← The Right Time with Bomani Jones
The Right Time with Bomani Jones
Why Jaylen Brown ACTUALLY got traded, LeBron James next move, Balogun returns for US | 07.06
00:54:43
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- [00:02]
Caller/Listener
Wave.
- [00:09]
Bomani Jones
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Right Time, a Wave original. My name is Bomani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. We gonna talk about what happens next for LeBron James. But you know, gotta be honest with you guys, man. I think all of us are like kind of coming to grips with what the new world order is about. The NBA. And that's what happened to me. Like, I had intentionally taken me a vacation so that I could come back like now. Because in my mind now it's like, oh, free agency would have got back cracking. You understand what I'm saying? And then once that happened, boom, we have the stuff to talk about. And I just missed the times that there wasn't nothing to talk about. But Ryan. No, there is. It's not free agency season anymore. It's about trade season.
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Ryan Brumley
Right? It's like trades, the draft and like this weird in between where the league year ends and starts and people trying to make all these acquisitions then.
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Bomani Jones
Yeah, like, I did not expect it to be all this action in that time. I never would have left you under these circumstances if I had realized that that was what it was going to be. I did not. But what I really didn't think was was that the biggest topic of conversation coming out of it was going to be Jaylen Brown. Like, LeBron James is a free agent as of this moment. We got other things that we could talk about a little bit. Lots of big trades, top five player wound up being traded. And I guess Jaylen Brown is kind of sort of caught up in that also. But he got the streets on fire, Ryan. From what I could tell from popping in on the Internet while I was gone, the, the, the. The people were in a frenzy over a dude that his team apparently could not wait to trade.
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Ryan Brumley
Right. I mean, could not read to get rid of. And I mean, it's not only that he got traded, it's that he is discovered that he can live stream on his own for better or for worse.
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Bomani Jones
Oh, yeah, he's.
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Caller/Listener
He's. He.
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Bomani Jones
He got twitchy.
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Ryan Brumley
Yes.
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Caller/Listener
Right.
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Bomani Jones
Like, he just. This is not a good idea for most of you guys. It's not a good idea for him. We'll get into the like, the, the why is not a good idea for him part in a second. But I do want to start before we get to the other stuff because I don't want to forget this. I do not understand you Boston Celtics. And I. Look, I understand. I. I'm not making any point right now that nobody else has made in the last 10 days or whatever it is, but I don't know who the hell Hugo or the other one was that they said that they wouldn't trade in order to get. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not gonna trade those dudes to get Giannis, and then all you get back off this cat is. Is. Is. Is what's left of Paul George. Like, logically, I don't understand how you got that far down the line on the Giannis trade and don't just go ahead and bring it home, because, I mean, look, it's a Danny. I would. I would look at Brad Stevens as a Danny Ainge disciple, and therefore, you're not going to settle for a trade unless you get exactly what you want out of it. But all you wanted really, for Jaylen Brown was get Paul George and, like, a smattering of picks. I do not. I do not understand this. I do understand the idea, though, that once you decided you were going to put Jaylen Brown in all these packages, then he needed to go ahead and trade him, which is why he just go ahead and do it for Giannis, if that's the way you're going to go about it. But anyway, they did not. Now, let's get to the Jaylen Brown of it all, because I have been fascinating by what I've seen of the surrounding conversation when it comes to him, and Jaylen Brown is a very interesting type of player, which is a player that I think that, generally speaking, all of us would say was a good player, and most of us would say is a very good player, and some people would say is an excellent player who has a distinct shortage of advanced numbers that indicate that those things are true. Okay, Now, I think the thing about the analytics discussion that often gets lost is that, generally speaking, the analytics match up to what you think, right? Like, you go look at what. Who the players are that have the best advanced numbers for seasons and for careers, and it's the guys that you would expect to have those numbers, right? It's the Michael Jordans, it's Kareem Abdul Jabbars, it's the Will chamberlains, it's the LeBron James. It's all those guys. Like, there aren't too many people that pop up on those numbers, and you're like, oh, that's shocking. No, like, generally speaking, they tell the story of what you might expect, but every now and then, you do wind up with a player where the advanced numbers do not match up with generally what we believe about how good those players are. Kobe Bryant fits this description to a degree, though he's not an extreme example. Isaiah Thomas is an extreme example. The advanced numbers do not indicate that Isaiah Thomas is the Isaiah Thomas that we saw. If you want a guy playing right now, that I think also fits under this heading, that is Anthony Edwards, the advanced numbers are not saying that he is a bad player, but they don't speak to him as though he is a superstar, which I think most of us believe that he is. Jaylen Brown is another guy who fits that description. Now, here's what Jaylen Brown can do for you. Hey, what can Brown do for you? Anyway? Here's what Jaylen Brown can do for you. He can go get you 35. And this league to this day, there is no more valuable skill than being able to go get buckets. It's a really, really important thing to be able to do. And Jaylen Brown is able to go get buckets.
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Ryan Brumley
Still get buckets in the regular season and in the playoffs.
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Bomani Jones
Regular. Yes, yes. And I think the. But here's the thing about that, though, and stick with me for a second on this. Where I think is an important distinction to make, where it's really helpful to have a Jalen Brown is when your number two guy can go out there and get you 35, right? Where your best player, for whatever reason is only going to be able to get you 27. Don't worry, I'm over here. I can get you 35. I can do this, too. It's the value that Jaylen Williams played with the Oklahoma City Thunder in their championship run, for example, like James Worthy is a great example of this in NBA history, right? If that other guy that you got can go get you 35 where you need it. Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, right? Even if it's not a I left the house today and I'm gonna go get 35 type of 35. Just acknowledge that. Hey, we got another guy out here, too. That could also get you into high 30s if it comes down to it, right? That if he's really rolling, we could just say, it's your world big, baby, you can take it. There's a value in having that. The thing is, let I just say it's really helpful to have that guy as your second best player. And he's getting paid, like not just somebody's best player, but like the best player in the goddamn league. Like, remember when he signed that contract, it was like the biggest contract in the history of the NBA. And it was the kind of contract that you signed guys to under the paradigm under which that deal was signed, which is if you are the Boston Celtics and your number two players deal is up, you pay them. It's also with an understanding of how the max contract work, which is the max contract is a ceiling, which is to say that it is entirely possible that somebody's value is. Exceeds that. Right. The max. The max contract under that era did not require that you grade on a curve. And what I mean by that is when you grade on a curve, one person gets the A plus. Everybody else's grade is slotted based on that A plus. It's not really how it worked there, right? The max contract thing is A plus is the highest grade. But hey, we got two guys that get A pluses. And so you go ahead and throw it out there, okay? Things are a little different now in the way the deals are done, in the way that the CBA is going to work. And giving Robin all this money is something that teams are not going to be able to continue to do. And not only is it something the teams are not really going to be able to continue to do, those who have already given Robin these giant deals, those are the teams that are going to have to reckon with what those decisions are. This is a decision that the New York Knicks are going to have to deal with with Karl Anthony Towns is. He's got that giant salary that they're going to have to deal with with him being their second best player that you can't necessarily count on. Carl was great in the postseason, but we also saw I ended in the postseason. He wasn't great. He's not necessarily the guy that you can count on in the same way that Jaylen Brown is not necessarily the guy that you can count on. And when you ask the question as to why it is that the Celtics probably needed to make this move, they needed to get from under that. And I think that there was a recognition that they needed to. And again, I don't know why you don't go good Giannis, if that's the play, or maybe look, something in their spreadsheet or whatever told them that the numbers are going to be by the salary, I don't know. But there are a million different reasons to trade Jaylen Brown. There are a bunch of them. What happened though, and where it got weird and I think that this happens often with these guys where the analytics tell A different story than a lot of our eye tests tell us is somebody needs to come out here and seem really smart about explaining why it is that a team would trade him. And you wind up with something like what Bobby Marks reported that somebody had told him that they saw Jalen Brown as the seventh best player on that team. Now, to me, I thought that was an interesting factoid and not really something worth being upset about. I thought it was an interesting factoid in that I bet there are numbers that you could point to where somebody will say that about him. Right. But that doesn't mean he's their seventh best player. Right. Like, I did not receive that or hear that as the defining outlook as to what kind of player Jaylen Brown was. But you can go look at those numbers and see how somebody would come to that conclusion. Yeah. But then once that happened, now it's a whole goddamn battle. And you know this battle, we've talked about it in the past. It's the athletes versus the math elites.
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Caller/Listener
Right?
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Bomani Jones
And. And this. And. And team captain for the athletes I saw was my man, David West.
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Ryan Brumley
Yeah.
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Bomani Jones
And he was not hearing none of this for the math elites, dog.
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Ryan Brumley
No, no. Even. Even when he was on the warriors, he was still taking 17 footers.
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Bomani Jones
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But hey, man, if you can make them, you can make them. The problem with the math elites, and I think, I don't know how many of these math elites were actual people, right? But the math elites get really, really, really defensive. Right? The athletes also get really, really, really defensive. And I'm not saying this about David west, just to be clear, I want to say this part. Generally, I think a lot of the athletes can feel a little insecure and feel like the math elites are saying they are smarter than them, which is often happening, Right? And I think often the math athletes don't notice they doing it, because when this happens in athlete versus math athlete, and it is very often white people versus black people, and that's just the way white folks talk to us all the goddamn time.
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Caller/Listener
Right?
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Bomani Jones
They don't notice they're being patronizing. It's just they just talking right now. They talk to their fellow whites the same way when it comes to these things. But anyway, on the other side, the meth elites have their insecurity because they dorks and these other guys aren't.
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Ryan Brumley
Right. It's right. It's.
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Bomani Jones
It's the tension that exists in all these spaces in all the time. It's always there. But in sports, the math elites took a disproportionate amount of power and decision making and everything else, and often at the expense of the experiential knowledge that is possessed by the athletes. Okay, but you don't even have to be a basketball player to get the Jalen Browns not the Celtics seventh best player. But it is fair to ask, is he worth paying $50 million, a third
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Ryan Brumley
of your essential, a third of your salary slot for what is essentially becoming a hard cap sport?
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Bomani Jones
Yes. Now, on another day, someone can explain to me how Philadelphia is making this work with Maxi and Embiid already under that. Embiid's not different. You know, we'll. We'll get to that part. Right. But I, this is me talking. I believe that the numbers, I don't even want to call them necessarily advance. I want to call them. We'll call them. I don't know. Non conventional is the right way to put it because these numbers aren't necessarily advanced. But the on off numbers have come up a lot for Jaylen Brown. And I actually looked at the on off numbers this morning before we recorded this, and I think there's a really interesting story there that's not actually being told. For reasons that I don't quite understand, and for those who don't understand how on off numbers work, it's very simple. It's just a matter of what is the point differential for your team when you are on the floor? What is your point different? What is the point differential for your team when you're not on your floor? Is your team better off when you are on the floor or off the floor? And for much of Jaylen Brown's career, his teams have been better with him off the floor than they were with him on the floor. This includes the 2024 postseason where he won a conference finals MVP and NBA finals MVP. I want to say something. Per 100 possessions, they were 7.5 points worse with him on the floor than all. And this is when he won all the stuff. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not good. But you know who else doesn't really have great all off numbers or hasn't for the last couple of full seasons that he's played Jason Tatum. And that was not always the case with Jason Tatum. I also said it wasn't always the case with Jaylen Brown. From looking at the numbers, something changed when Missoula took over. I don't have a great answer for what it is with Tatum. It gets better once he gets to the postseason or has gotten better in the postseason under Missoula. But not so much the same way with J. Now maybe part of that is Missoula ball got a lot of try hard in it. And you can do a lot in the regular season just by trying hard. You know what I mean? Like you, you can get a lot done tried hard. It don't necessarily work the same way in the postseason. But I say all that to say that the on off stuff, it begs more, it gives more questions I would say than answers when it comes to Brown. Because I could say something very similar also about Jason Tatum. Right. However, I don't think those numbers speak to a superstar caliber player. I just don't. You could say that Jaylen Brown and something about a lot of games with Jaylen Brown has been there. That is true. The question is how much is his contribution to the winning, not just his contribution to the scoring. My man Tom Haberstrough, I believe it was him. He wrote something really interesting about like with numbers involving Brown. But it's one thing to be a really good offensive player, it's another thing to be an engine that the offense works off of. And he's not an engine. He's a guy that can go get you buckets. He's also a guy that dribbles a lot even though he can't dribble and a guy that gets the ball took from him a lot because he dribbles a lot even though he can't dribble. You see what I'm saying? Like there's a complexity to who this guy is as a player, but in the end he's able to get buckets. And getting buckets is important. If we want to say you're getting buckets, it's important. Like I don't think anybody was saying that Kiki Vanderway was a top 10 player in the NBA back when Kiki Vanderway was averaging 30 points a game, for example. You know, so like to me, Jaylen Brown's probably in the top 20 class of player, by the way. It's really, really good guys up that high. Do I think He's a top 10 player? Probably not. Do I think that he's one of the best two way players in the NBA? Jaylen Brown is the new Klay Thompson, which is all this stuff I hear about how good he plays defense, yet nobody ever wants to put him on an all defense team. And I just don't. I understand how those two things are the case at the same time. Right. Anyway, I say all that to say there are reasons that the Celtics would make a trade involving Jaylen Brown that are easy to understand, that don't require going into a hyperbolic space in discussing him as a player or as a person. Because Ryan, apparently, while I was gone, did Colin kind of get like a little profiled. But it's his own fault on this one.
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Ryan Brumley
Yes. This is the short answer.
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Bomani Jones
Okay. So I want you to stay with me here.
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Ryan Brumley
Yeah.
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Bomani Jones
Let me know if I'm looking at this wrong. This is the way that I looked at this. Colin Coward got on after this trade and said something about talking to a couple of NBA executives. And they say that Jaylen Brown has the disease of believing that he's the smartest person in the room. And he went from there to say that basically he feels like the people he talked to feel like Jaylen Brown doesn't listen to anybody. But his explanation was, you get money. And then.
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Ryan Brumley
Yes.
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Caller/Listener
Right.
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Bomani Jones
Which then quickly became, that's what they say about black people. Sorta. I mean, and I am speaking in this conversation as a person that has many times been accused of being of believing that he himself is the smartest person in the room. Right. Like, I've been in this place, and I understand it. I also say this as somebody who finds it incredibly frustrating when someone believes themselves to be the smartest person in the room. And I don't think they're as smart as me. We're going to keep all those things together at one time here. And get back to the Colin part.
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Ryan Brumley
Right.
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Bomani Jones
The first time I heard people say that they believe that Jaylen Brown had a problem with believing he was the smartest guy in the room was six years ago, coming out of the bubble. And that was coming from black people.
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Caller/Listener
Okay.
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Bomani Jones
That was coming from the player end of things. This is not the first time anybody has said this about Jaylen Brown. It's not the first time this has been said about anybody else. This is also something that white people have to deal with. People being frustrated with them about all the time is the I idea of you think you're the smartest person in the room. And again, there are two types of circumstances where this happens, which is when the problem really is that they don't like that you're the smartest person in the room. And when people know good and goddamn well that you are not.
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Caller/Listener
Okay.
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Bomani Jones
I would also make the point that Jaylen Brown on his stream, his response to being. To this idea that he thinks he's the smartest person in the room was to say the bar is pretty fucking low, which is exactly what you say when you believe you are the smartest person in the room.
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Ryan Brumley
His defense to people saying everyone thinks he's the smartest person in the room is, well, everyone else in the room is pretty dumb.
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Caller/Listener
Yes.
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Ryan Brumley
Yes.
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Bomani Jones
By the way, people don't like. Right. I've said this. I don't know if you've heard me say this, but this is the truth. Okay. If you exist in a space where people really, really believe that you're smart, it behooves you to find a way to make that something that works for other people. Right. It behooves you to find a way to present that in a way where people appreciate having access to that resource. You don't feel threatened. Right. As opposed to feeling like you always need to lord it over them. I was talking to a friend of mine, Ryan, that you may know. And I was explaining to him that, like, hey, man. He was talking about how his wife doesn't like it if she feels like he is doing, I'm smarter than you think.
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Ryan Brumley
I know exactly what we're talking about. Yes.
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Bomani Jones
And so I'm. And so my thing is, I'm like, hey, man, I said it to him. Just level with him. I was like, hey, brother, this is what you got to understand. She knows this. And she humbles herself every day before you with this recognition. You don't know what it's like to have to humble yourself every day to the idea that somebody else is smarter than you. I imagine that's not a lot of fun to do. Right. So you. You gotta. You gotta show deference to that fact.
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Ryan Brumley
Yes. If you're actually smarter than you know. Yeah.
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Bomani Jones
Yeah.
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Ryan Brumley
If it really is, then it's on you to, you know, the other person in this relationship.
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Bomani Jones
It's not an easy position to be in, is what I'm saying. Right. And you gotta get this. Jayla Brown's response is, for someone who
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Ryan Brumley
hasn't learned that fact is some.
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Bomani Jones
It's, well, someone hasn't learned that. But also the criticism of him among a lot of people is that it is the performance of smart that they don't like. Right. I saw the Internet catch on fire talking about this. This whole notion of Jaylen Brown, and, well, you know, I don't know how smart Jaylen Brown is personally. I just want to make two points. One, Kyrie, his OG number two, he was represented by Donda Sports at a time where the president of the agency was Antonio Brown. Does that sound like some smart shit to you? And I remember when Antonio Brown was the Head of Donda Sports. I did a show with Dominique. We made short content about this. You can find it. I did a show with Dominique where I said that to him, and Dominique's first response was, I don't want to hear nothing about how smart Jaylen Brown is ever again. Right? Like. Like off. Off of that simple detail. And right there, right? That's. That's what we got. When people talk to me about how smart Jaylen Brown is, they always tell me it's interesting. It's always some proxy. He, He. He did a lecture at Harvard, right? He took a master's class when he was in college. As somebody talk about how educated he was. And I was like, he went to college for a year. Again, I'm not saying that he's not smart. I just haven't seen it myself personally. And for me, the bar is pretty fucking high for us to get out here and have this discussion, right? Like, that's, that's where it stands to me. But we didn't have to go to any of these places. It didn't have to get to any of this. Keep it in mind. Somebody was willing to trade for Kyrie and pay him. And he's a much bigger pain in the ass. At least he was. Than this guy has been. Right. I do think for the Celtics, you kind of had to look up and they said to themselves, this dude scored 29 points a game, but he used 36% of the. Of the. Of the possessions. Right? Is that the world that they wanted to live in going into the future? I don't think they did. Right. Like, I. I just. I just. I just think that there were a lot of ways to talk about why Jaylen Brown got traded and Internet broke our brains. It seemed that so many people went straight to the ones that were going to get people infuriated, as opposed to the one that used to get people infuriated back in the day that just don't do the job no more. He makes $50 million. They don't want to pay that shit. Hey, man, shout out to the Lakers and LeBron James, who realized there was no need to make it petty at the end, even though it is very obvious that they told LeBron that he was done in that town.
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Ryan Brumley
They spent the last eight years making it petty. So I think they. Yeah, yeah.
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Bomani Jones
But yeah, they mean LeBron came out and said, hey, la. Go on about their business. He won't be going back there. And I'm like, yeah, that's how that went. Yeah, I believe you, dog. It's not how that went. This is where. I don't have any idea. I don't know what's a good idea for anybody, where he should go, any of this stuff. Right. He became very similar to Jalen Brown in the sense of, hey man, this ain't no 50. We. We don't pay you $50 million anymore.
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Ryan Brumley
Right, right.
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Bomani Jones
We used to, but we don't. We don't pay a guy like you $50 million anymore. What do we do now? Where does he go? Your agent does a podcast where he does a flowchart B or whatever the fuck, where he just had all the teams and all the. That was the wildest thing I've ever seen. I've never. The idea that your agent would turn this into content like that, I, I
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Ryan Brumley
am flip flopping between. That is terrible podcasting.
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Bomani Jones
Oh, that was great.
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Ryan Brumley
And that is terrific podcasting.
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Bomani Jones
Yes, that was great content like that was.
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Ryan Brumley
He's up there doing the. Basically trying to prove the JFK assassination.
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Bomani Jones
Yeah. But it's also a thorough explanation of the thought process of the man who's been the face of the NBA for the last almost 20 years and where he would go, like how the decisions are being made. You know, I think it's weird that Rich gets on there and talks about so many things, but if there's any place that Rich Paul has expertise, it's negotiating something for LeBron James and LeBron
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Ryan Brumley
James's thought process and the big decisions.
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Bomani Jones
Yeah. Now, the only thing about it is, no matter what Rich Paul say, what has been very clear is there's one man who makes decisions about what's going to happen. It is LeBron James for sure. And as far as I can tell, it's been a long time since LeBron James made a decision about where to play basketball. That was simply a basketball decision. The one time that he did that, everybody got mad at him. So everything's been a story after that. He went to Cleveland because he wanted to bring one home. He went to LA because he wanted to be a movie star. Right. Like, there's no telling what the ultimate driving and deciding factor will be. I just think it's important to note that you can't keep betting on year 24 health.
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Ryan Brumley
Right.
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Bomani Jones
It's, it's, it's, it's not a wise play. Um, he can't play with so much defense. I thought he did a good job, obviously, as the third option or ever was in la. And then when they needed him to step up in the playoffs, obviously he did that. And it went well, but I don't. When they ran Barry Bonds out of baseball, he was still one of the 10 best hitters in the league. It just kind of stopped being worth it. I don't. Are you winning A championship with LeBron James on your team?
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Ryan Brumley
I think there is. If he's a. If he takes the veteran minimum, which it sounds like he's going to have to. I think that's on the board.
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Bomani Jones
I am, sir. Yeah. But. But I'm saying this. Even if he does, what is the level of contribution that you need from him? What is the team or the way that you put a team around him? How long is it going to be before teams just start hunting him on defense relentlessly? Who are we here now? We're here at Miami. We're hearing Golden State.
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Ryan Brumley
We're in Cleveland.
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Bomani Jones
Cleveland.
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Ryan Brumley
We're in Minnesota.
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Bomani Jones
Yeah, that's. He ain't going to no goddamn Minnesota.
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Ryan Brumley
Yeah, I mean, he. That. I mean, that was on. That was on the conspiracy whiteboard.
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Bomani Jones
Let us not forget. What would be interesting is former clutch client Anthony Edwards in Minnesota.
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Ryan Brumley
Oh, and I didn't put that one together.
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Bomani Jones
Let me tell you, man, we go. We're going to get to this a little bit later also. But the idea of Anthony Edwards Lamelo Ball and LeBron James. Minnesota is not. Minnesota could barely handle Prince Morris and Jerome at the same time. I don't know if. I don't know if they can handle all of this. God damn. That's just. That's a. That's a chaotic situation.
- [28:19]
Ryan Brumley
I mean, you have to remember Kyler is going to be there, too.
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Bomani Jones
That's true. That is true. But it. It is crazy, though, that he is good enough that we actually have to have.
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Ryan Brumley
He's the best free agent available.
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Bomani Jones
Yeah, Yeah. I think that's fair. I just don't. I just don't know how we keep doing this. And personally, I'm personally tired of it. I'm just ready to move on to other stuff. The other stuff is really dope in the league right now.
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Ryan Brumley
Right?
- [28:41]
Bomani Jones
Like. Like, this is. You know what this is? And this is really interesting. And it's actually a testament to how good he's been. No matter how long it went with Shaq, when he showed up to a place that still had had a press conference, like, even when he got to possibly. And by the way, just so people don't get this twisted, Shaq was unguardable. Every day that he played in the NBA, he was still unguardable in Cleveland. And he Still, Really. You still had to deal with him in Boston, right? Like, I just want to be clear. Like, he was. Shaq was never a bad player, but he didn't really matter anymore. But you always had to have the press conference. LeBron is kind of at the guy to have the press conference point. Except he's way better than Shaq was in the last year. Shaq. And he's like, he's still there. He's still something. And I just don't care. It's over. This is done. This is. We have rung everything out of the story that there is now. That is for me, if I am him, I'm playing until I don't want to play anymore. And apparently that will be for every satchel page. I just cannot believe that he has not found a single other thing to do with his life.
- [29:50]
Ryan Brumley
Golf's getting close.
- [29:52]
Bomani Jones
Well, golf is getting close, but, you know, he tried the production company thing, and they don't really do that anymore. Right? I guess. I don't know, but I just. I am. It is impressive that he can keep going this long. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. But if I were him, probably do the same thing.
- [30:13]
Ryan Brumley
Do you think it's on the board? How long do you think this is going to go on?
- [30:20]
Bomani Jones
It better go on past Wednesday because we got a recording schedule that does not involve him making any decisions this week.
- [30:27]
Ryan Brumley
I would. Whatever the date is, I'll take the over.
- [30:31]
Bomani Jones
Yeah. Oh. I mean, he's got a chance to bask in this.
- [30:35]
Ryan Brumley
I. I think. I think we're going to be closer to Labor Day than July 4th, and
- [30:43]
Bomani Jones
I think it'll be that long.
- [30:46]
Ryan Brumley
I think it's more likely like the Roger Clements path is available to him.
- [30:55]
Caller/Listener
Ooh.
- [30:56]
Bomani Jones
I was thinking just. I was just thinking you're going to do something next week. Nearly as
- [31:04]
Ryan Brumley
I see a long, long, long content gap that can be filled by LeBron James.
- [31:11]
Bomani Jones
That's a great point.
- [31:13]
Ryan Brumley
And if one thing we have learned over again about 20 years, if. If there is a content gap, LeBron James can and will fill that gap.
- [31:21]
Bomani Jones
Yeah, you are. You are making a great point. After, after, after they said after Team USA gotta go home, it'll just be. You're right. It's the summer of LeBron from then out. Unless Ohtani gonna hit like 80 hobers, it's your world foreign. The biggest stage in world soccer is here. And every goal changes everything. And now FanDuel is giving you a reason to root for every single one. Introducing every goal pays. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored in that match. That's right, more goals means more bonus bets, and all you have to do is turn on your token. 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- [38:29]
Ryan Brumley
All right, Bo. If you haven't heard. Brought to you by FanDuel There are some other transactions that we missed out on. The last two weeks were gone. KWA Leonard traded the Rafters. Giannis traded to the Heat. John Morant heading to Portland. What move surprised you the most?
- [38:44]
Bomani Jones
Oh, you left out the one which is Lamelo ball going to Minnesota.
- [38:48]
Ryan Brumley
Oh, yeah, that one.
- [38:49]
Bomani Jones
I don't, I don't. I don't know what to make of this. You know my buddy Rod? Rod, he a Lamelo defender. I don't want to say apologist because that's not. I don't. I don't feel like that's fair.
- [38:59]
Ryan Brumley
I would use the term anyone defending Lamelo as apologist, but.
- [39:03]
Bomani Jones
No, I mean the people. I mean, hey, I'll be watching them, right?
- [39:08]
Ryan Brumley
Me neither. That's a good. That's a good count.
- [39:09]
Bomani Jones
But Rod makes a lot of good points and a lot of defenses of Lamelo and he's not a bad basketball player. He just seems to be such a. And I don't mean that he is one. I don't know. But he gives morons like, he gives it so strong that we're like. Anthony Edwards does not give. Even though he had to prove himself, I think to a lot of people. But he's not giving you moron Lamelo with that stupid shit he'd be doing when he drives and everything else. He's just given that.
- [39:38]
Ryan Brumley
And we've. And Lamelo's been in our lives now for 10 years because. Because of the. The some. The bar ball year.
- [39:45]
Bomani Jones
Yes.
- [39:46]
Ryan Brumley
So we've, we've known about him for he. We are in like several chapters into the story.
- [39:50]
Bomani Jones
We are. But I will tell you this, and I think this part is easy to lose sight of. Man, that's a big, talented backcourt. Kim and Ant together. Like, there is a high end of this that could be really, really excellent. And let's not forget, it's not like Lamelo Ball has played with a lot of good players. Like, Anthony Edwards is by far the best dude that he will have ever played with. Like, Minnesota's going to miss Nas Reed. There's going to be some things there. But no, there's a world in which this works. And there is no question it's gonna be hilarious.
- [40:24]
Ryan Brumley
Can you imagine the two of them giving a press conference together?
- [40:27]
Bomani Jones
So that's going to be the other part, too, is that, like, when's the last time Lamelo wasn't the biggest deal?
- [40:33]
Ryan Brumley
Also, Anthony Edwards is very good at defending his teammates.
- [40:36]
Bomani Jones
He is.
- [40:37]
Ryan Brumley
And he's had a lot of experience because he had to defend his exam.
- [40:41]
Bomani Jones
This is a completely different archetype, right? He's gone from. From having to do it with Carl and having to do it with Rudy and having to do it with Eeyore, and now he's got to do it with someone completely different, right?
- [40:53]
Ryan Brumley
It is. Yeah, it is. It is going to be interesting to
- [40:56]
Bomani Jones
see, like, he's got to defend a guy that he's gonna be like, man, just let me. Let me talk. Let me.
- [41:02]
Ryan Brumley
Yeah, the problem was he was talking poor people. Now he's got.
- [41:05]
Bomani Jones
That's correct, doll. If you'll shut that up.
- [41:09]
Ryan Brumley
All right, the soccer ball's been going on the last few weeks. USA putting on a good performance. They all on Belgium tonight in the round of 16. Big news that Flo Baligan, who was previously suspended for a red card, will be playing in this game. Bo, have you been enjoying the soccer ball so far?
- [41:27]
Bomani Jones
So, first of all, do you know, are you familiar with the name Jack Tunney? This is a decision Jack Tunney would have made. And shout out to everybody out here who know who Jack Tunney was. Jack Tunney was the man that they invented in the 80s as the quote, unquote, commissioner of the WWF. And it was time to come up with one of these contrived decisions. Jack Tutty would decide, oh, we're stripping you. The number one contender is. Or whatever it is. This is straight wrestling. Your rules do not allow you to rescind a red card.
- [41:59]
Ryan Brumley
Right now.
- [42:00]
Bomani Jones
It's crazy that you don't have an appeal process, but your rules just don't let it. And one thing that the World cup is always about is home cooking. And so they're like, wow, this would probably be really bad for business. And so, boom, there we go. He's going to play. Let me tell you this about the soccer ball ride. I watched a lot of soccer bowl before I left for vacation. Okay? You know where I went for vacation? The people don't know where I went for vacation. I went to Italy for the vacation. I don't know if you guys know this, but I believe it's been three straight World Cups that Italy has not qualified for. Ryan, I saw zero evidence of any World Cup.
- [42:40]
Ryan Brumley
Oh, really?
- [42:40]
Bomani Jones
They're like.
- [42:41]
Ryan Brumley
They're like.
- [42:41]
Bomani Jones
They're, like, all sitting out, saw nothing. I saw no not running on no TVs, not at the airport, not in the hotel, not in a restaurant. They seem to be boycotting the World cup in Italy. It's like, it's not happening. I've seen a lot of wonderful Internet discussion about the Soccer bowl, and I just want to tell everybody something right fast because I've seen it, okay? I seen a lot of y' all talking about how now y' all want to go to Cape Verde, right? You seen the. You seen the women on the Internet from Cape Verde. You seen the women in the crowds from Cape Verde, and you want to book you a vacation to Cape Verde. Talked to one of my Cape Verdean homeboys, and he said you'd be better off going to the. To the. To the New Cape Verde. New Bedford, Massachusetts. That's where they at. It is. It is most likely that. That bad little thing that you saw in the crowd. She caught a flight from Logan. She did not catch a flight from Cape Verde in order to go there. Just, Just. Just. Just letting you know that. But, boy, K. Faraday had beat Argentina. Boy, it would have been crack.
- [43:56]
Ryan Brumley
Yeah, one of the. That would have been, like, one of the biggest upsets in sports history.
- [44:00]
Bomani Jones
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And look, man, you know, I genuinely are generally like, I root at the World cup according to geopolitics, which is to say, I don't know who Argentina would have to play in order for me to root for them. I went to Argentina in April. I was so surprised that nobody called me. No names to my face like that. I was bracing for it the whole time. Like, Argentina, I don't think any country got a worse republic than Argentina
- [44:33]
Ryan Brumley
for. For a variety of reasons.
- [44:35]
Bomani Jones
I mean, it's. It's earned, dog. Yeah, it is earned. But, like, it was my reminder. Everybody goes somewhere overseas, people like, yo, what about the racism? I'm like, have you. I don't know if you know where I'm from, dog, but it won't be the first time.
- [44:52]
Ryan Brumley
All right. Speaking of, we had a bit of an ironic situation during the 25th, 250th celebration of July 4th, several 5,000 Trump supporters got stuck riding out a DC storm in the Smithsonian African American History Museum. Bo, what did you make when you saw this?
- [45:13]
Bomani Jones
First of all, I was not alive for the bicentennial, but you heard about it like it was a really big 250. We, we, we really ain't got no school spirit like we used to, man.
- [45:25]
Ryan Brumley
Like nobody for a variety of reasons.
- [45:27]
Bomani Jones
It was also 150 degrees, at least in this part of the world. But the idea that they had to hang out at that museum for me is hilarious. And I'm very curious, man, because one thing I know about my people, man, they was going to be willing to show them folks around, you know, like, hey, you got any questions about whatever it is? How wild would it be if somebody went in there and like, it was like a Rocky four moment.
- [45:49]
Ryan Brumley
If I could change, anybody can change.
- [45:52]
Bomani Jones
You know, like, yo, yo, the concert. Oh, no, no, no, we gonna stay in. Here we go. Just keep, you know, don't tell me more, you know, because they, hey, man, you go down. If I'm not mistaken, that first flow, it, it starts, it's starting. 16, 19, if I'm not mistaken, like,
- [46:07]
Ryan Brumley
yeah, it is, it is, it is. Yeah, it is. Not gentle.
- [46:12]
Bomani Jones
In fact, now that I think about it, I'm glad they ain't tear that up.
- [46:22]
Ryan Brumley
All voicemails as we took a bit of a hiatus from these. A lot of good ones. Here's our first.
- [46:29]
Caller/Listener
Hey, Bomani, longtime listener of your shows, I've always appreciated your perspective on sports and non sports issues. Of all the non sports topics you venture off into, my favorite by far is the city of New Orleans. I'm from just outside Baltimore and I've lived in seven states across the country and I was stationed in NOLA as a Marine Bell Chase for five years in the mid 2010s. It is my favorite place in the world for any number of reasons. And you can guess most of them reasons have names and accents. I thought it was a shame that it was not one of the host cities for the World cup this year. So I have a hypothetical for you. If you could pick four countries to play in New Orleans, which four countries fans would make the most entertaining cultural exchanges. This could be for good reasons or bad. Unrelated, where are we at on the name Lester? I'm 41 and the third Lester in a row of white Lesters out of West Virginia. Thank you for your time. I appreciate your work.
- [47:31]
Bomani Jones
See the West Virginia part, right? Like once you do that. Anything is possible.
- [47:35]
Ryan Brumley
Correct.
- [47:35]
Bomani Jones
Over there. They all sound like Randy Moss.
- [47:37]
Caller/Listener
Right?
- [47:39]
Bomani Jones
Anything is. All right. So, like, I feel like we would have to send. Well, we have to send France to New Orleans.
- [47:46]
Ryan Brumley
I think you have to send France or one of the French speaking African countries like Morocco, Algeria.
- [47:53]
Bomani Jones
Look, I tell you this. How about we send. Because Morocco, they don't really speak French over there anymore. It's a real hodgepodge. But let's send Cote d'. Ivoire. The way everybody be talking about Cape Verde, Cote d'. Ivoire. This is interesting. I don't think I've met an Ivorian person in my life, and every time I watch a soccer match where they be playing, I'd be like, damn, we need to fix that. So, yeah, let's.
- [48:15]
Ryan Brumley
Let's.
- [48:15]
Bomani Jones
Let's get them down there. Think about sending the Mexicans.
- [48:21]
Ryan Brumley
No, no. I mean, they'll have a great time.
- [48:23]
Bomani Jones
They'll have a great time. Ireland.
- [48:26]
Ryan Brumley
Yep. Well, yeah. Sim. Similar cultures. Lots of drunks.
- [48:29]
Bomani Jones
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I say there's gonna be somebody gonna be fighting according to. To this. And do we send the Japanese?
- [48:37]
Ryan Brumley
Yeah. Just to really. Yeah, really mix it up.
- [48:39]
Bomani Jones
Just, Just. I just want to have some people be like, I don't understand anything that's going on around me. Like, riddle me this for sure.
- [48:48]
Ryan Brumley
All right, here's our next one.
- [48:51]
Caller/Listener
Joel Anderson is maybe the funniest person I have ever heard make words come out of his mouth hole. He is the world's greatest hater. There is no second place. Thank you for introducing the country and the world to the greatest hater of all time. Haters. Ball, baby.
- [49:18]
Bomani Jones
I don't know who that is, but he sounds like. Up next, Al Jarou on the Quiet Storm. My favorite thing, too, is how everything that Joel says that makes everybody laugh so hard are none of its jokes correct. He means every word of those things.
- [49:35]
Ryan Brumley
He is the funniest person who never tries to be funny.
- [49:37]
Bomani Jones
No, no. And, like, we're lucky that, like, he doesn't get mad at us for laughing.
- [49:41]
Ryan Brumley
Correct.
- [49:43]
Bomani Jones
Normally when people are funny like that, unintentionally, it's like Ghostface. Like, was that a joke?
- [49:48]
Ryan Brumley
All right, here's our last one.
- [49:51]
Caller/Listener
What's up, Lama and Ryan? This is Andy from Marietta, Georgia. I just wanted to call in with a little main story. I went to a medical appointment earlier, and I had a new, new to me doctor, and I saw that her name was Tanisha. And so I was like, okay, cool. You know, just, you know, without thinking about it, my Brain just reads that as that's going to be a black woman. I've known several Tanisha's and then the doctor walks in the room and she is a white woman. And, you know, I didn't comment on it, but I thought this would be, you know, immediately I was like, this is something for the right time with the money Jones. So thought I would throw that one yalls way to, you know, think about. I don't know if anybody else has called him with a white Tanisha before, but that does seem like a rare one. So it is the south, you know. So I think that as you all discussed before, that's there's a. There's some overlap because that's just how we do down here. But yeah, love to show y'. All, I know there's kind of less going on in the summer on the show, but hope, hope you all are taking some time for yourselves, taking care of yourselves. Thanks for all you do. Love the show. Bye.
- [51:13]
Bomani Jones
Is it possible that white Tanisha's name is actually not Tanisha and this is just a scam she's running to get business in Atlanta?
- [51:21]
Ryan Brumley
If it is, it's a very good move.
- [51:23]
Bomani Jones
I mean, I'm about to say it's. It'd be forward thinking. It's also on the board, number two, Ryan. You know who else is for Marietta, Georgia, Jaylen Brown.
- [51:34]
Ryan Brumley
That's incredible.
- [51:35]
Bomani Jones
Wheeler High school zone. I just want to throw this out there, by the way. And I'm not saying he did this for real, but it's just coincidental. Like, you know how Rick Ross took his whole thing for Freeway Ricky Ross just like completely. There's a Jaylen Brown did a lot of Xerox in a Sharif Abdul Rahim. They from the same place. They went to the same high school. They both went to Cal. They both Muslims. You know what I'm saying? Like, he's just doing. It's a. It's a different spin on Sharif, but very similar and give it time. And by the way, if Sharif was a different person, Sharif would be like, put me on the Celtics. See what I would. I mean, Jalen Brown. Well, now that I'm thinking about this, actually it's interesting. Basketball Reference only has Jalen Brown as a 8.9% chance of making the hall of Fame. No, no, no, no. He's going to the hall of Fame. He's getting jersey retired finals MVP champion with the Celtics. Like, he's had a good career.
- [52:32]
Ryan Brumley
Yeah. Five or six all star teams making the hall of Fame.
- [52:35]
Bomani Jones
Yeah. Yep. Yep. And he a legend at the bank, and that's why he got traded. But ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on the right time. We do this couple times a week for the summer. Ryan Brumley, handle things behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Hit the voicemail line. 323-59-67767. Remember, follow the right time. Subscribe like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. We'll talk to you guys in a couple of days. Take it eas.