mover around the board. Like, yeah, I think he does that way better. I think he's got a mastery of, of the, the, the, the, the movement of a game and, and, and the quarterbacking of the team. Now, they're, they're different players, right?

Like, but bigger, you know, some of the shit he was getting to yesterday was, you know, those are, those are tough fucking buckets. Like, aunt lives on the athleticism being able to get some of those up. This dude's doing it off of just, hey, bro, you're too small. Like, bump, bump. Like, you're too small. Like the creation of shots, it's a tough one. But I think I'd take Kate.

There's ability to pass the ball, set the table, size. I think I would. My guy is Steph Anderson, who's a big Knicks fan, watched the game last night. We were on the group chat. I believe he was at the game. He said, Cade, no wasted movements offensively. And I think that that's what you've seen, right? He's getting right to the cup if he needs to.

He is very decisive when he's playing. You could see a matcher. of his super efficient. I think it was 17 to 34 last night. He was getting him up, but he was making those shots. How do they, I think the big question is

they're going to have multiple identities throughout the backstretched of the season when the guys get back from suspension. How do they keep their flow as guys are coming in and out of the lineup, right? And is that mean just Cade is the offensive hub?

he is who he needs to be. He has to be the balance for that team. How do they just navigate all that stuff that they're going to have to deal with the next few weeks? Yeah, I don't think it's an issue for them, you know, as long as it's not Cade that's missing significant amounts of time. Because so much of what they do is him being the hub of that. I also think stylistically in the way they want to play.

I don't see you missing too many beats when you're moving, you know, Isaiah Stewart back in or Duren back in, they want to get in the paint, all of them. Like, that's, they, the amount of times I saw two feet in the paint from Detroit last night and not settling until they were able to spray it out for open threes was pretty remarkable. Those guys, Duren and Stewart, don't change that fundamentally. It's, so I think if anything, they add to the physicality like that, the board discrepancy last night from my naked eye would have said that Detroit really worked them on the offensive glass.

was relatively even last night. But when you bring back those two, I think it does become an even bigger problem, right? There's a bigger discrepancy on the glass when you're playing teams like that. So I think it just adds to what they already want to do, Logan. I don't think it changes what they want to do fundamentally. So for that reason, I don't think it's a big deal. I think the thing that I like, and I think the pistons are a breath of fresh air in terms of, you know, for the last decade, it's always been about, you know, 3 and D.

we're going to spread you out and we're going to cook you from beyond the arc, right? And that's not to say that other teams have it done the opposite, but it's just been defined by great shooting. And what the Pistons did last night is they just punked the Knicks, man. It's sad to see the Knicks like this, but they were from the jump. And they didn't necessarily shoot the ball very well last night. The Knicks did it. But it was more of getting in the paint.

frustrating cat, just imposing their will. And they do that all, they've done that all season long. And I think that's what you wanted of a basketball team right now. And just like, when you think about a team that takes on the identity of its city, the Pistons do that in so many different ways. Let me look at the offensive rebounding numbers for you. It was 11 and 11. It was 11 and 11. Yeah. Yeah. Again, watching it, I would not have said that to you. So I watched it before I I looked at the stats. And because I wanted to, I wanted to just frame an opinion on just my eyeball before I started looking at the

stats. And I was really surprised when I saw it, it was, it was a stale me on the offensive glass. I, I would say, you mentioned like cat, like, look,

anytime you shoot eight for 35 from three, you're putting yourself in a tough spot as an, as a basketball team, right? Like, you're just, and, you know, it's hard,

it's really going to be hard to overcome that when you're, when, part of your identity on the offensive end of the court is shooting a volume of threes. If you can't make a threshold number, like you're going to be in a tough spot to win a game. On top of that, I just, you know, I know he's always had his issues defensively, Kat, that is, but there were multiple plays, more than, I mean, there were five, six, seven plays last night where you could see him making a decision to not stop the ball at the rim. Griffin was so fed up with him last night.

And I don't know if you saw the halftime breakdown of that, but there was literally a halftime breakdown of just cat defensive missteps where he's just standing in place. But he's not given any effort whatsoever. And the other thing that's frustrating about watching cat defensively is when he is down and you get him out of his game, what the deficits did was we're so physical with him on their offensive end and defensive end that it just pushed him out of the game. And then he has this spurt in the third quarter where he's playing well

and he's playing aggressive and he's playing all these ways, but he needed to get that out of him because he played so poorly in the first half. And that's the hard thing with Kat at this point, as he's dealing with all these trade rumors, and he's dealing with all these things that have everything to do with the New York market, but nothing to do with what's going on in that locker room.

And it's really affecting him, and you can see it on the court. There's so many ebbs and flows and highs and lows with Kat's game. And it really affects how his defense, and by extension, how the Knicks do game to game. If you have a backbone defensively, he can be that. Like this, he can live in that lane if you have someone that's going to pick up the slack

and just provide a, a backbone in the middle of that paint. Like, hey, bro, you're not coming in here. I'm making, do you know how, do you know how important it is to make someone make an extra pass? I mean, it sounds like a real trivial thing. Oh, you're going to make them make one more pass? Who gives a shit? extrapolate that out over over a thousand times and see how many extra like possessions your team

gets via turnover just by making someone make an extra pass. Yoass is standing in the lane, just letting them lay the ball in the hole. That becomes a problem over the course of time, right? So, but my point would be like not the end of the world if you have something that stands next to him that represents, you know, your defensive tenacity and who you want to be. But when he is the only thing you have out there with real size and you're expecting him to provide that for you, it becomes really, really hard to watch at times

if you're a fan of their teeth. Yeah, because what happens is you mentioned the threes in eight for 35. From what I saw with the naked eye is the Knicks are so bad defensively that they get behind early and they have to shoot threes to get themselves back in it. And then you're in a position where you're constantly just playing catch up. Right.

And because of how, in the biggest, way you play catch up in this modern iteration of the league is with three-point shot. And they're just forcing it all the time. Like the Knicks teams of two years ago would, similar to the Pistons, would just impose their defensive will, but they just don't have the bodies defensively to be able to keep up. So, I mean, the Knicks have terrible vibes right now. And you know it's bad. Like, you see terrible vibes when you're, you know, in an arena, right?

you can see it when you actually look at the at the bench. But when you see it, when it cuts through on TV, that's when it's really bad. And that's at the stage right now where I see the Knicks going. So it's going to be a long next few weeks for the mix. Okay. So let's have a little fun. Kevin Durant, who also bawled out last night. I mean, I don't know if you saw that game.

I did not see that one, no. just a vintage Durant performance. Just getting in the lane. You know, he's doing the rock the cradle of the, oh, I'm going to get you right here. No, I'm going to get you right here. Ooh, over the top. Oh, I'm going to get you in the post.

Woo, don't even trip. Got you. Oh, I'm going to take a scream from Shangud, getting in the lane. Like, he was, it was a Durant performance. But that's not really what we're, you know, here to discuss. We're here to discuss the alleged tweets from,

get off my Dickerson and get higher. 77. Now where he goes. Allegedly, you know, Durant didn't really, when he was asked about it a couple days ago, he says, I know you've got to ask these questions, but I'm not going to get any Twitter nonsense. I'm just here to focus on the season and keep it pushing. My teammates know what it is. We've been locked in for the whole season. We've enjoyed our break. We had a great practice today. And we're looking forward to the road trip. And, you know, there was a lot of questions

about how the Rockets would respond to this. Jabari Smith played well, who was one of the players that caught Get Off My Dickerson's ire and the alleged DMs. But he played really well. My question to you is before we get into the game. What does Roger think about burners and social media burners? I mean, I don't know that I have any real thoughts on social media burners. Can I answer your question with a question? because I'm not up to speed all the way on.

Did he ever just come out and flat say, hey, dude, not my fucking burner? Like, that's not me. He never just... I just gave you the quote. He just said when they asked him about that. But that's the only quote he's ever issued in regards to the burners? Well, no, he said that he has multiple burners, right? And like, he does, he has been caught with burners before.

He is standing on the fact that he does have burners. And listen, I get it because, hey, when you're really, really famous, what you want to do honestly be in a position where you can let your hair down, right? That just is what it is. But you, it will get to this in a second. You get susceptible to screenshots and things of that nature. And I think that's whack if you're in a group chat and you're out here to sit in screenshots. But to answer your question, Roger, he did not say at this particular moment that it was his and wasn't here.

That those, in this specific alleged tweets and DMs, get off my Dickerson and get higher 77. He didn't specifically confirm that this was him in the streets. Well, that's unfortunate. He also didn't deny. Because that'd be pretty easy to do if it wasn't you, right? Those aren't my burners.

I've never been the type of star that Kevin Duran or Anthony, you know, I mean, Ann Edwards, or I've never been in that stratosphere of stardom, dude. So I, it's hard for me to judge. I don't want to do that. I would, I would just say that we've all had complaints about teammates or coaches or, you know, philosophy, play calling, you name it. And yeah, we all should be able to express those and, and, and, and, uh, get things off of our chest.

Just because I'm, I've reached such a level of a star, um, that I can't go. to their grocery store all the time, doesn't mean that I still don't harbor these frustrations and need to get them out. Why does it have to be via social media to the general public? You have a circle of people, I'm assuming. Well, to be fair, this was a circle of people that he or the other, whoever is trusted to get these feelings off. Okay. So these, this is a private account?

Yeah, this was like a private group chat that got exposed to the world. He wasn't saying this to, at least the stuff that he's talking about. He wasn't saying this to the actual world. He was saying this to people within a group chat with somebody in that group chat. Okay. I'm being educated now. Which I think is whack. Yeah.

But also like you can't really, you got to figure, get some people that you can trust. I think it's a whack to somebody, you know, did that to him. And also, like, to your point, everybody complains about co-workers and stuff like that it happens, I mean,

but we're living like this is, what platform were they in a group chat on, dude? Like what is that? X, they were on X. They were on X.

Yeah, I mean, like I don't understand obviously this, this, I'm not in a group chat. I don't want to be in a group chat on X or anything. Obviously, you don't like any group chat.

Yeah, I don't want to be in that shit. And I'm certainly living in a, the world, at least I'm trying to explain to my, my boys. I don't know how much of my advice they take in this space, but like, yo, don't write shit that anyone could screen grab and throw back in your face, dude. Don't, don't put it out there. If you have to wonder whether that's going to come back to bite you in the ass or not when you're typing it, if it's even debatable, don't type it, erase it. You know, so like, but is it corny as hell? It's corny as hell

if I'm in the safe. It's so corny to do some things. But it's corny as shit, if you've You know, like, I am in a group text because I do have some with my buddies. And like, you know, we'll talk about stupid shit. Like, if anything is shared in that, that is a betrayal of trust. Like, let's be frank, right? Like, that's a complete betrayal of trust and pretty shitty for that human being to do that. But, but, yeah, look, dude, I don't know. I wasn't fully understanding the situation coming in.

I thought these were, these were, this was a burner account that he was tweeting to the masses, these thoughts, which is on one level as a teammate is unimaginable and like unacceptable. But like if that's in a group chat and those are your private feelings and you've got a group or four or five dudes that you're saying that too, we're all allowed to have those opinions, man. Like it's shitty that someone put him out there. And I would encourage KD to kind of, if that is him,

hey, bro, stop, stop typing random shit. May, call that mofo and had a conversation. Yeah. It's just, it's just a weird world we live in. because you can't, like, if you're of a certain notoriety and some certain popularity, it doesn't seem fun anymore, you know? Like, you can't do anything.

But Logan, I'll say this. Dog, pick up, listen, pick up the phone. I need to say, hey, bro, Logan is this and that, and that mofo is there, blah, blah, blah. Pick up the phone and call the person you need to say that to. Yeah, it's true. Just pick up the phone. But the other thing is this.

And this is, you know, this is, this is my generation versus your generation. Like, it's the, you know, if you FaceTime and you get the screenshot at a FaceTime. Or if you don't, like, it's a matter of trust. Or if you call somebody, joint can get recorded, you know, and like used against you. You have to, at this point, in this point of life, if you have a certain notoriety or a certain anything, you have to complain to people you trust. That's pretty much what it is, right? Because, like, I have, I've covered a league for a minute.

This isn't just, just happens on good teams. It happens on bad teams everywhere. There's always complaints. I remember when there was, I won't say the player's name or anything, but I remember, you know, when I was covering teams, honestly, over the last few years, there have been plenty of times where players have just great teams complained about, man, you see. this motherfucker right here,

didn't give me the ball. Man, this is crazy. I'm annoyed. He ain't passed me the ball. Or, I think politics, you know how politics go. They're not even giving me no chance to get no buckets.

I don't like this coach. He's on great teams, on good teams, and on bad teams. Like, you're just going to get this. I think there's two things here. You can't trust everybody, plus the people, you know,

that you may or may not know. And two, on the other side, it's whack that, you know, somebody would do something like that. Yeah, look, this is going to, I don't want to take up the entire pod on this bullshit, but like, again, I, maybe he is in a,

he is in a group chat within X. Within X, yes. The people that he is in a group chat with, they don't know this is Kevin Durant, theoretically, like, like in theory, they don't know this is, They think this is just another random NBA fan user on X? I think they, I don't know.

Right? Because like, if you're in that, I mean, the screenshots would suggest they know it's Kevin Durant, obviously. You know, because they, they sent them out. Yeah, like, this is really, this is, this is it your back. This is not my back. Because it's all, like, here's my thing. If you know these people, if you're Kevin Durant, and that's your boy over there, and you're in this group text with your people.

And they know that you are get off my dickerson, right? By the way, real quick, that's a great handle, bro. That's great. It's phenomenal. That's just, it's phenomenal. I giggle everything like Jesus Christ. If then, yeah, man, it's shitty for them to share those private, those private messages and so on and so forth. But I would again then say, if they know you and you know them, just, just call your people and have a conversation about that.

I think it's way safer than having the ability for people to screen grab the conversations and shit like that. Just call the motherfucker and tell them what you think. If you're in there as like a random NBA fan with a couple other dudes who are random NBA fans and you befriended each other via X, they don't necessarily know you're Kevin Durant and you become found out because of X, Y, and Z, then what the fuck are you doing in there? At that point, I'm asking the question.

Like, that's just dumb as shit. Like, don't, what are we doing at that point? And then I'm to you, I'm saying, yeah, dude, only have communications with your trusted circle of people, bro. Like, that's not a lot to ask. That seems like common knowledge to me. It seems like common sense. Like, why are we having debates and shit like that with people that aren't in our circle

of people? I don't. You don't fuck with nobody, Rosa, except for like five people. Yeah, but why do you feel the need? Like that... No, no, no, no. I'm saying it as... No, no, I'm saying that with you. Like, you...

If you're gonna... Because I'm not mad at the complaints. Like, I'm not... Right. As regards to teammates. I'm not mad... Because, like, it happens, bro. It happens in everyday life.

It's fine. Like, it also, you need to get that off, bro. Like, it is what it is. Yes. Where you get that off, where you get that off is... It's the problem, right? Yeah, we all got to get it off. Like, you know,

I come home and vent to my wife about what was going on. Or if I needed to, I call my man Ron Dow. I'll call. I will call someone that I really, really trust. You wouldn't believe it. And if I really, really, bro, you can't. May you watch that motherfucking game, bro? Like, easy money.

Feeling safe in those wide open, vulnerable spaces in social media is crazy. I can't even wrap my mind about it. No, not at all. Last question on this. he spoke about his current teammates talked about Javarie Smith who played again really well last night he had 15 and 7

and Alfred Sangoon who didn't shoot the ball particularly well from the field but had some good shots in the second half down the stretch and direct credit to him for just the push that they had in the start of the second half if you're those like I'm on two minds of this one I think with a young team

seeing this stuff could be detrimental, but I also know athletes where you guys kind of need a little bit of hubris to come together. What side of the of the ledger do you fall on with how the rockets are going to react over the next few weeks, right? Like, what do you, how do you think this is going to, you know, we don't know if, get off my dick or say he's Kevin Durant at this point. Well, just stop saying, you know, man. You know, cute. We don't know if, you know, we don't know if that is actually Kevin Durant at this particular point.

We have, at least there hasn't been confirmation at this, him. But he did say some things about his current teammates. If they saw what the username that you find hilarious has said about them, how do you think they react? Huh? GOMD. Okay. The username, GOMD, right? Like you're saying.

Yeah. Oh, I thought that was like an acronym of something that you were going to respond to. Okay. What do you think that they're going to react? this isn't the end of get off my dick of some days. We're going to, we're going to,

hey, when Howard goes back, we're going to fuck with him so much. I can't believe if we had a fucking segment about a fucking burner account in the fucking NBA. You're just mad he took the burner account name

more than you did because that seemed like a Rajabelle username if there ever was one. It is phenomenal, man. But like, this segment is making my brain hurt because I can't even imagine where we live in a world

where like, but it's so crazy. I don't imagine. Imagine it came out. Like they beat up, they beat a pretty good Hornets team last night, right? And Durant was great down the stretch. Pretty hot.

Scored like the last 10 points down the stretch. Yeah. You know, obviously I didn't see that. But I don't think that this will be a major hiccup for them. I would like to think that in the locker room, the personality that is Kevin Durant that didn't come out and necessarily just put it to bed via the media would have said to his teammates,

hey, man, Listen, you know, I, that shit is not me, bro. Like, that is not me. That is not how this shit is operating. Or my bad. Or just like my bad. No. I'm sorry. If it was just my bad, I'd be looking at him a little sideways.

Because some of that was, some of that was like, you know, like. He used some slurs. Yeah. Some of that was a rose above the level of me saying, hey, man, that my phone was supposed to pass me to ball. Or, man, can you believe, but like, it rose above that level, which is completely understandable and happens all the time. But I don't, I don't really see it, I don't foresee it being a problem for them. He's probably so revered in our locker room by those young dudes. He could probably do whatever the hell he wanted and, and not lose faith with them, you know, this season.

So I don't think it's going to be a big deal. For sure. I'm going to try not to use the, the username for the rest of the podcast. I can't guarantee you that I won't. We're so overture. We're so overture. I can't wait until Howard gets back. Oh, I can't wait. Let's take a quick break, and we're going to get some more Raja's thoughts. Okay, we're back. I'm going to try not to use the username because it's going to get us off the rails.

Okay, so over the weekend, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said that tanking has been worse this year than we have seen in recent memory. He is considering every possible remedy. including taking away draft picks because he wants to curb the overt behaviors of the Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers of the world. Last week, the NBA fine Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers. The Utah Jazz, you find a half a million dollars. And the Indiana Pacers, $100,000 with the league saying that both teams sat healthy players in recent games. Matt Isbiyah has weighed into this as well. There is going to be an owner's meeting coming up soon.

I think over the summer where the Rules Committee is going to get together and think about some ways to curb tanking. Has with the fires, Rajah, has Adam Commissioner solved tanking? What do you think about it being solved? Where do you think of you are? with the fines, with half a million dollars fines? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Do you think that that is, what do you think? No, dude, stop playing with me, bro. Half a million dollar fine, $100,000 fine, curb, like, tanking? You don't think it's curb tanking? I mean, I appreciate it, that it sends some degree of a statement that, that, you know, the league will take action if it's, if you are egregiously, like, spitting in the face of competition and what our league should be about,

but it's not going to stop. Like, that's not going to stop anything. You know, you know that. They have, this is a sharp Serrani. He tweeted this last,

yesterday. GMs had a meeting last week and, um, they all discussed, uh, the following concepts, um, to curb tanking.

First round pace could be protected. Only top four or top 14 plus lottery odds might, will freeze at the deadline or a later date. They're no longer allowing teams to pick up a top four pick in consecutive years. Teams can't pick up a top four pick the year after making the conference finals. Lottery odds allocated based on two-year records. Lottery extended to include all playing teams, flattened odds for all lottery teams. These are just concepts that are around. I think the issue here is also the CBA that the players got raked over the colds with.

This is from Sam from Warriors World. He said something that was really interesting and pointing about the CBA. The new CBA is incentivizing what Utah and by extension Indiana is doing. You get a bunch of pigs, cash them in for a triple J, but also tank so you can get another high-collar talent on a cost control contract. At the end of the day, you have three or four years before you can't afford everyone, so you're constantly in a cycle of overvaluing working contracts for cap purposes. So basically, if stuff doesn't work out over one to two years, you basically just say, up,

let's try to figure out a new team, right? And teams are, that means we're made an environment where teams are just giving up and say, hey, we can't really win the title and our books aren't great. So we're just going to just start from scratch. I don't know that I agree with Sam on this. And by extension of that, I don't know how you remedy this because the cap makes it so restrictive to do a lot of things. And I just don't know where we are right here. I don't know, unless you make a softer cap, which the owners aren't going to do at this point, you're kind of

catch one, too. You are. You've created, you've created the system. I mean, it's, it's a product of your own design, right? Like, that's, you know, in an effort to to stop the spending at the top and and and live in the world that we were living in for, I don't know, how long was that last CBA? What do they go? Ten years? Are they ten year deals? I don't remember. But like you put this system in and it puts us in the situation that we're in, which is, you know, we've got to be able to field these teams in a lot of cases in these markets where we can't get these huge free agents.

We've got to be tanking. Like we've got to find ways to refresh, you know, more cyclically than we did in the past, right? And that is unfortunate. But if that's what you want, just say it. Like, if that's what ownership wants, if that's what the league deems healthy, just say it. Like come out as an ownership group and be like, hey, guys, listen, we created this. We don't mind it. Everybody chill out.

And commissioner, you're part of that, bro. Like you're part of that. So again, we're talking out of both sides of your neck again, which I don't like you're you created the system then you come out and find teams for using the system that they created like I don't fucking know I'm not smart enough to handle all this shit here's what I'll tell you real talk I'm not smart

brain hurts you fuck me up with the last segment on on social media and burner accounts and fucking GOMD like you got me bro right I would I would say this whatever they have to do whatever you have to do to make the sport and the product feel like

It's all about competition and the very essence of what sport is. Please do that. Please do that because I get it. People think that this is hyperbolic and I'm not old get off my long dude. And I can appreciate that. Everyone's allowed their opinion. All I ever knew was sports. It's all I ever wanted to do.

My dad was a PE coach. For a while I thought I was going to be a football player. For a while I thought I was going to be a baseball player. For a while I thought I was going to be a tennis player. I wound up being a basketball player. It was my passion. The common thread in every single one of those and in everything I ever did was competition, pure competition.

Learning how to fight and scrap, and if you could go win a game, the best feelings I ever had were winning games I wasn't supposed to win. Those are the best, some of my best memories were going into people's buildings, having no chance to win a game, being a complete underdog,

and figuring out a way to win that. when you start meddling in that and fixing games, if you will, because that's what it, I mean, that's what you're doing. Like, you're, you fixed the fucking game. Like you fix, I mean, why people get, your FBI raids. I saw some former college basketball players. They're indicted right now for fixing fucking games for changing the outcome of game.

You're midstream in a Utah jazz game and we got a chance to win and this spread's getting covered and you as the jazz say, sit in all three players. That's not fixing a fucking name. You know, actually he was on a minute's restriction. No, he was. Laurie Marketing was on a minute's restriction. That's why he did it. Look, I don't want to get clipped and go viral.

I really don't want to do that. Don't meddle with that, man. Whatever you need to do to make this about competition and clean up the optics of that to the younger generations and to the people that aspire to be in your league one day, please do that. I don't have the answer. I'm, you know, I am, I am, you know, I am,

a true lover of sport and a true lover of what sport can mean to young people in terms of teaching them life lessons and what type of thickness of skin and stick-tuitiveness and general competition can mean to them in their world transcending sport, whether that's the business sector or the fine arts or what have you. It is really important that we protect the essence of that and you're fucking around and playing with it. And so that bothers me and I'm asking you as a league, it is, figure out a way to protect that because that's important. Otherwise, we're living in the WWE. Yeah.

I think that was one of the things that I said in higher learning, like when, in October, one of the, it was when the Clippers stuff popped off, but it applies here. The thing that that separates professional sports from the WWE is that fans believe that sports are a true meritocracy. And when you take that out, when you take that assumption out, then what are we watching the game for? You know, what are we doing? I'd watch something else.

I know they compete in NFL. I know they compete in other leagues. But this is an unfortunate state of affairs. One last thing I want to ask you, and we're going to have the full conversation, if this actually happens. But I want to ask you about this. There were two announcements.

One was Kyrie Irving is out for the season just to rehab his ACL. You know, there was some buzz that he might come back at the end of the season. There's really no incentive for him to do so. Other than maybe raises trade value if he wanted to get traded this summer. So he's out. But there has been some Jason Tatum comeback buzz, right? He practiced with the main Celtics in February, early February. our own Bill Simmons said that he could come back March 1st.

There's a documentary on NBC that they're doing on Jason Tatum out there about his recovery. And I think Jason Tatum's people told Ramona Shelburne, they kind of poured some cold water on it. But I don't think, I think the speculation is going to be there for him. But I guess the question is, what does Rajah think? about the proper way to recover from catastrophic injuries, like an Achilles or an ACL, right? And, like, how do you, what will be your advice, early advice right now for our guy, Jason Tatum? Be patient. I was blessed not to sustain any real lower body catastrophic injuries.

Like, I had a major, like, wrist surgery. But, you know, that was something that when I came back from it, I don't think the risk of re-injuring it was as catastrophic as one like an Achilles or an ACL or something like that. So, you know, I'm not speaking from a place of experience with this. I would just say to him or anyone like they were my kids, like be patient with that. They have, and he has Jason Tatum, access to doctors and, you know, rehab technology that I'm not privy to. So, if in fact the rehab and and the timeline for for return to play has shrunk significantly over the last couple of years and he's being guaranteed that he's safe and and his percent

chance of re-injuring that is is super super low then by all means do do your thing I love watching in play. The Celtics are in an incredible spot right now with an opportunity, you know, in the Eastern Conference to maybe sneak into the finals in a way this year. But the risk of that being re-injured or re-aggravated or something else happening would have to be negligible to not. It would have to, there would have to be like a below 5% chance risk for me to come back. Like, I'm just keeping it a buck.

Other than that, I would buy my time. I would get fully healthy. I would take another offseason to get myself back and try to get closer to 100%. Because even if he comes back, Logan, we don't know what percentage of himself as a player he will represent to them at that point. And whether that representation is enough

to help them get over that hump. And at that point, I don't know that the risk is worth the reward, if that makes sense. You know, if you told me we're dropping 100% all the way healthy, all-star caliber forward and Jason Tatum back in with the Boston Celtics, and you said there's a 15% chance of re-injury, like, you know, Eastern Conference is kind of open. I just said Detroit's in a class by themselves.

Boston's really fucking good. Like, yeah, I might swing at that. But if he's not going to be that, I mean, I had to think long and hard about whether that risk is worth that reward. I think so too. I mean, aside from, like, being healthy and the small chance of re-injury, I'm just concerned with, you haven't played an NBA game in almost a year. And it's hard to get thrown in during the regular season, early in the regular season,

and kind of trying to fight your footing. And then you're going to go where everybody has been playing. They're in game shape. And not only game shape, they are in three-fourths of the season type game. shape. And then playoff game shape is a whole other beast. And to throw some anyone into there is really, really a hard thing to do. And remember Jimere Nelson, they just threw him in into the finals and it changed the whole trajectory of that finals for Orlando for the bad. That's one example of how hard it is to play at that level when you're trying to find your

footing. And so I'm concerned about that. I don't think you should do it. But it'll be great for a great fodder for us, but it's, it's, it's, I don't, I don't, I don't get the motivation here. That's what I'm, that's what I meant by like, what percentage of himself as a player is he going to be? And like, you're just now getting on the court. If I, correct me if I'm wrong, but we saw maybe two, three weeks ago, him, him shooting jumpers. Like, you just got assigned to, to the main G league team. Um, you're in the very first steps of getting yourself in real basketball sheet. Like, these are the.

infancy steps of getting yourself in real basketball shape. Can you explain the difference between real shape? Like, I'm like in the best shape of my life versus basketball shape. Can you give the listeners the difference between those two things? And then the difference between that and playoff basketball shape? I didn't sustain it. I watched my son Dia two years ago have to have tightrobed surgery on his ankle. It's a pretty, you know, it's a relatively normal surgery, but it had him out for, I don't know,

12 weeks, something like that, right? So, like, he came back and was able to start playing seven on seven on that ankle in May, okay? Like, could he be out there playing seven on seven where he just has to take a drop and fire a football? Yeah, he could do that. By June, Dia was able, this is a whole month of, like, rehab and working just to get, like, stability and all the little, you know, muscles in his foot.

and stuff firing again. By June, he was ready to start like shaking a little bit and and doing a little like, you know, cone, cone drills. More things change of pace and stuff like that. Not just linear straight line stuff, right? So you're already like a month in with him being back and you say, oh, he should be able to play. And he and his rehab guy's like, no, no, no, he can't play. He's just, he can do that, but he can't play play play yet. Now, June, we've just crossed another hurdle. Is he ready to play yet? No, because he's not up to speed.

He doesn't have the bounce in his legs yet. Lord forbid he takes a hit on that ankle again. So that doesn't happen until August, where I look at Dia and Dia's like, hey, man, I feel like I can really do it again. And I'm checking on him every week. So again, this was May, this was May where he could be out there and you could see him throwing at a local 7-on-7 event. To the naked eye, they probably say, yeah, he could play football. it wasn't really till probably in fairness July until Dia started saying, hey, I feel like I can really go out there and do that at a high level.

There's a huge gap of time between when someone says you can be back on your feet shooting jump shots in the basketball world. But you feel good when you're doing it though, right? Your body is like, you feel great. You feel great, yeah. I'm back. I'm on the court. There's a huge amount of time work and just healing that takes place between those first couple jump shots, those first couple throws to where you're game ready and not just game ready,

but game ready at the level that you want to be game ready at. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be fascinating to do all this because I do feel that that, and I'm not there day to day. I'm not in Boston, but it does feel like when you read the T leaves and you see the reports that are coming out of there that Jason Tatum is like, oh, I feel good. I feel good.

I like it. And he's definitely somebody that loves basketball and is around it. And it's like, I love him for that. I love him for that, bro. I'd much rather that than a dude just like, yeah, I don't, you know, the, hey, I don't want to play a guy because I feel, I feel a little stitch in my hamstring. Like, that bothers me. So I'd much rather Jason Tatum.

Just be careful, man, protect him and, like, air on the side of caution, dude. Like, there's no rush, bro. You got long career, dog. Like, don't, don't jeopardize that. If you got other intel, again, I'm telling you, I don't know. I knock on wood, I've never had an Achilles. If you got Intel from doctors, say, hey, bro, you're Gucci. Hey, do your thing, bro.

Be careful. One second before we get out of here, we do this every Friday. It's called Real One of the Week, where we point out an entity organization or person that won the week. I'll go first. This is actually from a couple of weeks ago. But I want to give a Real One of the Week to James Hardin. He's played great.

But he pushed back on the, on the notion of the importance of player loyalty in the NBA. He said at the end of the day, it is basketball. And the whole quote-unquote loyalty thing is overrated. This is a business at the end of the day. There's a lot of money involved and a lot of decisions that have to be made. If a player isn't producing or if you don't see him in the future or those in the front office have to do their job, they trade players.

Or if a guy isn't happy and wants to be traded somewhere else, it's a problem. There are just so many different dynamics that go into it, not even just in the NBA. people who have normal jobs have these same problems. They just aren't magnified. This is a business at the end of the day. So players ultimately do what's best for them. And the front office does what's best for them. And I thought that was really, like, one great quote and also all true.

But it was interesting that you hear it from James Harden because if you look back in his career, he has been a victim of this time and time again, right? On both sides of it, right? you know, gets traded by early in his career, sees what the real NBA is when he gets traded by the Thunder for no other reason. And the Thunder just didn't want to pay that much money to keep him on. And then you see what happens, no matter what you think about both sides involved,

but you see what happens to him in Philly where he thought that he was promised a certain amount of money from the front office there. And then, you know, a bad plan. off performance and it's like, actually, we don't want to give you to max. We're actually not going to give that to you. And, you know, kudos to him for telling the truth. And it is a double standard, you know, when front offices, you know, coldly trade players or get rid of players when they sense their value was on a decline. And we just heard that from Daryl last week when they said they sold high on a player, right?

So kudos to James Harder for telling the truth and actually, you know, exposing that. double standard. I wouldn't say once and for all, but again, because it needs to be exposed. So, James Harder and Rewrowered the Week. I'm going to give my Rerunner the week to a freshman football player at the University of Texas. He'll wear number six this year. He's near and dear to my heart, Diabelle. And the reason I'm, he had a good week, man. He got their student athlete of the week, which I don't think I ever once earned in my five years on anyone. one's campus. So we're really proud of him for that. Like as a, as a freshman, he's got a lot coming at him in terms of playbook and responsibilities, but making sure that he's locked down

on that side of it's really important to us. So like we're really excited about that. And then he said on the field, he hit a personal best speed, max speed of 21.4 miles per hour yesterday, working out. Wow. Which is moving pretty good for a QB. So like all in all, good week for the kid. So I'm going to give him real one of the week. That's what stuff, man. You're, you got a lot of, I don't know if you know this or not, but there's a lot of Texas fans at Ringer HQ. Oh, word. Who are very invested in, in Dia's success when I was in L.A. Brian Curtis, who is the host of the press box pod, he was just, he asked me when I was on the pod and was just like, what's up with Dia?

How's he doing? What's going on? Dia's got a lot. He's got a lot. He's got a lot coming at him right now. A lot, a lot. A lot. But I want to go to a game.

And if somebody can pay for me to go to a game, you're in. Even better. I am in. But anyways. We appreciate the support, though. That's what shit. Yeah.

Shout out to the nephew of the pod. I damn there need to get to the jersey. I might need to kid. I'm going to need to cop the Texas Jersey. It goes against every one of my childhood morals because I grew up a USC fan. But, you know, nephew of the pod, Diabelle. I'm so proud of him. So proud of the little.

Thank you. I don't know. I don't, I appreciate that. Thank you. I don't know, though, like, real talk. When you're wherever he's going to be on the depth chart, that's TBD. I don't know if they sell those jerseys. Well, if there's a, I don't know if we can't get a jersey.

If there's a creative jersey, I might rock with him. Bro, I'm on his, bro, I was on, I followed the obvious on Instagram, and I saw him with, on his story, just kind of posted some stuff. And I was like, oh, shit. Oh, man. Oh, man. All right, man. It's good to see, buddy. Really good to see you.

You too, bro. No, I'm going to be back. That has been another edition of Real Ones. I believe all three of us will be back next week for our Tuesday episode. You know what happens on Tuesdays. Real ones mailbag at gmail.com. Real ones mailbag at gmail.com. Real ones mailbag at gmail.com makes you tap in.

See next week, buddy. A, ah, all the shits. Bye.