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Welcome in Fresh Off Vacation, Episode one seventy two, What's Right with Nick Wrighton. Before we pan out and show who our special guest is today, let me tell you about how this podcast usually works. We have done one hundred and seventy two episodes plus the tirty of our top fifty players of all time countdown, so we're at
around two hundred episodes. There has been one person that is not either a blood relative or my wife who's an essential blood relative on this show, low Wayne, and so we kind of decided we don't We're not really gonna do guests. We're not a podcast that does guests. However, if it is a family only podcast, there is one person who you all know who is in the sports media space who just newly became able to do whatever he wants in the sports media space. While is not
a blood relative, I've known for now ten years. He is my youngest child's favorite person in the world. He is essentially family and he joins us today on a special appearance. He is, of course Bamani Jones, but Bamoni Jones joining us on the pod. Good to see you both.
And see man, I'm not gonna lie with you started saying that everybody had been blood I thought you were gonna say that they had been bloods and then you said a little waite, and I was like, I could be you know, you know what.
So that's what it was, either blood relative or blood you know. That's how the podcast has worked so far. So today you today's show, we're just gonna run through. Uh will spend the first segment talking the NBA, the second segment talking in the NFL, and third segments we always do get to your listener questions. Bamani, how have you been good? To see you doing good.
I'm not gonna lie. I was like actually prepared to come here and just read to your questions. You know what I'm saying, Sorry, job.
I go.
I can humble myself generally speak. You know that.
You know what, when people hear Bomani Jones, I think the first thing they think is humble gentlemen. I think that's one of the first word association things. But that's not what we're gonna do. We're gonna do this kind of more like your pod, where we just throw things out there. And by the way, subscribe to the Right Time with Bomani Jones that is still and not only in existence, but that is now property of Bomani Jones,
and we'll follow him wherever Jones goes. If I may say so, I hope I was the same.
No, No, you can't.
In fact, not only are you allowed to say so, it is almost imperative, okay, or by people like nah the pods still exists, like they don't understand how that worries, and I will blame him. I still got it. It's coming back in a few right, I'll let you know.
So subscribe to the podcast the Right Time of the Bomani Jones that is still ongoing as Bomoni, you know, navigates the next few months and what the space will look like for him. We are going to talk about something that is very near and dear to my heart to start with, which is ranking NBA player.
So Steph Curry was.
Asked by Gilbert Arenas who the greatest point guard of all time is, and he understandably immediately said me himself, Steph Curry. And then if you watch the longer clip he did ninety second tribute to Magic Johnson, it was because he says me, He says, Steph's the best, and then kind of laughs, and if you just watch it there it seems like he's being disrespectful. He is not, but he advocates for himself. So here's where I am
in a pickle. Bo. I believe both of these things to be true, and this is where I want your take. I believe, in the marrow of my bones, the greatest point guard of all time is Magic Johnson, and at present it is not particularly close. I say at present because Steph is still playing and he you know, see what he does, how long he extends this extended prime.
But I believe that is currently written in stone. I also believe this Almost every time I am asked to do one of those exercises of create the best five man team possible, I choose Steph over Magic.
That wait, see it.
Whenever we are talking about like, all right, Jordan's you're two, Lebron's your three. You know, a Kareem or a chem or Shacky or five, it's like, all right, pick your point guard. I'm like, all right, so Magic's better, but this team is better with Steph. And so that's those two things seeming conflict. But I believe Magic is the best point guard ever. I believe Steph is the point guard you would most want on almost any team ever where you stand.
All right, So where that Steph thing comes up to me is that now that we are in an era where a team that doesn't shoot a lot of threes shoots twenty something in a game, Steph Curry looks a lot better. Right like the game as it currently exists, it can be hard in your mind to think about how you put Magic into it, and you think about Steph as floor spacer, and so you think of him
as better player on that team. Here's the why I think about Magic that people lose sight of he was actually held back for like five years because he was playing two guard until they got around to trading Norm Nixon away from Barbra Scott. Right, he averaged a borderline triple double. I want to say in year two, which is like nineteen nine and a half and nine and a half or something like that playing two guard. Yes, they went to the finals nine times in twelve years.
And after not playing basketball for five years, Magic came back in average I want to call it.
A fifteen six and seven is Listen, he missed four full years and in his first game back at thirty six years old overweight Magic what he did in that first game back, I've got it right here. Uh my apologies. I said I have it right here, but I don't. Yeah, I do. First game back, he goes nineteen eight and ten. In the first two games of the playoffs that year, averaged twenty three, ten and four against the defending champion Rockets.
So Magics.
Here's the other thing. If you brought up the beginning of the career, you also have to recognize Magic essentially at a career ending injury. We don't look at it that way because it was HIV. But Magic played twelve seasons pre HIV. Those twelve seasons Magic Johnson nine times First team All NBA, nine times first, second or third in MVP voting, nine times in the NBA Finals. So seventy five percent of Magic seasons he was first team All NBA, seventy five percent, he was Top three MVP
seventy five percent he was in the NBA Finals. Steph as great as Steph is. Step has been first Team All NBA four times. Steph has been Top three MVP voting three times. Like there is there is a level, and the fact that Magic the last game he played pre HIV was the finals against Jordan. It's not now. Was he still peak apex Magic? No, but he was two years removed from an MVP, one year, one year removed from the league MVP correct, and had just led
a team to the finals. So the idea he was still going as a top five player in the league league. I feel like Magic gets a little overlooked, or I don't want to say overlook because he's Magic Johnson, but I do. I am now starting to get to the age where and this happens with a Keeme a lot too, where people act as if a Keem's career started in the finals in the nineties, right, that was a post prime achem olage one. He was no longer at his apex. Now he was still the best player in the league
those years. But like a Keeme in year two is in the finals, or year three in the finals putting up thirty in year three is in the playoffs, averaging thirty seven a game, like So there's some some of the eighties stuff gets glossed over. So I think Magic's the best ever? What do you do? You think there is a path for Steph in your mind becoming the best ever?
I mean the path would be if Steph Curry winds up with five championships like Magic Johnson had five championships, right, Sure, then all of a sudden we're had being a bit of a different discussion. Like you and I have talked about this with the Steph Lebron thing. It gets weird if he gets to five and Lebron does not. Right, I still think Lebron is a better player. It just becomes harder to talk to people about it.
Sure.
The thing that I think is lost though about Elijah Wan in the eighties, and it is the same thing with Magic in those in the late eighties early nineties, loaj Bob was carrying bombs man like after eighty six a lot. It was a cheme elajahwan and eleven dudes in Houston, Right, They'd have been better off with eleven dudes from Houston, because then I would know they had some fight. Instead, it was just eleven dudes that happened
to be in Houston. Magic. The eighty nine, ninety and ninety one teams are all on Magic's back.
Those are not showtime Lakers.
You go look at that ninety one roster that lost to Jordan, it's Magic and dudes.
Well and so, there's and so, and there's two other points. That one is eighty nine. They're going for the three peat, and Magic gets hurt and you know what I mean, it's not really able to compete the in the in sorry the Yeah, that's right, eighty nine gets hurt and Detroit ends up running away with it. In ninety Kareem
is gone. And now all of a sudden, the scoring load which magic Magic experience, I gotta carry this team scoring as a rookie in Game six of the finals and dropped forty two and then a decade with Kareem, and then in nineteen ninety he all of a sudden has back to back forty point playoff games, which again validates the idea that if he had to fully carry scoring load, he could have, but was not because it wasn't what was needed or what was best for the team,
which is also in a weird way, that run, even though he didn't have a championship, was similar to Steph's last championship, a validation of an already unimpeachably great career of Oh. When the circumstances changed dramatically, you can even up your game or change your game. Where I think this should be stated is I would have told you
three years ago this will never be a discussion. And the fact that Steph extended the prime poster urrant, what he did in the playoffs in the championship run two years ago, and honestly what he did in the playoffs last year with a broken team that was not a very good team, the fifty point game seven, all of it to me, it has put Steph at the very least in that top ten conversation, and it makes the Steph versus Magic conversation legitimate. Even though I think it's still clearly magic.
Yeah, like the magic thing that I think gets lost, and I understand why it's getting lost. This hole he's a six to nine point guard thing. I understand it. Right now. That doesn't seem like the craziest thing in the world to you, because you've grown up in an arab with Lebron James. Are all these switchables six ' nine guys? However, to this day, other than Lebron, I can't think of how many.
Guys magic size.
We're not just running the break from the middle, but also pushing the pace from the middle. Because even when Lebron Lebron on the break at most dangerous is full head of steam running on the wing, what are you going to do on the three on two?
Right?
Magic is accelerating the pace with the ball from the middle at six ' nine in an erow where that honestly would have made him a big power forward, like that was a time where power forwards are honestly not even any good, and this guy was doing that from there. So, like I think Steph has an argument, depending on a few like very technical sorts of characteristics, you can say, oh, well,
you know, basically three is bigger than two. That's what gets us here, is the fact that three is bigger than two, and it's way bigger than two by percentage. But nah, I can't.
I can't either.
I can't see it. But again, if somehow, which is not gonna happen this year, though I should never say anything's not gonna happen with step because that guarantees the day gonna happen, they're not gonna win a championship this year. If somehow he said, jump on by back boys and carry them to a champions changes every day.
There's a lot of math on a lot of things. And so the and the last thing. Your point about the pushing the pace is I think really interesting because when you're talking about six eight plus point guards, I was thinking, well, Luca, but Luca's not pushing the pace. Luca's not doing anything like what Magic is doing. It said totally, Lucas doing just a bigger Harden and a better hardened Speaking of Harden, that's where we're going now.
Sorry I'm laughing already.
So what do you what do you make of Harden doing everything he's done the last week?
Okay, this is what I make of the hard thing. This is why I love this so much. Right, these are two guys, Darryl hard I mean Darryl Morey and James Harden, who know each other very well and importantly oh their successes to the other.
Correct both of them.
Neither of them have all the money they got, neither have all the prestige they have if not for the fact that they came across each other in the year twenty twelve, so that.
The year Harden and Maury came together is actually same year you and I met in person. Yes, I was living in Houston before he traded for James Harden. Daryl's biggest moves in Houston were Jeremy Lynn and Omar Ashik, and it was known because he structured Ashik's contract in such a unique way. And I always thought he was sharp. I always liked Darryl, but he had no nothing to show for what I thought was a brilliant basketball mind.
And then he trades for Harden. And I remember going on the radio in Houston because it happened in October. It was a light before the season, right before the season, and I said, I think James Harden can by the end of this year be one of the top ten guys in the league like Fringe top ten, and in Houston,
it was universally accepted as that is crazy. Like what Darryl saw that Harden could be and what Harden could become under his system was we now look back on it and people are like, oh, obvious, It was not obvious. It was not obvious at all. And so to your you and obviously for Darryl, Daryl probably was without that trade gonna be out of the job and then not
be Darryl Mory. So I'm just agreeing with you entirely that those two guys coming together is what turned Daryl Morey into one of the moment he leaves Houston, he's one of the highest paid gms in Philly, and Harden into one of the most statistically decorated players in NBA.
And he's nearly made a billion dollars Yes, between basketball and Adidas. Yes, Like I would not be surprised if somebody added up all the James Harden money at this point and extactive to a billion dollars for a man who doesn't have a personality. But anyway, it was one of the most pressian trades ever though, but not just from the Rocket side. But also from the thunderside because
the thunder got killed. Basically all they got was Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, and cap space when Kevin Martin's deal expired.
And the pick that turned into Steven Adams, which ended up being there's pace of the whole thing, right, very important, right, But it was pressient for Oklahoma City in a way that people didn't realize at the time because Presty understood something that none of these people who've dealt with hard and understood since, which was we got to get him out of here, like before the season, you think, so, you think that's what you think that he was already showing this.
I think he knew. Okay, this is somewhat informed, not enough for me to say out loud, got it. He knew we got to get this dude out of here. I knew they had to get him out of here, just because that's the nature of things, right. He wouldn't be no six man right and still won his money. They had to get him out of here. So Mary saw something in Harden that nobody else saw, and Presty also saw something in Harden that nobody else has seen yet.
So you fast forward to now and Harden, whatever lie he feels like he was told, it may have been a couple of lies, but whatever lie he felt like he was told, he felt like he was told. Darryl Mourray, on the other hand, felt like, I'm not giving James Harden away.
Right.
Both of them knew that's how the other acts.
Right. Everybody knows James Harden's gonna act up when it's time for him to go if you won't let him go. And everybody knows that Darryl Moury is not getting beat in a trade. But each of them looked at the
other and said the same thing. Like I see it like a movie where you imagine they show one person talking and then they show the other person talking about the same thing, and then it comes together at the end and they both are saying the same line, and that line is but I know he ain't gonna do me like that, not after everything I did for him.
And here we are, here we are.
They both thought the other would not be the person that they were because he wouldn't do me like that.
So so much of this is fascinating to me. I want to talk on the lie part for okay, So Harden and I don't think it is. I I think it should be mentioned. And I understand Harden has a massive economy in China that the that's really his only fan base left is China, but it also should be notes. So I and he has events there, him torching Maury in China. Yes, when if you remember Darryl's tweet supporting Hong Kong, it was something that almost it's it seemed like might cost.
Daryl his career best every he cost the NBA about as much money as COVID. Correct, that's not an exaggeration, or at least that's what people say. And and so there's that kind of under tone to it.
Then there is what is he saying you lied about? Because if he's saying you lied about you're gonna trade me, you're not trading me. There's no problem. If he is saying what I think he wanted people to believe. He was saying, you told me last year when I gave back the fourteen million, that there was a MAX deal waiting for me, like everyone speculated, and to be fair, like the NBA did launch an investigation last year about
found that it was not true. And then the rockets or the Sixers got docked for early contact PJ and House the guys they were able to get with the money from the Harden thing. If that were true, it would be catastrophic for the Philadelphia seventy six ers, for Daryl Morey, for everybody. I do not believe that's true. I do not believe Daryl, and the NBA doesn't believe it. And now Harden is saying he didn't do it. But I know some people do believe that that's what happened here.
There was a handshake deal. So let me ask this question to you, because I don't think this point's been made enough. Bill Simmons did his credit, tweeted about it when the story first broke. He and I are in somewhat lockstep about it. But well, I shouldn't say we're in lockstep because I'm not gonna say exactly. I don't want to say what Bill believes. But let's just say for a moment they did have a handshake deal. If you're and people are like, oh, well, if that's the case,
Darryl broke his word. If I'm on the side of okay, take less money. You got a max contract waiting for you once you make clear to every NBA reporter in the world, you plan to go to Houston this offseason? Do I have right to say, well, I guess the deal's off. Do I have every right to say whatever handshake deal we had? If you are from Christmas Day through May telling everyone that'll listen you're going to Houston. Am I still supposed to then be like, well, if
they don't want you, I've got you. Or does that nix whatever deal we had? Because I would Again, I don't think there was deal, but if there was, and I was in the Sixers case, I would be like, well, I guess he doesn't think there's a deal, so I guess we're off the hook. Isn't that legitimate?
I think it would be legitimate. But I absolutely believe that there was a deal. And the reason that I believe that there was a deal is nothing about James Harden implies, Hey, I think he's willing to make some sacrifices to win, because I do think he wants to win very badly. I think that the poor behavior that he's demonstrated in all these moves lately, those weren't about money, right.
If he wanted the money, he could have stayed in Houston, FURTIITA would have given him fifty million dollars a year for two more.
And they and in Brooklyn, remember he turned down three for one sixty one before the second season there.
Right, James Harden would be one of the greatest players of all time unequivocally with a championship. And I think he wants that like he does not. There's a rarefied air that we don't talk about.
Also, I think how badly he wants to win is evidenced by how much the playoffs get to him.
Yes, I think he gets nerdy. I think.
I do think that is true. I do think he wants it so badly that it then manifests itself in fear. Yeah, during postseason games.
Because we saw that to a degree with Jimmy Butler in the finals, where it's like, oh, was wrong with Jimmy Butler? Is he hurt? No, he's pressing right, like these things happen. I think he wants to win. Do I think he wants to win enough to give back thirteen million dollars and then everything else that came behind it. No, I don't. I don't think that man is wired like that. I think, for whatever reason, he thought he was going
to be taken care of. Now, I do think you make an interesting point there that if he then says, well, I'm going to go to Houston, But Darryl knows James, James knows his number one weapon in negotiation is paining. I got to make these people feel pain in order to get what I want. So if i'm Darryl, I'm like, no,
I'm probably still gonna give this to you. Because in the end, if they had given it to him, I think James would have taken it because James wants to win and James was not gonna go to what that clown show was looking like at the time in Houston. That's my thought on it. But somewhere along the way, after he gave back the money and everything else, whether Darryl Morey was gonna get a good deal on that trade and not, you had to take care of the dude.
Man, Well, here's.
The thing, and it's your guy. I think that's the other part too, It is your guy.
It is your guy. But also that, I mean what I would argue, I would argue that Harden over the last week has mishandled this immense Yes, do you think Damian Lillard is gonna be on the Blazers this year? Yes, oh okay, all right, Well I wasn't even trying to have a Dame conversation. I don't. But the reason I bring it up is he hasn't been traded yet, and I think that it is fair, even if you disagree, a lot of people think, but he will be at some point.
Yeah, yeah, I think at some point he'll be traded, but I think he'll be a Blazer.
Okay, oh you think you'll start a Blazer and then be traded. So that's kind of my point, is Harden to me those comments, Harden, if you're gonna if you're gonna play that card, you almost gotta play it either days before the season starts or days before the deadline. But pulling that parachute when there is still plint where in August seems premature and seems hasty. I also think that what is undeniable is this if hardens right now,
biggest upset is about the money. Does anybody think what he is doing right here is going to lead to more money? Or is this so the reason I thought he wanted the Clippers. Here's my theory. It was not Los Angeles, and it was not about ability to win. It was about if he were traded to the Clippers, they would be able to max him and them moving into a new arena with the uncertainty of Kawhi and Paul George, with that owner, that's one of the only people that would max him. But they can't if he's
a free agent. He has to already have been on the team. So I think all of this was for James's purposes about how do I get I didn't take the extension in Houston, I didn't take the extension in Brooklyn. I dropped my salary fourteen million last offseason. We're now we're now up to maybe almost one hundred and fifty million dollars left on the table. And I think you saw the real anxiety in that by him picking up
this option rather than just being a free agent. But I will tell you this, if he if they don't trade him and he dogs it, I think I think he could be looking at less than twenty million on a contract see that for one year.
That's an interesting question. And I might have been inclined to agree with you if I didn't just see somebody give Kyrie Irving forty some million dollars a year for three years. That with the deal yeah Z plus yes, with.
The player option on the The plus one is not team, it's player yes. But that team had to keep him because they couldn't let they had traded for him and they couldn't, you know, risk him walking out for nothing. And then Luca, which is what's so interesting about the Kyrie Harden thing is those are big stories. But the bigger story is what that domino will impact Luca and Embiid and whether or not those guys, either one of them is gonna say I'm sick of this the So
where do you think the hardened thing lands? And then we'll wrap this part up.
So it's when you mentioned that about Embiid, I wanted to get to that because that, to me is totally where this gets to be fun. Right. I think with healthy James Harden, healthy Kawhi Leonard whatever that is anymore right, and healthy Paul George, maybe the best team in the NBA in terms of your chances of winning a championship. And it's great for Hardon because Harden's problem, as we talked about pressing at the end, right, you ain't got to do.
That, Kawhile take care of it. If he's playing, you've.
Got maybe the best big game player in the NBA. Kawhi Leonard has a case for being the best big game player in the NBA. Paul George's your number two, and James Harden gets to be point guard, which, by the way, he's willing to do the problem with the Sixers, And this is where if I'm Darryl, I might play this a little different. You've got your chance to tear this whole thing down because I am now convinced that
the ceiling on that team is the second round. And I've convinced the ceiling on that team is the second round because I don't think you can win with Joell, and I don't think you can win with Harden. The thing with Joell, to people loose sight of, he puts those big numbers up in the regular season because he's using thirty eight percent of the possessions. In the playoffs, he only uses twenty eight percent of the possessions, or I think that's what it was last year. He can't be
the same dude. And if he can't beat that dude, he can't carry you. And if he can't carry you. That team's not good enough to win. Hardon is not the guy that could be your number two and then you win. Tobias Harris is your number three. It's now time to tear this thing down to the screws, and they could do that.
If Joel Embiid.
Gets up and says I'm sick of this, and I feel fairly confident he is infect sick of.
It, well, I mean he certainly. Listen. It's hard to take anything Joel does on social seriously because he literally calls himself Troelle lebid so he wants but it if listen, Embiid's got aware the fact that his playoff resume is not impressive. Now, he has had some bad luck. He's been injured. He gets elbowed in the face, breaks his face, his knees hurt. He's had a lot of injuries. But he is a guy that for his career averages damn near thirty and in the playoffs averages around twenty three.
He is the only MVP in the history of the league to not make Round three, the only one, the only Yeah. The only MVPs to not make a finals are him, Nash and Derek Rose and there might be one other from a long time ago, but I don't. I think that's it. I did this the other day, but he's never been made around three, which is wild when you know, Oh, the other one was Jokic, but
Jokic obviously then made the finals. Your guy, those stats you're hating, that's right, by the way, it should be noted that, but I was one of the only people to be a multiple time guest on UH game theory is that correct?
One time you and Steven A.
Smith are the only multiple Yeah, and and one time was like a social only thing, and one time was on uh TV or maybe I do. It doesn't matter, but uh Bamani and I had a lot of really loud I was more loud than him arguments about Jokic, and if you go back and watch them, Bomani ended up being right on all heavily unfortunate, asked me, is Steph?
I got terrified to say bad things about Steph.
It's really unfortunate. Oh, speaking of step it's so funny. Uh So the Quarterback documentary comes out and pee, I haven't. People text me, They're like, you're in the first episode, You're all over it. I'm like, this is great for me. Hard Knocks comes out and people are like, you're in the first your Guys shows in the first episode the Jets, I'm like, that's awesome. Steph's documentary comes out, people text me, They're like, you're in the final episode. I'm like, that
is a disaster. I was like, there's no chance that's good. I was like, the Mahomes thing, that's gonna be good. Me being hesitant about the Jets, I think that plays. But if I'm in the the culmination of the Steph Curry doc it's not because I'm like, the guy's amazing.
You know, my god, Dominy Fotsworth who got on TV it did the the No Board Championships day and Steph did that at the victory parade and everything else so good. I'm so like, I have not seen Stephan years. I'm terrified of what will happen when I see him because he doesn't forget anything. And I mean, I was right until I was wrong. Fans how you feel about yok you were right until he.
Was wrong, right until I was wrong. And by the way, I listen the the here's what I will say about the Yolks thing, and then we quickly move on. I do not tend to get bothered by things written about me or YouTube videos made about me or social media.
Stuff assful all the time.
Okay, yeah, you just gotta at some point you gotta decide, am I gonna allow this to occupy all my waking moments or just now. The downside to just being like I'm gonna ignore it is, as has happened over the last few months with a lot of the speculation about shows on FS one, is there a lot of flatly not only like kind of incorrect, but just like Marktaly wrong things written. You've dealt with this in a much
more toxic extent. And the question the problem is if you once you respond to one, not responding in the future feels like it is an admission. So it's like, do I want to open the doors to responding to any of it because then I am almost required to respond to all of it, or am I just gonna let this bullet you know what I mean, float out there and ignore it. The reason I said all this with the yoga something, I'll let you respond to that. The only thing that bothers me like that I shouldn't say.
The only thing that bothers with me. The thing that really bothers me is when people take things that I did say and video that does exist about Yokic from two years ago. Right, And it's fine if they say this is where Nick thought, but then cut the video and tweet out even after he won the title. Nick Wright won't give yo Ki Chenny love, and I'm.
Like, I'm in my house doing that. It's coviing. How do you think I said this after he won the championship?
That does bh?
No, No, you showed up like It's kind of like with me and Josh Allen the day I looked up and realized I'm not gonna fight this anymore.
Credit to you.
You still got yeah, you still gottaving.
It like I was.
I'm ready to come back exactly, I'm ready to come back around, but I needed a break, you know what I'm saying. But you're one hundred percent correct that you say these things like the old takes exposed guy who I like generally as person, right, but I had to get on him at one point where I'm like, look, man, you pulling this tweet from Dabo's swingy and O nine when we all thought that he's stunk and then coming back after a miraculous turnaround and be like, oh, look
at all these guys who thought Dabbo couldn't coach. You mean, every single person on earth right in that moment. All right, last one on basketball.
And we'll get to the NFL. We'll do this very quickly. Anthony Edward's ceiling.
You know what this ceiling gives me that even a basketball Sealy finally a player to love. Oh and this is what I was hanging out with my man, uh Trey Vaughn used to be black Tray on Twitter, a f the athletic and my brother and we were talking about I was watching online.
Have you ever seen the.
Clip of the first game of Adrian Dantley coming back against the Pistons after Isaiah got him traded or he believed Isaiah got him traded.
Oh, when he was trade from merky wire. You know I haven't seen.
Okay, So they go around right his pregame and is the DAP and it's a big deal because Ziah Thomas has comeing, Andrew Danely has coming back, and so Isaiah comes to get the DAP to h Dantley and Dany gets him and then pulls me okay, and keep it in mind that Dante is like eight years older than Isaiah, pulls them in and gets in his ear, and it's just.
Blah blah blah.
And you see Isaiah trying to laugh it up and walk away, and Dantly grabs his hand and pulls him back Oka and keeps going. It had Isaiah so thrown off he shot an air ball in the first shoted game. Now Isaiah came back and shot thirty. But I say that to say there was the time where this gang was much more human and much more personal, and it felt like people were playing as opposed to like statistical avatars or these guys that we built up since there
were children to be wage earners. Like it was like watching people play at the playground. It had that sort of like visceral emotion. Anthony Edwards is the most real human being I feel like I've seen be a star basketball player in such a long time. And I was watching that game on Sunday because I was on the follow with my man Vite Goodwill, and he's like, Yo, you might want to turn on this Anthony everys thing.
I didn't even know it was on TV, and I'm looking at him and the way he's doing it is like, oh, this is personal to him. This matters to him, not even as personal in the sense that Germany did something to me, but there's a level at which he cares that his throwback and the way that he carries himself
and does all these things that his throwback. And so he's what twenty two years old mature in a way that he doesn't get nearly enough credit for it because he got to carry old Carl around because they all can't get this job.
Good actor too, he's got going for him.
Yeah, Like, once they get Carl out of town, I think the sky's the limit.
All right. So here's your your paal someone I don't know but I follow on Twitter, Miles Brown. Yes he's a Timberwolves fan. He lives there. Yes, he lives in Minnesota. He made the accurate point, which is, it is truly a shame that Minnesota made the mistake so many. We saw the Hornets make it with Anthony Davis, we saw the MAVs make it twice now with Luca. We saw
the Calves make it with Lebron. You wish someone would learn from it, which is you get, you get this great young player, and because he's so good so early, you get overly excited and try to microwave everything. Because if right now Minnesota simply had all the assets from the go Bet trade, so you have Kesler, Walker Kessler, you have those four first round picks, you have all of that, and then Carl Towns as a trade chip,
plus all those things. We would be saying, oh, they could get Embeid, they could get they would have sut. Instead they went all in on the go Bear piece. Now you still can trade Carl Towns, but you're instead of limitless optimism about what they could become, it is cap to a degree. I don't hate go Beart's fit with Anthony Edwards. I don't. I don't love his fit with Carl Towns, and I don't like Honestly, I don't
like much of Carl Town's the basketball player like. I just don't the I think a lot of it's empty calories. And I think some of his comments this summer have just been so wildly delusional that I'm like, oh, I don't know if I could trust him to know what you know, what you need to have a real winning team. But Andy Edwards is thrilling. And the point that I've made to you privately and maybe publicly I don't know, is the spot for best American player is wide open.
Oh oh yeah, it's it's him. It's I think it's gonna he's top two.
But yeah, I mean I don't think it's him yet because Tatum obviously is there. But it looked like that was what Nike was betting on. JA. Yes, they had Jah and Zion like one of them is gonna be it. Zion will see, Jah will see. Tatum is to me a great player that we know. I think Tatum's, you know, destined to be a consistent all NBA great player that
will never be the best player in the league. You know, that's just my opinion, but that best American born player, because the best player, your list of the best player is probably gonna have four or five foreign guys on
it before you get to the best American. But Anthony Edwards could snatch that title and with that charisma, And again I don't want to sound like jingoistic, but there is something too being the best American that there is some marketing to it that is available that isn't typically available to the international players. He is making a strong case for.
But this is where I talk about that human part about Edwards. If Jason Tatum was wired like Anthony Edwards is wired, Jason Tatum would be the best player in the NBA.
That might be right.
I don't think it matters to him in the same way. And that's not to say he doesn't care or anything like that. But the way that we watch those Celtics and the way that we watch them fall apart, in the way that he.
Just doesn't ever seem to play angry.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying, right Like, there's not that I can turn this thing on and make it happen sort of thing. And that, to me is the thing with Edwards. Now.
To me, where Minnesota messed up.
Part of it is obviously all they gave up for the go Bear trade. They wanted to make a big, splashy move when they got in there, and they decided to let Carl And have to be careful when I talk about him, because it's hard for me to be honest and not sound really mean and I don't know that guy.
The move was to get in immediately.
If you're Tim Connley, the new GM part owner, all of that stuff and.
Get Carl out of there.
Like at some point you got to look up and realize, yes, he's really tall and he can shoot threes. But the fact that he brags about being the best shooting big man of all time, that's like saying, ain't no accounting that can dance like me. I'm sure that's really good at the Christmas party and everybody likes it. But I just got audited, right, Like they just they come in and they taking my cars, and you're supposed to stop
there from taking the cars. And people take cars all the time, right that that was the move they needed to make, was to get him out of there. But now they made the trade with Gobert, which completely changed the trade market, and now you can't trade a player like Carl Towns unless you get like eight first round pick because everybody thinks that you got got.
The correct and so the but the bright side is if you're a Timberwolves fan, who I believe they have won, they have one season that they want to play off series team's history the conference finals, Ron Cassell KG obviously and Spree well, so they've won two playoff series in their franchise history. You have Anthony Edwards, which will be
wildly exciting. All right, Jonathan Taylor's trade some Bamani and I being the only people in the world that seem to find the Trey Lance situation as absurd as actually is. And I would argue, and this might surprise some of some folks, I would argue that there are not five people in the world that know more about college football than Bomani Jones. And I don't think anybody. I shouldn't say anybody. I think the casual sports media viewer doesn't
associate you with college football. I want to talk to you about the only college football player that matters to me this year. We will do all of that next What's Right Episode one something Chip.
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All right, welcome back in episode one seventy two. What's right with think great Bomani Jones in today, bo thank you for being here with us, by the way, in the C block. Willing answer your listener questions. Uh, if you guys want to ask, since you know, questions directly to Bomani, if you feel free to that. It doesn't have to be necessarily just.
Sitting you guys, because I still call them all listeners sitting here on YouTube whatever it is. They're all listeners.
To me, that's true. And the people who are just listeners on the podcast, they are listening to it after we do it and literally cannot participate in the YouTube. Yet everyone that could respond to that listener inquiry, our viewers, you are correct on that. All right, we did forty minutes on the NBA. There Now to the NFL. Jonathan Taylor, the Colts have now said he can seek out a trade. Just got to find a team that's willing to give them a first round pick. It is I think going
to be an impossible standard. Yes, I also think the cult are saying, we don't value, we don't look at you as a prime asset, but we are demanding a prime asset in return for you, which seems incongruous. I also think that teams are there are certain teams that should never invest heavily in a running back. I think the I think one of the few miss significant mistakes the Chiefs have made under Brettviach was the first round
pick on Clyde Edwards Hilaire. Now. I liked it at the time, I was excited about it, but you look back and you're like, could have you know that for a team like that, the position is fungible and you can find a check on the seventh round, whatever it is. I also think there are certain teams whose best and most respected player in the locker room happens to be a running back, and treating that player like he is just a cog in the wheel has obvious, clear downstream
effects on your ability to change a culture. Have your players buy in all of it. I thought the Giants were playing a very risky game with Saquon. He is the universally respected best player on the team, one of the longest tenured guys, and you're just telling him basically
at bleep you figure it out. Now. He ended up accepting the money, So maybe it's okay if I am the Colts and I have drafted one of the raws quarterback prospects in the last decade with the fourth overall pick in your is it not worth it to slightly
overpay for Jonathan Taylor? So A, Anthony Richardson as Jonathan Taylor, and the ball off to and so B. You can go into this season all pushing in one direction, trying to build something for this young quarterback, even if in two years that's a bad contract for Jonathan Taylor.
That's how I would view it in.
This specific situation. How do you view it? Well?
I think the Colts also need to think about it like this. Saquon Barkley seemed to be just a little bit offended by the way that it was all going. Jonathan Taylor is hot, yes, like he is furious, Like they needed if.
Your playing was yo, you're gonna come back.
You needed to do something with this because what I think people lose sight over Jonathan Taylor. This will sound crazy to people. Jonathan Taylor might be the most underrated football player of his generation. Okay, and this is what I mean. Jonathan Taylor was at Wisconsin for three years and ran for.
Six thousand yards.
Yeah, it's pretty good.
Never even got to be a Heisman Trophy finalist. Like never was on that level. There was a time where Jonathan Taylor would have walked into the NFL as one of the most famous people in America just on the strength of being such a great college football running back, like two thousand yards with some wild stuff.
He did that two times.
And overall has six thousand yards. He feels slighted at every turn, if I had to guess, And apparently he got an agent that put battery in his back. Has got them all charged up about this. But I think you're right if you're the Colts, especially since you're dealing with a rookie quarterback that's not throwing the budget up that high, except that you have the money right ahead to do this. You remember, because you were heavily involved in the story. But Adrian Peterson got in trouble with
the situation with his son. The Vikings were still like, oh, well, when he comes back, we're gonna keep him because he's our guy, and we built this around him. And he's taking two U or something carries a year, and you got to tell everybody else here, we will reward you for making this sort of contribution. If I'm the cult and by the way, if it works with Anthony Richardson, well that I.
Love that pick, because if you're in the AFC, you have to shoot the moon at quarterback. And I don't Bryce Young. I just I don't believe because of the size. I just he's just going out herene at the minimum. C J. Stroud I think has very very low chance of being great. Right, not saying he's not gonna be fine, but in the AFC, fine gets you nowhere, be fine and be the twelfth best quarterback in the conference. But Anthony Richardson could be awesome.
But if you're gonna play him this year, and I don't see any way in the world he is ready to play NFL four, you have to have it that you gotta have Taylor and by.
The way, both said the thing about Jonathan Taylor's college stats. His freshman year, he had nineteen hundred and seven twenty seven rushing yards, his sophomore year he had twenty one ninety four, and his junior year at two thousand and three.
That's what I'm saying.
He had sixty one seventy four and three years. You still remember ron Daan to this day.
Yeah, and ron Daane got famous off a freshman year like that that stayed around and to win at the same college.
Yeah, I feel like Melvin Gordon was a little more like well known at the same time.
Melvin Gordon, who should have won the Heisman that year at least, was this runner up for the Heisman that year.
All right, so let me let's go to the trade market just for a moment, because with everything I just said about running backs, here's the one thing that I think people have slightly wrong about this story. When they're like, well, he definitely won't be traded, because no one's gonna give up a premium draft pick just to have the privilege
of having to give him the contract. I would argue, if you trade for him, you don't have to give him the contract because I think you, Jonathan Taylor can play this card, which is a totally fair and legitimate card to play. I've done all this for you at the Colts. You guys have undervalued me. You're not extending me. I'm not playing you know or not that he said he's not playing, but this kind of soft hold out thing,
I think that's legitimate if he is traded. I do not think he can go to the new place and be like, I'm not playing unless you pay me. I think the card can get you out of Indy, or it can get you paid in Indy. I don't think he has enough juice to have the card get him out of Indy and a new contract somewhere else. So if I am a team that is close, would I trade a first round pick? Probably not what I consider
what I say. If I were the Buffalo Bills and I know they've spent multiple second round picks on running backs, they haven't seemed to hit. If I were the Cincinnati Bengals, who I think Joe Mixon's on the wrong side. If I were trying to think of a team in the NFC that is arguably close, it's not. The Lions just
drafted running back. The Seahawks draft for running back. But if I were in that close tier, would I say, is it worth three million this year plus a running back franchise tag next year for the second round pick for Jonathan Taylor? I think it would be and I think that wherever he goes, he's just gonna I don't think he's going to get that contract extension, Like I just think it's unfortunate, but I don't think he's gonna
have the leverage of the juice for it. And so I think there are a handful of teams that should be having meetings of is he worth a premium pick because he is going to be cheap. I don't think they got to give him the long term.
Yeah, And I think you raise an interesting point when you bring up Buffalo, because they have kept trying to do this. Yes, with the James Cooks of the world, Devin Singletary's and everything else. Look, man, a special running back is a special running back. And going into the draft this year, I understood everything that everybody was saying, but I was terrified more than anything else. And I
don't have a rooting interest in this. I was terrified just because it would be this scary if Philadelphia had taken Bijon. I don't know how anybody ever would have stopped him last year. They could have come out here, run to vere, they could have run to bone, they could have run to run and shoot. They could have run anything that they had Bejar Robinson because Bejar Robinson is that special. San Francisco didn't lose a game, as I recall, after they got Christian.
Mcca lost the first game to the Chiefs. Thank you, okay, but that once. Remember he was traded for like midweek that week. They didn't lose a game with him until.
The end because he mattered. He was that special.
Now, if you don't think Taylor is necessarily that special, because we're talking about these Swiss Army Knife guys. They could do Marshall Falk stuff, then maybe not. But a special running back still matters. You can replace certain running backs with the Isaiah Pachecos of the world and get in and do it functionally.
But if you got a great one.
Yeah, like Tennessee Dereck Henry becomes another example.
So one hundred percent. And what I the team that I think should call the Colts and say, hey, we spent the fifty second pick of the draft on running back Zach Charboney so people liked him. We will give you him and a fifth next year. You get to reset the clock on your running back salary. Still have a ready to go running back, We'll take Jonathan Taylor. If you're Seattle and you think in the NFC, if Gino can keep this up, that to me makes a
lot of sense. Man Like, now, Seattle might say we've you know, because they drafted Kenneth Walker in the second round last year. They spent back to back second round picks on running backs. But that's why Seattle doesn't make sense trading a draft pick for him. But if you trade one of those guys as an asset for him, that to me is is worth discussing.
Now.
The flip side is if people think Jonathan Taylor, who was injured last year, you know what I mean, that he got used up at Wisconsin, had eighteen hundred yards in year two and now he's declining player. That's different. But if you think last year was the aberration, I still think he has real value, all right, the Trey Lance thing. So here's the deal. I want to shout out, you know Danny Parkins, Yes you don't, I think know Andrew Philippony. Andrew does radio in Pittsburgh. Danny is radio
in Chicago. I went to college both of them, two of my best friends. They do a podcast called First In Pod. It's an NFL only podcast comes out twice a week people in addition subscribeing to the right time with Bilani Jones that if you're just now joining us, still exists and is coming to your podcast feed shortly. By shortly, I mean soon. Yeah. I just didn't want them to think it's coming out like the day after this, but very soon, coming shortly first in POD's a great
NFL podcast. To their credit, they are two of only maybe five people and we or two of the other five that find the Trey Lance situation baffling and galling. And I want to make this very clear, I am not arguing that Trey Lance is awesome. I have no clue. I am stating the fact that the biggest quarterback busts ever all got three times, four times, five times the opportunity to show whether or not they could play JaMarcus Russell,
Tim Couch, Ryan Leaf, Zach Wilson. Trey Lance has started four games, one of them by the way, he broke his leg three plays in. Another one was in a monsoon. The week before he the San Francisco forty nine ers took a player who barely played D two college football, traded three first round picks for him, then after they got to an NFC championship game with their quarterback said you can't play for us anymore. We're locking you out of the building. Had Brock Purdy on the team said,
Trey A. Lance is our unquestioned Week one starter. He played a game in the monsoon, played three plays in another game, broke his leg, and now they have said he is out, maybe not even the backup. And Brock Purdy, the final pick of the draft we passed on seven times for drafting him, is our unquestioned starter. It is coming off Tommy John come here right coming a guy who was physically limited coming into the NFL, coming off surgery on his throwing arm. He is our unquestioned starter.
It is one of the most indefensible processes I've ever seen. And I cannot believe everyone is just pretending to believe. Oh, well, it's because brock Purdy's awesome. Brock Purty is not awesome. And I don't I don't think it has been given enough attention. How they have mismanaged this situation.
You go, yo, So the black quarterback level of this is the lack of patience. And I don't necessarily mean that from Shanahan. I mean from fans just.
The hey, Lance stinks, You'll see them play like three games.
Like, I am amazed at how certain they are that he stinks after seeing them play three games, and how certain they are that Purdy is awesome after seeing a seven. By the way, a similar sample size to which you had before you said Jimmy Garoppolo was awesome, before you ultimately understood that Jimmy Garoppolo was simply Jimmy Garoppolo.
Right.
That's the part for Lance that is frustrating in the discourse, is that just how quickly people are to dismiss him. Now, I watched some of them clips from the last game he played. He did look like red ass. I don't wuld to pretend is though I don't.
I think it looks bad, but I don't think that's but I think that's almost independent of it.
That's the secondary point, right. What confuses me about this They traded all those picks to get him, and I don't think that this is a sunk cost fallacy, right, because I get the argument that, well, you shouldn't lean in on him just because you traded all those picks for them. No, that is exactly why you should lean on him. Right what you decide we're gonna trade three first round picks to go get this guy. You're not saying and we're gonna see how this works out.
We're gonna make this work.
We go show up every day, there's gonna be somebody with trade on the phone, going through the playbook, whatever it is. And maybe they're doing these things, but I've seen no investment from the team to make sure that this trade that, by the way, could cripple them for the next five years, just because of what they're not getting back in terms of personnel, the fact that they're not like, nah, baby, we're going to one way or
another make this work. And to me, the first step in we're gonna make this work is you're the backup. Even if you decide brock Perty's our started this year, we're not intertaing this safe.
Is the part to me that that made this an even bigger story was if they want to say brock Purdy earned it, we believe in him. We found it. And the absolute diamond in the rough, his elbow is gonna be fine. He's the starter, so be it. We know what Sam Darnold is to not then say trade. Not only is Trey Lance our backup, He's gonna have a package. He's gonna have a package because he does things mobility wise perty can't do. So that to me is where I was like, this trains off the tracks.
And here's the other part of it. Their quarterback evaluation process was by just the awt the historical record. We love this player so much, we're trading three first round picks to get him. We see him for one year in our building, in our practice, in our camp. We believe in him enough. We are telling Jimmy Garoppolo, you can't. Your keys to the building are revoked. Try to trade you to Washington. You have a surprise surgery. So we can't, but we wanted to. He's our guy, he is our
week one starter. He then breaks his leg and is not able to play for months. So he went from deposing Garoppolo week one unquestioned starter, two potential third string in OTAs when was it? It wasn't. It's not like, oh he had terrible practices. The guy wasn't practicing. The guy had a broken leg last year. He wasn't practicing. None of it. And the trade part of it is
that I the Niners when they did it. I believe the thought process was, with the Shanahan system, we can be pretty damn good with just see le pardon me sea level quarterbacking. If we were to get a level quarterbacking, we will be the best team in the league by far. And by the way, I agree with that. Yeah, I think the Niners with that roster and that offense and that defense, now the defensive brain drain of losing solid
and losing Demico will see all it works. That team, if they had a difference maker a quarterback, would be the best team in football, better than the Chiefs. So I get why they tried to do it. But if now they were pivoting back to just anybody is plug and play, then do you know who was drafted with the first first round pick San Francisco traded away for Trey Lance Because I'm looking at it right.
Now, all right, So they made I can't even remember who they made the trade with.
Well, it was it was like the It was Miami, but it was like a three. It was they had someone else's pick. Point is this they were drafting at number twelve? Okay, I'm just going to tell you who went how that top twelve of the draft went. It went Trevor Lawrence obvious, Zach Wilson, who everyone locked in stone immediately.
That was strange too.
I knew that there was gonna be no discussion about the number one pick. They're like, obviously the number two pick, Zach Wilson, whatever. Number three, Trey Lance, okay, Number four Kyle Pitts, who I still think could be awesome. Number five Jamar Chase, who unquestionably is awesome. Number six Jayleen Waddle, who is fantastic. Number seven pen A Sewel. Number eight j C. Horn guy popped his achilles hasn't worked out. Number nine patz Or Tan the second, who somebody thinks
the best corner in football. Number ten Devonte Smith, Number eleven Justin Fields, who I think could have been dynamic in this offense if you wanted to trade up for three and draft him. And number twelve sitting there at the pick the Niners traded away is Micah Parsons. Micah Parsons and Nicky Bosa on that defense is what they traded away.
Well, well with red Water by the way, right, oh yeah, with red Water with ours did But so think about this if you just wanted a.
Plug and play quarterback.
You could have stayed there and got.
Corkle, yes correct, mac Jones exactly.
They tricked us into thinking they were trading up to get Corkle, Yeah, exactly right.
And the or you could have stayed there and if you wanted a dual threat, traded up a few spots and gotten justin Fields when you see he's not going top five. And then, by the way, they didn't have this is to your point, the twenty ninth pick of the draft the next year would have been theirs, and they didn't have that. Now that ended up being cold strange, but you we'll see. And then this year the draft pick they didn't have was what pick was that, I'll
find it. It's from San Francisco, the twenty ninth pick again, so it's the twelfth pick, the twenty ninth pick, and the twenty ninth pick for a guy you're not gonna who is getting less rope than any first forget people to drop about any top five quarterback, any the only first round quarterbacks to get this. It's the lest it's the least since Jim Drunken Miller and Andre Ware Yeah, and Andre Ware at least got years, but he's just never got on the field, never got an opportunity.
But think about this, as we mentioned Sam Darnald here, you're telling me we saw Sam Darnald play here, right, we know what time it was, we know what time it wasn't but you're telling me that Sam Darnald still has a chance to get better and Trey Lance does not. And Sam Darnald, at his words, who got all the opportunities, simply did not look like an NFL quarterback. But people are still willing to bet on the idea of Sam Darnald as the backup.
Here, then Trey.
Lance at go ahead and a number.
This is another big one, and this is Kyle Shanahan has to answer for this because he skated on it the last time. This will be the second time that you've had a top three quarterback and you broke them. And we blamed it the last time on the other guy. We blamed it on Andrewes Robert Griffin, right like we blamed it on injuries and everything else.
But what was so wild about Griffin?
By the time you got to year three, really and Shanahan was gone by him. But by the time you got to year three, he looked like he forgot how to do stuff that he knew how to do before correct And now I'm looking at Trey Lance and he looks utterly confounded in the preseason.
So genius, man, what are you doing?
Well, what I'm looking at with Trey Lance? And this is to me what matters is the guy played sixteen games as the starter at North Dakota State in twenty nineteen. He then played one game in twenty twenty, did not play in twenty twenty one for the nine. Well, no, that's not true. Played two games in twenty twenty one for the Niners, and a game and a couple snaps in twenty twenty two. You drafted him knowing all these plays, he played almost no college football and was playing at
the D two level. To not assume it was that he was going to need some game action. It's just baffling to me. All right, let's move on.
But I was saying one last thing on that that's what happens when your boss didn't want you in the first place. I lived that like Shanahan didn't want But that's what That's exactly what I was about to say. But it doesn't make sense because Kyle Shanahan's completely in charge.
You think he has more power than Lynch. Yeah, okay, yeah, I mean he hired Lynch. Yeah that's fair. So the it's baffling. All right, I'm gonna skip the Aaron Rodgers thing because we've been going on so long. I just want to go to college football here quickly. So I did a quarterback pyramid, otherwise known as Mahomes Mountain, and people got very mad at me because I had at the top of Mahomes Mountain is shocking Ley Patrick Mahomes.
The second level was Joe Burrow and the Prince who was promised Trevor Lawrence, and then on the third level was Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen and Sandwich. In between them was Caleb Williams. And people said, Nick is ridiculous. He's a college player. What are you doing. It's disrespectful. And I said, yeah, I think that. I watched Joe Burrow and I say, oh, I know who he reminds me of. He reminds me of Tom Brady. I'm not saying he's Tom Brady, but a lot of it reminds me of it.
I watched Trevor and I say, oh, he reminds me of Peyton Manning. I'm not saying he's gonna be Peyton Manning. I watched Josh Allen and people get mad at this, but I stand by it. He reminds me of pre injury Dante Calpepper.
Yes, that's the one.
I go to a super high ceiling a little erectly.
They have forgotten.
People forgot how good Dante was. People think I'm being wildly disrespectful to him. Pre injury Dante Culpepper was unbelievable, a little erratic, all of it. I watched Caleb Williams and I say he reminds me of Patrick Mahomes. I'm not saying he is Patrick Mahomes. How good do you think Caleb Williams is?
I think the ceiling is incredibly high. The trick bag, of course, is we've seen him Lincoln Riley. Dudes be so good in college and then somewhat mixed results in the NFL. But oh no, no, no, no, no no. You know back when I used to root for a Texas football a little bit, well.
That's the first game of his career.
Yes, that's that was exactly what I was about to say.
Go ahead.
He just brought him off the bench and then it was just like, oh, fellas, don't worry, we got this one.
Twenty eight to seven Texas in the Red River shootout, Cale Williams comes in off the bench and they win the game, like fifty eight fifty five or something.
Yes, no, no, no, this is that's the number one pick next year. I don't know who else it is that. You know, you could talk about Drake may or all these other dudes. No, no, no, no, no, that guy right there is the number one pick.
And that guy is franchise player personality.
It is all of those things like when I saw you put them on the pyramid like that, I'm like, oh, no, you're not wrong. Like they lost that Who did they play? Was it too lane that they lost that ball game too?
They played the.
Ball game against somebody they were supposed to play. Yeah, they lost, but it wasn't about him, No, And.
They lost to Utah during the regular season. Then in the PAC twelve championship game, he's injured and damn near leads him to a victory our. You know, fearless leader gave good ones here from La. He's a usc guy. Listen, I do not pretend to be a college football expert. What the here like? I try to just be always honest with the audience. There is there is a divide between the guys in our field married with kids and
not yes, and the married with kids guy. The divide comes in during football season, which is essentially are you going to be? You have a choice. You can be an expert on the NFL and the NBA, I'm sorry, the NFL and college football and not really be married that much you married, or you can be an expert on one of them and stay married. Yes, but the whole idea of hey, honey, from September through February, I am unavailable for twelve hours a day Saturday and Sunday.
It's just not gonna fly. And so I have sacrificed. I shouldn't even say sacrifice. I just I am not locked in every you know, twelve hours college football. However, I obviously I try to, you know, I obviously watch it, and the West Coast games are the ones that are the easiest to watch because they're on late, and I
watched the biggest games. So I remember watching the Red River shootout and that was was that one Spencer Rattler was their quarterback and he was supposed to be great, and they're getting rolled and I'm thinking of Boumani because I don't know why Bomani says he's not Texas fan anymore.
His love Okay, So like the problem way it is when they do well, the problem is Blair through the speaker.
All right, that's fair. It's a part I didn't realize. I thought it was more like a Atlanta Falcons thing with them. Because of that, this is on like you're a conscientious objectives. That's fair. Uh. But I remember watching that game and then seeing this kid come off the bench. I was like, he is unbelievable. And then he gets to USC and it's just so cle literally better than everybody. Do you think he can win back to back?
Heisman's yes, it's just going to require USC to go something like eleven and one.
Why can't they go twelve and H. I'm not saying that win the national championship. That's a different story. But I don't know why they don't go twelve.
And H because Lincoln Riley in defense, they're not necessarily the most complimentary concepts, right, Like that was what the hold up was last year was whether or not they could play enough defense. But in terms of being that guy, oh man, he is the best quarterback in USC history. I feel confidence saying that already. Oh wow, I mean you won't be able to think of somebody that's close like high sight on Matt Leer, who watch me hand the bal to Reggie Bush?
Right?
Look how good I am?
All right? One other thing on him. I don't believe pro sports are rigged. I don't believe the fixes, and I think there's too much money. I think people that are like, oh, the games are rigged whatever understand really
how gambling works. That I do believe this. The NFL needs to put their finger on the scale, get somebody of the NFC and make sure Caleb Williams is in the NFC because if the damn Raiders come out and he ends up in the AFC West or they have to do realignment, they have to do a quarterback based realignment. But they didn't do this for this reason. People forget
Tom Brady's rookie year when he wasn't playing. You know who won the AFC East that year, the Indianapolis Colts because they were in the division and the Colt and Patriots would have been in the same division forever, and then they did realignment. That's also one of my favorite stats is that the Indianapolis Cults have won the AFC East more recently than the New York Jets. Yes, well, even though they don't play in the AFCASTLE, Which is why sidebar to the take teams whose fans should be
most excited about the next ten years. Number one draft pick the Kansadity Chiefs. Number two draft pick might be the Arizona Cardinals. They have they're gonna be terrible. They have their pick, the Texans pick. They also have whatever pick they get for trading Kyler after they draft Caleb. Yes, it's either gonna They're gonna go one in sixteen draft Caleb, have the Texans pick, which they might be able to use on Marvin Harrison Junior, and then trade Kyler for
like the twelfth pick and do whatever they want. So all right, so we're on the same page there.
But but this is what's funny about what you mentioned that though needing to go to the NFC, there's a counterpoint on this that since all those quarterbacks in the AFC, it makes it more likely that the terrible teams are going to.
Be also for the AI because they player the murderers.
It's endless cycle. They're gonna have to figure it out. All right, This this we I told them might just be an hour fifteen. Good.
I ain't got no job.
Okay, all right, we'll take a quick break. Answer your questions from YouTube next, what's right? All right, welcome back in We'll Driving the Right Episode one seventy two. Answering your viewer questions. Now, me and Bomani Jones. Anastasio's Marcapulos asked, Nick, what topic do you and Bamani most strongly disagree on?
Sorry, now that this jokes thig has been settled.
I think it's probably Luca. Now, I don't even think we disagree that much. Well, it was Jo Kitchen Bamani won.
We only disagree so much just because you have already built a statue of him in Springfield, not simply a plaque, not simply a bust in spring Fields, four.
Time first team all with the statue in front of the whole literally, he's literally party a Hall of Fame. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's the second most all time playoff points per game. Seems goods He has as many First team All NBA's as Steph curt It's just us. I mean, yeah, no.
That's it. We've got to the bottom of it. That's it. But I think he's a very good player. Like I have to be careful when I talk to you about him because I don't want it to go too far people misunderstanding. I'll tell you this, that's what I think about Luca. If you tell me, hey, one guy on a team and you ain't got nothing else. He's my number one draft pick.
That's yeah. Yeah, I'd like to see him play with great players and see what he does. But we'll we don't have that's the answer. I don't want to.
Actually, we'd had a white James Harden before.
You know what I'm saying, So I want to Here's the.
Thing though, let me say this, James Harden's game works. The problem is he melts down in the playoffs. Luca gets better in the playoffs. So if you people are like, oh, it didn't work for James Harden because you weren't getting James Harden in the playoffs, Luke average is thirty two, nine and nine in the playoffs. All right. For Bomani, who's the biggest threat to USC And why is it Washington? That's from Jeremy Wayne Scott.
I mean the answer why is Washington?
Did?
Is Michael Pennix?
Right?
Like like they they got the other like that quarterback guy that's up there. But as I don't pay that much attention to the pack for question mark, question mark, question mark, the pack no need to be like a slot machine joint.
They just run all the time.
Dan Lanning is keeping up what Chrystal Baul was doing and recruiting at Oregon, and I don't know how they keep getting players to go there like that Nike stuff just must be incredible.
But that's where I look at.
Then there's always Utah because Kyle Whittingham is quietly a Hall of Fame coach.
UH Devontae Mason says, who do you think wins the National championship this year?
Georgia?
Three P?
Because why not?
Like the only thing about Georgia is once again another quarterback with two last names, Carson Beck they like Holly edis the dispense. Always make this point if you if your first name can't be a last name, you can't play quarterback at Georgia. But I just can't figure out when somebody's got to explain this to me how exactly this happens, because there's nothing like they're doing anything schematically that's so far ahead of the rest of the world.
They just keep rattling off boys in a way that even Alabama's not doing.
Do you do you think those guys are going because Alabama the this one knock on Alabama. It's just the reality of it. They're great defensive players, didn't turn typically into great pros. Do you see something similar happening with Georgia? Yeah, I think that.
I think that happens with just about everybody because great defensive players are really so difficult to get. But like by comparison, in the last we'll call it twenty years, Pitt has produced Aaron Donald and Duill Reeves, and I don't think you can say that about Alabama, like Sirtad is turning into that dude.
Yeah, it looks like.
But it is very interesting though, when you look back at these college machines outside of Miami, when.
You really look for, okay, so, who were the great pros, it doesn't really turn out that way.
It's a death game, which is why I still think that either whether it was two thousand or two thousand and one, Miami is the greatest college team ever. I know it's actually not the greatest college team emver, but it was the greatest collection of talent of any team in college football history. Donnie Allen has a hot take that there's never been a great quarterback that's bald or Balding and Trey Lance's bolding. What are your thoughts? I gotta invest hit that I've never thought of it.
I'm just going to make the point that that feels like it's more about than just quarterbacks, and that you're speaking on a whole like demographical people. Oh whoever, whoever? That was his name? What was his name? Davanta? He said, Donnie is Donn Allen? Yeah, hold on, I don't.
Think he meant Oh, okay, I see what you're saying.
But MONI, is you at hair great out here in these streets? You know what I'm saying. We out here, we out here making things happen. Ain't been no, ain't been no great quarterback. You know, it ain't been no great quarterback. Honestly, it's because they spend so much time
keeping the black man out. And this is important because The ultimate example of white privilege is the white man ain't never got to cut his hair off just because he bald and right, he can come out here looking like uh, looking looking like a wizard or a genie or some other shit. You always get to do that, man, brother, always got to do that. And by the way, it's not the white man's fault. It be your own people.
They the ones that wind up plying to you. But as we start allowing for what black people to be out here, you go wind up with more black ball people because we can do this a little bit more easily. And then you don't see damn it, he's trying to say redheads is better than us, and it's only been one of them. Soundy Jergens is the only one I can think of.
Andy Dalton exactly today's show. We'll try to episode one seventy two. Subscribe to the right time with Bomani Jones back on your RSS feed shortly. Bo I love you Sho.
This is, by the way, is why I don't need to do a YouTube show, because they are like, oh, you gotta acknowledge people's questions. That's how I acknowledge people's questions. Right there, I'm not nice enough for real time feedback.
See you guys later.