C (3:37)

I mean, what have I seen from Luca? You see, I mean, Luka just looks physically really, really good. He looks like he's dedicated himself to getting in the type of shape that allows him to, to, to do what he does already for just longer stretches of time and more effectively and more efficiently through the course of a game. And if you extrapolate that out, like hopefully through the course of a season.

A (4:01)

Right.

C (4:01)

Without having to endure some of those injuries. So like from, from a play perspective, he's doing what he has always done, like when he's been healthy and you put the ball in his hands, he's the type of player that, that, you know, I've said this before, like there are very few people that can, that can really, you know, kind of marionette the game and just pull all the strings the way he can pull them and move the pieces around the chessboard. So that's not surprising to me at all. Seeing him at this kind of fitness level with these kind of legs in the passing lanes, out on the break, dunking the ball a bit like that. That's refreshing to see and that's exciting if you're, if you're a Laker fan. Austin Reaves continues to take steps. You know, when Luca was not available early, you know, Austin was, Austin was, was cooking like he was cooking and he's, he's a solid, real solid number two right now. Like, I, I'm not, I'm not going to hate. Like, I'd be interested to see if he could carry that out. Like when LeBron comes back. If, you know, here's, here's the thing, because I'm rambling, but here's the thing, what happens, they look really well put together around Luka as currently constructed as they're out on the floor right now. He's got the ball, he's got the usage rate. The pieces are around him in a way that he really feels comfortable and allows him to be the best version of him. What that looks like when you reintroduce LeBron, if you reintroduce LeBron is going to be interesting to me. Like, it's going to be very interesting for me to watch that dynamic both on the court at the post game presser. That's going to be interesting to me because right now they have it rolling and it's, there's a sweet spot for a player. What he likes, what he likes to have around him, how he likes to handle his business, that puts him in like the best, the best emotional state, the best physical state to be successful. Luka's in that spot right now with the pieces that you have on the floor with him. Yeah.

A (6:03)

There's two ways this can go with LeBron. There's the sulking LeBron or the egotistical LeBron that is seeing his mortality not just as a career, but also in a Laker uniform. And he just things up and you know, with subliminal, you know, LeBron stuff or you know, tweets or whatever, what have you. Or there is the other brawn that I think is probably more realistic here. I want to say, tell a story about a couple years, a couple years ago. Well, not a couple years ago, but in 20 2001, during that Lakers run where Kobe Bryant, I think he missed like eight or nine games throughout the regular season of that year. This was during their back to back title run during the season. And he, at the beginning of that season, he was going gung ho scoring, gung ho scoring. I'm trying to prove to you guys that this can be my team. And then he got injured. I forgot what the injury is. But he sat his ass down and Shaq went on a run and he was able to see what Shaq was doing on the court. Kind of scout from the sidelines and you know what NBA players, especially of that, of that Ilk of Kobe Bryant and just the all time, all time stars. He kind of got to see where he fits in alongside Shaq and put together both what he was doing, aggressively scoring and then also feeding Shaq where he needs to go. And then they went on that 151 run, which in the playoffs, because Kobe had best of both worlds, where he was both facilitating and he was being aggressive. I think that's what Bron can be. Because I think one of the things that we've seen from Luka, not just this season, but throughout his career, is that you've seen this also with LeBron too, where they're guys that you could just put dudes around them and the team will be successful, right? LeBron isn't that guy right now because he's 41 years old, but by and large, that's been the kind of guy he's been throughout his career. It's really hard, hard to get to that point. You have to be really great to do that. But if just give me a group of dudes, we'll figure it out. That's the type of player that Luca is. And I think for the first time in his career, for this to be successful, LeBron just has to be one of the dudes on there, right? And he needs to just be like, yo, I'm running the break with you. You need me. I'm hauling ass. Right? Right. I'm playing off of you. Whatever you need, I'm playing off of you. Right? Because it is a Luca centric offense right now. And maybe they stagger, maybe JJ Riddick staggers, both of them. Where, you know, Brian gets his because, you know, Kobe and Shaq used to stagger all the time, right? Where it'll be a Kobe time and it'll be a Shaq time. I think that would be the best recipe for right now where. And then when they are together to close games, you can pick your poison on who's hot. But I think the best way to go about this is LeBron to fall in line, especially because they are.

C (8:57)

You.

A (8:57)

Know, they're rolling right now. You don't want to mess up that vibe. You just want to enhance the vibe and that I think that. But the way that you do that is just like falling in line. Yo, I'm. I'm in the corner if you need me. I'm cutting, I'm hauling ass, I'm in the post, I'm picking, rolling, whatever you need. Luca, I'm here to, to. To. To add to what you are doing as. As opposed to getting my own. And LeBron is a smart enough player. And also, he's been engaged a lot on the sideline. I saw him against the San. When the San Antonio spurs down the stretch of that. It was. You could tell he was revving to get back into the flow. He was coaching guys on the sidelines. He was, you know, calling charges, excited, slapping fives, and it was a good thing. But I think that if he just enhances the vibe, he's going to be fine. If he tries to take away from it, which I don't think he's going to, because One thing about LeBron is if he. And you've had this experience, when he sees that the team has a chance to win, he is locked in like he is. He is in it. And this is a chance for. I think this is one of those things where he sees a chance to win in a winning group, and I think that he's going to fall in line.

C (10:01)

A few things. A few things. I don't. There's no part of me that thinks LeBron will come back and try to, you know, try to be, you know, pissy about the situation and trying to cause a little chaos in the media. I don't think so. He's too much of a professional to do that, like, so I don't think that's. That would ever be his intent. You mentioned the Kobe Shaq situation. That offense kind of organically, the triangle will lend itself to, like, them being able to kind of, you know, equally distribute the ball, the touches and scoring areas, and be able to kind of navigate needing two people to work like that. It's just set more. It's more of a set offense, right? They're. There are movements that are going to happen almost every time down the court. There's more structure there when you're trying to get said player. You talked about Luka being able to put four or five guys around him. LeBron used to be able to do that. The people who can do that are advantage creators on their own. Like, what they do is get by their man in some capacity. Collapsing defenses, given that they have the space to do that, and then they have the uncanny ability to always know what play is, the right play to be made with the pass when their ability to score is taken away. Like, not everybody can do that. LeBron surely used to be able to do that. And so when. When you play LeBron and Luka together, the question then becomes if LeBron is in this headspace, where he is going to help and add to the vibes to, to, to, to use your, your, your term. Does he have the skill set that complements Luca's ability to beat his man every time and then pass the ball? Right. And so he has become a better spot up shooter for sure. He, he did compliment him in terms of getting out on the blade on the break last year and kind of let Luca spread his wings and do his thing. It will be interesting to see how good they can be with LeBron in that role. Because that's not LeBron, if you understand what I'm saying. Like that's, that's a role player.

A (12:10)

Yeah, right.

C (12:12)

Like you. I mean, I, I don't mean to marginalize LeBron at all. LeBron has been Superman forever. But if you're asking him to do that, then he's not LeBron. He, he becomes a three and D guy essentially. And if we're going to let Luca just keep doing our thing. So it's going to be interesting. And this is the. You can have all the intent in the world. Your intent can be fantastic. You want what's best for the team. I have no doubt to your point that if LeBron sees a team with an opportunity to win, he's all in. You can never underestimate how much a star like that is used to being a star like that. And when it's not available to them in that way anymore, you can't quantify what happens. There's no way to predict it. You don't know. You just don't know. Right. And so we're going to sit back and watch. And I too hope that he can make that transition in a way that very few, I mean, very few players have been able to make a true transition like that. Do you, I mean, from like, I am the guy like the face of the lead guy to like, hey, bro, you take that ball. I'm gonna go run over here in this corner. I'll outlet to you on the break.

A (13:26)

Yeah, I mean, I'm thinking about Will Chamberlain when he led the league in assists. Right. Was like a real. Towards the back end of his career to win that 72 title. I think about Kareem towards that end, but again, Kareem, that's, that's really hard to do. And like Kareem has been very open about how hard that was him to.

C (13:42)

That's what I'm saying.

A (13:42)

Responsibility. Yeah.

C (13:43)

And that happened. That happened. That didn't happen, I imagine. I mean, I wasn't, I was watching, but like, I wasn't like locked into team dynamics. At that point, body language, etc. I imagine that happened gradually for Kareem and with a little bit of pushback from Kareem, you know, so, like, so, so how quickly they can make that dynamic change on the fly is going to be, like, to some degree, it's going to be the. It's going to be the tail of the tape for what their season can ultimately be like. I Too agree that LeBron is as smart a player as there is out there. I know that he knows championships, like, are directly tied to, like, the ultimate legacy that, that, that he leaves. So will he be chasing them? For sure. You just don't know what it's like to not be the guy until somebody tells you you're not the guy.

A (14:33)

Yeah, I'm really. I want to give credit to one J.J. redick, who has had to manage all of these things. And I think what I've seen, especially during the super team era, by and large, I guess, like, towards the back end of the super team era, is when you put guys together, stars together, you kind of just. I think coaches get in the way and they kind of just resort to, okay, they're great players, are going to figure it out. I think what JJ has done, especially on the fly here, and I think that's why he needed some coach of the year consideration last year, is he's able to put star players within the framework of a really good motion offense where he puts them in different places. Right. Like, one thing that I've really been happy to see with Luca is they've been putting him in different positions to score. Right. I think in Dallas, it was yo similar to Harden, yo dribble up. If you got a pass, pass it out off of a, you know, off of a drive or step back three. Right. That was pretty much his pick and roll or ISO.

C (15:41)

Right?

A (15:42)

Exactly. Right here you're seeing him go, like, going into the post, you're seeing him kick to somebody else, go through an action, get the ball back. And LeBron is doing the same thing in the offense when you saw it last year. Right. Which is why I think they can both kind of eat within the framework of the offense. And it's not going to be like, okay, yo, you get the ball. No, I'm going to get the ball. No, no, no, no. You get the ball, it's your turn. And make it a lot of very predictable, because when you have stars, you want. You stars still want to get easy buckets, too. They can get hard buckets. That's something. But they Want to get the easy ones. Like, there was a play that I. That kind of went viral, but I thought it was, like, it was really indicative of, like, just how easy it has been for Luca within this offense where they. It was against the spurs, they get him in on the post, they double him, and he just goes right through and gets a layup. That was. It was just. It was. It was beautiful to watch. Even LeBron and AR was impressed. Um, but things like that and getting him in places where he's not normally able to get to has been great. And, you know, skinny Luka has. Has just unlocked something completely different in his game. And if he can stay at this weight, wherever it is, it's going to be great because he can probe people, he can run the break by himself. He could put so much more pressure on the defense. And I think that can really unlock when LeBron comes back, because he's a different Luka than he was. It's like they traded for Luca, and then they got another Luca six months later that has. That is just balling.

C (17:12)

Well, you know what's interesting? Like, not. Not. I'll. I'll have a thought on that. But the move he made against San Antonio, I was bugging off. Like, what was everyone bugging about? He stepped through and laid the ball in.

A (17:22)

Like him.

C (17:24)

He just stepped through and laid. That was interesting to me. But, like, he's playing fantastic. And you are right. In terms of, you know, I always loved when scorers or primary, you know, focal points of offenses are moved around the court, because then as a defender, I don't have landmarks. I talk about landmarks a lot. I talk about, you know, knowing where you're going to be and if I. If I know where you're going to be and already have that figured out, like, I can devise, you know, different ways to try to, you know, limit your ability to be effective. But when you're moved around and you're catching me in different places on the floor and you're exploring, you know, where I'm the most vulnerable as a defender, whether that's out there in space or whether that's, you know, putting me in some sort of, like, help situation, or whether that's in just purely putting me down, you know, on the post, like, once you find that, then you work that scenario that night.

A (18:16)

Right.

C (18:16)

But, like, probing to find where he's going to have the best success that night is. I love coaches when they do that. I tend to agree with you. And like motion when the ball's moving and LeBron and Luka both being able to eat, but we all know that that's 85% of the game. And then there's 15% of the game when it's time to win. Maybe only against the teams that look just like you or that are slightly better than you. Where it's going to be back and forth for the last half of the fourth quarter and we're going back and forth and we're not in that motion anymore. You watch NBA games, like all the ones that really matter, they, they boil down to what? Like with, with, with 8 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, back and forth, best player with the ball. Like, how are we going to get him to ball? Everybody else kind of hold a little bit and let's figure this out. Like, it just, it just works out like that. That's the area that I'm interested in.

A (19:15)

Yeah.

C (19:16)

Do you know what I mean? Like, that's the area that, because that's going to dictate winning and losing, like, if you can get that right. I'm not worried about all the stuff leading up to that. They're talented much. LeBron James, it's, it's Luka, like, you got, you know, Austin Reeves is playing great. They're going to win a lot of games. But like that portion of the game against those level teams is, is the area where I'm talking about really, really drilling in and watching this dynamic and what they're going to do with the ball and, and really what one person is going to do off the ball in that scenario.

A (19:49)

Yeah, I can't wait to see the first game against OKC when they're all back.

C (19:52)

Right.

A (19:53)

Or the Denver's or even the San Antonio's. By the way, that San Antonio game was so fun to watch. I definitely am getting old because I, I was watching the game on west coast and I was like, I looked at the time, it was like three minutes left and I'm like, Bro, it's 10 o'. Clock. I'm tired. I'm going to sleep. And I go to sleep right before the barrage of threes and like just where all the action, I'm like, oh, that's toug. I don't think I've ever, I don't think I've ever related to Roger Moore like, or Beck Moore like, I'm here.

C (20:25)

I don't even attempt, I don't even attempt to watch though. That's just a tape. That's an immediate tape.

A (20:29)

Like, we'll catch that in the morning. Yeah, we'll catch that in the morning. But. But, yo, did you. Real quick. And this is our Wimby time. Real quick. Just give me. I'm just two minutes on Wimy Dog. Did you see him and how crazy he was? Even though he fouled out? Like, yeah, they put him, like, on a switch with. I think it was Marcus Smart, where he just, like, he sizes them up. No, it was on Dalton, and he sizes them up. Ah, 1, 2, 3. At the top of the key. Ah, rock the cradle. Ah, just.

C (20:57)

Yeah, no, it's. It's crazy. Again, he's a freak. As of late, though, like, you know, point production down, teams are starting to really kind of, you know, understand where they might be vulnerable. I do think, you know, you know, even at the beginning of that spurs game, I was watching it and I was like, man, give him the ball. Yeah, like, you know. You know, we talked about with Howard last time that Wemby is like, yo, this is. This is my. This is mine now. Right? Like, and maybe it was too early for that, but I wanted him. I wanted them to come out in that Laker game and go right at him over and over again, like, just to say, hey, bro, this is what it's going to be all night. Come with your double. Do what you need to do. And there were a lot of, like, loose possessions for San Antonio early in that, with other dudes trying to get their shit off. I just did not appreciate it. I thought, you know, I thought that was a miss, a little bit, quite frankly, on their part. But I, you know, in retrospect, over the last three games, the last time we. I was on, I had said, you know, the deer and fox of it all, like, maybe you look to move that. I actually think he helps them. You know, I actually think he helps organize, get people. You know, he's just a vet in that space. Like, you know, Harper's gonna be great. But you do need some seasoning in terms of running a show. Like, getting the pieces where they need to be setting the table, controlling the tempo, making sure that we're not giving that ball to Wemby at 22ft so they can come and get up under his feet and double him. Like, we're gonna. Hey, bro, take your ass down there. Get it at 11. Yeah, like, get it at 11. Where. Where it's just make or miss at that point, because they can't do nothing with you down there. Like, there's some of that that I think he will help them with.

A (22:43)

Yeah, man, get him the ball early. You sound like me when I'm talking about talking to Chip Kelly in my mind. Like just give Genti the ball. Just give him the ball early and often. He is our offense. Stop playing. Sorry, I'm still heartbroken from last night. Anyway, speaking of seasoning Raja on the other side of the break, let's talk Cooper. Flag the Ringer. NBA show is brought to you by FanDuel. All right, your Friday nights just got a little louder because NBA Happy Hour is happening on FanDuel every Friday from 6 to 7:30pm Eastern. FanDuels got limited time specials to pregame the weekend boost bonuses, surprises all live in the app. Let's take a look at the slate. I think I'm going to take the over on the Knicks Heat and I think I'm going to take the over on points and rebounds for Carl Towns and I think in the Warriors San Antonio Spurs. I'm going to take the over and then I'm going to take the over on points, rebounds and assists for Victor Womanyama. That's NBA Happy Hour every Friday from 6 to 7:30 Eastern only on FanDuel. Official sportsbook partner of the NBA. Visit FanDuel.com Ringer MBA to get started. 21 years and older and President. Select states are 18 and older and President D.C. kentucky or Wyoming opt in Required rewards are non withdrawable. Restrictions apply including bonus and token expiration, leg requirements and max wager amount. See terms@sportsbook.fanduel.com gambling problem. Call 1-800-gambler or visit rg-help.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org backslash chatincenetic all right, and we're back. Let's talk some Cooper flag and development both of Roger's bags. Let's put some stats on it. First, Mavericks are last in the west. Oh, in the same conference as the Sacramento Kings. He currently ranks third in points among rookies, second in rebounds, six and assist. The Mavs are down bad. They took Clay out of the starting lineup for D' Angelo. Russell hit 20 points and nine rebounded 35 minutes. But they lost to the Pelicans who got their first win. Congratulations Pelicans. My sleeper team. Anyways, the question that I just kind of want to go with you and I think it's mostly like circumstantial because of just where the Mavericks are, just the fact that they traded for Anthony Davis to quote being air quotes a contender and so they're pushing this agenda like hey, we're going to try to compete for a title. We're going, we have players and vets and I think it's just a hodgepodge of guys. Whereas in a perfect world, you would just. In a perfect world for a first round pick, you would just like have the roster barren and just methodically build around this rookie. They don't have that luxury right now. So I think that's why the development of Cooper Flag is a bit off track right now. I just don't know what you do. And short of like sitting everybody else out and just letting him cook for, I don't know what else you do with this team. And it's weird to see with like Jason Kidd, his coaching because he is a coach for a contender, and it's weird to see him kind of like figure out Cooper Flag through this development. And also his struggles are. Cooper Flag struggles are magnified because he's playing out of position and he's playing for expectations that aren't realistic. I, I say all that to ask, what the hell do you do with Cooper Flag right now in this scenario? What is the path forward and how do the Mavs get there?

C (26:24)

Listen, if I had answers to those questions.

A (26:28)

You'Re just yelling at the TV.

C (26:29)

To be like, yeah, or I'd be sitting in somebody's. Like, I'd be, I'd be, I'd be in somebody's front office. Like, like, you know, I, I don't have answers. I don't have answers. What I. Here's, here's what I would say to that. Everyone understood or should understand by now that that window that, that Nico talked about, you know, that window for winning a championship did not include this year. It should. Once, once Kyrie went down, that window was no longer open as it related to winning a championship. So he could say whatever he wants, forward facing to the media. But the bottom line is this is about Cooper Flag's development.

A (27:09)

That's.

C (27:09)

That's what this is about, right? And Anthony Davis's health to some degree. Because if, if we can accomplish keeping him healthy and viable and Cooper can learn on the job and develop well, theoretically, when we get Kyrie back next year, we don't have a rook, a really good first round, like number one pick that's learning fresh, you know, out of college one year, reclassed up in high school. So he's a baby. Like we have a second year pro that understands the ropes of this thing. How you achieve that with him and the setup for that I think is pretty good though. Like, while they're not like this barren, you know, cupboard of talent where you could just drop him in and he goes for 30 every night. That's never who he was. So I had made, I made the argument when they drafted him that the setup for him was really good. He's not giving him the ball and saying, go get 30 for us. And that's going to be your development plan. Not prudent. It's just not. You have to have patience if you're a Maz fan. I know that sucks. You guys had Luka. You don't want to hear that. But that's the reality. This, this is going to look good some nights it's going to look great some nights. It's going to look terrible some nights. But you have to take the approach of not a day trader but like a long term investor and just zoom out. And like day trading is going to be really flux. It's going to fluctuate. There'll be highs, there going to be lows. You're going to ride those waves, you'll be miserable. But if you zoom out and just know that if you stay invested and you stay patient, you stay diversified, that thing ultimately is going to keep going up. That's Cooper Flag over the course of this year. So have patience with him. Sit back and watch Zoom Out. Don't ride the highs, don't ride the lows. Every night he goes out there, he is learning something. He's a baby. And I don't mean that in any kind of negative way. Like he again, he reclassed up a year in high school to get to Duke early. He played one season at Duke and now he's in the NBA.

A (29:12)

So basically he's just a freshman. He's basically a college freshman right now at this point.

C (29:15)

That's incredible. And he's got all of this talent, he's got all of these boxes that he can check to win basketball games. He's always won basketball games. That's not a fluke. It's going to take time for him to develop those on the NBA scale but. And it's going to take him time to figure out what he needs to be for any team to, to, to have a chance to win games. So you let him work his way through it. Should there be some point guard play in that? I think so, yeah. I think that's a good skill set to have. I do. I think that if you can learn to play that position adequately, it gives you a versatility that moving forward in your career is going to prove dividends. Down the road. Do I think he's a point guard? Do I think J Kid should look at him like himself and think he's going to be this big pass first magic, like point guard? I don't think that's the right. I don't think that's the right way to approach that either. But some point guard play is. Is good. This isn't a great answer, but what I would say you need to do with that specific team as it relates to Cooper's development is take a step back, understand that that's what this year is about. That's all this year is about. And it's not going to happen overnight. This is going to be something that happens over the course of these 82 games and quite frankly, next summer.

A (30:35)

Yeah, well, I'm with you on the point guard thing. And the reason why I'm with you is because in a perfect world, you would just do that anyway and just try. Because there's no expectations. There's none of that. Like, if J Kid did this without Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving on the roster, they would just be trying stuff with Cooper. Flag and just say, hey, we don't care if we win 20 games this season. Who gives a. But, like, because they set this expectation of championships, that's why I think Jason Kidd is getting the criticism. Nico Harris is getting the criticism also. Man.

C (31:12)

Who in their right mind, like, aside from Nico, who in their right mind thought they were. They would go.

A (31:20)

I don't think Nico believed that, to be honest with you. I think Nico was just saying stuff. He was copping. Please. Just because he, like, he made a terrible decision. One person that I am disappointed in, in just watching is just Anthony Davis.

C (31:32)

Man.

A (31:32)

This is the. This is the season of all seasons that you get your ass in shape and have one of the best years of your career. And he came in overweight, out of shape, and it's not really a surprise that he's injured so fast, because if he is, this was like the late stage, prove it year. This happens sometimes, right? Like, where you're like, okay, you've been a number two for a while. People like Raja, you think you're number one. But people like Roger are like, nah, nah, man, he's actually a number two. You guys are missing the plot. This is how you reclaim your number one status as a.

C (32:07)

He don't. He don't think he's a number one.

A (32:11)

Rock with me here. So. So the fact is, he had another shot at that right here. And I think he just it just completely just blew up in their faces. Because if he goes hard and he leads this team, it makes it easier for Cooper Flag. It makes it easier for people around. Maybe you. If this team won 45 games, is in a play in, then you kind of can set the expectations of, like, man, hey, we can get Kyrie coming in next year. There's some excitement going into next year. Maybe we can be a contender now. It's like, man, you know. And there's been other things. Lively's been hurt. There's been people that have been in and out of the lineup. But, like, going into next season, it's it. You're even with Cooper Flag on the roster, you're looking at a whole restructuring. Like, I. If I am in charge there, I'm definitely restructuring everything because it doesn't look like any hope is on the horizon. Right? You have a Kyrie Irving who is coming off an acl. There's been whispers that he's going to come back around, like, December, out of nowhere, it. Which doesn't seem great.

C (33:13)

Y' all laughed at me when I told y' all that on a pod last year when he got hurt. Go find it, Cliff. Say January, everybody laughing at me.

A (33:23)

You did. You did. But even with the ACL recovery, like, I'm not expecting him to be full strength for another one. That's for it until, like, 18 months at least, right? But they don't have the luxury of time. And so, like, you're going into next year, and you're like, okay, Kyrie has to prove it. At third at, like, going into his mid-30s. You have a season where Anthony Davis was out of shape and injured, and the only hope you have right now is Cooper Flag. That's not great for Nico. That's not great for the front office. You got poor Clay. Poor Clay. Clay was just trying to be on vibes. He kind of swindled people. It got Mavericks fans thinking he was going to be something and a contributor to a championship team. And I don't think really watched the last part of the warriors his last warriors season. He kind of is who he is at this point of his career, but he's getting vilified right now. It's tough in the Mavericks. I think the overall point that I'm trying to make, though, is that this should be a better situation for Cooper Flag as a young person, but it's just not because there's so many other cooks in the kitchen that are tr. Have so many different types of agendas in Dallas, and there doesn't seem like there is a laser focus on, on one thing. It's like, oh, we're going to be a champion. No, we're going to, we're going to try to develop Cooper Flag. Oh, we're going to wait till Kyrie comes back. Oh, was Anthony Davis. He's still a defensive player, right? No. Damn. He's out of shape. Like, there's so many different things, and when you have a young guy like that, particularly in this hard cap era, you need to be methodical and you need to make sure you're putting pieces around him at the right time. And I don't think the Mavericks are doing that well.

C (34:59)

Yeah, I think I slightly disagree because I think you can achieve. I mean, I mean, first of all, I think that if you, if you got behind closed doors and asked people what they were trying to achieve in Dallas this year and you got a genuine answer, it would be develop Cooper Flag. Now, they might say whatever they say to the media, but I think that is agenda and objective numero uno for anyone around that Dallas franchise. You're looking at your roster. I think that there would be hope, at least for me. I don't know that. I don't know that I would give up on the Anthony Davis, Kyrie, Cooper Flag situation rolling into next year. I just don't know that I would because I don't. I mean, again, I know people think Anthony Davis is a number one. I made the joke and kind of interrupted you. I don't even think that Anthony Davis thinks he's a number one.

B (35:54)

Right.

C (35:54)

Like, I think he feels much better being in the number two role where, where, you know, he can come in there and just be an accent to like what you have going on in the number one spot. I was disappointed in his level of professionalism. I'm going to just keep it a buck. I don't know him. So, like, this might be unfair, but sometimes I question whether he, like, loves it like that. Like, I, I, I just do. That might not be fair to him, and I apologize to any of his fans, but, like, that's just genuine, like somebody. But he didn't come in, in the greatest shape. And that was disappointing because I had laid out why I thought he was very protective and it would be a very nice kind of like, safe environment for Coop to start learning how to swim in the NBA. Right. Like, there was a barrier there between him and all the sharks that are, that are swimming around in those waters, Dog. And that barrier would have been Anthony Davis if he Were at the best version of himself.

A (36:51)

Sure.

C (36:52)

Playing out of his normal role and his ideal role, but still able to, to your point, like, win games and have you in a situation where vibes aren't just completely low. Rolling into Kyrie coming back next year. And so my hope is that he gets healthy and he's able to kind of do that, and they're able to become viable over the course of this year. Not in any championship level, you know, conversations, but just in a way where you've got a little momentum. I do think you will continue to see Coop get better and you don't. The plan for Cooper getting better doesn't have to be given the ball and get out of his way. It doesn't have to be that. If he was going to be SGA moving forward. That's the plan. Hey, bro, get this cat. As many touches as we can get him, get him in as many offensive like scenarios as we can get him in. Let's figure out who he is as this offensive weapon. It's going to be 30 a game over, you know, for five, six, seven years in a row. If that's who he was going to be, then the recipe to developing him is giving the ball. That's not cool. Coop's a Swiss army knife. He's going to do a little bit of everything, so you don't have to have that unique setup to develop him. So I do think that they can develop him with what they've got going on there, because he doesn't project, to me, at least, to be that, you know, a one offensive player, at least in the near future.

A (38:21)

Yeah. I think the problem with that is, though, is the guys that are tasked to develop him don't have any incentive to do so. Right. Like, on the roster, right? You have guy like Kyrie coming back from acl. He ain't gonna be like, yo, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna attach my last few years in the league into developing somebody. I'm trying to win a chip. I mean, I don't know what Anthony Davis necessarily wants to be, but, like, if you see him this season, he's definitely not invested in developing a Cooper flag or else he would have came in shape, he would have been balling. He would have been like, okay, my job is to get you right, right. It's not a. Yeah, it's not a David Robinson, Tim Dawkin type of situation. But, like.

C (38:59)

But no, my bad, because I got to interject there. That's not my job.

A (39:03)

No, no, no.

C (39:04)

I get that, no, no, not my job.

A (39:07)

Like, I agree. It. I agree, I agree. But what I'm saying is though, like, if you're. That's why, that's why I said the too many cooks in the kitchen thing, right? There's too many different types of agendas, whether they are fair or not. Right. But when you are trying to bring a rookie of that type along, you need guys in there that are going to try to. Where their focus is. Like, I'm going to. We're going to develop. I'm going to get out. We're all going to develop. I'm going to either go to another team or I'm going to develop this thing with you, this type of roster that's not realistic. Realistic.

C (39:39)

I'm pushing back again because like, let's go to Philly with Vijay Edgecomb. Like, you don't see Tyrese Maxey worried about developing Vijay Edgecombe. Like, we're going to go out there, try to win games. I'm going to do what I do. You're going to develop because you're out here on the court. You're going to develop because like, you're playing basketball and you've got these opportunities that night after night and we keep stacking these nights and these practices. That's what happens. So, like, I, like I feel what you're saying. I just don't think you have to have a barren desert of talent to let something like Coop develop. You can have AD when he's, when he's good and he's playing well. You can have Kyrie that's trying to win a championship that I don't think that necessarily has to hinder Coop's ability or stunt his ability to grow. It might not expedite that in terms of his top end ability, but he can still grow in that and see how he can contribute to winning in that window if it really exists. And then that's just a more gradual development. You know what I mean? But again, I think some of that is also tied to what he projects to be as an offensive player. Because if he's never going to project to be a 25 to 30 point a night scorer in the NBA, the worst thing that you could do to him is put him in a situation where he's got the ball and he's got no help because that's going to be really frustrating. He's going to look really bad trying to do that.

A (41:05)

Yeah, yeah. We'll see what happens. See what happens.

C (41:08)

No doubt.

A (41:09)

That's a good point. We haven't before we get to row one of the week, I want to ask real quick, because we haven't talked to you in a minute. What have you thought of, like, the stuff with Ja? It's right in your bag, bro.

C (41:22)

I don't know, man. I don't. I don't. It's. It's time, right? Like, we can all agree, like, this is, like.

B (41:29)

It's.

C (41:29)

It's. It's time. I'm not. I. I've lived in a glass house before, so I'm not going to throw stones. I became so disgruntled, so disgruntled with my situation at one point that I was not the best pro. So I'm not about to sit here and tell you that, you know, no one could ever do that. And shame on him not. What I will say is, I know the signs of that, and when that happens. It was easy when it happened to me. I was old and I wasn't very good. Kick him, like, get his ass out of here. When you've got a talent like Ja and he's in, you know, what should be his prime, it's not that simple. I just think that once you get there, unless there's major, major structural overhaul, there's no going back. Like, you could band aid it, right? It's like leaks on that boat. You keep slapping a band aid on one, and here goes another one. You slap bandit on that one, and there goes another. Eventually that thing's, you know, coming apart. And so I just feel like we're kind of closely approaching that with Ja. It's unfortunate. I would tell him just from experience, the looks of, like, physical disgust when you're out there on the court, or, like, lack of care that people, you know, kind of clip and put out there. I feel you in that. I've been there. It's never a good idea, though. It never works out great for you. Like that never. That never is going to turn around. People are never going to be like, yeah, man. They're really. It's always going to look bad for you. So it's unfortunate. Like, I don't know. I said a lot to say very little, but it's. I think it's unfortunate. I think it's. It's time.

A (43:13)

Yeah, man. I think he should look at every game right now as an audition, whether it's for. Because it's very clear right now that. And we've talked about it, you know, talk about at the live show when Beck brought, you know, got that news leak to him, Right? But The Memphis Grizzlies have, they've said publicly and I think this is a, you know, talking people around John, like the limited people that I do know. But it, there's this two plane, two plane like system where we're at right now where it's like Memphis is saying all the right things and saying like, we love Ja, we want to be with him. And their actions are proving totally different. They don't give you the extension, they, they piss you off at every turn. They don't get the coach that you say you want, right? Whether, whether or not he's running the office that you may, may suit you or not. It's somebody that you didn't like. And now we're here, right? And the organization doesn't have your back on this because they suspended you, right? So I think that the writing is on the wall here. So with that being said, there's a lot of, there's just a lot of character stuff with JA right now, that other team that is going to hinder his ability to get paid in the way that he wants to get paid. And whether it's the Grizzlies or other teams, just for the reputation. And so the only way that you fix that is you say, you know what? Fuck all of you guys, fuck everything and all the noise. I'm going to lead this team to the heights that I can lead them to, to up my value and get up out of here or I'm going to force your hand to where either you got to pay me or, or somebody else got to pay me. But we are going to exceed expectations and we are going to ball. But like right now it just doesn't seem like he's interested in that because like, I mean he wasn't always the greatest defender, but like that. Some of the defensive collapses right now on tape are pretty jarring now and like the way they're getting clipped and like him not caring and then the presser and on some ways, and I talked about it with back the other day, like I feel him like if the organization that you, you know, you know, the Jaws presence in Memphis, if the organization that you have kind of put up on the map and the way that he has post grit and grind is doing you like this, especially like what he's been to that community, I'd be pissed too. I understand. It's just not helping him right now. You know, this just part is just isn't helping him. And it's unfortunate, but it's going to be a sad day if and when they get rid of him because the writing is on the wall, he's not going to be there for the rest of his career. It's over.

C (45:58)

Yeah, it's. It's sad, it's unfortunate. I think that's a great, you know, that's great advice, Logan. Like, you can, you know, there's a. There's an amount of time, regardless of what anyone says, where things aren't going your way, you're feeling sorry for yourself and you're in your feelings right now. Some people don't live in that space as long as others. Right? But there's always a fraction of time where you're like, oh, fuck, man. Like, this sucks. Right? Like, right. And then you could get over it. He's kind of living in that right now. Where to your point, like, you know, you just gotta say, man, fuck it, this is what it is. This isn't really even going to be about the Grizzlies. This could just be selfishly motivated. This is for me. I'm coming out here. And my singular performances, my individual performances are going to help lift us to places where I'm restoring all value and faith in me across the league, you know, and that's where he's got to get to, like the, you know, and I'm not saying he's sitting there, oh, woe is me. But if, you know, you know, like, you, you, you feeling sorry for yourself a little bit. Like, you know what I mean? Like, there were times in my career where, you know, I'm sulking and shit's not going right and you're like, whatever. And, and ultimately you gotta have it come to Jesus. Like, bro, you sitting here feeling sorry for yourself, who care? Like, who out there is gonna make this better for you? Nobody. Like, nobody. What the media is not. They want to keep writing about it. The dude sitting behind you is not. He wants the minutes. Like, your teammates aren't there. They're. They're trying to do their thing to get paid. Like, the only person that could get up out of this is you.

A (47:27)

Yeah.

C (47:28)

So, like, that's where he's got to get to. And it can be selfishly motivated and be dually and mutually beneficial, but he's got to get to that point.

A (47:36)

Chris Rock said, one of my favorite stand up specials, he was talking about, you know, what, having kids and his daughters and stuff. And he was saying the advice that he would give to his daughters is the world don't give a about you outside of these doors and the people inside of these doors. Little on the fence.

C (47:55)

No doubt.

A (47:56)

But that's true.

C (47:57)

No doubt.

A (47:59)

I remember just like one of the biggest lessons that I learned in this world is that no one cares. No one cares about you, no one cares about me. No one cares about this pod. Nobody cares about shit.

C (48:14)

Look, man, people.

A (48:16)

You know what I'm saying? I remember.

C (48:17)

No, I do, because I used to be in gyms again, man. I started coaching little jerkos in the third grade and I was blessed. Like, some of my little guys are doing some really cool shit, playing at some really high level schools. Like, it's really cool. But I remember when parents would like, listen to me and maybe it was a lot for like a fourth or fifth grader who has tears in their eyes and you know, shit's happening to him on the court. And my message is like, nobody cares. And like, you know, parents, moms especially would be like, that's their baby. Like, they don't, they don't want you to say that. I'm like that, look, do I love this kid? Yeah, man, I'm going to like, I'm going to take him to the pool later and we're going to have a good time. But like right now you got to realize nobody care that the team is kicking your ass. Don't care. Those refs that you think are screwed, they don't care. The other. No one cares. Tighten up and that's where you got to get to like. And that's, you know, it's not an easy message. Especially like, if we're being honest. I've, I've said this before about camp. You have to have people in your camp that will tell you that, like Chris Rock.

A (49:18)

He doesn't have many people I don't.

C (49:20)

Know because I don't know his camp. But he don't seem to have a camp that keeps it all the way, a buck with him all the time. And you got, you need people in your orbit that are going to. So look, I just got back, I told this, I just got back from West Lafayette. I took Ty up to visit Purdue, right? And I was sitting there with, with, with Coach Painter and, and we were talking and he told me a story about why he chose to go play at Purdue and for Gene Katie. And it resonated with me because I've had experiences like that. He, he, he said, you know, a lot of things. He told his story, he said. And his dad's message to him was like, hey man, I'm not saying you gotta go there, but of all the people that have come through this house. He's the only one that told you the truth. Right. And that resonated with Coach, and that's why he went to Purdue. And I've had situations like that in my life. You have to have people that are going to tell you the truth about shit, because if you don't have them in your world, you never get to that point where some. Where someone can illuminate for you that you're sitting here feeling sorry for yourself and you got to get out of your own way.

A (50:26)

Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like, you know, I'm. Memphis is far away from the bay and from me, but, you know, when I. You do talk to people around the league, and you do talk to, you know, some people that are close to. To him. He doesn't. And then you also have the anecdotal stuff of what you see around him. Just being in this. It doesn't seem like he has people that are necessarily, like, pushing him up. It's people that, like, have something to gain from being around him. That's what it feels like, you know, and that's the unfortunate part of all of this. And, like, it's a. We could have a whole other pod about that, and I'm sure we will down the line, but it just doesn't, you know, the life. Raja, you know how this goes, right? Like, it's just. It's. It's tough. It can be tough to manage when you're in a position like Josh. So I feel for him. But the other thing, though, there are a lot of teams right now that need a point guard. Whole lot of teams. Whole lot of teams that are monitoring the Grizzly situation that can talk themselves in to not only trading for you, but also giving you an extension.

C (51:25)

Hey, yeah, go ahead and start playing ball, bro. Go ahead and do what you do. Ja. Like, this isn't even in a. If it came across in a. In a hateful kind of, like, way, it was not meant to be. Like, I'm a. I am a fan. I get your shit together personally, bro. Go out there and do what you need to do so you get those opportunities. That's what I'm saying. That's all I'm saying.

A (51:46)

Yeah, man. Also, the league's in a better place when ja is. Ja.

C (51:50)

Straight up.

A (51:50)

Straight up. Take a quick break. We're going to give our real ones of the week. Okay, we are back. Roger, do you have your one of the week?

C (52:00)

I did not, but I quickly Google search went through my. Yeah, I quickly just went through my Rolodex of that's happened. So I'm gonna give real one of the week to one Arch Manning. It's personal. Clearly, everyone knows, yeah, my son's going to Texas, but we were out there two weekends and last weekend maybe for the Vandy game. And the reason I'm giving it to him is because he was put in a nearly impossible situation coming into this year, none of which was his fault. He wasn't out there professing to be the next Tom Brady or the best thing that happened to college football, you know, in the last hundred years. He wasn't doing that. He was, quite frankly, telling people, hey, I haven't done anything yet. Like, he was trying to, you know, diffuse it, if you will. And he did not come out playing great, and Texas as a team wasn't playing great. And why I give him the real one of the week is because he stood up at that microphone. He held himself accountable. He faced all that scrutiny. He stood in the face of all of that and kept working, kept showing up, kept being what his team needed him to be. Sometimes it looked better than others, but he has continued to get better and better and better. And, you know, specific to the game that I was just at, he looked really, really good. And he's a good kid. Like, I enjoy talking to him and spending time with him when I got the opportunity to do that. And I'm happy for him because that. That's an easy thing to wilt in the face of. And he did not do that. As a matter of fact, he came in on the other side and he's looking. He's looking better for it. And I applaud him for that. That's real one type shit.

A (53:33)

That's dope, man. I didn't grow up a Texas fan. In fact, I did not become a Texas fan even in the slightest until Nephew of the Pod committed.

C (53:42)

Me neither.

A (53:44)

But. But it's dope. Like, to just see that made me watch Texas more and just see, you know, what Archie is going through. And that first game was. First game was tough. And to like and to have to, you know, play through those expectations and kind of come on the other side of it. Like, the expectations were coming from everybody but Arch and people in that. That. Yeah. In that locker room. And so, you know, for him, Sark, it's been dope to see. My ruin of the week is probably going to be someone. Someone that you guys are surprised for me to say. Maybe not if you've listened to this pod, but I'm Going to give it to one Kendrick Perkins. And that is because I watched. I watched his appearance on a Out the Mud podcast, was a really good podcast with Zebo and Tony Allen, and they had him on recently. And I know the big story was what he was talking about with J and. Which was hilarious, but if you watch the pod, he talked about his journey from being a player, going into an analyst role, and what he. What he gave up to get into that role. All the vices that he gave up just being an NBA player, that he gave up to work, to be an analyst. He talked about, like, you know, giving up weed, giving up just the lifestyle that can be a hindrance when you're a professional athlete, that you can kind of get away with when you're a professional athlete, but when you get to the real world, it's just not conducive to, you know, just living in a real world. And he was just talking about being productive. Being productive, yes. And he talked about how much he worked to be an analyst at espn. And I don't want to give it fully away, but there's a clip on there where he talks about that. I think you guys should watch it, and it'll give you a real resonation to the person that I know is Perk. And people that have seen him and work with him know his park is, like, he's this dude that he. He'll say some wild. He'll also, like, say some stuff that you think is wrong. But, like, the people that work with him know that, like, he's always down. He worked really hard to get this. I remember when, during the pandemic, like, he was always just a text or call away to come on the podcast if I needed him. Not just this podcast, but when I was back, the job that I had before this, like, you know, just really. Just being a really good person towards us, right? And, like, also just like, yo, I'm down. I got you.

C (55:56)

And I'm about to say, you moonlighting on me, bro. You. You having on the pot. I'm not on the pot, bro.

A (56:01)

You. We did the pod. All the. All the park appearances. You were there. Shut up. But, like, I think that he is. I. I really just. It really resonated just to see that clip of him just really talking about taking the job seriously, right? And you can say what you want about his performance on a job and what he says, but he takes that shit seriously, and he means what he says, right? And so I'm gonna. I'm my ruin of the Weakest part, because that clip from out the Mud Podcast was, I thought, was a really great pot. Is a really good podcast and great podcast. I think that you guys should watch it. And he really came off really great in that. And really honest, right? Like, he ain't perfect and nobody is, but I really just expected the candor and vulnerability from front of the show. Kendrick Perkins.

C (56:46)

Carry on.

A (56:48)

Goddamn right. All right, man, I gotta go. I gotta go up to sack and watch your guy Russell Westbrook play the Oklahoma City Thunders. I get the. Yo. Oh, man.

C (56:57)

Hey. All right. My bad, Arch. No disrespect. Are you still a real one second? Real one, Brody.

A (57:05)

Yeah. I'm happy for you.

C (57:07)

Like, can we do that? Can we. Can we do that, Cliff? Can we do that? Words are we. I need Howard back on a zoom call. Get him on FaceTime.

A (57:15)

He'll be here Tuesday. Get him on Tuesday.

C (57:18)

Hey, Russ, don't screw it up before then, bro. Don't screw it up, Russ. Keep it moving.

A (57:21)

Well, he has a lot of time to do it. All right, guys, tap in realm bag@gmail.com. realm back@gmail.com real onesmailback gmail.com. me, Howard, and Raja will be there on Tuesday. We'll tap in with you. Talk to y' all soon. All this shits. Bye. This is 21 years and older and present in select states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 and older and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rghelp.com, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 1-800-327-5050. For 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY in New York.