Raja Bell (2:37)

I tried to forget him, but I. It just, just like seared into my brain, man.

Howard Beck (2:42)

Like, it's been a couple of months. We're very happy to have him back. No doubt soon getting the gang back together. We got a bunch of stuff to go through today, but quick shout out to theringer.com and for all of our listeners, if you did not see it this week, we did a quarter century week. So it was a bunch of reviews of all, like the bests and fun items of the last 25 years. Go check out Kurt Goldsberry's charts that explain the last 25 years that went up today. Friday. Rob Mahoney, amazing piece on the five true originals. Guys like Dirk and Steph. Michael Pena did the greatest team not to make the finals. I want to come back to that in a second. Tyler Parker did the best 117 names of the last 25 years in the NBA. Names Raja. Raja, your name sadly did not make the cut. I don't know if it was on his. His original list was like 900 possible candidates. He narrowed it down to a mere 117. I did the five biggest sliding doors moments of the last 25 years. So folks should go check all that stuff out. Raja, how you feel about not making the best names of the last 25 years in the NBA?

Raja Bell (3:58)

I think I'll live.

Howard Beck (3:59)

I think you're the only Raja.

Producer Cliff (4:01)

There's that.

Howard Beck (4:02)

That's not nothing.

Raja Bell (4:03)

That's true. That's true. But I'm okay. I mean, I, I. What I'd be interested to know what was like, what was the. So was the winner the.

Howard Beck (4:11)

The number one name according to Tyler Parker, who's amazing writer. I love Tyler stuff. The number one name of the last 25 years of the NBA? Von Tego Cummings.

Raja Bell (4:22)

I played with Fontigo. Like, Von Tego's not only a great name, but that's a great cat. That's a phenomenal dude. Okay, okay. Does he break down like, his criteria for like, for, for the rankings of names?

Howard Beck (4:37)

The. He, he, he, he did break down the criteria. I gotta. It's. It's a long list. So I'm scrolling, scrolling, scrolling to get back to the, the intro of this thing so I can tell you. Rick Fox made the list. I forgot that Rick Fox. So three Bismack, Bismack B did make the list. Yes. Mookie Blaylock was number two, by the way, behind Von Tego. That's a good call. Like, Mookie Blaylock had to be. Nicknames don't count. He said for the purposes of this list. So, like. But if it's the one name that you're known for, like, he calls it the Bimbo Kohl's provision. Right. If you're only known as Bimbo Kohl's in the league, you qualify. Popeye Jones qualified. Mookie Blaylock qualified. But like the glove for Gary Payton doesn't qualify because that's strictly a nickname, Right?

Raja Bell (5:21)

Totally.

Howard Beck (5:22)

So that was number one. Number two is success. Doesn't matter. Wasn't about best players. It's just like, it's strictly about your name. Yep. And he said it's first and last names, he says. And the dynamic, inextricable relationship between the two. So it's basically like how it, how it comes off your tongue, basically. Right. Like, so he, like, starts the list with Dwayne Bacon. It's mostly about the bacon there. Right. Tabo Cephalosha made it. Bilal Koulibaly made it. Quindary Weatherspoon. It's a phenomenal. It's just, It's a great.

Raja Bell (5:59)

But that's all over the. It feels all over the place.

Howard Beck (6:01)

It is. But he also explains each one.

Raja Bell (6:04)

Okay.

Howard Beck (6:05)

And they're just those. And the explanations themselves are phenomenal. Pablo Priggioni made the list. I think that's. That's a good call. That's easy. Anyway. It's. It's awesome. It was really fun. Also fun. Michael Pena did the best team of the last 25 years not to make the finals or win the championship. He went with the 2018 edition of the Houston Rockets. Raja, as someone who played a good chunk of the last 25 years on the earlier part of that spectrum, do you have a team that always comes to mind is like, man, like that team, they never won it all or they didn't make the finals. But that's a. That, that, that team was awesome. They could have easily won it. Anybody come to mind your son's teams, possibly. They were mentioned, I believe.

Raja Bell (6:51)

Yeah, I'm trying to. Yeah. That's a tough one. Who, who could have won it? I mean, I, I really. My son's teams. I mean, these are all going to be near and dear to my heart, obviously. Right. Like, I thought that, that, that Sacramento team that, that kept coming close to games. Yeah. So because of that, our 03 Mavs team that beat that Sacramento team and then lost to the spurs, and then Dirk had like a knee injury in the spurs series and Steve Kerr rang like, strung along all those threes and then they wound up winning a chance. Like I. Or did New Jersey win it. I think we win it that year. If we don't, if we don't, if Dirk doesn't get hurt, that's one. I mean, I don't know. There are a lot of teams. Those, those Portland teams maybe.

Howard Beck (7:41)

Yeah. So it's funny, like my, my own personal favorite in this. Like if anytime this conversation comes up, best teams never to win the finals. Like the, the 99, 2000 trailblazers. They take the Lakers of Shaq and Kobe to seven games in the Western Conference finals. They have a 15 point lead in the fourth quarter at Staples center before it all comes apart. But that team was fricking awesome, Raja. That team had basically two starting lineups and it was like legends. And I know like some people have knocked it as like. Well, they're a little older. Like yeah, they were. It was an older Arvida Sabonis, but that dude was still killing people. Yeah, Scotty, an older post bull, Scotty Pippen, but Scotty was still really, he.

Raja Bell (8:19)

Was guarding everything and guarding everything.

Howard Beck (8:21)

Damon Stoudemire, Bonzi Wells, Steve Smith, a young Jermaine o' Neill who can't even crack the rotation, he stuck behind Sabonis. And by the way, Rashid freaking Wallace and Brian Grant, like that team was incredible. They were just absolutely stacked. So to me, best team in the last 25 years. Like it's hard to compare, right? How do you compare that to say the 73 win warriors that you know, blew the 3 to 1 league in the finals? Or the Rockets team that Pinot went with or even that oh two Kings team like another one that pushed Shaq and Kobe to the brink. And of course you know, those are, those are series I was there for. So like I have, I have some pretty vivid memories of just how good those teams were. And when you cover Shaq, Kobe every day and then you see a team absolutely pushing them to the limit and being like this freaking close to knocking them out. Like that three peat almost doesn't happen twice, you know, in 2000 and 2002. So anyway, do you base it, you.

Raja Bell (9:14)

Base it off of like how good the team was. Like a collection of, you know, the parts. Are you basing it off of like the talent level? Because like obviously the, the Portland team you just talked about all that high end, like world class talent that's just stacked. They were, they were really good too, but like that's a lot of talent. That Rockets team is interesting because like it was really top heavy with, you know, was that CP, CP3 and, and James Harden, right. Like really good role players around them, like the perfect kind of combination, but heavy. Our sons teams were interesting because I was thinking about them and that was, that was Amare and Sean Marion and Steve Nash. Boris Dia was no slash. I mean slouch. Leandro Barbosa was winning six man of the year. Like, that was a lot of talent on that bad boy too.

Howard Beck (10:04)

Yeah, no, no question. I think that's the tough part about the exercise, right? Is that. And, and it's funny when I posted this on, on Blue sky and had people responding to it, people's own opinions on who should have won that or, oh, how could you not mention this team or know other suggestions that came out. Everybody's got a little bit different criteria, right? Like for some people was just like, of course it's the 73 win warriors. They won a record 73 games and they were defending champs and they up. Were up 3:1 in the finals. Like, of course that's the best team not to win at all. And I can't remember if the dividing line for, for Pina's purposes was not even to make the Finals because I, you know, there's some great teams that don't even make it. Like the, the, the teams that I was mentioning, the Blazers and Kings from the early 2000s, your son's teams are in that category. I think it's. For me, it's like some combination of, you look at the roster, the top to bottom rotation, talent, and you're just like, oh my God, like there's not a weak spot here. They've got hall of Famers, they've got All Stars and future All Stars and then how far they got before they fell out, right? So like you're not going to say a team that like always lost in the second round is the best team not to make the Finals, right? So, so it's, I think the fact that the two teams that I was thinking about, because they were knocking right on the door, conference finals, Game seven, to me that speaks to it as well as like the strength of their roster. So. But yeah, I think everybody interprets it a little different.

Raja Bell (11:27)

So the, the, the warriors team, for me, I don't know if this is fair because I would agree, like, you know, 70 some wins and you don't win it like on, you know, like I give them the nod except I, I mean they want it like sandwiched that team with two winning teams, right?

Howard Beck (11:42)

Yeah.

Raja Bell (11:43)

So like I almost like they won it anyway. I mean, they, they that that team.

Howard Beck (11:47)

Won it's not like they didn't get their due.

Raja Bell (11:50)

Right. Allow me to introduce the roster of that 03 Mavs teams that, That I was telling you.

Howard Beck (11:56)

Yeah. Because I don't think, by the way, even it came up in. In conversations in the wake of that.

Raja Bell (12:01)

Right. Real deal, like Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley. Right. Like the big three that they had then. Then you had like, Rafa France and that year was like Rafa France and what's Sean. Sean Bradley, a young Eddie Nahara. Right. And then they went out in free agency, I believe. I don't. I'm not familiar with exactly how they acquired, but Nick Van Exel and Walt Williams, which were huge additions to like, that kind of core of. Of three that they had. And then they had Adrian Griffin and myself kind of coming off the bench as a defensive piece here and there. You had. You had just a lot of people on that team. Like I was a baby. But there was some three guys just in the middle of their prime and Steve Dirk and, and. And Michael Finley and then just really, really good kind of older veteran pros and whiz and quick. That was a really good team.

Howard Beck (12:55)

Yeah.

Raja Bell (12:56)

Yeah. Pop Popeye and Popeye and Popeye on the name list. And Avery Johnson were like. Were. Were like the, the vets that were our coaches kind of. Right. So, like, there was just a lot of talent around there.

Howard Beck (13:07)

Yeah. I mean, Dirk and, And Nash alone and, and. And Finley too. Right. Like, he's. He's still there at that point. Actually, it's a. Relates to the piece that I wrote for the Quarter Century series this week, which was biggest sliding doors moments of. Of the last 25 years. And, and I had to go with five. Like there I had a gazillion, but it's hard to narrow it down. But like, I think it was the last one I put in the piece was Cuban deciding not to pay Steve. Like, that's. It's not just that. It's not just that Nash leaves Dallas for Phoenix and this is the year after the team you're talking about. It's everything that happens after that. Right. Like, does seven seconds or less happen without Nash there to run it for Dan Tony. Right. And. And if Steve stays in Dallas. All right, look, the Mavericks would have been great. Maybe Dirk wins a championship even earlier than he does. Maybe he makes more finals than he does. Maybe, you know, maybe Nelly ball becomes the 7 seconds or less spark that changes the league instead. But it's like the Suns and Mike d' Antoni and Steve Nash changed basketball. And there's so many things that come out of that. Even setting the stage for what the warriors would later do in their dynasty. Right. It sets a template. And Steve Kerr came in at the back end as GM of the Suns, even. And, you know, Steve Kerr, Alvin Gentry, and then I think there's all these different connective, you know, connections between. And basketball is just different because of the Suns. And it only happens because Dantonia, Nash and the synergy that they create. Right. And the system that they. That they birth, which at the time was still drawing a ton of skepticism. So if Cuban just pays Steve instead of worrying about his back and his health and his age and all this, like, a lot of things are different. A lot. So that was. That was one of my sliding doors moments.

Raja Bell (14:55)

Well, you attributed to, like. And that's fair. You attributed to, like, him not paying Steve. There was a signing the year before that where he didn't pay someone that I think was more significant and actually played a huge role in him not signing Steve. At the end of the day, I think it was the first domino to fall. He didn't fucking sign me. That's right. I thought you were going with that. But it was like, no, but I mean, all jokes aside. No, all jokes.

Howard Beck (15:23)

Little things, too.

Raja Bell (15:25)

You know what I mean? Who knows?

Howard Beck (15:26)

Coach Steve back or you throw your.

Raja Bell (15:28)

That's right. He didn't realize how important our relationship actually was. Like, no, but. So, you know, for me, too, like, you're talking about the Suns teams, but, like, all jokes aside, you know, I'm in Utah just, you know, kind of trying to figure out who I am as a player after that. And then Steve, now I play him one year with the Jazz, and then the second year of my Jazz deal, he is in Phoenix. And I'm watching that. I'm a free agent, you know, and I. And Steve and I obviously have a relationship. So I'm talking to Steve about, oh, man, that looks. You know, that looks really fun. Like, we went out and played them. You know, I had a pretty good game, which. Which put me on d' Antoni's radar. And then Steve and I have this relationship. So even my career arc, if you will, would have been completely different had. Had. Had Cubes signed Steve back.

Howard Beck (16:16)

Yeah. So, folks, go check all that stuff out. Like, this was a really fun week on the ringer and RBA coverage with the quarter century stuff, all the stories I mentioned.

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Howard Beck (16:56)

Go check all that out. I want to get to the other thing that dropped this week, of course, was the annual NBA GM survey that my buddy John Schuman@NBA.com does. We'll get to that in a minute, but we got to hit a couple newsy things here first. Raja, I don't necessarily want to talk about LeBron again this week, but he's almost leaving us no choice. Did you see the second decision?

Raja Bell (17:21)

No.

Howard Beck (17:21)

Capital S, Capital D, Negative. They flashed that. Well, of course you didn't. You were like lying in a street somewhere in negative in Florida multiple times.

Raja Bell (17:32)

By the way, the last one was at the Dunkin Donuts.

Howard Beck (17:34)

I'm sorry, it's not, it's not a laughing matter. Such that shit ain't fun. So Monday, Tuesday, somewhere In that range, LeBron on his social channels teases the coming of the second decision, capital S, Capital D. And there's a quick preview video and there's a guy who looks like he's an interviewer sitting on a basketball court, just as we saw with Jim gray back in 2010 and LeBron walking in in kind of a similar like patterned shirt. And you don't know what it's about. It's just, this is coming tomorrow. And so everybody's like, he's announcing his retirement. He's not. Whatever, like, and of course, of course, of course this was never going to be about basketball. This was always going to be an advertising advertisement for something. And it turned out it was for an alcohol brand that I don't know whether or not they advertise with us. So I'm not going to give them the free plug. It was, it was annoying. My friend Candace Buckner wrote a great piece about it, a great column on it in the Washington Post. But like at this point, LeBron knows like, he knows like we are all just on a string here and the second he tugs it were all reacting and they, they got a lot of mileage out of it. Ton of speculation and people wondering like, what's is this, is this going to be a big news announcement or is this something else? And yeah, I'm sure a ton of people watch that video for really alcohol Company. But it's like, at this stage of your career, we know it's. Your retirement's coming close and everything else. I just. Just don't mess with people's emotions and, you know.

Raja Bell (19:12)

Yeah. You know. Yeah. You know what you're doing there, LeBron. But, yeah, I mean, I guess, you know what? I. You know what I come to grips with, like, every day more and more. I'm just. This is a shame. Like, I'm just not that kind of fan anymore. Like, I'm not. I don't care what him or anybody else is really doing, for that matter. I'm not tapped in like that.

Narrator/Advertiser (19:33)

You know what I mean?

Raja Bell (19:34)

Like, I know it sounds crazy, like, when the games start, I'm there, I'm watching. I want to know what's going on. But in terms of, like, I didn't even know there was a decision. Part two, even if I wasn't sick as a dog, I wouldn't have known that. I just don't care.

Howard Beck (19:45)

Yeah, I wouldn't have cared, except it's my job to care. And look, he's going to retire sometime, right? It. Next week, next month, next year, a year after that, whatever. It's like, it's coming. We know it's coming. Like, it's. But he's one of the greatest ever to play, and it's going to be a big deal when he walks away. So I just. The. It was just a little bit crass, I think, though, the manipulation of. Of everybody. And for purposes of just, you know, selling some booze, selling anything. I don't care that it was booze, by the way, selling tacos, selling anything.

Raja Bell (20:17)

I get it. Just. But I mean, I guess Howard, like. And that's fair that, you know, I mean, you've got to care. Did people think he was, like, going to retire like you? Did people really think that was the decision that he was.

Howard Beck (20:30)

Just put it this way. I. I had to have some actual, like, text conversations with my editor just to make sure that. Just in case. Even though we don't believe this is going to be something, we need to be, like, at least plugged in and conscious and whatever.

Raja Bell (20:44)

Okay.

Howard Beck (20:45)

Because something might happen, something newsworthy might be happening here. And, yeah, that would have massive ripple effects on. On the league, and we would. We would be. Everybody would be writing and talking about nothing but that if that were where this was actually going to lead, I think everybody was pretty sure it was going to end up just being an ad for something. But, yeah, I mean, it, you know, look like I say he's, he's the puppet master here. And I, I think based on just what I saw on social media for the, you know, 12 hours after that, he got the desired response and so did the, the company he was, he was plugging. So unrelated. LeBron also has sciatica and is going to miss the start of the season for the first time in his career. He's out at least a few weeks. I think the projections are at least five games and then reevaluation, which means it could be longer. So curious to see how that affects the way the Lakers deploy their starting lineup, the rotation, how they look without him. You know, we're already like, it's such a weird, symbolic, unintentionally symbolic. You wrinkle here, Raja, because we're in this transition, right? Luca, to seemingly LeBron's chagrin, is now the center of the universe out there, not just in terms of the offense and everything else, but the planning is all around him. That was the statement by Rich Paul back in, in June about, hey, don't forget, LeBron's here and he has a shorter timeline. And now here it is. They're going to start the season literally without LeBron on the floor. And, you know, we're, we're, we're, we're somewhere toward the beginning of the end and the handoff for good. Don't know when it's ending. That'll be the decision, part three, I guess. But interesting that there's no LeBron to start the season.

Raja Bell (22:30)

When, when you get to a certain age, you know, this, Howard, but, but athletes, you know, especially, I mean, you can do everything that you normally do and even take more precautions as you train and lead up to a season and do everything right. Like check every box that you've checked year in and year out, and every year you add and another, another box. You can't account for something that will pop up that next year that makes sense. I mean, I know it was a convoluted way to explain it, but like ever something new is going to pop up that's going wrong with you every year. Every year you advance in age, you don't know what it's going to be, so you can't prepare for it. And LeBron's kind of to some degree, experience in that because he takes care of himself as, as well as anybody in the league. And then you're just. Age is, is, is aging. It's happening. And so, you know, sciatica is interesting because it flares, right? Like you could Wind up feeling pretty good, miss five games, go through a string of playing really well and oop, there, there it went again. And now you're out. And so it'll be interesting to see if this is something that lingers. It's something that they deal with off and on the entire season. I do agree with you. The timing of it is, you know, it's really interesting because they come out of the gates playing well and looking, looking really good. And that dynamic of LeBron versus versus Luca and how we're going to manage that, that decision starts to take shape in a way that, you know, I don't think is good for LeBron. That's if they were to come out and, and hit the bricks rolling, if they don't look good and then, you know, he, he comes back and it solidifies and puts the pieces back in their normal spots. You know, that could be, you know, a little leverage play for LeBron and camp. Right. Like, listen, hey, don't forget about us. Like, we're, you know, we need it. So that's going to be interesting to see how the dynamics, you know, kind of play themselves out. But generally speaking, I mean, you have, I don't know how old LeBron is, forgive me. What's he, 40?

Howard Beck (24:24)

40 and turning 41 December.

Raja Bell (24:27)

Yeah. So for, for a 40 year old man, you're going to deal with that like, you know, it's just the start of the season this year, but there's, you can pencil in, you know, a certain amount of missed games that's happening.

Howard Beck (24:39)

When we project the Lakers and when we talk about the Lakers and their, their, you know, their potential in this moment, it's always because they have Luka and LeBron. Right? Like you need a one, two punch in this league. And LeBron may be 40, but he was still all NBA last season and is still a really potent player. But if you, you know, you know, roll this forward sciatica, maybe it lingers, as you say, maybe it flares up, as you say, maybe it leads to other stuff. One of these years, it's going to be the year where he's not at an all NBA level anymore. It's like, it's unlikely he's going to be playing an all NBA level and then retire. Possible, but I think unlikely. Probably what's going to happen is the slow erosion and then it's like, oh, okay, my body's telling me it's time. So one of these time, one of these years, one of these seasons, it's going to be a lesser LeBron and if it's this season that changes everything we think about the Lakers because now it's, it's, it's Luca plus A. Less than an all NBA LeBron plus A, hey, Austin Reeves is pretty good, but not an all Star plus Rui Hachimura and deandre Ayton. And like I, you know, like I don't know. I don't know what you got at that stage. And a lot of people are projecting after that, top tier of Oklahoma, Denver, Houston's not down a notch because of the Fred Van Vliet injury. So it's a big mishmash. Right? It's, it's, it's Minnesota and the Lakers, the Clippers and, and the warriors and the Wolves and the Lakers place in there is still very much dependent on the fact that LeBron is regarded as, as an All Star to all NBA player. And if he's not, that changes a lot. So the other thing that I think that happened this week, back to Giannis. Giannis essentially confirmed the essence of Sham Sharania's reporting over the summer, which is that Giannis looked around a bit, seemingly has his eye on the Knicks. He didn't confirm that part of it, but he confirmed that he, he effectively confirmed everything he's already been saying for the last few years anyway. Right. Like in some ways there's no difference here. Giannis has said all along and these have been little warning flares that Bucks fans keep trying to say, oh, you guys are making too much of this. We haven't been. We have made exactly what we should out of it, which is Giannis saying, I want to win more championships, I want to be on a contender. And he's been pretty patient with it. They didn't have a great summer. They got Miles Turner and they waved and stretched Dame. But like the roster is eh. And we talked about this last week, but Giannis essentially said like, yeah, listen, I'm completely committed here now, but I may change my mind in seven months. And, and, and humans do that. And he's, he's, he's right and fair to say that I'm, and I'm glad he's candid about it, but it essentially confirmed the outline of what Shams have been reporting that Bucks fans were so apoplectic about. So yeah, we've, we've accurately interpreted these as warning signs. Other teams around the league have been accurately interpreting it that way and have been making plans to try to poach him if he becomes available or to try to sign him out. Right. In 2027 if he reaches free agency. So this season, I think Raja then becomes a bit of a referendum on where the Bucks are. Giannis, like the rest of us, are looking to see, can they somehow, you know, contend with this group or make other moves along the way? I don't know how you feeling about the Bucks chances of making a really convincing run this season enough so to calm whatever Giannis's concerns are.

Raja Bell (27:58)

Well, what's. Let's start with what they got going for him, which is, you know, the Eastern Conference. You got who, Cleveland, New York, that. That are back relatively whole looking like they looked last year that are. That are kind of the top of the top of the league. You won't put the Sixers in. They're like, okay, Cliff wants to put the producer.

Howard Beck (28:21)

Producer. Cliff is. Is. Is. Is. Is making a quick reminder to us.

Raja Bell (28:26)

Yeah, but there, There are some. There are some things there that I want to. I want to. I want to see before I'm going to put them in there. Cliff, like, but. But I feel you. But. But let's just say, like, as a conference, there's. Outside of those two teams, like, we're Wait. We're in wait and see mode. Right? So, like, ultimately, do I have. Yeah, I mean, they're all in. They're good. But, like, if you were to tell me you had Giannis playing well and you had figured out the recipe around him. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not ready to say that I would be worried about Orlando or the Hawks and stuff like that, but I don't ultimately don't believe that they're going to be the type of team that if championship or bust is his mentality right now, they're going to prove to him that, like, they're on the. On the cusp of doing that. I just, I don't. I don't believe that now, again, the east might shake. Shake out to be a landscape where a lot of teams that have a shot at it and you don't have to be great. And in that scenario, who knows? But if you're asking me, like, you know, push came to shove, do I think Milwaukee is going to have the type of season that would prove to Giannis that their championship window starts now and will extend for the next couple years of his career, I don't think that's happening now.

Howard Beck (29:32)

They just. They just don't have the firepower on that roster. They don't have the talent after him. Giannis is still the best player in the Eastern conference, I don't think that's in dispute, but it's, it's such a steep drop off after him and I don't know how they get there. I'd like to think that there's a whiteboard somewhere in John Horst's office where he has mapped it all out for Giannis, showing, like, here's what we're going to have in terms of like, because they're so out draft capital too, but like, eventually, you know, each year you get closer to when you get picks back with that seven year window. Like, hey, here's some draft picks coming, here's what we can do with cap room. Here's guys we've got our eyes on that. We think, like, you hope there's a roadmap there that they have been spelling out to him to try to keep him, you know, content with where they are. Like, no, we can't contend this year, that's a stretch. But here's what we have planned. And look, I want to be really clear about this. I would love to see Giannis in Milwaukee the rest of his career. I think it's really important for small markets in the. I've said this so many times over the years. It is really important for small markets in the NBA to not have just proof of concept, but ability to keep their guys so that it doesn't feel hopeless. And not just for Milwaukee, but if you're a fan in Memphis or Charlotte or Indianapolis or wherever, you want to believe that your team has a chance. And what we've seen over the last seven, eight years here in the NBA with this age of parody, is, yeah, everybody does have a chance. Be really smart and you could be the Oklahoma City Thunder in one of the tiniest markets in the league. This is possible. The Bucks have won a championship. The Nuggets have won a championship. Like, it's possible. It's good for the league for that to happen. It's good for the league for those stars to stay put. But I don't expect, nor do I think it's fair to expect for a guy of Giannis's caliber or Jokic's or anybody else's to stay put in perpetuity just out of some sense of loyalty. I mean, it's fine. Like, it's fine, but you can't expect it all the time. If you can't win championships and you think you still have the ability to lead teams to championships, it's perfectly fair for you to look around, as Giannis has kind of admitted to doing so we'll see. I mean, teams are already lining up. There was, there have been reports that Giannis has thought about the Knicks, that the Knicks and Bucks have even had, you know, some kind of preliminary conversation a while back. I, I don't see it happening with the Knicks. Like, they just don't have the draft capital. If you're trading Giannis, you're rebuilding, so you're going to want young players and picks. You're not, I don't think you're looking for Carl Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby as, as the return package. You could tread water, you could, you could avoid bottoming out, but I don't know if that's the goal. They don't have control over their own picks, so bottoming out actually kind of sucks for them because that's just high picks going elsewhere. But I gotta think the Bucks want a lot of young players and picks because that's the normal reset that teams do. I mean, we can go down this list like the Nets, tons of draft capital and young players, but like, are the young players good enough? And once you're matching salaries, you're probably trading a lot of the guys that Giannis would want to be playing with in Brooklyn and then he hasn't improved his position if, if too much is going back the other way. Rockets got a lot of picks, including some still from, from Phoenix and Brooklyn. They've got players like Shangun that you could make the centerpiece of it, so they could be interesting. The spurs have a ton of draft capital and they've got a ton of young talent. Like they're that one. Like the Giannis Wemby possibility is really fun to think about. The Thunder can make the best offer of anybody. But like, why would they break up a defending champion unless, you know, they crashed and burned next spring and decided it was time to try something else, but seems unlikely. Miami's always attracted to players, but do they have enough that the Bucks would actually want? Clippers don't have the draft capital. It's, you know, it's la, so I'll mention them, but they don't have the draft capital or the, or the youth. The Lakers, like, I don't know what they even have. Austin Reeves and not, not a lot in the pick category, pick department. I have a friend who's a really hard, like hardcore warriors fan who's always trying to come up with ways for them to get somebody. So he was like, you know, Kaminga Pajemski, a few first round picks. I don't, I don't see that one happening either, but it'll be interesting. Like, you know, if it's an open market, if the bucks are. If Giannis doesn't hamstring them by saying only this team or these couple of teams, if they can create competition, it's obviously going to be pretty. Pretty frothy. And I think even if he wants New York, there are a lot of teams that can make better offers.

Raja Bell (34:00)

Yeah, I mean, I. You would know that better than me. I don't. I don't really know every asset for all the teams and so on and so forth, but I would just say this. Giannis, hamstring them, bro.

Howard Beck (34:10)

Go ahead and hamstring him.

Raja Bell (34:11)

Hamstring them, dog. Tell them where you want to go. Like, let's not even fuck around. Like, we're not. You're not shipped. Like, you know, the assets. I get it for organization. Like, that's always the interesting part for me, right? Like, are we trying to do right by Giannis? Are we trying to do right by us? Are we trying to split, you know, are we trying to split it and everybody walks away a little unhappy and a little happy? Like, how are we going to approach that kind of negotiation if I'm Giannis and I'm trying to win that championship? I'm hamstringing you, dog.

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Howard Beck (35:15)

An apologies, Cliff. There's no way he's getting to Philly. There's just. There's. There's just no way. Cliff's having a rough morning. From what I understand, some other Philadelphia teams that play in other sports had a bad night last night.

Raja Bell (35:31)

Oh, my God, I felt so bad. What was. Buddy. Oh, I felt terrible. I was watching that.

Howard Beck (35:36)

Oh, that was terrible. If you. If you were a Sixer fan, you've been puking all over or. Yeah, Philly fan, you'd be puking all over again, Roger.

Raja Bell (35:42)

Oh, my God. Look, man, I'm lightweight, a Phillies fan. Best uniforms. Best uniforms for me and all the pro sports. Like those baby blues with the. Like that. What would you call it? What's that?

Producer Cliff (35:53)

What's that powder they called the powder blues, Raj.

Raja Bell (35:55)

Powder blues are crazy, bro.

Producer Cliff (35:57)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The depression smacked me in the face this morning when I went to the gym. But it's all good, man. You win some, you lose some, you bounce back. You know what I'm saying?

Raja Bell (36:07)

That moment, like, I know this is off topic, but it's the most. It's the cringiest moment that. That. That I could ever put myself in, that I could imagine. It's just that. That moment where that ground ball came to him. Not the air, not the error on the. Like, that's not even an error, because it was kind of. It wasn't like a sharply hit ground ball, but it was like, if you don't catch that cleanly, that's fine. You ran on to that, like, knockdown ball, and that's a easy routine play, man. You turn and go to first, like, every single time. What's happening in your brain to short circuit at that moment and throw that wildly to home plate. My soul hurted. My soul hurt for him. Like, it hurts thinking about it. Like, I. I don't know what else to say, bro. It was. It hurt so bad watching him do that, man.

Producer Cliff (36:58)

It was. It's a young player, Orion Kirkman. I mean, good player, too. I think he's 24 years old, second year in the majors. You know, he'll bounce back, but that was. Yeah, that was a crazy. Just. I mean, just to sail it, too, because the catcher said, throw it the first, throw it the first. You got plenty of time. The runner was halfway down the baseline, and he's still.

Raja Bell (37:18)

I don't. He's going to be fine. I didn't mean to make it sound like he won't be. And it's not even an indictment on who he is as a player. He just short circuited. Like, just short circuited.

Producer Cliff (37:27)

Crazy, crazy, crazy. Sorry. We became a baseball show way, too.

Raja Bell (37:30)

Yeah, sorry about that. Sorry about that.

Howard Beck (37:31)

Age back to look how healthy. Look how healthy producer Cliff's fandom is, though, right? He's like, ah, you know, you win some, you lose some. Which, fine, you know, I hurt a little bit. I'm good. We're good. Everything's all right.

Producer Cliff (37:41)

My Philly people will not be happy with my viewpoint on these things. They want me to go off on this, but.

Raja Bell (37:46)

Yeah. Were they really crucifying him? Like, nobody had any empathy for the young.

Producer Cliff (37:51)

I was out last night, and people was. It was a lot of profanities being said, a lot of, f that guy. F this guy. And you gotta remember you gotta remember the Eagles were losing at the same time, too. So it was just. Yeah, the TVs, you know, the TVs at the spot I was at. Eagles on one, Phillies on the other. And it was just all around, just a mess. Just a mess. It was bad.

Raja Bell (38:11)

Yeah, that's a whole, that's a whole nother story with them birds. But can I just, can I just say this? Like, I'm sorry, I know we got to run down and shit like that. I become more and more disappointed every day with, with today's fan. I just do. Like, you know, we don't have patience for anything anymore. A win or a loss is an indictment on who you are as a player. Like whether you're a success or a failure. Organizationally, it's an indictment. I mean, everything's. The pendulum swings so much from game to game, outing to outing. Like, it's got to be impossible to be a high level athlete. Like, I would not want to play in this culture. It's, it's a lot. It's crazy. Like there's no patience for anyone to. And everyone throws around the word develop. Like, even in the NBA. I'll relate it to what we're doing here, right? Like, you got these young kids coming out and, you know, I saw my young in. What was the one we talked about him on the pod. What's his. He was at Rutgers last year. He had a nice little outing for the Jazz. First game out in.

Howard Beck (39:18)

Oh, Ace Bailey.

Raja Bell (39:19)

Ace Bailey had a nice outing. But he's not going to do that every single game, right? He's not going to do that every single game. Like he's going to go through stretches where it doesn't look great and he's trying to figure it out and he's searching for how he responds as a pro. And increasingly we don't afford these young players the opportunity to do that in a healthy way. It just becomes like, just straight, like venom at them. And it's just I've become more and more disappointed every day. Every day I'm on, on something or watching a fan or even a local, you know, sometimes like a, you know, writer on some of these things, right? About, like their team and some of them are better than others. It's just disappointing, man.

Howard Beck (40:03)

I'm sorry.

Raja Bell (40:03)

A little rant, but.

Howard Beck (40:04)

No, not at all. Listen, I'm with you and you know, like, I, I don't want to go into a whole tangent about this myself, but like, I think about this a lot, Raja, just because I've been Covering this league for this is now going to be year 29, which is hard to believe. Before that I was, you know, I was a fan before I was a sports writer. That's how you become a sports writer because you're a fan first. It, it for most of us it kind of wanes or dies along the way because it's a job. And your love of the sport takes on a different kind of, of manifestation, right where you're channeling it into your interest in the players and trends and all these things and you, and you have to love it to want to write about it and talk about it all the time for, for a living. But it's not the same as the passion that you have as a fan where you live and die with the team where you are either super happy or super sad or super cliff. So, so like you're like you, you ride these waves and that's normal. Right? I think what's different now and what's disturbing to me now as somebody who's a little older and who has like came up at a different time and fandom was different in the 80s and 90s, is that so much of it now. It just seems so extreme and so grievance driven. Social media is a large part of that. And it's always a little dangerous for us to put too much stock into social media being an accurate gauge of our society. But like a lot of other places in our society, social media feels very unhinged a lot of the time and a very grievance driven. And I feel like so much of fandom now, instead of it being about the joys of sports and the joys of your team winning and yeah, sometimes there's heartbreak too, but like it, the heartbreak doesn't have to be anger or vitriol or you know, then. And also lashing out at other teams and fans of other teams and whatever. Lashing out at those of us in the media who dared to say something negative about your team because we happen to see some hole in their plans like the vitriol and the grievance is out of control. And that is something that I've noticed over the last 10, 15 years or so. Again, it tracks with the social media era and we are more exposed to all that than we've ever been to how fans feel. And as somebody in the media, yeah, I get a lot more feedback than I ever got in real time for that matter. But I don't think it's healthy. I don't think sports fandom is in a Good place. So, yeah, not a random lecture I intended when I woke up this morning, but there it is.

Raja Bell (42:36)

No doubt. What was the. What's the youngin's name again, man? What's the pitcher's name? What was his name, Cliff?

Producer Cliff (42:40)

His name is Orion Kirkering. Orion Kirkering.

Raja Bell (42:43)

Yeah. I just hope. Hopefully he's got. I'm sure he's got Good. He'll be good.

Producer Cliff (42:47)

Yeah, he'll be all right. He'll bounce back. Yeah, he'll bounce back. I think the. I think, you know, as crazy as the Philly fans are, and, you know, I live in breeders every single day. I'm from here, you know, born and breeze here. I think people understand, like, all right, like, let's relax, let's fall back. At the end of the day, I mean, homie made a mistake. It wasn't just about him. It wasn't just about the end of that game. Like you said, he short circuited in the moment. He probably just panicked, didn't know what to do in the moment and threw it 80 yards away from J.T. at the plate. But, you know, at the end of the day, I think, listen, I'm a rational, level headed Philly fan. A lot of people aren't as rational as me, Raj. I'll be the first to say that and admit that. But, you know, I think homie will bounce back and he'll be fine, and I think the people should embrace him.

Raja Bell (43:28)

Yeah, that's what's up. Well, here's my. Here's my last thing. I got nothing to do with Philly. Just to rent, like, real talk on fandom in general. Like, no one knows better that they screwed something up or they didn't do their job or they let the team, the city, the. Their. Their teammates down. No one knows better than the person that did it. No one feels worse about it in most cases than the person that did it. And so, like, just know that as a fan, like, you know what I mean? Like, you're.

Howard Beck (44:00)

They.

Raja Bell (44:01)

You're not gonna. You're not gonna feel worse as a fan. As bad as you feel about your team, like, losing the person that knows they made the mistake feels even worse.

Howard Beck (44:13)

I think gambling has something to do with this too, right? Like, there's a lot of, like, people are pissed off when they lose their bets and everything else. They lash out at players, coaches and stuff.

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Howard Beck (44:48)

Let's wrap up with the the GM survey. That was a fun little diversion. Or maybe not fun, but like an interesting one. It's a good conversation. GM survey. John Schuman, MBA.com has been doing this for many, many years. 49 questions to the GMS. We will not hit all 49 questions, Raja. Before I get to the questions that he actually asked them, I keep thinking about the questions I'd really like to see in the survey that will never be there. Because this is NBA.com and so this is like official. This is a. And you know, this is a league endeavor after all. So the questions I'd like to ask GMs are things like, who's the owner you most or least want to work for, right? Oh, yeah, because they're like, everybody will tell you that is like the most underrated potential advantage or disadvantage in the NBA and probably other sports, too. Other leagues, too, is ownership. Like, great owners generally produce better results and bad owners generally produce pretty, pretty, pretty shitty results. And if you are the GM who is beholden to that owner, your job's a lot harder and a lot more stressful. So. And there's a lot at either end of the spectrum, I think. And there's a lot who are just kind of in the murky middle. But I would love to hear GMs rate the owners. I'd love to hear them. I'd love to hear them do like, best, worst contracts because we do that stuff in the media all the time, right? But the GMs who actually have to deal with those contracts, trade for them, sign them, be the ones responsible for them. Like, it'd be interesting to hear them rate those. The star player you'd least want is another one I'd like to hear. Right?

Raja Bell (46:26)

So you just want, you want tea dog you out here?

Howard Beck (46:28)

Oh, yeah. The shit that they say to us when we're just like chit chatting on the sidelines pre game, or just gossiping at various events over the course of the year, summer league or whatever, that's the stuff I really want in the survey. But we'll never see it. So what would you want? What do you like? If it's kind of like the truth serum test, right? Like, if we could get truth serum on 30 gms.

Raja Bell (46:52)

I mean, yeah, yeah, I'd like to like, worst star to deal with, you know, shit like that. I mean, if we're looking for gossip, like, I'd like to know biggest headache. Yeah, but no one would know it. But like, yeah, but don't want this guy. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I was unprepared for that question, but that'd be the first one that came to mind.

Howard Beck (47:17)

There's, there's. There, there would be some good ones if we could go there. So most of the, like, the answers are not shocking in a lot of these. And the, the GMs, I think, you know, are just as prone to error or bad predictions as the rest of us are. Are. But also just as prone to predictability, I think. So, overwhelmingly, they picked the Thunder to win the championship again. But it's, it's how overwhelming it was that I think is actually the newsworthy part of this. 80% of the GMs said the Thunder would win. That's 24 of the 30. And that doesn't count the fact that Sam Presti can't vote for his own team in this survey, because that's the rules of the survey. GMs can't vote for their own team or their own players. So really, it's probably 25 out of 30 in a league where no one's repeated since 2017. 18. That does strike me as a little bit interesting.

Raja Bell (48:10)

Yeah, that's interesting. But I mean, I could see it. They lost nothing. They lost absolutely nothing.

Howard Beck (48:16)

No, they lost nobody of note.

Raja Bell (48:19)

They're young. They got the reigning mvp, one of the best offensive players in the game, up and coming offensive players, the best defense in the league. There are a lot of reasons why. Yes, surprising just because no one's done it. But if anyone were going to do it, I, I'm. I'm out on that limb with the 25.

Howard Beck (48:40)

I guess the, the ringer writing staff. We've, we've gotten our preseason or what we call our entry survey questions from our editors, which I got to file next week, including predicting, you know, all the usual stuff, including champion. And I don't know if I'm going Oklahoma yet, but if you asked me the question of, like, Oklahoma or the field, I'm taking the field just because of where the trend lines are and how hard I know it is to repeat. And it was always hard to repeat even before this era of parody and it's even harder now. So. Yeah, but yeah, do.

Raja Bell (49:15)

Do you think that. I mean, the reason it's harder is because it's more prohibitive to like, to keep the pieces once you've won the championship. Right. So there's a lot of moving parts. I thought this one's interesting because there's.

Howard Beck (49:26)

Nothing like they lost pieces or the Bucks lost pieces or other, you know, the Lakers lost pieces. Like a lot of recent champions lost pieces. And you're right, they lost no one.

Raja Bell (49:36)

Yeah.

Howard Beck (49:37)

That's interesting. One of the other GM questions was, you know, who is the most promising young core? And the Thunder won that one too, with 50% of the vote over. Over San Antonio with 27. Detroit and Houston each got 10%. But, like, if you're the favorite to win the championship and are the defending champs and you've got the most promising young core, like, most promising young core, I think most years was probably a team that did not win. It was probably the. Oh, the up and comer. Right. Not the, like, the fact that they are both. It's is just insane.

Raja Bell (50:06)

Uniquely positioned. I do think. I do think. Not that you asked, but I think it could look different for them. Right. Like that they're not. They might not set the pace that they set through the season.

Howard Beck (50:17)

Yeah.

Raja Bell (50:18)

You know, like, but. But, you know, I do think at the end of the day, they'll be standing in the paint with a. With a real shot to do it again.

Howard Beck (50:25)

I feel like one of their advantages is the one that's like the really squishy, kind of like, hard to define one, which is character. Like, I think Sam Presti has drafted a lot of guys who aren't just super talented, but have high character. And character can mean a lot of different things, but one definition of that is how much they care about the game and about each other and about playing selflessly. And I think all those guys like their three best players, Shay Jdub and Chad Holmgren, like, there's. There's not a single indication that any of those guys are just in it for themselves or they're going to be like, okay, we got a championship. Now I can just go out and get mine. I'm going to go win a scoring title or whatever. Shake could do that anyway, but did it anyway. Did it anyway. But it's. But I don't see these guys as being like, driven by individual goals. They seem like truly great teammates and just, you know, they're about the right things. So that's I don't think that's pulling them apart. I don't think complacency is pulling you apart when you're still that young, because that's the other one that could seep in. So I don't know what would derail them other than happenstance. Injury. Injury, bad luck, a bad call, whatever it might be. Or maybe the Nuggets just like, just eek it out in like overtime of Game 7 in the conference finals or something like. Yeah, it could be by the smallest of margins, but they probably fairly should be favored still. And if we pick somebody else, it's going to be because we're, we're trying not to be boring.

Raja Bell (51:49)

Yeah, no doubt. I think two things I want to touch on what you said. Like I the Nuggets, I think Jokic is always going to be a problem, but if you were going to get them, I think you needed to get them. I think you needed to get them when they weren't really sure that they could do it. That was last year. And then the second part of that, when you said the complacency like that, that's also the brilliance of what Sam Presti has been drafting and building is like the type of guy you're talking about as a pro, just as a human being isn't complacent. There's a chip on that guy's shoulder, you know, that guy multiplied by 10 on their roster. There's chips there that whether they've won something or not, they still feel like they're the guy they were seven years ago that has something to prove. And when you get, you know, an accumulation of those guys that are talented and can hoop but will convince themselves that they have something to prove to someone no matter what, like you're working with some good stuff.

Howard Beck (52:43)

Yeah. Yeah. There's just if you're looking for reasons not to pick them, it's really hard to find them. You know, if you want to go with Denver, as I am tempted to do just based on they've still got Nikola Jokic and they had a one of the best offseasons of any team in the league. They really fortified themselves and replenished the bench finally. And I love the Cam Johnson acquisition. There are reasons to, like, say, okay, I think the Nuggets are really interesting and might actually be able to do it. But trying to make the case for why they are better than the Thunder now is a is a steeper bar. So that's, that's tough. Couple other teams got votes in that category, so As I said, 24 picked the Thunder to win the championship. Second place, with basically two votes each were the Cavs and Thunder, or excuse me, Cavs and Nuggets. Mistyped by me. And then only the two other teams got like basically one vote each. And that was the Knicks and the Rockets. I think somewhat surprisingly there that might have been. I assume a lot of this was done before Ben Bleet went down too, when it came to the Eastern Conference rankings. That one I was surprised by. Who do you think the GMs tilted toward by basically a 2 to 1 margin to win the east or at least to finish at the top of the east standings?

Raja Bell (54:01)

Cleveland.

Howard Beck (54:02)

Yeah, but by 63 to 30%. Like over the Knicks. Like, I thought the Knicks would get a lot more. I thought that might have been a little bit more split.

Raja Bell (54:11)

Yeah, that's fair. That's a pretty wide margin over the Knicks.

Howard Beck (54:14)

Pretty wide margin. Orlando got 7% of the vote there too, for first place, which is a really big surprise. That's like. That's two or three people voting for them. Western Conference, it was like kind of like Thunder, by a pretty decent margin. It went like Oklahoma. Denver, Houston, Minnesota, and then that mishmash of Warriors, Clippers, Lakers and Dallas and was the eighth spot there in the east it went Cleveland, New York, Orlando, Atlanta, and then Detroit and Milwaukee were effectively tied for 5, 6, and then cliffs. Sixers at 7, Celtics at 8. Celtics, despite basically being in a. In a re or a. Whatever they are, a retool. A limbo of some sort. Rookie of the Year cooper flag by 97%. So that was everybody except for the Mavericks who couldn't vote for their own guy. Not that interesting. Best coach Spolster wins it again, 52% of the vote. Dagnol got 34%. Ty Lou at 7%. Anything strike you there?

Raja Bell (55:18)

Did Rick Carlisle not. He didn't make. Did he make the list?

Howard Beck (55:21)

I think Carlisle. I'm going to pull the. The full results up to check. I think Carlisle got some votes.

Raja Bell (55:27)

Okay.

Howard Beck (55:27)

Yeah.

Raja Bell (55:28)

I mean, I'm a spo. I love spo. I mean that. Yeah, I love. Spoiler. Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I would. I would have. I mean, Rick. Rick has been what? Ricky, is he. What. Where'd he show up on that list?

Howard Beck (55:42)

So he got also receiving votes. So it went Spolster, 52. Dag Note, 34, Lou, 7%. And then also receiving votes were Carlisle and Nick Nurse. So they effectively got what, like a vote each or something? You know, there's. There's More coach questions. Right. Like best manager, motivator of people. It's Spolster again at the top, but then it's not by that big of a margin. Udoka finishes second. Kerr and Missoula. Right after that, Tyloo again. Carlisle was in the. Also receiving votes there. Best in game adjustments. Tyloo wins that one with 40% runs. The best offense. Carlisle won that one by a landslide. 53%. And second was a distant second. Kenny Atkinson and Chris finch tied at 10% each. Where'd Steve Kerr come in on that word?

Raja Bell (56:31)

Kerr come in on that? I was curious. On the offense.

Howard Beck (56:34)

Weird. Kerr.

Raja Bell (56:35)

Yeah.

Howard Beck (56:36)

Tied for fourth with 7%.

Raja Bell (56:37)

Okay.

Producer Cliff (56:38)

All right.

Raja Bell (56:39)

Defense was Diagno, who was second on defense.

Howard Beck (56:42)

Emi Udoka, 23%. And then Spo Lou Missoula.

Raja Bell (56:48)

Yeah, that's fair. I would have. I would. I mean, if you ask, you asked me, does anything stick out? I think 50, 30. I would have probably had Carlisle with a little larger percentage there, but it's whatever.

Howard Beck (57:01)

Yeah. The best assistant coach in the NBA is actually an interesting one because it sometimes might give you an indication of, like, who's really getting consideration for future head coach jobs. Right. Yeah. Mike Annori, who's with Chris Finch in Minnesota 1 with 25% of the vote there. Mike has been around quite a while. He was with Michael Malone in Sacramento. He's been a few different places. Everybody regards Micah as really sharp. He's had some interviews for head coaching jobs he's definitely named to keep an eye on. The interesting thing there was that the second place finisher in that vote for best assistant was Jeff Van Gundy, who, you know, out of the league for so many years before, you know, latching on with. With. Well, first the Celtics as a consultant and then Ty Lu's staff. Be interesting to see if Jeff gets another shot at head coaching or if he still wants it at this stage of his life. He seems to be really enjoying him himself with the Clips as the, you know, essentially top assistant there.

Raja Bell (57:59)

So that's interesting because we were like, we were up. We went to Florida State Miami game last weekend with my son Ty, who was on a visit up there for FSU basketball. And we were. Someone asked me about the Gus Malzahn calling plays at Florida State. Right. And they were worried about maybe losing him if that offense continued to look great to another head job. And it kind of. It kind of dovetails with this with Van Gundy. My take on it was like, those guys might get to a point. It'd be interesting to see Where Van Gundy is, where, you know, it's. They're having fun not being the head. Like, the head becomes something where you got a lot of stuff to deal with. There's media there. There's, you know, there. There are all kind of fires that you have to put out managerially. There's just personalities that you're dealing with in a capacity that pulls bandwidth from your ability to just be a. A ball coach, whatever ball you're coaching. And some of those dudes have made enough bread. They proved that they can do it at a high level, and they might just feel comfortable at this point being. Being an offensive coordinator to Van Gundy, like a second chair. I mean, I don't know that to be fact, but I wonder with some of those guys, you know, like, how old is Van Gundy now?

Howard Beck (59:09)

Somewhere in his 60s. I don't know his age off the top of my head. I can look it up.

Raja Bell (59:13)

But, yeah, no, it's all good. But, like, it's a good question whether he'd still have the itch if the opportunity presented itself or if he's like, look, dude, I'm. I'm good with that. I mean, I just want to coach ball.

Howard Beck (59:22)

It. It's a lot, right, because you're, you know, you're having to, you know, as they say, you got to manage up and down, right? You're managing your roster, but you also got to manage your front office and those relationships and sometimes the owner and, you know, yes, you got to deal with us in the media. Coaches have to deal with the media way more than basically anybody. Coaches talk to us more than players do. Right? Because there's only one head coach and there's, you know, 15 players. But even the superstars, even the starters aren't talking to us every day. The coaches do. By the way, quick side note here. Coaches have to talk by contract, by rule, Right. General managers do not. And so if you look across the league, there are gms who speak fairly frequently, some who speak almost never, some who speak literally never. And there's no rule on it. The. The. The people who are. Who are the authority on how to construct a roster, who stays, who goes, who gets the big contracts, who the coach is going to be, when to fire the coach, how to. The people who make all those decisions have no rules whatsoever governing them. Being accountable to the public. And if you're saying, oh, you're just, you know, talking about you guys in the media. Yeah, that's how you get accountability is like, we go to press conferences or we have. We talk to people and we ask them the questions that you, the fans, presumably would ask them if you had the opportunity to. That's our job. At least it's a big part of our job. And the GMs in a lot of places are completely unaccountable or only barely so. And. Yeah. So anyway, just a quick side note to the whole burdens of a head coach. The head coach has to talk to us all the time. Sometimes they even have to answer for the things that really the GM should answer for. But the GM's hiding.

Raja Bell (61:03)

Yeah.

Howard Beck (61:04)

So.

Raja Bell (61:05)

Yeah. No doubt. Something. Yeah. I mean, I'd be interested.

Howard Beck (61:07)

Yeah. Not great. A couple more before we go. Best home court advantage. Two teams tied for this one. Who do you suppose that was?

Raja Bell (61:18)

I'm gonna say Oklahoma City Thunder.

Howard Beck (61:21)

Yes.

Raja Bell (61:24)

Man. Trying to go through Oklahoma City Thunder. I'd like to say Miami for weird reasons, but like, not. Not for like the actual in game experience, but just what that talent can do to you. But.

Howard Beck (61:36)

That'S a different kind of home court advantage.

Raja Bell (61:38)

You and I both know. Give me a second. Utah.

Howard Beck (61:43)

No, Denver.

Raja Bell (61:46)

Denver. Yeah. I was good. I knew it was one of those with altitude and.

Howard Beck (61:49)

Yeah. Yep. Plus a great team. Right. And like a lot of years, like, bestow court advantage. It tracks with a team that's also super good. So of course their fans are going to be loud as hell. Right. So Oklahoma and Denver tie 43% each. And the only surprise there is that the. The Knicks, you know, all we hear about all the time is the Garden. And like, I live here, so, like, I know it. Seven percent pick the Knicks. So interesting. The Garden's way back there. Knicks fans, if you're offended, I guess scream louder.

Raja Bell (62:19)

Yeah. But you know what they have going for them in reverse? It's. It's. People want to, like. It's not a scary place to play because you want to perform on that stage. Like people, people dream. Like, I go into New York, I want to play. Well, you know what I mean? Like, you don't. You don't really say that when you go to Denver.

Howard Beck (62:38)

Yeah. You know what I mean? It's just about the altitude affecting you and maybe the, whatever, the intensity of the crowd, because the Garden crowd's intense. But the Garden crowd will also back, at least in. In leaner years. The Garden will really back great players on the other team. Right. They will cheer for Kobe. Right. But it's. I don't know.

Raja Bell (63:02)

Garden. The Garden is. It feel. It felt always to me. And I can only speak for myself. Like I was on Broadway or performing, right. Like, so, like you're going in there to put on this performance. And I never really felt like the crowd was my enemy in the Garden. I'm just trying to put on a good show for the crowd now. I don't know that everyone felt like that. Yeah, but I never felt like that. I also felt that way about Staples.

Howard Beck (63:25)

Right.

Raja Bell (63:25)

Like, you know, I'm going there and given the opportunity. Didn't always work out like that. Like, we're, we're trying to put on a show, but like there are other places. Like you're not going into Denver saying, I want to put on a show. This is the Mecca. And, and they've got a great crowd and they're on your neck and their team's good. And it becomes, it becomes its own thing, Right. Same with, Same with Oklahoma. But I always felt like the Garden, everybody wants to play well in the Garden, baby.

Howard Beck (63:48)

Yeah, that's interesting. I hadn't even really thought about it that way. I'm glad we brought that one up. The psychology of it is, is changes when you're all about trying to like, just perform and you're not actually so tuned into like the shit that they're, they're yelling at me from the stands or whatever or how loud it is or whatever. That's interesting. Couple more. Toughest team to predict, meaning widest possible variety of outcomes. Cliff, you care to guess?

Producer Cliff (64:14)

Let me guess. The Philadelphia 76ers, 47% pick the Sixers.

Howard Beck (64:19)

As the toughest team to predict. A huge, huge margin over everyone else. A bunch of others were tied at 7%, meaning they all got a couple votes each. That was Dallas, Warriors, Rockets, Clippers, Lakers, Grizzlies, Pelicans. But yeah, I think we can all agree that the Sixers have a huge potential to do a huge variety of things. Not all of which Cliff will be happy about. I think they're going to outperform expectations myself, but I've been on that island for a while now. We don't need to revisit that one.

Raja Bell (64:52)

No, I'm with you, Howard. I'm buying stock right now. Yeah, no, I'm buying. I mean, I mean, you buy it when it's low, right? I'm buying it. I don't. Yeah, I see them. I see them being better than people think they're going to be.

Howard Beck (65:07)

There's a possibility they just got to stay healthy. Small thing. Our last thing. The. They always end with a question, just general open ended question about rules or other things that the GMs would like to see changed. And I think for at least the second year in a row here, the majority of their responses, and they were different responses, but they all fall into the heading of CBA stuff, basically. And a lot of it is about the aprons and how harsh those are. They want breaks to be able to pay their own players that they drafted and not have it count as much against the cap so they can keep their guys together. Something you and I were just talking about. So there's, there's a lot of that. There's always going to be. If you're a gm, there's always going to be a little bit of hand wringing about the state of the cba. And especially now because it's stricter than ever and it makes it tough for them to do their jobs and it's tough to keep teams together. But Adam Silver loves him some parody and that's what we got.

Raja Bell (65:58)

Yeah. Yeah. I don't. I mean, I don't know. I would agree with anything that allows you as a team to retain the talent that's homegrown, that gives you a better chance to do that. So you're rewarded for your efforts.

Producer Cliff (66:16)

Right.

Raja Bell (66:16)

Like, if we're going to be out there out scouting you out, you know, doing our homework, we're just beating you to the punch on all of that stuff. There should be some reward and some ability that makes it easier for us to keep that together. So I'm for any of that, anything.

Howard Beck (66:32)

I've always, I've always been philosophically in favor of that. But I understand why the league is not carving out those exceptions. Right. Because what happens is the second you start to do that, then you get the warriors. Right, who are going to be able to, like, we drafted so well, or the Thunder now drafted so well, we'll max out all the guys that we drafted. They'll never hit the market. So if you're trying to make, you know, the talent dispersed across the league when a team can hoard it. And then especially in the warriors case, where they've got such great revenue streams that they can afford all the luxury taxes, they don't care. Screw it all. The Clippers were doing that, too. Like, that's how we got the second apron. Because the warriors and Clippers were just off the charts in their spending. And yeah, there's different versions of that. Right. Off the charts in your spending to keep the guys that you drafted, developed and had blossom because you were smart enough to get them. Feels different than the version of it where it's, oh, I'm poaching everybody else's players, but to the league, it's all the same. What they want is talent dispersed as well as possible and nobody just outspending somebody else by tens or hundreds of millions in payroll and luxury tax. So I get it. But, yeah, I still lean toward. I would like to see teams have a mechanism to keep their team together. It sucks to watch teams be pulled apart based on things that are out of their control. Right.

Raja Bell (67:53)

Yeah.

Howard Beck (67:55)

So I don't know, man. We'll. We'll see. We'll see if the Thunder can defend their title. We'll see if LeBron could play at all NBA level. We'll see if Giannis can spend the whole season still in Milwaukee. And there will be plenty more to discuss by the time we do this again one week from today with Logan Murdoch back in this chair. So if you're tired of listening to me, it's good news. You'll get at least a third less of me this time next week. Roger, great to see you, my friend. Great to see you. Looking good. Feeling good. Sorry. Sorry for the rough weeks. Cliff, Sorry for your rough week. It's been a rough week, apparently, all the way around for this podcast.

Raja Bell (68:33)

I'll tell you what, let me just say this. We did on my travels, we were at University of Florida and in Tallahassee. More than a few listeners. So thank you.

Howard Beck (68:42)

Nice.

Raja Bell (68:43)

Multiple people. Yeah. Thank you guys for listening and being tapped in.

Howard Beck (68:47)

Love to hear it. Hopefully we get to do another live show sometime this season. Thanks, everybody. Thank you all for listening. And we'll be back here this time next week. Must be 21 and over and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 and over and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rghenhelp.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 800-327-50 50 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY in New York.