Speaker 1: Welcome to the Best of the Week for What's Right
Speaker 1: with Nick Right the best takes and moments from this
Speaker 1: week on the show. Enjoy Demonse Divisional Round weekend. We're
Speaker 1: gonna start with the first game of the weekend. Bill's Broncos.
Speaker 1: Let's get to.
Speaker 2: It, big stuff. So the Broncos ended the Bills season
Speaker 2: on Saturday, got Sean McDermott fired, so they obviously lost
Speaker 2: this game. Josh Allen had four turnovers. Do you think
Speaker 2: that the team built around him kind of failed Josh Allen?
Speaker 2: Or do you think that Josh Allen failed the Bills
Speaker 2: with his turnovers?
Speaker 1: Defending League MVP had four turnovers in a playoff game,
Speaker 1: including one of the most cartoonish fumbles in the history
Speaker 1: of the league. That happened. Okay, before I even get
Speaker 1: in that that is you don't have to be a
Speaker 1: die hard sports fan to understand. Oh, that's that's probably
Speaker 1: why they lost. Yeah, before I get to that piece
Speaker 1: of it, let me say this on the front end, sincerely,
Speaker 1: And I know Broncos fans aren't gonna want to hear
Speaker 1: this from me, and they might say I'm full of shit. Whatever,
Speaker 1: I can't remember a more gutting postseason injury than the
Speaker 1: one the Broncos suffered to have won the game. Be
Speaker 1: celebrating that you're going to the conference championship game at home,
Speaker 1: have beaten Josh Allen and have watched bow Nicks play
Speaker 1: one of in my opinion, best games of his life,
Speaker 1: and two separate times come through for you in just
Speaker 1: huge spots before the half to put the Bills on tilt,
Speaker 1: which it's ten to ten with thirty seconds left, and
Speaker 1: Josh Allen in the first half, Josh Allen has zero turnovers,
Speaker 1: the Bills are feeling fine. Bo Nix hits that deep
Speaker 1: bomb to the front corner of the end zone to
Speaker 1: put the Bills on their back foot, and then late
Speaker 1: in the game, down four drives them down, puts them
Speaker 1: ahead with a minute left. Like whatever skepticism I've had
Speaker 1: about your quarterback, he was nails on Saturday afternoon. However
Speaker 1: annoying I have found Sean Payton to be. He called
Speaker 1: a hell of a game, and you're celebrating, You're feeling great,
Speaker 1: you really think you can win the Super Bowl, and
Speaker 1: then you find out on a somewhat nothing play that
Speaker 1: no one even noticed your quarterback breaks his an broke
Speaker 1: his ankle and kneeds surgery. It's just a stomach punch
Speaker 1: of all stomach punches. And I do I legitimate again,
Speaker 1: Broncos fans, You're allowed to hate me. It's fine. I
Speaker 1: legitimately feel sick for you, guys, and I don't it obviously.
Speaker 1: It's in the same bucket as Haliburton Game seven and
Speaker 1: the one you kind of because he had been dealing
Speaker 1: with an injury, that kind of specter loomed. This was
Speaker 1: just so out of nowhere. I don't even know now.
Speaker 1: On the bright side, it shouldn't impact your next season
Speaker 1: at all, but this is who knows what next season's
Speaker 1: gonna be. So Broncos, I feel sick for you, sincerely,
Speaker 1: and you guys have proven me wrong all you and
Speaker 1: I just and bow. If Bo's gonna have a come
Speaker 1: back down to Earth moment, it ain't gonna be this season.
Speaker 1: Because he ended last season, or he ended that, he
Speaker 1: ended this season, pardon me. With probably the best game
Speaker 1: of his career, all things considered, and in my favorite
Speaker 1: football weekend of the year with Drake May and Matt
Speaker 1: Stafford and Josh Allen and c. J. Stroud and Sam Darnold,
Speaker 1: all those guys playing bo Knicks played the best game.
Speaker 1: It just is what it is. And I wonder why
Speaker 1: that version of commentary I just did about bow Knicks
Speaker 1: so many folks have trouble doing in the other direction.
Speaker 1: It's one thing to say this guy, this team that
Speaker 1: I have always been down on, or I have always doubted,
Speaker 1: he with his play proved me wrong. It does feel
Speaker 1: like people are have an easier time doing that leap
Speaker 1: than the opposite one, which is this guy, this team,
Speaker 1: this player that I have elevated beyond any realistic place
Speaker 1: that is justifiable. His play proved me wrong. And instead
Speaker 1: of being able to do that after Josh Allen's four
Speaker 1: turnover playoff game, folks are just going out making a
Speaker 1: fools of themselves. So I understand the Bills would not
Speaker 1: have been there without Josh Allen. No shit. That is
Speaker 1: that If the standard is standard for criticism is if
Speaker 1: a guy is the biggest reason a team got to
Speaker 1: a point, then criticizing his play it at that point
Speaker 1: is unfair. Then I guess we can never criticize any
Speaker 1: NBA superstar for a playoff performance ever, because every single
Speaker 1: NBA superstar is the reason their team gets to the postseason.
Speaker 1: And so then I guess if you're James harden It,
Speaker 1: you're just an asshole if you're like he cost his
Speaker 1: team because the thirty five IQ responses, well, would they
Speaker 1: have been there without him? No, they wouldn't have. So
Speaker 1: I guess it's all it's all reputational free rolls. It
Speaker 1: just doesn't And here this is. It is not demons,
Speaker 1: it's not complicated. The analysis of Bill's Broncos, it's really.
Speaker 2: Not Josh Allen.
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, go ahead, he pooped the bed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he definitely. He messed up pretty badly. I mean
Speaker 2: it's uh, it's four turnovers. That's that's a lot. I
Speaker 2: was surprised when Germany got fired, to be honest, I mean,
Speaker 2: I know that is go ahead. No, I just know
Speaker 2: that this is their year, and you know, if they
Speaker 2: lost to the Broncos or if they just lost in
Speaker 2: this playoff front, it was gonna look bad. But in
Speaker 2: that instant and where it was four turnovers, I just
Speaker 2: felt like they might have let it ride a little bit.
Speaker 1: Uh. But yeah, I thought so too. Maybe and we'll
Speaker 1: get to the McDermott piece. But guys, I'm listening and
Speaker 1: I DMed Bill about this Bill Barnwell. I'm listening to
Speaker 1: Barnwell this morning. Who you guys know, I have as
Speaker 1: much respect for his football opinions as anyone in the world.
Speaker 1: And I'm stunned because he's talking about how he thought
Speaker 1: McDermott screwed up by not really impressing upon Josh Allen
Speaker 1: when they got the ball back with twenty seconds left,
Speaker 1: that he can't do something dumb. And Bill said, and
Speaker 1: I quote, you have to be aware you have a
Speaker 1: lunaticket quarterback and it the agency removal from the soon
Speaker 1: to be thirty year old defending league MVP, like, well,
Speaker 1: we can't try to go get points here at the
Speaker 1: end of the half because the guy might run for
Speaker 1: no reason. By the way, the scramble was, even if
Speaker 1: he hadn't been sacked, the scramble was a dumb play.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, even if he hadn't fumbled, because they had
Speaker 1: no timeouts, like you weren't gonna it was just a
Speaker 1: dead play the moment you don't throw the ball, but
Speaker 1: that guy might just hold the ball like a loaf
Speaker 1: of bread and lose the football. You just gotta know that. Okay.
Speaker 1: That so there's four turnovers right. The first one is
Speaker 1: right before the end of the half. It's the worst
Speaker 1: fumble of the NFL season. The second one is right
Speaker 1: after the half. It's a blind side hit him. You'd
Speaker 1: like him to hold onto the ball, but a lot
Speaker 1: of quarterbacks have problems holding onto the ball this weekend.
Speaker 1: You want to give him a slight pass on that,
Speaker 1: so be it. The third one is right after bo
Speaker 1: Nicks makes his only mistake. You go for a kill
Speaker 1: shot you don't need to, in a decent down and
Speaker 1: distance on the fringe of field goal range, and you
Speaker 1: throw a bad pass. The fourth one is the allegedly
Speaker 1: controversial interception. More on that in a minute. And in
Speaker 1: between the third and the fourth, you had two passes.
Speaker 1: One was easy, one was hard that would have won
Speaker 1: the game. You had Khalil Shakir on a wide receiver
Speaker 1: screen that I know he would have scored a touchdown
Speaker 1: on because he did score a touchdown on it. But
Speaker 1: then we saw you one hopped it to him. And
Speaker 1: then what would have been a tough pass to Dawson
Speaker 1: Knox in the waning seconds that you missed. Now is
Speaker 1: are is that asking a lot of the quarterback? Not
Speaker 1: really but is it certainly holding him to a highest
Speaker 1: standard shore. But the reason this is fair, and the
Speaker 1: reason some of the Josh Allen Media com and terry
Speaker 1: is so maddening, is because folks can't help themselves. But
Speaker 1: one up the hyperbole. It's no longer enough to say
Speaker 1: I think he might, even though he's never been to
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl. And even though three hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: days ago he for the fourth time in the playoffs
Speaker 1: shared a field with Patrick Mahomes and for the fourth
Speaker 1: time was outplayed and lost. Even though those that happened,
Speaker 1: I think he might be the best quarterback in the league.
Speaker 1: That's not enough. And even though two of his contemporaries
Speaker 1: have more league MVPs than him during his during this
Speaker 1: run in Patrick and Lamar, and those same two guys
Speaker 1: have more First Team All Pros than him in this run.
Speaker 1: And another one of his contemporaries has been to a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl and Burrow forget Patrick going to five and
Speaker 1: winning three, even though all those things are the case,
Speaker 1: calling him hands down the best player in the league,
Speaker 1: that's not enough either. And in the last cup few months,
Speaker 1: and this is not a straw man, and this is
Speaker 1: from not only people I like but one of them.
Speaker 1: My dearest friend and boss at the volume Coward call
Speaker 1: him the most talented player ever, ever, the most talented
Speaker 1: quarterback ever. Greeny yesterday, yesterday, after the four turnover game,
Speaker 1: said does as a matter of fact, no one has
Speaker 1: ever played the position better. If that is the way
Speaker 1: he has discussed, then you can't also do a blame
Speaker 1: pie blaming McDermott and Brandon Bean and Brandon Cooks and
Speaker 1: the poor left guard who didn't fall on Allan's fumble
Speaker 1: when we're discussing them losing a playoff game when he
Speaker 1: had four turnovers. He's the only guy in the league
Speaker 1: that when they win, he's an all time legend, and
Speaker 1: when they lose, even when it's because of his mistakes,
Speaker 1: it's got to be someone else's fault. You are not.
Speaker 1: It is not a tenable sports opinionist position to continually
Speaker 1: call a player better than historic legends and contemporaries that
Speaker 1: have more pelps on the wall by a wide margin,
Speaker 1: and then give him a full on pass for a playoff.
Speaker 2: Meltdown, and he's on the record saying that he feels
Speaker 2: like it. Let his team do well.
Speaker 1: That's the other thing. Josh Allen is more is more
Speaker 1: of a realist about what happened than his media sickophants.
Speaker 1: Josh Allen was in tears. You know why because he
Speaker 1: is the best player on the team. Obviously, he is
Speaker 1: their leader, he is the reason they're there, and he
Speaker 1: blew it. That's okay, It's sports, And it wouldn't be
Speaker 1: that big of a deal if I didn't have to
Speaker 1: listen to people the day after it happens still say
Speaker 1: he's the no one's ever played the position better? Are
Speaker 1: you fucking kidding me? Like, take my homes out of it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I
Speaker 1: think Tom Brady played the position better than Josh Allen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like I and so I there is an element of demons.
Speaker 1: Last week there was a little medium or little mini
Speaker 1: media and we talked about it, firestorm about Lynn Jones,
Speaker 1: the older Black Lady. Oh yeah, he said to Liam Cohen, like,
Speaker 1: hold your head up high. Ye all these folks were like,
Speaker 1: once you turn, once you become media, you don't root anymore.
Speaker 1: You don't do that, And then those same people are
Speaker 1: sending tweets. My heart breaks for Josh Allen. He does
Speaker 1: why what like I don't mean why like that. Like
Speaker 1: I I understand feeling empathy for a person that's a
Speaker 1: great player that you feel like can't get over the hump.
Speaker 1: I understand that, but the he doesn't. You don't think CJ.
Speaker 1: Stroud feels like shit this weekend.
Speaker 2: I you don't think the guy gets stopped so many times.
Speaker 2: I also think people just get caught up with the
Speaker 2: physicals of Josh Allen. He's perfect, Like he's got the
Speaker 2: big arm, he could run around. He's a big dude.
Speaker 2: But yeah, he obviously is. He is.
Speaker 1: Part of being an all time great is being able
Speaker 1: to harness your greatest attributes while minimizing the risk associated
Speaker 1: with them. And I have watched the he has been incredible.
Speaker 1: That last year's playoff game against Kansas City he fumbled
Speaker 1: three times. They recovered all of them. The year before
Speaker 1: the playoff game against Kansas City, on what they thought
Speaker 1: was gonna be the game time drive, he fumbled running
Speaker 1: the around like he did at midfield near halftime. It
Speaker 1: should have been scooped and scored by the Chiefs. One
Speaker 1: of his teammates fell on it after the Chiefs kicked it.
Speaker 1: He's loose with the ball and when he switches his
Speaker 1: style up to not be loose with the ball, his
Speaker 1: gaudy stats go down. That's when his passing yardage numbers
Speaker 1: go down. And all he has not yet shown the
Speaker 1: ability to have the type of season where you get
Speaker 1: the crazy gaudy numbers without the crazy turnovers, which is fine.
Speaker 1: I still think he's the second best quarterback in the league.
Speaker 1: But you gotta call a spade a spade on a
Speaker 1: four turnover playoff game, and I he was fine with it,
Speaker 1: he knew he blew it. And then the well, get
Speaker 1: to the follow ups because there's a lot about the
Speaker 1: calls and the whining and all of it, so you
Speaker 1: can go to all this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So after the game, Josh Allen, Dion Dawkins, and
Speaker 2: Randon Cooks were all very emotional in their interviews and crying.
Speaker 2: How do you feel about players crying after a round
Speaker 2: two exits?
Speaker 1: So I think a couple things. Listen, I I it
Speaker 1: does now seem like the Bills were gonna fire McDermott
Speaker 1: if they didn't make the Super Bowl. If they hadn't
Speaker 1: made that decision after seeing how emotional the players were,
Speaker 1: I would have felt like, sorry, Sean, even if it's
Speaker 1: not your fault. We have to we can't just run
Speaker 1: this back. This is a this is a scarred team.
Speaker 1: And the demonse, why do you think the Bills were
Speaker 1: so devastated about this loss in this postseason because I
Speaker 1: have a theory.
Speaker 2: Well, this is their this was their this was their
Speaker 2: shot this year. Like I just feel like this was
Speaker 2: because nobody else's I mean, you're you got Drake May,
Speaker 2: you got all the I mean, you just got Matt Stafford, Mahomes, Burrow,
Speaker 2: uh At, you know, Lamar, They're all gone.
Speaker 1: It's so I think they clearly viewed it as the
Speaker 1: Chiefs aren't there and this is our moment. And that's
Speaker 1: and by the way, certainly the media after they reacted
Speaker 1: to the McDermott firing kept bringing up that this was
Speaker 1: the moment where the Chiefs aren't there and this is
Speaker 1: the other thing, if I'm being transparent here, that frustrates
Speaker 1: me about the just blowing past like Josh past Patrick
Speaker 1: in this quarterback hierarchy, folks simultaneously have this opinion, Josh
Speaker 1: is clearly the best quarterback in the league. He's better
Speaker 1: than Mahomes. He's been better than Mahomes the last few years.
Speaker 1: They believe that while simultaneously believing this was such a
Speaker 1: massive missed opportunity for the Buffalo Bills because they finally
Speaker 1: would have been able to get to a super Bowl
Speaker 1: without actually having to beat Patrick Mahomes like that it was.
Speaker 1: I think they did view it as the path is clear,
Speaker 1: and I don't think they viewed it as the path
Speaker 1: was clear because Lamar wasn't there, because Josh has played
Speaker 1: Lamar twice in the playoffs and beat them both. I
Speaker 1: don't think they viewed as the path that's clear because
Speaker 1: Burrow's not there, because Burrow only been there the last
Speaker 1: three years. I think they viewed as the path that's
Speaker 1: clear because Patrick's not there and they didn't get there.
Speaker 1: The crying was interesting to me because I just don't
Speaker 1: remember the last Like I felt like Cam cried after
Speaker 1: the super Bowl and people killed him for it. This
Speaker 1: is a divisional round game. But they really thought they
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Speaker 1: All right, demons, I threw out a trade on TV yesterday.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's dumb. Seems like I'm in the
Speaker 1: minority and not thinking my own trade idea is dumb.
Speaker 1: Go ahead and let's talk it through.
Speaker 2: All right. So we're running of games to talk about.
Speaker 2: So it's rumors slash trade talk time of the year.
Speaker 2: People are throwing around trades and rumors. A trade or
Speaker 2: rumor that you co signed was Lamar for Max Crosby
Speaker 2: and the number one pick, which are probably Bendoza to
Speaker 2: the Raiders.
Speaker 1: Yeah so no, well you might just become a Raider fan.
Speaker 1: You can just you can just follow Lamar.
Speaker 2: But yeah, Lamar and genty would be pretty cool.
Speaker 1: So here's the deal. I I don't I'm not saying this,
Speaker 1: and I didn't just create this out of thin air.
Speaker 1: The ESPN did like bold predictions for the offseason, and
Speaker 1: one of them was could Tom Brady and the Raiders
Speaker 1: make a play for Lamar Jackson. I don't know that.
Speaker 1: I think the Raiders, after watching them and believing in
Speaker 1: them this year, are you know, close enough to make
Speaker 1: a move even for Lamar Jackson. However, I am more
Speaker 1: interested in this from the raven side of it, And
Speaker 1: I don't know who the next Ravens head coach is
Speaker 1: going to be, but whomever it is, I think in
Speaker 1: the universe where this was available, you get the equivalent
Speaker 1: I believe of demand's a five first round picks, the
Speaker 1: equivalent of five first round picks for Lamar, and by
Speaker 1: that I mean Max Crosby on the open market is
Speaker 1: worth two firsts. And we know the number one pick,
Speaker 1: given the Bryce Young trade, it's equivalent, the equivalent that
Speaker 1: it's worth is a little more than three, you know,
Speaker 1: middle average first round picks. I know number one pick
Speaker 1: is literally one first round pick, but it's in order
Speaker 1: to get it you would have to trade like the
Speaker 1: fifteenth pick and to future first to move up them.
Speaker 1: So this is the equivalent of you know, call it
Speaker 1: five first round picks. And you would not be like,
Speaker 1: all right, well now we're in the quarterback wilderness, because
Speaker 1: now you might end up being if Mendoza is not
Speaker 1: the guy. But you're not trading for the number one
Speaker 1: overall pick blind saying, you know, or trading for a
Speaker 1: future year pick when you don't know who the players
Speaker 1: are that you'd be taking. You would know you are
Speaker 1: taking Fernando Mendoza. And the point that the reason I
Speaker 1: find this interesting from the Ravens perspective, this theoretical fake
Speaker 1: trade that ESPN alluded to it. And then I put
Speaker 1: a fine tooth comb on or a finer point on,
Speaker 1: I should say, I do think that it is a
Speaker 1: legitimate discussion. What is a better path to winning a
Speaker 1: championship young quarterback on a rookie scale plus Max Crosby
Speaker 1: plus the extra forty some million dollars of cap space
Speaker 1: to build out the rest of the roster, or Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: who will enter next year undoubtedly as the highest paid
Speaker 1: player in the league on a sixty plus million dollar
Speaker 1: a year contract. And it is worth noting the two
Speaker 1: Super Bowls the Ravens have won, they won with cheap
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and stacked rosters. The Denver Broncos are attempting this
Speaker 1: right now. I know bo Nix is now out, but
Speaker 1: young quarterback, all this talent around him. The Patriots, I,
Speaker 1: you know, don't think they actually have all that much
Speaker 1: talent around them. I think what the job May and
Speaker 1: vrabil have done's unbelievable. But they spent money this offseason.
Speaker 1: They have more money to spend this next offseason. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm not breaking news that good young, cheap quarterback who
Speaker 1: gives you franchise quarterback play on rookie quarterback salary at
Speaker 1: a bunch of pieces has been a very successful model.
Speaker 1: And then when you add to it what I think
Speaker 1: could be some squeamishness for the Ravens of a brand
Speaker 1: new contract for Lamar after at the very least we
Speaker 1: can call it an injury riddled year. I think it's
Speaker 1: worth a real discussion, and it is. I also want
Speaker 1: to make this part clear. This is not an insult
Speaker 1: to Lamar, because if I were the Raiders, I would
Speaker 1: not like Let let me again, this is we're playing
Speaker 1: in double hypothetical worlds here. But let's say the Raiders
Speaker 1: offered this to the Ravens, Max Crosby and the number
Speaker 1: one pick for Lamar and the rap and the Ravens
Speaker 1: said no, thank you. And then the Bengals heard it
Speaker 1: had been offered and they called the Raiders and they said,
Speaker 1: we'll take it for Joe Burrow. If I'm the Raiders,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't do that deal. I don't think Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: is worth the number one overall pick plus Max Crosby,
Speaker 1: because even with Lamar uh having an injury riddled year, Joe,
Speaker 1: to me is an even bigger injury risk than Lamar,
Speaker 1: and Joe has not shown consistent regular season first team
Speaker 1: all pro level play, the way Joe has one year
Speaker 1: like that in his career, the way Lamar has. So
Speaker 1: it is there are only three veteran quarterbacks in the
Speaker 1: league that if I were the Raiders, I would offer
Speaker 1: this package up for Lamar, Josh and Patrick. Obviously the
Speaker 1: Chiefs and the Bills. There's nothing you could offer those
Speaker 1: teams to get them to trade Josh or Patrick. The Ravens,
Speaker 1: given how this last year went, the new head coach
Speaker 1: Lamar's pending contract situation, I just wonder if the door
Speaker 1: is creaked open to the point of if the Ravens
Speaker 1: derive considering this, why would they have fired Harball Again?
Speaker 1: Now we're in like quadruple hypotheticals. What I will tell
Speaker 1: you is this they if they wanted the Hardball Lamar relationship,
Speaker 1: that partnership could not continue. And had they kept Harball,
Speaker 1: then Lamar really has a hammer because he also does
Speaker 1: have a no trade clause in his deal. So you
Speaker 1: might say, Nick, you're talking about the trade, he has
Speaker 1: no trade clause. Players again can wave those and can
Speaker 1: make it, can decide, you know, kind of steer where
Speaker 1: they want to go potentially because of it. I just
Speaker 1: think it is not. I think the Lamar contract is
Speaker 1: going to be a big enough story this offseason that
Speaker 1: this is of all the fake trades that exist to Monsey,
Speaker 1: this is not total whole cloth like that. I I
Speaker 1: do think that there will be some of that discussion
Speaker 1: over the off season. So you're I'm not predicting it's
Speaker 1: going to happen.
Speaker 2: Crosby Mendoza and no more picks or like that's it
Speaker 2: for no, what I'm saying the first round picks right
Speaker 2: with no.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, what I'm I'm what I'm saying is
Speaker 1: the number one overall pick. To acquire that by itself
Speaker 1: usually takes three first round picks, and to acquire Max
Speaker 1: Crosby would take two first round picks. So I'm saying
Speaker 1: this is the equivalent in value of five first round picks.
Speaker 1: But the trade would be essentially Fernando Mendoza and Max
Speaker 1: Crosby for Lamar Ja. Yeah, and and so you're out
Speaker 1: on it most.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I I mean if it were multiple, I
Speaker 2: thought it was going to be multiple. I see what
Speaker 2: you're saying in it being multiple first to equal the
Speaker 2: number one pick of the draft. But yeah, but yeah, no,
Speaker 2: that's not enough. I need some more retooling if we're
Speaker 2: getting rid of Lamar.
Speaker 1: But so well, that's the thing is this, I don't
Speaker 1: think and by the way, you.
Speaker 2: Get all the space, get all the money off of
Speaker 2: Lamar's contract.
Speaker 1: Right And it wouldn't just be here's the other thing.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't be doing this being like all right, we're rebuilding.
Speaker 1: You'd be doing it saying we have we saw.
Speaker 2: The windows right now.
Speaker 1: The Commanders, the Patriots, the Bears, and the Broncos in
Speaker 1: the last two years have all made the divisional rounder
Speaker 1: further with a quarterback that was either a rookie or
Speaker 1: in his second year like we are. We are going
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Speaker 1: course do apply. All right, I want to discuss this
Speaker 1: Baxter Holmes Lakers Genie Buss Lebron story. You guys tell
Speaker 1: me the I don't mind demand's background being off. We
Speaker 1: can fix that later there, Oh it's back, look at that.
Speaker 1: Go ahead.
Speaker 2: So yesterday Backster Holmes of ESPN dropped a story about
Speaker 2: the sale of the Lakers and the piece they also
Speaker 2: just us how Genie Buss grew frustrated with Lebron and
Speaker 2: didn't even want to sign him to a new contract
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four, even talked about shipping them off
Speaker 2: to the Clippers. What do you make of all this?
Speaker 1: Okay, so a couple and Genie Busses today came out
Speaker 1: and you know, basically refuted some of this. Let me
Speaker 1: say this on the front end. The thrust of this
Speaker 1: story is not about Lebron and everyone should read the story.
Speaker 1: It is superb reporting by a superb reporter in Baxter
Speaker 1: Holmes who does great work, really great work for ESPN,
Speaker 1: and you know it is very long and very good
Speaker 1: about the bus family and the sale of the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Okay that if I were doing Los Angeles talk radio,
Speaker 1: that would be one of them, the major topic of
Speaker 1: the day on this platform. I don't know how many
Speaker 1: people care about the palace intrigue of the Bus family
Speaker 1: sale of the Lakers. So I'm going to focus on
Speaker 1: the Lebron piece of it because I am interested in that.
Speaker 1: But I again, I just want to give credit to
Speaker 1: the story and a Baxter and say on the front end,
Speaker 1: this is not the general plot point of the story.
Speaker 1: But I'm going to read you the Lebron section and
Speaker 1: then I'm going to briefly explain why it enrages me
Speaker 1: from Baxterome's story, team sources told ESPN she even began
Speaker 1: to turn against the Lakers star player Lebron James. Jeanie
Speaker 1: privately grumbled, people close to the team say about what
Speaker 1: she felt was James's eult sized ego and the overt
Speaker 1: control that he and Clutch Sports, which represents both James
Speaker 1: and Davis, exerted over the organization. She didn't like that
Speaker 1: James was considered a savior for a floundering franchise when
Speaker 1: he arrived in twenty eighteen, and that it was he
Speaker 1: who chose the Lakers rather than the team's leadership, receiving
Speaker 1: praise for landing him. More on that in a moment.
Speaker 1: Team's sources have been adamant for years that James's camp
Speaker 1: in four in the Lakers as early as twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: that he was coming to join them when he became
Speaker 1: a free agent the following year. The distance between Jeanie
Speaker 1: and James widened after the Lakers traded for Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: in July of twenty twenty one. The team had made
Speaker 1: the trade an effort to appease James, but the acquisition
Speaker 1: backfired in catastrophic fashion. LA went thirty three and forty nine,
Speaker 1: missed the playoffs, and James seemed to wash his hands
Speaker 1: of his role in the acquisition. Jeanie privately bristled about
Speaker 1: what she felt was his lack of accountability and the
Speaker 1: way James would shift blame onto others after the Westbrook trade,
Speaker 1: people said in twenty twenty two. In the aftermath of
Speaker 1: the Westbrook trade, multiple people said Genie privately mused about
Speaker 1: not giving James a contract extension. Even about trading James
Speaker 1: with the Clippers floated as a possibility. This was before
Speaker 1: James received a contract extension with a no trade clause
Speaker 1: for two years, one hundred and four million dollars, and
Speaker 1: when the Lakers drafted James's son, Bronnie, with a fifty
Speaker 1: to fifth pick, Genie privately remarked that James should be
Speaker 1: grateful for such a gesture, but she felt he wasn't.
Speaker 1: That summer she discussed a new contract for James, Genie
Speaker 1: seemsore resigned to the fact that they'd have to do it,
Speaker 1: almost begrudgingly accepting they'd take a massive pr hit by
Speaker 1: not doing so. Okay, the reason that's the piece, and
Speaker 1: now this is me not reading the pieces, stalky. The
Speaker 1: reason Lebron James considered himself a savior for a floundering
Speaker 1: franchise was simply because he was a savior for a
Speaker 1: floundering franchise. It's not complicated, it's not weird, it's not
Speaker 1: hard to fucking parse. The reason Lebron considered the Lakers
Speaker 1: a floundering franchise is because before he got there, they
Speaker 1: were a floundering franchise, and the reason he considered himself
Speaker 1: a savior was because within two years of getting there,
Speaker 1: they won the championship. The Los Angeles Lakers had never
Speaker 1: been bad back to Minneapolis demanse their second year in
Speaker 1: existence in the league. Actually, no, pardon me, their first
Speaker 1: year in existence, when they went from the Detroit Gyms
Speaker 1: who were bad, to the Minneapolis Lakers with George Mikeen,
Speaker 1: they won the championship. They then won a bunch more
Speaker 1: championships in the fifties. Then in the sixties they went
Speaker 1: to the finals almost every year, lost to the Celtics
Speaker 1: a bunch. Then in the seventies they got Kareem abdul
Speaker 1: Jabbar and then in the eighties were the most successful
Speaker 1: team in the NBA. Then in the nineties they had
Speaker 1: their one tiny downturn, which was a thirty three win
Speaker 1: team that missed the playoffs. And shortly thereafter they got
Speaker 1: Shaquille O'Neill and drafted Kobe Bryan or traded for him,
Speaker 1: and they were awesome again, the Los Angeles Lakers. Giving
Speaker 1: the full context here prior to the twenty tens demonse,
Speaker 1: here is the full list of years they were not
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, either Minneapolis or Los Angeles nineteen fifty eight, Okay,
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five and seventy six, that's when they traded
Speaker 1: for Kareem nineteen ninety four and two thousand and five.
Speaker 1: That's the list. From the fifties until the twenty tens,
Speaker 1: they had always been excellent Florishi and then in the
Speaker 1: five years before Lebron got there, they missed the playoffs
Speaker 1: five times and won the following number of games twenty seven,
Speaker 1: twenty one, seventeen, twenty six, thirty five. So all of
Speaker 1: Lakers history five years missed the playoffs from Minneapolis to
Speaker 1: La across Damn near sixty five years. And then the
Speaker 1: five years before Lebron got there, they missed the playoffs
Speaker 1: five times. Their finishes in the Western Conference again fifteen
Speaker 1: teams in the Western Conference the five years before Lebron
Speaker 1: got there fourteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, fourteenth, eleventh, they were arguably
Speaker 1: the worst team in basketball for a half decade. That
Speaker 1: is a floundering franchise that was saved one. Some people
Speaker 1: think that if you save something or someone, you might
Speaker 1: consider yourself a savior. By Lebron James wanting to move
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles, not by Rob Bolenka or Jeanie Buss's
Speaker 1: fancy PowerPoint presentation. So that is what happened. Now, does
Speaker 1: Lebron have an outsized ego? I've heard that, does Clutch
Speaker 1: sports exhibit a lot of influence over the Lakers? Seems
Speaker 1: to be. Did Lebron James want Russell Westbrook? Yes? Did
Speaker 1: that work out? No? Well, Lebron James wanted a bunch
Speaker 1: of things. Lebron James wanted Tyloo to be his coach.
Speaker 1: They said to that. Lebron James wanted Paul George on
Speaker 1: the Lakers. That didn't happen, Lebron. There's plenty of things
Speaker 1: Lebron wanted they didn't do, and plenty of things Lebron
Speaker 1: wanted they did do. The Lakers choosing to say yes
Speaker 1: to the request for Russell Westbrook because the Lakers brand
Speaker 1: is Stars when they had said no to other things
Speaker 1: and yes to other things, and then acting like Lebron
Speaker 1: is the one who called it into the league office
Speaker 1: and washing their hands of it entirely, but then also
Speaker 1: whining about Lebron helping them get Anthony Davis, which then
Speaker 1: allowed them to get Luke ad Ancic and win a
Speaker 1: championship is laughable and complaining to people a year after
Speaker 1: the guy wins finals MVP for you when you win
Speaker 1: a championship that you don't want to give him a
Speaker 1: contract extension and you might actually trade him only to
Speaker 1: give him a two year max contract extension with a
Speaker 1: no trade clause is laughable. Doctor Jerry Buss was one
Speaker 1: of the greatest owners in the history of pro basketball.
Speaker 1: Jeenie Buss, by all accounts, is an incredibly nice person
Speaker 1: who has a lot of friends in the media. The
Speaker 1: new owners of the Lakers are going to get the
Speaker 1: team back on the track it had been for doctor
Speaker 1: Jerry Buss's entire tenure, and the track that it had
Speaker 1: fallen off of entirely until Lebron James came to Los
Speaker 1: Angeles and saved the damned team