The volume.
All right, we are really really close to crowning an NBA champ. I like the Celtics, by the way, especially in Game one. How about you sign up for DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. They'll cover it every step of the way. Takes in ninety seconds to download the thing. They got same game parlays live betting odds boosts. I like doing my parlays two and three team parlays. We've actually had a really good year
with parlays Warriors during the regular season. Let's cross our fingers. I got a Celtic one that's coming up that's pretty tasty. If you're a new customer, go check it out at DraftKings. Bet five bucks. That's at five bucks, get one hundred and fifty bucks in bonus bets instantly. You bet five, get one hundred and fifty bucks only on DraftKings. The crown is yours. I'm leaning Celtics in six.
Baby gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or in West Virginia, visit one eight hundred gambler dot net in New York call eight seven seven eight hope and wire text hope and y four six seven three six nine In Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill casino when resorting Kansas twenty one and over age
varies by jurisdiction VOYD and Ontario one. No sweat bet per new customer issued as one bonus bet based on amount of initial losing bet. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issueance. See dkang dot com slash promos for deposit wagering and eligibility restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources.
All right, Former NFL scout John Middlecoff, I'm always try to be somewhat delicate with Aaron Rodgers because I'm viewed as anti Aaron. But last year, sixty quarterbacks played in the league. And if I just said to you, said, forget the teams and the names, forty year old quarterback oft an achilles surgery with a makeshift, old and really young offensive line in a better conference, just that scream.
The quarterback plays seventeen games I think lost in this this Jets improvement, and people love their roster is, Hey, they're a Breee Hall injury from being a have to pass offense, have to pass. And now the good news, they shouldn't be in shootouts, Aaron shouldn't be forced to throw forty four times a game. But they got one back. And I tend to believe that championship teams are built when you have your seven to eight best players all
in their prime. Like Detroit right now, Jared's in his prime. Hutcheson moved into it. That running back may be into it now, Amaran Saint Brown, Panay Sewel, You're getting a lot of Porida. They're all like moving into their prime. And you start looking at Green Bay and it's like, I guess Breece probably is, Garrett Wilson still raw a lot of their defensive talent, Sauce Gardner's probably moving into it. But they got a lot of guys that aren't there
or were never there. I PFF last week had the Kansas City roster number two, and I was like, they're bad at tackling, don't have a number one receiver. I don't know, it's not the second best roster of the league. I look at the Jets and I just keep saying, if you gave me over under fifteen games on Aaron, I'd bet the under.
I'd be like this, did you see the clip last week of him scrambling to his right and kind of limping. Yeah, And whether you tell me it's blister prevention or whatever, that has to be pretty concerning, because I will say this last year at this time, and remember he dealt with a calf a little in OTAs. But when you saw him move around and he was healthy, he looks somewhat spry. He's forty years old, and we have, i would say, pretty recent data of some legendary guys falling
off a cliff. Matt Ryan different Matt Ryan, and I would put him on the lower end of these players. Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger. Most of my life when I was a kid in the nineties, guys got to like thirty five in all pro sports and we're done. And then Brady kind of changed it. Lebron kind of changed it. Most people fall off a cliff, Hey, well, I'm kind of expecting yeah, and he's that's crazy. But he's not quite as quick anymore. He's not quite the athlete.
Why he's thirty four, He's not twenty six. Aaron's forty forty. And part of the reasons he's older, right because played several years in college red shirted, gray shirted in the pros, didn't play for a while, so he's actually older, even though he hasn't been playing technically as long as some of those guys like Peyton Manning when he was forty. But I think there's a very good chance if you just base it up the history of sports, it usually
ends poorly. Usually don't do John Elway. This one's for John, especially with the Jets, right, I mean, their offensive coordinator is not any good because she's just not I mean, most teams in the league laugh at that situation. And he's there for one reason and one reason only, which I'm for the coach and the quarterback having a good relationship. That's how you and your producers have good relate Like there's it should be healthy if the guy is good
at his job. Josh McDaniel's pay and Tom Brady made a lot of sense. Kyle shanahan and his quarterbacks for Sean McVay and Matt Stafford, this one, this guy's just not viewed as good enough. And last year when Aaron left, it was an abomination and these stories because of the organization. What if they start slow now, I actually think they have an opportunity. I don't think their schedule is that harderly after the Niner.
Game, it's a weird schedule. It's a lot of night games in short weeks.
They're just gonna be covered like the Lakers or the Yankees. And we know things get weird with that franchise. And even if it's all about football, none of the other extracurricular stuff. If it's weird on offense, they're just gonna point at the quarterback and the offensive coordinator, and then the head coach is gonna be up there like saying, who knows what? It could snowball into weirdness really quick, like Aaron said, if I don't perform, we're all getting fired.
That's what's on the line here.
I thought last week was really interesting. So Miami signs Jalen Waddle to a massive deal with Tyreek Hill already signing a stupendous contract. Okay, what are we saying here? So if Tua just signs the tenth biggest contract, that's Josh Allen now, who will get an extension to raise they're one hundred and five million guy, one hundred and five million bucks. I think something close to that on
three dudes all on offense. Not a pass rusher, not a corner, not an interior defensive lineman, not an offensive tackle, two receivers in a quarterback. So I almost wondered three.
Small guys too.
Was Miami saying, listen, we're making our bet. We're just not going to have This is our way of telling you you're not getting fifty five million dollars. We're just not going to give you that. Because I don't know. I know Dak has a market. I've talked to two gms who have.
Told Raiders would sign him yesterday.
Yesterday, and I think very quickly, you know, if the dre May thing looks awful, they'd sniff at it. I mean New Orleans with Derek Carr, I don't think they're a lot Giants Daniel Jones, what is to his market?
I don't think it would be that good. But he's not my type player. But we also know when you hit free agency at that position, people overspend. But who is giving two one hundred and fifty million dollars on the open market. Who is I can't see. Did you see the picture of him at the charity event. He looked like he was on ozebic. He looks tiny, He looks really really skinny. Yeah, I'm not into small guys who aren't great athletes with average arms. Just not really
my style. Yeah, I like my quarterbacks to be a little bigger, a little more mobile. With Howitzer's h but because when you look at in theory, he should be this kind of mobile little guy. But he is much closer to Jared Goff the way he plays. I've said it over and over. Well, here's what Dak does has proven Now he's given me three straight years of twelve wins. Do I want to give him fifty plus million dollars?
I do not.
Is there an opportunity that if he gets hot one postseason they could win a couple of games, like an Eli Manning situation. I don't believe TWA as that capability. One what we witnessed last year. I mean, if this was like the ND five hundred, they were up like several laps, the Bills were leaking oil, they were six and six. Then the season ends, they win the division, and they're hosting playoff games and Miami has to go
on the road. And even when I saw a Vech at the combine, He's like, I've been in the NFL a long time. That was the coldest game I've ever stood on the field for when he played the Chiefs, and we felt pretty good about our chances because we knew that offense couldn't function in the freezing cold. But they wouldn't have had a chance in a cold weather game against Baltimore, against any of these teams. So part
of it is the AFC. If you spend two if you spend all this money on to it, because at the end of the day, could dak It hasn't gone well these last three years. But beat a party, beat up, you know, a Jared Goff if he plays right, How is Tua ever outplay Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Herbert now with Harbaugh, Josh Allen. It's not happening. It doesn't mean he's not a solid NFL starter. But once you start talking about the money, this is not baseball. You don't
have an unlimited on of cap space. Tyreek Hill, He's one of the greatest players I've ever seen. No problem investing Jaylen Wattle. You draft him high, he's a productive player. I get it too, Like, why can't we just play this out? Why does every quarterback have to get an it? Jared Goff proved last year. He went toe to toe with Matt Stafford in the playoff game. He won the second playoff game against Baker Mayfield. He was great against the forty nine ers, Like they have tangible evidence now
in the playoffs, let alone the regular season. Now for a year and a half, where's that evidence against Tua? Like, yeah, he plays well in October. Well, you're in the AFC where most of these teams come November and December. I looked at their schedule whenever the schedules came out, they had three or four games post you know, Halloween. They
get a little cold, Colin get a little cold. What if you can't do it this year, If you can't win the division and host a playoff game, which they would have to do to have success in the playoffs because of their climate, what's the point of extending them just to say you have a quarterback.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are at a really interesting crossroads. So Mike tom can Mike Tomlin can get a little prickly when his future is discussed, but he has not beaten an elite quarterback in the playoff game in forever, and that's just he.
Doesn't want a playoff game in almost a decade.
Yeah. So, and it's interesting they're not paying anything for Russell Russell, you know, any chance he gets to say, boy, I'd love to see packages for Justin Fields at wide receiver. It's like, I mean, that's so weary. You know, they're all talking about and Justin doesn't want any part of that, and he shouldn't want any part of it. But I did have somebody that I trust kind of that reports on the Steelers say, Russell, the Pittsburgh's.
Going to be. It's very.
That culture there is very grind or oriented. Even your stars. Big Ben was kind of a small town guy. TJ. Watt Midwestern guy. You know, the lavian bells come in and very quickly they kind of feel disconnected from it. It's it's a grinder operation. And I'm not saying Russell doesn't grind and work hard, but he's got a brand. He's just different. I mean, it's just I mean, call
it what you want. Nobody gets called out in this league as much as Russell and somebody that has good connective tissue to the Steelers said, there's already been a couple of situations where you know, he's he's Russ and these are the Steelers. It's a and I say this, Green Bay and Pittsburgh have a very lunch pale quality. Now, the Steelers usually have elite defensive personnel. Packers are better on the offensive side in terms of efficiency. Packers have
also had offensive coaches. But if you had to do crystal ball on Russell Wilson, what it looks like end of the year's schedule's awful. But if you had to have a crystal ball on Russell Wilson, another quarterback who almost inexplicably got worse fast without an injury, just got worse fast nearing thirty five, what is your crystal ball on Pittsburgh?
If I had to go over under on Justin Field's first start with the Steelers, it'd probably be around five and a half. I think he's in and I think he's in early. The other thing is, you know Russell has to ingratiate himself. What do you think of Mike Tomlin and the Steelers. I think TJ. Watt, Cam Hayward, make A Fitzpatrick. I mean those guys in Mike are kind of on the same page, right, I mean they feel like part of the operation. Do they feel like Russell Wilson guys? I mean when you think do you
think TJ. Watt and MIKEA. Fitzpatrick? You never say the word brand. You think ass kickers and football players. And I just can't imagine. I just don't think he's good enough. And the margin Ferrera in this conference dinking and duncan. You could argue if it starts slow, like what if they're owing to and it's just like what are we doing on? It might not even get to five and a half because what where's his equity with the operation?
Denver was They're they're not paying them anything. They're paying them less than a million dollars. Honestly, if it got really what, you could cut them and you wouldn't even think twice. And that happens to a lot of NFL players. Once you start getting the team three and four, your equity with the operation disappears. And it's a performance based business, so no one's gonna want to hear about anything except touchdown passes, and I don't know. I mean the guy
we've seen the last couple of years. I don't know if his confidence is gone. I don't know if, but he's been a pretty marginal player now for three straight years because that last year in Seattle and then everything that happened the last two years in Denver. I also think, if you're fan bases in the NFL, sneaky have a lot of juice because that's kind of where the owners. You know, he listened to radio that they read they do, So you think Pittsburgh if all of a sudden listen,
I don't know. I would bet justin Fields he's probably closer to what we've seen his whole career. But we've also seen guys improve with that skill set when they get with the right coordinator. Arthur Smith resurrected Ryan Tannehill. If I'm a fan and we're zeroing too, like I'm not watching Russell Wilson, well, i've seen this from Afar putting the young kid, and let's just see if we could figure something out with this guy that has a lot of physical tools. Now, quarterbacks a lot about a
lot more than running fast and throwing hard. His pocket presence has been a major question mark. But what did Arthur Smith do with Ryan Tannel? They ran the ball. He gave him a lot of easy looks, kept it pretty simple. Now, I don't think they really have Derrick Henry, you know, Najee Harris, okay back, Jalen Warred pretty explosive. But if their defense is good. Honestly, if I was a Steeler fan, I just want to see justin fields right out. I wouldn't even want to see Russell Wilson.
I just like, can we resurrect this guy?
Well, it's interesting because Arthur Smith, his history is a lot of throws over the middle of the field, and that's not what Russell does.
That's just her deep go routes. That's just throw.
Yeah, because you know his size, he can struggle. Kyler Murray admits this. Tua acknowledges this. Sometimes I struggle to see over the line. So of all, I've been doing this now thirty years of talking sports, and you know I do a segment every Monday. Colin right, Colin wrong. I have big opinions miss all the time.
Russell.
I don't ever remember a player in my life at that position that I was sure he was great, and then after a year, I'm pretty sure he's just B minus and there's no injury. He's not to thirty six. He works really hard, Like it's a really hard ask. You start trying to figure out. You say, well, he didn't get along. Seattley wasn't beloved, So no injury, He's still elusive. It's like he put weade on in the
wrong spot. He got a little thick. I find Russell to be a complete historic outlier, like Matt Ryan, never moved well, didn't have a big arm, kind of thin, and it felt the game quickly passed him by. It got very mobile and athletic, and he wasn't you know there there there, there are players at the end. Philip Rivers was never athletic. He got like the most unathletic quarterback in the league. Eli Manning just felt like he
was out of gas. Russell, You're like last year in Seattle, he's a wizard and then he's bad and then Peyton makes him okay, And I'm like, I don't think he sees the field. I don't think he sees guys and I from people close and around Sean like that's what the film said he just didn't see the open guys, mhm. Time for twice monthly Nick Wright Conversation. Phil Knight has
a manifesto when he started Nike. He wrote down ten things, and a lot of this you could see in Air the movie Air Ben Affleck and and number nine on it was this will be met see. And one of the real things I talked about today about the WNBA was we are seeing this moment in time where this league. And I've always said, I'm in the omelet business, not the egg business. I don't make you interesting. When you're made, I talk about you, not my job to make the omelet.
I'll report on the omelet. So I didn't talk about the WNBA because, frankly, it didn't get ratings. I mean, Jesus, the finals got seven hundred thousand. Now you have a catalyst that explodes. When a business explodes. It could be a tech business, pharmaceutical business, it could be a law firm. When something explodes, shit gets messy, and we're in the messy phase for the WNBA. Their early schedule for the fever is insane. They're played twice as many games they.
Played they played colin from previous Friday until Sunday, that nine day stretch. Yeah, they played as many games as the Aces have played all year. They it was and it was again from a marketing standpoint, I got it put Caitlyn as many places as possible. From a the you know, the Fever played eleven game, the Finding champs have played six. Now that maybe that was sneaky, brilliant.
And then I'll let you finish. I'm sorry because it will lead to I think Caitlin being awesome at the end of the year because all of a sudden, she's going to be the most rested player in every game because they got they have no more back to backs, they have no more three games in four nights, so the rest of the year, she's gonna have real time in between it. But they were, they but go ahead, you were you were making a point that I interrupted.
So it's just an it's an exploding business for the first time it was. You know, let's we all know the backstory in the WNBA that it was subsidized by the NBA for a decade. Now they moved into smaller arenas. It wasn't terribly profitable. Las Vegas has sort of figured it out first to be the first franchise that's making real money almost has an n ideal with its players. But the point being is this is an explosion, and and you see it in tech all the time. You
just quite it. It's hard to predict the unpredictable, and so.
I think so much of the Caitlyn Clark WNBA commentary has actually been some weird media meta commentary about the commentary like it has been very like the basketball stuff, I think is pretty straightforward. This is a hell of a rookie class. Cameron Brank is going to be a star. Angel Reese is going to be a star, Caitlyn Clark is going to be a superstar, and maybe those other two will as well. And they have brought a lot
of eyeballs. Caitlyn Clark's team seems to really be struggling, probably in part because they had the number one pick the last two years for a reason and partially because of this schedule. And is there some predictable jealousy either just based purely on attention and economics? Is some of it about ads rookie some hazing short? All that stuff kind to me is a pretty straightforward sports story up
to and including the foul heard around the world. That was just a hard flagrant, not even a flagrant too, like it was a hard foul. But the commentary has really been about the commentary. Yeah, and there's so many levels to it. So I want to start with the first thing you said, which is like thought exercise. Let's say in five years there is a Tiger Woods like athlete and and some would say, oh, we've already had it, but no Tiger Woods esque in that he captures everyone's
attention in hockey. Do we then need to go on the air and be like, we are so sorry that we weren't covering hockey before we did a moral disservice. I don't feel we do, no, And so I don't feel when folks have been like, well you're new to the party, like, well, in our specific business, the party just got going now. It doesn't mean it was not worth a worthwhile league. It doesn't mean I'm not glad it exists. But I on my show, I barely talk
about professional baseball. I don't talk anything about hockey. It'd be one thing if on our shows we were talking eleven different sports and just like nope, we have time for cricket. But we're not making time for the WNBA. That's not the truth, that's not how these shows work.
And there has been to me an element of what I would compare to the hipster band phenomenon, which is if there is a band that all of a sudden is playing arenas, but a year ago was playing eight hundred person venues, the folks who were the fan of the band then sometimes are like, oh, you know, I was here before it was popular, and they're almost snarky towards the new people as opposed to being like, hey, I always knew this was awesome, Glad you're here now.
So I don't love that, and I think so. I think that is problematic on one direction from a media perspective. Here's another thing I think is problematic from a media perspective in the other direction. Folks who clearly have the attitude of you should be happy I'm even talking about your sport. Therefore, none of my opinions are open for criticism because you're just lucky to be getting my opinions.
I think that's bullshit too. And I think if it were if it were hockey, or if it were the MLS, I think people would have any your time with it because there is the gender aspect of it, people are
nervous about how we talk about it. And then you add to it that there is also a very obvious now we can talk about how significant, but an obvious at least component of a racial component, which is it is odd that this league that is majority black, a disproportionate amount of its stars have been white women throughout history and now its biggest star is a white woman. That is an added landmine or a complication, whatever you
want to put it. And I think because people are so afraid of all of this, everyone's just freaking out and losing their mind about a foul and who's talking what, And all of a sudden, now the WNBA, without anyone mentioning, hey, the Connecticut Sun are undefeated, is taking up more airtime than it has in the last five years combined. It's a fascinating media story as much as anything.
I thought. James Jones, who's been watching the WNBA for years, had the most prescient, prescient point on it. I thought it was really smart. I didn't think about this, He says. The biggest difference between the NBA and the WNBA is the NBA is much more vertical. You may occasionally have a woman break away in the WNBA and dunk it. Men go through the lane, jump over other men and jam it, often behind their head. Both leagues can shoot, both leagues can move their feet, both leagues can rebound,
both leagues can pass. The NBA men jump over other six eight men and dunk it in their face regularly, he said. Because of that, the WNBA is more physical. You score through physical banging body. You don't go over, you go into.
He said.
It. Thought about that fascinating. He said, the WNBA is actually more physical than the NBA. The NBA is no hand check. You can't stay in front of anybody. The bigs all shoot threes, the lanes wide open. That's not the WNBA. You score bully ball. And he said, so if you watched the WNBA for years, it's way more physical than the NBA. That's fascinating, fascinating. So I'm gonna throw something at you that I think is fascinating. I don't think we've ever broached this topic. So this week
I was reading on the internet. There was an NBA player we know, Jason Tatum, really coveted time with Kobe Bryant. He really enjoyed time. Their basketball ideology is different. You know, one is the ultimate at times selfish closer. The other guy's more collaborative, more of a giver. But it was it was a player talking about his career and he said it was Klay Thompson who said, I'm not here without Kobe Bryant. Like Kobe Bryant was Messiah. Everything funneled
through Kobe. And it's really interesting since his death, people are often more willing to say that when somebody passes, to honor them, to say God, that person meant so much to me. And we've heard lots of people say it. Lebron said it about Michael Jordan.
Most just said it about Clay or about Kobe. Kyrie just said he was about him being a mentor and a guy he looked up to. All of it.
Yep, don't you find it fascinating? Find a single quarterback who says I structure my whole game around Brady. I've never seen one. It's fascinating.
Oh that's interesting because I thought you were going to say Aaron there, and I was like, oh, Caleb said, Aaron.
A lot of guys, Yes, Aaron. I can name four off the top line.
Okay, that's where I thought you were you were going, and I was like, oh, I think you're wrong here, but Brady, you're right out.
That isn't that fascinating? And so here's what I thought. This is my take is that there are a lot of ways to be successful, but the most great athletes are entertainers, artists, singers. They're all really artists. They're really all artists. Brady, less so than any great athlete at all, bordered on mechanical and efficient. He basically was the cheat code. He had the answers to the test. He literally walked to the line. He didn't have to make dramatic plays
because he audibled out of them. He almost never got sacked because he could see it coming. And so artists Caleb and Mahomes and Lamar, I mean, look at the best quarterbacks now, they're movers and Kyler and I mean Herbert is another very mechanical processor and quarterback. I don't think Herbert will have a lot of people that say, even if he won Super Bowls, Justin was my guy.
Is that Brady, for all his greatness, is viewed as almost robotic in his dominance, and it doesn't curry love or favor or duplication from young people.
So so I did. You're right, we've never talked about this, and I so I've never This is I enjoy when we do this because I am hearing this for the first time. I haven't if you've talked about it on the show or on the pot, I haven't heard it. So this is the first time my brain's ever considering this, but it is I'm trying. I also was trying to think, like, have I heard anyone like the only Mahomes talks about Brady, but only in the He's the goat, he's got seven
super Bowl rings. I want to do, but not as far as I mimicked myself after him. So I I wonder why that is and what you have You know, what you've landed on I think is probably right, which is I Now again, you're much better at the analogies than me. Uh, certainly on the fly. But there's a level of like when you look at the wealthiest people in world history, I don't know what the guy's name is, but the dude who started us steel is on the list.
But the reason I don't know what the name is is because like nobody's been like that's who I'm gonna be. But they say Steve Jobs, you know what I mean? They say now Rockefeller, us Elon Musk, those things. Rockefeller is probably because he put his name on a lot
of things, but there is a level of that. I remember Brady being on your show around the time he went to Tampa, maybe a year after, maybe after he'd won the Super with the last Super Bowl in Tampa, I don't know, but I remember you talking to him about retiring and he said, well, it's never been easier. He didn't use those words, but what his point he said with the words he did use, I think were I have all the answers to the test, now why
would I stop taking it? I remember like that exact thing where he was like, I, like you said, I go to the line, I know exactly what the defense is doing, so I know exactly the play we have to be in and boom and it also, and this is a quote I've said to you before, but it seth Payne, who played in the NFL for a number of years, does radio now in Houston, and I worked
with them there. He would talk about how offensive coordinators would leave the Patriots and think, oh, I can turn this quarterback into Tom Brady because or a poor man Tom Brady, because Tom Brady was not impressive from a measurables talent standpoint. And what Seth said is, but none of those guys left the Patriots was like, I can turn this receiver into Randy Moss because it was obvious. No you can't. And his point was Brady's brain is
Randy Moss's, and discipline is Randy Moss's. Forty time and vertical. They just didn't people because you can't see it. People think, oh, Jimmy Garoppolo can do it because he's got you know, these guys can Matt Castle can do it. But they couldn't. But even though the measurables were the same, So it does make sense. What if your biggest talent is not apparent to people watching you.
It's just a it's not an aesthetic.
Correct, right, like there there are probably more people. It's so fascinating you say that, because it's right. We have all heard more quarterbacks say I grew up wanting to be Mike Vick than wanting to be Tom Brady. We have heard more people say, certainly more people a generation ago I want to be Dan Marino. Then I want to you know what I mean? Then I want to be Brady and Aaron.
Aaron is clearly generationally the guy that most wanted to.
Be right and there is a level of And so I guess since you brought up Kobe, the basketball comp would be how many guys came up? How many guys have we seen to feel like? You know who I modeled my game after. Tim Duncan won fifty games every year, right, But Duncan, Duncan, same exact era as Kobe, and in my opinion one slot on the all time list above him, never had a down year, never missed the playoffs, you know, all the ruthlessly efficient. But nobody has tried to be
Tim Duncan. Nobody see he came into the league twenty five years ago. Not a single person that I can think of came into the league being like, that's who I'm trying to be Tim Duncan. And I don't think now I understand some of that's personality, but also it is because nobody could deny what he did was effective and great, but it wasn't. It doesn't seem fun to emulate like you will have more people, I guess on that note, and this is wearing a bit of a
Kyrie renaissance, and I'm happy for him about it. But you will have more people a generation from now that say, you know, I grew up trying to be Kyrie than I grew up trying to be Chris Paul. Yeah, even though you know what I mean. I understand Chris Paul never won, but Iverson had that, oh, without a doubt, with an iconic, important, influential player in a way, a
lot of guys who maybe were more successful warrant. That is interesting that nobody, nobody says I tried to be Tom in that fact that is That is fact, and I'm trying to think if someone had said it. But a lot of people call them the goat. In fact, basically everyone does. But as far as who they modeled their game after, it is unique. And a lot of people say, Aaron.
Let's say this right now. It doesn't even the timeline. You're a general manager, so you have to come up with a timeline. Okay, all right, but I'm a thing counts. We're both gms. Okay, I'll give you first because you want mahomes.
Yeah, yeah, yes, I do. Thank you. I appreciate that.
I'll go Josh Allen.
All right, if I'm being honest. My next pick is Caleb okay, and I know he would have been available and later, but I couldn't getting I understand. I understand that that is, he would have been available later.
But I okay, yeah, go ahead, Okay, I'll take Lamar Jackson number four.
Okay, that's then I feel it great because this is the guy I would have taken. Next, I will take c.
J okay now, just on value proposition, although I worry about his injuries. I'll take Joe Burrow at six.
Yeah, I'm worried about those injuries. Buddy, I agree with you. So there's a guy that you and I would both only because I know you love him so much. I might want him, but I'm not. I just am sorry. I'm going through the league quickly. Here, all right, this is there, this is not This does not make sense from a value perspective timeline, but I'm trying to win this. GM is on the hot seat and he's trying to win. Right now. I've taken Matt Stafford.
By the way, I absolutely love Matt Stafford.
I know you do. That's why I was worried. I was like, you're gonna swoop in and get him.
Yeah, So because of that, I'll take Justin Herbert eight.
Okay, that's all right, that's good. I'll take Trevor.
Okay, okay, hold on, I'm gonna take Jordan Love.
Oh that's a good pick.
So now we have.
I gotta tell you, Jordan Loves a good pick. All right. Now, I gotta think I'm just going through, like in my head, the divisions. All right, well, no, how many picks are we doing? We do sixteen?
Yeah, you have Mahomes me, Allen you, Caleb me, Lamar you, c J. Stroud, me, Burrow you, Stafford. I'm on Herbert, you, Trevor, me, Jordan Love. You're eleven.
Yep, all right, I'm.
Not going to twelve.
No, hold on, let's go to sixteen. Let's just go to sixteen. We each get three more picks. I'm just making sure that I'm not leaving out any obvious teams.
Okay, okay, all.
Right, I am all right. I'm gonna this is gonna be this again. This guy was gonna be available later, but now I'm going upside. I'm going to take with the eleventh pick of the draft, Anthony.
Richardson, Well, I get it. I like him.
I'm gonna sit your top five pick. Whatever you Yeah, go ahead, I'm gonna take Jared Goff twelve. I knew you would. I could have taken Golf and just held him ransom on you and made you trade me a bounty, but I didn't want to do it. All right now, all right, at this point in the draft, I know who I'm taking it for. Well, unless I take him first. At this point in the draft, I am now comfortable taking Jalen Hurts.
Oh Jesus, I'll take Kyler Murray. I got Kyler Murray at fourteen. I feel like, I you love Kyler. I know he's so talented. I listen, if it's a six foot under league, you gotta steal at number fifteen.
This is the last pick I'm going to have, and this is going to shock people. But again, it's my last pick.
Yeah, so I feel.
Like I'll shoot the moon on it. I mean, I don't know. I yeah, I'll go ahead and do it. I don't love it, and I do feel like he could be a pain in the ass in the locker room. But I'm going to take Aaron Rodgers.
I'm gonna take Jaden, Daniels, Jade.
And Daniels Dak undrafted. So the under our undrafted guys to us Kirk Cousin drafted, dakt undrafted, Drake May undrafted. Understandably, I can't believe if this thing could have gone fifty picks and you still could have gotten Russell Wilson because you knew I was never taken him. You just knew there was no chance. Will Levice not surprising undrafted?
I don't know je I think Daniels, I think he's got a little bit of Lamar, but better as a rookie in the pocket. But there's a little Lamar there.
Yeah, there's there's also a little Kate Moss there as far as his his weight, and so that is a concern, Like the Jaden. Jaden is just so so lean that that is a worry. But the guy goes number two in a draft that that makes sense. JJ McCarthy obviously didn't get drafted. Oh my god, I feel you know what I feel? Can I can? I would you want Aaron at sixteen if he were on the board? No?
I would, all right?
Then? Can I I'm waving Aaron Rodgers so I could pick up Baker. I forgot about Baker. I can't leave Bake Show out of there. Bake Show is again. If my quarterback room's eight deep, I don't need my eighth on the depth chart. All of a sudden, annoying people, Bake Show has team great vibes, So go ahead and switch it and I'll take I'll take Bake Show. He's younger. So here's my other takeaway from this. Just quickly, neither one of us even considered for a moment the number
one pick of the draft a year ago. Bryce didn't even think about it, which, by the way, the which I think is correct, but it also is, you know, a little concerning for Panthers fans. I love that, By the way, I love those those fake drafts. I heard you say when I was on the Herd today with you. I didn't see when you and j Mac did it, But when you said that you and him did the did that draft? I instantly got jealous. I was like, I want to do a draft.
I was like, where, what's I So I.
Knew I was hoping to be able to do it today.
I picked Boston in six I thought they would win. That was my draft Kings pick. I thought Jalen Brown would play well and the Boston Celtics would win, although Kyrie didn't offer much of anything, and I thought he'd have a decent assist night. You know, My takeaway is the small ball revolution in the NBA was really a bunch of nonsense. It was Steph Curry and Draymond Green who could play big. Everybody tried to duplicate it for about four years and then everybody's like Houston, got kind
of close. Size matters and poor Zingis on both ends, altering shots on the defensive end, he was the initial Unicorn seven to four dribble shoot, there's nothing you can do. It's why Wemby will take over the league next year at the All Star break, is that this is a
big man's game. You know, in the NFL, you know Bill parce Sells and the late great George Young was a general manager for the Giants, and his whole theory was went in doubt, just draft big guys like big beat small, and in the NBA, length and size is so important. And my takeaway, if that's the poor zingis I get in the series Dallas Is in trouble. You know. One of the things I said, they have such a
mature offensive team, and they're all a little different. I mean Tatum tonight was more assist guy than he was score guy. And I said, you know, Tatum can have a bad night in this series and they could win by fifteen Kyrie. Yes, an off night, they get shelled, and that, to me is the difference in the series. And I said that before I knew what I was getting with Porzingis, But I thought, you know, the size
of porzingis the matchup problem. You know, Dallas came into this thing, let's feel it out, and very quickly it's like, yeah, we've got We're gonna have to go back to the drawing board on this, and then Porzingis sits for a while. But I would start with that is that you know, if I got six guys who could all drop twenty man, that's in a with the Apron. Now, it's hard to get a third star. The league doesn't want it anymore. They want you to draft and develop. That's what the
whole thing. Legal pay a lot of money. They don't want you going to cherry picking stars Boston. This is an absurdly deep offensive roster. I mean, you go look at Porzingis last year. He was the guy for Washington. You're like, well, that for a terrible team. That's an All Star level player. Derek White's a five. Derek White's a two on probably thirty percent of the teams in the league. So I thought tonight was a little bit of what I thought is that Dallas cannot withstand a
bad luker Kyrie Knight Boston Boston. If you told me A Tatum and Derek White didn't play well, Boston could still win. And so I just start with that, is that Porzingis' size, he was the initial unicorn. It's it's a problem. There's not a lot you can do. It's a big problem.
Yeah.
I thought this game was a brilliant showcase of what makes chrisps Porzingis awesome and how he elevates the ceiling of this Boston team. First of all, he's their only legitimate rim protector, like Horford's a really interesting player and does a lot to help this team on both ends of the floor. But chrisops Porzingis is just a mountain of a man that is really difficult to finish over at the rim. In addition to that, he brings this.
There are a lot of guys that can shoot in the NBA at the centi position, there are very few guys at the center position that are like lasers, like you just can't leave them open. And one of my biggest reasons why I picked Boston is Dallas's defense is very much geared up at the rim as like a rim protection team.
That's why they were good against Minnesota.
You know, they're.
Exactly exactly and they have some good perimeter defenders, but they don't have a bunch of good perimeter defenders. And so when you can really spread them out and Lively and Gafford can't solve problems at the rim as rim protectors. It just challenges the weak points of Dallas's offense.
And then the.
Second piece of it with porzingis that goes beyond the three point shooting. One of the easiest ways to counter a ball screen is to switch it, because the whole point of the ball screen is you can get downhill because the guy has to chase over the top of a screen. But if you switch it, it shuts it down.
But what makes porzingis such a valuable weapon is if you switch it, you're putting your smaller player onto Porzingis and he can just walk him down to fifteen feet from the basket and they can toss it back to him and he can go to work. He showed it all in that game one. He was protecting the rim, he was hitting trailing threes in transition, he was hitting spot up threes and helped defense situations. He was hitting picking pop threes, he was beating switches by posting up
around the elbow. It was everything that makes Porzingis great. And I'm glad you pointed this out because everyone just accounted for Porzingis as like available and healthy, but like it's really hard to go thirty something days without playing NBA basketball and then to walk in the NBA Finals, Like I don't think I don't think we're like. It just was so impressive the way he immediately looked comfortable and immediately started thriving. But a big part of that
is he is the guy. He's the key that solves all of the issues that Boston could have had against this Dallas defense. He unlocks it all. I was I was just completely blown away by him.
I founded the volume, so I tend to look at
things from a managerial position. And so I said, if I was Rob Polinka and Genie Buss and Minnesota's got Ant and Okac's got Chet and Sga, and then there's Lucas twenty five, and you start looking up and down, and you know, Jokic is still in his prime, Boston's two guys are in their prime, and you start looking around and San Antonio and Houston this year, I think will pop, like it'll be different teams, and you start looking around and thinking, listen, man, we got to start
drafting and developing here, like this is what the league. If you start looking at the second Apron, what the CBA is in the NBA, We're not going to get a third huge star here with Lebron and a d We're just this is not going to work. So we have got to draft and develop. And so you can't watch these playoffs and not come to this conclusion the NBA has pivoted to young stars Katie Lebron' Steph. It's over like that. They're not running the league anymore. Like
Tatum now is one of one of the veterans. And I think my takeaway is, Okay, who who does that? Who drafts, who builds culture, who's tough. It wasn't a pivot away from Lebron. It was a pivot toward the league. The league now is a draft and developed league. That's these players are going to get rich. But the league watched what Golden State did with KD and they didn't like it, and the owners didn't like it, and the league didn't like it. I can remember talking to fans
of the NBA being like, I hate this. This is just not fair. And I think the league heard that Adam Silver did not like that move at all. And so I think the Lakers, Rob and Jeanie look at this and think there's a change. We don't want to be the Clippers, old, dysfunctional. You know one guy, Terrence Man, that feels like he's young. You know, it's a lot of names and great on the marquee, it's a great movie poster. It's not really a championship team. And I
think the Lakers don't feel like it. And you know, I just I that's my takeaways. They're looking of this and stepping back and going we like JJ Ruddick, but he has no history in drafting and developing. This is not what he does. By the way, there's Connecticut players in this draft, you know, there's just and also early the last three years he's recruited almost probably every good domestic player in the first round he's recruited or seen them.
So I think they're going to be active. And that was my take, is that you can't watch these playoffs and not see this gigantic pivot. You know, It's like when Manning, Brady and big Ben got old and you're watching Mahomes and Lamar and Allen. It's like, oh shit, we got ourselves in a new league. As soon as soon as Tom leaves, we got a new league. It's a brand new league. And that that was my take on it. Yours.
Yeah, So I there were three reasons that I was excited about it. The first one is exactly what you said, the draft and development piece. I think a big part of it too, Like you mentioned, with the cat rules changing, it's going to be really difficult to have more than two stars and most impossible.
Yeah, exactly.
And I think he specifically is gonna excel at finding role players that are great connective pieces next to stars because the Laker brand is gonna continue to bring in star talent in one way or another, whether it's through
the trademarket, whether it's through free agency. They're gonna get stars, but because of the new rules, you're not gonna get three of them, so you're probably gonna have to and it's gonna be about working on the margins and finding discounted valuable players, which I think is something that he's gonna excel with the second two piece two pieces of it one. He's an offensive genius, like literally an offensive genius.
And specifically, what I find fascinating is he was capable of generating space for his offense with multiple non shooters on the floor, which I think is super fascinating on a Laker team that has an Anthony Davis that can struggle to shoot the basketball, that is going to probably play a Jared Vanderbilt that struggles to shoot the basketball. And he's he has all these interesting concepts, like he's
really good at disguising his sets. He's a big believer in weak side action, which basically occupies help defenders by making them think about what they're doing on the week side while your stars are running ball screens on the other side. He's super creative as a tactician, especially on the offensive end of the floor, which I think is going to be work wonders for a Laker offense that can get stagnant sometimes. And then the third piece of
it is he's just a psycho. He's a psycho, he's competitive, and then I think he's gonna bring enough cachet because that's the fear, right, Like, if you're gonna play Devil's advocate, you're like David Blatt comes over championship coach from Europe, Lebron scoffs at him and says, I want the assistant instead, right, So that's what you're scared of. But I actually think
Lebron has a lot more respect for Dan Hurley. I mean, especially seeing as he's been kind of like watching as a fan as he's had his success over the last couple of years. I think he'll have some success there. And then I complain that you NonStop this season about Darvin Ham not holding players accountable, right, and then becoming and then becoming a team that was really sloppy for stretches because they didn't value individual possessions, they weren't good
at attention to detail. That will not fly under Dan Hurley. He will be on those guys, and I think it'll help a lot.
Well. I try to defend Darvin ham but he is a defensive minded coach, and you see this in the NFL, offense comes easier. The attention to detail from offensive coaches is better. So like when you watch offensive like Steve Kerr, like his he if you ever when they Mike Steve Kerr, he picks on stuff stuff up so quickly, like like I'm not seeing it. I'm watching the game. He is a possession to possession coach. Steve Kerr, he watches every
little mistake. Mark Jackson defensive coach. I always viewed him as more of a defensive coach. The offense could never quite get in sync. Now, Mark did a good job on the defensive end, but I thought with Darvin ham Is he could get players. I thought Anthony Davis was absolutely sensational defensively this year. I thought he was the defensive player of the Year, but his offense was inconsistent. Darvin's not gonna help you a lot there. Darvin was
a very limited offensive player. And so I think I think, just like in football, I think coaches have vogels good with bigs, Dan Tony's doesn't Like Biggs, coaches all have strengths and weaknesses, and Darvin, I thought was not as detailed, offensively allowed sloppy possessions. What didn't hold players offensively accountable. They'll make it up on the defensive end. That's not the league. That's just not the league. You you're gonna you're gonna shoot your way. I mean, you start looking
at teams. Dallas was a better offensive team than Minnesota. They won the series. You know it's it's you know, is as as hard as New York played. You start look Indiana. It was more consistently a higher tempo, healthier, better offensive team with offense is winning these series. Like effort's great, but like that's that's why Boston's favorite in
this series. They've got five six guys that can score twenty And so I think Darvin doesn't necessarily fit what's happening to the league, which is increasingly skilled, increasingly unstoppable for players of size. And I think Hurley's good with that. He understands what the sport is becoming. That you play hard, play with urgency, get the details down offensively, don't give
up sloppy possessions. Lakers would have bad quarters offensively, Like just I mean, there are times if you didn't have Lebron on the floor and Austin Reeves was in foul trouble, you were done. They just were a bad offensive unit. So yeah, I think to your point is I tried to defend Darvin Ham, But I'm seeing some of the same stuff in the NFL where the skilled now in the NBA is just too damn good. It's just too good.
There's just if you're not equipped offensively, possession after possession, you'll just get run out of this sport really quickly.
Oh for sure.
Look at this particular matchup here for Dallas versus Boston, like a big part you mentioned it at the start of the show, like the stagnation, the lack of the ball in player movement, the Luca Kyrie kind of yours that is, it works for Dallas because Luca is so damn good and he might be the best player in the world. But like I do believe there's a reason why the league has shifted towards more ball in player movement. That's why we're seeing teams like Denver succeed and Golden
State succeed. Golden State kind of really revolutionized five out offense and brought it to where it is today. And like, I just think I think Dan Hurley is in touch with what works in modern basketball, which I think is going to help a ton. I think he's I think he understands the complications of the transition to the NBA, which I think will be his probably his biggest challenge. But he knows he's gonna have to talk differently to
professional athletes than to college players. He knows that there's going to be more, you know, media pressure with that LA job on a day today basis like we talked about Darvin Ham all the time this season because it's like that's if you were ranking high, high pressure coaching jobs in America, Lakers head coach is pretty high up on that list, especially when Lebron James is on the roster and so well, I think he's up for it. I think he can do it.
Go ahead.
Yeah.
One of the things I've talked about today kind of ad nauseum on my show is I said the Lakers had twenty years in the second biggest city in the country with no NFL teams in the NFL eventually gobbles up every city. And now you've got Harbon, Herbert and McVeigh and Stafford and the second richest owner in Stan Cronk, and the Dodgers look like they're one hundred and ten win team. Here comes USC to the big ten Ballmer's got a new arena. The key in this is are
you okay? Now? Being the third biggest story in LA fourth on some weekends, like because this city has got star coaches and star teams and star players, and it could be you know, Wagner Rhode Island, Yukon. He had a losing record each year. He's a culture guy. He's an oven guy. He's not a microwave guys. None of this fake bullshit like this is a this is gonna be a slow roast, okay, And Lebron and Anthony Davis if he signs a five year, sixty million dollar deal.
The Laker Genie Buss doesn't have the financial wherewithal, she's not Balmer. That's not a rounding air for her. So this is a real commitment. So I think everybody's just got to take a deep breath. The Lakers had this LA. They were winning titles with no NFL team. The Dodgers were good but not winning World Series. They owned this city for twenty years, and they got real use to leaking stuff to the media on a slough and just
stealing thunder. Well, if you're thirty eight and forty four in this city next year and Herbert and Harbaugh and here come the Clippers in their new arena, you're gonna be the fourth story really quickly the volume. Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast, take a moment rate and review