The volume. It's the Colin Coward Podcast presented by Fan Duel. The NBA season kicking into gear Baby. No better place to get in on the action than Fan Duel. FanDuel app is safe, you get paid fast, A lot of ways to play the spread, the money line, team totals, players, props, a lot of stuff over unders, jump into the action, same game. Parlays are my favorite. Just use the promo code Colin and download the Fan Duel app today. This is Prime Cuts, the best of the Colin Coward Podcast.
So a couple of things. I want to start by talking about the pay per view event. Jake Paul, the polarizing semi boxer, certainly working hard at being one, was going to finally fight a real fighter. Tommy Fury now Tyson Fury, is a two time heavyweight champ from Great Britain. Tommy Fury is more a model who can box a little. And so let me give you a story. Years and years and years ago, they opened up a casino in Vegas called the Paris Right and it was a replica
of the Eiffel Tower. And so I had a friend who's like, hey, let's let's go to I saw it as we flew in, but he said, let's let's go so you can see this replica of the Eiffel Tower, and they've got a good restaurant inside. And I was like, all right, fine, and we went and I saw it, and I was impressed, you know, by the effort. But once you saw the replica of the Eiffel Tower, there was really no reason to see the replica of the
Eiffel Tower for a second time, okay. And that's sort of how I feel with Jake Paul, is that I thought the story was really fun, and as he was knocking out football players and washed up UFC guys or MMA guys, that was fun. I wanted to see him fight a real fighter, and I did, and it wasn't a great real fighter. It was Tommy Fury, who I'd seen two pieces of videotape of him fighting earlier, and he was mostly awful, and he completely controlled the fight.
He was more refined, more polished. He actually had a jab. It was highly effective. He was confident. He really controlled the fight. I had two rounds going to Jake Paul, and one of them the final round because he briefly knocked down Tommy Fury for about half a second. Nobody ever really got hurt in the fight. But Tommy Fury's not athletic enough or dynamic enough to be a great fighter.
His brother, right, is the two time champ. Tommy He's just a pedestrian athlete, good looking kid, you know, great body, but doesn't have the power or the athleticism to be a great fighter. But he controlled the fight. And you know, there's a lot of really talented people out there and there they have a two handicap. They're not close to playing on the tour. They can go out their buddies shoe one hunder part two hunder part. They're not close to being on the tour. Jake Paul is a big, strong,
tough kid, hard worker, made a name for himself. I do think it is interesting when he fights recently retired football players or washed up mixed martial art guys. That's fun. Can he You know, we watched an NFL player for years, A tough guy retires, goes and fights Jake Paul. That's interesting to me. But watching him face boxers, it's like going to the Paris casino. All right. I saw it
is kind of fake and I'm done with it. And so totally supported Jake Paul thought he would win the fight, and instead the real boxer who'd fought real fighters, was more refined, really kind of did whatever he wanted to. He landed significantly more punches than Jake Paul did. Jake Paul remember the baseball player Adam Dunn. If Adam Dunn was a boxer, he would be Jake Paul would not hit for average, swing for the fences and occasionally land
that sort of Jake Paul combinations were not great. There's no real jab of note. Kind of outclassed, but I love the effort. If he keeps fighting, that's fine, But you know, I'm done buying his fights. Unless he fights a really really popular, all pro level NFO guy that retires, that would be interesting. Maybe. So all of us, through the course of our journeys are experiences. It's going to
change our perspectives, right hopefully. You know, you do something for long enough, it works, you keep doing it, it doesn't work, you move off it. And I'll give you an example of this. So when I first started dating my wife and she was an experimenter, if we went out to eat, you know, I would order the chicken palm, the New York strip steak and broccolini. I would go with things I knew were going to be good. And
my wife was a big gambler. You know, She's going out with sea urchin salad with squid in vinegarette, and about half the time she'd be eating off my plate. She's like, I don't really like it. And I said, if you're gonna experiment, experimented home and then just throw it in the trash and start over. I said, but when you go to a restaurant, especially in Los Angeles, it's like one hundred and fifty dollars one hundred and sixty dollars for dinner, Why roll the dice? Just go
as something you know as popular. So I was going to a restaurant and I'm like, what's the most popular dish? Every restaurant has strengths and weaknesses on the menu, stuff they're really good at and really known for it, and I order it. I could not tell you the last time I went to a restaurant and left unsatisfied. I just go with what I know is going to be good. I'm paying a lot of money for it. My wife, over the course of our relationship now is a much
more consistent restaurant order. She kind of goes with what she knows. She'll like sea bass, you know, whatever it is, Bolonaise. And my point is her mistakes or her missus, her frustration is probably a better word, changed her perspective in habits. And you know, I was the other day. I'm sitting there watching some footage from the media on the combine, the NFL combine, And I used to try to for
years and years. I've been doing this thirty years, try to guess if quarterbacks we're going to make it, we're gonna bust. And over the last two years, I've really changed my perspective on this about trying to predict what quarterbacks are going to work. Last year's class and the class two years ago, I think I nailed completely. I thought Trevor Lawrence, mac Jones, Zach Wilson, Justin Fields pretty much nailed that class. Nobody really knows about Trey Lance yet,
we really don't know. My guess is it's not going to work, but nobody knows it's not playing. But I've come to the conclusion after a lot of misses that here's how I look about all these first round quarterbacks in the last ten drafts, we've had thirty first round quarterbacks. We've only had eight stars. Eight and in most instances the stars have landed in the right spot with an offensive coach Deshaun Watson, with a Bill O'Brien, Patrick Mahomes.
It helps with Andy Reid is that most of the time, maybe every fourth or fifth year, maybe twice a decade, there is a quarterback good enough Trevor Lawrence, Andrew Lucke. I believe Caleb Williams at USC to overcome chaos, but ninety five of them aren't. Of the last thirty quarterbacks taken first round, it's a decade twelve whiffs, twelve misses, ten starters but really need to be carried Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins and eight stars. And by the way, I'm
giving Kyler Murray a star rating. He's close. And so I've just based on so many misses, not any individual miss But I just don't think, with very few exceptions, any of these kids can overcome the Chicago Bears ownership in front office. I like justin Fields, Trevor Lawrence would make it work. I don't think he's good enough to overcome the nonsense they hired a defensive coach. Now we have a first time GM. I've never liked the ownership. It's a defensive culture. It's a hard town to be
a quarterback. In the media is tough, the weather's brutal. You're in a division with you know, Aaron Rodgers and right now Kirk Cousins and Jared Goff. You gotta win some shootouts. Bears, defense sucks offenses are good in the division. So that's how I look at this draft and the one. None of the quarterbacks who will go in the first round. C J. Stroud, Richardson at Florida, Will Levis at Kentucky, or Bryce Young, none of them I think are good enough.
None of them are all star stuff. None of them are Andrew Luck or Trevor Lawrence or Caleb Williams. I think whichever team goes to Seattle at the number five pick, if they draft a quarterback, that's the quarterback that will win. They have a star coach, a star left tackle, a star running back, a star receiver, an ascending playoff momentum, roster cap space and genos, so you don't have to
start ear one that feels like CJ. Stroud goes there since behind Geno for a year, I think you'll be successful. I think Bryce Young, same situation. Anthony Richardson Florida, same situation. I don't think there's a quarterback guaranteed to succeed. I think there's a spot in this draft Seattle number five pick. That's the spot. Whoever they get has a very high probability to be somewhere between a starter and a star,
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six seven three six nine in New York, Tennessee nine ten se us one eight hundred gamble dot in West Virginia. Well, as I was talking in the preamble um Former Players GMS Younger GMS, it used to be that baseball was really the sport that had fairly profound off seasons hot Stove, and then over time, Uh, the NBA kind of moved into that territory. Now it's just the NFL. These young gms have no problem turning over a third of their roster. I love it. I think we're gonna have a wildly
active March and I can't wait for it. It's also now, um, you know star quarterbacks are willing to move, you know, Russell Wilson, Matt Stafford, Tom Brady. With that, we bring in the volumes, Mike Silver. Um, So I want to address Even the week I was off, there were three or four stories. So Russell Wilson has denied it, but you and I had talked about it at some length on an earlier podcast that John Schneider, Russell Wilson, and
Pete Carroll. It's a total power struggle. By the way, Pete Carroll and John Snyder had a little bit of one right. As I was told for years, Pete could sometimes cherry pick on the draft and kind of view some influence and it would frustrate the scouts for the Seahawks. I was told that two times by two different people that had worked with Seattle. They loved Pete, so Snyder wanted a little more control and more money. He almost went to the Lions. Remember, but when the story came out,
I wasn't surprised by it. I also wasn't surprised that Russell Wilson immediately denied it. What was your take on the story? You know, it had gotten really, really bad and they kind of patched it together for that last season, which final way ended with Russell coming back play well and beating in Arizona own a team that at the time needed to win to try to win the division and on the road, so it ended kind of nicely.
But yeah, there was a power struggle, and you know, John and Pete look for two people who didn't know each other and were matched together, they'd have the model relationships. So there's been some push and pull. You know, maybe the front office wanted young players to play more, you know, kind of your typical coach versus personnel philosophical divide. But they were very much aligned on we think this has run its course with Russell and Russell and Fairness had
tried to get out the previous year. I mean it was dressed up as hey, we're not asking for a trade, but we're gonna publicly list four teams. Yeah, I mean, so Russell kind of acted out and trying to get out. They patched it together other he got injured. It didn't go great. It was time for something to happen. And you have a relatively new owner, Jody Allen, she's been around, ye hadn't been the owner for most of that time. And so did Russell technically go to them and say
it's me or them? Or was it couched more? As this can't go on the way it is, And so maybe that gives there's some defensibility there. But what I would say to all of it, though, is that it'd be one thing if we were hearing about this now and Russell had gone on and had a really good year with the Broncos and Seattle had kind of struggled to find its way. But the entire season, as seasons go, was a complete referendum on who was right, who was policed.
To the short term, Russell looked nothing like the guy we'd see it for ten years that Geno Smith was a pro bowler. You know, it's kind of like year one of Andy Belichick. Like I think it means Brady was the winner because he went to the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl and the Patriots, you know, struggled. So you know, obviously it's it's never that simple. But you know, Russell, I think, is emotionally intelligent enough to understand what's writing
on his and Sean Payton's potential partnership. That's his way back, and so maybe a lot of the convictions he had before have changed to Yes, Sean, that's a great idea. And Sean Payton has that credibility and I think Russell Wilson has those feelings about him in the first place. And for the record, another story leaked this weekend late that the you know upstairs office, second floor office for Russell Wilson was a distraction, was uncomfortable. And here's what
I worry about with Russell Wilson. Seattle stuff leaked. Now Denver stuff is leaking. You know, I say this all the time. The story isn't just the story, it's why am I hearing about the story? Who's leaking it? There are a lot of people that find some level of joy in releasing stories that make Russell Wilson look bad. Yeah, but first of all, I'm pro leak, so you know when well, I just want to get that out there, and leak is kind of a misunderstood word, and I
will reveal all the secrets of the trade. But you know, a lot that we normally would have reported between twenty twenty and twenty twenty one did not get reported at the time because of COVID and lack of backs. Right, you know, people like we were still you know, texting and calling and all that, but it's not the same as when you're around each other. So I think we're going to keep hearing about things from that period as
time goes on. But I mean, clearly Denver was a problem, and it's a ridiculous, in my opinion, over simplification to say, well, it was Nathaniel Hackett as a first time head coach and he mismanaged it and now it'll all be okay.
Sure you watch Sean Payton as your head coach over someone who's never done it, for sure, But I don't, you know, if anything, I think Hackett, who had put up, you know, who had come from a situation that was weird and trending weirder with Aaron and the Packers, but obviously worked really, really well, partly because of Nathaniel Hackett, and both Batt La Flora and Aaron Rodgers would tell you that I think that kind of informed his thinking,
which is all right, now, Russell's the guy. I'm gonna tether myself to him and be all in with him, and yeah, you know, you and I talked about the office and some things like that earlier, you know, during the season. Um, you know, a six person team cruising around with him. I mean, I just kind of want a hard one at the job, so I could envision the you know, who's this, Oh hey coach, that's my
personal performance coach. He's in charge. But making you know here, you know, that would have been that would have been fun. But um, you know, effectively, Sean Bate's gonna do the same thing, which is, hey, buddy, you know you're a quarterback, you're my guy. We're gonna be partners, but you're gonna be at your locker and not in an office that's bigger than your head coaches. It's just it's just a
weird look. Yeah, well, speaking of something that is a little bit of a weird look, you know, the Darkness Retreat, which again, however, people get right mentally, I'm four, I don't care. I want to smoke a joint hold on. I'm having I'm having a little darkness retreat. Oh, I see, I'm very clever there. There you go. U. Whatever it takes, you know, whatever whatever it takes. Um. I do think
there's enough credible reporting now. Um. I thought when when Aaron Rodgers said I'm gonna do this retreat and it'll get me closer to my answer, I thought, time out, you gotta have an answer after the retreat. You can't. It's like, honey, I'm gonna go with some really cute girls to Vegas and that'll get me closer to if I want to continue our marriage. Like, that's not the answer. You gotta get right, Although if unless charitably maybe like
it's darkness retreat Iowauaska. Maybe that's the double header. Um yeah. And by the way, like I agree with you whatever gets you through the day. And I totally respect Aaron's process on it. It's easy to make fun of he offered the information, so people are gonna, you know, have some fun with it. But yeah, I just I know that the packers, you know, organizational attitude has changed from two years of Okay, we gotta find a way to
make it work with everything, like under any circumstances. To listen, man, if you want to go back to be at all In and you're into this, we can do something cool here. But anything short of that, you know whatever. So that makes me thick they're gonna get to a place where Aaron says, hey, you know, I want to go here, and then whether they'll send him where he wats as another question. But you know they believed that, you know, well,
I mean just look at the optics. We saw Patrick Mahomes throwing with his new receivers, all these quarterbacks getting together with people. Aaron blew off the off season, which is is right, but you know, didn't organize throwgs sessions and then kind of seemed to act a little disdainfully toward the rookies. They clicked late, made a run, fell just short, and I think the packers believed that they paid him all the buddy, which was good, he'd earned it,
but then he took the money. It was kind of like, Okay, you're training DeVante, getting these new guys in. I'm gonna just you know, dial it back a little bit. And it's a position where you kind of got to be on. And so he's so talented and he'll probably find a way to get an edge and a chip and on his shoulder and come back for someone and be fierce. I'm trying to figure out a way that that happens in Green Bay. It feels less likely. Yeah, I think
somebody I trust inside that organization. I ran into in the super Bowl at the Super Bowl and I had made a comment to this person inside the Packers organization this is somebody that wears the uniform about Aaron. And there was a little bit of an eye roll by this person who said, yeah, we're all kind of we're all kind of waiting for Aaron to make up his mind. And it wasn't said with anger or disdain, but it was, yeah,
what you're seeing is what we're seeing. And you know, and we know this colin in all sports, right, like when you are performing at a transcendent level as Aaron did the previous TWI yes, there's a whole lot that Instead I roll like, it's like that's our quirky guy, you know, like you put up with a lot, but the second it starts to slip, especially when effort is perceived to be part of it all. Then that's what you know, and the and the Russell Wilson thinks a
great example. Then it all starts coming out like, oh, do you realize what we got to put up with? I mean Tom Brady. You know, it's a testament to Tom Brady that you didn't hear that stuff this year, despite the fact that he was clearly going through some stuff. As he said, he was gone for a big chunk of trading cab. He was allegedly going to miss Wednesdays.
I don't think that actually really happened much, but you know, there was all this separation between what tom Brady normally would have been doing and what tom Brady was doing. He played well. He didn't play transcended, but he played very well. But what a testament to him that we didn't hear much about, Oh my got tom Brady. They let him do anything. And obviously he has a lot of capital in the bank. But that's I think what
we're getting with Aaron now. I think there would have been moments of eye rolling in twenty and twenty one, but he was just so good that in that building they were like, hey man, yeah, that's our guy. Yeah. Well, one of the things that seems fair obvious is you'd want to send them to the AFC, which has already been reported, And you'd want to send him to the Raiders because of that division. Right. The Raiders are a
fascinating team. So if you let go of Derek Carr, I don't think you can back into the season with Jarrett Stidham. You're going to take a big swing. It's it's like when you were when when the Broncos were losing Tebow, they went with Peyton Manning, right, he wanted to quiet the crowd down, and Derek carrs say whatever he wants. Pretty popular guy, right, pretty capable quarterback. So I you know the Jarrett Stidham reports, you know, he to me he's a backup or a really really like
twenty eighth best quarterback in the league. Guy, what do I know? But I do think the Aaron Rodgers, I could see the Raiders saying we'll give you a first one of our fifths, a first in that division. That feels right for Aaron Rodgers. But I also look at roberts All on the Jets and I think, Mike, they're really behind the eight ball here. They got real issues and they hired Hackett as the opposite. So give me a Raiders, Jets Aaron Rodgers. Where do you land on
that stuff? And by the way, let's throw the Titans in there. I think that's a fair thought. Yeah, So I think with the Raiders, if it if they make a move for Aaron Rodgers, that's ownership driven. I think if it was just Dave Ziggler and Josh McDaniels, based on what I know, they might poke around Aaron. But they're not thinking, hey man, that's the answer to our
dreams at this point. They probably think Stidham, who in the one game I saw him live did look like the eighth best quarterback, like he was dealing and they came down to earth the next day. But they're they're probably thinking Stidham and then go get a young guy that you know they have a pretty high pick in this draft. Do something them like that, which I don't know if that's a sustainable solution if you're Josh and Battle, but I think that would be the team building, you know,
preference from the front office. But then you know, Mark Davis was the guy wanted Russell Wilson. Mark Davis wants a star. He wants someone to put in that new stadium and give them a new identity. And so I could see Mark Davis saying, you know what, let's do that. And you know, the owner's always got that kind of sway.
I don't know that it's going to cost as much as a one And simply because they are under you know, because of the contract, if they decide, hey, we're moving on, you're gonna you know, we're parting ways, they have a great deal of incentive to get out from under that cap hit and Aaron knows that, and so that can be used against them, and so, hey, I don't know how much it's really going to take to get him and be more important this whole Oh well, they're not going to send him to a team in the NFC.
I don't know that. I mean, Aaron's got leveraged in that he can say, fine, I'm coming back, even though we don't want to be with each other. He can also say go ahead and cut me because you're you know, your cap situation with this you know deal as it currently stands is not good. And he can also you know, force you know, figure out with the new team. Well, they're can we change the contract of a more team friendly.
So I think Aaron's a part of this. So I don't know for sure that he's gonna not go where he wants. It's possible that the packers will have their way,
but it's possible he'll have leverage. And you know, with all of that said, the Jets make a lot of sense to me, because you know, if you're Joe Douglas and Robert Salo at this point, with a with an impatient owner, with an owner who essentially made you change offensive coordinators, and you hire the guy who has the relationship with Aaron, you had a credible draft, You've got a lot of pieces around you, but you're in a
very tough division. I think a lot there's a lot of reason where you'd say, yeah, let's do anything again Aaron Rodgers and put him with this team in this town. Well, he left the columnist business for a while. He's back at the New York Post. Four New York Times bestsellers. The last one we spent a great deal of time on was The Rise and Reign of Mike Shashevski. You can always order that Amazon, all places you can order books. We bring them on as often as we can, so
of the many things to talk about. You know, oftentimes New York teams, especially in baseball. Steve Cohen has made the Mets a bit of a villain by having a payroll that's more than the bottom seven teams in the sport. And the Yankees have always had that sort of image. Although I owned the Yankees, you know, the Reggie Jackson, Billy Martin, Yankees so vulnerable and so likable. Even as a Seattle kid, I loved those teams. They always had
quirky characters and real personality. Despite steer, even the owner was crazy. I find the Knicks incredibly likable. Thibodeaux is an old school guy. Brunson got sent off by the MAVs. They didn't understand how good he was. You know, the Lakers ran off Julius Randall because in a world of threes, he hits twos. And I gotta tell you, I think they're going to knock somebody off. I like their roster.
I think they're I think they're another star away. But ian I think if you sent them up against the Philadelphia I don't know if they could keep pace with Cleveland's offense. But kind of give me your forecast of the Knicks as a playoff team. I agree. I actually think the only two teams they cannot beat in these start Boston and Milwaukee in a seven game series. I actually think they'll push those teams the way they're playing now, and they're getting better. They've got one of the better
coaches in the NBA, and Tims. As you mentioned, Brunson is so much better than I thought he was going to be. I now believe after watching him. I admit it's a bit of a small sample size, but I do think you can win a championship with him as your second best player. I think he's not you too, I do yep, and I don't think you can win. I don't think you can have a dynasty with him. I certainly think you can pick one or two off.
And he's only what he's twenty six years old. I think he's smart enough to know he's got a really good thing in New York. New York City is a place that loves point guards for whatever reason, always has high school college in pro and yet the Knicks haven't had one long term who was really good since Clyde Frasier. So it's been a long time, and finally the Knicks have a quarterback who can lead them consistently to the
play us and maybe on some deep runs. I think they will be Cleveland in the first round if that's the matchup. I wouldn't be surprised at the Knicks hurdle of the Cavaliers and get that four seed and home court advantage in the first round. I think they can certainly win that series. I think there's a shot they could upset Philly. I think where it ends is Boston Milwaukee. Wherever that series happens in the playoffs. They'll lose that series.
But that's a really good step from where they were last year, when it seemed like Tibbs's program was unraveling after a really good year one. So Brunson's injections obviously key. There is a sense around all sports there are certain franchises where you have to overcome the owner. That's always
been a feeling with James Dolan. Give me the person inside the organization that has orchestrated most of this, not a player, but because Dolan has a reputation, fair or not, who's behind the scene, who's the puppeteer, who's making these moves in the front office, because I've always you always hear the same four or five names. You tell me the hierarchy. Who's the key, I think you have to
go to Leon Rose. I mean, people talk about Worldwide West being one of the more mysterious figures in all of basketball and his connections, but I think and listen, Worldwide West and Leon Rose, they've been a bit of a partnership over the years. They've made their share of mistakes, certainly,
without question. You look at forty A, you look at Kemba Walker, and Rose actually gave Tims some players he didn't want Reddish and they had to send out a first round pick to get Reddish and then send out another first round pick to get rid of them. So they've made their share of mistakes. But Leon Rose is the guy who made one of the best acquisitions I've seen in New York in any sport in many years.
And Nat was Brunson. He got that done. He had the relationship to get it done through the family, his presentation as well. And so now having you said, don't name a player, I think it's impossible not to name Brunson because I think he's going to draw free agent significant NBA veterans, either through a trade or free agency, who now want to play with a point who looks at the big picture. Now, listen, he just had thirty points and a half against the Nets, and he finished
with thirty nine. He was not interested in, Hey, let me try to hang fifty fifty five sixty on these guys. He only cares about winning. He should have been an All Star and he wasn't. And he was genuinely happy for Julius Randall after he went through a miserable season with the fans and everything else last year, that he personally helped resurrect his career and make him an All Star again. He didn't just say that. It looked to me and a lot of people around the Knicks that
he really meant it. So his generosity of spirit, the way he plays his body language, the way he runs a team, I think is going to draw better players and put the Knicks finally in position to win a championship. Well, it's funny Luca couldn't work with port Zingis. Port Zingis has actually been pretty good since leaving him. Brunson's a star. He's not winning now with Kyrie is there's a there's a James Harden quality to Luca where he's a remarkable
score but a bit ball centric. And so I think I think that it was really a catch, and I think the Knicks deserve a lot of credit. I think they're relatable. Um, I think they I think they really you know, Julius Randall's a fascinating player. So I was in like in Los Angeles when he was a Laker. He comes out of Kentucky, and the league was really Ian transitioning to a three point league. It was the
beginning of the Golden State stuff. And I can remember having a discussion with somebody inside the Lakers and they're like, he's going to make a really good player for somebody. We're not sure it's the Lakers. But you know what, I'll give Julius Randall credit for he mostly Ian knows what he is and what he's not. He has worked on his game. I think he's a lot better offensive player than the league thought he was going to be. I mean, he's a great high school player, very good.
At Uckey. I said if I had never watched Julius Randall, and I said, hey, his numbers are pretty good. Describe him, How would you describe him? He did shoot. I believe it was forty one percent from three two years ago. Of course, a lot of that was empty Jim's in the pandemic, and so some people subtracted from that performance from three point range. But I think he's a guy who is a load offensively, and you're right, he's got
a little bit of an old school game. But I think he's also given a lot of credit to Brunson for bringing him back. Remember last year, he fought with the fans, he fought with everybody. He had this great first year with Tibbs, and how it really gave New Yorkers a gift really during the pandemic, the fact that the Knicks were competent again and it just playing some
winning basketball. Had been so long, I mean really for the better part of two decades, and Knicks had been a dysfunctional product, and so Randall I thought would never ever have to pay for a meal or a drink ever again in the Five Boroughs. But then last year, all of a sudden, it all fell apart on him. He looked like he was going to get traded. He was going to play and complain his way out of town and then he came back this year. He worked
out in the offseason. Brunson really helped bring him back. And listen, remember Colin. When the Knicks signed him in twenty nineteen after missing out on Kevin Durant into some degree Kyrie, they had to apologize to their fan base. Steve Mills, then the team president apologized for the consolation pieces that he signed because they were supposed to get Kevin Durant and maybe Kyrie Irving and they struck out
and lost out to the Brooklyn Nets. They get Julius Randall, who has done a lot for the organization, will continue to do that, and they basically had to apologize for signing him. So he's come a long way, and I think he deserves a lot of credit for the kind of bounce back he had off of last year. So I've said before or is that, I've always viewed the Mars as a reasonably good ownership group, you know, mostly
pretty stoic. They stay out of the headlines. I don't think they're as impulsive sometimes as the Johnson family and the Jets or Dolan can be. I tend to think they're a little methodical, you know, they gave Tom Coughlin. There was a couple of years it was pretty lean at the end, and then listen, nobody would have guessed Coughlin out of Boston College would have been that good.
They whipped on some guys, and I my takeaway is they see in Daniel Jones, even physically esthetically, they see Eli and they know how long it took for Ely and they see a really good kid from the South, hard worker, doesn't make headlines, stays out of trouble, committed to the process. And I think they see Brian Dable as kind of this Tom Coughlin. It's like we found this gem and it's a little rough around the edges,
but he's our Tom Coughlin. You know, they always say about New York it's got its issues, but New Yorkers those problems, those are our problems. And it's like Coughlin was, you know, Purple is a plumb he's screaming, but he adapted and day Ball still feels at times he's as emotional as a coordinator. But it works. And so I think they are committed to Daniel Jones. I think there's limitations. Here's the rub though, running backs getting second contracts. It's
bad business. If you pay say Quan and Daniel, you're gonna have sixty million bucks in the backfield. That's gonna hamper free agency, and that defensive line's not cheap. In Where do you go? Do you? What would you do? What do the fans want? Because I think most New Yorkers know you want a playoff game. Two of his best games were against the Vikings, a horrific defense. There's there's a ceiling here. But I think the Maras are in on him. I think they see Eli. I really do.
That's my perception. Outside. You give me your kind of your feeling about how the Maras. What do you do with Daniel? What do you do with Saquan? What do the fans want? I do think the fans want both of them back, and it's kind of funny. Daniel Jones he had fifteen touchdown passes this year. He did run for seven two and that counts for something. Ran for seven hundred yards. His athleticism is the difference maker between Eli.
Manning was the better player in the better quarterback. Daniel is much more athletic than Eli, but he has a lot of similarities and the things you talked about. Certainly
they were both coached by Cutcliffe. I think that to see Daniel Jones asking for more than what Aaron Judge is now making with the Yankees, who would have thought that on Labor Day, right, that Daniel Jones, who nearly was run out of town, was a couple of bad games away from being run out of town now asking for more than forty million dollars a year, which is obviously what Judge got long term. So I think when you look at the fifteen touchdown passes this year and right,
some of his limitations as a pocket passer. Wow. But I think they'll they'll pay him thirty eight million dollars a year because second tier quarterbacks that's what the market suggests they should get. I think he'll get thirty seven, thirty eight, maybe thirty nine. I don't think he'll get forty, and he'll be your quarterback for the next three to four years. I think sat Quan's more interesting because he is you're talking about running back on a second contract.
He was number two overall, picked by a different general manager. But he is a very good player. I actually think Colin he's one of three players on the entire roster. You could say could be or will be the best in the world at what he does. Andrew Thomas, Dexter Lawrence, and sat Quon Barkley. He's much better. Barkley is at his position, at his job than Daniel Jones is at his but he happens to play the wrong position the way. Mara loves both those guys because they represent the organization
the way he wants it represented. Sa Quon Barkley is a perfect He's like Frank Gifford. He's got the Hollywood looks. He's a giant. He just the way he carries himself, the way he works, and he's a great player, and so he's just at the wrong position. I think they can I was told by a source that during the bye week the Giants offered him three years at twelve million a pop. Another source told a colleague of mine, Ryan Dunlevy, it was more twelve point five, maybe over four,
but in that twelve to twelve point five range. To me, I'd feel comfortable with paying Saint Quon Barkley thirteen per in a multi year deal, and I think they'll come to an agreement. He doesn't want to be tagged and I've talked to a source close to him who said he really really doesn't want to be tagged, so they can do it and then still work on a long
term deal. I think both will be back. I don't think it'll be a sixty million total, but you're talking maybe what thirty eight for Daniel, maybe thirteen for Saquan.
It's quite an investment in your backfield. But I think it's one that John Marrow will make so Colin, I this morning, as I was driving around town, was listening to your opening segment on The Herd, as I've done many times over the course of the last ten years or so, and you were talking about Lebron James and you had some interesting thoughts about just where where he fits into the Lakers long term plans with this latest injury.
So my question for you is if the Lakers end up let's just say they get into the plan and then they put up a good fight against Denver, but they lose in six games, in large part because Anthony Davis and Lebron are a little bit out of rhythm. But you have this excuse in the back of your head, which is they didn't have this full season with this group you might be able to put together a more a softer a workload for Lebron in a d next year,
and maybe it's better. Are you in a position where you would continue with the core of these two guys moving forward or would you look to move on at that point? Yeah, I'd look to move on. I you know, Lebron is such a unique player that you can argue there's only been a handful of players in league history. Magic Johnson's another one where they've made every single teammate in their career either better or in the Chris Bosh Kevin Love space for Lebron, I don't know if he
made them better. He kind of asked them to sacrifice, but he won them titles and they would not have won titles. So every player he's played with is a better version of themselves or they've won titles. That's very rare. I would keep Lebron until he doesn't want to play. Even an old Lebron will elevate others, teach others, coach others. I think he has just such redeemable value on so many levels. I don't feel that's the same for Anthony Davis.
Anthony Davis is simply talented, he doesn't have a tremendous work ethic. Although I don't think he's a bad teammate. I don't think he's a guy that's going to spend his offseason tutoring. He doesn't necessarily elevate others, although he does elevate your team. He's a very good defensive player, and on his best nights, he's unstoppable. He's really a John Calipari won a title with him. John Calipari this year lost to Saint Peter's. Okay, so he ran through
the tournament with him, But I would move him. I said this before the season, is that certain players, most players have limitations. Once that limitation is injuries. There's certainly an argument to be made if you look at Lebron in a D and I don't have the number with me. We talked about it this morning. How many games in a row since they arrived together in Los Angeles have
Anthony Davis and Lebron James played consecutively. The number is shockingly low, like bizarrely low, and it's getting worse because we prosibly getting older. So I would have moved off him. You know, he's a commodity. You can move him, cross your fingers. He remains healthy, they win a playoff series, they get in, He's viable. I mean, Russell Westbrook keeps getting teams like you can move Anthony Davis absolutely, but I would move off him. I would continue to surround
Lebron with bigs that run the floor. Jared Vanderbilt's been terrific. Shooters always benefit from Lebron. But Kevin Durant coming to the West feels like he's changed the West, Like there were some obstacles for this Laker team the smart right now. I feel the sunsel in the West. I really do. Yeah,
Phoenix changes the math for everybody at this point. And the weird thing is, and this is the unfortunate thing, And this is what I was complaining about so much early in the season, was that this kind of felt like the last great chance to do something in the Western Conference if you were team that had that was close just because of some things like you know, the Luca Kyrie pairing. They're going to be able to address
their front court issues in the summertime. They're a complete disaster in the front court defensively and on the glass. You know, Phoenix, same sort of thing. They're going to have a lot of opportunity this summer to address some of their specific holes, you know, like Golden State and the Lakers are kind of in this interesting position where they were close enough to make more of an all
in move. And I feel like, specifically with the Lakers, they were even more aggressive at the trade deadline than I expected them to be, but they paid the price for waiting as long as they did. And you know what's funny, Like Shan Sharania reported today that this specific foot injury for Lebron was one that he actually experienced in January and him and his team had a decision to make as to whether or not to shut him down or to continue and play on it, and he
opted to play on it. And this is where if I wanted to make the case for giving it one last goal around with these two guys, I would put it based on the workload in the potential neck year to keep that lower. So I wanted to share a couple of pieces of data with you. So first of all, these are this is Janis's minutes per game over the
last two season two seasons thirty two point seven. Steph Curry over the last two seasons thirty four point five, Nicola Yokich over the last two seasons thirty three point five. Lebron James over the last two seasons thirty six point seven minutes per game, And in addition to that, he's had multiple extended stretches over the last two years where Anthony Davis has been hurt and he's had to carry limited rosters by himself to float them in the standings,
which he did this year. By the way, the only reason they still have a chance to make the play in is because of the quality of basketball that Lebron played over the course of the end of December and January. Here in early February, he carried them to this point. So I guess the case that I would make is I'm a huge believer in the Lebron Anthony Davis ceiling. You saw what it looked like again on Sunday when
the two of those really hit the jets. They can win rock fights, and they can win with skill, which is such a unique capability of those two. That's why they have the high ceiling that they have. So the way I'd look at it is if Anthony Davis can finish this season healthy and playing at an MVP level, which he's got a golden opportunity here over the course of the next few weeks without Lebron to demonstrate that.
If he demonstrates that, I look at it as next year, you might be able to limit their minutes, keep them both around thirty to thirty two minutes per night, sit them out back to backs, and do all the little things that keep the workload lower to where you don't need them to carry as much as they've done over the last two years, which I think has directly directly led to the injuries that they've been dealing with. So I would give it one last chance. If Anthony Davis
finishes the year healthy. But Anthony Davis could not finish last year healthy. The year before that, he was awesome against the Suns for two games and then he broke down again. If he breaks down again, I think then it enters a simple like risk reward proposition where it's foolish to plan your franchise around a star player in his twenties who literally cannot finish the season healthy. When we when we presented that idea in our last show, a lot of people kind of framed it as we
want to trade a D. No. No No, we believe in what Ad can do when he's healthy. He demonstrated that for us over the course the last few games. It's the it's the health, that's all it is. If he can't finish the season three years in a row in his late twenties, what makes you think that's going to get better in his thirties. That's just bad management at
that point. It's bad planning. So I would give I would say, regardless of what happens down the stretch here, as long as Ads healthy, I give it one more shot. But then you know, if they break down again at that point, then you have to start looking to move in a different direction. You know. I was talking about this today, like I really like Miami and close games. I think they're I think they lead the NBA in
thirteen like one bucket wins. I don't love you know, Bam and Jimmy, but are very good players, great coach, great d fence, great crisis management, excellent situationally. They're kind of the opposite of the Sixers that are docs. Not great situationally. They're sloppy. Last night they had like twenty turnovers. I don't trust Harden late in games, even though he's had a good season. There are these cultures of smart people. I think Miami is a less talented version of Golden State.
In a seven game series, they're just gonna win more possessions. They're going to be better late in the shot clock, Layton quarters, Layton sets. So if Golden State is one of those playing teams, that's my pick. I don't buy into Denver. You know, Yokis is going to probably win a third MVP. It's weird. There are players that I can really like in the regular season, but I don't trust them in the postseason. And there have been in my lifetime watching players that I love as scores, but
I don't love them as play. Zach Levine's one, and he's obviously he's an explosive, dynamic player. I don't think he's a winning player. I don't think Westbrook's a winning player. I never thought John Wall was a winning player. I never thought Carmelo was a winning player. I just think they're great players. I don't I don't trust Denver in the West, and I don't trust Philly in the East. So I think if if Lebron and ad were healthy, I would have the two. I know Yokicho win the MVP,
but I would have two players. I would have the best defensive player, I would have the best ball handler of those three is Lebron. The best physical presence is Lebron. The best defensive players Anthony Davis. Yokicho win the MVP. So I think playoff basketball is about being great at stuff Miami, great situationally, great coaching, great defensive. That stuff wins. It's not about depth, it's not about plaques, it's not about MVPs. The Lakers, when Adi and Lebron are healthy,
they have things they're great at. Vanderbilt just made them a better, deeper, defensive team. So I would take the Lakers. Yeah. You know what's interesting is Denver. Denver fans in particular are particularly sensitive about this, and I think it's the classic small market thing. They've been kicking everybody's ass all year. I understand why they want a certain amount of respect and so on and so forth. And to be clear, I think Nikola Yoki is a good playoff player on
the offensive end of the floor. He has demonstrated that. But you said playoffs are about what you're great at, They're also about what you're bad at and specifically with Denver, they have a couple of entry points on the defensive end of the floor. With Michael Porter Junior, you can struggle a little bit defending on the perimeter. Nikola Yoki, when he gets out onto the perimeter, can struggle a
little bit. He's actually struggled a little bit with rim protection this year, which has been an issue that has risen as of late. So like the way I look at it, like I believe Denver can win. They absolutely have a chance. But we're sitting here and we're looking at the bigger picture, and we're looking at Milwaukee, and we're looking at Boston, and we're looking at Golden State.
We're looking at all these teams that we have as other options, and would you pick the team that has not won an NBA championship and has glaring entry points on the defensive end that we've seen time and time again in NBA history get exploited. I just don't think they're as safe as a bet of a bet compared to some of the other teams that we have else around the league. I don't think that's an insult to Denver. They're a great team. I think they can win it.
I just think that Phoenix is every bit as capable of winning it. I think Golden State is every bit as capable of winning it, and I still think the Lakers and Clippers have an outside chance. On that note, Let's move on to the Clippers. So we've had two games with Russell Westbrook in a Clippers jersey, and I actually think he's been pretty solid so far. Tyler did
pay that I paid. I played Russ and crunch time tax in the King's game when Russ lost mileage Monk on the game time shot, and then spent the entire overtime period as the King's just double teamed off of him and just went at Kawai and Paul George everywhere on the floor. So there have been some issues, but I do think you've seen an obvious basketball fit that wasn't there with the Clippers. Specifically, he's pushing the pace, which is the thing that that team desperately needed to do.
And one of the things that's been kind of sneaky good is they run a switching defensive scheme as opposed to the Lakers that ran a lot of drop coverage where they were asking Russ to chase guys over the top of screens, and so in switching schemes he ends
up on bigger players a lot. And Russ is actually one of the better switching guards that we have in the league because he's so competitive, he takes that personally when you try to attack him, and he's so big and strong, and he's very good technically at fronting the post, which is something he does a great job of in those switches to prevent that post entry. And so he's been a good piece for them on the defensive end.
And then one of the sneaky subplots here too is Kawai and Paul George actually prefer to operate off the ball. They are like guys that are like, let me get to my spot, let me fight for position, then you throw it to me that you go to work. So there's been kind of a natural offensive synergy there. The lineup date is a little skewed because Russ unfortunately that first shift against Denver, the Denver starters just beat the
heck out of him. For I think they went up twenty four to eight, which is kind of skewed the data, But I think it's been pretty good so far. So my question for you is, what have you thought so far about Westbrook in a Clippers jersey? I, well, I'm not a fan of Westbrook. I think if you can avoid using him in situational basketball late in the quarter, like three minutes to go, I don't want him on the floor. But he's productive, He pushes the pace. He
gives you great minutes, he gives you great energy. I mean, even with the Lakers, there were moments. Was at that Celtics game. There was a big Laker game. I was watching, and he had a tip in at the basket and he just out of control plies it, and I'm like, that's Westbrook in the regular season. Not everybody brings energy. Not everybody is equally rested. You saw it last night. The Celtics were completely flat against the Knicks. First quarter.
Tatum's awful, Brown's out, They're done. You know, it felt like it felt like a first round of the playoffs for New York at Madison Square. They just came out on fire. And so I think the Clippers because Kauai, I don't. I don't like when Kauai the offense runs around him. I'm a believer's he's way better off ball, and so I think I think Westbrook fits better. Lebron is so great with the ball. Kawai's better off it, Paul's better off it. So I think he's a better fit.
And again, twenty games left, you can get thirty minutes a night from him. Just get him out of spaces. Um, you know it's in football. Some guys are great in the red zone. So you know what I mean. There are third down backs, right, they're not powerbacks. It's okay. Most athletes are, even the good ones are situational. There's Jason Tatum is usually ohways good. That's very unique. So I think when you keep him out of those spaces,
they've got a lot of depth. He's fine. But I think with I thought when he came to the Lakers. I remember saying at the time, is I think it can work. He can't play off ball, but Lebron and Nady get hurt. He'll give him thirty four minutes a night. And he had games. He had moments, but because of Lebron's ability to control the tempo and pace, he got in the way. I think there's going to be moments. He's exactly what they need. Give him the ball, let him burn the tempo, get up the floor. I'm a
total believer in what you said. I think both Paul and Kauai are terrific in the wing off the ball. Whenever the offense goes through Kawai, it can be effective. Esthetically, it doesn't look good. It feels like a struggle, like right, like because Kawhi is so great, it can be effective. It never looks good. It always looks stilted. So and I don't want to. I don't want a guy that plays only three out of four nights, you know, doesn't
play black to backs. I don't want him running my offense, right, I'd rather have him off ball. So I think Westbrook's okay for them. Just keep him out of a game with four and a half minutes left if you're tied and it matters. And that's what Tyler did. They did not play him in crunch time against the Nuggets. Now, that game kind of swung ironically on Paul George, who's
been one of their biggest issues in crunch time. He kind of co opted things in ot and made a couple of crucial mistakes early in the period, and then the game was over. Just like that. I agree, though, like Kawhile. Leonard's interesting when you get him to his spots, like it's like, Oh, navigate an off ball screen and get a switch and then dump it to him in the post. Against Jamal Murray, that's as high percentage of possession as you'll find around the league. Like, he's great
in those situations. But when you start asking him to initiate offense from the perimeter with a live dribble, that's where things can get a little bit messier. This is my big concern with the Clippers called this is a wild stat for you. Did you know that they've lost thirteen out of fifteen games against the Denver Nuggets dating back to the bubble. That specific matchup is so in
their head. They Nuggets in particular, are are very very good at beating their switching scheme by getting the bald of Yokis in their spots, and that it's there's a little bit of a mental advantage. They're kind of like you've seen even with Boston and Golden State, like you've talked about. So that that's kind of where the thing that severely limits the Clippers chances of getting out of the Western Conferences. You'll probably have to go through Denver,
and I just don't think they can win. Their best bet is that someone like the Lakers or the Warriors ends up getting that eight seed. It can knock the Nuggets out before they even have to see them, But that specific matchup is an issue for them. They just gotta get They gotta get everything clicking at the same time.
Like right now, Kawai's peaking. You know, they're they're integrating Russ and it's going well, but Paul George is having some struggles and Norman Powell starting to struggle a little bit. There's a bunch of like little pieces there that they just can't get aligned. But they're one of those teams, just like the Lakers, where it's like if they're healthy and you catch them in the in the right matchup, they're capable of beating anybody. And that's just the Western
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