The Ringer NBA Show - What’s Going On With Team USA? Plus: Can the Warriors Land Bradley Beal? | Real Ones

Episode Date: July 26, 2021

Logan and Raja talk USA men’s basketball losing to France in the Olympics (5:00), as well as roster challenges and where Team USA may finish (19:45). Then, what happens if Bradley Beal is traded to the Warriors, and what does that mean for the rest of the NBA (22:49)? Plus: The Lakers shop Kyle Kuzma to every team in the league (34:20). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Associate Producer: Stefan Anderson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nobody knows what's going on, but we watch the Olympics. We just turn on our TVs and become obsessed with sports we haven't thought about in four years. This is why we made the Ringer Guide to the Summer Games. I'm your host, Roger Sherman. Each day during the Tokyo Olympics, I'll tell you about a different sport, athlete, or storyline. We'll be releasing new episodes every day starting July 19th. Follow along on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast, so you know exactly how to watch the Olympics. Hello, welcome to another edition of The Mad Hooper.

I just don't get why this person is mad. This is like his umpteenth time on the show. He is currently on a world tour. He's been to New York. He has been to D.C. I think he's going to Orlando. I think he's going back to Minneapolis. He's been in L.A. before he comes back to the Bay.

The man is on a world tour. He's on the outside tour right now. His name's Barflan. Barflan, you have all this going. for you. Why are you so mad? What's going on? Real quick. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Number one, number one, to protect the prince that was promised, okay? He rose on the fifth day, okay? It was a Tuesday. I don't know what day it was. You know the vibes. We're in the summertime. We outside. He gave you, This man named Yantis, Antitoucunpo. Let me say again, Antitouc. For my Nigerian, listening.

I'm not Nigeria. I'm not Nigerian. Respect, respect. But he gave you 50 in 10. Actually, I think it was 14 in the game 7. And I think we, not game seven, game six. I don't know what game it was. I'm sorry.

It was a great game, but he did. And I want to focus on this part, Roger. You, because you were a vet like us. We was in the league. Like me and you, we was in the league. You feel me? And not that often. Do we see a player?

Take the L's. Get beat by Miami. Get beat by the Raptors. And nobody did he bounce back and had it all-time performance. I think we're not appreciating enough, Roger. We, as pros, we know this, man. We do this. You know what I'm saying?

I have 50 in the men's league once. It was hard. He did as an NBA fine. Respect that, man. He's top three in the NBA right now. He goes, Yonis, KD. LeBron at the top. He needs his credit.

Barf came strong with that. I don't, I still, okay, I guess he's mad because we're not putting enough respect on the name. But I'm, I'm gonna co-sign because I'm just gonna say I'm equally mad at Barf because we gave Janus's flowers. We reversed course and he still wants to

come at our head. And he want to talk about his bum-ass debut at a men's league. Nobody cares. Nobody cares. No one cares. You weren't playing Roger in Atlanta in 1999. You weren't there. You weren't outside. Roger K. See me with a step. back. That's another story from another day.

We're here for y'all. I need more respect. I appreciate y'all leading the call. Yeah, that's what. Real ones. I'm with that. Real ones. Yeah, go ahead. Real ones up next.

What's popping? Logan Murdoch here. Guest producer, Stefan on the boards. Raja Bell here. Raja, you're hearing this, and I'm sure other people are hearing this. I fucked up.

Raja, I fucked up. I misplaced my recorder. We are going on. If it's not as pristine as it normal, real ones is, it's my fault. You know, I try to, I try to put the team on my back every single week, Roger. And in the process of that, Roger, I lost my eight six or a quarter. So just slander me. How old are you, man?

Slander, slander me. How old are you? You mean I lost the one device I needed to do my job effectively? How old are you, man? You carry the team every week, bro. Hey, listen. Get your adultism on, dog. Come on, man.

Let's go ahead. You talk about, man. I got four kids. What you mean? I lost my... You sound like my 12-year-old. Daddy, I lost my AirPods. Hey, man.

Wait up, son. Come on, man. Big boy shit. All right. In the chat. We wasn't, dude. So if I'm sounding like, if I'm sounding like voice quality,

that's similar to Robbins. Bail's Android, this is why. So, you know, we're here. A little summer vibes. Shout out to the season being over, draft on the way. But, you know, we're in the, we are in Olympic time. And I'm just going to say, man, I think that the team USA is following my lead in that they are not putting the team on their back.

They are not putting the country on their back. They are playing like, I don't know what else to say. I don't know what I'm saying. They are fumbling the bag. they're playing. I don't want to curse this early and this much early in the podcast, but they're fucking up, Raja. They just lost

their first game of their preliminary rounds to one French national team led by one Rudy Gaubert, who quite frankly played like he is tired of all the shit that the Americans were talking about his defense and he bawled out. And, you know,

Team USA took a L, and they have previously taken L's to Nigeria, which is, you know, shout out to Nigeria national team led by Mike Brown. You know, shout out to them. But been playing like this terribly to start. I don't know. There's a lot of excuses going around, including, hey, man, you know, just the NBA season has just ended. You know, these guys aren't as well rested as they might normally.

it's a quick turnaround, all these other teams. Do you buy any of that, Raja? What are we thinking right now? What's going on with Team USA? Do we fix this? Are they going to win the gold this year? What's going on right now? What's going on?

I wouldn't count them out of winning the gold, although they wouldn't be my favorites to win the gold. You know, you just talked about them losing in France. Let's not forget, you know, coming in. Admittedly, I tuned you out for a minute. I don't know if you said. Admittedly, I tuned you out like mid-season. there. So I don't know if you referenced them losing twice in the lead-up to, but they did that as well.

And we were told, hey, just chill. You know, everything can be all right once they get into Olympic play. And then they come out. And Evan Fournier is a hell of a player too. And some of these guys that aren't given the ball on their respective NBA teams all the time. Evan, Evan has the ball in his hands a lot, at least in Orlando. But some of these guys can really hoop. And they've got a lot of chemistry. They've come up through, through different club levels together. and they played for their respective Olympic teams at the junior level and then at the senior level, so there's chemistry in place.

And the U.S. is fighting against all of that. They've got a group of talent that is mostly individual talent right now. You haven't had full training camps. A lot of guys are coming off seasons like you just referenced. But there's no real chemistry for Team USA. And quite frankly, I think we've seen teams in a past be built better, better pieces that complement each other. This one, you were going through the list of players,

on a team because I don't even know who's on a damn team until you just told me. It doesn't seem like they fit together. That's not a team that has role guys in place. It doesn't seem like a very good cohesive group. Well, there's a lot of factors to this roster. And I think one of the factors is COVID, obviously, and which led to the quick turnaround between, you know, the NBA season and this. So, me, like, you're not going to get a LeBron James when.

when, you know, he's year 18 just removed, a few weeks removed from a, you're not going to get that. You're not going to get Steph Curry, who is trying to rehab. You're not going to get your top tier talent. The fact that they got Kevin Durant is a feat in itself, considering, you know, the Achilles and just a turnaround he just played. But you're not getting those guys. You're getting the, I don't want to disrespect these guys, but you're not getting the top, top tier of the talent. You're getting Bam out of bio who is a rising star in this league, right? But he's not there yet. He's just, he's just, he's really, really good player, not there yet. You're getting a guy like

Devin Booker who is fresh off the finals. Also, we both agree not a super duper star, not yet, at least. You got, you got, it's literally as a guy by the name of Kelden Johnson who, you know, shout out to his game and getting on the team, but he wouldn't be on the team any other year. you've got guys like that littered around the roster. And I was coming to you before this podcast saying, yo, they do have guys on this roster. And if they simply, you know, maybe, I don't know, cared a bit more.

I don't know, that they might have been better. You had a strong rebuttal to that, Roger. What was your rebuttal to that? I had two rebuttals. Number one, we're discounting how many players, teams like Nigeria have on their roster that actually play at the highest level of NBA basketball. I think there are seven guys on the Nigerian team,

at least when I was watching the broadcast. that were references NBA players. So there are teams out there that have just kind of closed the gap between the U.S. top tier players and their top tier players. You know, and a lot of that started with the dream team and stuff like that. But my point about all of these great individual players, like let's say a Devin Booker, who is individually with a ball in his hands, a great player.

That's not the way they play in Team USA. Like, you've got other great players. So now he doesn't have the ball in his hand. He's not a great player unless you let him do what makes him great. So you've got a lot of players that are great. But because they're playing with other greats and the chemistry is not great, then they're not who you think they should be, right? And so that's chemistry.

That's having time together. That's guys figuring out how to play with each other. And that's what the U.S. is lacking. Like no disrespect to debuk or even Damien Lillard, who is great. if you're not going to put the ball in his hands and let him do what he does, he's not as great as he was for the Portland Trailblazers. No, and that's true. And it's funny because you juxtapose that with a Luca Donchitz and the Slovenian team.

By the way, we'll get to Luca in a bit. But when I looked at their game, they're a lot more cohesive and they know exactly one who to get the ball to, the secondary option, the third option. you don't really see that with this team USA team because they're so new with each other, right? You see just, it's not as simple as, yo, pass it to an All-Star. It's going to be fine.

Do this and throw the alley to bam, he's going to get it. They don't know each other. At the end of the day, there's still a team marking it out. That's why super teams always have, need time to adjust. My question to you is, what don't we see? Because you reference Evan Fournier, right? And Forre is a solid NBA player. And to people who are watching the Olympics,

they're like, yo, the fuck, why don't we see this? This isn't the Evan Fornier we see in the NBA. What is the difference here in this Olympic setting with certain guys that are NBA players in the Olympic setting versus what we see in the NBA? I've got to be careful here, but I've tried to say this on many occasions.

Most guys who are in the NBA of a certain level of NBA play. can get it done, can like flat out take the ball and get it done. That doesn't mean at the NBA level that's going to be their job, though. And so to keep a job and to continue to exist in the league, you figure out what you need to do for said team you're on or, you know, what kind of box you're going to fit into as a career player, like 3 and D, if you will, and you kind of sacrifice some of yourself to make a career out of it.

but they're guys like Evan Ornye and other players in the NBA that given the opportunity to have the ball in their hands and cook, they can do that. Now, you know, the NBA is, the NBA has the best players in the world, but they're also storylines that the NBA needs to create and they're stars that need to be made and their, you know, faces that need to be perpetuated so that the NBA can continue to be what it is, right? And if you're not one of those guys, then you're not one of those guys. So, like, I say all that to say, not take anything away from the great stars in the NBA,

but there are plenty of guys in the NBA that if you put them in a situation where the ball was in their hands and you gave them a supporting cast and you decided to highlight the way they played, they could be very formidable. It's just not their job in the NBA all the time, right? The other thing that happens when you go to international play, because I played in Spain for a while before I came back to play with the Maver's. it is a much more physical game. Yeah, it is.

Again, the NBA is entertainment. I mean, it's great basketball, but, you know, all of that flopping and shit where you used to seeing people go to the line 20 times, that shit does not happen in Euro League and feeble play. Yeah. It does not. They do not just gift you that,

hey, I'm going to run into you and throw the ball at the rim, and so I get two free throws because my name is X, Y, and Z. That doesn't exist. Again, this goes back to the NBA needing to perpetuate their stars and needing to kind of, you know, have the numbers, you know, be aesthetically pleasing, if you will. That doesn't happen in Fiba. So it throws guys for a loop sometimes when you're used to playing a certain way.

And now the ref is looking at you, like, no, bro, you're not getting that here. It's funny because I remember watching the 08 Olympics. And that was one of the key storylines is like we need that Team USA and 08 needed to set the tone with physicality. and you saw that when Kobe is just like, yeah, I'm just going to play defense, bro. I don't really care about nothing else. I'm just going to play defense. I don't go to fuck.

If Falconsaw is there, I'm going to put a shoulder into him. And I'm going to lay his ass out. And it's just going to be an offensive foul or whatever. You know, or whatever, it's going to be a foul. But there is an adjustment there. And you've got to have certain dudes for that. Like, not necessarily stars. I think what we learned in the mid,

when the last run, the redeemed team is you don't necessarily need stars at every position. You need really good players at every position. That's where the Andrego Dahlia comes in, right? That's where Dwight Howard, while he's a defensive player and an MVP candidate around that time, has to play like Dwight Howard plays now and just play defense and get me dunks. And here, I don't think there's been as much of a turnaround where you guys can, You can build that. You know, you just, it's only a week and people are getting sent out.

Yeah, you're describing a team in the truest sense of the word team where guys have roles. They do their jobs. Those roles may overlap a little bit, but they're not all stepping on each other's toes in terms of skill sets, right? The USC, we used to be able to go out there with our group of all stars, right, like in an all-star type of way where we're just that much more talented than you. So here, take these nine to ten players. They're better than any nine or ten players you can put out there, even with the chemistry that you guys have developed, because the gap is that wide between us and every other country in the world.

It's not that anymore. So our All-Stars are all kind of similar players on their respective NBA teams, right? Like they all have the ball. They're asked to do the lion's share of the scoring, and other guys do most of the dirty work. So there's a huge void. Now, there's some guys on the U.S. team. I don't mean to take anything away.

I'm sure guys are digging into those roles. They're basketball players. They understand that certain things have to be done. But that's not where any of them shine, really. They all shine, you know, doing kind of the same thing for their team. While teams like France and Slovenia, it's a, it's a, there is an understanding of the roles. There's a definition of the roles. They play together for a long time.

Luca makes that work. You know what I mean? Evan Fournier, for Australia, Patty Mills makes that work. And then even though those other guys are all pros, you know, they figure out how to do the complementary things to Patty Mills and to Evan Fornier and to Luca. And so your team now becomes better than on some nights than our collective like All-Star team. Yeah.

We know this when history, you know, when we look back at the history of Team USA, there's always been ebbs and flows, right? There's been dominance followed by, it's weird to even say less dominance. know. But you get what I'm saying. There's, there's just, sometimes they're just really, really good. And sometimes they're like historically Hall of Fame great. And then sometimes they're just really good teams. You were coming up during a particular time for USA basketball in the 2000s, in the early 2000s, when there wasn't that where they weren't, but right before the Redeemed team where it was a, going through the ebbs and flows, what was a perception then of USA? And is that,

Is there a similarity to how it is right now, how Team USA is viewed right now? Oh, man, I don't really remember. You know, I played for the Virgin Islands national team. We never got to play the USA. Mm-hmm. But we, at that point, I think we felt as a country, and even though I didn't play for the U.S., you know, I live here,

we were the best, you know, basketball talent in the world. And so, you know, you could, for the most part, put together kind of these teams and just go out there with a small, you know, training camp type of scenario and get the job done. It started to change a little bit, you know, early, early 2000s, though, when I happened to be in Spain and Argentina won the world championships that year. Yeah. They have Pepe Chances and Chapu. Those Argentinian teams were so fun. We sculled up. Yeah. They were really good. Carlos Delfino was young on that team. And so you started to say, oh, was Mani one of those teams? Oh, Jesus. How'd I forget Manuel?

Yeah, Manuel. Yeah, so, like, those were really good teams as five NBA players, though. I just talked about six maybe. But that's when it started to change a little bit. But we still felt pretty secure. But in the time since then, Logan, the world's caught up. You know, basketball, there have been huge initiatives. You know, and you have to give the NBA a lot of credit for this, too.

I went to India with the NBA to do NBA and do, you know, clinics and grassroots building of infrastructure for for youth basketball, you know, in New Delhi and, and the surrounding areas. And so the NBA's been instrumental in kind of setting up grassroots and NBA without borders and stuff like that, helping these countries develop these grassroots programs. And they're putting out talent. Like, the NBA is littered with talent from these other countries. Yeah. And that's, and it's, it's great that you made that point. It is, and this isn't even any shade or anything. This is the NBA's joint, though. This is something. that they wanted to grow the game and rightfully so.

They wanted to give this game to the rest of the world. But honestly, this is the consequence, man. You start these, like I always think about this influx of Canadian basketball players, right? And that has a lot to do with the Raptors and Vince Carter. You inspired them to want to play this game. And that's beautiful. But on the other side, that means you got to step your game up and you have to, now you have to care. Because these other countries are balling.

You see Slovenia out here balling with Luca. You see Australia balling. They beat Team USA in the friendly. So, you know, we'll see what happens. Do you think that they win gold? The U.S. Team USA can win gold this year? I don't know. I think chemistry is an issue.

Again, I wouldn't count them out. I'd still probably say they're a slight favorite, but, you know, I'm gonna say they win bronze. I'm gonna say they win bronze. I mean, you're braver than I. I mean,

I just, it's hard for me to count out. Let me just say this, though. That's me playing my games, by the way, Roger. That's just me playing. I think they're going to win bronze

and hopefully they wouldn't go. All right. Yeah. You got mind control over that. You've got, most of these countries, for the most part, they have their absolute best players.

You know, I know you're going to tell me, Ben Simmons, it's been playing for Australia. And so there's some glaring you know, absences, but for the most part, it's one guy on said Olympic team. We are missing a lot of our best talent. A lot.

We are missing a lot of our best talent. And so if you were able in a perfect world to accumulate our absolute best talent, top 12 people. We're kicking the world's ass. We're still going to do what we do. This particular team, though, has the issues that we just kind of alluded to. Yeah. Is this an indictment on Greg Popovitz as a coach at any way?

Okay. Maybe you're, okay. I mean, he might have to, no, I heard the same thing you heard. Them dudes were beefing that he wants them to play San Antonio style. And, you know, there's not enough time to, you know, figure that out and get the chemistry right in that system. And that's fair. You know, they're playing in it. So, but I know Coach Popovich is as flexible as there is as a coach, Swisman is great for so long as he's been.

He's going to figure that out. I think it's unfair to think that you're going to take a group of talent that isn't your absolute best talent against the world who's caught up and they're not going to be some bumps in the road and you haven't had a training camp, a real one. Yeah, and also they have a great coaching staff too. It's just, it's just, I just think it's a turnaround more than anything. So we'll see. I got team USA winning bronze. Say a quick break. and let's talk about somebody who's not in the Olympics

that probably should be. Raja, we're getting on to the, about to be on the eve of free agency soon. And so that means trade rumors. You know that's your favorite thing is trade rumors and trade. But friend of the show, Marcus Thompson reported that the warriors, at least their players, are saying, hey, yo, check this out.

We want Bradley Bill on the squad. make it happen. That's our top choice. Figure it out. I don't care if you got a part with Wiseman. You got a part with them picks. Do it. One Bradley Bill on the team. Is there a fit there? Do you like that if that happens? I mean, this is a report basically saying, not saying anything of the sort that Bradley Bill wants to go to Golden State. It's more of like Draymond and Steph. And all the players would like to see Bradley Bill on the roster. What do you feel about that? And if Bradley Bill were to go to the Warriors, what do you think? Sign me up. I'm a believer that Bradley Bill anywhere is a fit.

He's that kind of player. Can play with it in his hands and create and make plays for himself. But also, as he showed you this year, can play off the ball and still eat effectively, probably be more efficient. If you put him in a situation with playmakers, you know, like Stefan, Draymond, and the type of system,

that they run there in Golden State with the player movement. Clay coming back as a shooter, you know, space in the floor, another guy with super high BBIQ. I am a believer that that works. I mean, I don't know what you're suggesting other than Wiseman, you'd have to get up to get that done. But purely probably,

Wiseman, the picks, Andrew Wiggins' contract. Wiggins' yeah, Wiggins' contract. Some future picks, I guess. I'm in. I'm in. If you gave me, if you said I'm starting with Clay, Steph,

Bradley Bill and Dremont sign me up. Just find a center, figure it out. Like, what do you think? Find a center. Anybody. Hey, you know who would be a great name for that team? Great name for that team would be the dude. You were talking about going to Phoenix.

Just talked about him on an old. Dwight Howard. Ruster. Yeah. Like, just keep chasing rings, bro. Yeah, yeah. I mean, they would have Dwight at the perfect time where he literally just got to throw him lops.

But he's older. can he be a sturdy starting center the whole season, though? I'm not saying, like, he's always, his body's in great condition right now. But he also is older. I don't know what year 16, 17, something like that. Yeah, but you're, you've always played that by committee, though, as a franchise. Like, for the last six years, that position's been played by committee in Golden State, right? Like, there's not, like, Zaza was the guy, Javelle was the guy, but they were always

a two-headed monster, minimum, right? That was never like a mainstay there. Yeah, I remember my first year on the beat, they had, Javelle McGee, they had. Javelle McGee, they had Zazaa Pachulia, David West got some minutes there. Like it was just, yeah. Does that make, would it make gold to say to contender? Would it make them a finals contender,

a championship contender? Yes, yes. It puts them squarely in the conversation to be back. Now, obviously, you've got to get the pieces around them right. Like, we're going to have to find the center, right? And, you know, you guys show me there's a little bit of depth on the bench. But you're talking about your, You're top four?

That's a, I mean, that's... Brooklyn, Brooklyn got there and was, if they didn't have injuries, they would have gone to the finals, in my opinion. They didn't have, and that's the comparison because you're so top heavy. You have four of the top five players at their respective positions probably in the NBA right now. No, can we make that argument? Who's that? Who's that?

That's that step, obviously. I mean, Steph, obviously. Bradley Beal. Obviously. Clay, I mean, a healthy clay. a healthy clay is one of it is a top five guard in the league and then listen man and power forward draymont and this is the team that draymond can thrive on you know what i mean the guy where he doesn't have to score he just he's just facilitating getting people involved

perfect point would you rather have right now and i think i know your answer but just for the for the peeps would you rather have bradley bill or ben simmons if you're a warrior Riley Bill It's not even a question Huh? It's not even a question Because further You just gave

Like you answered it Before you asked it right You put Ben Simmons out there You can't have two dudes out there To can't score Right I don't mean can't But I mean that are more interested

In doing other things than scoring Right Right Like you For Draymon And the way that whole offense moves You put another prolific score

Do you think that I'm gonna be messy right now And I know you love What I'm messy I like that shit Do you know when, do you think that if they do get Bradley Bill, it's a overcorrection for not trading lamello ball, for not drafting lamello ball.

Do you think that that's just like, yeah, we probably should have gotten it and we got our guard because we honestly should have gotten a guard to begin with? Or am I just tripping right now? Tripping, but you can't rule that out. I don't think they're, no, I think Bradley Bill is one of those dudes that if you have a chance to get him and you, and you see the fruit getting lower and lower on the tree,

like it's going to fall off. I mean, you do what you can do to get him, you know, especially, again, for a team like Golden State that plays the way they play, the style they play with such a creative point forward like Dremont.

Like, it's just a good fit. So I think, no is the answer to that. Yeah, I'd agree with you. Let's talk about this on the Bradley Bill side, right?

Because I, we've said this earlier in the, in the season. I feel like he's just recess ceiling at Washington in D.C., man. Just like once you just get to a point, like, they're not going to build a contender around you. They've proven that time and time again that they're just not going to do that. And it's cool. It could just be amicable, an amicable trade.

I feel like it'll be all no love lost on both sides. I think they'll be fine if they just trade Bradley Bill. Do you think it's just time right now for them just get it done? Just figure just hurry up and just get it done. Yeah, get it done. And Bradley Bill, I appreciate, we said this a long time ago, I appreciate you not being that dude. I do.

There's part of me that appreciates, you know, hey, man, this is where I'm at. I'm going to be the best in the role that I can be given the circumstances. But there's also a part of me that understands that career goes by really quick. And, you know, I talked about it in the last pot. You get to the finals in 01. You think it's every year. You look around and it's 2014. You're like, what, wait, what happened?

So wasting time in a place where it's not going to happen, I also can appreciate not doing that. And Bradley Bill is time to go. It is time to go. And, you know, Washington, go ahead and hit the reset button. I would feel terrible for Russ if he's left there holding a bag because I'm a Russ fan. But Bradley Bill served his time. It's time to get out.

Hey, man, listen, bro, if I'm Russ, man, having all that money in D.C. ain't the worst thing in the world. I ain't tripping. You know what I mean? D.C. is a great place. I love D.C. I know. But I know he wants to win.

He's still trying to win too, though. Like, you know, I feel you on that. Ain't no slander at D.C., but, you know, Russ is a competitor. He's going out there trying to win. I think one of those things is, like, I think Chris Paul has helped in that regard when you talk about a guy that seems like an inflated contract.

And, you know, I think there's sometimes where, you know, you can still make the argument that Chris Paul's contract is very inflated. But on the other hand, bro, like, if you put that person in the right situation, they can be effective for you. It's still Russell Westbrook, man. Like, we'll see. what happens. Let's go to a team near and dear to me, Sasha Mac, Jomey, all the hearts, even maybe sometimes your heart. I don't know. Probably not. The Lakers have been active.

That's a definitive negative. I still, I still, I still, you're not going to do that. No, you're not going to slide that in. No, no, no. I still believe that, I still believe this. I don't think I've told you this, that I think, like, your underlying hate for the Lakers is a reason why you didn't sign with the Lakers when Kobe hits you up to do. it. I really do still believe that. I feel like you were like, that's intriguing, but fuck y'all. Like, I do believe that. No, that's absolutely no. No. That was pure, that was purely financial. And I don't hate the Lakers. They're just not near or dear to my heart. They're far, far away. They're far away. Yeah, we got to get, we got to get Roger to Staples, bro.

We got to get them back. Last time you've been to Staples, ma'am. There's been some years since you've been back. Man, yeah, it's been some years. And I, you know what? They've no real desire to go back. I'm not an NBA. I'm not an NBA arena. I told you this, right? Like, to my kids' detriment. Like, I don't even take them to games here in Miami. I don't love going to NBA games and the whole- I'm going to be real with you. Can I be real with you? Yeah. American Airlines Arena. Is it American Airlines Center or Arena? Which one is it in Miami? Arena? We need to get that. We need to get some renovations down in that place, man. We need to get a locked-in dog.

We need to figure it out. It's getting old now. I went there a few years back. And it was just a little, I was expecting a bit more than I got, man. That's all I'm saying. It's just, I remember when that bad boy was like the newest, shiniest, coolest arena. It looked nice outside. I'm just saying. Oh, yeah.

It was tough. Yeah, it was tough. So I remember when we got my American Airlines, it was, can I tell a story real quick? Can we side? Go ahead. Storytelling it. Let's do it.

Let's get it. So I think I was, man, this is a story time. Let's go story time. Storytime around. We'll get back to the Lakers in a bit. Storytime around. American Airlines, right?

So I had really never been there. But I had left Philly. They said they weren't going to resign me. And the heat called me like, I don't know, two days prior to a workout. They were like, come down and work out with, you know, and let's kick the tires and see what that looks like. I was like, all right, bet.

It was two days notice. But my man, Gene, you know, one of my best friends from college was coming into town. We were, you know, we were going to get it in. So I went down, we were down on the beach. It was supposed to be kind of benign. But we wound up like buying a styrofoam cooler and, geez.

It just got, it got messy, like it got so messy that I was in a pizza spot and dropped a hot slice of pizza on my leg and burned the shit out of my cat. So, so the next day, like I woke up, oh, in the back, like all the way, showed up in an airline. They almost didn't let me work out because I had this huge burn on my cat. leg and they thought it was going to be a liability. I was awful. But Stan Van Gundy was in there, like, hitting you with a pad telling you, hey, go hard. You hit the pad. You got to go hard. And I'm like probably reeking. And so I just lost my shit on one of my drives to the basket.

And I just fucking ran Stan Van Gundy over just like flattened him. And like looked at him like, fuck you, Stan. And that was probably the end of any opportunity I ever had to play. That didn't help you? That didn't help you? Wait, I thought that was heat culture. He said, do it. And you were like, ah. I ran his ass over.

And I love Stan and Jeff. Boy, that was my Miami Heat American Airlines. Can we, we just got aggregated because of that. Thank you, Roger, on this slow pot. Talking about the Lakers, though, the Lakers are actively shopping, just like, just begging teams to take on Kyle Kuzma and KCP, Contabian. is called World Pope. That is from the Woge and Low Podcasts

on ESPN. They reported that. Yo, man, what do we think about this, dude? Coos has had an interesting relationship with Los Angeles and by extension with the Lakers and things like that. He just struggled to be consistently

good alongside this core, and I get it. What kind of scrambling and readjustments to the Lakers need to do? To continue not only being contenders, but extending that title window as much as possible. But what they have to do is continue to find playmakers, Logan, guys who can get a bucket,

guys that don't have to have the table set for them all the time by LeBron or AD. They need playmakers. As LeBron continues to kind of get into the twilight of his career, you're going to want him to do less and less of that. You can still do it in a timely way, but he can't be doing it all the time. And AD, if nothing,

else is fragile. So, you know, you don't, you don't, I mean, that's just what it is. Like, you don't know how many games he's going to play, how many he's going to be out. And so you need another guy who can carry male offensively if you can find him or at least can create and, and make plays. And so that's what they have to continue to do. I think that's what they're doing. Kyle Kuzama, I think he's a good player. Yeah. He just, people, people put him in a category too early in his career. You know, he's not that player. I don't think he's a star in the NBA. I think is a solid NBA player. If people cast them as a star too early,

you didn't have enough sample side. How much does L.A., not even just L.A., but the Lakers brand inflate a player's value, do you think? Where they play, they're always on television, they're always in the news,

and they just get bags just off just like the, just the fairy dust that L.A. gives them. Do you see that in the league? Is there an inflation of how we view Lakers' talent? And I'm not saying that Coos is bad because I think he's a really good player just miscast. But does that happen with the Lakers? Absolutely.

But it also happens in reverse. So take a player like Coos, for instance, like when you're one of their better players and they're on TV every night and it's the Laker brand, yeah, there's going to be some extra put on top of that. I mean, you've seen it happen with a lot of contracts coming out of La La Lane. I'm not going to call no names. But guys that were in the league when I was in the league doing a fraction of what you do. And the payday is, it's pretty nice, you know? And we take note of that. So there are some of that.

But also, if you don't. You should have played the long game when you went to the, if you would have went to the Lakers, you would have just got your money and then got your money. You know what I mean, Roger? I was already like 34 years old. Boy, they wasn't giving me no more money. But when you were 30, but when you were 36,

you could have got another little bad. You could have been a part of the Lakers family. No, no. I'm good. But I do think. Phoenix Suns friends were like, yes. Phoenix Suns was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Everybody messing with them, Lakers.

If you're bad, you remember Smush Parker? I do remember Smush Parker. Like, they painted Smush out. If you listen to people talk about Smush still to this day, some people. I don't think Smush was that bad of a basketball player. I thought he was really good. He was. And probably still is.

But, you know. Was he a starting point? probably not, but was he a good basketball player? Yes. My point is that if you're on the Lakers and things don't go great all the time, you could also find yourself on the flip side of that coin, where the narrative is you didn't do enough and wasn't good enough to help the Lakers do it. You understand what I'm saying. Can I just be in defense of Smith Parker real quick, just really quickly?

I know there's not a lot of people that are doing this. I'm just going to go out on a limb. I might get canceled. I don't know. But Swiss Parker's game was, he was like the third highest score on that team. I mean, he was averaging double digits now. Was it a bad team? Yes, but, like, just paint him out as, like, somebody that was trash and not good and not even serviceable on the floor is not necessary.

He hit a big shot against Raj's sons. He was the reason why Kobe got the game winner in game, well, game four before, you know, the Lakers blew a 3-1 lead. But he was a reason why the Lakers were successful. So to paint him out as a guy that's not good, it's just disingenuous. It is.

It's just what they do it because you're on a brand like the Lakers. I mean, I guess that's... And Kobe said that he was trash. Did Kobe do that? Yeah, Kobe did that. That's, well, I imagine that playing for the Knicks has an effect like that at times, playing for the Yankees and the Red Sox. You know what I mean?

Like when it's good, it's good and you're going to see some extra. And when it's bad, it's bad and you're going to see some extra. Yeah, yeah. We'll see. Speaking of extra, let's stop planning to get to ruin of the week. Now, before we get to ruin a week, I do want to ask you real quick. The draft is going up. I believe it's later this week.

And I just want to know, and I don't really have any, we don't really have any real in-depth analysis for prospects on the Real Ones podcast right now. But I do want to ask a question, what is the feeling up into the lead-up for the start of the draft for a play? What's that like? Shit, I don't know. You didn't have that? Yeah, at all.

I know you had... I didn't get drafted? Did you have the lead up? Didn't you have a lead up to maybe you might be a second round pick or something? I don't know. Or maybe like, you know, sneak into the lottery or some shit. That's why I'm asking you. There was no sneaking into anything.

I had been told... I only had one workout with one team. So I had been told they may take me with their last pick of the draft. So my lead up was business as usual, man. Like, I don't know what I was doing, working out. Was basketball going to happen for you? Or were you like, I'm going to go like work at, what are you going to work? Were you going to just, were you like, I'm going to go be a civilian now?

Or like, what was the? No, no, I was hooping. I just didn't know where I was hooping whether that was going to be. I picked my agent because he had real overseas connects. Oh, you weren't even stripping off of NBA like that, like that. If you had got an agent. When my agent came and saw my conference tournament, he told me, hey, you know, I think, I think, I don't know that you're an NBA player, but I think you can make a career overseas.

And so, you know, I've got a lot of great connects overseas. And I found that really refreshing and solid. And so I picked him for that reason. You respected the honesty, didn't you? I did. And I was, listen, man, I know how this game works. Like, I had no workouts. Like, you know what I mean?

Like, it wasn't like I had agents knocking down my door. So my lead up was probably not like a lot of these guys lead up. But I imagine, you know, it's, man, these dudes are, their worlds are about to change. Their families' worlds are about to change. You know, your anticipation of that, it's got to be incredible. Not to mention, you know, you're getting with your tailor, trying to figure out what the swag's going to look like, trying to figure out what we're going to walk out in.

What would your suit have been, Roger? What would your suit have been if you were like a lottery pick? What do you think it would have been? Would you have gone like extra? Something hell of big and baggy. Yes. That was a nasty era, bro. gross.

I look back at my wedding pictures and I had a custom tux made for that shit. And I don't know what I spent on the custom tux. But it's, you know, in the range of what you spend for custom tuxes,

it is the worst thing I've ever seen in my life. Bro, I don't even know how y'all, or how or why y'all tailored back then, bro, like, what were you tailoring? There was, you weren't taking no fabric in. You weren't doing nothing. Like, I don't get, all right.

Y'all said, oh, I'll take this to get, you take it. No, bro. No, no, no. That's great. So you would have one of the baggy? Would you wore like a color or something?

Or would it just been like basic? No, I've never been that dude, man. People who know me, I keep it, I try to keep it like classy but cool. So I would not have been out there in no, you know, red suit or orange suit. That's just not my style. But I would have went with a gray or a navy or black, something, you know, something cool or classy. But it would have been big as hell, I can promise you. What was the other side of that where you were like, I know I ain't going to get drafted?

Like maybe hopefully I get a team call Like were you nervous and that You're like, oh, I guess I'm going overseas I guess I'm going to dip. So I watched the draft with my folks I don't think we had people over And we were locked in Like we weren't locked

Well, we were locked in Because the Hawks had a ton of picks And they were the team that said they were going to pick me So I wanted to watch every move they made And so they got Dion Glover early And then they took Cal Baudler I'm no, they got Jason Terry first, sorry Then Dionne Glover they had two lottery picks

than Cal Bowdler from Old Dominion or somewhere like that. So I was watching. And when that late, when that second round came around, they had two picks in the second round, we were squarely locked in in the anticipation. That's when I got my moment of like, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, it could happen. And it didn't. And that was cool.

And so there was some letdown, but I mean, I was, I didn't know. I was so young and dumb, Logan. I didn't even know what to think, man. I just went to sleep. The next day I got a call saying I got drafted in the CBA. Oh, okay. Well, that's cool, for sure. Well, there we go.

Well, let's get to ruin of the week. My ruin of the week is simple. We've been foreshadowing at all podcast long. It's Luke Goddans. First Olympic game, he drops 48 for Slovenia. Yo, man, Luke is the truth. You say he's your very, very, very early MVP pick. So I'm going to go Luca Donchis.

Also, I remember mentioned producer Stefan, man. I fucked up today with the sound. And, you know, he's holding me down. Shout out to him. He's going to be our producer for the next couple episodes. So shout out to him too. That's what's up. So let me go, you know, all this name and name image and likeness,

the NIL stuff that's going on in the, you know, in NCAA sports and stuff like that. Word. Shout out to everybody getting their paper. But my real one of the week, I think, like I've vacillated over this, is going to be Mikey Williams. You know what Mikey Williams is?

Go ahead and tell me. Mikey Williams is a high school basketball player. I believe he's got a couple years left. He's got two years left in high school, so I think he'd be a junior this year. Mikey Williams was like the hottest thing on the planet a year and a half ago, like the best player in his class, so on and so forth.

He started to slip a little bit, but I think he's still top 15 kid in the country, probably universally regarded. Out of San Diego. Yeah, he's the first high school kid to sign with like a company for name, image, and life. likeness, right? And what it means is he's not eligible to play high school basketball for the

next two years and whatever that state legislated like high school associations is. But he could play at prep schools or anywhere that have, you know, post-grad years and stuff like that. And he can definitely still play on his on the travel scene. It doesn't preclude him from playing in that. But, I mean, he signed a deal. And so I'm going to give him real one at a week. I don't know that it's going to work out. I'm not saying that I completely agree with paying high school player. So I'm not even opening up that thing. But he is a real one for taking a step. He's a real time. And shout out to, shout out to Mikey Williams, man. Shout out to San Diego too. Beautiful place. Love San Diego. And that was another edition of the Real Ones podcast.

We are now only on on Mondays throughout the off season. We will get back to our normal, we'll get back to our normal schedule during the season. So we will see you guys next week. man, in the meantime, make sure you check out our full slate of shows, man, we got mismatch, we got group chat, we got the answer, we got R2C2 with who,

Roger Bell. Creside Clown, Blayo Legend, C, C, Sabathia. And we also have Black Girl's Songbook with who, Roger Bell?

It's the homie. It's the homie. Danielle Smith. Town legend. Make sure you, yes, make sure you check out. Ring or verse. Make sure you check out the Ringer Music Show.

Make sure you check out everything on the Ringer's Slate. We will see you guys in a week. Hala, peace.