HURTS SO GOOD

[00:00:03] Yes, you are now listening to the sounds of Sports Reports As Ordered. And those sounds are brought to you by the one and only, the world renowned, born in Texas, raised in VA, representing everything New Jerus. To the point that he is accusing the state of Kentucky of cultural appropriation because the state of New Jersey just happens to have more race forces than Kentucky. Around 27,000 to be exact.

[00:00:33] Then you got me, your unorthodox statistician. I believe in Joe Henry. Born left so much, you thought I was South Park. I go by the name of two five. And tonight, we're going to break down that ass whooping that the Kansas City Chiefs just received the other night. Sorry, Travis Kelsey. I was booing Taylor, too. And then we're going to talk around the association because one LeBron James is upset that Luca is getting.

[00:01:02] He's getting the things that he feels that he does. But we'll get into that. But Mr. Logical, you said something to me that really chapped my hide. And before I get to that, I need everybody to like, review, subscribe, share, rate. Do all those three things and while you're at it, do the good things. But Mr. Logical, you said something earlier.

[00:01:27] You said, oh, I was so surprised by how dominant Philadelphia was the other day. And I said, surprised by what? Sound like Noah Lowes. World champions of what? What? Yeah, I'm going to stick to that. I'm going to stick to the surprise factor of it.

[00:01:56] I was thoroughly surprised. I watched the game. Uh-huh. And when I was seeing these guards getting pushed into Mahomes' lap every play. And there's one play I've seen on replay. Because I always fancy myself as a, you know, a part-time freelance football coach. Like, I got all these plays in my mind that if I was a coach, I'd implement. Oh, yeah.

[00:02:22] One thing I was thinking about, and I think it might work, is that you blitz two outside linebackers, right, in the defensive end. And on each end, the right tackle and the left tackle, you got two defenders taking on one blocker each shoulder. Like, just deliberately, simultaneously attacking the blocker's shoulder.

[00:02:48] So, like, each person hits the tackle on each side. One of them is going to fall. If you get two guys hitting one tackle, one side, other side, pocket collapses in on the quarterback. Hopefully one of the outside guys is still standing up. So, this is play where Kansas City tried to run, like, this little counter with Pacheco where they faked it to Juju. Mahomes spun around, and they pulled the guard. And when you pull the guard, it's the same concept for me.

[00:03:17] It's like bringing that extra speed and intensity to the two tackles. Like, boom. I'm bringing a guard over at 330, 340 pounds. He's going to run downhill on this backer with the chip from the tight end. Well, the defensive tackle beat the left guard. And then the right guard that was pulling, Noah Smith just stood him up. And then Pacheco was wrapped up. I'm like, that was supposed to be a good play.

[00:03:46] And I think I've seen that replay, like, different, you know, formats. You know, people send all these clips out. Like, that clip was indicative of the entire game. Is that that's a good play call. A good counter play, pulling a guard. The tight end came off clean. Everybody was lined up to make a play. And every single person that was supposed to make a block tried. It wasn't like they missed the blocks. It's just they all got beat.

[00:04:15] And it looked like Pacheco got the ball and got bear hugged immediately. And it was like, when I started seeing that, I was like, this, it was, you want to believe because they have time. But if you're looking at a boxing match and you have a boxer that they are jab, move, three punch combo boxer. Like, that's how they fight.

[00:04:41] They jab, they move, jab, move, jab, move, three punch combo, jab, move. And, like, they're doing that for four or five rounds. And the other guy's getting frustrated. It's like, yeah, maybe this guy could land a haymaker. But the other guy's in his groove doing what he likes to do. Philly was in their groove doing what they like to do. Deep shots in the man-to-man coverage. Like I said, that was going to happen. Kansas City, if they sell out the South Saquon, it's going to be man-to-man.

[00:05:10] And poor Watson was getting beat out there like he was looking for Sherlock Holmes. I was like, he got beat by Jahan Dodson. He was beat by Devontae Smith. Yes. Jalen Hurts made great throws. But this guy was getting beaten at that man-to-man coverage. And the blitzes, the blitzes, they were blitzing like they were blitzing Josh Allen. It's like Josh Allen wants to stand in the pocket and throw it deep. Jalen was like, all right, I'm out.

[00:05:42] Well, you know. They're literally doing everything they want to do. It's like, there's nothing you can do about it. Well, you know, just like Joe Hendry, I said Cooper DeGene's name and he appeared. And, you know, it's funny because Josh Schwett took over this game from the start. Jordan Davis got a sack. Jordan Davis got a sack. And matter of fact, Philadelphia got six sacks, which is second most in Super Bowl history. 40 all year.

[00:06:11] I think Jordan Davis has four in his career. That was the worst part about it. They weren't disguising anything. They weren't bringing blitzes. They weren't trying to get into Mahomes' head. They just literally lined up and said, we want to get there and we're going to get there. And that was one of the things I was telling somebody during the game the other day that I was talking to is that Mahomes is great at improvision and freelancing. But he can't improvise or freelance if you dictate where he goes. Yeah, it's like they were marching.

[00:06:41] It's like they were lined up, hut two, three, four. Because when he tried to get outside, a couple of times he did get outside. A couple of good throws off. But the gene pick was him rolling out. But for the most part, they maintained Lane's integrity. And they were just pushing the guards into his lap. And then that allowed them to play seven on five on the back end because they were getting so much pressure.

[00:07:10] They were leaving the running back in the chip. But by the time, you know, the running back would chip and like slip out, Mahomes, if Mahomes could get out of the pocket and get the check down because he couldn't get it over the middle because they were crashing down on him. Right. But like P. Ryan or Pacheco, whoever was like kind of like leaking out to the flat, he couldn't get there because he couldn't get around because of defensive end and whatever, you know, defensive tackle on that side. They were they were a lockstep.

[00:07:40] So there's nothing to do. So basically, as he's looking deep, it was seven on four with one guy leaking out underneath. They had a linebacker right there, too. So we just so, you know, the whole field covered. So, you know how you like to tell stories and do analogies? I'm pretty good at it. Check my thing. Check me out. The year was 2014. The year before it was a national championship in the last BCS national title game. Jameis Winston.

[00:08:10] In back of the end zone. I'm drawing the blank actually right now. My guy from the Carolina Panthers. I can't think of his name right now. Calvin Benjamin. Calvin Benjamin. So that happened. Right. So the next season, 2014 came. Jameis was coming off the Heisman win, the national title, and it was up. Florida State's coming to kick ass. Right. But there was a game against Louisville early in the season where they were down 21 and they had to come back and win. And there were a few other games where they had to make these heroic comebacks.

[00:08:41] They got to the playoff. First ever college football playoff. Correct. And Marcus Mariota was waiting for them. And the thing that plays in my head is that fumble Jameis had. Yeah. 59 to 20. So I say all of that to say we've been watching Kansas City all year play with their nine lives. Escaping everything by the skin of their teeth.

[00:09:04] So it was only right that when they played a team that was better than them or that just at the very least matched up well with them, the doors were going to come apart. And we broke down position groups and you were like, and I was like defense. You're like Kansas City on the defensive line. You're like Philly. I'm like defensive back Philly. You said Philly. I was like, all right, front seven. You're like Philly. I was like, okay, special teams, Kansas City.

[00:09:33] And it was like, so, but even with that, I still thought that they were, I just felt like if the play was there to be made, Mahomes was going to make a few of them. Just very similar to the Super Bowl he had last year against Kansas, against San Francisco. Granted, when Greenlaw went out, it kind of opened up an option where basically San Francisco couldn't cover the middle of the field.

[00:10:02] Because they, Greenlaw was, you know, Greenlaw and Warner were, you know, in sync all year long. And then you bring in the backup and it's like, all right, he was kind of getting out of position. Even a foot out of position for Mahomes, you can get beat. And he was taking advantage of that. And Philly, everybody seemed to like, they were like on the string like that. I don't know if you've ever seen those basketball coaches use it.

[00:10:28] And they put like a harness around the waist of all five of the players and they teach them his own defense. And they move in unison across the court. It felt like the Philly back end was operating like that. Because I can't even recall a pass where short of DeAndre Hopkins, when he was kind of wide open and tripped, even the one pass to like Hollywood Brown was kind of like in the flat when he was like dragging across. There was a defender there.

[00:10:56] The Kelsey one that was behind him, there was two defenders there. It just felt like every pass was, that wasn't the first read. And I don't have that much space to fit the ball in. Whereas Jalen was like, cool. Y'all can leave Dallas guard open? Boom. Drag route, out route. Oh, y'all can go man to man on AJ Brown? Okay. I hate victim brain.

[00:11:22] Because you know when they called that offensive pass interference, you already know where my mind was going. When they called it, I checked my phone. I think it was the right call though. So let me preface it with that. I think it was the right call. But I think it was one of those calls that you don't like. You know how people talk about, you don't call that foul right there. That's how I felt about it. It was the right call. I felt like he was.

[00:11:53] But I had also felt that if it was the other way around, it wouldn't have been called. That was the victim part of it. If he was really there to defend the ball, then you call it. I think AJ had him beat. And it just was, I think instinctively, all wide receivers get a little push off. They all do. Create a little bit more space. I don't even think he needed it.

[00:12:19] Because McDuffie was scrambling off the first tap. The first one, most wide receivers get away with that. Like what Michael Irving used to do with his elbow. Michael Irving used to hold you off, hit you with the elbow, get his arms up. Tim Brown was another good wide receiver at doing that. That guys in this league, like Tyreek Hill doesn't really have that. He just kind of gives you that wiggle. But some guys, like the bigger guys, they give you like a little push. DK does it a lot too. And I think he's, you know what?

[00:12:48] Let me just go ahead and make sure he's back. But off the first touch, he was good. The second one, when the helmet moved, that's when the flag came. But I was like, yo, he wasn't going to defend that anyway. He was already stumbling. That was a completed pass in my book. But I was waiting on the phone to blow up. Could I ask you a question at the risk of upsetting you? That's not going to upset me. It'll upset you. Let's hear it.

[00:13:18] So you know Tom Brady's the goat. Correct. We've had these conversations. A lot of people have elevated Patrick Mahomes to a certain level. We talked about Joe Montana the other day. Why does Patrick Mahomes play like shit in these Super Bowls? Like if you go back and look at this, you know, there are a lot of these Super Bowls, even in the wins, even last year. He fucked off half the game.

[00:13:47] And then he came through the door late because the defense kept him alive. And, you know, and the reason that I bring that up is because one of the conversations around Tom Brady was, oh, yeah. Like he's just a game manager. The defense held him down. And then he came through and out of a military field goal. Why we don't criticize Patrick Mahomes in that way? I think people do. Like I remember hearing Rob Parker mention. He don't count. Yeah.

[00:14:15] But like he this was after last year when Mahomes had won his third ring. And he only mentioned his Super Bowl stats. I'm like, Rob, he won three of those games and was Super Bowl MVP for all three. So I get that his stats aren't great. Manning's stats weren't great in the one against the Bears. Eli had favorable stats.

[00:14:41] Even Tom Brady's stats in the St. Louis versus New England game weren't great. I think what it is is that I think he masked, I think his talent masked a lot of holes that a team may have in the 50s they have. Like the last few years, they haven't had a dynamic wide receiver.

[00:15:04] If they had a guy of T. Higgins level, you know, people might not regard T. Higgins as like a top 12 wide receiver in the league. But if you think about what he's able to do for Cincinnati, getting open, making big plays, big catches, you know, guaranteeing a double team at least a portion of the game. Since Tyreek left, there's not a lot of guys that can. Can I leave them a second?

[00:15:35] I'm not. We'll get to. I'll get to leave them a second. But what I'm saying is that I think he covers up some of the holes very similar to how Tom Brady did in his first few Super Bowl runs. They didn't have a dynamic wide receiver, but he couldn't afford to make a mistake. Like that last drive, the final drive when everyone was like, yo, take a knee, take a knee. And Belichick was like, yo, we're going for this win, getting field goal range. Tom Brady had 150 yards passing in that game.

[00:16:01] To Bucky Jones and the defensive backs really were holding it down. I think Mahomes has probably elevated a couple of teams to championship wins. I'm not saying he's done it by himself. But he has done a couple of things where MVS was the guy catching like your touchdown to get the lead in the Super Bowl. Oh, McCole Hartman last year was, you know. McCole Hartman caught the game winner. It's like so some of these guys are making plays off of Patrick Dufford.

[00:16:30] But in that same sense, you can do what you can do. And when it's not there, it's not there. Like it's not going to be there all the time. And I think if people were to criticize his five Super Bowl appearances, you got to look at the fatality of his career. He's gotten to seven AFC championship games. He's won five of them. He's only been a starter for seven years.

[00:16:55] We are begging for like as fans are begging for certain guys to make consecutive Super Bowls or make it to championship game. We're begging teams like please make a championship game. You know, so it's like he made it to seven. He has three rings. And even in those in those three games. Yeah, he's played terrible or less than his his stardom. Terrible for his standard. We'll put it for his standard.

[00:17:21] Terrible for his standard.

[00:17:51] Last thing you want to do is play as poorly as you did and end your season on. You got taken out in the beginning of fourth quarter because the game was over. It's like now there's no way I'm a soldier through this entire season and have Carson Wentz go out there throwing picks to his former teams. And we're going to lose this game. I'm going to be out there. I'm going to die on my shield. So you got to give him that. And shout out to, you know, Xavier Worthy. I know it was garbage time and all that. But Super Bowl record for a rookie. You know, eight catches, 157 yards.

[00:18:20] So shout out to him, you know. But next question, Mr. Laza. Shout out. This is what my question was. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. I just came back to it. Oh, you found it. Okay. Okay. I found my question. Okay. Is there another Super Bowl team that had more guys on the team that football fans just wanted to see get a ring than this Philadelphia Eagles team? Just think about all the guys.

[00:18:51] Think about Devontae Smith. Just think about like he, like I saw a picture of him on the ground crying because he lost the state championship in that same arena, you know, in the Caesar Superdome. And then wins the Super Bowl. He caught the final catch of the national championship game from Tua where Jalen Hurts had gotten benched.

[00:19:18] You know, granted, I was in Atlanta, but like just a guy you really like. A.J. Brown, you know, he pulled out the book Inner Thoughts. A.J. Brown, you know, I think everybody else, McCoy, Mekhi Beckton, I think Jalen Hurts. I think so many guys just Cooper DeGene. I think people really just liked these players, even though we talk about the fan base. The Rams? You know, you had Matt Stafford, Odell Beckham.

[00:19:48] I think they had a little success, though. I don't think people really rock with McVay. I don't think people were looking at McVay like, oh, my God, I really want McVay to win one. But I think people can look at Saquon. Maybe the Colts the first time around? Or was it just a Peyton thing? It was a Peyton thing, and they kept coming up short. It wasn't like these guys were like grinding and putting it together, and some of them were castaways. But like Philly, just like all the players. I know I'm loading the question. Maybe not the players.

[00:20:16] Maybe not the players, but I think people were pulling for cover your ears. You don't want to. People were probably cheering for New Orleans in that Super Bowl. You know, after Katrina and all that kind of stuff. But I don't know if it was like the players. Like I'm sure they wanted Drew Brees to get a ring. People were like pulling for the city. If it went across the team like that. Yeah. That was a good one. I was going to bring that up too, Leitho. I was going to bring up the Seahawks, but I don't think that applies here. Because the Seahawks were very polarizing too.

[00:20:44] You know, like Richard Sherman was real polarizing. Russell Wilson was really unknown at that time. I think people who. Maybe people. We like Pete Carroll. I think people. I think football purists liked it because it was such a defensive like onslaught. And I think people. I don't think it was individual. Like I want Cam Chancellor to get a Super Bowl. Yeah. I think people literally were like, I want. I mean, Jeremiah Trotter and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Like 20 years apart.

[00:21:15] And I mean, he's like stuff like that. I just, I just feel like. Yeah. No, you might be right. The Chiefs weren't villains. But I don't see anybody crying over them not winning. But in that same vein too, you know, let me, let me tip the hat to Jalen Hurts. You know, like you, you talk about somebody who's overcome adversity. Someone who has been criticized at all ends going all the way back to college. You mentioned it. You know, he got benched in the national title game. Tua comes in. And throws. And then they interviewed him.

[00:21:45] Yeah. And then he had to come back in. And then remember the next year. The next year. He had to come back in when Tua got hurt. And win the SEC title game against Georgia. And then transferred to Oklahoma and did his thing. But like. Yeah. Almost won the housemen. Like I bring up the Jane Daniels. When everybody was around his locker. Talking about you suck anyway, you suck. Jalen Hurts, when he was getting interviewed after Tua threw the touchdown. He was like, you know, what happened when you got benched? What'd you tell Tua? Like I told him to go ball.

[00:22:15] I told him to go ball. Like that's, that's what I said. And it was like, how you feel to be a national champion? It was like incredible. And a lot of people didn't believe in him. So, so a lot of people that were picking Kansas City. I think there were two overarching points. One was Patrick Mahomes. And we've seen him pull the rabbit out the hat. And the second one was people didn't believe Jalen Hurts could do it. You know, like, cause a lot of times when analysts are real lazy, sometimes, you know, they'll say things like, you can't win a Superbowl with this guy as your quarterback.

[00:22:44] As if there isn't. So many people said that. Cause if you would have thought about this, if you would have thought about that thought, you would have said the Giants ain't winning no damn Superbowl with Eli Manning. That's what you would have said. Like just looking at you during the regular season and. The Baltimore Ravens can't win a Superbowl with Trent Dilfer as your starting quarterback or Joe Flacco. And they just go out there. They, they, they make the plays. The Broncos can't win with old man Peyton.

[00:23:12] And they went out, they went to two Superbowls in that, in that stretch. And listen, they saw what they did to Drew Brees. That's a smart move. Shout out to Cam for being, you know, business. He won't get to that damn ball anyway. Shout out to Cam for being a winner, going into that locker room full of losers too. But anyway. Yeah. Like the, the, the, I like. People said it was a boring Superbowl.

[00:23:40] I know we had our conversation about the halftime show and like, you know, felt about it. It was like, once I saw the vitriol reaction to it, I was like, nah, I don't feel like. I just felt like. Like, I just felt like it just was like, you know, I just wanted a little bit more entertainment, but I understand why people liked it. Like I, I saw that it was actually Serena Seawalken. I was like, is that Serena looking like? Then I just, it was actually her. Shout out, shout out to, you know, Radical Jack for calling me insecure because I said

[00:24:08] that I would have been upset about her still feeling the need to do that to her ex. But, you know, whatever. But then I realized how petty it was. So I was like, okay, this dude is the king of petty. But, but no, the other question I wanted to ask you though, is this the end of the road? Is it so hard to say goodbye to the Kansas city chiefs? Not at all. Tell me more. Not at all. Tell me more. Off the rip without doing any like, like research.

[00:24:38] I think about it this way is like, I think Chris Jones is getting paid at the upper echelon for his position. I think Mahomes, he sounded like it was, it was like 10 years, 450. I'm pretty sure whatever the capologist they have hired in Kansas city can figure that out. I think Kelsey's getting the middle of the high end. Number here. I got a number for you.

[00:25:07] I think Andy Reed. I think Andy Reed is still coming back because the cupboard's not bare. They can reload. You know, my home is going to take my home is not going to take the deck deal. He's not doing four years, 60 million per, you know, he's not going to take that deal and hurt the team. If they have to give them for whatever reason, NFL PA rules, you have to give them a certain amount of money per the collective bargain agreement because of the position he plays.

[00:25:34] Like you can't be like, oh, he's going to take $12 million. So we can stack around them. And it's like, that just kind of just mess up the whole market for all the other quarterbacks. But if he says, I'll take, I'll take 50 restructure my deal. All right. Well, stay there for a second. Stay there. Let me get in here for a second. Stay there. Right. Stay right there. All right. So, so this is from ML football on Twitter or X, I guess, as we call it nowadays.

[00:26:00] The chiefs have 63% of their cap wrapped up in five players. So that's my homes Jones, Jawan Taylor, Joe Thune, Thune and Travis Kelsey. So between the five of them, that's $175 million. So I know that this off season, you know, Justin Reed's a free agent. Our guy, me and your guy, big game Bolton is a free agent.

[00:26:26] So I don't know if you get to that point because they need a running back. So unless they're going to draft one, I don't know what they're going to do there. So I think they, I think they will go get a guy like Scatterbow. So I really like last year, I really thought they should have pushed for Derrick Henry. I thought that could have been a move that they could have made. I think the two offensive linemen, like, like I don't know the parameters of their deal. They trade up and get Ashton Jensey.

[00:26:56] I think they can come. No one's, I don't think anyone's going to help them. Hey, Buffalo will. Buffalo will. Buffalo gave him my homes and worthy. But if he falls at 26, maybe, but people going to know, like, if you're a GM, you get a phone call, you look at the big board and Jensey's still available and Brett Veach is on the phone. You're like, nah, Kansas City area code. Don't answer it. Don't even pick it up. I don't care what they're offering.

[00:27:25] I figured the two offensive linemen, I don't know what their deals are, but I figured maybe you could wiggle off those. You can probably upgrade there. Like, if you didn't get out of those deals, you can upgrade there. I think if they have money, like I said, I predicted that T Higgins would get a phone call from T Higgins. H would get a phone call to see, hey, where is he at? You know, what numbers are you looking at? Because you can't bring back Chase and Higgins. The rest of the AFC has to get better, right?

[00:27:54] Like, the rest of the AFC has to get better. Well, if you look at the top teams, Buffalo, what can they add? They can add Devontae Adams or someone like that. Well, I mean, I know the rumors out there with Aaron Rodgers having the Pittsburgh AI jersey on, or then, you know, maybe Adams goes there.

[00:28:20] But so Pittsburgh, I don't know how much – I don't know if they can make any real improvements to get them over to Kansas City hump. Baltimore seems to be kind of in their own way. So I don't – they have to have a breakthrough with the players they have on the field. I don't know if they need to add anything. I think they have all the pieces they need. Year two of Harbaugh? What's that? Year two of Harbaugh? No, because I don't think Justin Herbert's the playmaker.

[00:28:48] Another year of Bo Nix? Bo Nix – I like what Bo Nix does. Top five defense. Top five defense, but they have to – I don't know if the experience is enough. I don't think they can match wits with the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs. I don't think they can do with Philly. If Tua could keep his head to itself, pause. Who's that? If Tua could keep his head to itself.

[00:29:20] Miami can't win in January. Like they can't win when it's less than 40 degrees. They just got to get home field, right? The numbers bear out that they can't play in the cold. So they play – Cincinnati gets some defensive players? They have three teams in their conference that are in cold parts of the city. So if they don't get – if they don't get the Jets at home in November or Buffalo at home or New England at home in November or December, which is not likely,

[00:29:49] they're going to have to play one of those three teams, if not all three, in a cold weather game. They just can't do it. I don't think Tyreek Hill's attitude is going to last. Who's that? Joe Burrell with some defensive backup? I don't know if they have the money. People keep talking about like they had to sell the Amy Wrights to pay Joe Burrell this check. I'm thinking $40 million for Jamar Chase minimum?

[00:30:17] Even if you franchise him, it's only kicking a can down the road because if you franchise him, that means you're probably letting T. Higgins go. Whoever pays T. Higgins is probably going to pay him, if not more, definitely what CeeDee Lamb got. Pay $35 million? What's that? Yeah, Justin Jefferson's I think at $35 million. $37 million. I think Justin Jefferson's like $37.5 million. He said he wants a penny more.

[00:30:47] Yeah, so Jamar Chase is probably looking at $40. So if you franchise him and T. Higgins gets the $35, $36 million. That's a lot for two receivers. And now you're paying, and then Cincinnati's have to pay Jamar Chase the average of the top five. The top five is getting over $30-something million. You're still paying him $31, $32 million. Cincinnati just got to get my man Yoshi more involved in the passing game. Yoshi coming through?

[00:31:17] I'm still trying to say his name. But somebody, someone has to get a direct deposit of a lot of money on Tuesdays. So one of those stars. So Kansas City's probably going to be able to vulture away a couple of players. They'll get Rasheed Rice back. They'll get Rasheed Rice back. Oh, no, that's what it was. That's what it was. I think Buffalo was rumored for Hollywood Brown. I think that's what I saw. Okay. Well, I mean... I don't know why they would want him. That's like listening to Fat Joe. Yo, Julius Randle, not Fat Joe.

[00:31:47] You're going to have me getting caught up when I go to the city. Oh, yeah. You got to move, bro. You got to get out of the journey. I'm not Fat Joe. Lean back, bro. That's it. Yeah. Lean back and hook when I come forward. Yeah, so I think Kansas City will be fine just because they have the proper core pieces in place.

[00:32:07] It's just a matter of how much notoriety has increased the monetary value of the team to the point where owners are comfortable with paying X, Y, and Z. All right. Then last thing before we move on. Obviously, worst kept secret in the history of the NFL. Kellen Moore, new head coach of the Saints. What are your thoughts? I like it. I like it. I think... I think Kellen Moore...

[00:32:36] I think he's done the path you would want your offensive coordinator to have done before you hire him as a head coach. A couple of years in one system with one group of players, leaves there, goes to another place, has success, can bring in a culture you know is a winning culture. And then now he's a leader. He was a winner in college as a player. He just was an undersized quarterback, went to a small school.

[00:33:03] So I think he just understands winning. A lot of these... He's getting very far's ass in college. Yeah. A lot of these coaches, I think, are just kind of hired based off relationships, which are important. Like I said, 80% of your job is your ability to work with other people. So I think guys like Cohen and, you know, like some of these other guys that got hired in some of these different jobs, they came in. I think they're ill prepared.

[00:33:31] Whereas I think Kellen Moore being in Dallas, dealing with that. I don't know what the meetings are like in Dallas. I don't know what the stress is like in Dallas. But I imagine that it had to be enough for him to want to go to Philly and coach there. You think he can steal some Eagles? Because, you know, you got Zach Vaughn as a free agent. I doubt Philly will let him go. I thought they just signed Zach Vaughn. They just got him in free agency. I thought I read that he was a free agent today. I think they got him in free agency.

[00:34:01] Maybe that's what I heard. But you got Milton Williams, Makai Becton. You know, you got Josh Sweat as a free agent. You'll be able to squeeze a few offensive players. You'll be able to squeeze a few players that he had close contact with on a daily basis. And just for the record, Zach Vaughn signed a one-year deal. So he is a free agent. Yeah. It was one year, 3.5.

[00:34:30] Yeah, it was about to be three years. It was about to be like four years, 35. 66.5. But yeah, so, you know. He probably walked in with the ball that he intercepted with his new contract terms on it. Right. And handed it to Howe on the podium. Like, yeah, yeah. Look at it closely, though. Look at it closely. You see the commas? Yeah. Maybe. Maybe he'll grab Gainwell or something. Yeah, I think he'll get guys that he had meetings with.

[00:34:58] Unless he can pull defensive assistants or coaches or even Fangio himself. Well, it sounds like Brandon Staley is the lead candidate for the defensive coordinator position. I wouldn't want a guy who used to be a head coach. And then you got, what, like, this is Jalen Hurts now, third straight year with a new offensive coordinator with the Eagles. But, like, we've only been longer than that. Yeah, we saw that. Eight straight years or something.

[00:35:24] Ever since his second year in college, he's had a new offensive coordinator every single year. So another, like I said, he just overcomes adversity and he's a winner. He's a winner. Yeah, and that's, like, I was telling one of the, like I said, I was telling the Eagles fan last week at work. It's like, yeah, you may want your quarterback to drop back and make the Josh Allen deep post throw on time and everything else.

[00:35:50] But you also want your quarterback to see the blitz coming and take off. Like, Jalen Hurts was, and he was sliding. And you know what? And I know a couple of years ago, Spencer Rattler was all the rage. So, you know, maybe Kellen Moore has a toy to play with. Pause. Nah, you can go ahead and book or, you know, book that bet that they're going to move. They're going to move heaven and earth to get a better quarterback.

[00:36:21] All right. Well, we'll see. But Mr. Logical, you know, as we dance across the association, you know, I saw that one LeBron James is very, very upset that Rob Palenka was willing to move these picks. You know, they obviously they used one to get Luka and then they were going to use another one to get.

[00:36:48] Well, we'll get to Mark Williams in a second, but they were going to use another one in some other trades. And LeBron's like, hold on. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. So y'all are willing to deal these picks. What say you? Well. I'll play devil's advocate. This is all allegedly.

[00:37:07] If I'm the Lakers organization and I got the phone call that Luke is available at 25, I'm thinking I need to compete for popularity is locked in.

[00:37:32] But I need my quality to be on par with my popularity in this city because it is a city of many spectacles. Everything that goes on from an entertainment perspective, from sports, college sports, football, MLB, their winning World Series, you're probably not going to win a championship. Because if you look at the other teams that are constructed, probably not constructed the same way.

[00:38:01] But if you can get a 25-year-old Luka in, that locks me in for. We figure his say his prime started a couple of years ago when he was like making the Western Conference Finals run. And he just stays at that level for four more years. I have 20, 25 up to 20, 29, 20, 30 of prime TV rights, Laker purple and gold.

[00:38:29] So yeah, I'm moving these picks. For LeBron two years ago, it's like I wouldn't be moving these picks for him to potentially be like, I'm 40. You drafted my son. I appreciate that, but I'm done. So that's the difference. So if he was upset, allegedly, I don't know.

[00:38:48] But it's like he probably has to look at it like if he expects to play until he's 42 years old, I don't think the team thought that two, two and a half years ago when they wanted Kyrie, when he wanted this guy he thought was available, when he wanted them to get Paul George, whoever he wanted them to go get with those picks. I don't think the organization is thinking like if we give up these 20, 29, 27, 29, and maybe 31.

[00:39:18] It's like this guy's going to be done in 2024. Like that's what I'm thinking. 2022, when I'm looking at LeBron, I'm like he's going to break. He broke the record 20, 22 or something like that, that season. And then, you know, so it's like I'm not thinking this guy's playing into 20, 26 opening night. So why am I going to trade my 20, 27 pieces to try to compete now when he needs so much? And I think that's the problem if this is true.

[00:39:46] I think that's the problem is that it's all about me, me, me a lot of these times. It may not be in this particular situation because like we said, if it's true, but most of the time players obviously don't think of the long-term consequences of short-term decisions. So, you know, like you mentioned, go out and get Paul George. That was a name he wanted. They went out and got Russell Westbrook at one point. Like I said, I'm just, I don't know. No, no, I've heard the name. Whatever name he wanted to get with those picks.

[00:40:15] But I'm just saying, like, so whoever you were going to get that he might approve of, you know, by the time he retires, you probably got to move that person too. Because if depending on the outlook, who's free agents that year, all that kind of stuff, who's willing to will and deal, you may be stuck with that person. Because I've always thought of it as if LeBron retires in 2025, but next year, well, so I guess 2026, then Anthony Davis will be out the door right behind him before this trade happened.

[00:40:44] Like, so, so, so like, so yeah, I'm going to give up my picks to get you help. And then what do I do when you're gone? Yeah. And like I said, I think in from LeBron, from LeBron's perspective, I'll, you know, not really playing devil's advocate, but just if he is really dead set on like, yo, I know my body. I know my brain. I know my dedication.

[00:41:09] Because that's one of the things a lot of retired players, I love the fact that a lot of retired players are having podcasts. They're going on their friends' podcasts and they're talking to TV and they're talking candidly. And a lot of them are saying, you know, from even old heads like Mark Slayer from Hobby Long, these other guys, like, if you don't have the injuries that basically end your career, you have this thing where you're sitting in your house or you're sitting in your car, you're sitting in the facility and your last game, your shoulder pads are off.

[00:41:36] And you say to yourself, all right, I'm gonna get ready for next year. And then you take whatever normal time you take off to get ready. And then when that time elapses and you don't feel like getting up and doing it to get ready for next year, like every one. So many players have said, I knew I was done when I knew I did not want to get up and go work out and do my all season training regiment.

[00:42:08] So I was like, I'm done. Tom Brady retired and then I'm retired because he was like his brain and his mind and his body was like, yo, I can still do this. I think LeBron is looking like, yo, I feel like I can do this this season at a high level. Right now they're 32 and 19. I don't know if they're playing right now, but after last night, they're 32 and 19. I think they're off tonight.

[00:42:31] He's thinking like, OK, I'm gonna be here for opening night 2025 and potentially opening night 2026. Because if you think about Bryce is going to college for one year in 2025, maybe he wants to be in the league with both of his sons in the league. Maybe, maybe, maybe that goal and that and having like two sons and like, you know, a little girl, his daughter's not going to be in the NBA.

[00:42:56] So he's like, I got two sons. I'm this close. If I keep my body and my mind right, maybe I'm in the league 2026. There's no way Rob Palenka is banking on Bronny and Bryce's success in college as a catalyst to keep LeBron. So like you wouldn't move those picks. Right. So and also, you know, real quick while we're at it, I just want everybody to know if you're out there keeping count, Kevin Durant is now 15 points away from 30,000 career points.

[00:43:24] You know, we're in the second quarter down 13 to Memphis. So with that being said, Dalton Connect. You know, there was there was the trade that happened but didn't didn't happen. You know him going to the Hornets for Mark Williams, some other pieces. But, you know, that's the gist of the trade. Allegedly, the Lakers didn't like what they saw in Mark Williams is physical. I'm assuming by hearing that maybe we're talking ligaments.

[00:43:52] Maybe we're talking tendons versus soft tissue injuries. Like a lack of by some bone on bone and a man like a bone on bone in his knee. Yeah, because we talked about it. Less ACL than you need for a seven footer. He's played 85 games in his career and missed 127. You know, so that's a good one, Cubs. I want to hear about that. You know, saying but but, you know, but from that standpoint. Now that the trade has been rescinded.

[00:44:22] Charlotte has put out a statement saying we're so happy to have Mark Williams back. And then J.J. Reddick said that Dalton Connect told him that he needs time to process before he takes the court again. What do you think about that? Because when I first heard it, you know me. When I heard it, my ears went, what did you say? But, you know, what you think about that? All right. So. Mental health and happiness and peace are very important.

[00:44:53] They're important to people. And a sense of belonging is a catalyst to your mental health. Dalton Connect. Transfer guy. Guy had to grind around college basketball before he got to Tennessee and was able to put up points. And then he gets drafted after essentially 16 teams passed on him. So he got, you know, I'm on the Lakers. This is going well. I'm getting plays called for me. And then, you know, J.J.'s cussing him out because he's not running the plays right. So he's really on him.

[00:45:21] And maybe that's all new. And then in this wave of you kind of getting your ass chewed all the time, then you get traded. So it's like you don't even get to redeem yourself. And now they send you back. So it's like a kid that gets picked up from a foster home, goes to the family. And the family is like, ah, actually, we only have five seatbelts in the car. We can't keep you.

[00:45:49] You got to go back to this orphanage. And it's like, I felt a sense of belonging here, but I was glad to leave. But now you're sending me back. So I could see him processing it. The thing that I always say is like winning cures all. Now, if you're a dorm connect and you have, which still doesn't make any sense to me. I'm not going to try to make any sense of him. It's going to just keep riding it out like it's a real life thing. It's not NBA 2K.

[00:46:16] But seeing Luke and LeBron on the same team passing the ball to each other doesn't make any sense. But if I'm going to connect, it's like, I'm going to be open a lot if I'm on the floor. Because if you're on the floor with Austin Reeves, he's a mid-range guy, driving kick guy. He runs the offense well. You're going to get open shots. Scored 45 the other day without LeBron. Yeah, so he's feeling confident.

[00:46:44] So that means maybe if he's running the second unit more and you're getting Luke and LeBron some rest. So, you know, so as Austin Reeves gets more confident, now you're on a second unit with him. He's getting the blitz coverage where they're trying to trap the ball, get out of his hand. You're coming off of pin downs, getting wide open looks.

[00:47:06] So I imagine if they work it into like practice where it's like, okay, listen, you're going to be this package. Like you're going to be my guy that comes off and I'm going to get you as many open looks as we can. We're calling Dalton Connect Motion, Dalton Connect 50. We're calling Iowa Connect, whatever it is. We'll get you your ISO shots. We'll get you as many shots as you can. And then when you run it with Luka, just be prepared to catch the ball.

[00:47:35] So I think because he's going back to a good team and great players, the processing might be expedited. But for Mark Williams going back to Charlotte, that's going to be tough. You remember a couple of weeks ago. He wasn't even putting a lot of effort in. Right. And you remember a couple of weeks ago, I brought up how I was probably going to be the only person that wondered, hey, like LaMelo Ball, Mark Williams, Brandon Miller.

[00:48:04] What could have been? You know what I mean? I might get an answer now in three years when they all finally play a full season. But, you know, as I look at the Lakers and I look at Dalton Connect. You mean together? Yeah. It's a wrap. Mark Williams is probably going to be out starting in March. I was about to say about Dalton Connect. So depending on how you play this, because, of course, you know, his dad was a college basketball player. So I would imagine that he's been leaning on his dad a little bit. You know, like, hey, how would you handle this? You know, have you ever seen anything?

[00:48:33] Like, all that kind of stuff. He needs some cool jeans. Don't talk to your friends, Dalton. Don't talk to anybody with gray hair. If you talk to anybody with gray hair over the age of 40. I'm talking to me, Dalton. You know, but as I think about this more and more, I get a little sad because I see the parents of today and how I don't want to say they baby the kids.

[00:48:57] But, you know, the basketball or the sports parents are extra, you know. But luckily, we haven't heard much about his father yet. But I think that he wasn't like he wasn't highly touted because, you know, sometimes people like live vicariously through their kids. Like, right. Right. I'm 40. I'm 43. My youngest son is about to be 16.

[00:49:24] So his his his rise to athleticism right now is like, you know, oh, I'm thinking about the future. What could be in this like now if he had if he has to go to Juco and grind or division. And grind or if he gets to division one, that's still him doing his thing. And I'm going to advise him from the wisdom piece. Not like, oh, you got to do it for me. I am five, eight and a half. I've never had a hoop dream. Well, I like watching you play.

[00:49:53] So hopefully he talks to people who didn't have their own hoop dream and they're living vicariously through him. I think if I'm his father, I say, look, son, I say most of what you said. You know, you got two all time great players out here that is going to make your life easier than you could have ever imagined. Go out there. You're going to make the playoffs. Show out. Now, when May comes and y'all just got swept.

[00:50:25] Now you think about this and say, reflect on this season. What did I get out of it? How do I feel in this moment? If you're still raw and you feel a certain way. Now that might be the time to go say, hey, look, guys, like it's been great. Y'all welcome being back. So on and so forth. But I think I got to go. And then you try to. Yeah. Behind the scenes, though. Behind the scenes, though.

[00:50:50] But you also have to understand there's only going to be certain points in your life where you are in the proverbial catbird seat where you can operate your leverage. The Lakers need him to hit those shots because Rui is a streaky shooter. Whereas Dalton is a pure shooter and scorer.

[00:51:13] And as you have two guys that, you know, are highly and you use the ball highly. You have a guy, you know, Luca coming in who high uses race throughout his career. But he's trying to incorporate himself in a new offense. This is where you can step up and be the guy that, you know, if they're running a triangle, whatever kind of set. You could be the blue. You could be that guy. You could be the scrappy guy.

[00:51:41] Like, for instance, like, you know, I talk about myself. He plays JV basketball. He's a sophomore. But then he's starting to get varsity runs. A couple of the coaches are football coaches. So he was like, and he's getting more varsity runs over the last, like, five or six games. And he said they came to him and was like, yo, we just feel like you're not as intense on the basketball court as you are on the football field.

[00:52:05] He was like, yo, y'all keep telling me you, we need, y'all keep telling the team we need to be scrappy and fight for rebounds and do the little things. He's like, I do all of that, but when we need it on the court, you guys will put me out there. Put me out there. You're like, listen, I got five fouls. I'm going to use them all. He's like, that's what I tell you. He's like, that's what I tell the coach. Like, I got five fouls. I can use them all. So if it's a big, that's moving kind of big, yo, let me play him as much as I can. I mean, he's a linebacker, safety runner.

[00:52:34] Like, he's a big body. He's like, yo, I can match up with any of these dudes that you have out there on the floor and let me file him a few times if necessary. I'm going to file him hard once. You know, let me out there. So they started letting him get more run because it's just a matter of like, you got to just kind of wait your turn. Don't connect. If I'm just possible, like, yo, you're going to get your turn because you have an aging superstar and you have a superstar that they need to groom and get ready for the playoffs.

[00:53:02] The aging superstar is going to take the break and you're going to get LeBron's, not LeBron's minutes, but instead of Luke and LeBron being out there, it's like, listen, we got to get Luke to understand the offense. So Dalton and Luke are going to be on the floor. And like, that's a double team on him off the rip and he's looking to pass the ball. So on the other side of the trade, you know, man, if I was six, eight, I swear the Mavericks would be calling me right now. You know what I mean?

[00:53:29] Like you got Dwight Powell out, you know, you had Derek Lively out already. Anthony Davis is out a few weeks with this conductor issue. Conductor, conductor. And then you got Gaffer go down last night with a knee sprain and has to be reevaluated in a couple of weeks. So on top of that, if that's not already bad enough, you got the fans out here protesting.

[00:53:53] They're dragging caskets around, you know, a fan, three fans got ejected from last night's game against Sacramento, including one, including one that got ejected for mouthing the words fire Nico. He was caught on the jumbotron. Jumbotron. It's free speech. Free speech. You know, Texas. I thought Texas liked free speech. I thought they were all about the government. They were red state and yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada.

[00:54:19] Well, you know, that guy ain't a, I don't think that guy is, I don't think Dumont, the owner, I don't think he's a Texan guy, you know? Like, I think that he, I know his family is a casino family, you know? And here's the, uh, the, the legit rumor. Right. That they're trying to move to Vegas. Vegas. They're trying to move to Vegas and they need the team to suck. So let me ask you a question, man. And I know. I don't know how much I believe in that, but I do, I do know one thing. I know Vegas.

[00:54:49] I know Vegas and I know Vegas is appealing and Vegas is money. And if you are a, if you are a millionaire billionaire with connections in Vegas, or if you have a million dollar idea or you have a million dollar business sense, if you can launch it in Vegas, it will last because everybody wants a part of it. Because Vegas is this, and there's nothing but space around it.

[00:55:17] So if they can get solar panels and electricity to this building, or they can figure out how to get water from the Hoover Dam to this, like, if they can figure, if they can figure out the infrastructure, it's going to keep expanding. They have the hockey team, the basketball team. That's the problem. Because I've heard stuff about 2050. But we'll see. We'll get there. But yeah. Not making it to 2050. Speech is only free when you're saying what the masses want to hear.

[00:55:43] You know, but when it comes to the Dallas Mavericks, though, is it time for them to just shut it down? Because, like, Kyrie Irving already has this back disc issue going on that's been bothering him for some time that could probably get re-aggravated at any time. So is Dallas potentially looking at the lottery here?

[00:56:03] I think Dallas will have to – if you have four guys that you expected to be your core playoff contributors, and we are in – so we got – we're February 11th. Mm-hmm. If three or four of these guys are two to three or three to four weeks out or two weeks out with re-evaluations, I get you to – All-Star break coming up.

[00:56:33] All-Star break gets coming up. I get you to early, mid-March. If two of those four guys aren't coming back fully healthy, like, two guys are, like, good to go. Like, AD's good to go in three weeks. And, you know, Lively's good to go in three weeks. You know, just say March 1st. Both of those guys are good to go. Like, hey, they got their time. They're good to go.

[00:56:57] If the other two guys aren't going to be ready, then the record – the records aren't – that's a good one. Good one, Cubs. The record's going to dictate you shutting it down. I don't think you deliberately shut it down because you have the talent. And if it's healthy, the guys are available, then you play them. But I think if you don't have everybody available, your record's going to be too low. So right now they're 28 and 26. You know, with the play-in, 10 teams make the playoffs.

[00:57:27] So that's 54 games and 28 games left. They're a half game out of the 10th spot right now. They're in eighth right now, but they're a half game in front of the 10th spot, I should say. So, and, you know, they just lost to Sacramento last night, who's right behind them, at a half game back. The Warriors are a half game back. You got the Suns a game back. And those guys are healthy. Their stars are healthy and available. Yeah, the Spurs are creeping up on you. They're three games back, three and a half of you now.

[00:57:56] And they brought a star in that fits perfectly with their big man to match up with their old head and their young. So they – the Spurs have enough to catch you. That one might not have to take you. People might just catch them. Yeah, so I'm saying your record is going to dictate – so at 28 and 24, that's 52 games. 28, 26. So it's 54 games. So that gives them 28 games left. Yes.

[00:58:20] You figure the Western Conference last year, on top of our head, 45 wins was probably seven. Like the 2024 Sannings, 45 and 37 was probably six or seven. Last year, Dallas was the five seed and they were at 50 wins. 50 wins. The six seed had 49. The 10th seed had 46. Yeah.

[00:59:16] So your record is going to shut you down. Your record is going to be a certain point to where AD – I'm not saying to never believe it. It's like – I wonder if AD is going to need surgery and we just haven't got there yet. Well, I remember the 2020 – was it the 2021 playoffs when they were playing Phoenix? Maybe 20 – yeah. And he had the groin. He missed a couple games and then he started.

[00:59:41] And then that early possession when he went to go defend somebody at the rim and just basically just jumped right out of bounds. It was like, that's it. Yeah. You know, like I said, I've never been fast enough to pull a hamstring or pull a groin, knock on wood. But I imagine that you don't know it's healed until you try to stress it and they don't have enough time for him to rest. Then put some stress on it.

[01:00:10] Then see if it's good. Then come back and put real game time stress on it. And then it not worked out and then he has to go – like they still have enough time. Right. But, you know, so I don't know. I mean, if you believe in karma, then you probably believe that some of this stuff going on in Dallas is karma. And I'm sure what in five years when they're not winning anything, it'll be the new curse of the Bambino. It'll be the curse of Luka.

[01:00:36] It's going to be the curse mainly because the reports that we got after it came out, the truth is starting to come out because allegedly they called and wanted Anthony Edwards from Minnesota or they wanted Giannis. Or Milwaukee was like – Which is what I pulled up last week too. Milwaukee answered the phone and was like, okay, Dallas Area Code, check it out. Just don't even say Giannis. I don't know. Milwaukee should have took it.

[01:01:07] Absolutely not. Milwaukee should have took it. Absolutely not. Why? Giannis ain't going to be there in two years? Giannis is going to stay because Giannis – I think Giannis likes being in Milwaukee. Once they lose in the first round this year, you know what I'm saying, he ain't staying. No, the coaches will go. Yeah, he going to go too. He done already said – you know how many times has he said, hey, I want to win a championship whether that's in Milwaukee or not.

[01:01:35] You know, they done let Middleton go. I mean, like where would he – I mean, like I said, I – Well, actually, now that you've asked me that, you know what I'm saying, if you go look at the cap space, there's a town right near you that has already made it known that they come in for Giannis. Philly? Philly? No, the other one. The one that wears the colors that you're wearing right now.

[01:02:06] Oh, Brooklyn? Yeah. They got all the cap space. I personally – I'd go to Barclays and I'd slap Giannis in his face if he decided to go to Brooklyn. I'd slap him right in his face. Like, are you kidding me? This – they had – Kevin Durant, Harry Irving and James Harden on their team. At one point they had their Williams, KG, and Paul Pierce.

[01:02:34] They've been sold two or three times. They are a poor organization and a dope-ass city. That's it. You're just going to get good-ass food, good beer, great views of Manhattan. You're going to get great culture in Brooklyn from the hood to the hipsters. But other than that, it is not a good basketball move.

[01:03:03] Brooklyn needs to be going young and building around, turning a guy into a superstar. I mean, hell, they got like four first-round picks from the Knicks, from Mikkel Bridges. They need to be thinking like – because, you know, when you're Brooklyn, you're Brooklyn. You're New York. Granted, you're the Clippers to the Lakers, but you're still in New York. You're still in this East Coast block. It's Brooklyn.

[01:03:32] It's like – it just flows off the tongue. You can – you have all these pieces. Turn one of these young guys into your superstar. Let that guy play the way Giannis plays. Let that guy play the way Dane plays and like have people rally around him. You're muted. You know how much cap space Brooklyn has? I mean, I don't think they're paying anybody. I imagine a lot.

[01:04:00] They got 91 smackaroos. And the next closest team, 24.6. They're getting somebody. So you can entice Giannis. You know, you just got to get the first star. I would be trying to entice Anthony Edwards. I know like the big rookie extension is probably – but that makes sense to me. No, but think about – Because he's a young guy who doesn't want to win now.

[01:04:30] But also think about – But also think about what you just said, though. But think about what you just said. You just said – or we just brought up Minnesota almost – you know, they were talking to Kevin Durant. And I know Anthony Edwards is Kevin Durant. You know, he looks up to Kevin Durant, I guess. But I'm just saying.

[01:04:49] I'm just thinking about – I would go – if I'm Brooklyn, if I can't – like remember Mikkel Bridges had that run last year where he was like – like they were like, yo, this is what happens. You let a guy get his shots. And same thing with like – what's the boy name? No shoe left-handed. We're in a Kobe. He's scoring all the points. We wouldn't play any defense. They wouldn't bench him. Cam Thomas. Cam Thomas, right? Yeah. So you lock in with the coach.

[01:05:19] You lock in with the GM. And you take the players you have and the leverage you have to try to build your team. We've already seen it not work. Like we can go back – LeBron going to Miami. KD going to Golden State.

[01:05:39] I believe that's the last time a superstar 27, 28, 29 in that age range goes to a team and they become automatic contenders. I don't think it's worked since. Boston was homegrown. Denver was homegrown. Milwaukee, they were homegrown for the most part. Granted, you've got to make some support moves. Memphis' turnaround is because they got Ja. Like they're, you know, the first or second.

[01:06:08] You know, they're second or third in the West when he's healthy. When they weren't really – like they weren't perennial top three in the West teams. But you get the right guy in there and it works out. Right. But we haven't seen a big free agent move in, like I said, since Kevin Durant. Because even when Kevin Durant, everybody went to Brooklyn, it didn't work.

[01:06:33] So this is one of those sports reports as ordered moments where only we talk about the Brooklyn Nets. But looking at some free agents – Like it's intriguing because I think we talked about Houston a lot. Houston has the young core guys that look completely different than the old dudes that they paid. It's like they don't match what you can do with these young guys.

[01:06:59] Detroit has young guys and then older support guys. You saw Tobias Harris going off against Philly last week. Like, oh, word. So I ain't going to treat me. And then, you know, guys like Tim Hardaway Jr. in support roles for the young guys. Houston went paid 5'9", the land fleet, and then, you know, brick-footed Dylan Brooks who can't guard anyone. But see, but look, you're Brooklyn, right?

[01:07:27] You know, I mean, you ain't getting LeBron, right? Well, hell, I mean, I didn't think Lakers would get Luka, so who knows? Who fucking knows? You know, said I would imagine that Kyrie's not going back to Brooklyn. I imagine that that relationship is probably, you know – that ship has sailed in sync. So what? So what? You got Fred Van Vliet, you know – So this is – what's this?

[01:07:56] It's sorted by like a previous pay. Okay. Yeah. Let's go down. I'm trying to get rid of this. No, that's fine. Yeah. So it's sorted by previous pay. Yeah. Oh, there's your guy. It's not a dude on this list I want. There's your guy. If I'm Brooklyn, it's not a guy on this list that I want. Okay. So keeping with that thought, NBA draft, they'll have a high pick, right? What about the year after?

[01:08:26] There's a guy right here. You see that, Cups? I'd take the guy under. Well, you know Lakers locking him up. Yeah, but that's – once again, if I'm Brooklyn – if I'm Brooklyn, I'm not making any free agent moves. Yes, he's still the guy. Same guy. Yeah. I'm not making any free agent moves. Well, like I was – so you're looking at this.

[01:08:56] You don't want Bradley Beal. Don't want Bradley Beal. You know, you don't want Dame because he'll be, you know, 37 by then. You know, Levine – Is that their age? Scroll up. Is that their age? Yeah. Yeah. Then you got Levine, Trey Young, DeAndre Ayton maybe. De'Aaron Fox, depending on how things go in San Antonio. 28-year-old De'Aaron Fox in two years. Yep.

[01:09:26] And then, you know, Porzingis will be two years older. So you might not – Hartenstein maybe. And then it gets real bare. Jaron Jackson, that could be a good pickup. Anthony Simons. You know, so there's guys. I mean, it's just – but I don't think there's anybody – I don't think there's anybody on this list that you can't develop that's not currently on your roster. Because their – like I said, their cover isn't bare. That's what I mean. Like, so with Brooklyn, they have guys.

[01:09:56] They just got to get out of this mindset that they need to land a big name. I'm like, you have a big name on the front. It's Brooklyn. Ride out the Brooklyn. So as you – but as you look at this – so Ben Simmons, we'll talk about him in a second too. So let's see. You got Dariq Whitehead in year two or three. You got D'Lo. They're trying to trade Cam Johnson. That's a bad move in my opinion. You know, you got Reese Beckman, Zaire Williams.

[01:10:26] They don't got nothing that you want to hold on to. Maybe you want to hold on to Nick Claxton. There's your guy Cam Thomas, but obviously he's in the doghouse usually. I think he's hurt right now. They don't have anything that you're tied to. Like they just drafted Whitehead two years ago. So maybe you want to keep him and see what he can develop into. They don't have any star power.

[01:10:53] But you got to position yourself either in the draft to get maybe Harper out of Rutgers. I don't know what you have to do there. I don't know if you have to like tank or what do you have to do. I would draft the guy and have him be the guy and then get role players around him or just develop these guys into role players. Maybe you can get a coach. Get a coach. Yeah, get a coach that can handle, you know, a young team that can be creative.

[01:11:20] This is this would be kind of team like this would be the kind of team where a guy like J.J. Reddick should have like been a head coach. Yeah. Someone is like kind of teaching the fundamentals, stuff like that. Right now their head coach is Jordy Fernandez. So young guy, you know, international guy. So, you know, hopefully he doesn't end up like David Blatt.

[01:11:42] Look into the international market, see if you can get, you know, one of these EuroLeague MVPs, a guy, you know, like there's basketball talent everywhere. It's not just these top eight free agent stars who are all turning 30 or 35 in the next couple of years. It's like there's more good basketball players behind besides James Harden. The fact that Philly gave Paul George money they gave him is like, why? You gave him that money.

[01:12:11] Even all healthy is like, what is what is your ceiling with that versus your debt? Well, I mean, all you got to do is look at who Philly GM is and that'll answer your question. So it's just. And I get it. It's tough, but you have four first round picks. Maybe you can make a trade and get. Giannis. It's not something because I don't think Giannis. I don't think Giannis helps himself by going to Brooklyn.

[01:12:41] And I think it doesn't help Brooklyn because he's not going to stay there. Why not? Because it won't be successful. I think that's to be determined. I mean, so look, I get it right. Go on. The past is a good indicator on what the future may hold. Right. I get it. I get it. Absolutely get it. You know, but like with all those draft picks, you know, you can get players like you can get somebody. Yeah.

[01:13:11] But the somebody you need to get needs to fit what your expectations are. You can't bring it. And I think that's where they came up short with the Durant. Yeah. If you swing. Well, they came up short because of injuries. No, no, no. They were going to the finals that year. Before that, I think Durant, Kyrie and the guys who had a pretty decent playoff run the year before. If they never, they were like, listen, we get you guys won James Harden.

[01:13:41] But KD, you're just coming off on the Achilles. Kyrie played last year. Let's get you guys going. Let's get these support guys in. You two are unguardable. KD, you both bring championship rings here. You both play with legends. You guys are icons in this sport. Let's keep the two of you. And then see what we could do. Because the big three was fading.

[01:14:11] After Durant left Golden State, it was like there was no more. It was a lot of twos. It was twos everywhere. And I think they wanted to be the only team with three. And they gave up all their support. So that's why the injuries hurt. Because you gave up so many guys. So when James Harden didn't play a game, it was basically like not having five guys available because of all the guys you gave up. Right. So that's the part that would give me a pause.

[01:14:39] Maybe if I was a GM, I might be too cautious and I might not keep my job long. But I'm definitely like, listen, I'm trying to keep the theme of what we do here. Like I work in a fighter squadron. We can't get a bunch of fighter pilots. I work in a flying squadron. They fly heavies. These guys may be great F-16 and F-35 pilots, but they're not KC-46 pilots. I don't want to be like, you know what? Hey, I'm going to call Langley and be like, yo, how many F-15 pilots y'all willing to send them to McGuire? I'm like, that won't do me any good.

[01:15:09] I can train them up. But that's going to take a while. That's going to take a year. Well, like I said, I don't know because like you said, you know, with Luka going to the Lakers, anything is possible! Oh! Like does Brooklyn really call LeBron and say, listen, man, we'll take you, Bronny, and Bryce, open in 2026? Maybe. Why not? I mean, if nothing else, if nothing else, that at least... If they're only selling 11,000 seats a night or something like that, man, if they're doing that. That'll get asses in seat.

[01:15:39] You know what I mean? And you may draw somebody else that, you know, want to play with LeBron during his farewell tour or something. You know, why not? I mean, you... Has enough retirement. Like, Mello's like, you know, I can lace them up for 12 games. Yeah, you miss all the shots you don't take. So, you know what I mean? You got picks. You know what I mean? Between you, OKC, and Utah, you probably control like 20% of the picks in the NBA right now. Yeah.

[01:16:07] So why not make it work for you is all I'm saying. You know, it might not work out. But, you know, it'll be fun and entertaining if nothing else. Yeah. Yeah. Like, with that, I make a call to OKC for Chad Hungry. A young guy played in the league. I'm OKC. A couple injuries. He fell on his hip. Like, his injury, he, like, fell down. Hey, you know what Brooklyn would do? I just thought about it. You know what Brooklyn would do? In true Brooklyn fashion, they'll go get Zion.

[01:16:40] I mean, if you could get him for a steal. I mean, Brandon Ingram just went to Toronto in a trade and what? They just extended him for $40 million a year? Yo, I saw Brandon Ingram. Literally, they saw his jersey on the chair. He was like, yo, I never thought this would happen. I'm like, what? They got 16 wins. What are you talking about? No, they just gave him. But yeah, like, OK, Brooklyn Zion. That's crazy.

[01:17:08] But it doesn't come with him showing up with championship expectations and demanding that you make other moves. Whereas John is like, listen, man, you need to move all these pieces and go get me Kawhi Leonard. I'm on heaven and earth. Yeah, go get me Kawhi Leonard and Land Fleet from Houston so we can be the new big three. Like, you're going to have to do it because you, you probably gave up whatever assets, you're giving up whatever money to Giannis if you're Brooklyn.

[01:17:36] And he's going to be like, well, I want to win right now. So. Or maybe you position yourself because, and it's the last thing, you say this all the time, right? Houston got all this shit. Maybe you call Houston. What's up with Jalen Green? You already tried to trade for him last year. You know, like. I'd make the Jalen Green call before I'd make the Giannis call. Maybe you try to get on in.

[01:18:03] He's, I would go Jalen Green because he's, he's, he's box office. He's a New York kind of box office player. He's like a lamello ball. Like that young explosive playing to the crowd, the hair. Um, like just the, the kind of embodying the hip hop, the basketball culture bridge. I like that move because once again, it's strictly just to get asses and seats and have a star to build around. And you're doing it. You're doing it simultaneously. Bring in the Giannis.

[01:18:33] You're going to have to, you'll deplete your team and your team will look like some team that you won't recognize in seven months. And then everyone's going to leave. Did you, cause they're going to get fired. Did you have the same reaction that I had to Ben Simmons to the Clippers? Um, I told you he shouldn't be signing any team. I don't know. I don't know what you think you're going to get out of Ben Simmons. Yeah. My reaction was I fell out of my seat laughing. Like I thought it was fake AI. I didn't think it was real. Like I think somebody sent in the group,

[01:19:03] I put the laughing emoji on it. I just, I, I mean, I guess you just hope that being, I guess you just hope that being on that team that, I guess you just hope on that team. You just say, Hey, maybe he was loafing around Brooklyn cause they were headed nowhere fast. If he's six four, he's not even in the league. Okay. Like he does nothing for your team. And I'm not trying to bash him. It's like, he has such an advantage defensively, offensively coming downhill.

[01:19:32] He takes the ball a lot of hard. That's if he wants, that's if he wants it. What he was doing is early years in Philly. When he won rookie of the year and the subsequent years after that is like that Ben Simmons. Okay. You can take that. You know what I mean? It was eight days out of the week. Uh, but this current one is like, what? How are you the same human? Right.

[01:20:02] And you've given you and you're in your, your, your, your fall off is this substantial without a real document. You've been in an injury. It's just him saying his back. That's it. But no one was like, Oh, he had a surgery on this. He had, you know, they fused some disc. Like I haven't heard a single surgical story. Like a Brandon Roy had bone on bone with his knees. And that ended his career. It's like,

[01:20:30] that was Greg Olden. And knees were just bad. You know, like couldn't get repaired. ACL is gone. You know, Ben Simmons has been like, Oh, it's, it's back damaging his back, but there's never seen, I never heard the report of the repair, but yet he's on someone's roster starting for a few games. And then all of a sudden is back. All right. And then you got 11 minutes left in the third quarter, just coming out of halftime. Kevin Durant needs seven points to join the 30,000 point club.

[01:20:58] So we did the math earlier. Yeah, we did the math. Oh yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. Do you, do you, so we did the math early. The rents missed 349 games in his career, whether resting or injuries, what have you, but for chits and gigs, say he played most of those games, you know, he would be at like 39,000 points right now.

[01:21:26] He'd be second behind LeBron. If he was playing, cause LeBron played pretty much all of his games until he got to LA. LA is when he started playing 55 games, 60 games, 45 games, injury, stuff like that. But for the, the Cleveland, Miami Cleveland years, LeBron was playing 70 plus on average. So the rent would be second all time in scoring to the point where LeBron

[01:21:54] would have to play like two more years to really have a cushion to where he can say, hoping that he injures itself, hoping that the rent also retired before he breaks his record. But like, that's how prolific of a score Kevin Durant is. So, so him getting the 30,000 points, he's going to pass. We said we hadn't passed in. Well, this season, next season, next season around Christmas. Yeah. Around Christmas. Yeah. He's about 1400 points. Yeah. Little over 1400 points behind will.

[01:22:24] So, you know, he'll probably pass Dirk next year by the end of the season as well. Cause Dirk's not that far in front of wilt. So, and it was just be, you know, MJ in front of them. That'd be interesting to see Kevin Durant past Jordan. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? But Hey, he is the one and only world renowned. Um, Mr. Logical. And all he asked is that you don't bring feelings to a fact fight. Don't do it. You know what I'm saying? I am your unorthodox statistician.

[01:22:53] Go by the name of two. I believe in Joe Henry. We'll be back on Friday. Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things, do all the good things. And we love you. Peace.