The Ringer NBA Show - Year-End ‘Real Ones’ Mailbag | Real Ones

Episode Date: December 22, 2022

In the last ‘Real Ones’ episode of the year, Logan and Raja unpack their end-of-the-year mailbag to answer listener questions on everything from the Knicks’ eight-game winning streak to lessons from Raja on youth basketball (6:41). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Associate Producer: Jonathan Kermah Production Assistant: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone, it's Ariel Hawani. And I'm Chuck Mindenhall. And I'm Pizie Carroll, and together we are three-pack. Join us on the brand-new Spotify Live app immediately after all of the biggest fights in combat sports. And also during the way-ins, because that's when the real drama happens. So what are you waiting for? Follow the Ringwere M.M.A. show right now on our exclusive Spotify podcast feed. And come join the best community in M.A.

Peace! We're out of here. What's popping? Real ones. Logan Murdoch here, Roger Bill there. mail bag time. How you doing, Rob? I hope they came with some good stuff this year, man. I know, I know, I know. Not that they usually don't. I'm just saying, I hope that, again, the listeners have tapped in with some real fire.

That's just my hope. That was a great recovery. Good job, buddy. Thanks. I was a good job. I just wanted to rant really quickly. I went to go see the Lakers last night in Sacramento, and it was just heartbreaking. I don't want to get too much into it, but I have to say that.

It was just a very, very bad display of basketball. So you were at the game where Pat Beverly down 30 gave someone that you're too small when he hit the little jump hook in the lane. You were at the game? I wasn't, that was in Phoenix. I was in Sacramento last night. Oh, that was last night. To my knowledge, I don't think that he did the, I don't think he did any of those antics during this game. But I also left at the end of the third quarter.

So, you know, it could be, that could have happened. I'm not sure. But it was very tough. It was tough. I feel for you, man. I feel for Laker fans. I know I just saw the viral video of him this morning. I didn't see exactly what team it was,

but obviously that hit a little spot with me. He did it to Chris Paul down 30. He did that to Chris Paul down. It's tough. It's really tough. Everything he said at the beginning of the year is now happening at December. And it's just, it's hard. It's really hard.

There are a lot of people that I feel for individually. That's a collective, obviously, the Laker fan base, but Darvinham, I mean, I guess you know what you're getting into, right? Like, it's part of the decision making. Like, do you hop into a situation like that? And in a lot of instances, especially young blackhead coaches or prospective blackhead coaches, they don't have necessarily the ability to sit there and pick and choose the ideal situation to go into. So if they're going to give you a look, you probably should take that. Especially if it's the Los Angeles Lakers. It's really big deal for that to happen.

Yeah. So, like, on the flip side, that it's the Lakers. And, you know, but it is a mess. And that was a mess. It was a mess. It was a mess. I had another revelation last night. I could never be an NBA player, ever.

So I get to the arena really early, right? Right. I got there early. And I see front of the show, Juan T. Shout out, one T. O.G. Phil Handy is, is put him through a workout. Sidebar. Can we just do this?

Because Phil Handy is my dog, too. like his young fellow McKenzie. Town business. Yeah, when his young fellow McKenzie was just coming out of school, I was in Cleveland with the Cavs, and I spent many an afternoon with McKenzie in the wait room or on the court,

you know, trying to mentor him in a little bit of role. I could be for him in that capacity. I hit Phil to come on the show. Phil told me I got to talk to his publicist, bro. That's how Handy played me. All the real ones out there, talk to Phil Handy when you see him at a game,

be like, yo, what the hell is going on? because you got a connection with Phil Handy. He literally gave my sons their first basketball workout ever in the Cavs, like, practice facility, man. Like, me and Phil go back. Phil told me to talk to his publicist, bro. Bill from Oakland, bro. Like, what the hell is going?

Hey, man, listen, he's an acquaintance of the show until further notice. Shout out to Phil Handy, but that is unacceptable. That is just unacceptable. But anyway, back to the point. The point. So O.G. Phil is giving Juan T. like giving him a pregame workout. And for everybody doesn't know,

there's a difference between a play game workout if you're playing versus if you're not playing. If you're not playing, you're getting fucking, you're getting a work out. One is a workout and one is like a shooting session, getting warmed up. Juan was getting a workout.

And he is running a screen here, running to the other side of the court, getting a jump shot in, running back to the other side of the court again, getting another jump shot in, then going reaving into a pick and roll. And that's just one drill. And I was so tired just looking at that shit, bro.

I was like, I can't do this. I can't do this. Like one of these drills would have just been a whole workout for me and I would have fallen out. Phil had wanted a bag. One was in a bag. Yeah, I remember those days, man. Like I'd play Mike Woodson was my guy in Philly, my second year. And I'd go through a whole workout and Woody was still in a bit of shape.

So Woody would then play me one-on-one. Like, we'd get after it and play one-on-one for, 20 minutes. And the worst is, I guess it's the best and the worst, right? Because it's the best because you actually get in the game. It's the worst because you've done a whole workout like that. And now because of circumstances, coach looks down to the end of the bench and is like,

yo, Logan, let's go. And you're like, what? Who me? And now with them dead-ass legs after having a whole workout, you got to get out there and try to show something in two minutes that might warrant you getting four minutes the next game. Dog, the NBA is tough, man. It's a tough league.

Like, you want to, there's a real difference between professionals and mortals, dude. And you can even see it during the workouts. And I was just looking. I'm like, I had to tell Phil, I was like, damn, dog. Like, I was like, come on. And it was at one point during the workout session, Juan was like, they got me out here for an hour, bro. And I love it. It was great.

It was great. So there was a bright spot in seeing the Lakers play like shit. But it was a fun night out in Sacramento. Well, all right, then. A beautiful new arena, right? I mean, that thing is... I'm going to say a hot take right now. Everyone out here knows my take, but I'm going to finally bring it to Rulins.

I think that on the low, Golden 1 in Sacramento is better than Chase Center. I'm just going to go out on a limb, and I think that that's the case. I really do. I'm just going to go there and we'll talk about it later. Maybe on the next mailback of Rulman to call me. on that, but that's my hot take. There it is. Speaking of that, let's get to the questions.

And before we get to the questions, I'm going to bring out who's making his real ones debut, one third Ikeye. What's going to hold us down and tell us he's going to, he's live from the street, so he's going to tell us what the real ones are saying and give us some questions. And we're going to go from here, man. So what up? Third Ikeye,

how you doing, bud? I'm good, man. Arndor to be here, make my real ones debut with y'all. I mean, without first their duel, we'll get right into it. So first questions from Carlos. Say, what's up, Logan and Roger Peace and Happiness for your holiday seasons. Question is for fans of tanking young and not very good teams, how do you seriously evaluate development? How do you personally pick out things that look good that can translate to a future winner as opposed to players putting up numbers just based on them being the ones getting

the minutes, i.e. a young player like Killian Hayes finally showing some flashes as soon as Cade was injured. That's a really good question. That's a fantastic question. You have been more knowledge into like the nuances of this. I can only go from a journalist perspective. So go ahead. What do you got on this? Yeah, no, that's a fantastic question. And I mean, Carlos, I asked for good questions. Buddy, kudos to you, man.

Happy holidays back at you. It's a very hard thing to do is the answer to that question. Because you see general managers all the time, take someone from a young team that's scoring a ton of points, overpay them, try to put. put them into a situation that is ready to win and they're not able to play at that level yet. So they're overpaid. And so you see general managers like the brightest minds in the game miss on that all the time.

It's very hard to tell when it's actual true development or if it's just, hey, man, somebody's got to get these points up because there's a minimum points that have to be scored in an NBA game. What I would what I would kind of try to do is see if, said player continues to add to his game. Can you see new wrinkles in his game from year to year, from month to month, from half of the season to half of a season? Or is he the same player getting the same stats? And he's just, you know,

maybe he's fractionally scoring more points. But like, you know, for young players, when they play pick and roll initially, like let's say he's just a great score at a pick and roll, right? Like, that's great. But a year from now or six months from now, is he learning how to make the right reads at a pick and roll? Does he become a facilitator in pick and roll?

As defenders go, like he might be a great primary on-ball defender. But in four months from now, is he starting to get better at his rotations? Is he in help side when he's supposed to be? Is he making second-level plays as a defender? So you're looking for growth, not just statistics, but you want to see them continue their games evolve. And that lets you know that there's development taking place. I think a good example of what Roger lays out

is I remember in a 1920 season with the with the Warriors, there was a guy by the name of Eric Pascal who made all rookie first team. But after a year, the Warriors had realized, I say after a year for sure, but then after, you know, the second year, he got a little injured and stuff, but they could see that he wasn't going to be a long-term fit. And now on one side, you're like, dude, you just went all-MBA. What are you talking about? This is the guy that you should want to build around. But I say all that to say, teams look for the whole package.

They don't really necessarily look at the scoring aspect when they're so bad. Because to Rogers' point, everybody can score in this league. They can get buckets. You're looking for little things like, what are the subtle things that this person is doing? Is he doing the back cuts? is he showing good basketball IQ? Because I think, remember when Juan was here a few years ago, when people were getting on his head, like in the precinct,

like, bro, why you ain't scoring so much? Why you ain't doing all this stuff? It's because he knew his role, and his role was to set screens and sometimes initiate offense, but really just be a high-energy guy. They want you to be really good in the role that they see for you. The teams want you to be good in the role that they see for you. So it's less, I'd say a key indicator is Carlos,

is if you're seeing, if you're looking at the stat sheet and you're seeing a guy that you envision not necessarily being a score on a championship team for you, when you look at the stats sheet, you want to see that shit, hella rebounds, hella assist, maybe eight points,

but you want to see a well-rounded stats sheet. You don't want to see 35 points, no assist in five boards. Like, that's not doing anything for anyone. You want to see a well-rounded basketball player that can integrate into a championship level team. And I think that would be my biggest thing to indicate it for a young team.

Those are all great points, Logan. But let's say this young player on this young team is going to be a primary score in his future role, right? Like, that's what he was drafted to do. In that space, you know, you want to see him continue to expand his offensive arsenal, right? Like if let's say he's primarily a driver, well, can we start to? to score on different levels, meaning, you know, not only can we get to the basket, but do we have a mid-range pull-up game or something in the mid-post? Does he, is he able to stretch the floor now and knock down the three?

Like, can he become a more well-rounded offensive player? Is he volume? Can he work on his efficiency? Like, can he do more with less? Like, these are things that you want to see young players continue to grow, like, as offensive players, can he become a playmaker? So, you know, will he understand that even though his primary objective on a team is going to be the score. There are going to be times where, you know, this double is being sent at him and he's

got no problem distributing the ball. Does he stand after he gets off of the ball? Right? So boom, he could, the double came. He had to move it. Does he stand and accept the fact that someone else is going to shoot or is he in perpetual motion, i.e. staff or Jason Tatum or Devin Booker or one of these guys or he's going to work to get it back? Like, those are things that you would look for, Logan, if one of these guys were on primary score to see if his development is on track. Question no on that one, though. like, I'm thinking about a guy like Paul George, who God is calling card on defense in Indiana and then evolved into a really great player.

Like, how do you find that, though? Because, like, there's a world where Paul George is just like a 3-and-D guy, right? Or he's just a guy that just is your, just shut down defender. How do you find out, like, oh, this guy is going to be a superstar? This guy is really fucking good. How do you find that from when you don't necessarily see that in the first couple of years and his role has drastically changed over the years. How do you scout that?

We may not see that as the fan, right? But the people in the building see that every day. Like that might not be his role on the team right now. But behind closed doors, we're watching practices, and we see the ability to handle the ball and playmake, the ability to score, you know, on levels of the floor that he's not asked to score in games necessarily yet or the potential to do so.

Like there would be flashes of that. that's not something that you wake up the next morning and you're like hey guess what I got this bag you're not like you have that and you show flashes of it in practice so as a staff it's our job to weigh winning now versus allowing you to explore your game

and continue to develop right there's an equation there you know that it has to be in balance if we're a team that's winning right now the Pacers were winning um so maybe it's not time for him to like take control of this yet but at the same time foster you know and nurture his ability to grow and expand his game you know

at the practice facility in whatever we have set up outside of the scope of real meaningful games. And we continue to nurture that side of it. And you'll see it continue to blossom. So the people who need to know would know that the ability was there. It has to be cultivated. It has to be worked on. And once we feel like it's at a point where we can win with it, then we let it lose. That's what's up, man.

Carlos, way to come off the gate. Dog, I think it's great hot. Kai, we got a name. What's up? All right. Next question. I think we got a lot of NICS really. questions from the listeners.

I mean, quite a, quite a win streak there, which was unfortunately snapped yesterday for Knicks fans. But this one's from the ringer's own Keith Fujimoto, who works on the social two, so shout out to him. Shout it to Keith. He says, is the Nick Street fraudulent, or does the team have the inner workings of a minor postseason run?

With several question marks, I need to be set straight. Keith is a huge Knicks fan. Like, huge, right? I don't believe in this next run. I'm going to be honest with you. Like, I don't think, I don't know if they're of going to a deep, deep playoff run. I think it's a great time right now. I just, when I look at the Knicks, I see, you know,

I think R.J. Barrett would have to take a monumental leap. And a lot of guys have to take a monumental leap for them to be a real contender in the Eastern Conference. I think this is a really great December streak. And it's also a great building block towards the future. But I just don't see them making a big, big postseason run. Rod, what do you think? I would agree with that.

I don't know that, you know, they're at a point right now, although they're really good defensively. And so defensively, you know, if you can hang your hat on one thing and you do that at an elite level, you know, I think that gets you in a playoff conversation. You know, obviously to win on a championship level, you've got to be super high level at multiple things. But I think there, I think that there are a, year away, a piece away, or something away from being very real. Are the Knicks, could they be a playoff team this year and be a scary out for someone?

Possibly. They're playing well, right? If they're playing well. But I don't think I would look at the Knicks and say, yeah, this is where I want to be next year in terms of as a, not as a player, mind you, but as a fan base, as a front office, as a franchise, I wouldn't look at our team and be like, yeah, well, this is what it needs to look like for us to get it. championship. I don't think you're at that point. This thing, though, like for New York is they don't, I mean, they've been in the middle for a long time, but they don't, it's hard to be in the middle in a city like New York because it's hard to develop like, it's hard to develop in front of those bright-ass lights.

You get what I'm saying? Like, for another team, this would be a great thing. Like, if this was something where, I don't know, what's it, like Charlotte, if Charlotte was doing something like this, then they don't have as much pressure on them and they can figure this shit out. And I feel like whenever, if the Knicks do something and they go on a little streak, it's, you know, the Godness back, baby, orange and blue skies, you know, Tim's in the air. And sometimes what's how Nix fans, just relax and enjoy it, bud, just relax and enjoy it and enjoy where we're at. And I, it's, I just feel like whenever something like this happened, I'm not talking about Keith specifically. I just, I just, the Nix fans on the timeline and everybody that I know. It's just like, yo, just like, relax.

Just enjoy what you're seeing. Well, yeah, look. So again, do I think the Knicks are going to win a championship? No. Again, could the Knicks be a playoff team that's a scary out for someone? They play hard as shit. They have some grimy dudes who will get down and fight you for it. Like they reflect their code. Yeah, all of that's true. And you should take some pride in that. I do believe them, though, to be like not unlike a lot of teams that are kind of hovering around that, a piece. A piece. And it doesn't necessarily have to be, when I say a piece, it doesn't always have. have to be that scoring guy, although I think the Knicks could probably use a guy like that.

Sometimes it's just a piece that tightens your chemistry up a bit or, you know, it's just something that needs to be done to get them over the hump. But a good story, something to be proud of, right? Playoff team, let's keep it moving. Keep it moving. All right, man. We'll see what happens. The one thing I am just always scared of with the Knicks is I'm just like, some of we're

talking about Anthony Davis before, like last episode. it's similar with the Knicks, but with the twist. It is, I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop. You know? Like, I'm always waiting for a shoot. Like, yeah, this is great right now. But everything about the NIC's recent history suggests, and when I say recent history, like the last 20 years,

there's always something. There's always something with the Knicks. They can never just, they can never just get it, like, get it done. And I just, I guess I'm just waiting for the other shoot at drop. There you go. Sorry, Keith. All right. Up next, we got the Raja teaches youth basketball question. This is, we got, we got several, several of these, but I picked one, and I think,

I think y'all are going to like this one a lot. This one's from Kyle. And it's the longer one, but bear with me, it's a good one. He says, What's up, y'all? Love the pod. Look forward to it every week. Got to give you all your flowers. Logan, you forgot to give out the Logan's most improved Memorial Award, but you've gotten better and better every pod. Your questions and segues are more on point than ever, and you guide every conversation with finesse and freedom. Agreed, my boy, agreed. Raja.

Thanks, man. You're one of the most relatable and down-to-earth people I've ever listened to. Honestly, we come to the pod for basketball, but we stay for the stories, life lessons, and shits and giggles you bring together with Logan. My wife just had our second baby four months ago and named her Roxanne. Ra-rah for short. Shout out to you, Logan. Oh, shit.

My wife and I both love sports and want our kids to be involved in them. So I'm curious. Raja, what has basketball or sports in general taught you about being a parent and a father? I appreciate any words of wisdom and thoughts you have. Thanks, y'all. a G. Well, well, well, well done, Kyle. Thank you for listening first and foremost. May congratulations, probably first and foremost. Thanks for listening. Secondly. Um, that's pretty dope. Listen, well, so, I mean, that's a large, it's a pretty large question, right? And I'm forced to answer this

relatively quickly. So what I, what I will say about sports and kids, um, and being a parent with kids that play sports is, and, and mind you, I'm, I'm, I'm speaking. speaking here from successes and failures. Like, I fucked up. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I ain't burned a kid out on a sport because I've done that. Let them play what they want to play. I mean, introduce them to a lot of things.

You know, we did that the right way where we put every kind of ball out there and let them play t-ball and soccer and golf and football and basketball. And we kind of let them gravitate towards what they like to do. I think that's really important. I think once they decide, you know, what they like to do, keep it light for them as much as you can. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and tell you, I don't want my kids when they were in the fourth grade to be good little

AAU players because I did. But I was way tougher on my first son with basketball than I was on my next two. And he told me straight up, yo, I don't love this like that. So, you know, keep it light, keep it fun at the. same time improving their games, right? Like we subscribe to in our family, hey, if you're going to play, let's be the best little version of ourselves we can be. So I'm not saying that it's all shits and giggles when you're on the court. We want to learn how to compete. We want to learn how to be, you know, tough and all of that. But there's got to be an element

of, hey, I'm still a kid and I'm still having a good time doing this. That's really important. And then, you know, you can't fight all your kids battles for them as much as you want to as they get older, whether that be, you know, with a coach or another player or a damn referee that you see all the time. And you want to sit there and scream at them. Now you fucking stop. Like, you know what I mean? And again, I ain't sitting there. I'm telling you from experience, man. Like, you can't fight their battles for them and try to always have them in the best situation. Although that's your job as a parent. You can't make every situation right, is what I'm saying. And so sometimes best lesson for a kid is learning, having been in that situation that as a parent, you tried to fix for him.

Just let it work itself out. And you'll get kids that know how to handle themselves that are mature. They feel like, you know, they're safe in their space. And then listen to him, bro. I'm sorry, this turned into a parenting thing. Listen to him. Like when my son, I give myself a little bit of credit with this Joker because although I burned him out with basketball because I pushed him hard, hard, hard early when he told me he didn't want to play it anymore. I listen.

And he turned into a really good damn football player because, you know, I allowed him to say, you know, I don't want to be out in his backyard anymore. I want to go throw the ball and learn defensive coverages. And I listened. And I think he and I are better for it. And our relationship is better for it. That's just so, I'm tears are getting to help. Hey, listen, I ain't mean it to be that.

But it was a great question, Kyle. It was a good question, my boy. Thanks, Kyle. Kyle, what's next? Up next, we got one from Michael, switching gears a little bit here. This one's, it's kind of about Phoenix, about trading, about the new owner. So I thought y'all could hit on that. Michael says, given the pending new ownership group in Phoenix, is it unlikely Phoenix will execute any trades before the trade deadline after the bridges, Aiton, Aiton, Monty, public disagreements?

Is it possible Aiton could go back on the trade block? Is he the big that Brooklyn is needing? And then there's a rumor that incoming owner of the sons, Matt Ishbia, has beef with Dan Gilbert. Have you two ever heard of interesting beef between team owners or basketball operation teams? That's a lot. Wait, I want to get to the Phoenix stuff first and then we can talk about the beach stuff. I think with Phoenix, either way, like, I don't think it's going to affect trading this trade deadline. Just because James Jones, as we all know, is probably...

has had like a lot of autonomy to do what he wants there. And I don't think a new ownership is going to change that, at least in the interim, right? At least in the interim, I think in the interim as it's going on, Rogers is giving me a face right now. But I think like in the next couple of months as they're transferring power and stuff, I think James will have autonomy to do it once. Is that fair? Like I'm talking about over the next two months. I'm not talking about over the totality of the time, but there's just so many moving things that are going on. I think James will have his autonomy.

I would disagree. I'm not saying that he won't have it, but I'm saying that, first of all, I don't know the timeline of that, but I'm saying there are situations where an ownership group comes in, and Robert Sarver and James have a relationship that goes back to when I played with the sons

and James was there, right? A new owner might come in there and not have the same philosophy of allowing James to have the type of leash that he had. And I think James is fantastic, and I think he's done a phenomenal job. but you can't just, you never know, I guess is the point. So while you may be right, Logan,

I could also see a scenario where new ownership says, hey, listen, man, we don't want a whole lot of shit moving around while we're trying to take control of this. We have a philosophy, like we'll get everybody up to speed on it and what we look like and how we want to approach, you know, team building and winning culture and all of that. It's in stark contrast to what you've been doing. So I'd like everyone to just hold tight.

Let us play this out. You know, I don't know, but I could see a situation like that. So it'll be very interesting to see. And what about the second question? Because I don't know. I'm thinking about like any beefs between ownerships. And I don't know of any off the top like that. I'm sure there's beef, though.

Like I am positive there's beef between like. Listen, those are all Uber rich, super egotistical competitive. Yes, you think they ain't beefing or talking shit behind each other's back? You would be naive. But I don't know of any real ones, and I couldn't put any names to or faces to names or anything like that. I don't know of any. Within front offices, I think it's just like any other walk of life, man. Like you got guys that, like, you know, when I was with Griff, you could tell, not that he ever talked about it,

that there were some dudes when he talked about them. He talked about them and doing business with them affectionately and with some sort of like, you know, like a pep in his voice, if you will. And there were other dudes that when he'd get off the phone, it sounded like he was. was a grind and he didn't like working with them all the time. I don't, again, I don't know who they were, but I think that's in any business. There's some people that, that, uh, comport themselves in a way that, that, that makes it fun to, to, to work with them and the others that don't. And so that's just, that's just the way it goes.

As much shit as there's being talked at every NBA arena, I'm sure there is a lot of beef in the NBA. There's a lot that's under the service. There's messy beef. There's, it's, I would say that the NBA is the equivalent of a high school lunch table or a high school environment. It is the messy. It's one of the messiest places on earth. Like, it's not, I meant like petty, all the shit. It's, it's great. You're talking about locker rooms and team dynamics? Yeah, we got a lot going on there. You guys only, I would say you guys

only see like a fraction of a fraction of what it is. Say less, but go ahead. Say less. Say less. And the last part, DeAndre Aiton to Brooklyn. Yeah, I think that'd be big time for Brooklyn. I mean, I don't know how feasible that is or, or. realistic or what the cap situation would look like and who's got to be. But if you just took the Andre Aiton and some fringe pieces from Brooklyn and swapped them, yeah, I think that would be huge in terms of... Brooklyn is a problem right now, but Brooklyn would be a problem. Guess what? Santa Barclay is coming to town and he's delivering $20 million in gifts this

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18770 stop, Louisiana, visit MD gambling help.org, Maryland, 18778, Hope, N.Y, or or text Hope N.Y. 467369, New York, 1,800 522470 Wyoming, or visit www.w.1-800 gambler.net, West Virginia. What's next, Kai? All right, up next, keeping in the spirit of owners. Are we, this one's from Ryan. Are we giving MJ a pass?

We wouldn't give any other owner if they had a track record of mediocrity that Charlotte has had during his tenure? Word, it's MJ, bro. Well, yeah, it's MJ and also, bro. Like, there have been a dog. The Sacramento Kings have not made the postseason since I was in seventh grade. We talk a lot of shit about them, though.

We do talk a lot of shit about them. I mean, that's the point, right? Like, the point is, like, yeah, all of those teams and you could go ahead and rattle them off because I know you're about to, but we talk shit about almost all of those teams. And I think my man Ryan's point is. But here's the thing. I feel like we talk shit about Charlotte, bro. We do talk shit about Charlotte.

It happens. No, no, not really. In fairness, no. It's always with a caveat her. We very rarely talk like Charlie, dude. We talk lamello. No, no, no, no. I'm talking about league-wide.

I feel like since Mike be getting him Adam Morrison, not Adam Morrison, what's his name? From Gonzaga. What's his name? Adam Morrison was a dude you're talking about. Is that his name? No, Adam Morrison is a rock star.

It is Adam Morrison. I played with Adam Orson. Yeah, it is Adam Morrison. Okay. Well, fuck you go, listen, I played with the man. I know his name. All right. Hey, fuck you.

But, no. But I feel like he does get shit for that. I feel like because it's Charlotte, maybe he does. It's maybe not on a national scale all this time. But he does get shit for the moves that he did. There was always a narrative that like, you know, Mike always hires people that's close to him. The illusion is that he has a lot of yes men around it, right?

That's always what, that was always the narrative. Like he doesn't get Charles Barkley stop being friends with him because he would call him out about like how bad his team has been. It's, I would push back a little bit to, to say that Mike gets the criticism as a front office person, maybe not to the other's extent, but he do. I'm a huge fan of Mike, right? Like I was, I grew up an MJ fan.

I got to play for there or something that weren't. I got to play for MJ, which was pretty cool. I lived across the hall from MJ for a while. Like, I, I'm, this isn't to discredit anything MJ's got, but there is a slight point there. He does not get, you might talk about MJ and some of those things, but he don't get, he don't get like, sliced and diced like others might.

And I think he's, he's MJ. So that was my original point. No, he don't. Sorry. Hey, what's the aura of MJ? I've never met MJ before. What's the aura of MJ like, bro?

It's regal, bro. And it's splendor. It's fucking MJ, man. It's like, you know, he walks around with this, you see how I got this glow of this bullshit late? You got the aura?

Yeah, dog. It's MJ. And it is what it is. I think the fact that we don't ever talk about the Bobcats is, is kind of... Well, we don't talk about the Bobcast

because they don't exist. We talk about the Hornets. My bad, sorry. Yeah, cut that out. Yeah, my bad. Or keep it in. Shit, I don't... But, yeah, we don't talk

about the Hornets. It was the Bobcats what I believe there, but we don't talk about the hornets because they're not good and because of some of the things that MJ might in the media get skewered for.

So, like, I think that's the sentence there. It's like, they don't get spoken about, really, because, I mean, they're really not that interesting, are they? Also, I would say, To juxtapose that, you know, I know that, you all know I love the word juxtapose. To juxtapose that. Juxtapose it. The King's mess is a lot more interesting than the Bobcats mess.

I'm going to just, I'm not going to hold you. Like when they were going through their stuff, like moving out and things like that, they were just a lot more interesting. The Hornets like mess and like they're just not being good. It's just not that interesting. No one cares. No one cares. Come here, buddy. This is one of my sons.

The God. The God. What's up? Ty Bell has made his appearance. How you doing, bro? He was like, what's up? He said, how are he doing? You good? You're chilling? All right. He just left. Ty's helping me fulfill Santa duties, man. Real thing, though, this is the first time interacting with Ty, even though, like, I'm a Thai bell guy. That's my guy. He is every bit of the superstar that you would think he is. The only thing that he says on the Zoom is, hi.

He is every bit of the star and diva that I thought he was. Oh, man. What's the next question, Kai? Last question? A couple more, bro. We got a couple more and we'll be out of here, dog. Look, listen, this is the last pod. We're 35 in right now, bro.

I'm trying to play Santa. Listen, who was that? Kyle did ask the question? Hey, first and foremost, Kyle, don't fuck up being Santa, dog. Hey, hey, hey, listen, this is the last pod that they're going to get from us for the year, bro. Let's fucking hold our fans down. What's the next question, Kai? This is from Texas Seth.

Ask Raja, who he'd prefer guarding Steph or Kyrie. That's the first part. And then the actual question is, what should the next? the Warriors do with James Wiseman? Thanks y'all, day one listener. Like, look, man, I don't know who I'd rather guard. I'd probably take Steph no, no, no, no.

It's a no win. That's a trick question, my man. Are you saying that you might get mixed by both of them is what you're saying? I would definitely get mixed. I mean, everyone who guards Kyrie and Steph at some point gets mixed. So that's certainly going to happen.

Maybe Kyrie because just he tends to play with less range if that makes sense. You know, you rarely see Kyrie pull up from the, from the half court, even though I'm sure he could. So maybe because I'd have to guard him in less space, but it would be, I don't want to guard either one of them, dudes. I don't want to see you guard any of them, especially at Chavez.

I don't want to see that happen. I guess I'll answer the Wiseman question. Wiseman's tough, man, because I think the warriors are getting to the point right now where he had 30 and 5 the other day. That was already last night and I was in a blowout. He's showing some signs. But I think like if he doesn't get it together fast, the clock is really ticking on Wiseman to do good because what the Warriors see right now is they see a really big tax bill and they see a, that's paying for a 500 ball club. And they see that their first round pick that that was supposed to be really good is not holding up, is not, it's not working out.

They also see next year, he has a $12 million. He's about to be due to be paid $12 million. And with the luxury tax, I think that's like upwards of like $70 million for like one guy. And they're not getting the returns that they wanted on him. He don't look like a superstar. There's a good chance if this continues, he's not on a team next year. And that's just that's where we are right now. Because you don't want to pay $12 million for a guy that you're just going to send to the G league all

time and who hasn't been able to play. And, you know, this is coming from a guy like me who has been a wiseman, whatever you want to call it. I've been high on Wiseman and figured that he would work it out. And if he, if this continues his path, there's a good chance that I don't think he's on the team next year. And I guess that's my, that's my wiseman take and whatever you want to call it. But it's not looking good right now.

I think the biggest thing, and I think I asked Steve this when we first, when you had them on, in a perfect world, and Roger could attest it is, they would have wanted Wiseman to take Kavanaugh-Luny's spot in the first couple of weeks of the season. Just be like, nope, this is my team, this is what I'm going to do, and it just didn't happen like that.

And so it's tough for Wiseman right now, and yeah, it's tough. Last one? I got one fun one. We got a fun one, last one. Let's go. Roger wants to dip. Let's get out of it.

Okay, this is the last one, Roger. I got you. It's all Roger's fault. It's Roger's fault. I have to coach a basketball game, right? We are in a holiday tournament, and I have to be at the bus at 1.30. It is currently 1230, right? And so I have an obligation to all these high school kids to be there and help them get their uniforms,

take them over, make sure we're good to go and see if we can get a win today. So apologies for my rushed sound here, but yeah. That's fair. Okay. All right. Well, shit. What we got? Last question.

All right. This is from Jack from your house now. Logan, don't shoot the messenger here, all right? I'm just, I'm just reading this. He says, aye, fellas. I don't want any excuses. There's no reason this hasn't been addressed. Raj, as a colleague of Logan's, you are also held responsible for this.

Logan, why? You use a Sharpie every morning and draw that on there. Your eyebrows have a baby and leave it on your lips to adopt. I swear I can hear things tickling the mic every time you speak on the pod. Wow. My brother, you are a trendy, well-dressed, well-behaved young man. Why do this to yourself? November is over, my brother.

the pain. I say this because I love you. Stop it. Get some help. Or a bick. Rara. You're cool. That wasn't even the most unhinged question either. The other ones got to stay off the mic. Damn. I'm speechless. Yeah, I'm speechless. So I... You're talking about my eyebrows?

You're talking about your mustache. Mustachia. You're talking about tristachio, son. I would just say this. I would just say this. I had plenty of pictures that my children see, or my wife will go back and look at

or even my friends boy. And I used to have, I couldn't grow a thick mustache like that, Logan. So my mustache was like really, really, really thin. Well, I thought I was rocking that shit in the early 2000s. And people, I mean, it's not, I'm sure everyone has pictures when they thought they were doing it, like about two decades ago where they're like, I'm really not doing it. But mine happens to be centered around a mustache.

I can't grow any, I can't grow like a full, like, beard and shin strap, bro. And like, I don't have the goate vibe. I don't really like the goate. vibe for me. So this works. You know what I'm saying? So, you know. Thanks for listening, Jack. Thanks for listening, Big Dog. I don't know what to say to that. I don't know what to say to that.

That was pretty great. You want to go one more? You got one more? You got one more? If it's a quick one more, Kai. That was pretty funny, though, Jack. Thanks, but. Yeah, that was doing one more. I don't want to end on that note. I don't want to end on that note. Just wanted to make a quick kind of unhinged one. All right, we'll get one more in there. Okay, this one's from Kobe. Hi, Logan and Raj. I love the show. Just wondered what your thoughts are on young teams of trash talk. For example, someone like the Pelicans, not putting them on blast, but B.I. has got some abuse from Sun's fans this week after he was talking last week.

Do y'all think they're feeling themselves enough to talk their shit, or do you think they need to achieve something before you can trash talk? Love the show. Keep it up. Okay. I felt like a supremely old head last time we talked about the Pelicans, and I talked about 360 dunk and what it talks about with maturity. To the point where I had to talk to a couple of my homies, like, am I off face here? Like, how old in my right now? Like, I really felt like, I feel like a federal rally, but I don't care. Like, I really don't care. I mean, they got to go through their

their growing pains, which is why I don't think the Pelicans are ready at this point. And it's fine. It's okay. Like, this is what you're supposed to do. This is how you're figuring yourself out and figure out how to be a good team. So, I don't really care. I mean, that's going to happen. And they're going to get roasted for it and they're going to learn

from it. And that's what it is. Let me answer this question by telling a story. All right. And you'll end it on this. I'm going to answer this question, about telling a story. Once upon a time in Salt Lake City, Utah, there was a 24-year-old fourth-year NBA player who was excited to be out on the court but hadn't proven or done shit yet. And into town came one of the best two guards of all time on his farewell tour as a, what, 15 or 16-year-old pro. He wore number 31 and he played for the Indiana Pacers. So this particular legend was just chilling.

It was his farewell tour sleeping night in Salt Lake City. He had no reason to be engaged. He wasn't there to do anything, but play another game, get his waves and say, hey, I won't go back to Utah again for a while. But he ran across this 24-year-old who happened to have seven or eight points in the first quarter and was failing himself. So the 24-year-old in all of his stupidity says, hey, old man, this is going to be all night. To his surprise, the old man said nothing in return.

He just shot him a stare that could have cut through glass. A 24-year-old went back to his bench, regathering himself for the second quarter, and upon returning to the court promptly got roasted for the next three quarters. The old grizzle vet turned to the young man before exiting the court and says to him, be careful what you ask for, young he, and retires to the locker room. Can you guess who the two participants in that? storywork? One is Roger Smell at that point

because he was awesome. He was awesome stank shit. And the other is the legend Reggie Miller. Correct. And I told that man, after dropping eight points, yeah, well, man, this is going to be all night. Hey, bro, the look did that cat shot me, I'm just not a great storyteller, so I couldn't come up with, like, this great.

That was amazing, dude. Thank you. You need to put like a sound design around that. Bro, when I'm telling you, it was surprised, like, what the fuck? And, like, oh, bit, that's what you want? And I remember it hit me in my soul. I was like, oh, I fucked up. Like, you know that Dave Chappelle at that moment, he knew he had fucked up.

And I went back to that bench, like, still confident, mind you, because I was talking that shit. But somewhere deep down, I was like, what the file is about to take place? My man went off. Was this before or after you fucking went at Jordan

and he kicked your ass? Was this before or after that? This was after, but I ain't say nothing to Mike. Oh, you just scored. You just, you had scored on my. I just had 21 in a preseason game at Penn State. Okay.

And when we saw him in the regular season, he just wasn't on preseason shit anymore. He was fully engaged. And I was sitting over there next to Larry Brown after I had like turned a ball over four times and missed seven shots. So, but this particular night, and I was rarely a shit talker. So I don't even know why I did it. I really didn't talk shit. Were you a Reggie Miller fan growing up or something? Loved Reggie.

Loved him. And my mouth just opened and it came out. It was like out of body experience. It's my mouth open. It came out. And then there he was looking at me. And I was like, oh, I fucked. A question for you.

Question for you, Roger. So, like, I'm the type of guy. This is why I don't like to talk shit on the court because every time I talk shit, I start playing like shit because, like, my focus is always on, like, the shit talking rather than the game. Are you one of those shit talkers to, like, where it takes you out? I'm a notorious non-multitasker. Everyone knows it. My wife, like, if I'm sitting there trying to, like, do anything.

anything on a phone or anything, you can't even have a conversation with me because I can't hear it. Yep. So they know that. But, and for that reason, I can't talk shit. Because I would, my reason by everything else, I'm out. For sure, man. That's what's up, bro. This has been a great mailback, man.

Hey, happy holidays. Even my man's that roasted my mustache because that shit was fucking hilarious. I'm not going to hold you. That shit was hilarious. You guys can't see it on the Zoom, but I fucking fell out of my house. chair. That boy hit you with the eyebrows and the mustache. Dog, it's like when you get, it's like, you know, you if you played against Kyrie. I got, I got shook and I'm on the ground. Like, there's nothing I can do about it. There's nothing that would happen. So that was

another edition of Real Ones, our final edition of 2022. Thank you guys so much for, for everything. Also, wait, oh, excuse me, excuse me, we got to do Rewan of the Week. Sorry, Kai. Apologies. actually do we have to do we have a new one of the year last episode didn't we yeah we gave them real one of the year last episode you guys we'll be all right we will see you guys um keep that shit into um we'll see you guys uh top of next year in january we got a lot in store for you guys it's gonna be really fun we're going on hiatus we're gonna go kick it with our families happy holidays everybody happy holidays be safe holidays man um we will see you guys next week or damn we will see you guys next year up soon all Oh