The Goat Debate Is Stupid..Lebron Vs Jordan Needs to end,Jokic owns Wemby & more

In this episode of Scorer’s Society, we keep it real and cut through the noise.

We break down why the LeBron vs Jordan GOAT debate has gone too far and why it’s becoming more about narratives than actual basketball. We also dive into why LeBron doesn’t always carry himself like the GOAT, and what that really means in today’s era.

We discuss Nikola Jokic’s dominance and what his matchup with Victor Wembanyama showed about experience, skill, and levels to this game. On top of that, we touch on real-life accountability and conversations that people avoid but need to be had.

No filters. No casual takes. Just real hoop talk.

Welcome to Scorer’s Society.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

E. I hate guys who overanalyze stats, bro. Why is that? Listen, bro. Guys who overanalyze stats, they think all stats are equal. Are they not? No, bro. No, they not all equal. Like, think about this, right? This day and age is about moving to basketball. It's about moving the basketball until we get a great shot. Most of the good teams, that's how they play, right? But that wasn't the era for everyone. There was a such thing as a heliocentric era. You know what a heliocentric era is, bro? No, not really. So it's when people shape their offense around a star player. So guys like Russell Westbrook, James Harden, they had a record-breaking ball usage of 43%, 43 to 45% in 2017 and 2018. That's a big jump from 2010 to 2014, when the ball usage was on average 35%. So what am I saying? If your role is to shoot the ball more than anyone else, there's going to be some bad shots. So with bad shots, you know what happens? Bad percentages. Okay. If Alan Iverson was the main guy on his team, he's going to shoot some bad shots. That was his job to shoot bad shots. Like, I think about it like this, right? You could, there was very seldom that you've seen guys pull up from three back in the day. For the most part, you had to dribble to 15 or 12 feet and then pull up with a defender inches away, which made it a contested shot. But only the good players play it like that. That was Russell Westbrook's patent move, pulling up from 15 feet. So it was contested shots. So if they're shooting contested shots, they're going to get bad percentages. But that doesn't mean they're bad players. That does not mean they weren't good. It does not mean that they couldn't shoot. It just means their role was different. Stats are correct. You're 110% right. They are correct. But doesn't tell the whole story. It doesn't tell the whole story. So all my stat geeks out there always trying to plug in numbers and analytics. Stop avoid playing the game. Because when you play the game, you know stats vary and you know why. Real Hoopers understand that. Welcome, man. Eve, what's up, my boy?

SPEAKER_02 2:48

What's good, bro?

SPEAKER_01 2:49

How are you, man? You look, you sound like you're tired, bro. You tired, man. A little tired. How long wink it, bro? Yeah, long weekend. That's what I like to hear for a 24-year-old, bro. 24 years old, man. You should have many long weekends. Have many long weekends. Don't let these guys fool you, bro.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

I know you on your Jaden Ivy tip. I get it, bro. I know, I know, I know it. I get it. Ain't nothing wrong with Jaden Ivey's doing, bro. Yeah, yeah. But I want you to understand, man, it's okay to live. Just gotta live responsibly.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

No, man. I'll try my best, bro.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Yeah, just live responsibly, bro. Don't I don't want to see you crashing out. I don't want to see you on YouTube, your Instagram, and you like, man, y'all, you think you should be out on Saturdays?

SPEAKER_03 3:32

You think you should be out on Saturdays or two in the morning? God created the sun. So you don't burn. That's why it's far away from you. He created the trees and the grass. So your feet can just fall into it and feel it. You feel me? Yeah, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

I don't want you to do that, bro. You know what, man? I was thinking about this. You know why a lot of people don't consider LeBron the GOAT? Why is that? Because he don't carry yourself like the GOAT. No, what makes you say that, bro? So here's the thing, right? I think about it like this: Michael Jordan carried himself like the GOAT. Right? What I mean by that is he would have like this breakfast club, and you know, his teammates would come over, they all work out GOAT stuff. That's GOAT stuff, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

And, you know, a lot of guys they'll say, well, you know, Michael Jordan didn't leave his team. But let's be let's be clear. Like, that was just disguise with bad contracts. Like it was a lot of people with bad contracts back in the day. Michael Jordan was on a seven-year rookie deal. Then he was on a, then they extended to an eight-year deal where he was only making like three, or what is it, six, seven million dollars or something like that. Something that, something he wasn't worth. He was worth more than that. But people will say, oh, he was the GOAT because he never left the team, right? Then you think about all the premature retirements. All the times he retired at it, well, not all the times, both the times he retired in his peak. That was that was GOAT level stuff. The win three? To win three and then just be like, you know what? I I did everything I could. I don't want to do no more. I don't want to do no more. That's GOAT stuff. To then come back and win another three and then be like, yo, I don't want a new coach. I don't want a new coach, man. So you know what? I'm out again.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

But we're being honest, bro.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

That is kind of GOAT like that. It's GOAT. You can't let come on, bro.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

It's GOAT stuff. It's GOAT stuff, bro. To leave twice. To leave twice. That's tough. That's tough. To leave twice. So and then you go to Kobe. Like for Kobe has a fan base that says no matter what, he's the GOAT. Don't care how you add it up, don't care how you look at it. He's the GOAT. Right? After Kobe changed his number to number 24, he tapped in a new identity. He was determined. He was focused. He was locked in. He was a no-nonsense guy. Eventually it became the Mamba. He became the Mamba mentality. You see him knocking his teammates over, giving them punches in the chest. You see it, man? Powering through screens when he was on the Olympic team, putting putting my boy Gasol on his ass. Right? But then there's LeBron. LeBron smiling. He winning. But this ain't GOAT. This ain't the GOAT stuff that we knew. We want you to act like everyone else. If you're not acting like everyone else, you're not the GOAT. We don't, you got a personality. You on podcasts? Can't be the GOAT with a personality. You can't be the GOAT with your own TV shows and your own movies. You you controlling your narrative. You you you picking the teams and players you want to play with. Can't be the GOAT using your choices. Can't be the GOAT in that case, right? That's not GOAT stuff, is it? Controlling your own narrative, controlling your own future. I thought that's still GOAT-like too, though. I mean, but the people before him didn't do it though.

unknown 7:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

They didn't do it like that. Right? You you gotta, and when you the GOAT, you don't talk. When you the GOAT, you lose, it's all your fault. Sure, sure, sure. LeBron can sit and be like, yo, yeah, you know, I played like crap in 2011. But if we had a stronger bench, I think we might have had a different outcome. Oh, he's blaming his teammates now. That can't be the GOAT. Can't be the GOAT, right, E? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 8:19

It's crazy, bro.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

That that's what they're saying, though. Right?

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

He lost to the Dallas Mavericks, man. Who what kind of GOAT lose to the Dallas Mavericks? They got they had listen, bro. Listen, bro. They had Jason Kidd as a starting point guard. And you lost to him? Here's the thing about the whole Jason Kidd shit, right? They're like Jason Kidd was 39. They act like Jason Kidd was the leading scorer.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

They act like Jason Kidd was the lead guy. Yeah. He was 39 point guard. You know what you gotta do when you're 39, you're a point guard? It's have wisdom with the ball. I think Jason Kidd had a lot of that. Jason Kidd had a lot of that. People also ignore that Kobe lost to the same team. Swept, in fact. Right? Now, when they say you the goal, you gotta be able to bounce back from this type of stuff, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

They gotta be able to bounce back, right? Wait, LeBron won four rings after that, didn't he? Yeah. But he lost, though. He lost. He had, matter of fact, he had a losing record. Yeah. He has a losing finals record. So he can't beat a GOAT. He don't carry himself like the GOAT.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

But he had to win the greatest bounce back in NBA Finals this year.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Bro, you're not, you're not listening.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

You're not listening, bro. You can't be the GOAT if you don't got 6-0.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There it is. If you lose before the finals, it's all good though. Don't worry about it. As long as you don't lose in the finals. Yeah. Right? You can lose first round and average 35 points. 28 points. 42 points. You can do all those things. But if you in the finals, right, E?

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

And you average 33 points. Matter of fact, you average a triple-double in one of these finals. Yep. And you lose. Can't be the GOAT. Can't be the GOAT, bro. No way. No way. How you averaging 35 points, 33 points? I remember it was one game he he opened up with 51, a 51 point uh first game. Came back from a 3-1 deficit, led every team, was the finals MVP each time. How you gonna be a GOAT doing that type of stuff now? Come on now. Come on, let's be real. That don't sound like he don't carry himself like the GOAT, man. When he lost, you know what he should have said, bro? He should have said, job not done. You know what I mean? That's what he should have done because old time because obviously you only can be the GOAT if you have one style of personality. If you have one person, if you you only can be the GOAT if you share a personality with the people before you or the person before you, I should say. That's the only way you can be the goat nowadaisy. Yeah. You know? If you gotta you gotta have a perfect record all of a sudden. All of a sudden, you gotta have a perfect record now. Even though you lose in the first round, but that that now they basically saying if he was 4-0, then he be the GOAT. That's what it is. If he went to the finals four times out of the 23 years, then he'd be the GOAT. Or you know what else they say, E? If he would have stopped, ooh, that's a good one, E. That's a good one. If LeBron James would have retired after his second finals, second championship, yeah, and then came back and won two more. Oh, that's GOAT level, bro. That is GOAT status. Forget the fact that he played for 23 years, averaging over 26, 27. That's nonsense. That's in fact, in fact, that's stat pattern, bro. That's a stat pad. You feel me? No, I feel you, bro. He's a stat pad. Because it only makes sense for him to stat pad, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it only makes sense. Like, think about it, right? If he averaged 27 on his career, and then he finished this year averaging 20 points, that means his stats go down, huh? I guess that's stat pattern. That makes all the sense, right? That makes if he the longer he plays, the less numbers he gets. So therefore, when you go look at the record book, it looked like he was averaging 25, 24 points most of the time. Yeah. Because that's the purpose of him playing as long as that pattern. So the kid, 15, 25 years from now, when he's having this debate, they're gonna be like, LeBron ain't good. He only averaged 24 for his career. Yeah, that's why he's doing this. That's why he's doing this, man. Look, I I all jokes aside, I'm just kidding. Around, obviously, I hope you guys understand the condescending tone that I have. Um, but you know, I talked to a lot of guys, I talked to a lot of people about this debate and this and this GOAT thing. You know, I I gotta be real with you. I gotta be real with you. The MJ Bron debate is stupid. It's just stupid, bro. Like, I I like I don't, I have no other way to put it other than it just being dumb. Like, realistically, you're arguing most of you guys aren't arguing a career, you're arguing performance. You're just arguing performance. Yes, Michael Jordan was 6-0. 1000%, without a doubt. It was it was amazing for me to see as a child. I didn't think I'd see anyone better than Michael Jordan. Not even close. When even when LeBron was in high school, I felt like they was hyping it up. They was hyping it up, man. They they this guy was overrated, and then three years later, he's in the finals. Three years later, he's in the finals. And then some of the stuff you guys are arguing is common sense. Just common sense, bro. Like, think about it. Yes, Jordan had 10 finals, I'm excuse me, 10 scoring titles. But if one player's job and sole role on a team is to score, he's gonna have more scoring titles, right? Yep. If one the other person's role is to pass, rebound, and score, he's not going to lead most of those categories most times. Because there's gonna be seasons where he needs to score more than he needs to pass. Right? So, therefore, he won't be the leader in assist. You know why John Stockton was the leader in assist? Because that was his only role. Screen and roll, here you go, mailman. The mailman will win. All you gotta do is pass to him. Hit a couple open shots here and there. But for the most part, go ahead and pass the ball, bro. So it's just certain stuff is just silly when you think about it. Like you, you, you compare, you comparing these players, and they're doing different things, different roles in different eras. Michael Jordan didn't have to rebound because he had rebounders. Guys who role was to rebound, Horace Grant's role was to rebound and hit a mid-range shot. Scottie Pippen's role was to guard the best player on the opposing team and score about 17 points a game, 15 to 17 points a game, get you about seven, eight rebounds a game, and get you about four or five, or excuse me, five to seven assists. That was troll. LeBron James' role was to do everything Michael Jordan was doing, and Scottie Pippen, and Horace Grant, Flash Pennsylvania. That's what I'm saying. Like, and at the end of the day, it doesn't take away from Michael Jordan that he was doing that. It doesn't take that away, it takes nothing away. Like Michael Jordan was still great, so you don't need to compare Michael Jordan and LeBron, they're both still great. It's just a matter of preference at one point, at some point. I was talking to a guy the other day, and he was like, Yeah, man, you know, dude, LeBron is number two on my list. And you sit all day debating about this. That's just preference, bro. You just prefer Jordan's performance over LeBron's performance. That's not a player thing. It's not a player thing. You just it's just preference, bro. And when you think about like the ring put stuff, right? Name me a player who never lost to win.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Who never lost to win?

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Yeah, like we when I say lose to win, I mean like they did, like they never lost at all. Like they didn't lose in the first round. They just went straight to the championship. I feel like every player has to lose. They have to lose, bro. Yeah, yeah. Every player has to lose. Even the player, like Magic Johnson won his first year, right? But he still lost in some finals going forward. Because he had to relearn how to win.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Yeah, Netflix. That's kind of cheating. Because he was, wasn't he placed on the championship team?

SPEAKER_01 17:57

He was on a he was on a championship contending team, yes. But the last, I believe the last game, um, Kareem didn't play. So he was that was the one that was like, oh, he started at center and all that kind of stuff, right? Uh, but here's the thing, right? Guys are on these platforms and they're debating, they're literally debating wins and losses. Like, listen to what I say this wins and losses. They debate Michael Jordan's six wins or six rings to only LeBron James losses. They never mentioned like the comeback, the three to one, the three-to-one comeback. They never mentioned the scoring 16 and fourth to put his team in position for Ray Allen to hit the shot. They never mentioned uh the series, that series, he came back three to one. Yeah, he had 41. They only mentioned the game he had 41 and Kyrie had 41, but they never mentioned the game he had 41 and Kyrie didn't have 41. Yeah, they never mentioned these things. Just to get just for argument's sake. Like, I just don't get guys. I just don't get why is it so important for them to discredit this guy? You know what I'm saying? Like, everyone needs to lose to learn how to win. You show me a self-made millionaire. Show me a self-made millionaire who didn't lose to win. And just because he lost a few times and got back on his feet doesn't make him, doesn't mean he's not a millionaire. Still a millionaire. Just like LeBron's still a champion. So we can kill the debate, man. We can kill the debate, man. We just kill the debate. You know what? The basketball community is the most toxic sports community out. I'm gonna tell you why. You don't think so?

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Basketball community?

SPEAKER_01 19:54

The basketball community is the most toxic community, bro. Damn, that's tough. Here's the reason why. Because everybody thinks they can play basketball. Everybody can literally go outside with their basketball. You can take your girlfriend with you, and y'all both will shoot the ball in the hoop. Yeah. Y'all both will put the ball in the hoop. And you know what you feel like? Yeah, I did, you know, I did that step back, like uh hit the edwards on my girl, man. I hit her with the uh twing, twing, twing, twing, hazzy, hazzy, step back. So they all feel like, you know what? I played ball when I was, you know, you know my favorite thing. I'd be like, yo, man, where you would you where'd you play at? They'd be like, man, I played ball in high school. Your high school was shitty. Like, what you talking about? Where did you play in high school? Did y'all go to the state championship? Which state are you from? What state are you from? Come on, man. It's not the same. It's just not the same. That's why coaching is devalued. Coaching is devalued because everybody coach. Everyone coach. There you can get dads who never coached in their life, be like, yeah, I coach at the YMCA, man. You know, we just won a championship, man. About to go, about to go celebrate. Celebrate? You pick the best kids in the gym. You pick the best kids in the neighborhood to play against the worst kids in the neighborhood. You about to go celebrate. You playing in a league where everybody gets a trophy. Relax. Just relax. Coaching is not just putting teams together and then you just win. You play eight games, then in your night, then you play two games in a playoff, now you won't now you a coach. Coaching is about development. Development. Let me see you stay with the same players for four, five, six years. Let me see you pick a player. Pick a player who don't know how to play. And as an eight year old, And you stick with that player until he's 15, 16 years old. You go through the ups and downs. You help him with his confidence, his or her confidence. Now you're coaching, my boy. Now you're coaching. I gotta see it. But no. Basketball is basket. The basketball community is so toxic because it's such an ego through an ego-driven place. You don't never see people go say, yo, E, let's go box. You don't never see that. I'm gonna I'm a box. I'm boxing. I'm gonna never see people like, yeah, you know, I was just stopping by, see y'all punching each other, I just wanted to join. I'm gonna never see that. I'm gonna never see guys outside is raining on a Sunday, and then you see play people playing football, getting mud mud everywhere, they like, yo, I know they over there playing football. That's my sport. Yo, man, I'm about to put my cleats on and start and start seeing can we play? I never see that. I never see that. But in all reality, basketball is a harder sport. It's the hardest sport. Because everybody play it. Everyone play. You went to a big school, right? Yep. How many people were at tryouts? Uh a good amount.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

It's too many for me to count, bro. I mean, come on, bro. Give me a guesstimate, brother. Come on, the fans need it, brother. 150 to 200. Ooh, 150 to 200. How many people make the team? Uh, only like 15 people play the team. 15 million people make it.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

15 team, yeah. 15. So you know 150. Dang. So 135 of y'all about to get cut.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Some of the guys that they were just there just to be there too.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

So you got guys there for the vibes. Yeah. Listen, listen. And you know what's crazy about that? You know what's insane about that? Those same guys who there for the vibes, they're gonna tell the story. The coach ain't like me. I was killing in tryouts. They best player couldn't guard me. I scored on him like four times. Coach was hell. Coach, coach gonna cut me after the first tryout. As if that benefits the coach. Yep. That's like that benefits the coach. But I'm gonna come back though. I'm not man, you know what they're gonna say. You know what they're gonna say, bro? I'm about to transfer. When are you transferring to? You ain't make the team. Yeah. You ain't make the team. You covered it as a regular student. Like you swear it's about to get better. It ain't gonna get better, bro. Like you, you, it might get better if you go to a bad team. Like, I respect it though. Like, I like here's the thing. I just don't want people to misconscrew how hard basketball can be, bro. Only 3% of high school athletes go play college basketball. That's division two, division three, division one. They don't only 3%. Only 3%, bro. You feel me?

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Then only less than 1% play professional. That's all overseas, NBA, all of it. I'm not trying to kill no dreams here, E. But I'm saying if you only practicing two times a week, your kid only practicing two times a week, they ain't playing basketball. If you a coach for YMCA and you only coach and you're only practicing once a week, you're not coaching basketball. You volunteering, you're managing basketball. If you're not playing basketball every day, five days a week, six days a week, for more than two hours. If you can't make a two practices a week for an hour and a half, you're not playing college. College, I played division two. My school wasn't the greatest school. We had a decent run. The best year there, we were a 500 team. My last year, we was one of the worst teams in the conference. You know how many times we practice a day? Four. Four times a day. Six in the morning, polymetrics. We had to run a mile under five minutes. Six in the morning in Colorado, below 30 degrees. Then after that, we go home or we go to our dorms, shower up. Then we're gonna go to class, and then we got individuals. Individual workouts, the things they want you to do within the system. Maybe they want you to do a post-entry, relocate, hit the shot. Give me 10 of those. Get on a gun, shoot on the gun. Work on the ball handle it. Hour 20 minutes. Then you go back, shower again, go to class. Then you got practice practice. That's two hours and a half. That's two hours and a half. Then after that practice, you go straight upstairs to the wait room. That's another hour. That's another hour. That was five days a week. And you're on a losing team in a cold city. If you can't, if your kid can't go to practice two times a week, I don't know how they're gonna play college basketball. I played Division II, wasn't winning my senior year. And I only can imagine what Division I players do. I only can imagine what the winning teams in the conference was doing. So at the end of the day, I'm not trying to kill the dreams, but listen, man, the basketball community is getting way too toxic. We sitting here making it seem like getting to the finals 10 times is easy. We sitting here making it seem like if you don't win a championship every year you're in the league, you're not good. We sitting here making it seem like, oh, just because you played don't mean nothing. It means I was more disciplined than you. It means I was willing to do all the things you couldn't. And not just me, anybody who played college, anybody who played pro. And it doesn't mean we know everything. It doesn't mean that person knows everything. It doesn't mean it's not a space for guys who never played college. Because there are people who are basketball savants, basketball historians, and they just love the game. And I respect that. But we gotta get out of this toxic space, man. Gotta get out of this toxic space, man. It's pushing us, it's ruining the basketball conversations. You feel me, E?

SPEAKER_02 29:20

No, I feel you, bro.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Yeah, man. Now, listen, I'm gonna go off court. I'm gonna go off court, E. I'm gonna go off court just for a second here, man. Bear with me. Listen, man. Some people deserve to go to jail, bro.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Yeah, that's insane to say.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Some people just listen, I didn't say how long.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

But some people gotta learn a lesson.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

They gotta learn their lesson sometimes. Pooh Shiesty is one of those people. He's one of those people, bro. Like, I've heard the story. I know it was gonna be different. I know it's social media story and the story that actually happened. But I'm gonna give you the social media story, apparently. Pooh Shice wanted to get out of his contract, right? Yep. He wanted to get out of his contract, and this is his way he went about it. Gucci Man is the owner of the contract. Him and his dad, Pooh Scicey and his dad. And it's some and a fellow rapper with some friends or whatever, home, whatever you want to call it. They put this plan together, E, and say, you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna put a gun to his head, make him sound untrue. Wait, wait, Pooh, ain't you on house arrest? It don't matter. They never gonna they never gonna know it's me. Yeah. Like, bro, really? And it then your dad, like, yeah, let's go hurry up for they hurry up. Maybe we can do it and get and go stop at McDonald's before we get back.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

You feel me? Here's my thing. I'll all the details is whatever, right? But my thing is, what's the end goal? What's the end goal? Like you think that just Gucci man. I hear Gucci Man repetition. But I'm talking about any man. Who's gonna let you put a gun to their head, make you sign a contract, rob them, and then watch you ride off into the sun without saying anything. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Like he's gonna literally be at home one day, see you win a Grammy for your hot song, see you on the Super Bowl, the Super Bowl halftime show, thinking to himself, damn, he did make a good decision robbing me, bro. That was kind of smart. I, you know, I probably wouldn't even put him in this position, but now that I'm glad he kind of put that gun to my head and threatened my life. Because now his life is better.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

That makes sense. That makes sense to you?

SPEAKER_02 32:10

No, no, no, no. That's insane, bro.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Insane. What are you doing? What are you doing? I don't condone that, I don't condone violence. I definitely don't condone stupidity. It's stupid. Listen, I I'll give you a personal story. Yep. Like, I used to hang around guys, right, that thought life was a rap video. When I was younger, by the way. When I was young, I say young, I mean like 13, 14 years old. They thought they thought life was a rap song. They thought it was a rap video. I used to rap when I was young. I think everybody in Philly at one point used to rap, right? And we used to rap about street stuff. And some of it, most of it was fabricated. Most of it was fabricated. Sure, you know, ran with guys who stole cars and do all that stuff. But for the most part, the raps is fabricated. Until one day they didn't want it to be fabricated. At one point, we went from rapping to guys saying, Yo, man, I got an idea. When they start doing that, I start playing basketball more. I ain't gonna lie, I just started playing basketball more. I'm not gonna lie, bro. I I ended up, I'd never forget this, man. So apparently I was a decent rapper. And and they was taking rap a little serious, more serious than me. They wanted to go to the studio. They was like, yo, come to the studio. We got this guy, he heard your tape, we want him, he wanted managers, but he needs to see you in the studio. I was like, all right, man, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna come, I'ma come. Here's what happened. Here's what happened, guys. My friend also invited me to an AU. Well, another friend also invited me to an AAU practice that night. It was on a Sunday, I'll never forget it. I flaked on my rain. That same night, I get a phone call from one of my rap buddies. Come home after practice, ring, ring. Yo, it's good. Yo, man, yo, you won't believe what happened. One of the dudes' name was Pea Smooth. You don't you wouldn't believe what happened with Peace Smooth. What happened? Man, we get done, we rapping at the studio, and he goes and go try to rob somebody. What? Yeah, they caught him, bro. So I'm t I'm tapping in. I'm calling every other week. Yo, what you know, what's going on with him? What's you know, what's happening with Peace Move? Man, listen, man. They say he's looking at 10, 15 years. Damn. 10, 15 years. Safe to say I made a good decision. Yeah. Right? But here's the thing with you guys, with guys trying to live out a rap video. The rap video ends. The rap video only three minutes, four minutes. It's not real. You really listen, I don't, listen, I'm gonna be real with you, In. I don't think all these people are doing as much drugs as they say they're doing. Maybe the young guys, maybe when they first come in.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

But how are, how's the little little baby and all these, how they hanging with rich billionaires and they don't do it? Yeah. You think those people want drug addicts around them? Nah. And then you've been in the game for so long, and you ain't overdosed yet. That don't make no sense, some stuff don't make no sense. Yeah. Right? So when I see this stuff, it's like, yo, man, it it we gotta do better. I say we as a people, but definitely my community. Definitely my community, bro. Because what was your end goal? What was your end goal? I know I spent a lot of time on that, but I know I know there's fathers out there or a kid out there, somebody out there who probably enjoy my content, and they probably looking at this. And I hope it, I hope people can share it, send it, because we gotta be smart. This is the the you all you got an ankle monitor on with your dad. Y'all about to go to jail. At least, at least 20 plus years, bro. If not 20, hopefully not 20. I I don't want I hate to see people throw their life away for a moment in time. For a moment in time. You're young right now. He the kid pushes, he's young. You doing you doing silly stuff. You young, he's doing young people stuff. Young people don't rob people, but young people thrive off emotions, not logic. Yep. The fact that your dad was there not to pull you back is insane. Money causes crazy emotions through people, bro. And we gotta do better, man. Let's get back to some basketball. Cooper Flag scores 51 points, but I'm still not convinced he's the rookie of the year. It's tough, bro. He's the rookie of the year, E? Of course, bro. He got my vote. He listen, man, he kind of got my vote. And I'm gonna tell you why. There's other rookies who's doing just as good as him. Yep. VJ Edgecombe averaged 16 points, five rebounds, and five assists. He's shooting 35% from three, which is better than the Cooper Flags, 29%, right? He's shooting 43% from the field. His team is sixth in the Eastern Conference, which is better, which is a better position than the Dallas Mavericks. He's also had to step it up when some of his uh teammates went down. Tyrese Maxi missed a few games. Duel and B, you know he misses some games. And then Paul George was on whatever he was on, right? So he had to step it up. Then you got to look at it like this: Khan Knipple, 18 points, five rebounds, three assists. He's shooting 43% from three. He's also shooting 48% from the field. Excuse me, the Charlotte Hornets is in the eighth seed. They in the playing. They in the playing, right? That's a big jump. That's a nice jump from last year. Han Kanibble wasn't on the team last year. I wonder why they're in this position. They got somebody, they got somebody to average 18 points as a rookie.

SPEAKER_02 38:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

A marksman behind the three. And guess what? He only missed one game. That's nice.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

That's nice.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

Durable. Cooper Flag. Now he averages 20 points. He leads them all. Oh, come on, let's get it. Come on. Six rebounds, four assists. Okay, there you go. But he's shooting 29% for three, as stated before. Field goal wise, 47%. The Dallas Mavericks is in 13th seed. Right? He's missed 12 games this year. Right? Now, here's the thing 20 points, 16 points, 20 points, 18 points. We counting pennies, baby. We counting pennies, my boys. We're counting pennies. But Cooper Flag has some big games, some flashy games, and people won't talk a lot about it. Right? That doesn't necessarily mean he's the rookie of the year to me. I'm not convinced. All these players play a little inconsistent. Two games before Cooper Flag scored 51, he had 12. The game before that, he had 19. There's some games where he's scoring 19 off of 19 shots. Same thing with Khan, same thing with VJ. They're all inconsistent. So they're all still in the same boat. I know Cooper Flagg will probably get the rookie of the year because that's who the media wants to give the rookie of the year to. You follow me, Ian? Yeah, yep. But he's not, but he's.

SPEAKER_02 40:34

Of course, bro. But he gets rookie of the year, bro. He gets rookie of the year. He's the only rookie to have multiple scoring outbursts this year. VJ is gonna have one, but not like Coop. And he's the only one to me that shows number one potential. Number one, number one, what's the one I'm looking for? Number one option on the team potential.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

I wonder why.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

I wonder why. Can I tell you why?

SPEAKER_01 41:02

You can say why, yeah. Here's why. Cooper Flag is the only one who has teammates. The stars was traded mid-season. Another star, Kyrie Irvin, haven't played. D'Angelo Russell, traded mid-season. Everyone on the team, with the exception of PJ Washington, Gaffer, Lively, are all his peers, or all people who've been in the league. Oh, my fault, excuse me. Klay Thompson, Chris Middleton, who's at the end of their careers. Outside of them, outside of those guys, all these guys is like two, three years in, and he's just the better out of two, three. Khan Kanipple has bridges on his team who's capable of averaging 21 points. Uh Lamello, uh, he can give you 26, 25 points. What's my uh what's my what's my what's my other guy named? The skinny guy, number 24. Center? No, no, no. He's a shooting guard. Oh, Brandon Miller? Brandon Miller. Brandon Miller can get to a dollar. He can get to a dollar as well. He's still averaging 18 points. Tyrese Maxi at one point led the league in scoring. Joel MB was a former MVP. Paul George was my man East GOAT coming out of high school. Then you have other role players on there. Right? Who can shoot the three, and they and they shooting wild ones at times too. VJ averaging 16 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Yup. So it's just something to think about. It's something to think about. The media gonna hype hyped my man um Cooper Flag up. And I'll be honest with you, I was wrong about Cooper Flag. I said 15 points. I was let me just take that back. I was kinda wrong. Nah, bro. All right. Let me tell you why I was let me tell you, let me tell the people who had who just locked who just locked in with the score, with score of society, I said Cooper Flag would average 13 to 15 points a game. Yep. That's what I said, right? Yep. However, I said that if considering Anthony Davis was still on the team, I said that Kyrie Irvin coming back in January. I said that if D'Angelo Russell was starting ahead of him. I didn't think he would play all these minutes. But even with all the minutes, he's averaging 20 points. He's averaging two more than Kanipple. But still, no, he still is the number one case for the rookie of the year.

SPEAKER_02 43:53

Bro, but if you put Kanipple or Vijay on this Dallas team, neither one of them. I think VJ get busy. D right, he's not gonna get busy like Cooper, bro.

SPEAKER_01 44:02

No, VJ definitely get busy like Cooper, bro. You bugging V Remember, VJ can't VJ had his 40-point games early. He just scored 34 points a couple nights ago. You're right.

SPEAKER_02 44:12

Maybe I haven't been locked in on VJ. So that's so that's that's on me. That's the thing. I haven't been locked in on VJ.

SPEAKER_01 44:17

Philly is a great market, but I still believe Philly's a small market.

SPEAKER_02 44:20

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

Like the guys in the West Coast ain't checking for Philly.

SPEAKER_00 44:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

You feel me? But Cooper still got the number one case. I'm just not convinced he will win it. If they look, if they if the media gets out of the pitch and we just look at it from through a different lens. Like, oh, we want the number one pick to be the rookie of the year. That's gonna set up his career, that's gonna set up a from next year. Nah, bro. Be fair. But he's uh he's up there though. I mean, he's uh his team is last. I mean, he's still a leader. You say he's up there, he's a leader. He's there. No, he's no, he's number one. Yeah, kind ish. He's one-ish. He's one ish, but I'm not convinced. I still think I'm not convinced he's a shoe, and let's say that. Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. Speaking of LA, UCLA has UCLA women's basketball has proven they are the best team in LA. They're the best team in LA. They beat the University of South Carolina for the national championship, beat them by 79 to 51. How you feel about that, E? I see my man E over here. My man E from LA. He got a little attitude because I said that. What's good? Yeah, shout out to the UCLA Women's Basketball, man. UCLA women's basketball, shout out to y'all. Five players scored in double digits for UCLA. It was belt to ass. It was belt to ass. Lauren Betts is named outstanding player in the tournament. She scored 14 points, 11 rebounds in the championship game. Gabrielle Jaquez, the the sister of Jamie Haquez, who plays for the Miami Heat, she scored 21 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists for the UCLA Bruins for a championship game. Now, if you watch this game, I hope you guys watch this game. You want to see execution of plays? Go re-watch that game. You want to see discipline on offense and defense? Oh my goodness. Please go watch UCLA women's basketball. Go watch UCLA women's basketball. You want to see effort, hard work, the ball, the ball rolling, who's diving, who's getting on the floor first. That's right. UCLA women's basketball. Hey. I'm watching the game, right? And I'm like, you know who should you know who should be watching women's basketball? Youth players, high school players, even college players. And I ain't talking just women. I'm talking men too. You want to see fundamentals? You want to see fundamentals? Go watch UCLA women's basketball. Learn and learn how learn see what it looks like to be poised with the ball. Just see what it looks like. See what it feels like. See what effort looks like when the ball is loose and rebounding. Just go look at it. Go look at it. I mean, it was a beautiful game, man. It was a beautiful game. I, you know, I'm I'm impressed. I believe uh Corey Close, she uh she, you know, I believe that was her first her first ring um in 15 years. So she shout out to her, shout out to the to the women's basketball team, man. The the headlines was almost stolen by Dawn Staley and uh uh and Gino, man. You know what I mean? Did you see that? Yeah, I saw that. Listen, yeah, bro. Listen, let me tell you something, right? Dawn Staley from Philly, she's from North Philly at that. Now listen, I'm from Philly. Yeah. I'm from Philly, right? I claim uptown, but my family from North Philly. I I lived in North and down North Philly until I was about 10 or 11 years old before moving uptown. And all my friends is uptown, that's you know, that's why I started playing baller. That's why I went to high school. That's why I claim uptown. I ain't gonna, and when I go home, when I'm in Philly, I'm around, well now I'm around my family, but when I was when I was younger and I used to go home, I used to go, you know, I used to be uptown, so I just claim uptown. But let me tell you, she dawn ain't taking too much. She ain't taking too much status, Gino. You I'm glad he came and apologized. I think that was the right thing to do. Very classy of him. Um, which which I expect out of him, right? I I think he's I think he did a good job. I think that that was that showed a lot of character. I mean, he's never not shown character, but um, at the end of the day, leave Dawn alone, bro. Leave Dawn alone, man. You don't you don't want her? She starts saying a little slick stuff in the media. After the conference, she was talking about uh the UCLA's women's coach, Corey, uh, or or Coach Close, I should call her. And um, and she was she was telling her, like, look, man, like, this is you know, this is what it looks like when when you do the right things and you can contribute to the game. And yeah, she she was she she was saying a little slick stuff. She she just wanted people to know this is you know, when you win, she don't mind losing to people who contribute to the game, who do the right things, right? So uh I'm glad that was resolved with an apology. I'm glad to see great women's basketball over this over this past weekend. And man, we we we gotta we gotta start talking about it more. Um the women, the women are definitely balling. Like I didn't know Lauren, Lauren Betty. How tall, she you know, she's 6'7? Oh, she's 6'7. She's 6'7, bro. Okay. 6'7, dog, right. So listen, man, the girls got some ballers, man. And I love and I love to see the fundamentals, so shout out to them, man. Nicole Jokic might not be the MVP this year, but he just reminded Victor Wimbignana that he has three of them. He has three of them. And did you get a chance to watch the game this weekend? Yeah, I saw that game. Oh, you saw the game? Okay, yeah. Nicole Jokic had 40 points, 13 assists, eight rebounds, and zero turnovers. Wemby wasn't a slouch, though. He had 34 points, 18 rebounds, and seven assists. Denver now leads the the season series two to one. And most of these games are won by five to six points, bro. They won by five to six points. You know? Yeah, yeah. You know, you you know that what people who people don't really talk about like that, bro? Who don't talk about? They don't talk about Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon's your X Factor for this. Low-key. Low-key. He was low-key. I can I can see it. Listen.

SPEAKER_00 51:03

I can see it.

SPEAKER_01 51:03

When Aaron Gordon is in the lineup, like actually healthy, he's 20. The Denver Nuggets is 24 and 9. When he's out of the lineup, they're 25 and 19. Opposing teams score 113 points when he's in the lineup. When he's out of the lineup, 118. Opposing teams shoot 33% on average, when he's out of the, when he's out of the lineup, they shoot 36%. They shoot 33%. So here's the thing, right? If you watch in these close games, somehow the ball always ends up in Aaron Gordon. Ball always ends up in Aaron Gordon hands. At one play out of a timeout, it was a sideline play. I'm using my memory, I'm using my visual memory. Nicola Jokic comes off a cross screen at the elbow. For some reason, Wemby and Castle, I believe, uh, or Vassel, I believe, try to double Jokic. Jokic looks over the left shoulder and Gordon dives to the rim for a butt for a basket. Always doing the right things. Corner shot, corner threes, not to mention the defensive effort that was displayed against De'Aaron Fox at the end of regulation. Changed the game. That was a game changer.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

I'm not gonna lie, bro. His career, yeah, he has one of the most underrated careers that you could think of. Because he came coming from Orlando, right? Then came to Denver, then developed a three-point shot over the years. Right. Now seeing him who how he's open. That's a crazy, that's a crazy development, bro.

SPEAKER_01 52:55

I mean, look, I here you know, you know why people don't talk about him enough? Why is that? Is because here's the reasons, right? Let me see. He was drafted number fourth overall in 2014.

SPEAKER_02 53:17

That's tough, bro.

SPEAKER_01 53:18

Right? So he was technically Orlando, he's pulled him in Orlando's number one option. He posed to have been the savior of Orlando. Yeah. But this is one of those cases where I tell people this all the time. I say this all the time. Everybody's not meant to be a number one player. Sometimes you're really good as a second player. You're really good as a second player. And that's who, and that's who, sorry about that, and that's who Aaron Gordon is. If you go look at his stats from Orlando, his first year is that he's averaging 5, 9, 12. Your fourth overall pick, right? Injured his first year. The second year, he played 78 games, he averaged nine. He played 80 games, he averaged 12. 58 games, another injured year, then comes in again to 78 games, 16 points. Then he plays 62 games and averaged 14 points. Worse than he was before. Then in 2021, right, he's averaging 14 points over 25 games before getting traded to Denver, who he only played 25 games for them. Orlando had enough. It was just like, yo, listen, five points, we let that slide because you was injured. But you come back averaging nine and you played the whole thing.

SPEAKER_02 54:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:58

And you averaged 37, excuse me, he started 37 uh games, played 23 minutes, and that's been his whole career. For the most part of his career, he's been only playing. I mean, he had some good years when he's playing like over for Denver, like 30 to 31 minutes. But for the most part, bro, you're talking about a guy who's been injured for most of his career. He's still he's even injured for the uh the the Nuggets. The Nuggets now.

SPEAKER_00 55:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:25

You know what I mean? He only played 34 games so far. They in game 70.

SPEAKER_00 55:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:29

70 something. So he's reserved, but at the end of the day, that's the reason why people sleep on him. They like, oh, he injured. He put in a corner over there, injured or something, man. They ain't worried about that. Boom! He in Jays, bro. Yeah. Leon jump shot. So uh, but I still believe that they're gonna go as far as his health. They go as far as Aaron Gordon's health. If Aaron Gordon can stay healthy throughout the playoffs, the Denver Nuggets are gonna be a problem, man. They're gonna be a problem. Again, I don't know if if anyone can beat the Spurs, though.

SPEAKER_02 56:06

I got bro, I got nuggets beating the Spurs, bro. If they meet up, I got nuggets over the Spurs.

SPEAKER_01 56:09

I mean, again, like I told you, bro, it's these have been close games. Five points. Four points. They're gonna figure it out. It's only a matter of time, they figure it out. Yep. They shoot, they got lucky because De'Aaron Fox mismanaged the clock.

SPEAKER_02 56:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 56:23

They got lucky and took it the overtime.

SPEAKER_02 56:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 56:27

But nonetheless, man. But before we get out of here, E, who you who you got in the finals?

SPEAKER_02 56:32

This year.

SPEAKER_01 56:33

This year. What the fuck? What do you think? Year no, year 28.

SPEAKER_02 56:37

Give me, give me OKC out the West. Only because my legs is down. Out the East. Give me Boston. I like Boston coming out the east. I ain't gonna lie.

SPEAKER_01 56:49

I have the Spurs and the Celtics coming out.

SPEAKER_02 56:52

Yeah, Spurs and the Celtics.

SPEAKER_01 56:53

Spurs and the Celtics. I like I like the Spurs and the Celtics. Spurs and the Celtics, I think gonna be that's gonna be the matchup, bro. I think it's gonna be hard to beat Wimby game. I I see Shea outplaying Wimby.

SPEAKER_02 57:02

Ooh. No, no, no. I see that.

SPEAKER_01 57:05

Listen, the Spurs is deep, man. They got some bodies, bro. They got some bodies to throw at Shay. They're gonna make it tough on them. They're gonna make it tough. They're going, they're going. Like I said to y'all before, I think you let Shay do him. Just don't let everybody else do them.

SPEAKER_02 57:22

How about Wimby? What's the name? The Pistons showed a formula of how to disrupt Wimby and get him uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 57:32

I think the Spurs got a good system. I don't think Wimby had Wimby averaged 17 points. No, he averaged 24 points. But Wimby, one of those guys who can average set because of the gravity that he has on the court, he can average 17 points and attract so much attention they leave the shooters open.

SPEAKER_02 57:49

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 57:49

So you know, so for me, you know, I I like I like Wimby. I like Wimby, but I don't think um he's the he he is the vocal point of the team, but not the end all be all.

SPEAKER_02 58:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:02

It's not a heliocentric, heliocentric offense.

SPEAKER_02 58:06

I feel it that they play. You know what, bro? I'm gonna switch it up. So I could continue my OKC hate and continue ruling against OKC, bro. Who you got? I'm going Nuggets and Nuggets in Boston, bro. Nuggets in Boston.

SPEAKER_01 58:19

Nuggets and Boston will be a good series. I think that'd be a good series. It'd be a boring series for many, but it'll be a good series. I like it. I like that. That's gonna be a tough matchup for either one of them, but I'm sticking with the Spurs, man. All right, man. There you have it, man. There's another real Hooper show. Listen, I ain't even introduced myself. I should have introduced myself in the game, but y'all I'm pretty sure my guy E gonna put it up there. Man, it's your boy Sean Shook Amos, man. Make sure y'all follow us on all platforms. Like I told y'all before, man, we still trying to get our Instagram back. So if you know how to get in touch with Meta to get our Instagram back, make sure you leave it in the comments. We really, really appreciate it. We had about 45,000 followers. Um, some of the great, some of the NBA legends was following that page, and we want it back, man. We want it, we want it back. Um, but make sure if make sure y'all follow y'all at least follow our merch page, um, score society underscore merch uh on Instagram, and then follow us on all all the other platforms, obviously here on YouTube at Score Society. Make sure you follow us on TikTok at Score Society and support the brand. Look, real hooper hoodies, real hooper hoodie, man. You know, I got some short show. I ain't gonna stand up. But make sure you just go to goals activewear, goalsactivewear.com. Use code Real Hoopers at checkout to receive 15% off the entire store. Until next time, let's continue to think elite and together. Welcome to Score Society.