The volume. The Colin Coward Podcast presented by FanDuel Sports Book. No better place to make every moment more than with Fan Duel Basketball Football. They have awesome new and existing user promotions. It's easy to use, it's safe and secure. You can get your winnings back in two hours. My favorite the same game parlays. You can bet five or ten bucks in one, one hundred and fifty bucks or more. If you are new, just download the FanDuel Sportsbook app.
Get started now. Sign up promo code Colin so they know we and I sent you. The Colin Coward Podcast presented by the Fan Duel Sports Book. Hi everybody, and welcome into the Monday Morning Podcast. Well, well, well we have quite a news bomb to drop. Tom Brady's coming back. So Nick Wright is my guest today. I interviewed him before this news came down. I'm going to keep it in the interview because I suspected Tom had about five percent chance to return, and I'm going to discuss it
and you'll see Nick's reaction. But I'm not going to edit it out. I don't like to edit out stuff if I don't have to. I'm going to keep it in during the Nick write interview and you'll hear it in about fifteen minutes. So let's start with this. I have gone over this two or three times on my national radio and TV shows. Days are very long. You sleep seven I sleep seven hours a day. I work
out for an hour, I eat for an hour. I hang out with my wife, I read, I listen to music, I take naps, and that's about eighteen and a half hours. I've got seven left. And I had said this with Tom Brady. He's going to hang out with his kids. But if your kids have a life, they don't want to hang out with their mid forty year old dad all the time. I got kids. My daughter's twenty one, she lives, you know in Hollywood. Honey, you want to go for lunch. She's got like seven options. She didn't
even call me back half the time. She shouldn't. She has a life. My son, he's got friends. You know. Once kids get the thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years old, it's not that they don't love dad. They got options. And Gizelle isn't some stay at home mom. She's a supermodel with a eight nine figure annual income. She's plenty busy. So my takeaway on Brady was he's usually he has you know, his convictions. But I predicted after the season ended,
he was very ambiguous. I thought there was a chance he retired, and then when he retired, I thought, I'll take him in his word, but I think there's a chance he comes back. It's a small chance. And I think Tom has never really given himself six weeks off, I mean, really cleared his head, go on a vacation, don't take a football, no playbook. He'd never done that
in the last twenty years. And I think Tom said, all right, I'm gonna have a couple of beers, eat some cheesecake, give myself six weeks with the family, and came to the conclusion because he still has his health and he's still an MVP level quarterback. This year he came to the conclusion that I'm really good at football. There's a lot of hours in these days. I'm gonna fill it playing football. My kids are more grown, my wife's busy. What are you gonna do backgammon with neighbors.
That's not Tom. Tom is an aspirational guy. I talk about this. I'm certainly not anything like a superstar athlete. I talked to my wife all the time about this. If you're compensated at a very high level and you're doing something you really love and you're still pretty good at it, what are you quitting to I understand people who work in factories or have to lift things for a living, or are in dangerous jobs firemen, police officers, hey man, get out take the pension. Totally understand it.
But glamour jobs right like musicians, athletes, actors, jobs that are in entertainment or news. There's a reason these reporters and these artists are still traveling. Yeah, believe it or not, Ario Speedwagon performed this weekend. Why they were paid a lot. It's fun playing music and being adored by fans. I get it. Tom Brady gave it six seven, eight weeks. He'd never done that before, and he came to the conclusion that a lot of really willful aspirational people do.
I'm bored. I mean, Tom is mister gold setter, mister achievement. It is hard to go from zero to sixty for twenty years and then back to zero and again. I think there's a lot of professional careers that you know. I had a friend years ago who was an oncologist, you know, a cancer doctor twenty five years. Psychologically, he was beat up, he was done, he was tired. He'd seen death for two and a half decades. It was time. That's different than football. And Tom's done a remarkable job
to stay engaged with younger teammates. And let's be honest about this. He was good this year and his only loss at the end of the year was to the Rams, who won the Super Bowl. The loser in this, my first thought, the loser in this is Aaron Rodgers because all these teams are getting better, all these acquisitions, and what did Green Bay do this offseason? Just pay Aaron Rodgers more. That's how they improved. They paid Aaron Rodgers more. So when Tom retired, one of the things I think
I said it on the podcast. I definitely said it before the end of the season. I said, man, I'd have a hard time retiring if I was Tom. Look at the NFC and this was before Russell Wilson left. But Trey Lance, we don't know if it's going to work. Matt Stafford McVay, can they repeat, I mean, Dak Cowboys are Marii Cooper's gone. Dak's never been good without Amari. The NFC is wide open. To me, Rams are the
best teams. Tom's back with Tampa second best roster. San Francisco, if Trey Lance can play, is probably my third pick. And then Green Bay kind of falls in that. Dallas Arizona good enough to beat anybody, not good enough to dominate top teams. So the winner in this Fox TV gets a great quarterback in the NFC, the winner all football fans. The loser, you know, potentially McVay, Kyle Shanahan, Aaron Rodgers. But the roadblocks are few and far between in the NFC. The bottom of it right now is
a mess. I was talking to a friend about this. He's a New Yorker, and I said, this league's getting like NBA top heavy. I said, name the twelve best players between the Jets, Giants, Chargers, Rams. New York had none of them. None of them. The Giants are awful, The Jets are awful. And I said, you start looking at the bottom of the NFC right now. Giants are awful, Philadelphia is not very good. Winston Washington should be better, but there are limitations. Atlanta, no Saints, no Carolina unless
they land to Shaun Watson kind of a mess. Arizona fascinating, but Cliff Kingsbury yet win a big playoff game. A lot of drama this offseason. Trey Lance, we don't know. Seattle doesn't have a quarterback now. The bottom of the NFC is large, the bottom of the AFC is like Houston the Jets. That's it. So just feels good. A little bit of a surprise, not a shock. And I'll say it again. The days are long, Tom Brady figured out after about sixty eight weeks, might as well fill
them with something I get great enjoyment from. And I'm really good at throwing a football in the NFL, I thought. One of the more interesting moves this weekend by an NFL team was the Cleveland Browns acquiring Amari Cooper as a four time pro bowler in seven years, highly productive, learns a playbook quickly. Going to be very interesting to see how this plays out. Jarvis Landry's numbers have dropped, Austin Hooper's numbers have dropped since going from Matt Ryan
to Baker Mayfield. Ob J's numbers spiked and production spike when he left Baker and went to Matt Stafford. I'm very interested to see what happens with Amari Cooper and Baker Mayfield. You know, my opinion on Baker is pretty well documented. I was harsh on him early and defended him at the end of this year. I thought he was just beaten up everything knees Toes Labram. But I don't think Cleveland sees Baker as a long term physical
or emotional fit. Multiple reports they were interested into Shaun Watson. Don't see that happening. Think he lands in Carolina. Derek Carr was also on the radar, follow Mary Kay Cabot. I've had her on this podcast. She's an excellent twenty year reporter. On the Browns, They're not going to extend his contract, but I do think a Mari and Baker, you've got to give Baker a shot fighting chance in that division. And with Jarvis Landry seeking an exit, the
Browns have reportedly given him the freedom to leave. So let's see O B J, Jarvis Landry, Austin Hooper. The trend is not good. Really talented pass catchers struggling with Baker. I want to talk about for a few minutes, college basketball, the selection committee. I love watching that three Pacific for most of my adult life. You know, it's interesting. College basketball is the one sport twenty five years ago that
was actually much bigger than it is today. It's very, very hard to follow it unless you literally are a college student and go to all the home games, or you're a diehard, or you work in the media covering it. So many games, so many teams, and all the best players are one and done. My general rule for the tournament is the Big Ten will be overvalued and overpicked. You have to go back to two thousand when Michigan State and Tom Izzo won a championship for Sparty, the
last time the Big Ten won a championship. Before that, you have to go to the eighties, the late eighties with Michigan before that Bobby Night. It's an overvalued conference because the brands are big, because they have a good TV contract, They're on television a lot, because their arenas are often jammed Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana. It looks big on television and we overvalue the Big Ten.
I've seen Perdue play three or four times. I do not think they have a shot to get to the final four. Similarly, I think we undervalue the SEC because we see it as such a football brand, we don't pay attention to it. I think one of the best young teams in the country's Tennessee. They can play four guards, their backcourt plays real defense, hyper athletic, super young. Wouldn't be surprised three SEC teams made the Elite eight. Keep your eye on Tennessee, Kentucky. I'm not sure they're good
enough doing a natty. A lot of people would argue they were overseated, but the SEC is clearly absolutely the better conference than the Big Ten this year. Watch the Big Ten get over selected and over picked in people's brackets. Tennessee's my dark horse. It did feel like to me that the selection committee sort of made up their mind before watching Sunday games due because a number two seed Michigan got in without a play in game. Listen, it's
a lot of games to watch. Nobody's ever happy. I think the best team I've seen, and I've seen them play four or five times, was Arizona. That's the best team I've seen. Are they going to win it? I'm gonna pick them. I'm gonna pick two SEC teams get into the final four. I'm gonna pick Arizona to win it, and keep your eye on the Tennessee volunteers. Super young can shoot and defend. I'm going to go with the valls to surprise people in the tournament. Start your bracket
with a bang right now. FanDuel Sports Book giving new customers one hundred and fifty dollars instant bonus is guaranteed. You get one hundred and fifty bucks and a bonus site credit. All you have to do is placed your first bet of five bucks or more. How you bet the brackets up to you choose from the money line, totals, prop bets, so much more plus with cash out the balls in your court so you can close out your bet whenever you want before the game is over. Join
FanDuel today. The promo code is always colin. Place a five dollars bet to score one hundred and fifty bucks in bonus site credit guaranteed. Promo code c O l I N twenty one plus in present in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, and Louisiana Permitted. Paris is only Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia. First online real money wager only refund issued as non withdrawal psych credit that expires in
fourteen days. Restrictions to plyce terms at sportsbook dot fandel
dot com. Gambling Problem one hundred, next step or text next step to five three three four two Arizona one eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org, slash chat Connecticut one hundred gambler or visit FanDuel dot com slash RG and Colorado, Indiana, Jersey in Virginia one eight seven seven seven seven zero stop in Louisiana one one hundred and two seven oh seven one one seven for confidential health in Michigan one eight seven seven h Ope n Y or text Hope
n Y for six seven three six nine in New York, tennessee Redline one hundred eight nine nine seven eight nine Tennessee visit one eight hundred gamble dot in West Virginia. All right, my buddy Nick Wright is joining me. He's launching a new podcast. We'll get into that over the next twenty five to thirty minutes. Um, I've got to start on something because you know, college basketball is there's so many programs. I think the country is watched less
of it every year. The one and done has essentially cut off the head of college basketball. It's too transactional. So I want to stick to the NBA, which is in your wheelhouse. So I was thinking about you the other day. Lebron James is going on this scoring binge, and I said, you know, this isn't a lost season for Lebron because he's never gonna catch Michael and he
wants to stay as healthy as he can. He's had no major injuries, and there is value in having a big scoring year and being selfish this year, for the first year in his career, I'm gonna score some points. And he's never been that guy, and I think it's remarkable he's become that guy. And I'm like, to me, my takeaway is, hey, he's looking around the league. He's looking around the Lakers' I'm gonna score this year. I'm gonna add some points. That's my takeaway on what he's done.
That he knows the chemistry doesn't work, he can't trust a d They're going to blow this thing up probably in the offseason, and for the first time in his career, I'm gonna be a little selfish that's my take. What's remarkable about it, though, is that he can do this in year nineteen. The most points per game ever for a guy year nineteen or later is Kareem with fourteen, So he's doubling it more than doubling it, right, right.
And the fact that I always believed, you know, he said years and years ago, I could win the scoring title every year if I really wanted to, and I believed that, then I did not go into this year thinking even if he wanted to, that he could still average thirty points per game. I thought he could still control games. I thought he could still be the guy that in a critical fourth quarter of a playoff series you would want over any other guy in the league.
I thought maybe he could still get to that. But the fact that he's gonna play this year more games than Durant and he's gonna potentially win the scoring title, it's there is it's utterly remarkable, And I actually think your guy Tom Brady, in a weird way, has caused people to appreciate what Lebron is doing this season a little less because Brady, you know, won a Super Bowl at forty three, was, you know, was a league MVP.
You know, leading candidate at age forty four. So I think people are it's like, yeah, this is the era of old athletes dominating. But we've never seen anything close to this in the NBA, nothing close to it previously. Actually, the Brady thing is interesting, I'll pivot to that because he was in England with his two boys watching a
soccer game. Ronaldo was there, Christiano Ronaldo arguably the best living you know, soccer player, right, and you know somebody asked him, somebody caught it in a hot mic or something, you know, you're retired, right, and he said, you know, I'm not sure exactly where I am. And this is my takeaway is that Brady I predicted this going in. He and Arians were always going to be a short term fix. That was dating. It was never marriage. The cultures to lose, the cities to lose. Gazelle and He
are not Tampa people. It's just not that kind of market, right, they would have chosen the Chargers. But you know, a couple of years ago so far the Chargers were playing in a soccer stadium. They were the number two brand in the city. But I do think Brady is doing I'll throw this out to you as an older guy,
I can throw this out. I think Brady really was going to retire and he said, you know, I've really never given my family like six to eight weeks off a season and just said, let's pretend I'm not playing.
And he's flying around the country and he's probably drinking some beer and eating stuff he wouldn't normally eat, spending time with his wife, and he just kind of wants to see how it plays out until the draft, what does he feel, and then he's gonna survey the teams and if one or two people bite, and I don't think there's a lot. I think Kyle Shanahan interests him because it's a non quarterback centric offense. I think he
would take a call from them. So that's my suspicion with Brady is these ninety five percent out but he's never really taken eight weeks, never done it out. But I feel like you, you think he's gonna play next year? Am I wrong on that? I think the draft ends he's gonna say, you know, I'm hanging out with my kids, I'm hanging out with my wife. I've still got nine
hours a day. I'm not doing anything because as we all know, there's a days or long years fly by, but the days are long, especially with kids, right, And he's sitting there and his boys have friends and they've got peers and they do stuff and they don't want to hang out with dad. And he's like, and I think he would take a call first week of May. That's my takeaway. But that hold on. I'm so because
here's the thing. If he's gonna take the call, then he's gonna play right like that's and it feels like it's such a weird thing because on our show, Kevin Wilds keeps making this point he's not wrong, which is he had no retirement ceremony. He's like Joe Montana retired in front of twenty thousand people and you know, in Candlestick or wherever it was there was. He's like, Tom Brady's not going to retire via Instagram post. And I
understand that part of it. The part of it that I don't understand if he wants to come back, is this, why ever announced the retirement. Why not simply say listen, I'm gonna take the next two months to contemplate my future and leave it at that. It just it feels unless it's because he wants to leave. He wants keep playing, and he wants to leave Tampa. If this is all one long con to get to San Francisco, Like, I
don't know. I also think it's possible. Like it seems like the football world like there was an old Seinfeld episode where they said the breakup didn't take, Like just somebody tried to break up with someone and the other person was like, no, I reject it. He's like, I guess so together, it feels like the football media has decided this retirement didn't take. We don't accept your retirement, Tom Brady, like the president on his desk, like someone
submits the resignations. They're like, no, I don't accept it. Meanwhile, Brady seems to be kg about it, and he's like somewhat ambivalent. The whole thing is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen, Colin, because it feels like a lot of people really expecting to play next year and to be on a different team, and that this was
all theater. Yeah, I don't think it's theater. I think Brady's really sharp and that he doesn't want to box himself in Peyton Manning's done this where Peyton keeps himself open to ownership a front office and hey, while I'm doing it, I want to make about twenty million a year doing the manning cast and put my personality out there. But I won't sign a long term deal with anything.
I want to keep my options open. You and I often have to sign contracts, not that we're cornered, but there's certain you know, the tarmac is shortened, right, there's certain things we have to do, and I think the rare what superstars and Lebron did this at the height of his powers. I'm going to give you a one year contract. Yeah, yeah, I trust And by the way, sorry to bring it back to just real quick. Lebron finally didn't do that and now regrets it. I'm sure.
After winning the title with the Lakers, signed the extension early, gave them extra time, and they immediately screwed him, like they didn't have the urgency at the deadline that all
his other teams did. They didn't want to trade to twenty twenty seven draft pick, and they're like, you can't leave anyway, buddy, Like so like the having that you know, taking that tarmac away or that runway away from you can be used against you immediately, but go ahead, sorry, if you really think of what the bigger picture on the Lakers to me is that in nine seasons they've
had seven losing seasons. If Ohio State football, Kentucky basketball, Yankee baseball in nine years had seven losing seasons, that's with Lebron and Kobe, you'd be like, oh, that's poor ownership. Nobody in Los Angeles because they like Genie Buss, right, and the LA media is not as angry as Boston, Philly, New York, not as provincial perhaps as a Dallas or Chicago, but it's a pretty easy media. Yeah, nobody will acknowledge this.
It's poorly owned and poorly runned with Lebron James, the bigger question has given you a false sense of achievement. This is a nine years, seven losing seasons. That's the Mariners. I grew up with that. Those are poor And by the way, during that time, they've had in nine years four head coaches and one hundred and twelve players. That's Detroit, that's Orlando, that's Cleveland. People here are just you know this, in the media, they like Anderson Cooper. Nobody will ever say,
you know, he's never won his time slot. The media plays favorites. They like Genie, it's poorly owned, it's poorly run, and by the way like and I don't think that it has to be like. So the fact of the matter is that in every Laker's deep dive piece, the name Linda Rambis comes up about how she has undue influence on the franchise, has never had a real title.
No one knows exactly what she does because she's Genie's best friend and one of the you know, and a lot some of the people cover the Lakers on a daily basis consider Jeanie a close friend, not just a
source or whatever, consider her a friend. Of course, it's been poorly run, and there was so much of the leaking that I thought was just unbecoming, Like when they went after Rich and Clutch and they were like, they thought, you know, there, you know, there's a civil war between Clutch and between the Lakers from office and Clutch wants to run the team. Well, listen, at some point, if the way you've run your franchise is the guy who the GM is was the agent for your superstar and
then he literally got to run the team. Apologies if the agent for your card Superstar thinks he might be able to have some say like that's I mean you Rob blinco was Kobe's agent, now he runs the team like so. And by the way, and I know Magic, You know it was bad on Twitter and people poke fun but Magic saw that dysfunction and even with Lebron there said I'm not dealing with it. I'm out of here, guys. And then they ended up getting a D and you know, Lebron and a D of the Magical Season and so
it papers over a lot of it. But so much of the Lakers stuff has really bothered me because yes, Lebron, so let me run this by you, Colin, and we probably should have started with this, and I hadn't thought I thought of it. I was talking to my son about this, about why they went with Westbrook, like why that ultimately happened, and I think it was ultimately out of cowardice. And here's what I mean. The Lakers have shown you if they disagree with Lebron, they will not
they won't do what he wants. We know that because Tyler's not the coach they had. You could have hired Tylu and it's not like they were like, no, we're bringing in you know, Eric Spoelstra. It was for Frank Vogel. They said no to thaylu yes to Frank Vogel, despite what Lebron wanted to go. Okay, so they end up trading for Russell Westbrook. Did Lebron want them to? Obviously yes? Do I suspect the Lakers front office wanted to. Yeah, because they love stars and because if they really didn't
want it, they wouldn't have done it. But here's the more I guess incendiary allegation. I think want it. So if it was either trade those pieces for Buddy healed and other stuff and have Lebron you know, probably let people know it's not the trade I would have made, or trade it for rus and everybody knows it's trade. Lebron want it. I think one of the reasons they did it was because they had a built in scapegoat.
I'm not sure it'll work, but if it doesn't work, we'll make sure everybody knows Lebron made us do it, as opposed to the other way around. If we go with the courage of our convictions, go with something. If that doesn't work, Lebron's gonna let everybody know it's not what he wanted. So I think it was a built in excuse. Is one of the reasons they traded for us is because they could lay it at Lebron's feet if they really thought it is going to be a disaster,
and by the way, a lot of people did. You didn't think it would work. I was skeptical. Lebron is not great at this part of it, the like seeing what talent will fit with him. He's never been great at that. But they didn't have the courage in their own convictions and to then have it happened and then to leak to the media. You know, Lakers run office believes you know, the Lebron and Company made their bed. Now they have to lie in it. That's like terrible parenting,
not like the way you run a front office. I think it's ridiculous. Yeah, and they're a bit trapped because you're going to have to inherit bad contracts to get rid of Westbrooks contract. I said this, I would have gotten rid of Anthony Davis before the season. I thought last year when he came in out of shape, in the year in which he was going to take the baton from Lebron was an egregious affront to Lebron in the organization. And we never thought he was a great leader.
We always knew he was brittle, but we never really thought he was sort of uninspired. When he came in out of shape last year and he was, I thought, all right, let him play to the All Star break, puff up his numbers and move him. And I think Lebron was so pissed last year with that he would have bought into that. It's too late. Now you can't get half of what you could at the beginning of last year, several more injuries. I'm not an ad guy. I you know, I've played the market forever, you know
by low sell high. I thought, I thought last year, very early, if you were given an opportunity to whatever replace me or it was the moment of your career to take the baton and lead the network, and you came in unprepared, you came in unfocused. Sure, that's all that's all I would need to know from you. I'm I'm out. But last year, at the beginning of the year, all said Lebron needs to get down to twenty eight to thirty two minutes about twenty four a game, be
the number two guy, run the offense. Two guy Anthony Davis comes in out of shape, and I did listen. I'm not you know, I think some of that maybe had to do with the fact that his body's breaking down. I think there's so I think you're being a little harsh. I think it's a would have been fascinating to see it happened, and fascinating to see what the return could have been. I have a different because you questioned about what the Lakers do next in this regard, what do
you think the Blazers will let Dame? So we just I don't know if we can talk about this or not, but I think we can. You know, obviously, Joe Buck just left our company. Yeah, I just left Fox, And what I read was that your left owns contract. But Fox was like, hey, you've been an amazing employee for a quarter century. We're not going to hold your hostage. You want to go with Troy, We're gonna you know, we're gonna wish you well and thank you for it.
So I thought about that, and I thought about Dame. And my question is this, if Dame says, okay, it's finally time to move on. Would they let him pick his destination? And if Dame says he, I do want to go to the Lakers and they'll give you whatever draft picks they have left and Russ for the contracts, and you guys can buy out Russ and start over. Or do you think the Blazers would say, Dame, we love you, but we have to get a massive return from you, so we're gonna it's gonna be, you know,
highest bidder. Or do you think they're gonna kind of what the Lions did with Stafford? Right, they let Stafford kind of pick his spot. Now, the Rams could give a lot, but they let him pick a spot. Do you think the Blazers will let Dame do that if he asks out. I think if the Lakers had the assets Portland was interested in, they would. I don't in the NFL, you do not want your quarterback. You don't want Russell Wilson in the NFC. But in the NBA, if you get the assets, your amo vers my amo.
I've never felt it's as parochial as that in the NFL. I mean, it's just real obvious. You know, if if we're getting rid of Carson Wentz, you'd rather send him to Washington. No, but that's not what I'm asking. What I'm asking is do you think the Blazers organization out of loyalty to Dame? No, I don't think they would. I would take an inferior offer because no, I don't think they would. I think I don't think it's a Laker thing because I think they would move him to
the Lakers. I don't know what the Lakers have, right. They would just have seven and twenty twenty nine draft picks is really all they would have. It's nothing. I also, I also think Dame's a smaller athlete and a declining asset. I wouldn't. There's not a lot I like Dame. But you're seeing Steph Curry this year wear down. These are smaller players. Points the other night, eight points the other night, and one the Jordan Pool kid who you like, scored thirty in Clay at his first great game in a
few years. You know, since the injuries. It was good for Clay. Steph's a weird one this year because people were like, do you remember right before he broke the three point record, he was like fourteen threes away and they were like, could he break it? Tonight and like fourteen threes, and since then he's had the worst and this is worth shooting year since his first year of his career. I think, like he is, he has not been great this year. It's weird to see because people
are still talking about him like an MVP. I don't even know if he's first team All NBA Garden anymore. I think it's John Luca like I'm like, Steph to me has not had nearly the year. I think a lot of people think he's had at least percentages wise. Well. I think Golden State's interesting because they're gonna play Jordan Pool a lot. The rookie kid out of Arkansas is gonna Jonathan Cominga is gonna They're gonna put him on the floor in the playoffs. I don't think it's a
championship team. I think Steph will because of his ability to shoot and handle the ball and distribute. He will age gracefully. It won't be a Westbrook or a Cam Newton where it's just off the cliff. But I think it's very clear what they're doing. Wiggins was going to be a trade piece. Now they need his scoring. So Pool was a great They draft and developed very well in Golden State. We've got, you know, between Draymond and Clay and Steph, so I think they're transitioning to their
next Steph and Clay. Clay is not the same player. He's not He's about seventy to be. I don't think he's going to be the Clay things sad because you know he was just two brutal injuries and missing so much time. So let me then ask you this, because I do I have immense respect for Phoenix and what they've done. Yeah, and they obviously were the best team in the West, you know last year and then throughout the playoffs. I don't know if I believe Chris Paul
and we saw the injury. This injury, it's kind of a flukey one. I don't know if I think Chris Paul is going to be able to stay healthy for back to back, you know, thirty game playoff runs, like, I just don't know that I think that's gonna happen or twenty some. I guess it'd be twenty some game playoff runs. So I don't think Golden States making the finals. I really respect Phoenix. I think that the season might be too long after what they did last year. So
now we're like, okay, Memphis too young. I'm gonna throw someone out here. I think this might be Luca's oh seven lebron year where it's way earlier than anyone thought. It's like, oh my god, he took him to the finals. It's like that guy with those teammates took him to the finals. I think we forget that. Luca. So he's played thirteen career playoff games. He's averaging in those thirteen games thirty three, nine and eight, and that was with
all thirteen colin coming against the Clippers. So every playoff game he's ever played in his life. Choir Paul George has been guarding him for basically the entire time he's on the court, and he's thirty three, nine and eight. I think that the West is pretty wide open with the Lakers being this bad, with the Clippers being hurt, We'll see, you know, when Chris Paul comes back. I
think the MAVs. I think we could wake up and say, holy shit, the MAVs are in the NBA Finals and it's because Luca just averaged thirty five, twelve and eight for two rounds. Well, I think the bottom of the West and East are so weak that I think Phoenix will extinguish teams really quickly. To me, there, you know, I'm old enough to remember when every team looked like Phoenix.
A big that liked to be a big, a classic number two guard that could shoot threes preferably mid range wings who could defend young with a veteran wing Jay Crowder, and a distributor first point guard. They are a nineteen eighty eight NBA team, they really are, and I think they've just built old school were Sometimes they're not great shooting the three. They really aren't. Sometimes Jay Crowder becomes really important for them. Should I like him, but I
wouldn't want to depend on him. But I think the bottom of both conferences this week, I think they're gonna fly through it. Which give and then you know, listen, if Dallas was to meet them, it'd be a long, long series. In Dallas, I don't think has the ability to sweep through rounds as easily, and so I think they'd be a tad more worn down. I think it's Phoenix's year. I don't buy the way. Do you buy into this current? It happens every time if I see
something over and over. I'm gonna believe it's true. I've seen Jason Tatum, Marcus Smart, Jalen Brown, I've seen him in the playoffs. They don't have the size, they don't match up with Philly or Milwaukee, great situationally late in games. I've seen this. I don't buy Boston burst. Simmons is like, this is our best team. It's been ten years. And I watched him and I'm like, no, no, this is exactly what they've always been. Occasionally spectacular, but I don't
feel like they would defend Biggs as well. I think there's limitation. I mean, Jalen, I don't think they're going to get out of around one. People like, oh, Nick, you're a hater, Okay, So I just you know, if the playoffs start today, here's my issue for Boston, and there's always the issue. And this is why, this is why the folks who are on my head saying I don't give Nicola Yo Kitch enough credit. I would like to see one of them at least have the faith
in him. If he's the MVP back to back to say he can carry a team in a Western armorans that's not loaded, at least to the conference finals, if not the NBA Finals this year, but nobody actually believes that. So on the Celtics, what series of the Celtics, Guy, I'm the best player on the court. Not against Philly obviously, not against Milwaukee. Obviously, I would argue in the playoffs, I'd rather have Jimmy Butler than Jason Tatum. I think Jimmy Butler is more proven. But people could argue with
me on it. Fine. I obviously not not Brooklyn, but they're not gonna place Brooklyn in round one because Brooklyn's the eighth seat or whatever. Um against Chicago, Yeah, Tatum is better than derosan Um. So like I think it's winning playoff series if you don't have a loaded roster is really hard, if you don't have the best guy in the court. And I just like Boston, and that's
why everyone's like, oh, Jason Tatum's a superstar. No, Jason tatums like the eighteenth best player in the league, which is awesome, but never good enough if your best guy is not a top guy, drawing dead in this league always. That's what we've always known. Give me, give me seventeen players better than Jayson Tatum right now, All right, I will. I'm gonna okay, So here it is, I have to
I have to visualize my pyramid and I'll do it. Lebron, Jannis Durant agreed, Yea, Luca Yokich embeat Steph Kawai, Anthony Davis Dame. We're at ten, James Harden is eleven, and now is here where it gets trickier? Would you rather have? I think Donovan Mitchell, I think Devin Booker have shown where they are. I think Jah is better than him. Now we're at fourteen, Chris Paul I haven't mentioned. Now we're at fifteen. The other guys that I had on
there that I don't want to leave off. Paul George puts Us at sixteen, Jimmy Butler puts Us at seventeen, and Jason Tatum was eight. Well, I think Tatum falls into the sort of Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, Jason Tatum that you can make arguments for all of them, and Trey Young deserves to be in there too, And yep, I agree, yeah, he's in that. He's in that somewhere between twelve. Somewhere between eleven and sixteen. You can Celtic fans gonna say eleven. I'm good with it. I could
make an argument it's fifteen sixteen. I think Donovan Mitchell's underrated. I've always felt now I mean, I think he plays on the deep. He was known as a defensive stopper before an offensive star. He has leadership qualities, He's been good and big playoff games. He's been good late. He can shoot at three, he can drive in the playoffs. He's got a bunch of fifty point playoff games. That's the other thing. Like of those young guys like Tatum's
been to two conference finals. Yes, will Trey just carry the team to the conference finals the first time in the playoffs. Devin Booker just went to the actual finals, not conference finals. And Job we'll see this year. I think Jobs better than all of them. I think he's I think, after Luca Jabs, the best young guy. Uh, you know, Jannis isn't a young guy anymore. In my opinion, he's like in that healthy prime of his career. No, listen, I think, but this is the thing people always got.
Tatum's gonna you know, he's gonna win scoring titles. He's gonna be an MVP. They only award one of those a year guys one scoring, title one, MVP. They're hard to win. Those things are hard to win, and so I I just know I think the Celtics would be If they get Chicago, then I think they can win around. If they get Miami, Phillire Milwaukee, they're drawn dead in my opinion to win around. And if they get Chicago, maybe they went around the be out in round two.
They're not Tell your buddy Bill Simmons, he's shockingly drunk on the Celtics school Aida again again. With sports betting taking off, its important to find the experts you can trust to help you make some money right. Check out the Favorite Sports Betting podcast powered by FanDuel, only on the Volume Podcast Network. My buddy Chad Milman pro better Simon Hunter from the Action Network twice a week here
to help you become a smarter football better. Every Tuesday and Thursday, Chad and Simon break down the strategies professional sports betters, the ones they use to find the right games and the right time to bet. Download the Favorite Sports Betting podcast only on the Volume Podcast Network. A couple of NFL topics you and I disagree on. Russell Wilson, I have him as a top five or six quarterback. I think his temperament, that's why I like him more
than Kyler or Aaron. You know, all these teams were making these moves. All the Packers did pay Aaron Rodgers more money. I think Denver is gonna be a much better team. It feels very much. I've been saying this for a year now. It feels very much like Tom to Tampa. We had all these young players that were better than everybody thought except for like fantasy football players, like all these like Judy and Courtland Sutton and this Javonte Williams. Like unless you're a fantasy football player, you
may not understand the value. But they're all just ready to explode. I mean, if Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Locke had twenty touchdowns and nine picks and goes two and Vic Fangio the coach like offensive coach Russell, we're getting to thirty and seven that we're getting around there pretty quickly. So okay, do you throw this top five stuff around? Okay, Mahomes, I'm not trying to just make this a list show, but let's just Mahomes Alan Herbert. Do we agree they're
all better? Than him. Those three, that's just three mahomes Alan, Absolutely, you're not ready for Justin Herbert yet. Well, he's got to have a winning record in the league. I don't know that he does. I asked to have a winning record in the league. Um, Justin Herbert, by the way, has been the league two years, and in those two years as one as many playoff games as Russell Wilson the LAS two years, both with the old Goose egg. Um, would you rather have Rust than Rodgers? For time out?
I didn't say that because, well, Herbert's free right now. So if you're asking me as a GM who I want, I take Herbert because I have a PAM for two. No, that's fine. I move on from the Herbert thing. I said, would you rather have Rust than Rogers? Yes, Aaron, I think we have a sixteen game playoff record, seven and nine at home, often as a favorite. I think Aaron's into Aaron. I don't think he has leadership skills. I have data that proves he's not great coming from behind.
He's a Baylor, not a baller. He's not a foxhole guy. He's not optimistic. He's more cynical. I think he I think he's a bad hang. I think he wears people out. I don't think he trusts many. That's a that's a by the way, that's been his issue family on he doesn't trust people. So I'm I'm a I just know with Russell every day all he thinks about his cr in football, I don't think anything. I think I And
here's the thing. I think you're like the guy who was in love in love with this girl when you guys graduated high school and then you both went to different colleges and he came back and she's given you all this evidence she's a different person, and in your mind, she still as she was four years ago. The Russell Wilson you fell in love with. I don't know that
that guy still exists. He's not on the field, he's not as effective, and off the field, he seems like he's a bit of a pain in the ass, Like like, I know he's your guy, but he the whole. I'm not demanding a trade, but here are four teams I would go to beyond hold on the ghost huddle on
national television. Hey look at me, cameras, I'm you know, doing a whole huddle, and a whole two minute drill with no teammates when my fingers broken, and then having his doctor released that statement that seemed like it came from Trump's White House doctor. This is the greatest rehab of the greatest hand that you've ever seen. I think it's I think your guy Russ has gotten a little Hollywood things, a little Hollywood Colin. There are people in
Seattle who do who did think he's changed there. I've heard that from people around the Seahawks. They thought he changed. And my takeaway is we all change. He married one of the most beautiful people on the planet, he's got a Super Bowl, he's got a hundred million net worth, we all change. I think it is core. He's an optimistic, aspirational, willful, focused guy. I think Aaron Rodgers at his core is needy, doesn't have a wide net of social connections. Um, I
think he's odd. I think I mean again, look at all the teams getting better. The packers just paid Aaron Rodgers more. I think listen that part. I agree with you on. I think the whole Rodgers fiasco's mortifying for him. I like, I know he ended up making a ton of money, but I think it's an insane. What happened there, I think is insane. I was talking to an agent. I had dinner with an agent about three or four nights ago, and he said, I've never seen an athlete
lose more brand than Aaron in a year. He's like, a lot of people want nothing to do with this, but I'd never seen an athlete lose you know, whether it's Q rating or popularity or anything without committing a crime faster than Aaron Rodgers has. Like you know what I mean, like the this is it's remarkable. What the you know, the way he's viewed now as opposed to twelve months ago. I mean literally, he's the highest paid quarterback in the league, and he gets into semantics and
he didn't like the word used by Ian Rappaport. It's like, dude, you're the highest paid quarterback in the league. End of debate. Of course, you said, agent. It made me think of someone because I was when I was thinking about the quarterbacks. What do you make of the Lamar thing? Why didn't Lamar have a deal? Did Lamar Jackson? Like? What do you? I know? It started to just throw that at you, but I thought of it because he doesn't seem to
have an agent. I would argue, of all the quarterbacks in the league, the one who should most want long term security is the one who rushes for a thousand yards a year. Like, that's crazy to me that he hasn't signed a new deal. Well, Lamar's initial brand was undervalued and then very quickly turned to perhaps overvalued. He can't play from behind. Baltimore, like New England, pays infrequently
drafts to replace. Everybody eventually is willing to pay. But you know, I've read multiple reports that say they're in discussions. Bushatti likes him, John Harbaugh supports him. But I was on the Lamar's undervalued until last year, and then I thought, you know, I'm gonna keep my eyes open. Is he a tad overvalued? I'm not sure he's either, But would you have some concerns when you look at the trajectory of Herbert and Joe Burrow, Oh, I would have major concerns.
And Josh if I'm the Ravens' but I but from what I understand, I think the Ravens have made him some offers. Like it's not like they're like, we're not signing you. Now, maybe they're not signing him at forty five million a year. Maybe it's closer to thirty five million a year. My point is this, I given his playing style and that he didn't play great last year. If I if I were advising him, I would say,
you have to sign the contract. Maybe you cost yourself a total of twelve million dollars, but not signing the contract, you might cost yourself a hundred million. Like how much did Baker cost himself by not signing whatever the Brown's best last offer was, it might have been a one hundred million that he calls himself seventy five million. I don't know. I think for some of these guys that aren't short things or are bigger injury risks than others
the whole. And I've talked about this before, betting on yourself sounds great except for when it doesn't work out. When it doesn't work out, it's a Greek tragedy. It's not a story of inspiration. And I worry about Lamar in this regard. I think it's why Kayler's like, you gotta pay me right now. And I'd be skeptical about paying Kayler too, Like I wouldn't be a big fan of that, but I understand why he's doing that. He knows how big he is, he knows what's happening at
the end of the years. I think Lamar not doing everything he can to get a new contract is crazy. I think it's crazy. I think his mother is still his agent. I know that's That's what I'm saying, Like I think it's I don't think it's great. I don't think he's getting great advice. All right, you and your wife have a new podcast. I didn't know she was on it. Now she is, well, she is on it very intermittently, but my site kick on it. The person asked me my questions is asking me the questions is
my son. So it's him and I with my wife and daughters chiming in occasionally. But yeah, it starts Tuesday, and I'm excited for it, and I hope people she can like and subscribe and everything. And I want to say something because someone sent you a tweet and I don't want to get two in the weeds on anything. But I happen to see it and it said they were mad at you. They were like, Uncle Colin, I'm disappointed that you didn't have Nick as a part of
the volume. And one day. You know, that's a story for the memoirs for both of us, But that is a story for my last book. That is a story. But I want America to know that Colin I both you know, did everything we could to make sure that we could continue to work together in every capacity possible. And Colin's hand has been open and out and assisting me in every step of my journey the last six years. So the idea that anyone would think you snubbed me from the volume, I want to nip that in the bud.
That didn't happen. But like like Colin alluded to earlier, we all have different you know, contractual stuff and so but I'm very excited about this podcast that's starting on Tuesday. Will be a couple days a week, and it's short. This I'm learning from you on Some people do podcasts that an hour and forty minutes. These are going to be about twenty five minutes long. I hope people subscribe to it. It's called What's Right? All right, Buddy, good to seeing you on a Sunday. I'm gonna go watch
the selection committee make their picks. Bud, all right, talk to you letters, see you, Colin. Bye, the volume