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Speaker 2: All right, Former NFL scout John Middlecoff, I'm always try
Speaker 2: to be somewhat delicate with Aaron Rodgers because I'm viewed
Speaker 2: as anti Aaron. But last year, sixty quarterbacks played in
Speaker 2: the league. And if I just said to you, said,
Speaker 2: forget the teams and the names, forty year old quarterback
Speaker 2: oft an achilles surgery with a makeshift, old and really
Speaker 2: young offensive line in a better conference, just that scream.
Speaker 2: The quarterback plays seventeen games I think lost in this
Speaker 2: this Jets improvement, and people love their roster is, Hey,
Speaker 2: they're a Breee Hall injury from being a have to
Speaker 2: pass offense, have to pass. And now the good news,
Speaker 2: they shouldn't be in shootouts, Aaron shouldn't be forced to
Speaker 2: throw forty four times a game. But they got one back.
Speaker 2: And I tend to believe that championship teams are built
Speaker 2: when you have your seven to eight best players all
Speaker 2: in their prime. Like Detroit right now, Jared's in his prime.
Speaker 2: Hutcheson moved into it. That running back may be into
Speaker 2: it now, Amaran Saint Brown, Panay Sewel, You're getting a
Speaker 2: lot of Porida. They're all like moving into their prime.
Speaker 2: And you start looking at Green Bay and it's like,
Speaker 2: I guess Breece probably is, Garrett Wilson still raw a
Speaker 2: lot of their defensive talent, Sauce Gardner's probably moving into it.
Speaker 2: But they got a lot of guys that aren't there
Speaker 2: or were never there. I PFF last week had the
Speaker 2: Kansas City roster number two, and I was like, they're
Speaker 2: bad at tackling, don't have a number one receiver. I
Speaker 2: don't know, it's not the second best roster of the league.
Speaker 2: I look at the Jets and I just keep saying,
Speaker 2: if you gave me over under fifteen games on Aaron,
Speaker 2: I'd bet the under.
Speaker 1: I'd be like this, did you see the clip last
Speaker 1: week of him scrambling to his right and kind of limping. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And whether you tell me it's blister prevention or whatever,
Speaker 1: that has to be pretty concerning, because I will say
Speaker 1: this last year at this time, and remember he dealt
Speaker 1: with a calf a little in OTAs. But when you
Speaker 1: saw him move around and he was healthy, he looks
Speaker 1: somewhat spry. He's forty years old, and we have, i
Speaker 1: would say, pretty recent data of some legendary guys falling
Speaker 1: off a cliff. Matt Ryan different Matt Ryan, and I
Speaker 1: would put him on the lower end of these players.
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger. Most of my life
Speaker 1: when I was a kid in the nineties, guys got
Speaker 1: to like thirty five in all pro sports and we're done.
Speaker 1: And then Brady kind of changed it. Lebron kind of
Speaker 1: changed it. Most people fall off a cliff, Hey, well,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of expecting yeah, and he's that's crazy. But
Speaker 1: he's not quite as quick anymore. He's not quite the athlete.
Speaker 1: Why he's thirty four, He's not twenty six. Aaron's forty forty.
Speaker 1: And part of the reasons he's older, right because played
Speaker 1: several years in college red shirted, gray shirted in the pros,
Speaker 1: didn't play for a while, so he's actually older, even
Speaker 1: though he hasn't been playing technically as long as some
Speaker 1: of those guys like Peyton Manning when he was forty.
Speaker 1: But I think there's a very good chance if you
Speaker 1: just base it up the history of sports, it usually
Speaker 1: ends poorly. Usually don't do John Elway. This one's for John,
Speaker 1: especially with the Jets, right, I mean, their offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: is not any good because she's just not I mean,
Speaker 1: most teams in the league laugh at that situation. And
Speaker 1: he's there for one reason and one reason only, which
Speaker 1: I'm for the coach and the quarterback having a good relationship.
Speaker 1: That's how you and your producers have good relate Like
Speaker 1: there's it should be healthy if the guy is good
Speaker 1: at his job. Josh McDaniel's pay and Tom Brady made
Speaker 1: a lot of sense. Kyle shanahan and his quarterbacks for
Speaker 1: Sean McVay and Matt Stafford, this one, this guy's just
Speaker 1: not viewed as good enough. And last year when Aaron left,
Speaker 1: it was an abomination and these stories because of the organization.
Speaker 1: What if they start slow now, I actually think they
Speaker 1: have an opportunity. I don't think their schedule is that
Speaker 1: harderly after the Niner.
Speaker 2: Game, it's a weird schedule. It's a lot of night
Speaker 2: games in short weeks.
Speaker 1: They're just gonna be covered like the Lakers or the Yankees.
Speaker 1: And we know things get weird with that franchise. And
Speaker 1: even if it's all about football, none of the other
Speaker 1: extracurricular stuff. If it's weird on offense, they're just gonna
Speaker 1: point at the quarterback and the offensive coordinator, and then
Speaker 1: the head coach is gonna be up there like saying,
Speaker 1: who knows what? It could snowball into weirdness really quick,
Speaker 1: like Aaron said, if I don't perform, we're all getting fired.
Speaker 1: That's what's on the line here.
Speaker 2: I thought last week was really interesting. So Miami signs
Speaker 2: Jalen Waddle to a massive deal with Tyreek Hill already
Speaker 2: signing a stupendous contract. Okay, what are we saying here?
Speaker 2: So if Tua just signs the tenth biggest contract, that's
Speaker 2: Josh Allen now, who will get an extension to raise
Speaker 2: they're one hundred and five million guy, one hundred and
Speaker 2: five million bucks. I think something close to that on
Speaker 2: three dudes all on offense. Not a pass rusher, not
Speaker 2: a corner, not an interior defensive lineman, not an offensive tackle,
Speaker 2: two receivers in a quarterback. So I almost wondered three.
Speaker 1: Small guys too.
Speaker 2: Was Miami saying, listen, we're making our bet. We're just
Speaker 2: not going to have This is our way of telling
Speaker 2: you you're not getting fifty five million dollars. We're just
Speaker 2: not going to give you that. Because I don't know.
Speaker 2: I know Dak has a market. I've talked to two
Speaker 2: gms who have.
Speaker 1: Told Raiders would sign him yesterday.
Speaker 2: Yesterday, and I think very quickly, you know, if the
Speaker 2: dre May thing looks awful, they'd sniff at it. I
Speaker 2: mean New Orleans with Derek Carr, I don't think they're
Speaker 2: a lot Giants Daniel Jones, what is to his market?
Speaker 1: I don't think it would be that good. But he's
Speaker 1: not my type player. But we also know when you
Speaker 1: hit free agency at that position, people overspend. But who
Speaker 1: is giving two one hundred and fifty million dollars on
Speaker 1: the open market. Who is I can't see. Did you
Speaker 1: see the picture of him at the charity event. He
Speaker 1: looked like he was on ozebic. He looks tiny, He
Speaker 1: looks really really skinny. Yeah, I'm not into small guys
Speaker 1: who aren't great athletes with average arms. Just not really
Speaker 1: my style. Yeah, I like my quarterbacks to be a
Speaker 1: little bigger, a little more mobile. With Howitzer's h but
Speaker 1: because when you look at in theory, he should be
Speaker 1: this kind of mobile little guy. But he is much
Speaker 1: closer to Jared Goff the way he plays. I've said
Speaker 1: it over and over. Well, here's what Dak does has
Speaker 1: proven Now he's given me three straight years of twelve wins.
Speaker 1: Do I want to give him fifty plus million dollars?
Speaker 4: I do not.
Speaker 1: Is there an opportunity that if he gets hot one
Speaker 1: postseason they could win a couple of games, like an
Speaker 1: Eli Manning situation. I don't believe TWA as that capability.
Speaker 1: One what we witnessed last year. I mean, if this
Speaker 1: was like the ND five hundred, they were up like
Speaker 1: several laps, the Bills were leaking oil, they were six
Speaker 1: and six. Then the season ends, they win the division,
Speaker 1: and they're hosting playoff games and Miami has to go
Speaker 1: on the road. And even when I saw a Vech
Speaker 1: at the combine, He's like, I've been in the NFL
Speaker 1: a long time. That was the coldest game I've ever
Speaker 1: stood on the field for when he played the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: and we felt pretty good about our chances because we
Speaker 1: knew that offense couldn't function in the freezing cold. But
Speaker 1: they wouldn't have had a chance in a cold weather
Speaker 1: game against Baltimore, against any of these teams. So part
Speaker 1: of it is the AFC. If you spend two if
Speaker 1: you spend all this money on to it, because at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, could dak It hasn't gone
Speaker 1: well these last three years. But beat a party, beat up,
Speaker 1: you know, a Jared Goff if he plays right, How
Speaker 1: is Tua ever outplay Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Herbert now
Speaker 1: with Harbaugh, Josh Allen. It's not happening. It doesn't mean
Speaker 1: he's not a solid NFL starter. But once you start
Speaker 1: talking about the money, this is not baseball. You don't
Speaker 1: have an unlimited on of cap space. Tyreek Hill, He's
Speaker 1: one of the greatest players I've ever seen. No problem
Speaker 1: investing Jaylen Wattle. You draft him high, he's a productive player.
Speaker 1: I get it too, Like, why can't we just play
Speaker 1: this out? Why does every quarterback have to get an it?
Speaker 1: Jared Goff proved last year. He went toe to toe
Speaker 1: with Matt Stafford in the playoff game. He won the
Speaker 1: second playoff game against Baker Mayfield. He was great against
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers, Like they have tangible evidence now
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, let alone the regular season. Now for
Speaker 1: a year and a half, where's that evidence against Tua? Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he plays well in October. Well, you're in the AFC
Speaker 1: where most of these teams come November and December. I
Speaker 1: looked at their schedule whenever the schedules came out, they
Speaker 1: had three or four games post you know, Halloween. They
Speaker 1: get a little cold, Colin get a little cold. What
Speaker 1: if you can't do it this year, If you can't
Speaker 1: win the division and host a playoff game, which they
Speaker 1: would have to do to have success in the playoffs
Speaker 1: because of their climate, what's the point of extending them
Speaker 1: just to say you have a quarterback.
Speaker 2: The Pittsburgh Steelers are at a really interesting crossroads. So
Speaker 2: Mike tom can Mike Tomlin can get a little prickly
Speaker 2: when his future is discussed, but he has not beaten
Speaker 2: an elite quarterback in the playoff game in forever, and
Speaker 2: that's just he.
Speaker 1: Doesn't want a playoff game in almost a decade.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, and it's interesting they're not paying anything for
Speaker 2: Russell Russell, you know, any chance he gets to say, boy,
Speaker 2: I'd love to see packages for Justin Fields at wide receiver.
Speaker 2: It's like, I mean, that's so weary. You know, they're
Speaker 2: all talking about and Justin doesn't want any part of that,
Speaker 2: and he shouldn't want any part of it. But I
Speaker 2: did have somebody that I trust kind of that reports
Speaker 2: on the Steelers say, Russell, the Pittsburgh's.
Speaker 5: Going to be. It's very.
Speaker 2: That culture there is very grind or oriented. Even your stars.
Speaker 2: Big Ben was kind of a small town guy. TJ.
Speaker 2: Watt Midwestern guy. You know, the lavian bells come in
Speaker 2: and very quickly they kind of feel disconnected from it.
Speaker 2: It's it's a grinder operation. And I'm not saying Russell
Speaker 2: doesn't grind and work hard, but he's got a brand.
Speaker 2: He's just different. I mean, it's just I mean, call
Speaker 2: it what you want. Nobody gets called out in this
Speaker 2: league as much as Russell and somebody that has good
Speaker 2: connective tissue to the Steelers said, there's already been a
Speaker 2: couple of situations where you know, he's he's Russ and
Speaker 2: these are the Steelers. It's a and I say this,
Speaker 2: Green Bay and Pittsburgh have a very lunch pale quality. Now,
Speaker 2: the Steelers usually have elite defensive personnel. Packers are better
Speaker 2: on the offensive side in terms of efficiency. Packers have
Speaker 2: also had offensive coaches. But if you had to do
Speaker 2: crystal ball on Russell Wilson, what it looks like end
Speaker 2: of the year's schedule's awful. But if you had to
Speaker 2: have a crystal ball on Russell Wilson, another quarterback who
Speaker 2: almost inexplicably got worse fast without an injury, just got
Speaker 2: worse fast nearing thirty five, what is your crystal ball
Speaker 2: on Pittsburgh?
Speaker 1: If I had to go over under on Justin Field's
Speaker 1: first start with the Steelers, it'd probably be around five
Speaker 1: and a half. I think he's in and I think
Speaker 1: he's in early. The other thing is, you know Russell
Speaker 1: has to ingratiate himself. What do you think of Mike
Speaker 1: Tomlin and the Steelers. I think TJ. Watt, Cam Hayward,
Speaker 1: make A Fitzpatrick. I mean those guys in Mike are
Speaker 1: kind of on the same page, right, I mean they
Speaker 1: feel like part of the operation. Do they feel like
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson guys? I mean when you think do you
Speaker 1: think TJ. Watt and MIKEA. Fitzpatrick? You never say the
Speaker 1: word brand. You think ass kickers and football players. And
Speaker 1: I just can't imagine. I just don't think he's good enough.
Speaker 1: And the margin Ferrera in this conference dinking and duncan.
Speaker 1: You could argue if it starts slow, like what if
Speaker 1: they're owing to and it's just like what are we
Speaker 1: doing on? It might not even get to five and
Speaker 1: a half because what where's his equity with the operation?
Speaker 1: Denver was They're they're not paying them anything. They're paying
Speaker 1: them less than a million dollars. Honestly, if it got
Speaker 1: really what, you could cut them and you wouldn't even
Speaker 1: think twice. And that happens to a lot of NFL players.
Speaker 1: Once you start getting the team three and four, your
Speaker 1: equity with the operation disappears. And it's a performance based business,
Speaker 1: so no one's gonna want to hear about anything except
Speaker 1: touchdown passes, and I don't know. I mean the guy
Speaker 1: we've seen the last couple of years. I don't know
Speaker 1: if his confidence is gone. I don't know if, but
Speaker 1: he's been a pretty marginal player now for three straight
Speaker 1: years because that last year in Seattle and then everything
Speaker 1: that happened the last two years in Denver. I also think,
Speaker 1: if you're fan bases in the NFL, sneaky have a
Speaker 1: lot of juice because that's kind of where the owners.
Speaker 1: You know, he listened to radio that they read they do,
Speaker 1: So you think Pittsburgh if all of a sudden listen,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I would bet justin Fields he's probably
Speaker 1: closer to what we've seen his whole career. But we've
Speaker 1: also seen guys improve with that skill set when they
Speaker 1: get with the right coordinator. Arthur Smith resurrected Ryan Tannehill.
Speaker 1: If I'm a fan and we're zeroing too, like I'm
Speaker 1: not watching Russell Wilson, well, i've seen this from Afar
Speaker 1: putting the young kid, and let's just see if we
Speaker 1: could figure something out with this guy that has a
Speaker 1: lot of physical tools. Now, quarterbacks a lot about a
Speaker 1: lot more than running fast and throwing hard. His pocket
Speaker 1: presence has been a major question mark. But what did
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith do with Ryan Tannel? They ran the ball.
Speaker 1: He gave him a lot of easy looks, kept it
Speaker 1: pretty simple. Now, I don't think they really have Derrick Henry,
Speaker 1: you know, Najee Harris, okay back, Jalen Warred pretty explosive.
Speaker 1: But if their defense is good. Honestly, if I was
Speaker 1: a Steeler fan, I just want to see justin fields
Speaker 1: right out. I wouldn't even want to see Russell Wilson.
Speaker 1: I just like, can we resurrect this guy?
Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting because Arthur Smith, his history is a
Speaker 2: lot of throws over the middle of the field, and
Speaker 2: that's not what Russell does.
Speaker 1: That's just her deep go routes. That's just throw.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you know his size, he can struggle. Kyler
Speaker 2: Murray admits this. Tua acknowledges this. Sometimes I struggle to
Speaker 2: see over the line. So of all, I've been doing
Speaker 2: this now thirty years of talking sports, and you know
Speaker 2: I do a segment every Monday. Colin right, Colin wrong.
Speaker 2: I have big opinions miss all the time.
Speaker 5: Russell.
Speaker 2: I don't ever remember a player in my life at
Speaker 2: that position that I was sure he was great, and
Speaker 2: then after a year, I'm pretty sure he's just B
Speaker 2: minus and there's no injury. He's not to thirty six.
Speaker 2: He works really hard, Like it's a really hard ask.
Speaker 2: You start trying to figure out. You say, well, he
Speaker 2: didn't get along. Seattley wasn't beloved, So no injury, He's
Speaker 2: still elusive. It's like he put weade on in the
Speaker 2: wrong spot. He got a little thick. I find Russell
Speaker 2: to be a complete historic outlier, like Matt Ryan, never
Speaker 2: moved well, didn't have a big arm, kind of thin,
Speaker 2: and it felt the game quickly passed him by. It
Speaker 2: got very mobile and athletic, and he wasn't you know
Speaker 2: there there there, there are players at the end. Philip
Speaker 2: Rivers was never athletic. He got like the most unathletic
Speaker 2: quarterback in the league. Eli Manning just felt like he
Speaker 2: was out of gas. Russell, You're like last year in Seattle,
Speaker 2: he's a wizard and then he's bad and then Peyton
Speaker 2: makes him okay, And I'm like, I don't think he
Speaker 2: sees the field. I don't think he sees guys and
Speaker 2: I from people close and around Sean like that's what
Speaker 2: the film said he just didn't see the open guys, mhm.
Speaker 2: Time for twice monthly Nick Wright Conversation. Phil Knight has
Speaker 2: a manifesto when he started Nike. He wrote down ten things,
Speaker 2: and a lot of this you could see in Air
Speaker 2: the movie Air Ben Affleck and and number nine on
Speaker 2: it was this will be met see. And one of
Speaker 2: the real things I talked about today about the WNBA
Speaker 2: was we are seeing this moment in time where this league.
Speaker 2: And I've always said, I'm in the omelet business, not
Speaker 2: the egg business. I don't make you interesting. When you're made,
Speaker 2: I talk about you, not my job to make the omelet.
Speaker 2: I'll report on the omelet. So I didn't talk about
Speaker 2: the WNBA because, frankly, it didn't get ratings. I mean, Jesus,
Speaker 2: the finals got seven hundred thousand. Now you have a
Speaker 2: catalyst that explodes. When a business explodes. It could be
Speaker 2: a tech business, pharmaceutical business, it could be a law firm.
Speaker 2: When something explodes, shit gets messy, and we're in the
Speaker 2: messy phase for the WNBA. Their early schedule for the
Speaker 2: fever is insane. They're played twice as many games they.
Speaker 5: Played they played colin from previous Friday until Sunday, that
Speaker 5: nine day stretch. Yeah, they played as many games as
Speaker 5: the Aces have played all year. They it was and
Speaker 5: it was again from a marketing standpoint, I got it
Speaker 5: put Caitlyn as many places as possible. From a the
Speaker 5: you know, the Fever played eleven game, the Finding champs
Speaker 5: have played six. Now that maybe that was sneaky, brilliant.
Speaker 5: And then I'll let you finish. I'm sorry because it
Speaker 5: will lead to I think Caitlin being awesome at the
Speaker 5: end of the year because all of a sudden, she's
Speaker 5: going to be the most rested player in every game
Speaker 5: because they got they have no more back to backs,
Speaker 5: they have no more three games in four nights, so
Speaker 5: the rest of the year, she's gonna have real time
Speaker 5: in between it. But they were, they but go ahead,
Speaker 5: you were you were making a point that I interrupted.
Speaker 2: So it's just an it's an exploding business for the
Speaker 2: first time it was. You know, let's we all know
Speaker 2: the backstory in the WNBA that it was subsidized by
Speaker 2: the NBA for a decade. Now they moved into smaller arenas.
Speaker 2: It wasn't terribly profitable. Las Vegas has sort of figured
Speaker 2: it out first to be the first franchise that's making
Speaker 2: real money almost has an n ideal with its players.
Speaker 2: But the point being is this is an explosion, and
Speaker 2: and you see it in tech all the time. You
Speaker 2: just quite it. It's hard to predict the unpredictable, and so.
Speaker 5: I think so much of the Caitlyn Clark WNBA commentary
Speaker 5: has actually been some weird media meta commentary about the
Speaker 5: commentary like it has been very like the basketball stuff,
Speaker 5: I think is pretty straightforward. This is a hell of
Speaker 5: a rookie class. Cameron Brank is going to be a star.
Speaker 5: Angel Reese is going to be a star, Caitlyn Clark
Speaker 5: is going to be a superstar, and maybe those other
Speaker 5: two will as well. And they have brought a lot
Speaker 5: of eyeballs. Caitlyn Clark's team seems to really be struggling,
Speaker 5: probably in part because they had the number one pick
Speaker 5: the last two years for a reason and partially because
Speaker 5: of this schedule. And is there some predictable jealousy either
Speaker 5: just based purely on attention and economics? Is some of
Speaker 5: it about ads rookie some hazing short? All that stuff
Speaker 5: kind to me is a pretty straightforward sports story up
Speaker 5: to and including the foul heard around the world. That
Speaker 5: was just a hard flagrant, not even a flagrant too,
Speaker 5: like it was a hard foul. But the commentary has
Speaker 5: really been about the commentary. Yeah, and there's so many
Speaker 5: levels to it. So I want to start with the
Speaker 5: first thing you said, which is like thought exercise. Let's
Speaker 5: say in five years there is a Tiger Woods like
Speaker 5: athlete and and some would say, oh, we've already had it,
Speaker 5: but no Tiger Woods esque in that he captures everyone's
Speaker 5: attention in hockey. Do we then need to go on
Speaker 5: the air and be like, we are so sorry that
Speaker 5: we weren't covering hockey before we did a moral disservice.
Speaker 5: I don't feel we do, no, And so I don't
Speaker 5: feel when folks have been like, well you're new to
Speaker 5: the party, like, well, in our specific business, the party
Speaker 5: just got going now. It doesn't mean it was not
Speaker 5: worth a worthwhile league. It doesn't mean I'm not glad
Speaker 5: it exists. But I on my show, I barely talk
Speaker 5: about professional baseball. I don't talk anything about hockey. It'd
Speaker 5: be one thing if on our shows we were talking
Speaker 5: eleven different sports and just like nope, we have time
Speaker 5: for cricket. But we're not making time for the WNBA.
Speaker 5: That's not the truth, that's not how these shows work.
Speaker 5: And there has been to me an element of what
Speaker 5: I would compare to the hipster band phenomenon, which is
Speaker 5: if there is a band that all of a sudden
Speaker 5: is playing arenas, but a year ago was playing eight
Speaker 5: hundred person venues, the folks who were the fan of
Speaker 5: the band then sometimes are like, oh, you know, I
Speaker 5: was here before it was popular, and they're almost snarky
Speaker 5: towards the new people as opposed to being like, hey,
Speaker 5: I always knew this was awesome, Glad you're here now.
Speaker 5: So I don't love that, and I think so. I
Speaker 5: think that is problematic on one direction from a media perspective.
Speaker 5: Here's another thing I think is problematic from a media
Speaker 5: perspective in the other direction. Folks who clearly have the
Speaker 5: attitude of you should be happy I'm even talking about
Speaker 5: your sport. Therefore, none of my opinions are open for
Speaker 5: criticism because you're just lucky to be getting my opinions.
Speaker 5: I think that's bullshit too. And I think if it
Speaker 5: were if it were hockey, or if it were the MLS,
Speaker 5: I think people would have any your time with it
Speaker 5: because there is the gender aspect of it, people are
Speaker 5: nervous about how we talk about it. And then you
Speaker 5: add to it that there is also a very obvious
Speaker 5: now we can talk about how significant, but an obvious
Speaker 5: at least component of a racial component, which is it
Speaker 5: is odd that this league that is majority black, a
Speaker 5: disproportionate amount of its stars have been white women throughout
Speaker 5: history and now its biggest star is a white woman.
Speaker 5: That is an added landmine or a complication, whatever you
Speaker 5: want to put it. And I think because people are
Speaker 5: so afraid of all of this, everyone's just freaking out
Speaker 5: and losing their mind about a foul and who's talking what,
Speaker 5: And all of a sudden, now the WNBA, without anyone mentioning, hey,
Speaker 5: the Connecticut Sun are undefeated, is taking up more airtime
Speaker 5: than it has in the last five years combined. It's
Speaker 5: a fascinating media story as much as anything.
Speaker 2: I thought. James Jones, who's been watching the WNBA for years,
Speaker 2: had the most prescient, prescient point on it. I thought
Speaker 2: it was really smart. I didn't think about this, He says.
Speaker 2: The biggest difference between the NBA and the WNBA is
Speaker 2: the NBA is much more vertical. You may occasionally have
Speaker 2: a woman break away in the WNBA and dunk it.
Speaker 2: Men go through the lane, jump over other men and
Speaker 2: jam it, often behind their head. Both leagues can shoot,
Speaker 2: both leagues can move their feet, both leagues can rebound,
Speaker 2: both leagues can pass. The NBA men jump over other
Speaker 2: six eight men and dunk it in their face regularly,
Speaker 2: he said. Because of that, the WNBA is more physical.
Speaker 2: You score through physical banging body. You don't go over,
Speaker 2: you go into.
Speaker 1: He said.
Speaker 2: It. Thought about that fascinating. He said, the WNBA is
Speaker 2: actually more physical than the NBA. The NBA is no
Speaker 2: hand check. You can't stay in front of anybody. The
Speaker 2: bigs all shoot threes, the lanes wide open. That's not
Speaker 2: the WNBA. You score bully ball. And he said, so
Speaker 2: if you watched the WNBA for years, it's way more
Speaker 2: physical than the NBA. That's fascinating, fascinating. So I'm gonna
Speaker 2: throw something at you that I think is fascinating. I
Speaker 2: don't think we've ever broached this topic. So this week
Speaker 2: I was reading on the internet. There was an NBA
Speaker 2: player we know, Jason Tatum, really coveted time with Kobe Bryant.
Speaker 2: He really enjoyed time. Their basketball ideology is different. You know,
Speaker 2: one is the ultimate at times selfish closer. The other
Speaker 2: guy's more collaborative, more of a giver. But it was
Speaker 2: it was a player talking about his career and he
Speaker 2: said it was Klay Thompson who said, I'm not here
Speaker 2: without Kobe Bryant. Like Kobe Bryant was Messiah. Everything funneled
Speaker 2: through Kobe. And it's really interesting since his death, people
Speaker 2: are often more willing to say that when somebody passes,
Speaker 2: to honor them, to say God, that person meant so
Speaker 2: much to me. And we've heard lots of people say it.
Speaker 2: Lebron said it about Michael Jordan.
Speaker 5: Most just said it about Clay or about Kobe. Kyrie
Speaker 5: just said he was about him being a mentor and
Speaker 5: a guy he looked up to. All of it.
Speaker 2: Yep, don't you find it fascinating? Find a single quarterback
Speaker 2: who says I structure my whole game around Brady. I've
Speaker 2: never seen one. It's fascinating.
Speaker 5: Oh that's interesting because I thought you were going to
Speaker 5: say Aaron there, and I was like, oh, Caleb said, Aaron.
Speaker 2: A lot of guys, Yes, Aaron. I can name four
Speaker 2: off the top line.
Speaker 5: Okay, that's where I thought you were you were going,
Speaker 5: and I was like, oh, I think you're wrong here,
Speaker 5: but Brady, you're right out.
Speaker 2: That isn't that fascinating? And so here's what I thought.
Speaker 2: This is my take is that there are a lot
Speaker 2: of ways to be successful, but the most great athletes
Speaker 2: are entertainers, artists, singers. They're all really artists. They're really
Speaker 2: all artists. Brady, less so than any great athlete at all,
Speaker 2: bordered on mechanical and efficient. He basically was the cheat code.
Speaker 2: He had the answers to the test. He literally walked
Speaker 2: to the line. He didn't have to make dramatic plays
Speaker 2: because he audibled out of them. He almost never got
Speaker 2: sacked because he could see it coming. And so artists
Speaker 2: Caleb and Mahomes and Lamar, I mean, look at the
Speaker 2: best quarterbacks now, they're movers and Kyler and I mean
Speaker 2: Herbert is another very mechanical processor and quarterback. I don't
Speaker 2: think Herbert will have a lot of people that say,
Speaker 2: even if he won Super Bowls, Justin was my guy.
Speaker 2: Is that Brady, for all his greatness, is viewed as
Speaker 2: almost robotic in his dominance, and it doesn't curry love
Speaker 2: or favor or duplication from young people.
Speaker 5: So so I did. You're right, we've never talked about this,
Speaker 5: and I so I've never This is I enjoy when
Speaker 5: we do this because I am hearing this for the
Speaker 5: first time. I haven't if you've talked about it on
Speaker 5: the show or on the pot, I haven't heard it.
Speaker 5: So this is the first time my brain's ever considering this,
Speaker 5: but it is I'm trying. I also was trying to think, like,
Speaker 5: have I heard anyone like the only Mahomes talks about Brady,
Speaker 5: but only in the He's the goat, he's got seven
Speaker 5: super Bowl rings. I want to do, but not as
Speaker 5: far as I mimicked myself after him. So I I
Speaker 5: wonder why that is and what you have You know,
Speaker 5: what you've landed on I think is probably right, which
Speaker 5: is I Now again, you're much better at the analogies
Speaker 5: than me. Uh, certainly on the fly. But there's a
Speaker 5: level of like when you look at the wealthiest people
Speaker 5: in world history, I don't know what the guy's name is,
Speaker 5: but the dude who started us steel is on the list.
Speaker 5: But the reason I don't know what the name is
Speaker 5: is because like nobody's been like that's who I'm gonna be.
Speaker 5: But they say Steve Jobs, you know what I mean?
Speaker 5: They say now Rockefeller, us Elon Musk, those things. Rockefeller
Speaker 5: is probably because he put his name on a lot
Speaker 5: of things, but there is a level of that. I
Speaker 5: remember Brady being on your show around the time he
Speaker 5: went to Tampa, maybe a year after, maybe after he'd
Speaker 5: won the Super with the last Super Bowl in Tampa,
Speaker 5: I don't know, but I remember you talking to him
Speaker 5: about retiring and he said, well, it's never been easier.
Speaker 5: He didn't use those words, but what his point he
Speaker 5: said with the words he did use, I think were
Speaker 5: I have all the answers to the test, now why
Speaker 5: would I stop taking it? I remember like that exact
Speaker 5: thing where he was like, I, like you said, I
Speaker 5: go to the line, I know exactly what the defense
Speaker 5: is doing, so I know exactly the play we have
Speaker 5: to be in and boom and it also, and this
Speaker 5: is a quote I've said to you before, but it
Speaker 5: seth Payne, who played in the NFL for a number
Speaker 5: of years, does radio now in Houston, and I worked
Speaker 5: with them there. He would talk about how offensive coordinators
Speaker 5: would leave the Patriots and think, oh, I can turn
Speaker 5: this quarterback into Tom Brady because or a poor man
Speaker 5: Tom Brady, because Tom Brady was not impressive from a
Speaker 5: measurables talent standpoint. And what Seth said is, but none
Speaker 5: of those guys left the Patriots was like, I can
Speaker 5: turn this receiver into Randy Moss because it was obvious.
Speaker 5: No you can't. And his point was Brady's brain is
Speaker 5: Randy Moss's, and discipline is Randy Moss's. Forty time and vertical.
Speaker 5: They just didn't people because you can't see it. People think, oh,
Speaker 5: Jimmy Garoppolo can do it because he's got you know,
Speaker 5: these guys can Matt Castle can do it. But they couldn't.
Speaker 5: But even though the measurables were the same, So it
Speaker 5: does make sense. What if your biggest talent is not
Speaker 5: apparent to people watching you.
Speaker 2: It's just a it's not an aesthetic.
Speaker 5: Correct, right, like there there are probably more people. It's
Speaker 5: so fascinating you say that, because it's right. We have
Speaker 5: all heard more quarterbacks say I grew up wanting to
Speaker 5: be Mike Vick than wanting to be Tom Brady. We
Speaker 5: have heard more people say, certainly more people a generation
Speaker 5: ago I want to be Dan Marino. Then I want
Speaker 5: to you know what I mean? Then I want to
Speaker 5: be Brady and Aaron.
Speaker 2: Aaron is clearly generationally the guy that most wanted to.
Speaker 5: Be right and there is a level of And so
Speaker 5: I guess since you brought up Kobe, the basketball comp
Speaker 5: would be how many guys came up? How many guys
Speaker 5: have we seen to feel like? You know who I
Speaker 5: modeled my game after. Tim Duncan won fifty games every year, right,
Speaker 5: But Duncan, Duncan, same exact era as Kobe, and in
Speaker 5: my opinion one slot on the all time list above him,
Speaker 5: never had a down year, never missed the playoffs, you know,
Speaker 5: all the ruthlessly efficient. But nobody has tried to be
Speaker 5: Tim Duncan. Nobody see he came into the league twenty
Speaker 5: five years ago. Not a single person that I can
Speaker 5: think of came into the league being like, that's who
Speaker 5: I'm trying to be Tim Duncan. And I don't think
Speaker 5: now I understand some of that's personality, but also it
Speaker 5: is because nobody could deny what he did was effective
Speaker 5: and great, but it wasn't. It doesn't seem fun to
Speaker 5: emulate like you will have more people, I guess on
Speaker 5: that note, and this is wearing a bit of a
Speaker 5: Kyrie renaissance, and I'm happy for him about it. But
Speaker 5: you will have more people a generation from now that say,
Speaker 5: you know, I grew up trying to be Kyrie than
Speaker 5: I grew up trying to be Chris Paul. Yeah, even
Speaker 5: though you know what I mean. I understand Chris Paul
Speaker 5: never won, but Iverson had that, oh, without a doubt,
Speaker 5: with an iconic, important, influential player in a way, a
Speaker 5: lot of guys who maybe were more successful warrant. That
Speaker 5: is interesting that nobody, nobody says I tried to be
Speaker 5: Tom in that fact that is That is fact, and
Speaker 5: I'm trying to think if someone had said it. But
Speaker 5: a lot of people call them the goat. In fact,
Speaker 5: basically everyone does. But as far as who they modeled
Speaker 5: their game after, it is unique. And a lot of
Speaker 5: people say, Aaron.
Speaker 2: Let's say this right now. It doesn't even the timeline.
Speaker 2: You're a general manager, so you have to come up
Speaker 2: with a timeline. Okay, all right, but I'm a thing counts.
Speaker 2: We're both gms. Okay, I'll give you first because you
Speaker 2: want mahomes.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yes, I do. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2: I'll go Josh Allen.
Speaker 5: All right, if I'm being honest. My next pick is
Speaker 5: Caleb okay, and I know he would have been available
Speaker 5: and later, but I couldn't getting I understand. I understand
Speaker 5: that that is, he would have been available later.
Speaker 2: But I okay, yeah, go ahead, Okay, I'll take Lamar
Speaker 2: Jackson number four.
Speaker 5: Okay, that's then I feel it great because this is
Speaker 5: the guy I would have taken. Next, I will take c.
Speaker 2: J okay now, just on value proposition, although I worry
Speaker 2: about his injuries. I'll take Joe Burrow at six.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm worried about those injuries. Buddy, I agree with you.
Speaker 5: So there's a guy that you and I would both
Speaker 5: only because I know you love him so much. I
Speaker 5: might want him, but I'm not. I just am sorry.
Speaker 5: I'm going through the league quickly. Here, all right, this
Speaker 5: is there, this is not This does not make sense
Speaker 5: from a value perspective timeline, but I'm trying to win this.
Speaker 5: GM is on the hot seat and he's trying to win.
Speaker 5: Right now. I've taken Matt Stafford.
Speaker 2: By the way, I absolutely love Matt Stafford.
Speaker 5: I know you do. That's why I was worried. I
Speaker 5: was like, you're gonna swoop in and get him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So because of that, I'll take Justin Herbert eight.
Speaker 5: Okay, that's all right, that's good. I'll take Trevor.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, hold on, I'm gonna take Jordan Love.
Speaker 5: Oh that's a good pick.
Speaker 2: So now we have.
Speaker 5: I gotta tell you, Jordan Loves a good pick. All right. Now,
Speaker 5: I gotta think I'm just going through, like in my head,
Speaker 5: the divisions. All right, well, no, how many picks are
Speaker 5: we doing? We do sixteen?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you have Mahomes me, Allen you, Caleb me, Lamar you,
Speaker 2: c J. Stroud, me, Burrow you, Stafford. I'm on Herbert, you, Trevor, me,
Speaker 2: Jordan Love. You're eleven.
Speaker 5: Yep, all right, I'm.
Speaker 2: Not going to twelve.
Speaker 5: No, hold on, let's go to sixteen. Let's just go
Speaker 5: to sixteen. We each get three more picks. I'm just
Speaker 5: making sure that I'm not leaving out any obvious teams.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, all.
Speaker 5: Right, I am all right. I'm gonna this is gonna
Speaker 5: be this again. This guy was gonna be available later,
Speaker 5: but now I'm going upside. I'm going to take with
Speaker 5: the eleventh pick of the draft, Anthony.
Speaker 2: Richardson, Well, I get it. I like him.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna sit your top five pick. Whatever you Yeah,
Speaker 5: go ahead, I'm gonna take Jared Goff twelve. I knew
Speaker 5: you would. I could have taken Golf and just held
Speaker 5: him ransom on you and made you trade me a bounty,
Speaker 5: but I didn't want to do it. All right now,
Speaker 5: all right, at this point in the draft, I know
Speaker 5: who I'm taking it for. Well, unless I take him first.
Speaker 5: At this point in the draft, I am now comfortable
Speaker 5: taking Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 2: Oh Jesus, I'll take Kyler Murray. I got Kyler Murray
Speaker 2: at fourteen. I feel like, I you love Kyler. I
Speaker 2: know he's so talented. I listen, if it's a six
Speaker 2: foot under league, you gotta steal at number fifteen.
Speaker 5: This is the last pick I'm going to have, and
Speaker 5: this is going to shock people. But again, it's my
Speaker 5: last pick.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I feel.
Speaker 5: Like I'll shoot the moon on it. I mean, I
Speaker 5: don't know. I yeah, I'll go ahead and do it.
Speaker 5: I don't love it, and I do feel like he
Speaker 5: could be a pain in the ass in the locker room.
Speaker 5: But I'm going to take Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take Jaden, Daniels, Jade.
Speaker 5: And Daniels Dak undrafted. So the under our undrafted guys
Speaker 5: to us Kirk Cousin drafted, dakt undrafted, Drake May undrafted. Understandably,
Speaker 5: I can't believe if this thing could have gone fifty
Speaker 5: picks and you still could have gotten Russell Wilson because
Speaker 5: you knew I was never taken him. You just knew
Speaker 5: there was no chance. Will Levice not surprising undrafted?
Speaker 2: I don't know je I think Daniels, I think he's
Speaker 2: got a little bit of Lamar, but better as a
Speaker 2: rookie in the pocket. But there's a little Lamar there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's there's also a little Kate Moss there as
Speaker 5: far as his his weight, and so that is a concern,
Speaker 5: Like the Jaden. Jaden is just so so lean that
Speaker 5: that is a worry. But the guy goes number two
Speaker 5: in a draft that that makes sense. JJ McCarthy obviously
Speaker 5: didn't get drafted. Oh my god, I feel you know
Speaker 5: what I feel? Can I can? I would you want
Speaker 5: Aaron at sixteen if he were on the board? No?
Speaker 2: I would, all right?
Speaker 5: Then? Can I I'm waving Aaron Rodgers so I could
Speaker 5: pick up Baker. I forgot about Baker. I can't leave
Speaker 5: Bake Show out of there. Bake Show is again. If
Speaker 5: my quarterback room's eight deep, I don't need my eighth
Speaker 5: on the depth chart. All of a sudden, annoying people,
Speaker 5: Bake Show has team great vibes, So go ahead and
Speaker 5: switch it and I'll take I'll take Bake Show. He's younger.
Speaker 5: So here's my other takeaway from this. Just quickly, neither
Speaker 5: one of us even considered for a moment the number
Speaker 5: one pick of the draft a year ago. Bryce didn't
Speaker 5: even think about it, which, by the way, the which
Speaker 5: I think is correct, but it also is, you know,
Speaker 5: a little concerning for Panthers fans. I love that, By
Speaker 5: the way, I love those those fake drafts. I heard
Speaker 5: you say when I was on the Herd today with you.
Speaker 5: I didn't see when you and j Mac did it,
Speaker 5: But when you said that you and him did the
Speaker 5: did that draft? I instantly got jealous. I was like,
Speaker 5: I want to do a draft.
Speaker 1: I was like, where, what's I So I.
Speaker 5: Knew I was hoping to be able to do it today.
Speaker 2: I picked Boston in six I thought they would win.
Speaker 2: That was my draft Kings pick. I thought Jalen Brown
Speaker 2: would play well and the Boston Celtics would win, although
Speaker 2: Kyrie didn't offer much of anything, and I thought he'd
Speaker 2: have a decent assist night. You know, My takeaway is
Speaker 2: the small ball revolution in the NBA was really a
Speaker 2: bunch of nonsense. It was Steph Curry and Draymond Green
Speaker 2: who could play big. Everybody tried to duplicate it for
Speaker 2: about four years and then everybody's like Houston, got kind
Speaker 2: of close. Size matters and poor Zingis on both ends,
Speaker 2: altering shots on the defensive end, he was the initial
Speaker 2: Unicorn seven to four dribble shoot, there's nothing you can do.
Speaker 2: It's why Wemby will take over the league next year
Speaker 2: at the All Star break, is that this is a
Speaker 2: big man's game. You know, in the NFL, you know
Speaker 2: Bill parce Sells and the late great George Young was
Speaker 2: a general manager for the Giants, and his whole theory
Speaker 2: was went in doubt, just draft big guys like big
Speaker 2: beat small, and in the NBA, length and size is
Speaker 2: so important. And my takeaway, if that's the poor zingis
Speaker 2: I get in the series Dallas Is in trouble. You know.
Speaker 2: One of the things I said, they have such a
Speaker 2: mature offensive team, and they're all a little different. I
Speaker 2: mean Tatum tonight was more assist guy than he was
Speaker 2: score guy. And I said, you know, Tatum can have
Speaker 2: a bad night in this series and they could win
Speaker 2: by fifteen Kyrie. Yes, an off night, they get shelled,
Speaker 2: and that, to me is the difference in the series.
Speaker 2: And I said that before I knew what I was
Speaker 2: getting with Porzingis, But I thought, you know, the size
Speaker 2: of porzingis the matchup problem. You know, Dallas came into
Speaker 2: this thing, let's feel it out, and very quickly it's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: we've got We're gonna have to go back to the
Speaker 2: drawing board on this, and then Porzingis sits for a while.
Speaker 2: But I would start with that is that you know,
Speaker 2: if I got six guys who could all drop twenty man,
Speaker 2: that's in a with the Apron. Now, it's hard to
Speaker 2: get a third star. The league doesn't want it anymore.
Speaker 2: They want you to draft and develop. That's what the
Speaker 2: whole thing. Legal pay a lot of money. They don't
Speaker 2: want you going to cherry picking stars Boston. This is
Speaker 2: an absurdly deep offensive roster. I mean, you go look
Speaker 2: at Porzingis last year. He was the guy for Washington.
Speaker 2: You're like, well, that for a terrible team. That's an
Speaker 2: All Star level player. Derek White's a five. Derek White's
Speaker 2: a two on probably thirty percent of the teams in
Speaker 2: the league. So I thought tonight was a little bit
Speaker 2: of what I thought is that Dallas cannot withstand a
Speaker 2: bad luker Kyrie Knight Boston Boston. If you told me
Speaker 2: A Tatum and Derek White didn't play well, Boston could
Speaker 2: still win. And so I just start with that, is
Speaker 2: that Porzingis' size, he was the initial unicorn. It's it's
Speaker 2: a problem. There's not a lot you can do. It's
Speaker 2: a big problem.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I thought this game was a brilliant showcase of what
Speaker 4: makes chrisps Porzingis awesome and how he elevates the ceiling
Speaker 4: of this Boston team. First of all, he's their only
Speaker 4: legitimate rim protector, like Horford's a really interesting player and
Speaker 4: does a lot to help this team on both ends
Speaker 4: of the floor. But chrisops Porzingis is just a mountain
Speaker 4: of a man that is really difficult to finish over
Speaker 4: at the rim. In addition to that, he brings this.
Speaker 4: There are a lot of guys that can shoot in
Speaker 4: the NBA at the centi position, there are very few
Speaker 4: guys at the center position that are like lasers, like
Speaker 4: you just can't leave them open. And one of my
Speaker 4: biggest reasons why I picked Boston is Dallas's defense is
Speaker 4: very much geared up at the rim as like a
Speaker 4: rim protection team.
Speaker 2: That's why they were good against Minnesota.
Speaker 5: You know, they're.
Speaker 4: Exactly exactly and they have some good perimeter defenders, but
Speaker 4: they don't have a bunch of good perimeter defenders. And
Speaker 4: so when you can really spread them out and Lively
Speaker 4: and Gafford can't solve problems at the rim as rim protectors.
Speaker 4: It just challenges the weak points of Dallas's offense.
Speaker 5: And then the.
Speaker 4: Second piece of it with porzingis that goes beyond the
Speaker 4: three point shooting. One of the easiest ways to counter
Speaker 4: a ball screen is to switch it, because the whole
Speaker 4: point of the ball screen is you can get downhill
Speaker 4: because the guy has to chase over the top of
Speaker 4: a screen. But if you switch it, it shuts it down.
Speaker 4: But what makes porzingis such a valuable weapon is if
Speaker 4: you switch it, you're putting your smaller player onto Porzingis
Speaker 4: and he can just walk him down to fifteen feet
Speaker 4: from the basket and they can toss it back to
Speaker 4: him and he can go to work. He showed it
Speaker 4: all in that game one. He was protecting the rim,
Speaker 4: he was hitting trailing threes in transition, he was hitting
Speaker 4: spot up threes and helped defense situations. He was hitting
Speaker 4: picking pop threes, he was beating switches by posting up
Speaker 4: around the elbow. It was everything that makes Porzingis great.
Speaker 4: And I'm glad you pointed this out because everyone just
Speaker 4: accounted for Porzingis as like available and healthy, but like
Speaker 4: it's really hard to go thirty something days without playing
Speaker 4: NBA basketball and then to walk in the NBA Finals,
Speaker 4: Like I don't think I don't think we're like. It
Speaker 4: just was so impressive the way he immediately looked comfortable
Speaker 4: and immediately started thriving. But a big part of that
Speaker 4: is he is the guy. He's the key that solves
Speaker 4: all of the issues that Boston could have had against
Speaker 4: this Dallas defense. He unlocks it all. I was I
Speaker 4: was just completely blown away by him.
Speaker 2: I founded the volume, so I tend to look at
Speaker 2: things from a managerial position. And so I said, if
Speaker 2: I was Rob Polinka and Genie Buss and Minnesota's got
Speaker 2: Ant and Okac's got Chet and Sga, and then there's
Speaker 2: Lucas twenty five, and you start looking up and down,
Speaker 2: and you know, Jokic is still in his prime, Boston's
Speaker 2: two guys are in their prime, and you start looking
Speaker 2: around and San Antonio and Houston this year, I think
Speaker 2: will pop, like it'll be different teams, and you start
Speaker 2: looking around and thinking, listen, man, we got to start
Speaker 2: drafting and developing here, like this is what the league.
Speaker 2: If you start looking at the second Apron, what the
Speaker 2: CBA is in the NBA, We're not going to get
Speaker 2: a third huge star here with Lebron and a d
Speaker 2: We're just this is not going to work. So we
Speaker 2: have got to draft and develop. And so you can't
Speaker 2: watch these playoffs and not come to this conclusion the
Speaker 2: NBA has pivoted to young stars Katie Lebron' Steph. It's
Speaker 2: over like that. They're not running the league anymore. Like
Speaker 2: Tatum now is one of one of the veterans. And
Speaker 2: I think my takeaway is, Okay, who who does that?
Speaker 2: Who drafts, who builds culture, who's tough. It wasn't a
Speaker 2: pivot away from Lebron. It was a pivot toward the league.
Speaker 2: The league now is a draft and developed league. That's
Speaker 2: these players are going to get rich. But the league
Speaker 2: watched what Golden State did with KD and they didn't
Speaker 2: like it, and the owners didn't like it, and the
Speaker 2: league didn't like it. I can remember talking to fans
Speaker 2: of the NBA being like, I hate this. This is
Speaker 2: just not fair. And I think the league heard that
Speaker 2: Adam Silver did not like that move at all. And
Speaker 2: so I think the Lakers, Rob and Jeanie look at
Speaker 2: this and think there's a change. We don't want to
Speaker 2: be the Clippers, old, dysfunctional. You know one guy, Terrence Man,
Speaker 2: that feels like he's young. You know, it's a lot
Speaker 2: of names and great on the marquee, it's a great
Speaker 2: movie poster. It's not really a championship team. And I
Speaker 2: think the Lakers don't feel like it. And you know,
Speaker 2: I just I that's my takeaways. They're looking of this
Speaker 2: and stepping back and going we like JJ Ruddick, but
Speaker 2: he has no history in drafting and developing. This is
Speaker 2: not what he does. By the way, there's Connecticut players
Speaker 2: in this draft, you know, there's just and also early
Speaker 2: the last three years he's recruited almost probably every good
Speaker 2: domestic player in the first round he's recruited or seen them.
Speaker 2: So I think they're going to be active. And that
Speaker 2: was my take, is that you can't watch these playoffs
Speaker 2: and not see this gigantic pivot. You know, It's like
Speaker 2: when Manning, Brady and big Ben got old and you're
Speaker 2: watching Mahomes and Lamar and Allen. It's like, oh shit,
Speaker 2: we got ourselves in a new league. As soon as
Speaker 2: soon as Tom leaves, we got a new league. It's
Speaker 2: a brand new league. And that that was my take
Speaker 2: on it. Yours.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I there were three reasons that I was
Speaker 4: excited about it. The first one is exactly what you said,
Speaker 4: the draft and development piece. I think a big part
Speaker 4: of it too, Like you mentioned, with the cat rules changing,
Speaker 4: it's going to be really difficult to have more than
Speaker 4: two stars and most impossible.
Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4: And I think he specifically is gonna excel at finding
Speaker 4: role players that are great connective pieces next to stars
Speaker 4: because the Laker brand is gonna continue to bring in
Speaker 4: star talent in one way or another, whether it's through
Speaker 4: the trademarket, whether it's through free agency. They're gonna get stars,
Speaker 4: but because of the new rules, you're not gonna get
Speaker 4: three of them, so you're probably gonna have to and
Speaker 4: it's gonna be about working on the margins and finding
Speaker 4: discounted valuable players, which I think is something that he's
Speaker 4: gonna excel with the second two piece two pieces of
Speaker 4: it one. He's an offensive genius, like literally an offensive genius.
Speaker 4: And specifically, what I find fascinating is he was capable
Speaker 4: of generating space for his offense with multiple non shooters
Speaker 4: on the floor, which I think is super fascinating on
Speaker 4: a Laker team that has an Anthony Davis that can
Speaker 4: struggle to shoot the basketball, that is going to probably
Speaker 4: play a Jared Vanderbilt that struggles to shoot the basketball.
Speaker 4: And he's he has all these interesting concepts, like he's
Speaker 4: really good at disguising his sets. He's a big believer
Speaker 4: in weak side action, which basically occupies help defenders by
Speaker 4: making them think about what they're doing on the week
Speaker 4: side while your stars are running ball screens on the
Speaker 4: other side. He's super creative as a tactician, especially on
Speaker 4: the offensive end of the floor, which I think is
Speaker 4: going to be work wonders for a Laker offense that
Speaker 4: can get stagnant sometimes. And then the third piece of
Speaker 4: it is he's just a psycho. He's a psycho, he's competitive,
Speaker 4: and then I think he's gonna bring enough cachet because
Speaker 4: that's the fear, right, Like, if you're gonna play Devil's advocate,
Speaker 4: you're like David Blatt comes over championship coach from Europe,
Speaker 4: Lebron scoffs at him and says, I want the assistant instead, right,
Speaker 4: So that's what you're scared of. But I actually think
Speaker 4: Lebron has a lot more respect for Dan Hurley. I mean,
Speaker 4: especially seeing as he's been kind of like watching as
Speaker 4: a fan as he's had his success over the last
Speaker 4: couple of years. I think he'll have some success there.
Speaker 4: And then I complain that you NonStop this season about
Speaker 4: Darvin Ham not holding players accountable, right, and then becoming
Speaker 4: and then becoming a team that was really sloppy for
Speaker 4: stretches because they didn't value individual possessions, they weren't good
Speaker 4: at attention to detail. That will not fly under Dan Hurley.
Speaker 4: He will be on those guys, and I think it'll
Speaker 4: help a lot.
Speaker 2: Well. I try to defend Darvin ham but he is
Speaker 2: a defensive minded coach, and you see this in the NFL,
Speaker 2: offense comes easier. The attention to detail from offensive coaches
Speaker 2: is better. So like when you watch offensive like Steve Kerr,
Speaker 2: like his he if you ever when they Mike Steve Kerr,
Speaker 2: he picks on stuff stuff up so quickly, like like
Speaker 2: I'm not seeing it. I'm watching the game. He is
Speaker 2: a possession to possession coach. Steve Kerr, he watches every
Speaker 2: little mistake. Mark Jackson defensive coach. I always viewed him
Speaker 2: as more of a defensive coach. The offense could never
Speaker 2: quite get in sync. Now, Mark did a good job
Speaker 2: on the defensive end, but I thought with Darvin ham
Speaker 2: Is he could get players. I thought Anthony Davis was
Speaker 2: absolutely sensational defensively this year. I thought he was the
Speaker 2: defensive player of the Year, but his offense was inconsistent.
Speaker 2: Darvin's not gonna help you a lot there. Darvin was
Speaker 2: a very limited offensive player. And so I think I think,
Speaker 2: just like in football, I think coaches have vogels good
Speaker 2: with bigs, Dan Tony's doesn't Like Biggs, coaches all have
Speaker 2: strengths and weaknesses, and Darvin, I thought was not as detailed,
Speaker 2: offensively allowed sloppy possessions. What didn't hold players offensively accountable.
Speaker 2: They'll make it up on the defensive end. That's not
Speaker 2: the league. That's just not the league. You you're gonna
Speaker 2: you're gonna shoot your way. I mean, you start looking
Speaker 2: at teams. Dallas was a better offensive team than Minnesota.
Speaker 2: They won the series. You know it's it's you know,
Speaker 2: is as as hard as New York played. You start
Speaker 2: look Indiana. It was more consistently a higher tempo, healthier,
Speaker 2: better offensive team with offense is winning these series. Like
Speaker 2: effort's great, but like that's that's why Boston's favorite in
Speaker 2: this series. They've got five six guys that can score
Speaker 2: twenty And so I think Darvin doesn't necessarily fit what's
Speaker 2: happening to the league, which is increasingly skilled, increasingly unstoppable
Speaker 2: for players of size. And I think Hurley's good with that.
Speaker 2: He understands what the sport is becoming. That you play hard,
Speaker 2: play with urgency, get the details down offensively, don't give
Speaker 2: up sloppy possessions. Lakers would have bad quarters offensively, Like
Speaker 2: just I mean, there are times if you didn't have
Speaker 2: Lebron on the floor and Austin Reeves was in foul trouble,
Speaker 2: you were done. They just were a bad offensive unit.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think to your point is I tried
Speaker 2: to defend Darvin Ham, But I'm seeing some of the
Speaker 2: same stuff in the NFL where the skilled now in
Speaker 2: the NBA is just too damn good. It's just too good.
Speaker 2: There's just if you're not equipped offensively, possession after possession,
Speaker 2: you'll just get run out of this sport really quickly.
Speaker 1: Oh for sure.
Speaker 4: Look at this particular matchup here for Dallas versus Boston,
Speaker 4: like a big part you mentioned it at the start
Speaker 4: of the show, like the stagnation, the lack of the
Speaker 4: ball in player movement, the Luca Kyrie kind of yours
Speaker 4: that is, it works for Dallas because Luca is so
Speaker 4: damn good and he might be the best player in
Speaker 4: the world. But like I do believe there's a reason
Speaker 4: why the league has shifted towards more ball in player movement.
Speaker 4: That's why we're seeing teams like Denver succeed and Golden
Speaker 4: State succeed. Golden State kind of really revolutionized five out
Speaker 4: offense and brought it to where it is today. And like,
Speaker 4: I just think I think Dan Hurley is in touch
Speaker 4: with what works in modern basketball, which I think is
Speaker 4: going to help a ton. I think he's I think
Speaker 4: he understands the complications of the transition to the NBA,
Speaker 4: which I think will be his probably his biggest challenge.
Speaker 4: But he knows he's gonna have to talk differently to
Speaker 4: professional athletes than to college players. He knows that there's
Speaker 4: going to be more, you know, media pressure with that
Speaker 4: LA job on a day today basis like we talked
Speaker 4: about Darvin Ham all the time this season because it's
Speaker 4: like that's if you were ranking high, high pressure coaching
Speaker 4: jobs in America, Lakers head coach is pretty high up
Speaker 4: on that list, especially when Lebron James is on the
Speaker 4: roster and so well, I think he's up for it.
Speaker 4: I think he can do it.
Speaker 1: Go ahead.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: One of the things I've talked about today kind of
Speaker 2: ad nauseum on my show is I said the Lakers
Speaker 2: had twenty years in the second biggest city in the
Speaker 2: country with no NFL teams in the NFL eventually gobbles
Speaker 2: up every city. And now you've got Harbon, Herbert and
Speaker 2: McVeigh and Stafford and the second richest owner in Stan Cronk,
Speaker 2: and the Dodgers look like they're one hundred and ten
Speaker 2: win team. Here comes USC to the big ten Ballmer's
Speaker 2: got a new arena. The key in this is are
Speaker 2: you okay? Now? Being the third biggest story in LA
Speaker 2: fourth on some weekends, like because this city has got
Speaker 2: star coaches and star teams and star players, and it
Speaker 2: could be you know, Wagner Rhode Island, Yukon. He had
Speaker 2: a losing record each year. He's a culture guy. He's
Speaker 2: an oven guy. He's not a microwave guys. None of
Speaker 2: this fake bullshit like this is a this is gonna
Speaker 2: be a slow roast, okay, And Lebron and Anthony Davis
Speaker 2: if he signs a five year, sixty million dollar deal.
Speaker 2: The Laker Genie Buss doesn't have the financial wherewithal, she's
Speaker 2: not Balmer. That's not a rounding air for her. So
Speaker 2: this is a real commitment. So I think everybody's just
Speaker 2: got to take a deep breath. The Lakers had this LA.
Speaker 2: They were winning titles with no NFL team. The Dodgers
Speaker 2: were good but not winning World Series. They owned this
Speaker 2: city for twenty years, and they got real use to
Speaker 2: leaking stuff to the media on a slough and just
Speaker 2: stealing thunder. Well, if you're thirty eight and forty four
Speaker 2: in this city next year and Herbert and Harbaugh and
Speaker 2: here come the Clippers in their new arena, you're gonna
Speaker 2: be the fourth story really quickly the volume. Thanks so
Speaker 2: much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast, take a
Speaker 2: moment rate and review