Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio. We'll join us and get his thoughts on
Speaker 1: who he thinks is now the favorite or the Lakers
Speaker 1: still the favorites to win the NBA title. Mcluvin, did
Speaker 1: we come up with a pole question in the first hour?
Speaker 1: We did not. We got sidetracked. Okay, tool discussion. All right,
Speaker 1: well man hit me with the possibilities here. Okay, you
Speaker 1: guys did not want to go with my tool question.
Speaker 1: We were having a debate over here about best defensive player.
Speaker 1: So I had a pole, but PAULI wants to redo that.
Speaker 1: I gave my top five defensive players, So we'll get
Speaker 1: to that in a minute. On the NBA, do you
Speaker 1: think they start on time? Yes? Or no? Based on
Speaker 1: the early test too in Orlando, I'm gonna say yes.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say yes. I'm gonna be cautiously optimistic and
Speaker 1: say yes it starts on time. I'm curious about James
Speaker 1: Harden and when he gets to Orlando, because you know,
Speaker 1: I do like the Rockets as a dark horse here.
Speaker 1: But Russell Westbrook has already tested positive and by all
Speaker 1: accounts pretty successful that I think they had two tests
Speaker 1: inside the bubble test positive, I should say over three
Speaker 1: hundred tests. So we'll talk to Joe Varden about that.
Speaker 1: But the safety precautions that are put in play, I
Speaker 1: feel a whole lot better about that season than any
Speaker 1: other season that might take place this summer. What else,
Speaker 1: Cleve Okay, Tomorrow is Dak Prescott Day, the last day
Speaker 1: to sign. I'm going to give you an offer. You
Speaker 1: can sign one of these three quarterbacks to a five
Speaker 1: year or two hundred million dollar deal, which is right
Speaker 1: away where Dak we're probably rumored to be. You get
Speaker 1: to Seawn Watson, Dak Prescott or Carson Wentz, who is
Speaker 1: the guy that you would sign first, knowing all things
Speaker 1: about health included everything about them. Well, Wentz already got
Speaker 1: his deal, right. I would probably go to Shawn Watson,
Speaker 1: but my concern is he doesn't have anywhere near the
Speaker 1: challenge around him. I'm not confident with his head coach
Speaker 1: Snice GM. I feel a little better with Dak Prescott
Speaker 1: in the hands of Mike McCarthy and they've spent money
Speaker 1: on an offense. I'd probably do Dak Prescott because it
Speaker 1: feels like they have everything in place right now. Offensive line,
Speaker 1: running back they spent money on their wide receivers. So
Speaker 1: as a quarterback, I have everything that I need to
Speaker 1: be successful. Carson Wentz does not have that. In Deshaun
Speaker 1: Watson does not have that. I think are those quarterbacks
Speaker 1: are probably better. If there was an open market, an
Speaker 1: open draft, Wenson Watson would go before Dak Prescott. But
Speaker 1: I'm taking Dak Prescott because of everything I get with Dallas. Yes, mcclub,
Speaker 1: I think that's such a good point piece When the Eagles,
Speaker 1: everyone's injured on the Eagles, Carson has to run around
Speaker 1: to make plays. Yeah, I don't want him doing too much.
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson is the same way. When they press, he
Speaker 1: makes plays on his own and he gets risks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Polly Watson. He was sacked more than any other quarterback
Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen sixty two times. That dropped a forty
Speaker 1: four times last year. It seems to be going in
Speaker 1: the right direction and is passing. He's a sixty seven
Speaker 1: percent pass or four thousand yards, twenty six touchdowns, twelve picks.
Speaker 1: He runs a little, but not a lot. I mean
Speaker 1: he's not, you know, the leading rusher in the league,
Speaker 1: but his sacks are down his being sacked. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: didn't have great weapons though, that's my problem. And they
Speaker 1: traded their best one. Yeah, and I just Bill O'Brien
Speaker 1: as a play caller and offensive minded guy. But you
Speaker 1: don't have an offensive minded team. Yeah, mclub. But if
Speaker 1: you pay Dak all that money, then are you're going
Speaker 1: to be able to keep these weapons around him? Is
Speaker 1: in a catch twenty two? Well, you've paid everybody, Dak
Speaker 1: the last guy, Marii Cooper got paid before Dak did,
Speaker 1: and Zeke Elliott we know got paid. Offensive lineman have
Speaker 1: gotten paid. It's now Dak Prescott and that's the final
Speaker 1: piece if this team is going to win a Super Bowl? Now,
Speaker 1: do I want to give him five years? No? He
Speaker 1: wants four years. The Cowboys wanting for five. But I
Speaker 1: don't know if they're doing that because of you know,
Speaker 1: what that salary's going to look like, how they spread
Speaker 1: that out, whatever, against the cap and all of those things.
Speaker 1: But it feels that both sides know exactly where the
Speaker 1: breaking point is. That's usually what happens in a negotiation,
Speaker 1: Like you know now they haven't spoken, I believe negotiated
Speaker 1: since March. That would be a little more nerve racking
Speaker 1: I think concerning because let's say he doesn't get a
Speaker 1: four year deal or they don't get a five year deal.
Speaker 1: Now you franchise him, and which is what I would
Speaker 1: have done in the beginning. I would franchise him and
Speaker 1: then franchise him again. I still get the feeling that
Speaker 1: Dallas is not quite sure that what they have with Dak.
Speaker 1: I just get that feeling. And do you want to
Speaker 1: pay him that money? Is he truly one of these
Speaker 1: great quarterbacks? But what happens is we go can you
Speaker 1: believe what Kirk Cousins got? And then you move on
Speaker 1: to the next guy, and then you believe Jared Goff
Speaker 1: and what and then you move on from that guy,
Speaker 1: and then Russell Wilson and then you move on from him,
Speaker 1: and we'll move on from Dak Prenscott not as fast
Speaker 1: because people love clickbait and they love to talk about
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott. Is he worth that money? Did they make
Speaker 1: a mistake and not signing him do a five year due?
Speaker 1: Why did they give him four years? Did Dak make
Speaker 1: a mistake signing four not? I mean, this is what's
Speaker 1: going to happen. But Dak Prescott, by all accounts, even
Speaker 1: if they franchise you is going to be well compensated, Yample.
Speaker 1: There's no middle ground at the quarterback position. You either
Speaker 1: pay him full boat or you move on. There is
Speaker 1: really a zero middle ground. Guys like Mike Glennon will
Speaker 1: get a year for fifteen million, or case Keenum will
Speaker 1: get two years for twenty million. That's kind of the
Speaker 1: where you are if your career journeyman backup or your
Speaker 1: max deal guy. And Dak Prescott he's twenty six five
Speaker 1: thousand yards and thirty touchdowns last year. He's definitely not
Speaker 1: even close to you know, if Jamis Winston, where he's
Speaker 1: more of a detriment than a help. He's the opposite.
Speaker 1: I just don't know. This goes back to and I
Speaker 1: never understood this, and they've since changed it. The number
Speaker 1: one pick in the draft was going to get fifty
Speaker 1: million dollars, remember Sam Bradford and JaMarcus Russell, and you're
Speaker 1: going leait, You're the highest paid quarterback in the league
Speaker 1: day one, and I don't know if you can play,
Speaker 1: and it just seemed backwards. Now they finally changed it
Speaker 1: where they go, oh yeah, they should probably come in
Speaker 1: and prove themselves. This is another situation. Every quarterback who
Speaker 1: steps up is not better than the previous quarterback who
Speaker 1: stepped up and got paid. Like, at some point you
Speaker 1: have to have financial sanity where you go. You know,
Speaker 1: I know he's supposed to make a dollar more than
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson, but you know your quarterback's not better than
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson. Sorry, we're gonna pay you this. When's the
Speaker 1: last time a quarterback and I'm going to say, well
Speaker 1: known quarterback got paid less than somebody because it feels
Speaker 1: like like Aaron Rodgers is a bargain. What's Aaron Rodgers make?
Speaker 1: It feels like I don't know. I mean, he's gonna
Speaker 1: get paid a whole lot if he's still on the team.
Speaker 1: But you start to look at these quarterbacks and you go,
Speaker 1: Drew Brees twenty five million, that's a bargain. But it
Speaker 1: feels like that next quarterback, well, he's got to make
Speaker 1: more than that guy. Well, we know that's not going
Speaker 1: to happen with Patrick Mahomes. Nobody's making more than him.
Speaker 1: But Deshaun Watson, he's gonna make more than Dak Prescott, right,
Speaker 1: yeah po. Aaron Rodgers signed before the twenty eighteen season
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, he's gonna make a total of like
Speaker 1: twenty nine million dollars. That's a bargain. Yeah, And his
Speaker 1: max deal in twenty twenty one, at age thirty seven,
Speaker 1: will be thirty six million dollars. That's the most he
Speaker 1: can make, and that might be a bargain as well,
Speaker 1: if he's still with the team. It feels like he'd
Speaker 1: still be with the team, but that'd be it after that. Yes, mcleven,
Speaker 1: I have another It's a more specific poll question, but
Speaker 1: it's more a philosophical one. Bear with me, who would
Speaker 1: you pay first? Two guys who are up tomorrow? Running
Speaker 1: back Derrick Henry of the Titans or defensive tackle Chris
Speaker 1: Jones or the Kansas City Chiefs, two of your favorite guys.
Speaker 1: But you have to pay Chris Jones a lot more
Speaker 1: than Derrick Henry. That's a fact. Am I gonna have
Speaker 1: to pay twice as much for Chris Jones as I
Speaker 1: am Derrick Henry. Oh, I don't know. It'll be at
Speaker 1: least three quarters. Yeah, it'll be significantly more. Like which
Speaker 1: is a bigger priority, the superstar defensive tackle or the
Speaker 1: what Derrick Henry means to So Derrick Henry is going
Speaker 1: to be fifteen million. Right, He's already been franchised, hasn't he? Right,
Speaker 1: they have both those guys are franchised and they're working
Speaker 1: on the deal there. They could could be signed by tomorrow.
Speaker 1: If not, then they go into the season with franchise
Speaker 1: tacks and Chris Jones may not report at all. If
Speaker 1: he does all that, I'm gonna take Derrick Henry, and
Speaker 1: I believe both players at the same age. They're both
Speaker 1: twenty six. I'm gonna take Derrick Henry. I don't like
Speaker 1: signing up a running back for that second deal. But
Speaker 1: you know what, if I could get Derrick Henry for
Speaker 1: three years, then I would give him. I'd give him
Speaker 1: sixteen seventeen million. I give him a little bit extra
Speaker 1: because Derrick Henry put you on the cusp of going
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl. And Chris Jones helped you win
Speaker 1: a super Bowl, but Derrick Henry almost singleheadedly got you too,
Speaker 1: you know, the precipice of playing in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: So I'd say Derrick Henry cost me a little less,
Speaker 1: but I don't want him for more than three years
Speaker 1: because of that style. If I got him for three
Speaker 1: and he's done at twenty nine, then I've gotten my
Speaker 1: money's worth out of Derrick Henry. Chris Jones is a
Speaker 1: good player, but it feels like Chris Jones might not
Speaker 1: be happy no matter what happens here, and that's an
Speaker 1: issue that you're gonna have to deal with as well. Yeah, mclub.
Speaker 1: Did you once say though, that the Chiefs would not
Speaker 1: have won the Super Bowl without Chris Jones? I remember
Speaker 1: you said something like one specific game. Yeah, was it
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl game and one of the playoff games? Oh,
Speaker 1: it's the Super Bowl where he knocked down those passes
Speaker 1: and if those are completed, then the Niners are going
Speaker 1: to win the Super Bowl. He stepped up and had
Speaker 1: a couple of big moments there, and that's a defense
Speaker 1: that's not great. But as you know, I am Echo
Speaker 1: Chamber here when I talk about at some point during
Speaker 1: the season, somebody on your defense will have to make
Speaker 1: a big play for you to win a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: It happens down through history. You can have the greatest offense,
Speaker 1: you can have all the weapons, somebody has to make
Speaker 1: a play on defense, and sometimes that happens. Sometimes it doesn't.
Speaker 1: You know, when the Patriots lost to the Eagles, they
Speaker 1: had all the offense you'd ever need, Brady, they didn't
Speaker 1: punt five hundred yards passing. No one made a play.
Speaker 1: Malcolm Butler makes a play With all that offense the
Speaker 1: Patriots had, Malcolm Butler makes a play to win the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. Steelers all that great offensive weapons. James Harrison
Speaker 1: makes the interception on Kurt Warner and takes it back
Speaker 1: at the end of the first half. Chris Jones Kansas
Speaker 1: City the best offense in football, one of the best
Speaker 1: we've ever seen. If Chris Jones doesn't knock down those passes,
Speaker 1: they don't win the Super Bowl. Yeah. Pull Chris Jones
Speaker 1: and the Super Bowl. The defensive tackle. His stat line
Speaker 1: was no tackles, one assisted tackle, no sacks, no quarterback hits.
Speaker 1: But he had three batted down balls in the last
Speaker 1: five minutes of the game. And they're all on crucial
Speaker 1: plays ye crucial places. I mean, he easily could have
Speaker 1: had MVP, almost like Santonio Holmes rapidly. By the way,
Speaker 1: have you seen the Cam Newton hype video, Because I'm
Speaker 1: in I'm ready to go my Patriots, and I don't
Speaker 1: do we have the audio of this? Can we uh
Speaker 1: play this? This it's like a black It looks like
Speaker 1: it's a movie, but it's shot in black and white.
Speaker 1: It looks like it's early morning and he's working out
Speaker 1: and yescause jarts did him now? Feel like he needs
Speaker 1: to answer that in his own hype video becas now
Speaker 1: it looks like Cam's definitely the week one started after
Speaker 1: watching that. All right. This is a portion of Cam
Speaker 1: Newton's hype video while working out. You know what made
Speaker 1: it different? Is Dyin' ever seen its? Cam? Dyin ever
Speaker 1: seen him? Scaus? You want to know how I know
Speaker 1: she ain't ever seen him? The forgotten Cam? No it
Speaker 1: own Cam tired of being sick of tire camp. I
Speaker 1: felt like I was just left to die. I'm saying,
Speaker 1: just just just just just over with for him. He
Speaker 1: ain't the same player. M hm. You know what made
Speaker 1: this different is they ain't never seen this camp? All right?
Speaker 1: So aside from you know, Hawkinson Lugi's there, it's kind
Speaker 1: of gross. Yeah, it was a morning workout there. I'm
Speaker 1: ready went oh, Cam went, third person is they ain't
Speaker 1: ever seen this camp? Yeah? I went, oh, okay, how
Speaker 1: do you know that? WHOA that's a great luck and
Speaker 1: a Patriots just got interesting. I love that he goes
Speaker 1: the sick and tired of being sick and tired. Yes, dude, yes,
Speaker 1: Oh the Patriots are interesting. Love that cam. They got
Speaker 1: some personality that would be great if Jared's did Him
Speaker 1: came out with one. Jared's ready to complete a third Natan. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Jared is ready to work hard in the be the
Speaker 1: first locker room. They've never seen this Jared either. I've
Speaker 1: never they've never seen this did him? The new One? Wait?
Speaker 1: Was that? Was that your your Jared? Boys there? Yeah,
Speaker 1: the hype video that was the white guy. Never actually
Speaker 1: seen this version of me either, because he can't get
Speaker 1: away with going third person. They've never seen this Jared before.
Speaker 1: Jared's ready for his opportunity to shine as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think what I'd like to do is just see
Speaker 1: the MRI of your shoulder and your foot and then
Speaker 1: I'll be good. But that those would be the thing.
Speaker 1: I don't need to see the hype video. I enjoyed it,
Speaker 1: but I'd rather see the MRI of your older and
Speaker 1: your foot and never seen this roteria. Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: probably have. That's what I would want to see. Man.
Speaker 1: I hope that he's back at twenty fifteen even just
Speaker 1: like a reasonable facsimile of twenty fifteen camp. Would anyone
Speaker 1: in this room bet that Jarrett Stidham makes more starts
Speaker 1: for the Patriots, more starts than Cam Newton. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: like I'm a Sidham guy, old school, just because all
Speaker 1: those reporters are saying that the Patriots wanted to give
Speaker 1: him the job and he's good. Well, they got Cam
Speaker 1: at a price they couldn't pass up on. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I think that's the key that there's very little financial
Speaker 1: risk here and the reward could be yeah, very very
Speaker 1: high ceiling here. I am curious about how Stidham processes
Speaker 1: this where he's like, no, bring on the competution, can't
Speaker 1: have too many Auburn quarterbacks in camp? Or do you go?
Speaker 1: As soon as he stands side by side with Cam
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden he's going, oh my god,
Speaker 1: what am I doing here? That's a problem with being
Speaker 1: on the same team with Cam. Well, no, it's not
Speaker 1: a model. But I'm talking about when he's out there
Speaker 1: working out. Yeah, he's gonna look small a sudden he seems,
Speaker 1: you know, Cam being Cam. If that's the case, yes,
Speaker 1: to do you shark Jack and Jill got a little
Speaker 1: too mean spirited Firstadim, what was it putting the two
Speaker 1: quarterbacks to get a Jack and Jill cam Newton being
Speaker 1: the Jack's muscular one. Gonna take a break. You had
Speaker 1: a good monday, I will say you had a damn
Speaker 1: good monday. And Bruce Smith was a good booking. But man,
Speaker 1: this is a whole new hour and it all went
Speaker 1: to the way side as good as your last before.
Speaker 1: Jack and Jill, and you know what, I can see
Speaker 1: you're working on it. That was yeah, But that's the
Speaker 1: problem to cant can't you work shop these things and
Speaker 1: you don't always have to verbalize everything, but you do,
Speaker 1: you do. Gonna take a break. We're gonna venture into
Speaker 1: the NBA bubble. Coming up. Joe vardnew covers the NBA
Speaker 1: for the athletic or the Lakers still the team to beat?
Speaker 1: And if not, who is? It's approaching twenty after the hour.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you're part of the program, Dan and The
Speaker 1: Dana at Stan Patrick Show. Thanks for listening to The
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Speaker 1: at dan Patrick dot com, Twitter handle a DP show.
Speaker 1: He's the senior NBA writer covering the NBA and the
Speaker 1: Lakers for the Athletic It's good to have Joe Varden
Speaker 1: back on the program. Joe, where are you right now?
Speaker 1: Cornado Springs in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Okay, Now, how
Speaker 1: much access freedom do you have to come and go
Speaker 1: inside the hotel. So what I've been doing is when
Speaker 1: I get a knock on my door for my food,
Speaker 1: I opened the door very slowly and I stand on
Speaker 1: both sides of the of the door for several seconds
Speaker 1: to milk as much fresh air as I can out
Speaker 1: of picking up my food. Because that's it. The only
Speaker 1: time you can open your doors to pick up your
Speaker 1: food or to step outside for just a second to
Speaker 1: get the COVID test. That's the only freedom I have
Speaker 1: for the until Monday. Can you visit other members of
Speaker 1: the media. No, you can't walk down the hall. No.
Speaker 1: And first of all, uh, you know with with most
Speaker 1: of the Disney hotels, it's not um they aren't Marriotts,
Speaker 1: so it's more of a motel. Feel like the hall
Speaker 1: There is no hallway, it's just outside. Okay, Um, but
Speaker 1: yeah I can't. Yeah, you can't do anything. But how
Speaker 1: long does this go? For? UM? As long as I
Speaker 1: continue to test negative uh for the virus, I will
Speaker 1: be allowed out of quarantine on Monday. So it's a
Speaker 1: it's a seven or eight day quarantine any yard time.
Speaker 1: This feels like Shawshank redemption. Can you hit the wage? No?
Speaker 1: And um, I just finished uh my second workout in quarantine,
Speaker 1: which is I do a hundred push ups, sit up, squats, crunches,
Speaker 1: uh dips, and burpies, and then I run from see
Speaker 1: if I could do this on my camp right here.
Speaker 1: I run from that sync to that door and back
Speaker 1: for twenty minutes. It was a little over two miles.
Speaker 1: So that's that's my yard time, my man. And then
Speaker 1: I wiped the sweat up off the floor and try
Speaker 1: to clean up and turn this into a workspace. I
Speaker 1: did shower, did shower. We're coming on. How confident are
Speaker 1: you this is? We'll start on time and that will
Speaker 1: actually crown a champion one hundred percent on the start time.
Speaker 1: I think we're great. And I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I still am in that stage where I feel like
Speaker 1: they've done this right and they've done this well and
Speaker 1: it will probably work. And I don't even want to
Speaker 1: say maybe. I mean, I really think that this is
Speaker 1: going to happen. Maybe it's in part because of all
Speaker 1: the protocols I have to go through, and I just
Speaker 1: feel like everybody here is doing it for the most part.
Speaker 1: And the thing that feels the best is I feel like,
Speaker 1: if if you step out of line and do something dangerous.
Speaker 1: They're going to catch you. Uh and you will be
Speaker 1: punished as we have seen already with these two guys
Speaker 1: who have broken quarantine, and explain what they did to
Speaker 1: break quarantine, Like how how does that happen that you're
Speaker 1: ordering food and it's being delivered? And did somebody rat
Speaker 1: out one of these players or both of these players? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think so. I mean, um, you know what we
Speaker 1: with the case of of Bruno, Um, he was I
Speaker 1: think he had a buddy who was trying who is
Speaker 1: going to drive him up something that he wanted, like
Speaker 1: something to wear, um, while while he was while he
Speaker 1: was down here, and just lost his mind. Like you,
Speaker 1: it's so unequivocally clear that that you cannot leave your
Speaker 1: room while you're in quarantine. Um. And then of the
Speaker 1: case with the case of Holmes, right, like he went
Speaker 1: too far and picking up the food that that he
Speaker 1: had ordered. Um, you know, I mean, I guess you
Speaker 1: can call these mistakes, but they really they aren't. I
Speaker 1: think it's more of just um not being used to
Speaker 1: having to follow a certain set of rules and uh
Speaker 1: and and you know, I think that reality is going
Speaker 1: to set in here. I like the rockets as a
Speaker 1: dark horse here, we'll get into who you like and
Speaker 1: are the Lakers still the favorites here? But Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: testing positive, he's acknowledged that he tested positive. We're still
Speaker 1: waiting for James Harden. Yeah, but what is there a
Speaker 1: reason why he's not there? Yeah, I mean, I'm sure
Speaker 1: it's it's because of the virus um. He just has
Speaker 1: chosen not to announce it. And the teams can't do
Speaker 1: it unless they have the player's permission. So, you know,
Speaker 1: as of a couple days ago, you had Mike D'Antoni saying, well,
Speaker 1: these three players aren't here and we can't say why. Uh,
Speaker 1: and then Russ kind of comes out yesterday and says
Speaker 1: that he has in fact had the virus. And then
Speaker 1: just the timeframe, so Westbrook is going to start on time? Uh, well,
Speaker 1: we don't know that. I mean, we don't know. You
Speaker 1: have D'Antoni saying, first earlier in the week, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: they'll all probably be here by midweek, and then last
Speaker 1: night it was well I hope that's what happens. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure. I mean, here's here are the rules. Once
Speaker 1: you test positive, Okay, if you have to have it,
Speaker 1: you have to have these things. You have to be asymptomatic,
Speaker 1: you have to record two consecutive negative tests over a
Speaker 1: period of longer than twenty four hours. You have to
Speaker 1: go through a complete medical screening, and then for if
Speaker 1: you're a player, you have to clear a heart screening
Speaker 1: because apparently there's some cardio related issues here. So those
Speaker 1: are the rules. When they got sick, we don't know,
Speaker 1: or when they contracted the virus, we don't know. Um
Speaker 1: typically what doing everything I just said could take up
Speaker 1: the two weeks, So you know, I don't know how
Speaker 1: long this is going to be for those guys. I
Speaker 1: think they will be back in time to start the
Speaker 1: season on July thirtieth, but I don't know. We talked him.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Joe Varden, senior NBA rider covering the
Speaker 1: NBA and the Lakers for the Athletic And speaking of
Speaker 1: the Lakers. With Avery Bradley not there now Rajon Rondo
Speaker 1: out for at least six weeks, how big a deal
Speaker 1: is this for the Lakers? The Avery Bradley thing is huge.
Speaker 1: I really do. I think it weakens them. It certainly
Speaker 1: affects them defensively on the perimeter, and when you look
Speaker 1: at how deep the Clippers are, and how healthy the
Speaker 1: Clippers are now, which they really had never been the
Speaker 1: whole season. I think there is a lot to be
Speaker 1: concerned about on the Lakers. The Rondo issue. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: he was their backup point guard. He was taking the
Speaker 1: ball when Lebron was on the bench, and that that
Speaker 1: certainly matters. This had not been a good season for
Speaker 1: Rajon and certainly he had been discussed as a potentially
Speaker 1: weaker link in this Laker team around the trade deadline,
Speaker 1: and ultimately they didn't make a move there. Really, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know what the options are per
Speaker 1: se when with with Ragion out, but but of the
Speaker 1: two injuries, I definitely think it's Bradley. Who do you
Speaker 1: favor coming out of the West the Clippers? I think, Um?
Speaker 1: And you know, I mean, you know, Dan, I've spent
Speaker 1: most of my NBA career covering Lebron. Um. I don't
Speaker 1: like to bet against him. Certainly in twenty eighteen and
Speaker 1: Cleveland was um one of the most unsung acts of
Speaker 1: basketball heroism that'll probably ever go him getting that team
Speaker 1: that far. Um. But I just I am bowled over
Speaker 1: by the Clipper situation right now. Healthy Paul George healthy,
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard super deep with all the moves that were
Speaker 1: made around the trade deadline. Um, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: think they're the team to be. But if but if
Speaker 1: the Lakers had Bradley and Rondo, would you feel different? No, Um, listen,
Speaker 1: I you know, I think the Lakers had a fantastic
Speaker 1: regular season. I really commend that such an I mean,
Speaker 1: they're an old team with the new coach and Frank Vogel.
Speaker 1: I really commend for how they went about their business
Speaker 1: and them catching the Bucks and being in first place
Speaker 1: at the time of the pandemic hitting is awesome. But
Speaker 1: you know, these NBA seasons are funny, and we actually
Speaker 1: often see that the best regular season team doesn't win,
Speaker 1: doesn't always doesn't get to the finals or necessarily win it.
Speaker 1: And in the case of the Clippers, they were always
Speaker 1: kind of doing this slow build and they probably more
Speaker 1: than any team benefit from you know, this three and
Speaker 1: a half four month layoff. The degree of difficulty, though,
Speaker 1: is like, I can't if you win the title this year.
Speaker 1: I get there's no asterisk, the whole season has an asterisk,
Speaker 1: but it feels like this Joe that those who don't
Speaker 1: like Lebron creep up on Michael Jordan will add an
Speaker 1: asterisk to this that this is different than anything that
Speaker 1: Michael ACCOMPLI like, it's just weird. And you've been around,
Speaker 1: you know Lebron all, you know, most of his career.
Speaker 1: It feels like people go out of their way to
Speaker 1: attach things to bring Lebron down a notch. Your thoughts
Speaker 1: if he does win a title with this team, well,
Speaker 1: I just I would like someone to explain to me
Speaker 1: how the how these differing circumstances would then suggest that
Speaker 1: that a title doesn't count. I mean, you still have
Speaker 1: to win four games in four playoffs series. Um, the
Speaker 1: teams aren't any worse, you know, like they everybody has
Speaker 1: their players at the start of this. And if somebody
Speaker 1: goes out with the virus, well, how is that actually
Speaker 1: different from them going down with an ACL or a
Speaker 1: you know, an ankle um. When you talk about degrees
Speaker 1: of difficulty, I mean, I guess sure that you don't
Speaker 1: have to go into you know, Milwaukee's what is it
Speaker 1: five served for him? I think is the new arena there?
Speaker 1: You don't have to go there in June and win.
Speaker 1: But you know, you also don't get to play at
Speaker 1: Staples Center, and in the meantime, everybody has the same
Speaker 1: you know, crappy being away from your family, being out
Speaker 1: of your own dead for three months without stop. I mean,
Speaker 1: I just I don't. I don't get it from for
Speaker 1: this asterisk stuff. And if Lebron wins another one, now,
Speaker 1: I mean, geez, that's what that's four on what three
Speaker 1: different teams? That's it's pretty good. I also wonder about this, Joe,
Speaker 1: and you made mention of this. This is an old team,
Speaker 1: and I wonder what will the Lakers look like next
Speaker 1: year because Lebron knows that the clock is ticking. You
Speaker 1: still have Anthony Davis and hopefully he stays. But you know,
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma, this is a Kyle Kuzma moment to step
Speaker 1: up and play big boy basketball as well. But what
Speaker 1: do you think this lineup, this roster looks like next
Speaker 1: year with the Lakers? Yeah, I mean I think, you know,
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna see turnover for sure. It's it's
Speaker 1: hard to it's hard to know how this pandemic affects
Speaker 1: free agency and affects teams various cap situations and contract
Speaker 1: situations with options and whatnot. I think that that Lebron
Speaker 1: and Anthony are together for at least one more year.
Speaker 1: You know, I've been thinking about this. It's funny you
Speaker 1: know that you asked it, because I was thinking about
Speaker 1: this this morning on my run from the mirror to
Speaker 1: the door. You know, Lebron was probably going to play
Speaker 1: a couple more years. You know, he's thirty five now,
Speaker 1: he'll be thirty six in December. I think he would
Speaker 1: at least play out this contract with the Lakers, and
Speaker 1: I suppose that's probably still true. But the added stress
Speaker 1: of the virus, I just wonder if it's taking years
Speaker 1: off of his career. I mean, he's, like I said,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be thirty six. He's been through so much,
Speaker 1: and when it gets more and more dangerous to play
Speaker 1: this game, what else does he need to do? How
Speaker 1: much time does he want to spend away from those
Speaker 1: boys in the middle of all this. So you know,
Speaker 1: I have not spoken to him since March, I guess,
Speaker 1: and I haven't seen him. So I'm not saying I
Speaker 1: know that that this is cutting his career short, but
Speaker 1: I wonder. I mean, he's he's got all these businesses,
Speaker 1: he's getting more involved politically, you know, I could see
Speaker 1: this being something that weighs on a guy when you
Speaker 1: can start to consider how much longer you want to play?
Speaker 1: What's chasing? Yeah? I mean so after he wonted Cleveland
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen, he said, what I'm chasing Michael's ghost,
Speaker 1: which meant he's chasing six. Theoretically he has time, but
Speaker 1: you know he's probably not gonna get there, and so
Speaker 1: you know, his leg his legacy was cemented when he
Speaker 1: wanted Cleveland. I think that's true. I don't think he
Speaker 1: can hurt it by playing with the Lakers, especially because
Speaker 1: he did rebound from a bad start. You know, I
Speaker 1: mean if if he is second best, do is winning
Speaker 1: another one make him first best? No? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: But but so, yeah, I don't know how much. I
Speaker 1: don't know what else he is chasing. It's just more
Speaker 1: about enjoying what you're doing in life. And you know
Speaker 1: what's going to happen if Kawai wins a title with
Speaker 1: the Clippers. So now he's won three titles with three
Speaker 1: different franchises all of a sudden, that will reduce what
Speaker 1: lebron accomplished. If he doesn't win a title with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: You know, I hadn't thought of it like that, Dan,
Speaker 1: but you're probably right. It's just Kawai. Like, I don't
Speaker 1: know how many titles Kawhi has to win to get
Speaker 1: into the discussion with Lebron, and he's probably not going
Speaker 1: to get there because he's not a regular season performer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but but you know, if he's winning titles, I don't
Speaker 1: know he's It feels like though Lebron, we we've said,
Speaker 1: oh man, he's won titles with Cleveland, and he won
Speaker 1: with Miami. Enough he wins with the Lakers. But if
Speaker 1: Kawhi beats him to the punch, then it just feels
Speaker 1: like people say, yeah, so what Kawi did it before Lebron. Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: I think you're right. I think but some of this
Speaker 1: has to do with, um, your star power when just
Speaker 1: when you're talking about when you get into these kinds
Speaker 1: of discussions, and like Kawhi just isn't Lebron, He's like
Speaker 1: he's he's not He's not the same personality, which I
Speaker 1: think matters. I mean, if you look at you know,
Speaker 1: I mean Michael certainly was that and Lebron certainly was that,
Speaker 1: and then behind him, you know, Kobe was that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know what your order is, but I'm just
Speaker 1: saying that that matters and when you're when you get
Speaker 1: into these barbershop discussions, and Kawi just doesn't have that personality.
Speaker 1: He never has. But I wonder, and I brought this up,
Speaker 1: when we do those top ten list or greatest play
Speaker 1: of all time, who's moving in and let's say the
Speaker 1: next five to seven years, and who's moving out of
Speaker 1: the top ten list? You know, because Durant, Steph Curry, Kawhi,
Speaker 1: Greek Freak's not there yet to move into the top ten.
Speaker 1: But if if you see, like Steph Curry's the top
Speaker 1: ten player of all time, would you say Durant top
Speaker 1: ten player of all time? And if that's the case,
Speaker 1: is Carl Malone moving out? Is Larry Bird moving out?
Speaker 1: Because somebody's got to move out. If these guys are
Speaker 1: moving in, I mean, I think Durant's probably probably already
Speaker 1: there as far as top five. You know, I just
Speaker 1: I don't know. I get tripped up by this stuff, Danhoo, Joe,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, like I was thinking about
Speaker 1: this as you were talking. I was thinking about it
Speaker 1: from the Tiger Woods perspective. He's on my mind because
Speaker 1: he's coming back to play this week in golf in
Speaker 1: the city between our two hometowns. And you know we
Speaker 1: uh like when when Rory came out came onto tour
Speaker 1: and Jordan Spief, like those two were they were gonna
Speaker 1: be the next Tiger and neither one of them turned
Speaker 1: out to be the next Tiger. And so like we
Speaker 1: have a top five, I guess, and we have like
Speaker 1: like Lebron absolutely took the man off from from Michael.
Speaker 1: He was the heir. Uh still is um? Who who
Speaker 1: is the next one? I mean, there's gonna be one,
Speaker 1: but we have seen throughout history that they don't come
Speaker 1: automatically right away, like they aren't there immediately to take
Speaker 1: the reins. And so maybe it's the honest maybe it's
Speaker 1: Zion Um. You know, Stephen, Stephen Kevin Durant are great,
Speaker 1: but they're older players, like neither one of them have
Speaker 1: a ton of time left. And Kevin Durant is coming
Speaker 1: off that injury that you don't know how like it's
Speaker 1: the worst injury you can have in the NBA. So
Speaker 1: I mean, how good is he gonna? I'm not sure? Um,
Speaker 1: So you know, I don't know that there's much movement
Speaker 1: in the next five or seven years. Yeah, I feel
Speaker 1: like if one of those guys wins another title, especially
Speaker 1: if step moved, Steph might already be there because he's
Speaker 1: considered the best shooter of all time and you know,
Speaker 1: so that that carries a lot of cache. A. If
Speaker 1: the NBA could give Zion a buy into the dude
Speaker 1: into the first round to face the Lakers, would they
Speaker 1: do that? If they can do that privately, that they
Speaker 1: can manipulate it and have Zion face the Lakers in
Speaker 1: the opening room listen that. Yeah, they had already Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: they've already quasi done it. I mean, you know, they
Speaker 1: set up the whole NBA regular season TV schedule last
Speaker 1: summer for this season on Zion Williamson. I mean, yes,
Speaker 1: Lebron had something to do with it too, Yes, the
Speaker 1: Warriors had something to do with it too, But the
Speaker 1: whole thing was set up for him, and a week
Speaker 1: before the season starts he has surgery on his knee
Speaker 1: or he announced that that's what's going to happen. And
Speaker 1: I mean that wrecked their whole thing. Costs them millions
Speaker 1: of dollars in TV ratings. It did, and so now
Speaker 1: they set up this postseed like this restart basically with
Speaker 1: this totally unique set of rules, so Zion has a
Speaker 1: chance to get back into the playoffs. I mean, yes,
Speaker 1: they would do that. It's great to talk to you.
Speaker 1: Be safe. I'm going to go outside and get some
Speaker 1: fresh air though, Joe is that's fine, that's okay, and cry,
Speaker 1: get a bite dead or something like that. Go hang out, listen,
Speaker 1: think of me. I will thank you, Joe. We appreciate
Speaker 1: your time. Thanks for having Joe Varden. He covers the
Speaker 1: NBA for the Athletic. We'll take a break back after this.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to The Dan Patrick Show podcast. Be
Speaker 1: sure to catch us live every weekday morning nine until
Speaker 1: noon eastern six to nine Pacific on Fox Sports Radio,
Speaker 1: and you can find us on the iHeartRadio app at
Speaker 1: FSR or stream us live every day at YouTube dot
Speaker 1: com slash The Dan Patrick Show. I did not know this,
Speaker 1: but it's National French Friday, and Paulie said, if you
Speaker 1: could put toppings on French fries, chili, cheese, vinegar and salt,
Speaker 1: and of course catch up of course, or if you
Speaker 1: have an alternative that you like. Some people like other yeah,
Speaker 1: and mclovin went with mayonnaise. Yep. Yeah, this is a
Speaker 1: week after my mayonnaise hamburger thing, or two weeks after. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't get mayonnaise. Do you don't like mayonnaise on anything? No,
Speaker 1: not a club sandwich even No, No, I got a load.
Speaker 1: I'd say thirty five percent of people do not put
Speaker 1: mayo in anything. Yeah. I just don't get mayonnaise like it.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's not any real taste for me.
Speaker 1: There gonna if you're gonna add a condiment. I like
Speaker 1: something that's got a little spice to you know, something's
Speaker 1: got a little personality there, like you know, spicy mustard
Speaker 1: or something like that. Yeah. Point. I remember my pulp
Speaker 1: fiction John Travolta's character talks about being in Amsterdam and
Speaker 1: dipping French fries in mayo. When I went to amstertain
Speaker 1: years ago and people are walking around like street fairs
Speaker 1: with like a cone of French. It's with a little sidecar,
Speaker 1: which was great, but they gave you like I think
Speaker 1: it's curry catchup or curry mayo, and I try to
Speaker 1: embrace the locals and it was a curry mayo and
Speaker 1: I had it once it was fine. Once I will shoo.
Speaker 1: But that's kind of like to me, the sign of
Speaker 1: something not being good is when you have to change
Speaker 1: it to make it good. It's like mayonnaise is okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: but if you put in a little curry in it,
Speaker 1: it's really good. You're like, oh yeah, okay, now I'm
Speaker 1: into it. If it's just mayo like that? Sorry, McLevin,
Speaker 1: would you care to respond? Well, I think the reason
Speaker 1: people love mayo is it adds fat to the adding dish.
Speaker 1: It's just like, you know, it's like basically fat. So
Speaker 1: that's why it's such a popular condiment. Wait, they like
Speaker 1: it for the gratification of it's fat. Yeah, like you
Speaker 1: like eating things with fat. It's like appealing to Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're basically adding a like butter. It's like adding butters
Speaker 1: or something. You're adding a lot of richness. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: most but it's funny. Most people are not neutral Batman.
Speaker 1: It's either to hate it or they love it. You
Speaker 1: seem bland. I just have no use for it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it works really well on some things, but
Speaker 1: then on others, I just can't do it. Like like
Speaker 1: if I had a BLT right now, a little Mayo
Speaker 1: on there, that being that'd be real good. By the way,
Speaker 1: I get this text last night from Todd and he says,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can wait until Wednesday for
Speaker 1: our pizza day which we were going to test the pizzas,
Speaker 1: get four pizzas out of New Haven and a blind
Speaker 1: taste test, which I had while he was on vacation,
Speaker 1: And it came to my mind in Paully's. But Paully
Speaker 1: text first say are you paying for it? So Todd
Speaker 1: you're producing it? Are you? Are you going to be
Speaker 1: part of this? Are you just gonna sit here and
Speaker 1: have somebody feed you? I get I could pick up
Speaker 1: the bill If that's a that makes everybody happy. I
Speaker 1: don't have a problem with that. Well, Paully can be
Speaker 1: the producer and you can pick up the check and
Speaker 1: we can do that all right. That's how things get
Speaker 1: done around here, unless you wait for me to get
Speaker 1: him done. Now, are you sure? North? Thanks to orchestrate everything.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Yes, I have an alternative, Todd. I'll I
Speaker 1: and then you during the show can go out and
Speaker 1: you know your piping. It's just choice though. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I get this text and it's like I don't know
Speaker 1: if I can wait until Wednesday for Pizza's slam really
Speaker 1: exciting and I we can do it tomorrow if you
Speaker 1: want to. You know, we can order it during the
Speaker 1: show and then I could have one of the back
Speaker 1: room guys go and get it. We could have it
Speaker 1: just in time for lunch. Yeah, definitely do it for
Speaker 1: a pizza part. Yes. One of my favorite memories of
Speaker 1: the show. After the show one day, Seaton orders his
Speaker 1: own pizza, a real thin pizza. It's not a big pizza,
Speaker 1: and it was like a medium, it was not big,
Speaker 1: and he put it kind of on the area that's
Speaker 1: to the left of Seaton's desk, but it's Seaton's desk
Speaker 1: still and all. And Fritzie goes ooh and and does
Speaker 1: his hands like this, goes up, takes a piece and
Speaker 1: just wolfs it down and see he goes now, go
Speaker 1: ahead and go ahead and ahead, And for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: I thought there was a pizza party going on, and
Speaker 1: that was just one of several pizzas being brought up.
Speaker 1: I believe that Todd's direct quote was that's what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about, And I said, he took he grabbed a
Speaker 1: slice it, good bye. That's sorry, taker ahead and just
Speaker 1: eat my lunch. It's fine, that's all right. You're an
Speaker 1: original man, That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: left him over a couple of life I don't have
Speaker 1: to pay for anything. Perfect. One hour left to go
Speaker 1: here Dan and the Dang Dan Patrick Show