The Ringer NBA Show - Zion Sitting Out, and a Play-In Tournament Breakdown | Real Ones

Episode Date: April 13, 2023

Logan and Raja are back to dive into the controversy surrounding Zion Williamson dunking before the play-in game against the Thunder but then sitting out of the game itself (02:00). Later, they preview Friday’s matchups while looking back at Tuesday's and Wednesday’s games (36:00). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell 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 wanted to let you know that each and every week, I'm part of a great program called The Ringer MMA Show. I hosted alongside two absolutely brilliant minds. Their names, Chuck Mindenhall and Pizzie Carroll, and every Thursday, a new episode drops where we preview the weekend in mixed martial arts and react to all the biggest news. Plus, after every UFC pay-per-view, we give you a post-fight show. So this is what you have to do. Just follow the Ringer M-M-M-A show on your Spotify app.

So you don't miss an episode. We'll talk to you then. What's popping? Logan Murdoch here, Roger Bell there. Lolo is on the road. Roger is back at home. He is in a very chipper mood. So I'm very curious to see how this podcast is going to go this morning.

Ra, how are you doing, man? I am good. I am good. So full disclosure, the kids are home from school. It was a rain out, like Florida, South Florida experienced, like, torrential downpours and tornado warnings and stuff. so the kids were off of school today. So I've been up and actively maneuvering since early this morning.

Typically when I hop on, like, I got up, took the kids to school, and then I'm just kind of veging out for the next couple hours. You know what I mean? You may have taken a nap. You may have taken a little small nap before you go. May or may not have taken a little mid-morning nap. But, like, today, I've been rolling since seven, so we're good. Okay.

All right. Well, you were telling, before we get to the NBA stuff, let's get to something a lot more pressing. You said that there are gators that just be walking around Florida on some times of the year when you're just walking through the neighborhood and shit. Can you just like tell the people, we have this a brief exchange at our prepod? But I think the people need to know that what the fuck is going on over there where there's gators that walk around? I am a California. I don't know shit about that. So please enlighten me.

How does this work on a day to day with gators and Floridians? Well, being as though they are ambulatory, like animals. they have the capability to walk and they're in our lakes and our fresh bodies of water. So at any given time, if you wander close enough or are unfortunate enough to, you might encounter a gator, right? Like, not typically hunting humans, although they've been known to grab a small pet or, you know,

a small person if they're not paying attention and they're hanging out by that bank. But in my neighborhood, like we got one in the canal behind the house. We just noticed kind of be on alert and be aware of it. Now, what's weird about right now is because of this rain and the canal levels that all link up with the Everglades. So anything can be in them. They've risen to a level to like street level right now because of the rain. So you could, in theory, have gators walking down the street in some places today if it's a gator infested area. So like if you're on your morning walk, they're also on.

their morning walk, just chilling. So like you keep your distance and they're going to keep theirs, right? Is that, that's what it is? They're living their life like we're living ours, bro. Don't get too close to the fresh bodies of water. Yeah, for sure. Don't get too close to Roger Bell on his morning walk when he ain't had his coffee yet. Okay, this is kind of the same thing

is what I'm gathering at this point. I don't have no transition today. Let's talk about the New Orleans Pelicans in Zion Williamson. So I was watching the game while, night. Great game. Pelicans Thunder. I did pretty good with my predictions. We'll talk about that later in the in the in the episode, but one of my predictions was that the thunder were going to win and I just went on vibes. But I had not seen when I made that prediction. Zion

Williams has actually spoke to the media and this was prior to the game. Also prior to a pregame dunk that he had looking very, very, very healthy and spry. looking like he could play in a playing game. I'm not sure. It looked in shape. He looked like he was ready to go. But he was, he sat out of the game.

Reason being, he says that he will return, this was before the loss. He said this on a Tuesday. So he said that he would return to the court when he feels like Zion, acknowledging the mental hurdle of rejoining the team as he embarks on his postseason run. Zion said, quote, this is from ESPN. It's been interesting.

Not going to lie to you. It's been very frustrating. Not being able to play sucks, but I mean things have gotten better. Things have gotten a lot better. Ask how close he is to feeling ready to play. Zion responds, physically, I'm fine. Now it's just a matter of time when I feel like Zion. I know the atmosphere I'd be entering to based off the playoff experience.

So now it's a matter of time when I feel. like Zion. What does that look like? I don't feel like there's any specific benchmarks for being Zion. It's a matter of when I feel like myself, just like feeling like myself and knowing that I can go out there and have a big impact on the team. So, you know, I want to be careful with this because, you know, I can imagine that Zion, like he said, he has been very forthright, that he is having a mental block that is keeping him for from playing postseason basketball and playing these games.

And I think on the one hand, I absolutely respect these struggles of mental health. I've gone through those myself. And I think that, you know, Zion has a case here. But Zion has to put in the work to be the superstar that he needs to be in this league. Now, whether that means doing the consistent work to make sure you get your head straight enough to play these games or you're put the same amount of work that you're putting in physically, you need to put in it on the mental side. But it's just a at a certain point, I think that people are only going to take these types of, especially when you're in a business, Roger, as you know, like people are only going to take these types of these types of responses. only so long, right? They have to see you working towards getting yourself back onto the floor.

And for the last year, you have heard this and I have heard this. He has, there have been questions about his work ethic. There have been questions about his desire to actually play the game. And I think that's kind of manifesting over the last, you know, few times and the last few games in the last few seasons. when you hear these comments, Rajah, how do you, we're going from the teammate perspective. You know, we're not necessarily going out for the fan-based perspective. We're going on in the teammate perspective.

How do you approach this? And how do you approach this organizationally when you don't know when and if your best player, someone that you've invested a ton of money and a ton of resources in, you don't know when they're going to play? I don't think you can, as a teammate, put. much stock in it at all um you know locker rooms are are pretty good like that usually in terms of the next man up mentality and we are who we are um you know and so if you were going to especially in a case like zion where it's very it's it's it's a continuous conversation i think you probably would have gotten callous to it a while ago and at this point it's not even on your rate

are really. Like we're just going out there to who. In season, right? Because things we talk about athletes being able to compartmentalize and kind of really keep their focus where it needs to be. And so I don't think they can be worried at all about Zion. And as a matter of fact, I think there's probably a faction of them and it could be a large percentage of them that

I want to say this the right way. Not that they don't rock with Zion but know that the distraction of wondering when he's going to play and when he'll be available is unhealthy to what they have going on. So it's not even just purely, hey, I got to block that out. It's like, look, we actively have to leave that alone because it would just creep into like our locker room in areas where we wouldn't be able to control what it did to us.

So I think they're actively kind of like, yo, man, he's good. He's over there, let him ride where we got our business to take. care of. Okay. So let's go to the clip that I referenced in the beginning, which is, you know, he's dunking, he's playing, you know, he looks healthy and he's doing all of these things, right? And it seems like he's going to play. What does that, does, does that have any effect at all? In the way that, you know, like, because I, we've had, we've had the benefit of having a couple of days to be able to discuss this. And I know that the national narrative on this is, oh, he dunked. He should be able to play. It's a bad look. But, like, let's just go through onto this. Does this feel like a bad look? And is this something that someone should hold a grudge over or someone should hold over his head?

Because, like, I don't know. If he's cool with the front office, if he's in line with the front office on this, I don't know. Like, I don't know. I don't know how to kind of go through with this. But how do you feel seeing something like that? And would somebody be mad at that type of action from a teammate? It's like, bro, like you look like you ready to play. What's up, man?

Like, we kind of need you. Absolutely. That can happen. I don't know that it would happen in this instance. I look, leading up to what transpired on the court pregame yesterday were a bunch of days of practice. Now, obviously, the team isn't really going hard or anything like that. But some of your young guys would be playing.

Some of your guys rehabbing would be playing. Like when I was on the Sixers team early in my career, and we're playing in the playoffs, like Alan Iris and Aaron McKee, DeKembe, like those boys aren't even really touching the floor. But I'm out there hooping with Rodney Bufor, Pepe Sanchez, Speedy Claxton, Jermaine Jones.

So there's a faction of you that would be playing. And if Zion hasn't been participating in any of that, then we already know like Zion's not going to hop out there and play. So him being on the court and working out wouldn't really affect us in any real way, right? because, I mean, why would we expect him to play? He hasn't been in any practices or even been playing one-on-ones in practice. So, like, you know, there's a build-up to that that we would have been privyed to probably seeing. And so at that point, our expectations might have been, hey, maybe he plays.

But without any of that, and according to the front office, he hasn't done any of that. There'd be no reason for us to expect him to play. Now, as far as being in alignment with the front office, now, you know, David Griffin is my buddy. I have not spoken to Griff on this. So this is just me watching what's happened in New Orleans since Zion's been there. I don't know that they're always on the same page. I don't. It doesn't always appear to be on the same page.

Now, and I have experience, again, I have not spoken to Griff to have this corroborated, but I know it to happen where players or owners or coaches say something. thing and an executive or a vice president or someone like that can be blindsided by it and then have to go out to the media. And so it doesn't look like we're on different pages, have to make that work in a way that it makes it look like we're on the same page. I'm not saying that that happened, but from knowing Griff and that seemed like he was blindsided by that.

That seemed like the Zion comments pregame. I know Griff to be pretty calculated. I've sat in meetings with Griff where we have explained two coaches here. Here's what you need to say. Here's how this needs to look. We had it multiple times with David Blatt. Hey, look, it's not going to come off well

if you get up at the podium after the game and say X, Y, and Z. Like our messaging and the way we want to portray this is like this or something along those lines. So I know he's very calculated in terms of what goes out there. and Zion's didn't seem to be. That didn't seem to have any real value towards the organization. Like it seemed to be a kind of half-cock type of interview.

You know what I mean? And display of health in a way that I don't know that that helped the organization in any way, shape, or form. So it led me to believe that Griff was blindsided by that. Well, how does it work? I mean, you kind of have intimate knowledge with this. Like, how does, why would they put, Zion out there to talk anyway. Maybe it's NBA rules, maybe it's

those things, but it doesn't seem like, I don't know, like, Zion doesn't talk much to the media in a lot of different ways, especially when he's injured. And that's not just a thing that's just with Zion. That's with a lot of players with the whole league who don't

do that, who don't talk when they have extended absences. But you're right. It did seem like they were on a different pages because I'm sure like if Griff sees these things of why they're not playing, it's like, yo, what the hell, right? Especially considering every time there is always a carefully crafted statement, every, every injury that Zion has or every setback that he has. But it's just a weird dynamic right now because you have this team with this infrastructure. It seems to be pretty good, right?

You have Willie Green, who is a really good coach. You have Brandon Ingram who, man, I love watching that dual play so much, man. Even last night, like hitting the three in the, when the game seemingly over like, nah, man, fuck that. We're still going to fight. And you got Herb Jones. You have CJ McCollum. You have a lot of good people on that staff.

And also a lot of good people, you know, at least that the Pelicans have employed to be around Zion, right? You talk about, you know, his security guard. He used to be a security guard with LeBron James. right, who knows these types of how to manage these types of athletes, right? Zion seems to have everything around him, but the common denominator is he just doesn't, he hasn't figured it out yet. And that would be, you know, we've seen on the other end with James Wiseman where, you know, teams just cut bait.

But at this point, you can't really, it's hard to cut bait with a guy like Zion, what's so much potential with so much to go on. How many more years, Rajah, can the Pelicans do this, right? Is next year the only, like, what, how do they keep, how do they continue to move forward? Because we've talked about this in the, uh, at previous episodes, the worst place to be in the NBA is the middle. It's the worst, it's worse than being, you know, some teams would rather go winless than be in the middle because you, you can't, you can't advance by continuing to be in playing games.

What do the Pelicans do in this situation? How do they go from here? I just, I don't know because he is such a unique talent. And when he came out, I was pretty comfortable saying that I would not want to be the Pelicans because I would not want to draft him. I wouldn't. Now, now, what, what colored that thinking back then? I, first of all, I mean, I acknowledge the skill and impact that he has is really, unique and that they are a really good basketball team when he's on the floor.

But I had my concerns about size, durability, and all of that coming out of the coming out when he was in the draft. And just having, you know, a little bit of insight into the work ethic and stuff. It made me just a little, you know, just a little reluctant. And I might have still taken him. I just didn't, that first pick was going to be hard not to take him. Like if you had real concerns, let's say you had done all of your homework and you had vetted him and you had dug into all of his, his background and everything.

And when you do that, I mean, more than likely if people are going to be, are being forthright, you know, you're going to get some of what I got, which is, hey, maybe not the hardest worker in the world. And you still almost have to take him. That's how good he was. Yeah. And so that's why I didn't want to be. That's why I was like, man, I don't envy having to make that first pick because. And so I think, I think, so let's, let's, like, clearly, you know, the on-court production and the highlights and all of that are there. But, you know, you're rarely available.

And the more disheartening part of it is that people aren't really sure whether you're committed to doing the work that it requires to be available. Like, it's one thing to be injured. It's a whole other ballgame when everyone behind closed doors may have concerns about whether you're doing everything you can to get back from said injury. And, you know, this is over multiple injuries, by the way, too. Yeah, no, this isn't a first time thing. And this isn't me reporting on anything. This is just from the outside and in reports that have been out there, you know, that I've read. And so I think, you know, again, it's, I don't have a great concise answer.

for you, Logan. Like, you have to figure out... I'd move him. I'd move him. I mean, I'd just... I'd move him. I'm talking myself around in circles and shit. Like, I don't know why I'm beating around the bush.

I'm just... Look, this is me, bro. Like, you know, I don't know what I can get back for him. That's the problem. Like, I don't know what we're talking about recouping in a Zion trade necessarily, right? But let's say I could get three-fourths of Zion in some weird...

world where would you do it for once of the first round pick or something like that you know like if you throw like a whole bunch like role players and i don't know how it is i'm not i don't know what a deal for zion looks like but do you like i don't know what do you do you take a first round pick i don't know what do you take for him i don't know i don't know and so but i would be open for business in a way that maybe again because look i want to say i'm going to say you like this logan all of all of what david griffin said about Zion not being cleared and not having played one-on-one and all of that, I believe all of that to be true. I think it's all true.

I still think that that Zion workout and to some degree what he said in his press conference were off script and they blindsided grift. There is no good reason for you to be out there doing that. There's no reason for that. There's no reason for you to be on the court tantalizing everyone with athleticism and all of that. right before we play our playing game. You could have done that at the facility earlier in the day.

You could have done that, like, at the arena prior to everyone getting there. You had ample opportunity to go out there and get that workout in. There's no reason for you to do that out there right now. And I don't think that was scripted. And so for that reason, like now as the front office, not only do I have these reservations about whether or not you can stay healthy or whether or not you're committed to staying healthy, or whether or not

like you're committed to making the sacrifices that would be required to be committed to be committed to saying healthy but now you're out there like kind of rogue in the press

and in the medium and I got to go ahead and go behind you and clean all of this up I just for those reasons I'd be looking now I'm not saying I would I would if the price wasn't right

but I would be looking that's not for those reasons you're out just for those reasons you're looking at this point I mean, given the opportunity to recoup three quarters of that, whatever that looks like, I don't forgive me for not having my imagination hat on today. But I would if I thought I could be, you know, it was, it's not going to be Zion, right?

But if it was something that I felt really good about, I would not hesitate to do it. I'm going to say a quote from front of the show, Brian Winner Horse, who talked about Zion the other day on Get Up. He goes, I'm going to take it back 12 months. Zion played some games last year when he wasn't clear to return from that foot injury and started posting stuff on Instagram of him dunking, tantalizing fans. Then he does this. From what I understand, he hasn't done this before a game in several weeks and is choosing to do this with the national TV cameras recording, and it was just an odd decision.

From what I am told, Zion was not even close to ever playing. He had not done anything meaningful in practice. forget about five on five. He hasn't even been cleared to do one-on-one yet. He was nowhere close to playing. And he comes out with these quotes two days ago that he actually can play but mentally can't play. That's a little complicated to say publicly right before a playoff game.

Then he does this. Basically saying what you are saying in that instance, right? But the thing that I think is interesting is, like it just goes into the fact that he does it in front of national TV cameras. there's a bit of I wouldn't say clout chasing but there is a bit of like you want to see yourself on TV

but you don't necessarily you don't necessarily want to play like you'll get I promise you Zion you'll get more glory if you played in a game and did that shit and won the game the playing game as opposed to like getting some like an IG video off you know what I'm saying?

Like it's it's I don't know what I say this a lot I say this a lot that just speaks to immaturity. It reeks of it. You know, it speaks to a camp that doesn't have mentorship in the area of media relations and stuff like that. Because, I mean, I don't know his parents. So I'm certainly not throwing shade. But my parents weren't able to help me navigate getting up in front of a camera.

And what, you know what I mean? Like so you can really help you do that. Right. Right. So like I want to be clear about that though. But like there's, yeah, man. Look, that's an immature. That's an immature thing.

Like, I think you're a professional basketball player. The fact that you can't keep your body in the type of shape that you need to have it in to get the optimal performance out of it speaks to immaturity and lack of leadership. There's a lot of things to speak to that. And this is just another one, man. Like, it's you don't get up there and do that. There's no good reason for you to do that other than look at me. Yeah, well, it's interesting because I think I'm out on Zion on the fact of, you know, I think about all world talent and all world ability and all world potential, right? And that's all things that Zion has when he's fully healthy and engaged. And I think about, I think about that Brooklyn game, like, you know, to start the season, he was incredible. The Pelicans were incredible that night, that opener against Brooklyn. But I think about Zion and I, if it hasn't been figured out already,

I don't think it'll be, it's not going to be figured out as a franchise player. It's like I think about Zion and then the year before, you know who was drafted the year before and who's killing it, MVP candidate year and a year out, Luca Donchich, who has all world ability,

who is around your age, who is somebody you build around. That's what Zion should have proven years ago, right? And that takes work ethic. That takes just caring. Like, there's no way that it's April right now. You got injured in January.

There's no way that you shouldn't be on the floor right as a franchise player. If that's something that, you've been around a lot of franchise guys. I've been blessed to be able to cover true bona fide franchise pillars, right? There is a certain mindset that those guys, guys have. And those guys, those girls, they, whoever you want to call it, you think about Steph Curry to Asia Wilson, what they do. You have to be a CEO of an organization. You have to be the face of an organization and you have to be able to take on all of that responsibility. And it's not, when you're a franchise cornerstone, Roger, you notice, it's not all about

how talented you are and your game. It is about being the front facing face of an organization and a in a whole region. I don't think Zion is ever going to be able to do that. If he hasn't proven it over the last couple of years, and I see, you know, say what you want about Luca or you say what you want about these other guys, but I know Luke is going to be the face of the Dallas Mavericks. I don't know that about Zion Williamson.

And I think for those reasons, you probably, to your point, should move on at a point in time because it's going to come to that point where there's going to be a huge void that you are going to need to be filled by a franchise star, and then at some point, Zion is just going to be taking up space. Yeah, that's a tough one, Logan, because he has such an, he's got such a kind of electrifying game and skill set, and it's like, it's magnetic, you know what I mean?

So it's tough because when he's good, and if he were good enough, and he was consistently good, I could see him I could see him being the face of a region and a market and so on and so forth because people may forgive some of the shortcomings like they may, they may, I don't know, it's weird, but I typically subscribe to what you're saying.

He's just this, again, he's this enigma, man. Like he's just this weird type of like, you know, indescribable, I can't put my finger on it type of thing because everything in me always says, you are a CEO, you are a businessman. People or a businesswoman, people who are the faces of franchise

are buttoned up and adults in a way that Zion is not right now. I'm not a businessman. I'm a businessman. Correct. And so everything in me says, and experience tells me you are 1,000% correct. And then there's still this part of me

that says, man, when that cat is out there doing what he does in a way that you've never really seen anyone do it, he might just be like happy, go lucky and goofy enough and getting you 28 a game and winning games in a way that people would forgive that. But he can't do it consistently enough. He has a potential to be like Sean Kemp and Shaq all in one. You know what I'm saying? Like just to dominate a game on that end in a way that we haven't seen before. But like because I think about that, I'm like, yo, man, this dude could be Shaq. And then I look at Shaq's first couple of years

and Shaq was Shaq. Like, there was no, there was no question of whose league it was going to be. Zion is like, it's like a game of double dutch with him, right? He's just like, just going back and forth. Like, am I going to go in? Am I going to go in? And he never jumps in.

Right. Right. That's always what I feel with him. And it's just, it's pretty frustrating. frustrating. So if we're both frustrated talking about this, I can only imagine how it is in New Orleans, right?

Where you have to see this day to day. It's got to be super frustrating. But again, I think most players at this point, because it's been pretty consistent, they've become numb to it. And even to some degree, I said, listen, man, we can't concern ourselves with that.

This is who we are right now. That will be a distraction. I mean, we can still be cool with them and he's a brother and all of that. in terms of him being out here and being productive and being a part of it, it can't be something that we are hanging hopes on right now. So, you know, we have to move forward with what we got in a way that it doesn't necessarily alienate him, but it makes it clear to everyone involved, like, yo, we're good to go with what we got. Now, I think what Griffin them did, and I thought they did a really good job, is, you know,

when the CJ piece came in and BI is now a vet and I think Willie Green is a part of this and even some of the draft picks that they've had recently like they seem like they seem like really professional

um um to some degree kind of kind of understated personalities where where I you know what I mean like like they put their hard hats on bro they put their hard hats on they they have a culture you could see what they're trying to do with the roster and the

people that they're bringing into that organization. The perfect type of team for New Orleans, bro. And what you would hope would be that type of team and those type of people surrounding this enigma of a star that is definitely not like that would help raise him in that mold and help expedite the learning curve of his to get him to a point where like, yo, these are serious professional people that are about their job and that will do whatever they got to do to do their job. And hopefully, like, looking around this locker room,

even at the young players that we brought in who act and conduct themselves like that, you have no choice but to say, hey, man, but this is what it's supposed to look like. Okay, let me get my stuff together. And at least up until now, not even that's worked. It's tough, man.

It's tough for everybody involved. And I, we have more segments to go through, man. I'm just, I think to just wrap this up, it's just sad. Like, I don't know what else to say, bro. I hope for the, I hope for the Pels and for Zion that he gets healthy and his career takes off. And we don't have to speak about this again.

But, I mean, it is what it is right now. I'm trying to talk about Zion with MVP ceases dunking all motherfuckers, bro. Just like, I just want to see that. I want to see him, I want to see him play 70 games. Like, when fucking the game, the team win fucking 55 and New Orleans is, is, it is lit. That's what I want to see. But anyways, we got other playoff games to discuss. We'll take a quick break and we'll be right back.

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help in Kansas, 18777-7-70 stop, Louisiana. Visit www.md-gamblinghelp.org in Maryland, 1-800522470-7-0, Wyoming, or visit www.1-800 gambler.net, West Virginia. And we are back. Now, let's talk about a slate of games we got coming on Friday, and then just talk about how the playing was in general. Bulls heat.

Let's talk with Bulls heat. Okay, so this is something that I got to, I was right on a lot of things in the playing, Roger, but I got to, you know how we do on the real ones. You know how we get down. You know, when we're right, we say we're right, but when we're absolutely wrong, we got to just hold that and admit when we are wrong. Your boy was wrong about Tray Young, at least for the moment, okay? Your boy was wrong about the Atlanta Hawks. And there was a staff record label and a mother effing, They went in and they just annihilated the heat. Okay, it was, I thought that the heat were the ones that were out too late the night before in Miami, enjoying everything that Miami has to offer. It was pretty insane because Jimmy Butler stuck his chest out in a way that I am used to seeing from Jimmy Butler, but I am not used to Jimmy Butler not backing up words from Jimmy Butler. And it was pretty embarrassing loss from the Miami Heat, which is why they were in this position. that they are in today or in tomorrow. So I got to, first off,

first thing is first I've got to send an apology out to the Hawks and to Trey Young. Good luck in the playoffs to y'all, okay? This is the Celtics team that we will talk about. We'll talk about that series whenever it comes later, probably next week. But right now is the case. Bulls at heat.

The Bulls are 3-0 against the heat and regular season matchups with an average margin of victory of 10 points. The plan in Miami. DeRosen is averaging 28.5 rebounds, 8 assists versus the heat this season. He already just had his revenge games in Toronto, which I predicted accurately. Shout out to, shout out to DeMar. Where do you see this matchup going? I'm liable to just pick the pools, man.

This was just, and I'm probably going to be wrong somehow on this, but that was just an embarrassing display by the heat. That was not the heat way. and I don't know what's I don't know what to say about that what are your thoughts on this matchup raw plan plans are very difficult man because it's one game it's just one game so it it doesn't give you the the better team wins all the time type of type of result like it's the better team that night and the heat just came out against the hawks and they were asleep walking they didn't they weren't they weren't competing no one

they came on the second half, you could see, that's why they got right back in that game real quick, because their competitive level had risen in a way that was giving them a chance at loose balls. It was giving them extra shot attempts and all of that. But you dug yourself a 20-point hole. Like, it's almost, that's ridiculous. So that, I don't believe that will happen again. I don't think that's going to happen. To your point, that is not the heat way.

The Miami crowd is used to seeing a certain brand of ball, as is there. expulsion and company, and I don't think you'll get that again. What's the Miami he crowd like when it's when it's rocking, rocking? Because I feel like they get it. It's a weird, they're a very passionate fan base to just come late to games, it seems like. Yeah, you're going to get like Miami knows basketball. Miami is one of the better fan bases in the league. I feel like they do get a bad rap because they come to the games hell of late.

I mean, it's a show, right? Miami is different, right? You don't get to the, you're not the first one to the club, are you? I'm usually the first one to function because I'm a square bear. I'm a square. I mean, look, I mean, that's the attitude. But I'm also trying to leave early. Like, I'm just trying to get what I need to get done at said club.

I don't go to clubs to party. I go to clubs to like, yo, I got to beat this person. I'm out. I got snowfall to watch. You're there for a different reason than some of the Miami fans are there, right? Like, but I look, Miami's got a lot of options in terms of entertainment, dollar things to do. So the Miami Heat will not come out, I believe, and be flat.

The problem for the heat is you got to put out two fires. You got to put out the Zach Levine fire, and you got to put out the DeMarre de Rosen fire, and you got one Jimmy Butler. Yeah. You got one Jimmy Butler. And so I think, you know, the way those dudes attack the paint and the way they get downhill, I could definitely see the Bulls winning. I know my predictions have been terrible.

I'm going to take the Bulls, but I think the heat are going to be way more formidable and up to the challenge. You know why your predictions have been terrible, Roger? It's because you wanted to pick the Bulls is the last one. You just picked the Raptors in deference to me because you were like, fuck it, I'm going to pick the Raptors. Your heart wasn't in that, bud.

You got to just make your picks with your heart in it, man. I don't think your heart was in that Raptors pick. I think this is why I've enjoyed the playing as much as I have, right? Like, because I have no real feel on any of these games. Like, admittedly, I told you that. Like, that's not, they're so close to eight. I mean, we were talking about seven, eights and nine tens, right? Like, these teams are so evenly matched, and they've been really fun to watch,

except for the heat hawks. That one wasn't that fun to watch, but the other ones were really exciting. And so I think you'll get another good game, but I think the bulls, I think you're right. I think the Bulls will be in attack mode at the basket. And I don't, if the heat, the heat aren't going to be able to defend. both of those dudes. If they couple that with poor shooting performance and they can't get Bam out of bio going,

they might get blown out. But I don't see that happen. This is what I feel for the heat right now. Big like, like if you were to just look at the names on the heat roster, you're like, oh shit, it's a stack team. But then you look at the age and the wearing their hair. It's like, damn, they're old.

Like they just got to. And it took a Kyle Lowry 30-some ball just to keep them afloat. Otherwise, they'd have been down 30-some in the first half. That's what I'm saying, man. And you're not going to, at this stage of his career, you're not going to, you can't rely on Kyle Lauer to do that every game, man. And, you know, I've seen Kyle Lauer at his peak. Like, I know what he used to be able to do.

But that's what the heat is right. That's what it is right now, you know? And I think that's the other side of like Pat Riley not wanting to like tank at all or not wanting to like lose at all. It's like there's going to be some years where you're just in the middle ground because that's what it is. But they always fight. And I think that they'll be fine. long term because that's just what they do. But tonight, I'm picking the,

I'm just picking the, or tomorrow not I'm picking the Bulls. Let's go to the West Western Conference. We have the Thunder at the Timberwolves. Watched the Thunder last night. What a tough fucking young team, man. I love that team. Did you see one, bro? Caught an elbow from Josh Richardson?

Yeah, I saw, yes, I did see that. You saw that, right? You saw that, right? Yeah, he was ready for that elbow, and then you feel me, right? And so, and so I just love the response from the, from the thunder because they look like, you know when a young team just turns into a family, right?

When they're, they're like on the rise. At the end of when that happened, brug, brunt talk shit to Josh Richardson. And then you see shade just like, hell yeah,

I fuck with that. Because homie was like, don't come with that bullshit, right? And then like you've seen his teammates come around him. And you can see this with a young and up and coming. team all the time. You know all the things that come with being a young team. And it was a great

juxtaposition because you saw Thunder. They were on the rise and you see the Pelicans just in the middle ground just scrapping for that, right? That plan. It was two different types of teams in that. And I just love the Thunder's fight, man. And it's going to be an interesting game. I think this Thunder Timberwolves game is probably going to be the best game on the slate on Friday evening because, man, you got a team like the Thunder who are ready to fight at all times. And you have this Timberwolves team who I just can't get a feel for, Raja.

I've seen them play in person. I've seen them play a lot over down the stretch of the season. Like, at times they have a lot of fight, but I don't trust they wraps down the stretch, dude. Like, I just, I can't, they don't know what they want. It goes back to, can, they don't know what they want to be at this point and they don't know who they are yet. So I think that manifests in who they give the ball to down the stretch or who they don't give the ball to down the stretch.

And so I just don't, I just don't have a good feel for how they will, they can't close out games. So I think I'm going to pick the, I think I'm going to pick the thunder on this. But I like what I see certain points out of the Timberwolves, right? Like Mike Connolly was in a bag against the Lakers this season. I mean, it gets the Lakers into playing, right? just he's my favorite kind of veteran, the one that still just like you forgot about him and he continues to just he's the only one that's going to take those threes down to stretch. He's the only one that's going to give you offense that has the confidence enough to give

you offense down the stretch. There was a play against the Lakers where he's in, where Colley's in front of the Lakers bench has a corner three, pump fakes the corner three, and then without missing a beat, still shoots the corner three, looks at the Lakers bench as it's going in. I was like, oh my God. Oh, my God. He had a different swag that I ain't seen for by collie in a

minute. So it was a beautiful thing to see, but then you see down the stretch, right? I don't know about you, Roger. I didn't trust shit that the Timberwolves are going to do down the stretch. I knew they were going to blow that lead. We just all knew it was inevitable and was bound to happen. So, for those reasons,

I'm picking the thunder to win this game and go into the postseason. It makes me sad to have to do this. But I have to agree with you again. And yeah, Mike Connolly was great. But I mean, they just, I mean, look, when Anthony Edwards has the type of game he has, it's going to be hard for you to win games against the Lakers. And having said all of that, you still had opportunities.

And then you just stopped running offense down the stretch. And that became like the most stagnant looking thing, you know, trying to get the ball to cat. It was just set up for the Lakers to be able to build a wall. And that was bad. I don't think they'll look like that against the, the, the, um, the thunder. But the thunder are playing with house money right now. Yeah. Like that, they're, there's, what do they care?

You know, they got nothing to lose in a way that they weren't even supposed to be here. They're the 10 seed. Like, their vibes. You could see it. Like, you could see it last night when they played. Everybody looked loose and free. There was no tightness evident on anyone that checked into that game. And so it's going to be interesting to see what they do with SGA,

like with Shea, whether they, you know, the pals, the Pells tried to trap him early. And, I mean, it showed a lot of maturity. That boy was just getting off of that ball, igniting the four on three. And again, when no one else is tight, and they're just stepping up, knocking down shots that puts you in a tough spot. Or if they play him straight up and then he's a problem,

I'm going to go with you. I think because Oklahoma City is a little looser and has no narrative about needing to win or pressure, I think they play a little more relaxed and a little more free. But I think Anthony Edwards would be a lot better, though. I think Anthony Edwards would be a lot better. Also, even in his bad game, did you see that fucking block to end the first half? Bro, what? What?

No, he's a competitor. I mean, he's competing, you know? I think he'll be great, but I don't think that I think that he's going to, going to be great and I think they're going to lose no amount of steel. I think that I just don't believe in the Timberwolves. I think that they're going to do what they, a lot of times what they did last year where, you know, they have the talent to win so many games, but then they do shit like, you know, tell the crowd to shut up with nine minutes left to go in the game and then lose said game, you know, like shit like that. So I don't trust the Timberwolves.

And I don't know if I, Rudy's back, right? Rudy's back. Rudy's, yeah, that's another dynamic. What do you think? think about like if he's back like what does that do like that just that just reminds you of the dysfunction you have in the in the locker room they clearly don't like rudy gobert right and so i don't know what if that's going to help or hurt them going into this game i don't know i don't have a feel for the timber wolves man yeah i'm going with i'm going with okay see i want to know what they're going to do with pick and roll with with uh with rudy against sGA because he's he's he's tough i want to say SGA is going to say, hey, Rudy, come here.

Let's dance. Rudy, not Rudy. Come here, pal. Come here. Yeah, listen, I'm locked in, man. Those games have been, except for the heat, except for the heat, Hawks, they've been what you want if you're, if you're the NBA. And I imagine tomorrow night, I don't have two good games, too.

So I guess the last thing we'll go for, because I don't think we're going to, we're not going to see you guys until Monday of next week and the playoffs are going to start. So I got to ask, Roger, what's the matchup you are most likely wanting to see? What are you looking forward to in this first round? What is the series you want to lock in on? Because we're not watching all the first round series. There's some games where we were going to look at the scores and score hop and things like that. But there's always a series in a game that you're locked in for.

Where are you at? Well, there are two for me. They're both in the Western Conference. I'm looking at the Clippers' Sons. right for a lot for a lot of reasons there are a lot of subplots there but but that's an interesting one to me and then you know golden state sacramento wow okay all right yeah that that's that's that's one I mean because I've heard a lot of people you know say this is perfectly set up for a golden state and and you know they don't even have to get on a plane they just take the bus ride no yeah yeah but like

I can I can I can understand all of that and then there's a part of me that's like well let's see what sack looks like I know we're not giving them any credit for having the experience and shit like that. But that's a pretty large sample size. So let's, you know, let's see what it looks like. So I'd be locked in. I'm not saying I'm not predicting anything, but I'm locked in. I'll tell you what, Roger.

Sacramento, at least for the first two games, it's going to be many. It's going to be manie in that arena, dude. Like the ticket prices are already exorbitantly expensive just because, you know, the Warriors fans are coming up. There's sack fans that still want to be there. It's just, it's going to be a great atmosphere. I'm looking at that uh that grizzlies that grizzlies, that's one that I'm looking at, dude.

I'm looking. I want that's my one because I just want to like, I think I wrote about this, but it seems like just like the OGs playing against the little homies, right? Where like you, it's there, but there's somehow evenly matched, right? Where you're like, we're, I'm just,

on one hand, I'm like, LeBron is like, let me get these little motherfuckers out to paint one last time. Let me just show them who the fuck I am. Let me just, let me get them out. Mountain six, right? And then you got the Memphis Grizzies who honestly, man, they have shown so much heart. I think over the last month or so with Jha not being in the lineup and still holding down the ship.

And they're still within the mix, right? And I can also see them going into L.A. And just saying, you know what, fuck it. Let's fuck it. Let's win this shit. Let's, let's, I don't know if they're going to have it all the way to just like eviscerate the Lakers in five or six, but it's going to be a seven game series, bro. Or it might be a five game series.

That's what I want. I can't wait to just see the subplots of that. You go see Shannon Sharp in the front row. You're going to see, can the Memphis Grizzlies weather the storm of Los Angeles? That's going to be the question. And that's my series that I can't wait to see. Yeah, no, look, that's going to be. Dude, there are a lot of good series.

And I mean, Eastern Commerce, I set my two favor in the Western Commerce, but I'm looking at the next Cavs. Like, we talked about that weeks ago. Tim's in the air, all right? Yeah, there's a lot of shit. to tune into, man. I don't know. Hey, I'm here for it, though. We're going to be on a couch somewhere. It's just fucking chilling, bro. It's going to be great. All right. That's what we got for you guys, man. Let's go to a little segment we like to call Rewan of the Week, you know, where we point out a person,

entity, an organization that won the week. I'm going to go with Demar de Rosen and his family and his daughter for just, you know, mobbing, you know? She said that the little, the little homie, DeMarre's daughter said, rapist's organization had her pops messed up for sending them out to Texas and shipping them off. And that was all the motivation that DeMar needed. And he did his thing. And, you know, he made me, he made me sound good because for a second, I thought that it was, I thought it was, I thought it was, it was raps for the, for the bulls. And they made it happen. So I'm going to go with De Mardar Rosen, whole family, and his daughter. That's my real.

We're ones of the week. Yo, I need y'all's help right here. Did this boy? Fuck, man. Oh, no, no, no. You know, I got a real one for you, Roger. I got a real one for you. I'm going to just go throw you a real one.

The little homie in Phoenix, the little homie of Phoenix that had the Roger Bell jersey on at the last game of the season. The last game of the season against the Clippers in Phoenix had a fucking rare Roger Bell jersey on fucking fucking booing the Clippers. That was booing at the Clippers at the Clippers game even.

Yeah. Say Latin. No, it was in Phoenix, but they had the little homie had the Roger Bell jersey on at the game in the tunnel was out here like talking mad shit. You can't have a Roger Bell jersey

on and not talk mad shit to the opponent. So like, boom, there you go. Real one. Real one. We don't even know your name, but a little homie with the vintage Roger Bell, Phoenix, Sunbury.

Roger, when you're going to come to Phoenix, bro? When are you going to go to Phoenix, bro? What's up? They need to have you. They need to stop playing. No, I need to get out there. We may be, I may be in Phoenix. Yes, the sons will still be playing.

I hope they will be playing. But we may be out in Phoenix this summer, bro. I might bring my young buck out and let him do some camps at ASU and University of Arizona football. So, yeah, we might be back in the valley. I owe the valley a trip. The boys were born there. The new ownership, get, have,

Hashtag fly Raja and his family out. Okay, stop playing, dog. Like, we ain't on that. Bringing the old gang together. Okay, we need, like, bro, bring that,

bring Steve through, bring Raja through, bring Boris through, bring Amari through, bring Sean Marion through. It's, this is long overdue for a fucking reunion,

dude. Like, I will fly out on my own dime to come see this shit, bro. Let's fucking go. Let's, we need the son's reunion.

Come pull up. Fuck. Start that campaign, bro. You got it. hashtag fly raja out hashtag get rung hashtag no

hashtag no splier like we'll see you guys on Monday man enjoy the post season tap in all the shits

bye