The Ringer NBA Show - Who the Lakers Should Acquire at Center, and All-Star Voting Politics | Real Ones

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Logan and Raja are here with the Friday vibes. They begin the show by reacting to Anthony Davis’s comments about his preference to play the 4 (5:55). They also discuss possible centers that the Lakers could acquire. Then Raja provides a temperature check on how Miami Heat fans feel about Jimmy Butler now that he’s been suspended a second time (17:29). After that, they discuss some of the politics behind All-Star voting on the players' side, specifically in relation to LaMelo Ball and Victor Wembanyama not starting (34:11). They wrap up with their Real Ones of the Week (45:50). Get your tickets to the live show at Punch Line San Francisco on February 15 here. Email us your questions at [e-mail]. Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Producer: Isaiah Blakely Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, humanoids. It's the Maskman David Shoemaker. It's a new era in professional wrestling, and that means a new era here at the Ringer Wrestling show. Kaz here, every Monday and Thursday hang out with me and my guys' shoes on the Masked Show. And Ben Cruz here. Come kick it with me, Cal, and Brian on Tuesdays for Ringer Wrestling worldwide, where we hit on the most interesting headlines and even react to some of Maskedmans and even your hottest takes. Don't tap out. Tap in to the Ringer Wrestling show feed now on Spotify. or wherever you get your podcasts. Worldwide. Real one slogan Murdoch here. Roger Beck there.

Roger Beck. Keep that in. Roger Beck. I'll be fucking up, bro. I'll be fucking up. Roger Bell here, Friday vibes. No offense taking. Howard's a G.

I'm sorry. I called Howard, Howard Bell during the fucking pod. You got baby brain, dog. Oh, my God. I'm just, oh, God. It's this.

You over there. You write over there on the screen that I'm talking to. You are my co-host today. We're going to talk about Anthony Davis. We're going to talk about Jimmy Butler. We're going to talk about politics within All-Star voting and how players be hating and how, you know, this is stuff. Same old stuff that we're doing.

How are you doing, buddy? You missed the Tuesday show, which was a really fun show. I went on a rant. I had a big rant. Did you? I need to tap it. I got in my bag. Yeah, it's been a, it's a busy time of year for, it's a busy, it's a busy time of year for high school football recruits.

So there are a lot of moving parts this time of year. So I'm sorry I wasn't there. We're headed out to Austin. Got a little flight in a couple of hours. So excited about that. I apologies for missing the last year. From the prepod meeting. You were in bold.

No, no, no. We're going to have. What? I know the prepod meetings are sacred, but, you know, like, if you ever want to? Break the internet real quick. I don't know. Ain't nothing popping. Hey, listen, it's just a busy time of year for the kids that are coming up,

especially the 26th class, which is now like squarely in the crosshairs because 25 is basically wrapped up. So these colleges are out doing their due diligence and stuff like that. College out here is simping. A lot of hay big heads right now, huh, Raj? A lot of hay. Like, what was, what's pretty crazy, man? Like, it didn't, it didn't happen like this in basketball.

And certainly not at my high school. We weren't like a program that was putting them out like year after year after year. But even I think the ones that do, they don't get the type of foot traffic that the football powerhouses get. If you wanted to like meet your favorite college football coach, you could go to like Broward Boulevard over here. where American heritage is you're going to see somebody you'll see seven of your favorite people every day yeah I mean I obviously wasn't as decorated of a football player as your son was but we had like we had a we had a coach that was known like my high school coach is really known he's now the associate head coach of Arizona Lonzo Carter yeah and so like people would just come through

all the time not for me necessarily but But, like, you will come, if you know how the recruiting game goes. Like, if a coach is coming through, they ask who you got. And the high school coach ain't hating, they say, oh, I'm going to bring out such and such here. So I met a lot of coaches just pulling up. Like, even if I wasn't there, if they were looking to go see somebody else. Sure. It's a pretty tight experience, man, just to go in there and, like, you don't really realize how cool it is until, you know, later on in life.

But if you're blessed with, like, a cool coach and, like, there's good recruits on your team. You get to meet some folks for sure. Yeah, that's, I mean, listen, I, again, I did not live that. I'm kind of living vicariously through D. I remember when he was, like, in the eighth grade, and we picked the program for that reason. Like, it was going to sharpen him up. He'd play against the best kids.

He'd be coached by the best, play with the best. And so we picked it for that reason. I remember him sitting there and being like, man, you know, at the time, it'd be like, it'd be like Nick Sabin would show up, you know, and he'd be there to recruit. the kids and and the who's who of the coaches and he would just be in all of that obviously as an eighth grade or not being recruited then in the ninth grade he'd be kind of like you like you were saying like they they might not have been there squarely to see him but my his coach liked him so

they'd they'd be like yo this is our young freshman dia nobody gave a shit um and then 10th and 11th grade like it became more like hey there a lot of them were coming through there to see him so uh he's he's he's it's been cool to watch the whole process play out but so different than basketball Like that basketball just did not have that kind of... Football is number one, man. And they remind you how, like, what number one is, like, in terms of what the sport that gets the most attention. Like, it just is what it is.

Yeah. It's hard to compare. Age. Remember one time I met Urban Meyer, and I was like, oh, my God. It was crazy. I was like, oh, shit. What? What?

Like, Prime Urban Meyer. I was like, oh, okay. All right. All right. What's up? I was like, hello. And I couldn't say, I had nothing. I couldn't say anything else.

That was it. Um, anyways, trying to find a pun. I find a pun. Speaking of like, light recruiting. Anthony Davis. Yep. I'm here. I'm here, man. I'm here. Friday vibes. Six and a half. It's not, it's not my best work. But hey, it's a, it's a, it's a decent enough transition to get us going.

Now, um, the Lakers just blew out, uh, Isaiah Blakely's Celtics. Um, you don't necessarily have to talk about that too much. Watch, the Celtics are reeling right now. But big win for the Lakers. But I think it came out to, there was a piece that came out today by friend of the show, a friend of the show, Sean Serania. And he had an interview with Anthony Davis. And they talked about a married of things, including how the L.A. fires have affected him. And other things, I want to give that credence as well.

But the big thing that's the headline right now is Anthony Davis was asked if, what he wanted to see out of the front office. And Anthony Davis says, I want a center, you know, because, you know, the team needs a center because, you know, back when the 2020 title, you know, we had Dwight Howard and Javelle McGee, and I feel like I just play so much better,

you know, when I have a center to play alongside. And while that is, you know, I get what he's saying. He just ain't, that was just cue to me that, yo, I really ain't trying to guard these big motherfuckers night in and night out. That's what I got from this, right? I mean, because the numbers clearly suggest it tell us time and time again that he's better at the five. And the team. Offensively?

Offensively. Offensively. He's better at the five. No, I'm asking, kind of saying that, right? Like most of the numbers support him being better at the five. Okay. All around. And even what he did fail to say was,

during the 2022 playoffs, we know this because we were there. That's when we first, you know, kind of got in our bag, Roger. But during the 2020 finals was he played the majority of the crunch time minutes at five. When all the chips were down, he was five, whether he, like, much to his to grin, but, like, also they won a title. So I think he's conflating two things. What does this tell you? Is it actually going to help or is this a bit self-serving for him?

Just like, yo, let me, I don't want a guard yoke. kids all the damn time. Get somebody else to do. Yeah, I think both things can be true. I mean, it's self-serving, but, you know, it could be beneficial to the team. Yeah, I don't, I wish I had seen the numbers. A lot of times, I think, when we talk about players scaling up a position, like how effective LeBron is, let's say, at the four or like when Sean Marion used to play uh with us and and Mike would always have the dilemma Mike Dantone would always have the dilemma three or four and tricks tricks didn't like the four necessarily because of the label of a power forward versus small forward but you'd never let

that be known when he was on the podcast yeah straight up but but hit the offensive the offensive production on all the numbers supported us and him offensively as being really good at the four right so so So when you usually talk about scaling a guy up a position, I think a lot of times those are, the offensive numbers reflect that, right? Because you just get a, you know, a matchup where you can kind of, especially in today's game, probably outmaneuver the bigger player that you're scaling up to play against.

So, so, so I would say like both things can be true, right? Like he might be able to really play well at the five defensively, as well. But do you want to, against more punitive bigs like Yokic, who will take you down there in the paint and really be physical, do you want him to have to do that for most of the game? And what does that do to him over the course of, you know, a season or a series, let's say, in a smaller sample size. When the money's on the line, like, you're playing every second or third night.

Like, what type of toll does that take on AD to have to have? to dole out that type of physicality defensively for the entire game. And he has the burden of, you know, scoring the most points and being the focal point of the offense. So while he can do it, I could make the case and support him saying, hey, look, you get a bigger body in here to take some of that responsibility away from me for most of the night, or at least, you know, some of the night. It allows me to be fresher for both sides of the ball when you need me, right? So I think both things can be true a little bit. I agree with you. I think that, and I think this is something that the, the Lakers should have at least broached over the offseason, right? Like, not to say, and we're

going to get into who the Lakers can acquire at the deadline or, you know, maybe in the waiver wire after the trade deadline. We'll see what happens. But I agree with him in the sense that you probably need a center for times like this, right, on a Thursday in January. Like, you know, you probably, yo, man, I don't want to guard all the time for six months a guy, a big down the stretch and be, you know, expected to be this big type player or expected to take a big load of the offensive pie. And I get what he's saying on that. He's not wrong. But I don't know how much also in the grand scheme with this Lakers team, because he was talking. It was interesting to watch the interview.

He was talking like, yo, this is going to be the move that can, you know, put us over the top. Like, we want to win a title this year. We want to win a title this year. And I'm looking to see the teams that the Lakers could beat to get there. And I just don't see it. And I love his optimism for it. And I don't expect anything less from a competitor like AD. But I don't know just presently constructed, like, where this Lakers team can go with or without that big, you know.

going for it, even if they do get it, right? Like, I think it's more than just, they're playing really good basketball right now. But this team isn't built for a deep playoff run, no matter what, I don't think. Yeah, I look, I was on a buddy show yesterday, and he asked me about the Lakers, and this was before, you know, the AD comments, or before I was aware of the AD comments,

and he asked me about the Lakers if they've, because of, you know, recent success. and, you know, just the way they're playing, like, did I, did I, did I, what did I, what did I, what did I, what did I, what did I, what did I, what did I, what did I, what did I, what did I, what did I, what did I, what I, what I, yeah, I get it. Um, you're sitting there hovering, um, in and around striking distance in the Western conference. I just don't feel it, though. It's, it's a hard thing for me to explain and put into words. Like I, you know, I, I just don't feel that from them. And, and, and whatever, big you were talking about bringing in, I don't see him being the answer to that, to that feeling that I have that, you know, like you get a complimentary big, I don't think gets you over the hump in the Western Conference. I don't, I don't think that's the missing piece for a title run for the Lakers, just personally. Yeah, I mean, I'm looking at the standings right now, man. They're, their fifth in the Western Conference, who would they play if the playoffs ended today?

They play the Denver Nuggets. We know how that goes, right? They're, better off getting bumped down. Like, they're better off getting bumped down to the 60 to play in the Grizzlies. But, like, even then, I just, that's, even if they beat the Grizzlies, like, I don't see them doing a deep playoff run. Like, they would, everything would have to go great. Now, on, from a perspective of, uh, who you would get, right? Like, we still got to, I think if, if you're, if AD says something, like, like this,

at this time, right as a trade deal on this time, I think you got to kind of, at least make a move, an ancillary piece to get a big. I mean, this team is really thin. behind him, right? And I don't think, and I don't, I do not like the front court when they take AD out at all. It is not great, right? So do you get, you give, I'm gonna throw some names.

You get Busevich. Would I, would I get him? What am I, I mean, in a vacuum? What would I give up? No, I'm just, just, just, uh. But yes, yes, the answer is Vucevich, yes. That's interesting because I say no. Okay, why?

Terrible defensively, and I don't know if they can coexistence. together like terrible defensively right so i don't know i don't know vucevich so yes we split on boosovitch okay yonis valentunis i mean anything anything you say to me in that vein of player i'm probably going to tell you yes any anything of that that level kind of uh NBA player whatever whatever level you want to call that i'm going to say yes to the lakers like and i'm not even you know i understand your point about defensive uh prowess or lack thereof, but we're talking about big accomplished bodies that we can throw out there in a way. And you were just before that, you were talking about their depth and what you think of their front line when he's not out there.

So I don't have the luxury of getting into specifics necessarily like game type and numbers, you know? So like if you give me those type of guys, I'm probably going to say yes to you. So what would your answer be to it? Valenciennes, yes. But my last one I think would be like the one. I think Clint Capella is the one that is like perfect for this for what they need, I think. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it teared.

Yeah, I take him before I took the other two. Yeah. Just because like he can like if that's what you're asking for it, because you're asking for like a guy like Dwight Howard, I mean, Clint Capella is no Dwight Howard in terms of like career trajectory. But like he is somebody that can do exactly what the Lakers need at this point, which is block shots, catch lobs. get the hell out of AD's way when it's time to, you know, like, I think that that, I think that the other two may be a little bit more redundant. If Clint's not there, I wouldn't mind Valenciunist. Like, I think that's a good medium between the two. We'll see what happens. I just, I get what he's saying. He's right. Lakers, go listen to your star.

Yeah. I, I mean, obviously, you know, the part that we didn't talk about with that is what, what, what is it going to cost you? Like, and if the price, the price isn't like, you know, it's not hurting your wallet too much, then I would say, yeah, if the price, if the price is less than palatable, I, you know, again, I don't know, what you do as the Lakers.

I don't know, Cam, Reddish, some other, like Max Christie and. Yeah, if we're talking about like that type. Like a pick or something like that, you know, like something. Yeah, if it's not hurting your pockets, yes. Like, but I wouldn't be, I guess. Like, like, the Wizards would just want picks, you know. They don't really care.

about necessarily winning they just want to like stockpile at this point right right I guess my point would be I don't I again having said I don't know that that necessarily gets you over the hump but I like like Capella though like that was the name I didn't yeah I like Cleapella um yeah I mean if you could take a swing at it and it's not hurting you go ahead now you are let's switch gears real quick now you are our um our Miami correspondent right you are south florida correspondent you always give the temperature level of our beloved south florida what is the temperature right now on jimmy butler what's going on there what's up i'm going to give context first but then i want to see what's like the the energy on the ground and then i just want to just talk through just the utter

petty that is going on in miami right now um jimmy played a game a couple of games i believe um after getting, he just appeared, he said I'm back and then, you know, they just got trounced by 20 against Denver. And then he gets suspended two games for conduct detrimental to the team because he

missed a flight. And it was interesting because Miami, Miami is just being really petty just and they're putting their name on it, which I love. Like, they'll do official statements and tell you the reason. A lot of teams don't do that. They'll just say, you know, contract detrimental to the team, like similar to Zion and they'll leak it.

to a reporter like, you know, this is what happened, but they won't say it officially. Miami is putting their name, their chest, and everything into this beef. And so they talked about a contract detrimental to the team and then he missed flights. And immediately Jimmy Butler goes to a party. Just right out of the, just right out of the James Harden playbook. All right. He's just going to cause utter chaos. What is the temperature right now in Florida?

Not the actual temperature. I'm sure it's lovely. but around Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat at this point. And what are the fans thinking right now? What's going on? Well, let me just start by correcting you with actual temp in Florida's 52 degrees right now. So not lovely, 52 and gray. So not lovely.

Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. My bad. It's okay. I mean, hey, listen, 99.9% of the time you would have been right. It's 50 degrees now in the Bay Area at this point. There's somebody that hates us. There's somebody in Middle America.

that is like shut the hell up and just talk about for us i mean it's all relative um the heat as it relates to jimmy butler hold on real quick that's such an asshole thing to say would you just say it's all relative it's all right it's all right hey listen man there's good and bads where they're at every place right we got it we got hell of our own problems down here um the the the majority of the heat fan base has, from what I can tell, turned on Jimmy Butler. This has become too big of a distraction, too big of a circus. I think the feeling is he's making a mockery of this. And it's one of the quickest, it's one of the quickest turns on a star player that I can

remember. And Jimmy Butler was everything. You know, this was Wade County. Like, well, now I'm in Broward, but like just a little further south for me. was Wade County though it's all way yeah you're right you're right you're right you're right Broward you know but now fuck that that's Dade County bro we ain't a Wade County in Broward bro um but but but Jimmy Butler I only say that to say that Jimmy Butler while he's not D-Wade I mean man for for for a few years up until recently like he was

he was beloved and this is going to little Havana he's out here playing bones you know what I'm saying he's locked in whatever whenever um they're out they're out they're out i mean i saw a dude a graffiti artist doing some sort of like some some some sort of defacing or was it whacked out his bureau yeah i don't know if he was doing that or if he was making a new one that was uh that was kind of derogatory i don't i don't really remember exactly what it was forgive me but like yeah it's it's a it's a it's a bit much now for the miami fan i think they're ready to turn the page is that like normal because i feel like if i'm jimmy Butler and also Jimmy Butler is like you know he's a professional basketball player with a

competitive level competitiveness level like that I could never even imagine and like wants to win and also like wants to get paid right but like I feel like being a star in Miami is better than any other situation he wants to go to right like I feel like that's so much that would be so much cooler right isn't it like it's probably really awesome to be a star in Miami right they check their star as Well, I was never a star anywhere. Live your truth, Rajah, as a star in Miami, really. Definitely not a story in Miami. But like Miami as a town, when things are going well, when the heat are playing well,

and you are the star of the heat, like, I mean, they're, most NBA cities are great places to be when things are going well and you're the star. But Miami, for all that it represents in terms of weather, things to do, opportunities at your fingertips, I think it's, yes. It's one of the places that most people would tell you I'd love to be a star in that town. Yeah, makes sense. It's funny, though, because, I mean,

a couple weeks ago, we were talking about how Brad Bill was, like, you know, rightfully waving his no-trade clause in the face of all of the NBA community. Now, like, he's a trade rumors. He might go to the bucks and, like, Jimmy might go to the sons. I think Jimmy to the sons,

I floated this with Howard, but I think Jimmy to the Sun's is like a really cool thing. I would love to see. I think that would be like the perfect landing spot for Jim. I don't know what the Suns would do necessarily in playoffs. But if you talk about what we talked about a few weeks ago, me and you, about Devin Booker and Kevin Durant and the way that they are made up and how they are, you put a Jimmy Butler into that locker room and kind of tighten shit up.

The only problem is he's going to get paid, but he's going to want to get paid, but Matt Ispia is going to blow the bag. Like he's got to give me the bag. What do you think about that? Like are you, of all the landing spots for Jimmy, because there's no way this is tenable. But do you think, what would you want to see him? Yeah, I mean, I think you're,

you're onto something there of, I don't know where I'd want to see him, but let's just go through the Phoenix exercise with what they have, you know, in terms of an offensive role for Jimmy. at this point. What version of Jimmy's offensive self is he right now? Can he drag a team offensively to the places that he was dragging the heat or has that ship kind of sailed? I would make the argument that those are years. We've passed that expiration date a little bit. So plugging him into a situation where he's got to be the focal point of the offense again, and I don't think that's ideal, right? So like the sons aren't that. Like,

They got two dudes who are firmly entrenched in one A and one B. Like they're going to take care of that, which allows Jimmy to be, you know, more of a complimentary offensive player. And at any given time, if you need him to and he's playing against the number three matchup, I mean, that's an incredible spot for a Jimmy Butler skill level to be productive, right? Yes. From the leadership perspective for the sons, he's exactly the type of personality that needed to pair with those two.

Somebody that does have that type of, you know, gravitas and respect that he has as a competitor, as a voice, as someone who holds his teammates accountable. Yeah, I think, but when he's on the, when he's on his good shit, if that makes sense. But he's usually on his good shit in the beginning of a run, though. Well, that's what, that's what I said on the, but so again, on the show I was on yesterday when my buddy asked me about Jimmy Butler specifically, it wasn't necessarily to Phoenix, but my point was whoever gets him in the short term

is going to get the best version of him. Right? So, like, so yeah, for those, for, for, for what he's going to mean to their offense, what he's going to mean to their locker room, what those guys can do for him in terms of, you know, allowing his offense at whatever, you know, pointed is his career to kind of shine against a lesser level defender. I think, I think it makes a lot of,

lot of sense. You know, what they could ultimately do this year, I don't know. Where that goes moving forward, if he gets sideways over contract negotiations, you know, like that's, that's what starts to happen with guys, you know, as they get older and is there in more and more shit. And as the, as the, as the, as the trail of, of, you know, beefs start to mount up and you can kind of roadmap like everywhere he's been it's been ugly at the end like that's the scary part right like what is that what is it end like when when is it going to end and what does it end like how much of

the fact that he's beefing with miami which was seemed to be the perfect home for him how much of that do you think reputationally has messed with his reputation like how much do you think that like specifically with this team and this group, like, if anybody could, like, put their arms around, or you would think if you had a created team to put their arms around Jimmy Butler and say, this is our guy.

It's the Miami Heat. But, like, Udana's Haslam does not rock with him right now, right? Like, Pat Riley does not rock with him. D. Wade is, like, in the comments saying, outwardly that he rocks with him. So, I mean, I guess he got D. Wade still. He's on, he's online with D.A. But, like, reputation.

How does this affect his reputation around the league? Yeah, I mean, because it's Miami. No, it's every day this goes on, it's doing a bit more irreparable damage to his image as a teammate and as a pro. Now, I say a bit more, like I don't know what point we're at with every team in the league, you know, on him, whether they're in or out

on the, on the competitor, the person in the locker room, so on and so forth. But every day it goes on. it gets a little bit worse, right? And so there are people out there, I'm telling you, like, I know this. There are people out there that are looking at it like, yeah, probably, you know, for a lot of reasons. Our team's not in the position to even, you know, warrant that type of shit, like bringing that

in. It makes no sense for us. But some would be like, yo, we got some good young ones. Like we don't want to, whatever the reason, there are people that are already out. Right. Now, now what you're doing to the teams that think they could absorb you, and, you're and think that they have a culture set up to kind of bring out the best version of you. Every day more shit comes out and it gets more sideways.

There's just a little bit more of a reservation they're going to have, right? Like so I think, and I said this too, like he's the talent and what his, what he's been able to do over the course of a career is so tantalizing to teams that are close, like really close, that I imagine. given the heat getting what they want out of a deal, I don't see them doing anything that at this point, I think it's so petty on both sides that I can't imagine the heat does anything that they don't necessarily want to do with that? Could you see the heat,

like if they don't get a deal that's their liking and saying, you know what? Fuck you, Jimmy Butler. Yes. We're just going to, whatever we need to do, you're not playing for the rest of the season. We're not doing this. Could you see them just, if they can't get a deal?

100%. We just see them shutting it all the way down. You're like, you know what? Fuck it. 100%. I'm not advocate. came for it. I'm not telling you it was good business. I'm not telling you that

that that's the approach that I would necessarily take or advise someone to take. Could I see the heat doing it? Yes. I can see it too. It would be awesome. It would be awesome for this podcast, bro. Every single time I don't, I don't know my dog, what do we talk about? Jimmy does some stupid shit and I'm like, bet.

You want to all the parties, you want to go? You want go to all the parties, bro? Like they look lit too. Nothing like a Miami party. You know, you know. No, but I've been there. I've been there, Logan. I've been there. Listen.

But you did it in Utah, dog. No, I did it. No, but yeah, at Utah and on a much smaller scale, right? Like, I was not Jimmy Butler. I was not. No, what I meant to say, though, when I said Utah, just to give context, I would just say, like, I feel like his was a bit more funner than yours, because at least if you were like, fuck you to the team, it's better to say fuck you to the team if you're in Miami and you're

missing the team flight as opposed to like going, sorry, never mind. Let me never, I'd do this. I don't want, I don't want, I don't want, let me just, let me just. Let me just. Let me just leave it in. No, no, I'm, I'm protecting you, Mr. Jasmine. I have no, I, I was, I was, I was, I was going back to. Where are we going back to?

I was just saying, I was just saying it's lit for like Jimmy because like, if he misses the flight, he's going to a party. He's having fun during this time. Yeah. No, I mean, yes. But what I, yeah, I think, the middle of winter unless you're unless it you know like there's some real great things to do in the salt lake area in the middle of winter but if you made me choose between you know having to stay at home

in salt lake in the middle of the winter or stay at home in miami i think there's more i can get into in miami if that makes sense right so you know what i mean that's very slopes in park in park city but that you know that kind of gets old after yeah but you're going to do that so many times it's fine but you go and anything goes wrong on that your contract is void right so you're in a hold so you ain't doing that um but but i i i want to say like okay i'm not jimmy butler like i didn't mean as much to the jazz as he as he means to the heat but i do i've lived this part where it's like okay like you're you're you're you're clearly as an organization in my estimation trying to make my life very difficult right so now i'm going to just i'm going to make a mockery of whatever we got going on

here. Mine was like, I, you know, we're going on road trips. I know you ain't playing me and you're never going to put me in. So part of my luggage is golf clubs. This was before dudes were playing golf like now, nobody gives a shit. Steph Curry plays golf whenever he wants. But back then, people weren't doing it. And with the jazz, it was like, because there was a certain culture around the jazz, too, you know? So like it was unheard of to see a set of sticks going on to the plane and off of the plane, right? And so mine was more like that. Like, like oh okay you know like after shoot around you could see me bed yeah you can see me in the elevator with my golf clubs on my back and i knew it fucking irritated everybody and i knew they were side

with but i was doing it anyway and part of me was doing it just to elicit the response like was that the pettiest you think you've ever been was that oh yeah yeah no no because yeah and nowhere else did i do that this was at the end i knew i was like i think shit but that's where jimmy is like on scale right jimmy is wow and jimmy is sitting there like bro and it's just It's so flagrant, bro. It's so flagrant. He's going to party. He's going to unrivaled.

Shout out to unrivaled. We saw y'all last week do your thing. Shout out to that. But he's over here doing backwards. He's wearing backwards jerseys. He's just like, anytime there's a camera, he's like, guess where I'm not at? Work. Facts.

Facts. And again, I would say, I'm going to tell you from experience at the NBA level. It's not escaping him, bro. This man is, this is, this is part of it. That is where I think, you know, it's rubbing the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the fuck was I, but, like, I, I, I, I, yes, Jimmy is making a mockery of this. And for all of those reasons, that is why when you ask me, would the heat, if they don't get what they want in a deal, swallow the, swallow the, the, the poison pill, I think they would. Yeah. not so great for Jimmy in the Heat, but awesome for us to just watch. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you stretch a segment.

Good job, buddy. Say a quick break. We're going to talk about some all-star politics. I tried to have great, you know, mid-pod discussions with Rajah, but he said, fuck, you have a flight to catch. So we're here for the second segment. Time is money, baby. I know.

You know, every time, bro, Roger, just before we get to this segment, Roger is such a diva. Roger is such a diva. He's always on the phone. He's like, yo, hold on. Hold on, hold on. Hold on. Let me meet this mic.

Hey, yo, you're fucking about the pot. About the pot. About the pot. I'm gonna holl at you to pew. All right. Wow. Okay. All right.

What are we doing here? Let me bring up. Man, I got to talk to this pool guy real quick. Hey. Oh, man. I do need to holl at him, though, man. My pump. I think my pool pump's broken.

Maybe out there. I can't believe that they call us serious podcasters because we are not serious people right now. We're absolutely not serious. Yeah. Okay. Let's talk to All-Star voting. Let's go. Let's talk some All-Star.

First off, let me give you the starters really quickly. Much to Howard Beck's delight. Brother, they've been kicking his ass dog. Who is they? Every social media that I, like, look onto. They're just like, wow. they're just on his ass, bro, just about this La Mello thing.

Like, it's just, it's pretty cool. It's just hilarious. It's someone that has no, like, we don't care, but it's just, we got Howard's back, but it's still hilarious. It's hilarious. Tap in and see some of that. All right.

So Eastern Conference starters, Jalen Brunson, Donovan Mitchell, Carl Anthony Towns, Jason Tatum, Yannis Adidicumbo. Solid list. Solid starting list, right? Western Conference starters. Shea Gilgis Alexander.

who is, like I said, the previous episode is the second best Shea behind Shea Moister. Stefan Curry, Nicola Yolkich, Kevin Durant, LeBron James. Now, that is the, that's pretty standard. That makes a ton of sense, right? Yep. Now, here's where the mess comes in. This is from the best basketball newsletter out there. Good morning, it's basketball.

Tom Ziller. love him, love his work. But he had something interesting just about the All-Star voting. The Mellow Ball still came extremely close to grabbing the second starter slot as he nabbed the number three finish in the player vote. He did it become a starter only because of one aspect I referenced in his Tuesday post. Brunson trailed Lillard narrowly for number three in the fan voting to get into the final weekend of fan voting. Brunson caught Dame at the end who beat him by 120,000 boats. had Brunson finished fourth in the fan votes,

which is where he sat through the balloting process until the final week, Lamello would have cleansed the spot. So it was the players. It was the players that ultimately, you know, the media was going to be what it was going to be. So what does that tell you right now that the players voted Lamello number three

and ultimately didn't get him in the starting lineup? Because we knew the media, like, Howard was a very good window in how the media thought of it thought of the media vote was going to go, right? Like we kind of just, we pretty much knew that, right? And like, I understand why he did it. We've talked about it. But the players have also just doubled down on that as well. The players have doubled down on on Lamello not being a starter, you're saying.

Exactly. Yes. How do you feel about that? Yeah. What does that say about the game? Well, I mean, I think it says basically what I was saying last, last, last, week whenever we talked about it. Like you recognize that starting is, is, you know, the All-Star game is one level of

recognition. Starting in it is another level of recognition. And typically starting in the All-Star game, not only, you know, are you really talented and having a great year, but your team's winning. And so that's typically rewarded with the starting nod, right? Like, but making the All-Star game is a whole other animal in and of itself. And that's not directly, you know, correlated with how many wins. your team has or doesn't have.

And also, do you think it's a bit of like the players being like, you know what, man? Hey, like, we get you balling, but the game is the game, bro. Like, we still, there's still a level of unwritten rules and you still got to do right by the basketball guys. Yeah, I mean, we're saying basically the same thing, right? Like, what I'm saying is the, yeah, the NBA player is saying what this former NBA player said, which is, yeah, man, like, probably can't reward you with the starting nod, but cannot say that you ain't out here getting them numbers, raw or otherwise.

And should be rewarded for that. Maybe, not a starting nod, can't do that, but also can't dismiss that that shit's actually happening. Do you think the coaches, then the coaches, because the coaches do the reserves, right? Do you think the coaches would put him into a reserve role? Because that's a real interesting. That's a real interesting question, right? Because I do think on some level he is deserving of an all-star slot.

Yeah, coaches might look at that different than me as the former player looked at it. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? The coach could, you know, because again, coaches are. Coaches, I feel like are more or more of like wins and losses and just for the good of the game. You know what I mean? they're a bit more mature in that way. Yeah, no.

Like, so, yeah, I could totally see the coaches saying, like, you've, you know, um, yeah, coaches are more locked in on what Howard was talking about. And I understand that. Um, and I respect that, right? Because ultimately it's, it's about, it's about winning. Like, we're all trying to win, right? And that's how, you know, coaches, coaches livelihoods aren't tied up into whether La Malle ball is having career years.

Like, yeah. That's not, coach. Coaches hiring or firing isn't going to be, you know, revolving around that. It's going to be revolving around whether his career years can result in wins. And so I understand that. But like as a former player and players who are out there, you know, living in the moment with him, you know, you just can't discount the fact that it's getting done, if that makes sense. That's that's all I'm saying. More from Ziller.

This is some other All-Star politics. And other final ballot news, Steph Curry had no problem grabbing the second starting slot in the Westback Court, and Victor Wimonyama's bid to get the start up front was foiled by fellow players. The media put Big Vic and Anthony Davis ahead of LeBron James and Kevin Durant, which combined with Wimonyama's fourth place finish in the fan vote, set him for the start if he finished ahead of Durant and the player vote. He didn't come close.

Durant and James actually tied for the number two in player vote, which put Durant a quarter point over Wimbanyama overall. Had James received one more vote than Durant, Katie and Big Big would have tied, and Durant would have started due to the fan boat win. What does that tell you? The players basically took Wembe and was like, nah, this ain't your time player.

We put in the established people there. We're going with Brian and Katie instead. What do you think about that? What does that say from a player's standpoint? Is that jealousy? What does that say from a player's standpoint? Was that jealousy? Is that like, hold on, you need to wait your turn, young fellow?

Like, where, what does that say to you? No, I don't, I don't, I mean, you can't discount that. Players can be petty. Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, you can't discount that that could have been the case here or there. But I think by and large, that was not the driving motivational factor for people with Wembe there. I think more than anything, LeBron and K.D. have been doing it at the level for such an incredible amount of time.

And a lot of these players modeled their game, you know, after a KD or a LeBron. Like they were their heroes. These were people. Now you get to work with them and play against them. But these are the people that you grew up being, you know, having as your number one. And so, you know, there's a level of reverence there, right? And so when you vote and it's time to put pen to paper, you might get caught up in that a little bit. But I don't see it as necessarily them trying to make a point about someone having to pay their dues or wait their turn or even or even jealousy.

Now, it might result in you having to wait your turn and in some way, shape, or form someone saying that that's you paying your dues. But I don't think that was the motivational factor from guys. What do you think it would have said had they went with Wimby in the player vote? What do I think it would have said? About the league or about the leagues, the voting block of the of the, of the, of the, NBA players. What do you think it would have said about like what we see of the current NBA if Wembe would have gotten that vote over those two pillars of NBA history? I don't, yeah, I don't, I mean, I don't know necessarily what it would have said.

You know, more than anything, it would tell you exactly, you know, how guys feel about, if it, about playing against him, I guess is what I'm saying. So if, if, if, if he was, absolutely terrifying to the today's NBA player then he would have probably gotten to vote and what like if he was just like this dude he was like he is though right

I don't know I mean I mean I know he's brilliant like you know he's brilliant like you can see that he's going to be brilliant but there are some dudes that are just so dope that you're like oh damn we got to play those moms like God oh yeah like and I think if if he was like that

if enough people saw him like that he probably would have gotten the vote that doesn't mean that he isn't that it means that at this point like that's not the that's not the you know they're not enough dudes that kind of harbor that kind of feeling

towards him you know in a way that they might in three or four years from now yeah see what happens he's going to make the all-star team like I don't have any doubt about that yeah all yeah they're not

he's coaching they mean I have doubt that La Mello's going to going to make the all-star team just because you put it in the coach's hands. But the coaches are definitely, they know what time it is with Wendy. Yeah. Well, I'm trying to, yeah, Wembe will not miss it. I'm with you 100%. Absolutely not.

And Lamello, yeah, I could see, I could see him, I could see the coaches saying, hey, that's cool, but. They're going to say, no. Oh, God. You out here wilding, bro. Okay. Okay. I'm on with, man.

What do you want me to do? Anyways, let's, I don't know if there's anything else to say right now. I don't know if there's any storylines. We'll see what happens. Boston needs to do better. Isaiah's, for Isaiah's sake, you know, for that. Anyways, let's go to a little segment we like to call ruin of the week. While I search for my ruin of the week, I'm going to go with Roger.

What do you got? Yeah. Let's see. I didn't really have one prepared, but let me just go ahead and shoot. I'm going to go with one run. Ryan Day. Got to know him a little bit through the recruiting process. Wadilla realized that he and Chip Kelly both are from a town in New Hampshire, I believe,

where one of my former teammates played his prep basketball. And so Tungi Yawadjobi is his name, and he was like a 6667 Nigerian golden gloves, boxer who came over and played the four at Boston University. It probably set every school record. I think he caught on with the Celtics a little bit, but like Tunji was our common thread. So I got to chop, chop it up with Coach Day and Coach Kelly a little bit. And I'm giving him the real one because they just obviously won the national championship. But the pressure cooker that is the Ohio State football job, not unlike a lot of other like major P4 jobs, but, you know, the losses to Michigan were mounting, especially the last one.

I mean, the people calling for his head and calling for his job. And maybe the only way to keep it secure was to make a deep run into the college football playoff and ultimately win it. And he did it. And I'm giving him a real one of the week for that. Congrats. That's what's that? Okay.

Yeah. What's the Ohio State like chant or whatever? It's like, I don't know. Oh, HIO? Yeah, exactly. Shout out to Columbus. I don't, so I think I'm going to give it to the Raiders right now because I'm really happy with the news. I'm kind of like cautiously happy with the news of P. Carroll, which means I'm not going to be happy in a year or so, but I think I'm going to go with it. Yeah. It's it's the most optimistic I've felt about a coach in a long time, right? Yeah, I'm good for you. Yeah. Good for you. Yeah, good for you, bro. Don't be afraid.

Jump in there. Both feet, dog. What do you think, though? Where has he been in the day? It hadn't been good. I know. When I told you I was USC fan, who was the coach when I was a USC fan? Yeah.

Can build and run a program, bro. Like, I mean, I don't know you guys going to win the Super Bowl next year, but I think they're better days ahead for the Raiders. An exciting nine and eight season. I'm down for that. Like, bro, like also, man, it's going to be good to be on national TV, you know, at least a harball game, you know, it's going to be cool, right?

Right? Right? This should be good. Isaiah, do you have any thoughts on the Raiders hire right now, being from Boston? Do you have any thoughts? I thought it was an opt-I thought it was like best-case scenario for the Raiders. I didn't think.

I like it better than Ben Johnson. I'm not quite there because Pete's so old. It's a short runway. Like you're not getting. Isaiah's new to the podcast, but he's already, you know, with the agent. You know, the only problem is he's old. But other than that, it should turn around the,

it should help turn around the Raiders for sure. Okay. All right. What you guys going to do? What pick you got in the draft, Logan? I don't know. This is the only good news that has come out of this season. So, interesting.

What is the Raiders pick? It's like five or something? I wonder if that gets you into, does it get you into? Oh, number six draft. Number six picking the draft. So, yeah, yeah. There goes my dream to getting in. I was Hunter. So, you know, it's, it's fine. It is, it is what it is. This is a very somber

ruin of the week. I don't know how I feel about it, but, you know, on a, on a good note, I get to see, I get to see our buddy Jomey. He's in town. I get to see him. Hey, I'm very excited about that. An original Bridgerton boy? Bridgetton boy. Bridgetton boy. Bridgetton boys might be back soon, you know, you know? We are, are you, are you a severance boy right now? Tell my boy, Jomey, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're moving. The wife and I are. I haven't I haven't watched the second episode yet. I haven't seen that second episode yet, so we can't fully talk about it.

The second season? No, the second episode of the second season. I haven't seen it. Oh, the second season. No, we're catching up in the first season, and I was going to download a bunch and like, or the last few and watch them on my flights today, but we're saving them.

We watch that together, so. You want to tell B, you said hi? Or you don't believe it still. Okay. Huh? You want to tell B, you said hi? That still freaks me out, man. I'm like, I'm getting there.

It's still kind of. kind of freaky for me, man. Such a huge fan. What's up, homie? Okay. I think that was, that has been another edition of,

uh, of Rowans. Um, are you going to be back on Monday or Tuesday? Are you going to be back with us? I'll be back on Tuesday. Our millions and millions of fans. Yeah,

I'm there. I'm there. Okay. All right. All right. All right. All right. Got said another,

he's winking. He's winking. He looks like he's on hostage. His fucking cameras all fucking. up. His Wi-Fi shit. All right. Raj has a plan to catch.

Let's get out of here. That's been another edition of Real Ones. Hey, make sure you guys still tickets available for the live show. Stop fucking playing. We'll see you guys in San Francisco very soon. Roger is confirmed to go there. Me, Raja, Howard, mother, effie, Beck. See you on Tuesday.

Ah, ah, ah, all this shit. Bye.