Colin Cowherd Podcast Prime Cuts - Ant The New “Face Of The NBA”? Nick Wright On Colin’s “Backwards Hat” Take, No Violins For Kirk Cousins

would be a huge mistake to break him up. Now Ernie Johnson, who is the host, the affable host, the beloved host who you know, he just moves the pieces around, he gets out of the way. He is perfect. I do believe you could find another host. You never replace Ernie in terms of just how the players feel about Ernie. You'd have to get a host that the player voted on. You couldn't just insert somebody from another network and say make it work. Ernie has so much respect and admiration

from the crew. Now, Barkley obviously drives the number, and Ernie Johnson will be the first to admit that Shack and Charles really have you know, some knights. They're feuding other Knights. They're hysterical laughing at each other. Kenny Smith more of the straight man. But it reminds me a little bit of the Fox broadcasting crew on Sundays, where you know Bradshaw was the funny guy. Howie's this straight man.

Jimmy Johnson's the coach, and he really is a coach in real life and on the set he kind of runs it all. Then Kurt Man, if he knows when to jump in, push the buttons, poking the ribs, move out.

Then you have Strahan Jay Glazer, but there are there's usually a star of a show, a straight man, and Ernie provides hosting capabilities that the respect and the admiration he has from the guys is kind of you won't find another Ernie, but it is led by Charles, and I think when you lose in Ernie, and that's losing something, then you have to take all of them. As great as Charles Barkley is. The chemistry is a big part

of this. And in my years of doing radio and TV, and I've been doing this now thirty years, it's the one thing that the really good executives of olwa's understood and the average executives overlook is chemistry. I've had multiple partners radio TV, but yet I've had one or two shows that chemistry was outstanding. It's hard to explain, it's hard to foster. There's just like you know it, it just works. Maybe there's a mutual respect, you have something

in common, somebody finishes your sentences. But if you're gonna lose Ernie, who has reportedly said, hey, I'm staying with TNT and your NBC, and you're going to bring that crew over if they did in fact win the rights, you've got to lean on that crew and they've got to make that higher. They've they've got to have run through after run through because the idea you can just insert an NBC guy in to that and it's gonna work.

That would be an executive that doesn't understand fit. And I think a lot of times, you know the Fox crew or the inside the NBA crew, it's hard. Chemistry is hard on these shows. I mean Steven A. Smith at ESPN, you know he and Max Kellerman. At some point stephen A went public and said, yet this just doesn't work. Skipping Shannon worked for a while, then it didn't work. Mike and the band Dog in New York. I listened to them for years. I thought it was

really good. I could tell on the air when they got tired of each other. They got real snippy at each other, very impatient with each other. You could just feel it. It was like you're driving in the car on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut. I'm driving, you know, going to the city or coming out, and I'm listening for an hour and a half. I got a long listen and I'm like, I'm I'm not sure this sounds right, and I just I think. My overall point on this

is inside. The NBA works. Yes, Charles is the star, but it works because of chemistry. It's terrific. They all like each other, they all respect each other. And it's like an NBA locker room. It takes one turd to ruin it because it's a you're flying together, you're eating together, you're hanging out. It's not like an NFL locker room. Offense goes here, defense goes there. Baseball, you know, during the game, a third of the roster is down in

the bullpen. Man you get you get these crews. You got four or five guys, one bad fit blows it up, blows it up, and I think they've done such a good job. It is to me. During the regular season, I generally like the show more than the games. Now, once the playoffs start, I'm into the games. But I think you can't. People are gonna watch the NFL regardless of how good or bad the shows are. But the NBA is different. It's a long regular season. Even the players.

There's a lot of apathy inside. The NBA, in my lifetime, is very unique. We're all stick around for that. I mean, I can think Fox does a great job at NBC in the NFL is not quite as good. But I'm watching the games. That's that's not the case inside the NBA gets me to a TV during the regular season when sometimes I'm not sure the players even care. All right, NBA playoffs in full swing. Jason Timp, host of Hoops Tonight, is joining us. If you look Jason that the face

of the league right now is really Tatum's personality. He really is a giver. He's never a taker. You almost have to push him, nudge him to take, so he doesn't. He looks like to me, he loves being an All star, making good money and winning games. He doesn't have any real agenda to be the face of the league. Jokic mostly European guys are not interested. So like it's open for Ann Wenby's not there yet, Jokic isn't interested. You know, Giannis has never really moved the needle in terms of

like ratings and beads. Not healthy. So as I'm watching him first half, he was insane, and then and then he was very quiet in the third. But as I'm watching him, I'm like, you know, Jordan had these dead quarters. I mean, Michael was classic for when his head would steam, You're like, okay, Michael's on one. And then Michael really got it. Was like a great baseball pitcher that he knew the twelve pitches he had to get people out, like Michael knew gearshift. Lebron's gotten very good at that.

Like Lebron's always hoping his teammates get the game going, and if they don't, then he steps in and then at the seven minute mark they get him out. But I watched Aunt and I'm like, don't be too critical of him. Twenty five points in an NBA game and a half is a lot of work. That's a lot of energy and then in the second half you're like, uh, first of all, dumb tech talk about that all day. But my take was my take was kind of like, it's there for the taking. It feels like Denver's not

equipped on the bench. You know, they could die to have a six man who could play twenty minutes of defense. This may be the moment. All these great stars have moments. It took Jordan years and years. The difference is Jordan had like iconic teams pissed and Celtics in front of him. Denver hasn't risen that. So as good as the is Jason, it feels like this is the moment to seize it.

I need to put a little more on it. I need to be more accurate. I can't be as sloppy with my handle. This shot that I got off against Reeves, I won't be able to get off against Jade McDaniels. Like all these there's gonna be an adjustment period for Denver in this series to kind of get used to that offense. That said, as far as Aunt goes like it, it's there's still so much room for him to improve because that quiet third quarter ain't got tired. You could

tell Ant got tired in that game. Yes, So there's gonna be an energy management piece that he figures out. There's gonna be like a reading the floor better piece that he figures out. There's like there's a little bully ball possession on Reggie Jackson where he just walked It was the play he got the tech. He walked him right underneath the rim and put it in. It was

the easiest bucket he got all night. Like, there's gonna be a point where he realizes all these guards can't guard him and he starts destroying people even closer to the rim, and so this guy's the limit for him. I got in trouble with Celtics fans for comparing the two of them. It was a mail bag question. But then I started thinking about it and I'm like, no, this is a real thing here. This is who's the

next great American player? Because there is something to be said about being the best American player in the NBA from a marketability standpoint, right sure, Like there's a reason why huge portion of my listeners are overseas. It's because the best players in the league are all from overseas, and so they've got these huge fan bases from Serbia

and in the Philippines and things like that. There's all these guys that are that are supporting these players, and we need an American star that can come up and kind of take the mantle and to your point, like Jason Tatum has, he just doesn't quite have the personality for it. But the biggest piece and the main reason why I think Ant is better than him, has to

do with the athleticism piece. Ant can have Bradley Beal on the wing and just utterly blow by him off the dribble and then dunk on Kevin Durant like he's not even there. And then it's not to say that Jason Tatum hasn't had big dunks in his career because he's got great size, but his first step is not nearly as dynamic as Anthony Edwards is, and so when he faces a really good defender in a late game situation,

he can struggle to get to his spots. Sometimes. Aunt never struggles getting to his spot like he's gonna get a good look up. It's just a question of whether or not he can make it. And to his credit, the two big things that he's figured out that have been his inflection between the dominique and MJ kind of like fork in the road, the split for him has been he's been better at reading the floor. He was

the guy who got Nasriy going last night. It was the banked in three that was a kickout from Ant when his man helped the driving, and one on the baseline that was the skip pass from Ant when he was reading a pick and roll coverage. And then the second piece of it is that jump shooting piece. He is deadly in that fourteen to eighteen foot range, and so he has a shot he can go to where it's like this is going to go in a majority

of the time. It gives him like a certain level of resilience in the playoffs, and so I just think I think he's just better. I think he's the best American player in the league of that generation, and I think he has a chance to take that mantle well.

a half point guard. And then it was Larry Bird alongside Magic. We never had a forward easily be the best shooter and passer in the league. Like he didn't play he played like a two guard. And then you go into Shack. Okay, that's there's nothing been that powerful. Big guys don't run the floor. And then you know and before him, it's Michael the greatest player of all time with great flair. Kobe was never already the face

of the league, but was like Michael Light. Then you go into Lebron, arguably the greatest player, the great Swiss army knife that does everything differently. So all those players were like to some degree, a little bit of unicorns athletically, or they had a dimension to their game. They still show Doctor Jay's dunk against Michael Cooper. It's still the greatest dunk in the history in a game. It's the seventies, it's fifty years ago with all these athletes. So with

ant skit, I've watched Jason Tatum live three times. I've watched them a hundred times. He's very good. It's not historically unique looking. He's just really clever and really smooth, good two way player. Ant does stuff and you're like, okay, sorry to put the drink down. Let's I got to watch the replay on that, like whole Even NBA guys are like whoa, whoa. You see him come off the bench. So Wemby has some of that. Wemby could block eight blocks a game, you know, I mean, he could have

a stretch like nobody looks like that. So I do think Ant's advantage is there's a lot of wow stuff. I mean, I remember when Shack came in the league,

Jerry Tarkani and I covered him at YOUNLV. He told me when Shaq was a sophomore, I was at a place called the Late Jerry Tarkani and I covered him in Vegas at a place called Sharks or Tarks or Sharks, And we were sitting at a bar and me and a guy named John Henderson, a retired sports writer now in Italy, and he said, there's a kid named Shaquille O'Neil at Elshu and he goes, I know you've seen highlights. He's going to be the greatest past ketball player you've

ever seen when he plays. And you know, Jerry was a very good recruiter, and you know, and he just said, there's never been anything like him, and that's kind of the sentence for the faces of the league. There's never been anything like him. And my take is he's a little Dominique, a little Michael. I mean, what's his comp that feels like the right comps.

So like, in a weird way, this is the beautiful thing about basketball history is every player it's very rare to have a guy like Kobe who's like almost almost the spitting image of the guy he was trying to be like. Right, Like Kobe and MJ were so similar, Ant's kind of got his own unique flair on it. It's like it's like Dwayne Wade meets better jump shooting

meets the body of a middle linebacker in the NFL. Like, it's it's it's it's hard, it's hard to describe, but like, and then again, the big piece of it is like this guy's going to Kevin Durant and he's like, yeah, you're my favorite player, but you know I'm busting your ass.

I mean, I mean, listen, if you're quick, if you distribute, you can shoot a little bit. It's hard to bust. You can find a space for a guy maybe in rotation. So and I always feel that way with shooters. If you're quick and you can get a good shot and you can shoot that, the leagues just need. It's not a lot of guys that can really shoot that have

been busts. They'll find a way. Even if you're an awful defensive player, they'll bring you off the bench, they'll put you in patterns so you're not having to guard the best defensive players. So like Caitlin Clark, there's this sense is, oh, she's going to be a can't miss well even in the NFL, there is no camp miss there are no camp misses. My take on her though, is she is really quick, she has tremendous quart awareness,

so players are going to like playing with her. Like in Iowa, you know, she makes great passes people can't finish like people now can finish in the WNBA. So and also she gets a shot and she's a devastating shooter. So I do see her transforming the league. I don't think we've seen a shooter like that in the league. And I also think again her court awareness. Playing with better finishers, people are gonna want to play with her. Even if she struggles, she'll get other people involved. Then

she'll draw so much attention. What is your guess on what kind of player she is? Is she a first team All WNBA, because I just don't I don't have You know, the length is much different in the WNBA, like six six sixty seven is. Everybody's got those level players, so you don't get the freebies down bow. You know, in college you can get some real cheap baskets men's and women's. I think she's going to be a star, but I have no nothing to judge it on. I mean,

you're I mean Cheryl Miller was bigger, taller. I mean there's certain times you don't get athletes and you just go Candas Parker. That's gonna work. But a shooting guard from Iowa, I don't know what do we.

One of the things that's interesting to me about college hoops is the athleticism is always much further along than the offensive skill development, so like it's actually like a lot of and then the coaching is really good, and the level of intensity on a game to game basis is really really high. So it's actually really difficult to

score at the college level. And to your actually one hundred percent agree with you on your take on like the safety of a player, like the the like an offensively skilled player being kind of bust proof in the sense that like the vast majority of players that demonstrated they could score at the college level get into the NBA and they're able to score, and it's because there's a.

texted my wife. My wife was at the airport flying home from Chicago, and I texted her and I was like, hey, like, Caitlin Clark's playing on the WNBA app right now. She stopped everything she was doing and she downloaded the app and she watched the game, which just goes to show you the like, the type of phenomenon that she is. But like, as I was watching, like she can get separation from these girls. And in addition to that, like everyone always focuses on like, oh, the athleticism goes up

a level, all this gets more difficult. But basketball doesn't work like that. You're not just playing one on one all game long, Like you're running sets. You're doing things that are designed to generate openings, and she has the skill to make shots in those openings. And so there was it was such a I don't know what it is about Caitlin and maybe it is her fame, but there seems to be this like segment that's almost like rooting for her to fail. It's kind of it's kind

of bizarre to me. I don't understand it. But the truth of the matter is is like she might have certain matchups, like she might run into specific defenders at the WNBA that give her some issues. She's gonna have off shooting nights. She's gonna have because she's new at this. She's gonna have stretches where it doesn't look as pretty. But to me, it's a pretty safe bet that she's gonna score a lot of baskets in the WNBA for a long time.

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like he's a crazy streak shooter. But I think you make the mistake if you like in Orlando, if Orlando made a move Boncaro's you're one to me, it feels like and Booker comes in is a really good two. But I want another score with the forward, you know, another some size, some length. So like if you're Phoenix now Biale and Kevin Durant, well, if you get rid of Booker, I got to get some young players over here, because those guys are going to miss some spots, although

Durant played a ton this year. So my take is, your Phoenix, you can bring it all back, but there are issues. You don't have a classic point guard, you don't have much of a bench, so those are real issues. You can keep bringing stuff back, but it's like at some point you have holes. Right, we see like Milwaukee, you can bring it all back, and they may have to because they don't have they don't have a lot of assets, and this is an old roster. They're all

locked up. I don't think that many people want I think Dame, you could move and you honest, but they don't want to move those two. So my takeaway is you watch a lot of Suns basketball, who would you move? Where would you move them? Because it feels like to me, people are gonna make They're going to get more phone calls than any team in the league because there's a lot of New York Knicks in Orlando's out there looking at Phoenix thinking.

team led by Paul George. Okay, without without Kawhi Leonard and uh Trey Young made the conference finals out East, like it was they won. The Bucks won that series with Gianni said in a hyper extended knee over the last couple of games. So like, really that was the weird COVID season where all the good teams got hurt. All the good teams got hurt, The Lakers got hurt, the Nuggets got hurt, the mime he got hurt, Like

everyone was hurt yep in that season. So like it was kind of this gap year, totally legitimate championship for the Bucks, but like the Suns, getting to the finals, I think got them to believe in Devin Booker as this like franchise cornerstone. I look at Devin Booker more as like the Kyrie Irving type of archetype. If I could put him next to a real a franchise player and he can just focus on being a late game shot maker, slash guy that can spell your star for

stretches and run the offense. That's the kind of fit that I like. And so when I look at the Sun situation, Bradley Beal, I think is a really good player, but his trade value is low because he's older, injury prone, and on a long term deal that pays him a shit ton of money. Right, Kevin Durant, really good player, but old and just in a situation where like he

doesn't have as much value around the league. Devin Booker is a guy that you can trade and get a haul and so all yeah, And so what I was pitching is like, embrace, like have the self awareness to embrace the fact that Devin Booker's not going to be your franchise cornerstone and then be like Okay, well, how

do we turn this situation into something more fun? I would call Orlando and I'd be like, Hey, you got dev you got Palo Bancaro, but you just lost a series to the Calves because nobody can create a shot other than Palo, and no one can make jumpers. So like you need somebody that can come in and just be like a skill guard next to Palamonkaro. And so if I would call them and I'd be like, I want Jalen Suggs, I want Jonathan Isaac, and I want Wendell Carter Junior.

conversation would go. But then I look at it and I'm like, Okay, Now I've got I've got Jalen Suggs, an elite point of attack defender, something Phoenix did not have last year. I've got Bradley Beal Steele is still a high powered number two. I've got Kevin Durant Jonathan Isaac, two really rangy long wings that can do a lot defensively. And I'm going from Yusuf Nurkic an old, a slow footed big center, to Wendell Carter Junior, who is a big, strong,

athletic young center who can shoot the three ball. And so it kind of creates like a more fun Phoenix Suns team. And it's just an acknowledgment of the reality that you weren't going to be able to rebuild around Booker and then go into these series with him as the best player, because like, if you go into a series Devin Booker is your best player, or into a playoff run, you're going to run into a lot of teams that are better players than Devin Booker. You just are.

And so that's that problem is not going away. And if I'm Orlando, I'm looking at it like follow is a franchise cornerstone. But clearly, this clearly this build where it's like we're big and strong and athletic, but nobody can shoot.

care about offseason. I care about the quarterback face of the franchise on a Wednesday podium, looking like you know, you're the face of the franchise because you are the coach on the field and the highest paid player usually. And so I said something about it. And Steve Spurrier was the college coach at South Carolina, and in his weekly media session he literally said, in his southern voice, Now I was listening to a radio host, Colin Coward,

say something here, Dan. I really agreed with him, and you know, he went on about it. He said, I kind of liked it, and I kind of agreed with it, and so I thought, see, I'm not that crazy. That's not a bad idea. So and I did it a couple more times. Now it's gotten a life of its own, and I think most people now, well, I shouldn't say that. I think a big chunk of people sort of get I'm being theatrical and my outrage is somewhat manufactured.

become a thing I'm totally here for. But the and we we've talked with this once before, and I'm going to reiterate the point and actually tie it back to today's thing, which is, even if people vehement disagree with you on the specifics of backwards hat for forwards hat, everyone, if they're being honest, should be able to admit we all have a backwards hat thing that makes us judge

people like there is there. So it can be as simple as, oh that person who I thought was like a big time, you know, powerbroker, Oh he doesn't match his belt to his shoes, like, oh, he's not as sophisticated as I thought. Or again, I'm just making that up. So here's what I found so funny about today. I don't really give a shit that JJ Reddick was wearing

a backwards hat at all. You know what, you know what happened today though, that gave me another piece of evidence that said I would not hire JJ Reddick right now to be the head coach of Los Angeles. That he responded to the clip that to me was far more damning than his hat. It's like, buddy, you can't Three days ago I saw you on the Internet arguing

with a San Francisco radio producer. Now you're watching clips of Howard talking about you loling it like I just I don't think you're going to go from that level of internet engagement, maybe even searching your own name all that stuff that people do, by the way, and I'm not judging them for it, but I don't think it'd be healthy to do as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. And I don't think you'd turn it off in a week. So I don't care about the hat.

I care that he reacted to the clip, like I really do, and by the way, I wouldn't care at all if it was like a broadcaster like just in his current job react to whatever you want, but a different job we're talking about now, which again, I don't think you would care about the backwards hat if it's just he he's the NBA announcer. But if it's like, oh, you're gonna be the head coach of my team, So I get it. I actually get it.

And then we figured it out it's the guy who owns the Jazz. Well. At some point, you like you succeed out of like now, all of a sudden, you never have to wear a suit. Like I don't know if you watched the show Billions, but the may I know it's fictional, but the main character Bobby Axelrod, who was the billionaire he'd go to work, everyone's wearing a suit. He's wearing a Metallica T shirt. Because it's like, eh,

I own the place. I kind of can like, yes, there is that element to it, but but I love it. I think it is my I mean, it is so funny that four times a year, I know, I'm like, oh, well, half of Colin's show is taking care of for no reason. And because there's always new people in the ecosystem, there are people who this is their first experience with you and backwards hat and so they don't get any of that, not that it's a joke, but that this has been

a twenty year thing. And those people replying are the best. They're like this guy you got, I mean, it is the best, and you don't have to explain the joke. Just let him go. It's it's the best.

We're getting to it. We're getting to a point with Burrow that it's a real discussion you've got to have at least a b backup. Now, Brady didn't like it because he never got hurt with Garoppolo and big Ben. Similarly, Hey, I'm still I can still chug along. My injuries are fine. But I think Burrow is gonna have to own Hey, this team needs a backup and not a sixth rounder, maybe a third rounder when we have other needs. So I think that's a real discussion that Joe and the Bengals have to have.

That's the thing. If Kirk Cousins is good, he is not good enough to get so do I. I want to play in the worst division in football, no problem. I want to play in a dome. We can do that. I want to have another massive payday with one hundred million guaranteed. Okay, we can do that too. I want to have a lot of weapons. You know what We've got that. I don't want to have any competition whatsoever. Sorry, can't give you that one. That's like you don't like the He is good enough to get a lot, but

not everything. And when you are something of a football mercenary, if you will, you have taken the money and moved whatever. And to his credit, there's a trade off and everything in life. One of those things is you haven't built up the equity within the organization for them to be like, oh man, he's gonna hate this. They just met you like sorry, like the there's and the person I feel

for in this is Pinnix. That like the the if if if sports broadcasting worked the way the NFL does, And I'm coming out of Syracuse and I'm considered one of the three or four best in the world. And I'm like, oh man, there's this spot in this radio station in Las Vegas that might pick me, that has openings all over the place. There's a radio station in Denver that might pick me, that has openings all over

the place. And then all of a sudden, I get picked by a radio station in Atlanta and they're like, Buddy, all our shows are filled up, but we think in two years maybe you'll have one. Be like, you gotta be kidding me. All these other places wanted me to play, like I'm by the way, I went to grad school, I'm old, Like you're talking about me, like I'm not gonna get on the air till I'm twenty six. Like this sucks. And so I everyone was like, oh man,

Kirk so disappointed. And I was sitting there thinking, like I get that he gets the money or whatever, but pinnis that differge for me to being the eighth pick and the thirteenth pick is not a ton of money. He was gonna be getting first round guaranteed money no matter what, and now he's gotta sit so and again, maybe it ends up being good for him, and he's

in a dome and he has the weapons. But if we're gonna feel badly for either of these two quarterbacks, it's not the guy who just left his team got a hundred million bucks coming off in Achilles. It's not him that I feel badly for.

I can I can cry at the good enough tweet, you know. I don't know if somebody put out a tweet the other day. It was like my dad wrote me these letters every morning before school growing up. I read it. I teared up. I'm like, oh my god, Like I really think I'm an empathetic person, but I didn't feel a moment where I'm like, oh, poor Kirk Cousins. It's like, what because you don't want to, because you deserve to not have to compete, and you're not even

really competing, Like it's your job. You're really gonna have to screw up to not have it be your job. I don't get it. I just don't get it.

that we were talking about Curb earlier. There would be certain moments in Curb where like I literally like I turn away, like I'm like, oh, I feel so even though it's make believe and it's someone else, I get something internally. I feel uncomfortable with so a roast where And it's not that I don't watch roast because I'm offended by the jokes. It's because there are certain things where I feel so badly for the person involved that it makes me feel uncomfortable. It's why I was shocked

it existed. It's I just was shot. Like I get why comedians do it to comedians, and I get why fringe I don't want to be rude. I get why Pete Rose would sign up for long like yeah, you

know what I mean, I'm in the spotlight. It's a check, you know what I mean, Like, I get those things I don't under like I was shocked that Tom signed up for it because it just feels like there's so many landmines and so much like you were saying, I didn't, I thought, yeah, there were a lot of people that seems like and I'm not really an expert to talk about this because again, like I didn't. I've seen some clips, so I didn't watch it because I just don't enjoy that.

But it seems like there were a lot of people that were not there that feel like that was not fun for me or my family, you know what I mean, all of it, and so I don't. I also was kind of shocks. I was like, did Tom admit to to flategate in this thing? Was that? Like, like what, I didn't understand a lot of it, but he listen, he I mean he the What didn't surprise me from the coverage of it was that Belichick came off great.

What didn't surprise me is that people said, you know what I mean, that he came off great and did a great job. That that sound that checks out to me.

and the subway platform you go downstairs busy platform. As insane as this sounds, I would rather slip and fall on the subway stairs then have the person in front of me slip and fall on the subway stairs, because like when I like, I don't really care, like I don't like I'm I'm not embarrassed easily for myself, Like that's okay, Like people saw me fall, I don't care. But for some reason the thing of like, oh that person now thinks I was looking at him. They are embarrassed.

I really really it makes me feel super uncomfortable. The second had embarrassment thing, and so it's just yeah, so I just don't enjoy I appreciate that. Now. I will tell you this, this is an unbelievable anecdote that I'm about to give you. So Jamal Charles, who's gonna end up being one of the greatest running backs ever to not make the Hall of Fame. So you got totally screwed by the Chiefs while he was there. It's just

an all time player. He's from Port Arthur, Texas and was my favorite player when I was covering the Chiefs in the early twenty tens, and I was really associated with him because basically every time the Chiefs lost, I'd be like, I don't know about you guys. I would have given the ball to Jamal Drells, Moore, Brody Froyle is the quarterback, handed off to the guy who's getting

seven yards of carry you idiots. So when I was in Houston after Kansas City, Jamal was being inducted to the Port Arthur Sports Hall of Fame and they said, hey, Nick, will you host it? Will you be the host of the event? Like, yeah, of course, and be honest, this is great. And the guy put it on, He's like, it's a roast. I'm like, it's a roast. They're like, yes, it's a roast. But again I'm even though I said I don't watch them, this is I'm like, Okay, there's

no comedians here, but Andy Reid is there. Earl Thomas from Texas is there. So his teammates are there. Whatever it is, and they're like, yes, it's a roast, like, okay, so I'll, you know, write eight minutes of jokes is unbelievable. I don't think I've ever told the story publicly. There's a video somewhere. So I get up there and I am, I think telling great jokes, like one of them was God damn man, don't you I'm telling you this. Do not isolate this and put this on social media, I said.

I turned to Andy Reid and I said something about how I'm not going to tell the exact joke, but how his clock management style reminded me of my sex life in college. There was something. There was a joke there. You people can figure it out. It was a good joke. He didn't like it. I said something about Earl Thomas and the Legion of Boom whatever it is, and nobody's really laughing that much, but these are good jokes. And then every other person that came up there did not

get the memo this was a roast. They got the memo that this was a toast, and no one told me jokes and everyone just talked about it, right Carl, So I just looked like the biggest asshole in the world. I started the thing. I'm just I'm just killing everybody. Then everyone's like, here's how Jamal's changed my life. If no joke's nothing, I'm like, you've gotta be kidding me.

You have got to be kidding me. And the guy who did it, the guy who set it up, I'm like, I didn't get like misread the email, was like no, man, He's like, I'm sorry, Like I told everyone it was a roast, but whatever, they didn't go with it. So I just looked like the worst guy ever. Like Andy I think was legitimately Matt because Andy's and Andy and

I are really cool now. But Andy, when I then introduced him after the joke, he came over and maybe it's just how he shakes hands and he is a big guy, but it was not like a firm handshake. It was like, I'm gonna hurt your hand with this handshake, you smart ass kid making fun of my clock management. So maybe that's why I don't like roasts, because one of the most embarrassing nights of my life was me thinking I was at a roast and it was actually a toast and I just looked like a bad guy.

quite as good. And NFL is the one sport where you don't have to play college and you can be a Hall of Famer Antonio Gates. It's not a repetitive sport. Some some instances mechanics for quarterback yes, sure, kicking yes, But a lot of it is strength, brutality, physicality, instincts at raw more yea more than any other sport football, which is why so many of us play high school football, and so many people participate. You can be big, you don't have to be fast. You can be a guard.

You can only be able to kick. You can be a punter, right, Like, there's a bunch of different stuff that said, I don't think basketball players have any idea how much getting tackled hurts. If you ever go to the sideline of an NFL game and watch Christian McCaffrey get hit, you cannot believe he can get up. You cannot believe he's not severely injured. It is a car wreck on every tackle.

ten minutes of media in the last month. You have to listen to it because his entire take is that not that guys couldn't do it, but like because they're not good enough at football, but I mean and I'm gonna not do it justice. He's like, Oh, okay, Austin Rivers. You think you guys can come play football. Well, here's the deal. We got fifty three guys on the team. There's three massage therapists. Oh your body hurts well, the massuse available at four o'clock. Why don't you get a

lift in and shut up? Like you're used to that in the NBA. He's like, Oh, in the NBA, your coach is how do they talk to you? Because my coaches mf me and then tell me to go lay in a queen size bedit training camp with another guy in my room. He's like, he does a whole thing. He's like, what's your flights like? Because for forty of us, we're in the coach seats on a plane. When's the last time you His whole take was not you wouldn't be good enough, but that our lives are just different.

Our coaches coach us, Our practices are hard. He was like, what happens in the NBA when somebody gets hurt? Do they cancel shoot around? Because in the NFL they move the drill. They just move they're like guys getting carted off. It is a great rant. With that said, I came up with eight guys. I want to know. I didn't know you're going to talk about this. I came up with eight guys and their position. I guess it's seven guys, all right. So Anthony Edwards could play running backer safety.

I am certain of it. I am certain Anthony Edwards could do it. Young Lebron would be the greatest tight end in NFL history. I know, I know it's true. Westbrook could play in the NFL. I'm not sure the position. Maybe ad drusher, maybe safety. Josh Hart I think can be a wide receiver, just based on his rebound. Unding this playoffs, Chris Long said he I'm just gonna trust him on this because I never would have thought of it, but he played the position. He was like, I've been

watching the playoffs. I could make Jalen Brown a pass rusher. I'm like, okay, I believe you. He was like, he was like he has great bend. He seems a little mean. He's like, I could do it. And then and this is gonna sound mean, and I am not being mean. I am simply saying he would have to put on weight, which I think he can, and then all of a sudden it would be a benefit. He has great feet, great athleticism. I think Zion could potentially be an a

an awesome lineman. He's six ' six, he obvious, you know what I mean, can carry it big like Jason Peters was a tight end that went to it. So I do think where I think Austin Rivers had a kernel of accuracy is there are certainly more NBA guys that the There are probably five NBA guys that could be good NFL players, like good, like hey, give me

a year to train be a good NFL player. And I don't know that there's any NFL guys that could be really good NBA players because, like you said, your skill has atrophied and if you're not over six ' six, it's all about skill, it's you know what I mean. And there's nobody that's six ' ten in the NFL to begin with.

my son because he works on the lot. You've seen him there. He is almost always the biggest guy in the room. He's you know, he's six three and a half, you know, probably two hundred pounds, maybe one ninety and in a room of regular people, he's an imposing cuts, an imposing figure. He is the exact same height and about ten pounds lighter than Steph Curry, and Steph Curry in the NBA looks like a little guy, and it's like, no, actually, Steph Curry's the size of a bouncer at a decent nightclub.

It's like, you know what I mean, Like the and so everybody forgets how tall NBA guys actually are. That the guys in the when you're watching the basketball game and a guy looks like he's average height, he's six seven and if you worked with someone who was six ' seven, you would gawk at them. And you're right about how just the raw strength of the average NFL player, that part is unquestioned.

this was a great rant by Chris Long. I highly enjoyed it. I do think there are a few though. I think there are a few guys who could do it. I think I do think Anthony Awards could play safety because I don't think safeties are at the size of MICHAEH. Parsons is flying around like a missile. I think he could do He's twenty two years old. I think you play safety. The Chiefs just drafted a get in the first roundway its one hundred and sixty pounds. That guy

don't see Anthony Edwards coming over the middle. Just doesn't.