Speaker 1: Welcome in What's driving Nick Great? Episode three eleven, including
Speaker 1: on today's show for new viewers, the Glorious Return, and
Speaker 1: you know what I'm gonna We're gonna have a little
Speaker 1: Nick Great story time, the origin story, the true origin
Speaker 1: story of the F one minute with Sierra Fidel and
Speaker 1: the glorious return from a brand new studio. So that
Speaker 1: coming later in the show. And this year, unlike last year,
Speaker 1: we as a we're gonna actually cover F one. It's
Speaker 1: it's the listen. It has just enough qualities of a
Speaker 1: sport that I could get into that I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: open to actually getting into it. You know what I've
Speaker 1: grown to like demons over the last few years, and
Speaker 1: that you're gonna laugh at me. Opulent wealth, opulent displays
Speaker 1: of wealth where it's just like crazy rich people flaunting
Speaker 1: how rich they are. And F One's got a lot
Speaker 1: of that. By the who goes to it, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: the Monaco Grand Prix, here's the super yachts, the all
Speaker 1: of it. And one little spoiler before we get to
Speaker 1: the meat of the show and last night's basketball, I really,
Speaker 1: without asking anyone for permission, this is one of the
Speaker 1: bright sides I suppose of owning the podcast. Now, Sierra
Speaker 1: our F one correspondent filled out a credential request for
Speaker 1: the Miami Grand Prix to be our on the ground
Speaker 1: F one correspondent for the Miami Grand Prix. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: now it might get denied. I'm not certain. They asked
Speaker 1: for like, you know, business letterhead and how many viewers
Speaker 1: we have and things. They're like, you need at least
Speaker 1: this many viewers a month. I'm like, man, we crushed
Speaker 1: that number and so and so. Yeah, so hopefully you
Speaker 1: know we're expanding. It asked where our business was located,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, well, best I can tell, it's located
Speaker 1: than New York, LA and Miami. We have people everywhere.
Speaker 1: We're try Corystal at this point right boots on the ground.
Speaker 1: So that coming later in today's show. Here is what
Speaker 1: is not going to be in today's show, but kind
Speaker 1: of in today's show because I'm saying it's on today's show.
Speaker 1: Cavs winning streak ends at sixteen. Multiple fifteen game winning
Speaker 1: streaks for them, Though wildly impressive baseball season officially underway
Speaker 1: as of this morning show. He Otani and the Dodgers
Speaker 1: won a baseball game that counted in Tokyo this morning,
Speaker 1: and the producers are you know this is they're twisting
Speaker 1: my arm, and so I will start the show with
Speaker 1: this my annual March Madness bracket rant, which is very simple.
Speaker 1: Fill out as many brackets as you'd like, enter as
Speaker 1: many contests as you'd like. Have a mascot bracket, have
Speaker 1: a best looking head coach bracket, Have a who would
Speaker 1: win in a fight bracket? I have a coolest sororities bracket,
Speaker 1: have a favorites bracket, of an underdog's bracket. Do whatever
Speaker 1: the hell you want, but understand the rules, and the
Speaker 1: rules are simple. If you fill out more than one bracket,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying if you enter more than one contest,
Speaker 1: but if you have for the sixty four tournament games,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, sixty three tournament games, anything other than the
Speaker 1: exact sixty three winners of those games. If you have
Speaker 1: any variation of your original bracket, you're never allowed to
Speaker 1: say the following words. I picked that upset, I have
Speaker 1: that team in the final four. No, these are just
Speaker 1: the rules. I understand that our society is fraying day
Speaker 1: by day and that established norms are going by away side. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: you know what, I don't even really you know, I
Speaker 1: have varying opinions on participation trophies. My buddy Laslo used
Speaker 1: to say, adults get them all the time. It's called
Speaker 1: your weekly paycheck. You think you were the best at
Speaker 1: your job this week. No, you just showed up. You
Speaker 1: just showed up every day and at the end of
Speaker 1: the week you got a paycheck. That's an adult participation trophy.
Speaker 1: That's not what I mean. I'm just talking about. We
Speaker 1: don't there's no there's a lack of take integrity. And
Speaker 1: I'm all for bragging about picking a sweet upset, and
Speaker 1: I'm even okay with you being like, oh, I had
Speaker 1: that upset picking a twelve over a five, even if
Speaker 1: your upset was the Vegas favorite, I'm okay with just
Speaker 1: being like, no, they were the lower seeded team. I'm
Speaker 1: not a gambler. Fine, all, that's fine. What I am
Speaker 1: not okay with is folks who fill out six different
Speaker 1: brackets with conflicting results, and therefore people are like, I
Speaker 1: had that one, I had that one, I had this one. No,
Speaker 1: if you fill out more than one, you have to
Speaker 1: watch the tournament basically in silence. If you fill out
Speaker 1: just one brag away. Those are the rules. We all
Speaker 1: know the rules. We all should accept the rules. Now
Speaker 1: to the actual show.
Speaker 2: Yeahs, toy, do you do you think that the Lakers
Speaker 2: have navigated Lebron's absence the best they possibly could and
Speaker 2: then think.
Speaker 3: You still have more time coming up?
Speaker 1: Yeah? So, but he's day to day now and he
Speaker 1: should be back. I'm gonna end up having nailed this exactly,
Speaker 1: as is quite often the case when it comes to Again,
Speaker 1: I'm not an insider. I don't have sources. I just
Speaker 1: have great gut instinct and when it comes to the
Speaker 1: Chiefs and the Lakers, and when it comes to things
Speaker 1: like Mahomes or Lebron's injuries, when they happen, folks should
Speaker 1: probably listen to me. And the day after the Lebron injury,
Speaker 1: I did an emergency pod and I said, I think
Speaker 1: the Lakers need to be planning on Lebron missing on
Speaker 1: the high end ten games, and then I said I
Speaker 1: would anticipate that he should be returning. My guess was
Speaker 1: that he would be returning before their game in Chicago Thursday,
Speaker 1: March twenty seventh. It now appears might that my updated
Speaker 1: guests would be Lebron is going to return right around Thursday,
Speaker 1: March twenty seventh, maybe a few days earlier, thankfully for
Speaker 1: my own purposes. He should be definitely back by Saturday,
Speaker 1: March twenty ninth, which is the game against the Grizzlies.
Speaker 1: Now went as far as them navigating it. When I
Speaker 1: looked at the ten games that I thought they might
Speaker 1: have Lebron, I said, the goal is to go six
Speaker 1: and four. Going five and five is acceptable. Anything worse
Speaker 1: is a problem. They started with a loss in a
Speaker 1: game that you hoped they could have won, the Brooklyn game.
Speaker 1: But that and that Brooklyn game was, you know, a
Speaker 1: highly problematic loss, especially because Luca did play, and so
Speaker 1: that put them behind the eight ball. You anticipated they
Speaker 1: were gonna lose to Milwaukee. They did. You anticipate they
Speaker 1: were gonna lose to Denver. They almost stole that game
Speaker 1: without Luca, But then they had to beat Phoenix, they
Speaker 1: had to beat San Antonio and they did. And now
Speaker 1: so they they started off zero to three, and I
Speaker 1: said six and four was the goal. They're now two
Speaker 1: and three. And again, if we're gonna use the ten
Speaker 1: games as a level set home for Denver, home for Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: in a back to back home for Chicago at Orlando
Speaker 1: at Indiana. I look at home for Chicago at Orlando
Speaker 1: and at Indiana as the games they've got to have.
Speaker 1: And if somehow you can steal one of the Denver
Speaker 1: Milwaukee games, and they've played really well against Denver, and
Speaker 1: you've got They beat Denver when they were at full
Speaker 1: when the Lakers before Lebron's injury, and they damn near
Speaker 1: beat them when they were without Lebron. Luca Ruey, Jackson, Hayes,
Speaker 1: Dorian Finnie Smith, Gabe Vincent six of their top eight
Speaker 1: but the other So yes, I think that they're fine,
Speaker 1: and I will take it a step further. What Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves has done during this stretch and what Luca's done
Speaker 1: during this stretch has made the Lakers look even more
Speaker 1: dangerous when Lebron gets back. The other thing that's happened
Speaker 1: is this the team they're chasing other than the Rockets.
Speaker 1: None of them are red hot now. The Rockets have
Speaker 1: won seven in a row, but the Lakers, despite that
Speaker 1: four game losing streak, they are sitting there at twenty
Speaker 1: five losses. The Rockets have twenty five, The Nuggets have
Speaker 1: twenty five thanks to that. Well more in the Nuggets
Speaker 1: in a moment, because that Nuggets Warriors game last night
Speaker 1: was interesting. The Lakers have twenty five, and then the
Speaker 1: Grizzlies are sitting there at twenty six and the Warriors,
Speaker 1: who some people were like, oh, could the Warriors climb up?
Speaker 1: The Warriors given the loss last night to a Nuggets
Speaker 1: team without Jokic or Murray, and then Steve Kerr talking
Speaker 1: about Steph potentially sitting out sometime, the Warriors. They the
Speaker 1: Warriors question is are they gonna fall back a seed
Speaker 1: into the play in not are they going to climb
Speaker 1: into the five line. But the Lakers are still just
Speaker 1: sitting there, you know, basically tied with Memphis, but a
Speaker 1: game up in the lost column and tied in the
Speaker 1: lost common with the Rockets and Nuggets, so seating wise,
Speaker 1: they've been fine. We are seeing how important it is
Speaker 1: for if, in case you didn't already know, for any
Speaker 1: team with Luka Ancic, to just have one viable lob threat,
Speaker 1: because Jackson Hayes all of a sudden, you know, is
Speaker 1: you know, looking looks like a fifteen million dollar a
Speaker 1: year player just by catching lobs from Luca and Man
Speaker 1: oh man, is Austin Reeves a hell of an asset
Speaker 1: and a hell of a player, And I understand the
Speaker 1: internet on my behalf this week, you know, took a
Speaker 1: bit of a victory lap for me about my Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves Bradley Beal take from fifteen months ago. What's the meme?
Speaker 1: They called me a madman? Guys, here's one of the
Speaker 1: benefits of watching basketball. You know more than people who don't,
Speaker 1: and anyone. And I'm not gonna act like I had
Speaker 1: been watching a ton of Wizards and Bradley Beal, and
Speaker 1: I like Bradley Beal personally, but I had watched enough
Speaker 1: that I knew he is not at all what the
Speaker 1: Sons need, and he is significantly on the downside, and
Speaker 1: he doesn't really fit within that team needed strong point
Speaker 1: guard play and a bigger post presence. What they didn't
Speaker 1: need was another version of the exact player they have, Like,
Speaker 1: what the reason I never liked well? And We're gonna
Speaker 1: get more on the Suns in a bit. But I'm
Speaker 1: you know, I'm interrupting myself. I'm bouncing around excited to
Speaker 1: talk to you guys today. So it was not surprising
Speaker 1: at all that Austin Reeves was a better third option
Speaker 1: than Bradley Beal. What has been surprising is Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: has made it really clear he could be a second
Speaker 1: option on a decent team, like he third option on
Speaker 1: an excellent team, but a second option on a decent team.
Speaker 1: And here is my real question about what. Because Lebron
Speaker 1: is watching all of this, processing all of it and
Speaker 1: T one thousand style figuring out the best way for
Speaker 1: him to play when he gets back, seeing not only
Speaker 1: how Luca is playing, but how Austin is playing as
Speaker 1: the secondary ball handler, similar to how Austin played as
Speaker 1: the secondary ball handler when Lebron was in Luca's role
Speaker 1: before they got Luca. I do wonder if when Lebron
Speaker 1: comes back, he's gonna take a lot more reps. Say
Speaker 1: it again, what were.
Speaker 2: You going to say, Well, here's we're of You're almost
Speaker 2: where I was.
Speaker 1: I was going to say a lot more reps as
Speaker 1: a traditional power forward. But where it is, like the
Speaker 1: Brew has talked about this before, almost the Karl Malone role,
Speaker 1: and the NBA has changed so that role now kind
Speaker 1: of is out on the wing, not in the low post.
Speaker 1: But like I'm just gonna be a scorer. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be a scorer, defender, and rebounder and not so much
Speaker 1: of a distributor because Luca obviously needs the ball in
Speaker 1: his hands, and Austin's been so good, and so the Lakers.
Speaker 1: I thought the best loss of the NBA season was
Speaker 1: the Lakers loss to the full strength Nuggets. And then
Speaker 1: the Lakers, clearly, I thought, you know, from their own play,
Speaker 1: were a little invigorated by that, because then they blew
Speaker 1: the doors off Phoenix. I know they only won by eleven,
Speaker 1: but they were up twenty immediately and annihilated San Antonio
Speaker 1: last night, and now they're gonna get Lebron back in
Speaker 1: the next ten days at the latest, and the stretch
Speaker 1: run gets going. I know you have one follow up on.
Speaker 3: The Lakers saying that Lebron's faking it.
Speaker 1: So this is this is just kind of a tale
Speaker 1: as old as time with Lebron, which is, folks will
Speaker 1: find a way to be wrong. Folks so badly want
Speaker 1: to find ways to take shots or poke at this
Speaker 1: guy that they will find ways to be wrong on
Speaker 1: both sides of the equation. So, two very very prominent
Speaker 1: voices in basketball media right after the Lebron injury said,
Speaker 1: I mean he's probably done for the rest of the
Speaker 1: regular season. In Berkley and Simmons, both of them. Simmons like, no,
Speaker 1: he's probably done with the rest of the regular season,
Speaker 1: you know, probably not going to be eligible for all NBA.
Speaker 1: Barkley said that, you know, he's not gonna play again
Speaker 1: this year until the playoffs, all of it. And then
Speaker 1: a week later they're throwing out there and Barkley hasn't
Speaker 1: done this. The Bill did. Are we sure he actually
Speaker 1: got hurt or did Lebron in that Celtics game, which
Speaker 1: is now being framed as, oh, he knew they were
Speaker 1: gonna lose, that game was over even though it's a
Speaker 1: four point game with five minutes left, knew the schedule,
Speaker 1: knew Bryce, you know, might be playing for a state championship,
Speaker 1: needs some time being a little PTO, and just you know,
Speaker 1: is is faking essentially the injury as opposed to Oham's raiser,
Speaker 1: the most obvious, you know, the simplest answer is usually
Speaker 1: the right one. The most obvious answers usually the right.
Speaker 1: When I might have got Okham's razor, they're wrong a bit.
Speaker 1: There's a little irony in that or maybe the guy
Speaker 1: who's played more men and it's of NBA basketball than
Speaker 1: any human being alive. One of only two guys ever
Speaker 1: make it to year twenty two, the oldest player in
Speaker 1: the league, a forty year old, tweaked a soft tissue
Speaker 1: injury in a game where he had to play center
Speaker 1: against the defending champs, moving up and down the court.
Speaker 1: I think that probably makes more sense.
Speaker 3: Even if the man wasn't.
Speaker 2: Even if he was, I don't want to say faking it,
Speaker 2: but kind of like taking like a load management type
Speaker 2: of thing to prepare for the run. They're about to
Speaker 2: have a deep run. The guy it's forty years old.
Speaker 2: I feel like if anybody, oh, I think that would have.
Speaker 3: Been totally allowed. Yeah, I agree, but.
Speaker 1: That's not what happened. He tweaked his growing Now. I
Speaker 1: also didn't believe again, just listen to me on this stuff, guys.
Speaker 1: I didn't believe the fatalistic you know, ah man, he
Speaker 1: could be out a month stuff. And the reason I
Speaker 1: didn't was because Lebron talked after the game, and Lebron
Speaker 1: was not despondent. Lebron was not beside himself, but he
Speaker 1: was He's like you know, I gotta work it out
Speaker 1: and figure out where I'm at, which is why it
Speaker 1: felt like this would be a two ish, two to
Speaker 1: three week injury at the most. And that's what it is.
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers, though, right now I am and
Speaker 1: we'll get to these teams shortly. I am downgrading the Nuggets.
Speaker 1: I am the Nuggets slash Warriors. I'm kind of upgrading
Speaker 1: the Warriors, downgrading the Nuggets. And to me, in the
Speaker 1: Western Conference, it is Oklahoma City and the Lakers on
Speaker 1: their own tier of contention, and then Nuggets Warriors on
Speaker 1: their own tier beneath them of contention, and then everyone
Speaker 1: else who and the everyone else is kind of just
Speaker 1: Minnesota and Memphis as their own little semi content, you know,
Speaker 1: not really contenders. But maybe all right, let's talk about
Speaker 1: I just listen.
Speaker 3: I think it's.
Speaker 1: They're young, and I don't think they have the guy yet.
Speaker 1: Shngoon's awesome, but I you know, you can't give him
Speaker 1: the ball in the playoffs and be like, get me
Speaker 1: a bucket, not yet, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: so Van Vliet's a nice player, Chandler, and listen, they
Speaker 1: have a great coach. They've won seven in a row.
Speaker 1: They're the two seed right now. They deserve a lot
Speaker 1: of respect, But can I see them. I think they are,
Speaker 1: and I bet everyone listening agrees with me. I think
Speaker 1: Houston is way more likely, way more likely to lose
Speaker 1: in Round one than to make forget the NBA Finals,
Speaker 1: the conference finals. I think they're like the I think
Speaker 1: it would be a great season for them to win
Speaker 1: around a great season to win a round, And if
Speaker 1: they lose in the first round, I don't think it
Speaker 1: means this wasn't an excellent season, Like these are the
Speaker 1: steps you've got to take, So no, I don't consider them.
Speaker 1: If if I were to break the probable Western Conmerance
Speaker 1: playoff teams into pairings, it would be Oklahoma City and
Speaker 1: the Lakers group one, Denver and the Warriors group two,
Speaker 1: Minnesota and Memphis group three, and the Clippers in the
Speaker 1: Rockets group four. And I understand people you might be
Speaker 1: hearing that be like, man, the Rockets. You have the
Speaker 1: Rockets beneath Minnesota. I do because I saw Minnesota, Yeah
Speaker 1: make a conference finals last year, right, and you have
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards who's going you know? And so even though
Speaker 1: like it's not like they're a profit team and that
Speaker 1: they have their guy. And so I do wonder if Houston,
Speaker 1: Sorry to get off on a little Houston tangent, I
Speaker 1: do wonder if Houston could be an interesting home for
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant in the offseason. I think that's uh. I
Speaker 1: would certainly put to Houston and Minnesota as possible possible
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant destinations. All right, let's talk six seed in
Speaker 1: the West.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Golden State in Minnesota went on some runs.
Speaker 2: They both had those snapped, but the vibe is still
Speaker 2: looking good.
Speaker 1: They both had those by the way, real quick, sorry,
Speaker 1: had those snapped by teams without their best player. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Minnesota lost to Pacers without Haliburton, and the Warriors lost
Speaker 1: to the Nuggets in a game looked like the Nuggets
Speaker 1: were punting. No, yok at your Murray and the Nuggets anyway,
Speaker 1: go ahead, Sorry.
Speaker 3: But yeah, no, but the vibes are looking good. Obviously.
Speaker 2: The Lakers are kind of dealing with injuries right now.
Speaker 2: It's possible they fall down, but yeah, a month away
Speaker 2: from the playoffs, who do you see avoiding the play
Speaker 2: in So.
Speaker 1: This is where our friends at Tankaton are super helpful.
Speaker 1: So where we can look at most difficult or easiest
Speaker 1: strength of schedule left. So as a for instance, Phoenix,
Speaker 1: who were going to get to in a minute, has
Speaker 1: far and away the hardest schedule remaining. Phoenix has games
Speaker 1: left against the Cavs, the Thunder, two against Boston, the Knicks,
Speaker 1: the Rockets, and the Warriors, with only two like layup games,
Speaker 1: the Spurs and the Bulls. So Phoenix, if they were
Speaker 1: fighting for something, you'd be like, oh, they're in rough shape.
Speaker 1: Here's why it matters. Minnesota has the third easiest schedule
Speaker 1: remaining Minnesota. Now, it's a bad loss last night, but
Speaker 1: Minnesota is a you know, the teams they're up against
Speaker 1: have a combined winning percentage of four point thirty, and
Speaker 1: they have games remaining against New Orleans, two of them
Speaker 1: the Jazz, two against the Nets, one against the Sixers.
Speaker 1: So you have five games remaining, no, i'm sorry, two
Speaker 1: against New Orleans, two against the Nets, one six Ers,
Speaker 1: one Jazz. Six games remaining against teams that actively want
Speaker 1: to lose. So that's super helpful for Minnesota. The Warriors
Speaker 1: are right at league average as far as their schedule remaining.
Speaker 1: Their easiest games are New Orleans Toronto two against San Antonio.
Speaker 1: Miami and Portland. Here's why it's to me somewhat noteworthy.
Speaker 1: That's they they own. As far as teams that want
Speaker 1: to lose, it's really only four for the Warriors as
Speaker 1: far as the games they have left, and it's six
Speaker 1: for Minnesota. So that plays in Minnesota's favor significantly. They
Speaker 1: you know that Minnesota has two fewer games left than
Speaker 1: Golden State. They have won more loss than Golden State.
Speaker 1: When I heard Steve kerseay, you know we are you know,
Speaker 1: Steph's worn down, and that essentially we're going to take
Speaker 1: care of Steph down the stretch and rest him tomorrow
Speaker 1: or tonight, pardon me. Against Milwaukee, now they don't have
Speaker 1: The Warriors don't have many. In fact, they only have one,
Speaker 1: no two back to back's left. They have a back
Speaker 1: to back at the Lakers and then home for the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: and then they have a back to back a week
Speaker 1: later at Phoenix and then a home for San Antonio.
Speaker 1: Right now, I would and this is not going to
Speaker 1: be where Vegas would have it, but right now I
Speaker 1: would anticipate that the Western Conference standings and mark this
Speaker 1: down and let's see how this ages. But I think
Speaker 1: the Western Conference standings are going to end up Minnesota six,
Speaker 1: Golden State seven, Clippers eight, with the Kings being the
Speaker 1: nine seed and then that ten seed being just the
Speaker 1: saddest competition ever between Dallas and Phoenix, just two teams
Speaker 1: who did not ever think this is where they were
Speaker 1: going to end up. But it's where they have ended up.
Speaker 3: And I talked one of the earlier actually that might
Speaker 3: need you.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, well they might have to forfeit games. It's
Speaker 1: in so if people don't understand the forfeiting games things
Speaker 1: with the MAVs, let me explain it. This is super nerdy,
Speaker 1: but I'll do my best to explain it. The NBA
Speaker 1: has Here's okay, I'm gonna have to talk about a
Speaker 1: few things here. Hard cap, softcap. Okay, hard cap is
Speaker 1: the NFL where where the salary cap is a number
Speaker 1: and you must, from the first day of the league
Speaker 1: year until the last day of the league year be
Speaker 1: under it at all times. You cannot go a dollar
Speaker 1: over the hard cap. Now, because of the way NFL
Speaker 1: contracts are structured, you can always manipulate that year's cap,
Speaker 1: guys cap figures by turning salaries into signing bonuses, spreading
Speaker 1: them out over multiple years, so it can feel like
Speaker 1: a soft cap at times, but the cap is the cap,
Speaker 1: and however you need to manipulate it. You can manipulate
Speaker 1: your own guys' salaries, but you can't ever be over it.
Speaker 1: That's why the NFL doesn't have things like a luxury tax,
Speaker 1: because a luxury tax is for a soft cap sport
Speaker 1: like the NBA, where we have a cap, but you
Speaker 1: can go over it for various reasons. You can go
Speaker 1: way over it. At times you just pay a penalty
Speaker 1: in luxury tax. And one of the reasons the NBA
Speaker 1: kind of has to work like that is because NBA
Speaker 1: player contracts are guaranteed. For the most part, you can't
Speaker 1: really manipulate a player's contract like, oh, we're turning your
Speaker 1: salary into a signing bonus. It's not how it works.
Speaker 1: So they need a soft cap except and of course,
Speaker 1: there are certain things NBA teams can do transactionally which
Speaker 1: triggers an actual hard cap. So if you're an Apron
Speaker 1: team and do a sign in trade, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you have a hard cap. If there's certain things, we
Speaker 1: need Bobby Marx to really explain all of it. But
Speaker 1: there are certain things that can happen where Oh no,
Speaker 1: now you do have an NFL style hard cap. The
Speaker 1: MAVs are a T with a hard cap. So here's
Speaker 1: why you're hearing about the MAVs potentially having the forfeit games.
Speaker 1: You must have eight healthy players ready and able to play.
Speaker 1: The MAVs are close to exhausting their limit on two
Speaker 1: way guys, guys from their G league team that can
Speaker 1: call up, send down, call up and send down. They
Speaker 1: have had all these injuries and because of the hard
Speaker 1: cap demons, they are not allowed to sign another minimum player.
Speaker 1: They can't go over the hard cap. They are running
Speaker 1: out of two way guys' eligibility. Even they are so
Speaker 1: close to the hard cap, they don't have the space
Speaker 1: for another minimum guy. They can't sign their version of
Speaker 1: and Alex Lynn to just be like, hey, come off
Speaker 1: the street and play for us.
Speaker 3: So it be a perfect situation for Browny right.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, or for any young player or any draft
Speaker 1: pick right to get some burn. But they they suited
Speaker 1: up eight healthy guys the other day.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it would be.
Speaker 1: I've never in my life watching the NBA, I've never
Speaker 1: seen a team have to forfeit games because they didn't
Speaker 1: have eligible players. It would be kind of the crowning
Speaker 1: achievement of what has been six weeks of just a
Speaker 1: fever dream of terror for MAVs fans, starting with the
Speaker 1: Luca trade, then the added pain of Ad getting hurt,
Speaker 1: then the real pain of Kyrie blowing out his knee,
Speaker 1: then the like, oh, you've got to be kidding me.
Speaker 1: Quinton Grimes all of a sudden is a star player
Speaker 1: in this league. We gave him away for Aleb Martin
Speaker 1: for no reason whatsoever, and now we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: maybe forfeit games. Unprecedented, just unpressed in it. But flip
Speaker 1: side of that is AD's ramping up and they might
Speaker 1: make the playoffs or the play in over the damn Suns,
Speaker 1: who desperately want to win and are incredibly healthy. So
Speaker 1: let's talk Suns here.
Speaker 2: So since the start of February, they are seven and fifteen,
Speaker 2: and like you just said, they have no injuries.
Speaker 3: So it's kind of weird whatever's going on over there.
Speaker 2: Their preseason projected win total was set at forty six
Speaker 2: and a half games, and it seemed like they might
Speaker 2: miss the play in. Do you think that the do
Speaker 2: you think the Sons are going to try to actually
Speaker 2: go on a run or are they going to tank here?
Speaker 1: Well, the coach and the owner want them to go
Speaker 1: on a run. I think the players might be over Yeah.
Speaker 2: Every term I see him just seems more and more
Speaker 2: pissed these days.
Speaker 1: He see Yeah, Katie doesn't seem happy. Coach Bud told
Speaker 1: Devin Booker basically to shut up the other day. That
Speaker 1: didn't go over well. I mean, they are not trying
Speaker 1: at all. On the defensive end, Luca was miked up
Speaker 1: against the Suns, and Luca just said, kind of in passing,
Speaker 1: I've never had so many open looks in my life.
Speaker 1: Luka have been playing professional basketball since he's fifteen. He's
Speaker 1: like the worst defense I've ever seen. And Lebron wasn't
Speaker 1: even out there to open stuff up and so uh.
Speaker 1: But the Suns, I don't know that this is a
Speaker 1: hot take. The Suns are in the worst position moving
Speaker 1: forward of any team in the league because Mattishpia came
Speaker 1: in and bought the team and traded away everything for
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant and then traded away everything they had left
Speaker 1: for Bradley bial Bial has a no trade and is
Speaker 1: not good. Durant is approaching thirty seven and not going
Speaker 1: to get you a ton in return, and is gone
Speaker 1: this summer. And then you have Devin Booker, who's a
Speaker 1: real asset. But it doesn't really make sense to trade
Speaker 1: Booker because you would then be tanking, and you don't demanse.
Speaker 1: They do not have their own pick until twenty thirty two.
Speaker 1: Twenty thirty two, it's twenty twenty five, so they they
Speaker 1: traded their picks away, and then they swapped picks, and
Speaker 1: then as part of the Beal trade, they swapped the swaps.
Speaker 1: This is like a mortgage crisis, but in the NBA.
Speaker 1: So they over the next seven drafts, they either simply
Speaker 1: give their pick away or they are in a three
Speaker 1: way swap with other teams where of the three teams
Speaker 1: they get the worst draft pick, so even if they're
Speaker 1: the worst team in the league, that doesn't help them.
Speaker 1: And they traded away most of their second round picks,
Speaker 1: so it was again I used to this is sorry
Speaker 1: for all these kind of non sequiturs. Today's a show.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be totally honest. Today's show that is not
Speaker 1: necessarily going to go viral for a lot of things.
Speaker 1: But real folks that are real, what's right or as
Speaker 1: awkward as this is to say, like Nick Wright fans
Speaker 1: are going to really be enjoying today because we talked
Speaker 1: hard cap softcap. I did my basketball March Madness rant.
Speaker 1: I'm now going to talk about Ted Steppien for a second.
Speaker 1: So Ted Stepien was an owner in the NBA in
Speaker 1: the eighties and he was so bad and so disastrous
Speaker 1: for them calves. The NBA made a rule that's called
Speaker 1: the Stepian Rule. That's about how many draft picks you
Speaker 1: can and cannot trade. You can't trade draft picks in
Speaker 1: consecutive years. That's why teams have to like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'll trade you my twenty five and my twenty seven
Speaker 1: because you can't just trade away all your picks and
Speaker 1: you can only trade draft picks like six years out.
Speaker 1: You know, those seven years out. Those are the rules
Speaker 1: they put in to prevent an owner from just destroying
Speaker 1: a team. And there has been a lot of frustration
Speaker 1: from GM since then of like, man, I would like
Speaker 1: full flexibility to you know, run my team as I
Speaker 1: see fit and not have these guardrails in there. And
Speaker 1: I think at one point there was a little momentum
Speaker 1: in the league, like all right, we're not in the
Speaker 1: tape delayed era of the eighties. It's smarter people running
Speaker 1: the teams. It's big money. Maybe we don't need to,
Speaker 1: you know, have these guardrails in. And then Manishbia came
Speaker 1: along and is like Ted Steppian holding my beer. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna show you, I'm gonna speed run, absolutely wrecking a
Speaker 1: decade of a team that again, the Suns right before
Speaker 1: you took over, made the finals, and then we're the
Speaker 1: number one seed sixty four win or sixty some win team.
Speaker 1: And then Luca eviscerated him, and then they trade for KD.
Speaker 1: Then they trade for Beal, and now they're just ruined,
Speaker 1: absolutely ruined to a point to where they even though
Speaker 1: the Mavericks are two and eight in their last ten,
Speaker 1: don't have any healthy players, their fans have turned on them.
Speaker 1: The Mavericks still have a cushion in the standings. It's
Speaker 1: really a remarkable, remark arkable turn of events. All right,
Speaker 1: let's talk one more basketball thing before we get to
Speaker 1: NFL stuff.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, so the Nuggets struggled to beat that depleted
Speaker 2: Lakers team and then they went on to lose to
Speaker 2: the Wizards.
Speaker 3: All the party, yes, yes, sir.
Speaker 2: After that game, Jokis was asked if Denver could step
Speaker 2: it up come playoff time, and he said, I think
Speaker 2: who you are in the regular season, that's who you
Speaker 2: are in the playoffs.
Speaker 3: I think you cannot flip a switch. Flip a switch.
Speaker 2: But they obviously just beat the Warriors without and Murray
Speaker 2: and Christian Braun, So are you counting them out as
Speaker 2: contenders or how do you feel about them?
Speaker 1: So yesterday was a weird one. And if people don't know,
Speaker 1: our Ace producer, Daniel is a die hard Nuggets fan,
Speaker 1: and you know, his Nuggets fandom almost once upon a
Speaker 1: time cost him his producership of this show. Because Daniel,
Speaker 1: before you know, he and I had the great relationship
Speaker 1: we have now thought it would be smart to troll
Speaker 1: me during the Nuggets Lakers Conference finals a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago and send me brooms. And again we joke
Speaker 1: about it now, but Demonse knows to say I was
Speaker 1: legitimately angry, probably under sells it. I was irate. Now
Speaker 1: was that me being a little sensitive? Sure? But because
Speaker 1: Daniel and I got through that rough patch, I have
Speaker 1: now I have a bit of an affinity for the Nuggets.
Speaker 1: In this regard and their fans. I respect the fact
Speaker 1: that they were right and I was wrong about how
Speaker 1: great jokicch is. I respect it like I you know,
Speaker 1: I pat myself on the back all the time when
Speaker 1: I'm right and when I see things other people don't.
Speaker 1: And I was adamant. While I stand by a lot
Speaker 1: of what I've said about the actual MVP votes, one
Speaker 1: of my general premises was, you know, we are elevating
Speaker 1: Yokage to all time legendier when he's not that, and
Speaker 1: I was wrong. He is an all time legend. And
Speaker 1: because I have such a steadfast belief that anytime you
Speaker 1: have an all time legend in his prime in this league,
Speaker 1: you're a viable championship contender. I have disregarded a lot
Speaker 1: of the Nugget struggles, but this past weekend was jarring.
Speaker 1: They were trying in theory against the Lakers, who again
Speaker 1: were without six of their top eight players, and Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves and Dalton connect lit them up for sixty five points,
Speaker 1: and the Lakers had a three point lead with a
Speaker 1: minute left. And what made the the fact that they
Speaker 1: didn't take that game seriously at all and almost lost
Speaker 1: to me was should have been a Okay, guys, we
Speaker 1: gotta show up if we're gonna win. And to follow
Speaker 1: that up with a loss to the war to the Wizards,
Speaker 1: is I was just I said it on TV show,
Speaker 1: I'm out on the Nuggets, and it seemed like Jokic
Speaker 1: was out on the Nuggets.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean with that that answer, but.
Speaker 1: Then they beat the Warriors without all their guys and
Speaker 1: so like that does is that a rallying moment? I
Speaker 1: don't know. I here's what I do know, And Daniel
Speaker 1: don't get mad at me, especially because you know I'm right,
Speaker 1: Joker better have a playoff defensive gear or else they're
Speaker 1: drawing dead. I can't be subjected to years of Twitter
Speaker 1: cutups of Luca on the perimeter playing Maddador defense and
Speaker 1: then accept Joker as your rim protector, just being like,
Speaker 1: I go ahead, like I just want to inbound the
Speaker 1: ball anyway, I can't have it. And I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: another thing to Nuggets folks. I saw, we all saw
Speaker 1: when it was all good with Ross early in the year.
Speaker 1: Folks be like, oh, why couldn't Lebron get this version
Speaker 1: of Russell Westbrook the Joker can get and listen, Russ
Speaker 1: was good last night, and Russ has had some nice moments.
Speaker 1: But I also know everyone that watches Nuggets games. Every
Speaker 1: once in a while you have these moments where like, Russ,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? Or where you see how the
Speaker 1: offense can get a little gummed up because the smart
Speaker 1: teams are like, hey, Russ, shoot the ball, got shoot it?
Speaker 3: Go ahead.
Speaker 1: And I also think one of the reasons the Lakers,
Speaker 1: after the Nuggets have owned them for years, the Lakers
Speaker 1: having a little success against the Nuggets is Russ sees
Speaker 1: those Lakers and is like, I'm gonna and that's not
Speaker 1: good for them. And so I I'm not dismissing them,
Speaker 1: but I have downgraded. I had thunder Lakers Nuggets, as
Speaker 1: you know, the top tier in the West. I've downgraded
Speaker 1: the Nuggets. H a spot on that. You have a
Speaker 1: follow up here.
Speaker 3: Man, Uh yeah.
Speaker 2: If the Nuggets have another early exit, do you since that,
Speaker 2: do you think they'll have some major changes to come?
Speaker 1: Well, Listen, they as much as Michael Malone can annoy me,
Speaker 1: he's obviously an excellent coach, So you can't. You wouldn't
Speaker 1: change the coach. The change needs to be. They need
Speaker 1: to recognize we have one of the greatest players ever
Speaker 1: in his prime. So how about this for an offseason
Speaker 1: instead of losing a key contributor, let's add one.
Speaker 3: Like they they.
Speaker 1: Let guys walk out the door. They let Bruce Brown
Speaker 1: walk out the door over money. They didn't let CACP
Speaker 1: walk out the door over money. The move they could
Speaker 1: make is Michael Porter junior. But the that's the move.
Speaker 1: And I'll say one other thing. Here's another change I
Speaker 1: think would be good for the Nuggets. Can someone convince
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray that the season starts in October? And that
Speaker 1: does mean as a fifty million dollar a year professional athlete,
Speaker 1: it would be nice if your season started in October
Speaker 1: not Christmas? Can someone convince Jamal Murray to be in
Speaker 1: shape in the offseason.
Speaker 2: Dan Michel, the Nuggets fan, agrees with you heavily there,
Speaker 2: He says.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, anyone that watches the games knows this stuff. Like,
Speaker 1: here's the deal, Yokich is allowed to be Dowe. No
Speaker 1: one else is like the You're just it's like here,
Speaker 1: I have a non PC take Dowe.
Speaker 3: Wait wait yeah, is that like a Tubby reference?
Speaker 1: Well, Tubby's too strong, but like not ripped allowed to
Speaker 1: be a little Joey, you're your point guard, can't be
Speaker 1: And here's the and here's the other. Here's the non
Speaker 1: PC take get ready to cancel me. I don't know why,
Speaker 1: but I allow the Eastern European guys to not be
Speaker 1: in elite shape. I don't know. Maybe it's the tough
Speaker 1: where they grew up. It's tough. They just can deal
Speaker 1: with it. Like like it's the smoking or the drinking
Speaker 1: or the partying or whatever. I I don't know. My
Speaker 1: point is this. I don't judge yo Ki, your Luca
Speaker 1: for you can't see their muscles, but all of the
Speaker 1: American athletes I do like that's the like I'll tell,
Speaker 1: I'll give you a guy. It's right. It's not a
Speaker 1: white thing. As much as I like Austin Reeves, I
Speaker 1: need Austin Reeves to get on the Alex CRUs So
Speaker 1: workout playing this summer. Like Austin Reeves can't as awesome
Speaker 1: as he is.
Speaker 3: He taking contacts.
Speaker 1: No, he just no. Again, he's great at it. Uh,
Speaker 1: he's he's an excellent player, very good player. But Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves looks less physically impressive in a Laker jersey than you.
Speaker 1: Not Okay, you're pro athlete, and so I only allow.
Speaker 3: Just look like a normal guy, like a normal guy.
Speaker 3: He's just a normal.
Speaker 1: Guy out there and so like and uh and it's
Speaker 1: not like normal guy like crazy skinny like Durant. Like Durant.
Speaker 1: You can see his muscles, they're just not you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, because he's super thin. But the like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't like dowie NBA players again, unless you're from
Speaker 1: like war torn Eastern Europe, in which case I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, you figured it out, like I I
Speaker 1: can't vetus Sa Bonus was this way, Vlade was this way,
Speaker 1: you know, like Powe was never super ripped. He's from Spain,
Speaker 1: not Eastern Europe. I know, man who Like again, now
Speaker 1: I'm really just talking about the foreign guys. So it's
Speaker 1: not just Eastern European guys. But for some reason I
Speaker 1: deal with it more. But I the where did they?
Speaker 1: Oh it was about Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray, I need
Speaker 1: you to be a little more in shape. I think
Speaker 1: that's totally fair.
Speaker 2: Last Onion says that Jack Dawson Reeves would be lights
Speaker 2: out for the rest of the league.
Speaker 1: I mean, Caruso got jacked in his excellent. Now now
Speaker 1: he's not his again, I'm throwing around excellent too strongly.
Speaker 1: But I was thinking of and again, I don't mean
Speaker 1: to be just doing white guy, white guy, but the
Speaker 1: he was kind of in the Austin Reeves role with
Speaker 1: the Lakers and then got super jacked and got big
Speaker 1: contract with the Bulls and is really good for the Thunder.
Speaker 1: And I guess I'm not doing white guy white guycause
Speaker 1: of the subject of this conversation, Shimal mart But yeah,
Speaker 1: but yeah, right now, Joker and Luca are the only
Speaker 1: ones who are like, eh, whatever everyone else.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's not like looking at all, like swollen.
Speaker 1: But correct Lucas. Lucas slimmed down a bit, but he's.
Speaker 3: Not looking right jack Jacket.
Speaker 1: But like I I did, let me look at it
Speaker 1: real quick. So I did my all NBA teams, a
Speaker 1: first run at my all NBA teams for the TV show,
Speaker 1: and this is where I came out. First Team Shay Donovan, Tatum,
Speaker 1: Jannis Jokic, second Team Cade steph Aunt, Lebron Triple J,
Speaker 1: fourth Team Harden Brunson, Jalen Brown, Mobiley, Karl Anthony Towns
Speaker 1: and so because Luke is not eligible because he hasn't played.
Speaker 1: He's not going to play enough games. So just looking
Speaker 1: at it, Guys on there who have been on the
Speaker 1: you know, awesome player but a little dowie over the
Speaker 1: course of their career at different times. Joker obviously, Harden, Brunson,
Speaker 1: and Cat. That's the list of those guys. Okay, and
Speaker 1: what do you disagree?
Speaker 2: I think this is runs And I look at it
Speaker 2: a little bit differently because I feel like he's a
Speaker 2: shorter guy, so just a little bit more likely to be.
Speaker 3: And maybe you're kind of build.
Speaker 1: He might have like the Mahomes approach, which is I
Speaker 1: need this because of the beating I'm taking. Maybe Harden
Speaker 1: used to have that too, but still.
Speaker 2: I don't think it was ever beneficial for Harden. I
Speaker 2: think I don't think so either.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Jamal Murray would be on would be on
Speaker 1: that list, all right. I don't know what we just
Speaker 1: did there. Hey, guys, when it comes to college basketball
Speaker 1: in March Mania, one thing is for sure. Nothing's for sure. Upsets,
Speaker 1: buzzer beaters, Cinderella is advancing top seeds, going home early.
Speaker 1: It's all gonna happen. Bet the unexpected, every upset, every
Speaker 1: day with DraftKings Sportsbook with live betting, exclusive content, promos
Speaker 1: and parlays. Draftkinks Ultimate college basketball destination for March. Ready
Speaker 1: to make your first bet, check out the matchups, and
Speaker 1: pick a team to win. It's that simple. Here's what
Speaker 1: I'm looking at for this weekend and for the tournament
Speaker 1: as a whole. Well, just just my opinion. I like
Speaker 1: the volunteers. Tennessee lay in a smooth eighteen and a
Speaker 1: half against Wafford, and you can get them at a
Speaker 1: nice twenty two to one to win the whole thing.
Speaker 1: Now they're in tough draw. I gotta get past Houston.
Speaker 1: I really like. I didn't pull the odds for this,
Speaker 1: but again, just me, I like the winner of that region,
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Houston region, to win the championship. That's a
Speaker 1: fun bet. As always, of course, lines and odds subject
Speaker 1: to change. First time. Here's something special just for you
Speaker 1: new DraftKings customers. Bet five dollars, get two hundred dollars
Speaker 1: in bonus bets instantly two hundred dollars. Bet the unexpected
Speaker 1: with DraftKings Sportsbook. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use
Speaker 1: code right. That's code right for new customers get two
Speaker 1: hundred dollars in bonus bets when you bet just five
Speaker 1: bucks only underfkings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem called
Speaker 1: one eight hundred gambler In New York call eight seven
Speaker 1: seven eight hope in why, or text hope in why,
Speaker 1: which is four six seven three six nine. In Connecticut,
Speaker 1: help is available for problem gambling.
Speaker 3: Call eight eight.
Speaker 1: Eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit
Speaker 1: CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill
Speaker 1: Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty one plus age in
Speaker 1: eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional
Speaker 1: terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG dot co slash
Speaker 1: b ball. All right, demons, let's do some NFL stuff
Speaker 1: before we get to our f one minute.
Speaker 2: Bengals Bengals bangalsman so Jamar Chase and T Higgins are
Speaker 2: now the highest paid non quarterbacks in history, and Higgins
Speaker 2: is the highest highest wide receiver two so forty of
Speaker 2: their cap is going to those players.
Speaker 3: Put your gam hat on. How would you fix this? Oh?
Speaker 3: My goodness, they're screw me.
Speaker 1: They don't, well, I mean they don't think they're screwed.
Speaker 1: I think it's an insane way to run a team,
Speaker 1: and I think it's a low So here's what Higgins becomes,
Speaker 1: as Demant said, the highest paid wide receiver two in
Speaker 1: the league. Chase becomes the highest paid non quarterback in
Speaker 1: the league, and Burrow's got a huge salary as well.
Speaker 1: It's not that you can't win with three huge contracts.
Speaker 1: It's that having all of your huge contracts just be
Speaker 1: about the passing game doesn't make a ton of sense,
Speaker 1: and having all of your resources debt like it's a
Speaker 1: low key insult to Burrow. And I know it's what
Speaker 1: Burrow wanted, so he doesn't view it this way. But
Speaker 1: here's what I mean. It operates as if you're not
Speaker 1: gonna have an elite passing game unless you have both
Speaker 1: of these elite weapons. And I think Joe Burrow's better
Speaker 1: than that. I think Joe Burrow would be just fine
Speaker 1: with just one of these guys. And I think that again,
Speaker 1: the example people use as a defense of this is
Speaker 1: Peyton's cults. But here's the problem with you. Because Peyton's
Speaker 1: calls had Reggie Wayne, and Marvin Harrison. The problem with
Speaker 1: using that as an example is they also had Dwight
Speaker 1: Freenian Robert Mathis as bookend defensive ends. But the other
Speaker 1: problem with that is Peyton's with respect underachieved. You had
Speaker 1: thirteen years of Peyton Manning, eleven of those are peak
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning years. You made two Super Bowls one to one.
Speaker 1: Compare that to the Broncos who had four years of
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning only three of those peak Peyton Manning years.
Speaker 1: They also went to two Super Bowls and one to
Speaker 1: one by building a well rounded team. Compare it to
Speaker 1: the Chiefs who had a choice to make a few
Speaker 1: years ago. We are not going to be able to
Speaker 1: pay Tyrek and Chris Jones, so you know what, We're
Speaker 1: gonna move Tyreek to save the money for Chris and
Speaker 1: ask Patrick to do more with less. And they've been
Speaker 1: to every Super Bowl since then. And so and yeah,
Speaker 1: mahomes last two years as numbers of DIP. Now his
Speaker 1: first year without Tyrek, he won the MVP at the
Speaker 1: most yards of any player in the season ever, first
Speaker 1: player win League MVP and Trouper Bowl MVP since Kurt Warner,
Speaker 1: but set that aside. Uh, it is just to me
Speaker 1: the wrong approach to building a team. So what would
Speaker 1: I have done. I would have a year ago, a
Speaker 1: year ago traded t Higgins when I could have gotten
Speaker 1: a first round pick for him and dedicated more resources
Speaker 1: to the defense. But here is what I'll say about it,
Speaker 1: demonse I Burrow wanted this, and it's fine. But he's
Speaker 1: a smart guy and he understands the resources are limited.
Speaker 1: He understands what this means. It kind of removes a
Speaker 1: little bit of the If next year goes how last
Speaker 1: year went, where Burrow's numbers are unbelievable, the Bengals offense
Speaker 1: is excellent and they missed the playoffs because the defense
Speaker 1: is terrible. It's not quite as an accomplishment for Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow as this year he got MVP votes because it
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, he's doing his job. What
Speaker 1: can he do about the defense being awful? Well, when
Speaker 1: you go on every talk show imaginable and say you
Speaker 1: need Higgins and Chase back and you understand what that
Speaker 1: means about your ability to improve your offensive line in
Speaker 1: your defense, well now it probably is a little more
Speaker 1: fair to at least put some of potential Bengals struggles,
Speaker 1: even if they're defense related at the feet of their quarterback.
Speaker 1: I know that sounds odd, but I just think it's
Speaker 1: I think it's probably the wrong approach to building a
Speaker 1: sustainable champion, and it also is it It is to me,
Speaker 1: certainly not the right place approach to win that division.
Speaker 1: And the problem with that is, I don't think you
Speaker 1: have any shot of winning three straight road AFC playoff
Speaker 1: games that'll probably be outdoors, probably in cold weather cities,
Speaker 1: with a defense that looks like the Bengals is going
Speaker 1: to look for the near future. So I just think
Speaker 1: I think it's a mistake, even though it's fun. All right,
Speaker 1: let's talk Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, Aaron Rodgers still does not know where he
Speaker 3: wants to go.
Speaker 2: The talks are if the Vikings don't want him, he
Speaker 2: might retire or do you think you see Aaron Rodgers going?
Speaker 1: I mean, probably the Steelers. But Rapaport reported this morning
Speaker 1: that he might not decide until after the draft.
Speaker 3: The draft.
Speaker 1: Draft's in like forty days, and I understand actually why
Speaker 1: he would wait until after the draft, because he doesn't
Speaker 1: want to pick Pittsburgh and then see, you know, as
Speaker 1: a for instance, Shadoor drop and then the Steelers draft
Speaker 1: a quarterback and he's like, what the hell, so or
Speaker 1: pick the Giants and then they draft should Or at
Speaker 1: three like who knows? But I am I'm over the
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers story in this regard. I just I don't
Speaker 1: think the twentieth best quarterback in football is worth this
Speaker 1: time or attention. And I really don't understand why the
Speaker 1: Vikings would be entertaining this demon's unless they are unless
Speaker 1: they have undisclosed news about JJ McCarthy's injury that they sum.
Speaker 1: But the only way that even makes sense is if
Speaker 1: they got this news somehow in the short window of
Speaker 1: time between when they let Darnold walk and you know,
Speaker 1: this last week, which is only a few days. Because
Speaker 1: now that we have the actual Sam Donald contract details,
Speaker 1: chalk another one up to the sports media on Budsman
Speaker 1: by the way, who said, instead of all these tweets
Speaker 1: just giving love to the agents that negotiated the deals,
Speaker 1: can we please get accurate contract info. For a week,
Speaker 1: we were told Sam Darnald got fifty five million guaranteed.
Speaker 1: Turns out he got thirty seven million guaranteed. Turns out
Speaker 1: the contract Sam Donald got is essentially one year, thirty
Speaker 1: seven and a half million dollars and then two team
Speaker 1: options afterwards. Who de thunk it? If that's all it
Speaker 1: was going to take to keep Donald, they could have
Speaker 1: gotten him essentially for one year forty million bucks. If
Speaker 1: you're worried about JJ McCarthy, then do that. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: better than Rogers at this point.
Speaker 3: Like why would any team want it?
Speaker 2: Like just not even a football standpoint, just him as
Speaker 2: a I'm not trying to attack his character or anything,
Speaker 2: but he just he ruined stuff.
Speaker 1: Well yeah, I mean I think it's fair to attack
Speaker 1: his football character and like leadership, and also like why
Speaker 1: is he taking this long? I think because he can,
Speaker 1: and because it is a good way to make it
Speaker 1: clear who has the upper hand in the relationship from
Speaker 1: the moment the relationship starts, like if if you can
Speaker 1: make some an entire organization, Wait, poor Russell Wilson's like,
Speaker 1: I can't even sign with a team until this guy does,
Speaker 1: like and so it's just asserting asserting dominance, I guess
Speaker 1: is what some would say. All right, time for Nick
Speaker 1: Write's storytime. Unless you've got something else, demanse you wanted
Speaker 1: to do?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 1: Before I get to it. Okay, time for Nick writes.
Speaker 1: Story time. So, twenty years ago one of my friends
Speaker 1: had a baby and I was twenty years old, and I,
Speaker 1: you guys, some of you guys might know this, some
Speaker 1: of you guys don't. I don't have any cousins. Really,
Speaker 1: I had no nieces and nephews growing up. My my
Speaker 1: dad has a sister that we didn't see all that
Speaker 1: much when I was growing up. And my mom brother
Speaker 1: died before I was born, so I didn't come you know,
Speaker 1: Demans's mom's side of the family, huge family, a bunch
Speaker 1: of cousins, nieces, nephews running around everywhere. I didn't have.
Speaker 1: I didn't have that. And so the only reason I'm
Speaker 1: even including that story is I had like no experience
Speaker 1: around babies like I was. You know, my sister's a
Speaker 1: year older than me. The I had. I never baby sat.
Speaker 1: I didn't have you know, cousins or anything. And so
Speaker 1: when my friend uh had a baby, it was and
Speaker 1: he and I over a summer where I was damn
Speaker 1: near living with him. She it was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I call her, I said, even though I wasn't, I
Speaker 1: think officially named her godfather that I was her godfather,
Speaker 1: and it was my first experience ever with little kid
Speaker 1: with babies. And then I watched this little girl, you know,
Speaker 1: turn into a toddler as you know, as happens, and
Speaker 1: then and this is why this is this is a
Speaker 1: really touching kind of story for me. So again, the
Speaker 1: sports were f one minutes coming, but that the just
Speaker 1: stay with me here. And when I met Demanse's mom,
Speaker 1: my wife, Danielle, and I then first met Demonse and Diora.
Speaker 1: Diora was the exact same age as my goddaughter, and
Speaker 1: I had like a little experience orience of dealing with
Speaker 1: a child Diora's age because of my relationship with my goddaughter.
Speaker 1: And I've always kind of felt that one of the
Speaker 1: reasons I was comfortable and kind of knew how to
Speaker 1: interact with Diora when she was a baby, when she
Speaker 1: was when I met her, she wasn't even three, was
Speaker 1: because of my my experience with my goddaughter. And then
Speaker 1: our families became super close. My goddaughter had an older
Speaker 1: sister who was almost exactly Sorry, if you're listening on
Speaker 1: the pot, I promise I'm not crying, but it does
Speaker 1: sound like this would be a time where I would
Speaker 1: cry the same age as Demanse, and they became close
Speaker 1: and then they had another baby, this baby boy, who
Speaker 1: was just a bowling ball of energy, yeah monster. And
Speaker 1: our families in Kansas City, you know, grew up together. Essentially,
Speaker 1: Danielle and I ended up getting engaged, and you know,
Speaker 1: our families grew up together. And in fact, when I
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember this part, you probably wouldn't,
Speaker 1: but there was two months when I got the job
Speaker 1: in Houston, or six weeks when I was in Houston
Speaker 1: by myself before you guys came, and I drove from
Speaker 1: Kancity to Houston. I drove from their house like we
Speaker 1: were all together at their house, and then I got
Speaker 1: on the road with my car packed up, like the
Speaker 1: last place I saw you guys before you guys came
Speaker 1: to Houston was their house, and because everyone was hanging
Speaker 1: out together. And then, you know, kind of sadly we
Speaker 1: didn't fall out of touch, but we moved to Houston
Speaker 1: and they were in Kansas City, and then part of
Speaker 1: the family ended up moving. Their family moved to California,
Speaker 1: in another part moved to Miami, and we were, you know,
Speaker 1: we went from seeing each other all the time and
Speaker 1: talking all the time, not seeing each other that often.
Speaker 1: I kind of, you know, it was bad, a bad
Speaker 1: godfather in those times. And then Demandse moved back out
Speaker 1: to California, and I was moved to California briefly, and
Speaker 1: we kind of reconnected, and Diora and my goddaughter became
Speaker 1: super close again, and I actually and I the had
Speaker 1: a did an event in Vegas and Diora and her
Speaker 1: came and everybody kind of reconnected again, and then reconnected
Speaker 1: again at our wedding. Vower knew all about a year ago.
Speaker 1: Well, we didn't get see each other all that often, And
Speaker 1: there I found out, because I didn't know this, that Sierra,
Speaker 1: who is the girl in this story, wanted to be
Speaker 1: a sports broadcaster, and that her the sport she loves
Speaker 1: is F one, which is the sport I know almost
Speaker 1: nothing about. And so the culmination of this for the
Speaker 1: longtime viewers or listeners of the pod was the F
Speaker 1: one minute that we created last year. And a few
Speaker 1: months ago, Sierra called me and said she had enrolled
Speaker 1: at Jacksonville University in Florida, that she was majoring in
Speaker 1: broadcasting and was going to have a studio for the
Speaker 1: F one Minute. And I do this podcast because it's
Speaker 1: good for me professionally and it's good to you know,
Speaker 1: grow my brand in these different things. But I do
Speaker 1: this podcast because I want it to be ultimately my
Speaker 1: family business. It's why Demanse is my co host. It's
Speaker 1: why I will at some point do a show behind
Speaker 1: us with my wife, and it's why it is so
Speaker 1: thrilling to me to watch the first baby I ever
Speaker 1: held twenty years later be this wildly impressive young woman
Speaker 1: who is our F one correspondent for the second season,
Speaker 1: Sierra Fidel. And so here is the F one minute
Speaker 1: with Sierra Fiddel. Take it away.
Speaker 4: Cc Hey, guys, welcome back to F one Minute. We're
Speaker 4: in season two because the twenty twenty five F one
Speaker 4: season has officially kicked off in Melbourne, Australia. There are
Speaker 4: any conditions single handedly through this race into chaos. But
Speaker 4: before it even began, rookie Isaac Hajar crashed into the
Speaker 4: barriers during the formation lap, which delayed the start of
Speaker 4: the race. But if you love the thrills, don't fret,
Speaker 4: because this only set the stage for five of the
Speaker 4: drivers to eventually spin off and crash. Luckily, nobody was
Speaker 4: seriously harmed in the making of this Grand Prix, and
Speaker 4: so the jama begins with a front row lockout for McLaren,
Speaker 4: Norris and p One and p Astree behind him. Norris
Speaker 4: manages to protect his position despite some dicey action between
Speaker 4: Verstappen and Pastry and the opening meters, but things slowed
Speaker 4: down once rookie Jack Doing from Alpine collided into the
Speaker 4: barriers during the first lap of the race, bringing out
Speaker 4: the first of.
Speaker 3: Four safety cars.
Speaker 4: But here's where the chaos really unleashed on pretty much
Speaker 4: everyone involved, even me at home watching. So after the
Speaker 4: next DNF on the list from Fernando Alonso, many teams
Speaker 4: decided to make a pit stop under this safety car.
Speaker 4: From that crash, however, around laps forty four to forty
Speaker 4: seven is where heavy rain began to hit, and virtually
Speaker 4: nobody had the right tires for these conditions, which made
Speaker 4: everything a little bit more exciting. Both McLaren's slid off
Speaker 4: the track and we had two different race leaders within
Speaker 4: this timeframe. Now it's important to note that it's a
Speaker 4: huge challenge to race with the wrong tires and heavy rains,
Speaker 4: so drivers like for Stappin and Hamilton led the race,
Speaker 4: but only for a moment because they sort of gambled
Speaker 4: on thugging it out. Should I stay out, should I
Speaker 4: go in the pits? But eventually they caved and they
Speaker 4: switched to eat eat intermediate tires and so oh, I
Speaker 4: forgot to mention there was another crash between Liam Lawson
Speaker 4: and Gabriello, not together, they just crashed on the same lap.
Speaker 4: And so with that crack, with those crashes, the last
Speaker 4: safety cars were out. In the closing moments of the race.
Speaker 4: Max stalked Norris right unto the end. But big props
Speaker 4: to Lando Norris because despite the other changing conditions, the
Speaker 4: safety cars and the pressure run behind and he started
Speaker 4: and ended the Australian GP in first place for a
Speaker 4: stapp And ended in p two, and we're also at
Speaker 4: Mercedes ended in p three. Now I'm going to introduce
Speaker 4: something that's kind of new and it's my twiste on DRS.
Speaker 4: So normally DRS stands for Drag Reduction System, but here
Speaker 4: on the four minute DRS stands for disastrous race Shenanians
Speaker 4: and for the Australian JP. I have to hand it
Speaker 4: to our friends at forts of Ferrari because we had
Speaker 4: Charles L Kirk complaining on the radio that his seat
Speaker 4: was full of water. And then we have Lewis Hamilton
Speaker 4: who just joined the team, only to see both Mercedes
Speaker 4: in front of him, not only a Mercedes though also
Speaker 4: a Sober and also Williams. So he ended this race
Speaker 4: with one point. So welcome to the team, I guess, Lewis,
Speaker 4: but it's only up from here. It's the first race.
Speaker 4: It was pretty tricky. You're not going to hit it
Speaker 4: out of the park every race, so we'll see. But
Speaker 4: we've had a fascinating season open in Australia and now
Speaker 4: it's off to Shanghai, China for round two this Sunday.
Speaker 4: That's it for four minute and I'll see you next time.
Speaker 1: Great one, love it and brought one of the one
Speaker 1: of the cool things about the F one season is
Speaker 1: how dope it would be to be one of these
Speaker 1: drivers all the different places you race. So they're just
Speaker 1: in Australia this weekend. She mentioned there in Shanghai a
Speaker 1: few weeks A couple weeks later, it's there in Japan,
Speaker 1: then they're in Bachran, then Saudi Arabia, then down in
Speaker 1: Miami then like it's just the whole world. It's so cool.
Speaker 1: All right. So news that I took away from it
Speaker 1: is Verstapping got some work to do. Is in second, Lando,
Speaker 1: Norris uh in first, and Team Ferrari had Lewis Hamilton.
Speaker 1: He came in tenth, Charles Leclerk came in eighth. All right, good,
Speaker 1: great f one minute with Sierra. All right, let's do
Speaker 1: a couple listener questions to monsday before we go.
Speaker 2: Uh So, last week a listener had asked if he
Speaker 2: could uh he asked for the rights to put your
Speaker 2: name or hit your face on a shirt, and he
Speaker 2: did it, and he tweeted us out, I think we're
Speaker 2: gonna show it for the Yeah, there it is.
Speaker 3: They came at him for the font.
Speaker 1: But I okay, yeah, I saw you had a funny reply.
Speaker 1: So this is a great if you're not watching, it's
Speaker 1: me wearing the Louis Vatan fleece and says mister consistency.
Speaker 1: And somebody asked him about the font choice and demonse
Speaker 1: Snap replied, you were expecting Times new Roman question mark.
Speaker 1: You were a second Times the Roman, weren't you. I
Speaker 1: love it was funny. That's pretty good. All right, great
Speaker 1: job by him. Shout out to him. Let me give home,
Speaker 1: Let me give his Twitter a shout out. Oh he
Speaker 1: is kind of a bad Twitter handle, but that's fine.
Speaker 1: It's not bad, like inappropriate. It's just hard to remember.
Speaker 1: His Twitter handle is Dallas two one four, five, eight
Speaker 1: eight three three. So there, shout out to him. All right? Next?
Speaker 2: Uh, noah, Nick, what will the media says the Lakers
Speaker 2: win at all but Luca's finals MV. Do you think
Speaker 2: of lebron ring where he's not finals MVP weighs any
Speaker 2: less than his other rings?
Speaker 1: Well, listen, I don't know. Yes, not being finals MVP
Speaker 1: weighs a little bit less, but being the second best
Speaker 1: player in the finals in year twenty two at age
Speaker 1: forty weighs a lot. You know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: it kind of offsets it to a degree. All right,
Speaker 1: let's go.
Speaker 3: To justin if I made it.
Speaker 2: If I make a bunch of brackets but the exact
Speaker 2: same prediction for a specific upset and all of them,
Speaker 2: can I brag about that game? An example, picking Drake
Speaker 2: to win round one every time?
Speaker 1: Okay, So two things. One is I think that's allowable.
Speaker 1: I think if you're going to do the multiple brackets,
Speaker 1: and you want to be able to brag, you can
Speaker 1: only brag about things you had in every single one.
Speaker 1: I picked this team to make the final four, in
Speaker 1: every single one, or I picked this upset, and every
Speaker 1: single one that one I will allow the other thing
Speaker 1: is okay. So I so he wrote there because I
Speaker 1: can see it.
Speaker 3: I E.
Speaker 1: And demondse just turned that into an example. And when
Speaker 1: he said that, I was like, holy moly. I never
Speaker 1: knew what I E stood for, and I think demands
Speaker 1: just taught me that the game now, so you're not.
Speaker 2: Gonna get You're.
Speaker 1: Not No, you're not gonna get cooked now. As it
Speaker 1: turns out, it's not what it stands for, but I
Speaker 1: like it. No, it's uh. It's evidently an abbreviation for
Speaker 1: a Latin phrase I S, which is I'm again. I'm
Speaker 1: reading this from the why the Warnell School of Forestry
Speaker 1: and Natural Resources. I don't know why they have that
Speaker 1: this in there, but they example makes it makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1: And id ST in Latin can mean for example, so
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm gonna go ahead and say you
Speaker 1: got it. I'm gonna say you got it here? Tell
Speaker 1: me like the I like it I like it. Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: that was good. I like that one a lot. All right,
Speaker 1: let's do the last two quick, and then I.
Speaker 3: Gotta gon nick.
Speaker 2: Nick, you said before the third star with Lebron, Bosh
Speaker 2: and Love have to sacrifice their numbers? Is that better
Speaker 2: for this Lakers team? Since Austin Reeves was never a
Speaker 2: star given his history.
Speaker 1: So what I have said is because second stars with
Speaker 1: Lebron thrive, and fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth man men thrive.
Speaker 1: The third guy historically with Lebron, Bosh, Kevin Love have
Speaker 1: seen their kuzma. With the Lakers, you could argue seeing
Speaker 1: their numbers potentially drop because the third guy on a
Speaker 1: Lebron team is just the open guy. Like you're not
Speaker 1: gonna We're not gonna force feed touches to a third guy.
Speaker 1: In that regard, I do understand where like Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: in a pinch, can be your second guy, hell can
Speaker 1: be your best guy on certain nights, as he was
Speaker 1: in one of the games the Lakers won, or well,
Speaker 1: they almost beat the Nuggets, but they also had a
Speaker 1: game right after the Luca trade when Austin was that
Speaker 1: against Boston. Boston that Austin was the top guy doesn't matter. Uh,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I think that is smart. All right, let's
Speaker 1: do the last one.
Speaker 2: Jaton asked, how do you do this podcast and on
Speaker 2: TV every weekday?
Speaker 3: How do you sleep?
Speaker 1: I sleep fine, listen, it's the podcast is supposed to
Speaker 1: be forty five minutes every day, it ends up being
Speaker 1: an hour twenty.
Speaker 3: But it's.
Speaker 1: You know, I enjoy it, and I as long as
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I am giving less than full
Speaker 1: effort or attention to either thing, I'll keep doing both.
Speaker 1: Like if at any point I was like, I'm mailing
Speaker 1: it in now, then it means it's time for me
Speaker 1: to only do one. But you know it as is.
Speaker 1: I think it's fine. Oh and it was the Lakers
Speaker 1: Pacers game that Austin had forty five Thank you producers,
Speaker 1: all right, great job, de Mond's a great job. Our
Speaker 1: friends at Blue Duck, thank you to our friends at
Speaker 1: DraftKings in the volume, and I will see you guys
Speaker 1: on Thursday. What's right