NO DEFENSE

[00:00:05] Happy Tuesday, one and all. One and all, happy Tuesday. Yes, you are now listening to the sound of Sports Reports As Ordered. Tonight, we got a lot of basketball to talk about, trade reactions. We got the football, you know there's a big game coming up on Sunday.

[00:00:30] And then, have you ever thought to yourself, what would baseball look like without a salary cap? But we're going to tell you, we, because I got with me, the one and only, world renounced, born in Texas, raised in VA, representing everything new, Jerusalem, before you.

[00:00:51] You're a lot of bad I. He wants you to know that the state of New Jersey, Rutgers University, is going to give you two top five NBA picks in the draft this year. Stand up, Scarlet Knights. And then, of course, you got me. Two, five. You're unorthodox, statistician, going left so much. You thought I was so far, and I want you to know, I believe in Joe Hendry. Let's get this thing started.

[00:01:19] Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things. Do all the good things. So, Mr. Logical. You're. I was drunk as hell Saturday night. I was sitting up in here arguing with people, you know, like, you know, we were having game night. We weren't even arguing about games. And then I got, I went on to X and I was like, hold up.

[00:01:49] I know I'm drunk, but I ain't that drunk. I started refreshing. You know, you scroll down with your, you scroll it down and like let it repopulate or whatever. And I saw those two words. It's real. From the one and only Shams, Sharania. So, I called people and I was like, did y'all see that Luka got traded? Everybody said, no, man, what you talking about?

[00:02:19] You sound drunk, by the way. And I'm like, no, I ain't this drunk. Bruh. Yo. I was playing a board game, right? Ava texted me. So, my lady's daughter, Rachel's daughter, we had like a little group chat. She texted me because, you know, on the show, Friday, we talked about how the NBA is not really giving us much to talk about.

[00:02:47] So, she texted me. She was like, you guys have something to talk about on the podcast now? And I'm playing like this intense game. It's like a prison break game where you get barter and trade. Like my son's really into board games. I'm really trying to focus on that. And then I'm like, wait, hold on, stop this game. So, I'm looking at my phone. She sent me the screenshot. So, I zoom in. I'm like, Luka got traded for AD. I'm like, this is fake.

[00:03:16] Because normally when I'm like chilling with my family, the sports group chat is just going off. So, like I kind of put it to the side and I catch up later. Then I hit it, you up, like what I miss. So, like I get to that and I think it's like 60 messages deep. I'm like, what's going on? So, I checked it and I saw a couple more. I'm like, these look fake. And then I don't know if I locked in that it was true until, I don't know if somebody posted like Sean's Twitter.

[00:03:46] But even then, I think when I saw it, because like I said, I was drinking a little bit too. When I saw it, I thought that was still fake. I'm like, none of this is making any sense. So, then you hit, hey, you up and you're like, yeah, I'm just seeing it too. I don't know what's going on. And so, that was, we'll call it, it was Saturday night, like midnight here, like nine out west when they were making this deal. I've been trying to figure it out since that moment.

[00:04:17] Like, I had a conversation with my dad on Sunday. And I was like kind of given the optimistic approach. Like, all right, LeBron is already old. Now, he can take like possessions off. But you still got to guard him. So, now Luka can play four on four with the rest of the guys. And if LeBron needs to crash in to make whatever, like it can happen. But he can take possessions off. Like, I know he's been trying to do that for the last couple of seasons.

[00:04:45] We've seen it a lot where I know defensively he ends up taking possessions off. But that ends up hurting the Lakers. But then he'll come back and he'll try extra hard offensively because he knows he's going to take his break defensively. Or he'll guard the guy who's not going to shoot. Now, I think on that other end, Luka can make this move. So, my dad said something back to me. He was like, that ain't going to work. They both need the ball for 100% of the time. How's it going to work? I'm like, I want to argue. What about him? I'm like, you might be right. So, I'm like, well, AD.

[00:05:14] I'm like, that'll work for AD because now AD can play the four and Gaffer and Lively can do all of the dirty work. But I'm like, all right, well, you know, a lot of guys leave LeBron and like, you know, their points and shots and opportunities kind of go up. So, maybe that'll work out for AD. But I'm like, okay, what are you going to do with the frontcourt guys? Is Clay really going to get more space? And I just was like, I was trying to bounce like logical reasons why this makes sense. And then I'll hear somebody else say something else.

[00:05:44] You're probably going to say something to me that make me sway back another way in this conversation. So, you know, knowing me how you know me. Like I said, you're going to say something. No, no, no. Not even that yet. It's going to make sense. But what do you think was the first thing I noticed or thought about the trade once I realized it was real? You ain't going to guess it, but let's just see what you say. That it wasn't LeBron? No.

[00:06:12] So, you said something to me the other day. You brought up the Paul Gasol trade. Oh, yeah. So, the first thing I noticed was that it was 17 years to the day that the Paul Gasol trade happened. The exact same day. Just 17 years ago. That was the first thing I noticed. Well, and I've always felt that that trade was very similar to the Kevin McHale KG trade to Boston.

[00:06:42] It was like, all right, you're the franchise I really love. Yeah. I'm going to hook up. I'm going to hook up my first love. Yeah, we got divorced and I got this new John. But she gave me a little attention. But you my real heart. I'm going to give you KG for a bucket of beans and some rocks.

[00:07:30] Right. Why would you trade Kat after your run to the Western Conference Finals? It's like the first success like this that you've had since KG. You know, so why not take another step further? So, then, you know, as I was thinking about this, I said to myself, I go back to the NBA Finals last year because Nico Harrison kept talking about Luka being in shape, you know, Luka's injury, so on and so forth, whatever.

[00:08:00] Defense wins championships. And all I could think about was him hobbling around the NBA Finals. So, are you using that little microcosm or whatever to make a big point? And I said, that can't be it. So, then I said, you know what? But in the NBA Finals last year, Stafford and Lively, both of them seven feet tall, neither one of them averaged 10 points.

[00:08:30] All they were good for was lobs. So, now I could get a big man in there that could give us front court production outside of lobs. So, that was step one. Then step two, I went on Google because there was something that stood out in my mind. I had to make sure that I was right before I say this publicly.

[00:08:54] And then I was like, Jason Kidd was on that coaching staff when the Lakers won the championship in the bubble. Then I thought to myself, okay, but why does that stay? So, he has a history with AD. Okay, but wait, is there something else I could pull from? AD doesn't want to play the five. When they won that championship, he had the White House beside him. Yeah, he did an interview like a week before he got traded.

[00:09:23] Yeah, so now you- And he was saying we needed a five. Yeah, so now you bring him to Dallas, you got two fives to play him next to. No pun intended. So, you know, so like from that standpoint, you can't even get mad at it because he gets to play the position that he wants while adding the punch that Dallas might have been missing from their front court. So, now, okay. So, now I got Kyrie. I got Klay.

[00:09:53] He's just lay right now, not Klay anymore. He's just lay. But I'm sure he still got like a 25-point outburst in him somewhere, you know, for a game and a series. I mean, he's now without Luka, he's your wing shooter. Yep. And I think he'll get the ball. I think he'll get the ball off the curl, pin down screens because now Gafford, Lively, any big that's in the game.

[00:10:20] I know Lively is currently injured, you know, but these guys get back healthy. Those guys don't have to worry about catching globs to be productive from the four or five position for Dallas. Like, they don't have to say, you know what, I got to be here just in case Luka floats me the lot. I can go out of here and set the screen for Klay because AD's down on the block.

[00:10:45] And if Kyrie can't get it to AD on the block, he can get it to Klay off this pin down. You know, little stuff like that. But once again, like I said, I'm just trying to rationalize this. I know, but hold on. Listen to this though. Listen to this. Because I'm trying to think logically. So as I'm going through the West, right, I'm looking at like who am I going to run into potentially in the playoffs, down the road, all that kind of stuff, right? So let's say with the five seed.

[00:11:15] Okay. Let's say I end up with the five seed. Definitely that changes. Yeah, the wizardry there. Let's say I end up as the five seed. And let's say I run into the Nuggets. You know, now I got three options for Jokic, including AD being one of the better options for Jokic. You know, now I look at OKC. And you remember ever since last season, the biggest thing that I've been saying about OKC is they have rebounding problems.

[00:11:43] You know, Chet's been out half the year now. You know, Hartenstein's been in and out the lineup. But now I got a guy who can outscore Chet, out defend Chet. And I might be able to get him to outscore Chet and Hartenstein combined.

[00:12:03] And then when I get Gafford and Lively on these lobs, now I'm forcing SGA to have to score 35 to beat me. And he might have to do that four or five times within this series, you know, for OKC to really feel good about it. But I'm looking at these standings right now. Even with Chet and Hartenstein being out, SGA's playing MVP level basketball. Correct.

[00:12:32] They still don't have double digit losses yet. Correct. So that and that's that's what I mean. We got to switch this back. This is weird to me. I can't even focus. But it feels as if we as fans who have gotten the trade has happened, because I think we talked about this Friday about guys.

[00:12:57] I don't know if we said I don't know if I said it in passing, like, you know, I'm like guys like Anthony Edwards and Luca and Jason Tatum. Those guys are lots for your franchise. You got to build around. I think I might have said something like that in passing, just working on the rational assumption that there's no way you trade Luca. Before the 2026 season, like we were talking about, that was our topic Friday. So I think now we're just getting we have the trade. We have the information. We know all the players.

[00:13:28] And we're just trying to make sense of it by saying this is how it can go well. But in order for OKC to really be impacted, they would need to take a step back. I don't I don't know if that's the case. Well, they still don't have a lot of experience. The playoff, but the playoff start. Give me what? April 16th or something like that. Something along those lines. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:13:53] So you got the all-star break that gives guys about nine to 10 calendar day. You know, after that starts. So then you're sitting on. You're at best case scenario with practice, practice time, games, injuries, rehab, healing days off. You got like 70 days between now and the beginning of the playoffs. We've already had a few months of basketball.

[00:14:22] So you got teams like Thunder 39 and nine. I think they're locked in kind of because you asked me, do the Thunder make a move? I'm like, no, because now they can rest on their continuity being. The ace of the sleeve, the feather in the cap that they can lean on in tough times. Last shot, Dallas, who they draw in the playoff for. Is it Klay? Is it Kyrie? Is it who the board they just traded for today? Caleb Martin.

[00:14:53] So it's like I get I think both teams are set up pretty good in the trade. I just figured you probably should have made it in the offseason. Well, just like you said a little while ago. So like if that trade happened in September, October.

[00:15:15] Well, you've been beating the drum for years that the Lakers should move on from A.D., you know, because we both we both knew that they weren't going to move off of LeBron, even though I've always argued that they should. And I still think they should at this moment, you know, because like these teams get into we talked about this last week with the Jimmy Butler stuff where these teams hold on so long, you know. So like you have to I don't want to disrespect LeBron, but you have to think post LeBron at some point. Yeah.

[00:15:44] You know, you asked me the other day. Did I think GM's watched? Like sports boards and post. And you've been saying that for years, like move on from your superstar. My A.D. trade, it wasn't because I thought A.D. wasn't a valuable player. I just felt like he was the most valuable player for the Lakers to get other pieces. And theoretically, his value wasn't going to get higher.

[00:16:15] Yeah, it wasn't going to get higher. But like, for instance, I know this this might have been like, I want to say disparaging, but say you take a team like Utah. Oh, OK. You get a guy like Walker Kessler, Jordan Clarkson. I don't know if the money is right for John Collins, but you throw Collins in and now you go A.D.

[00:16:42] when they had like Pat Bev or something like that and a couple of picks. I think you can make that work. And I believe you can get you can get enough out of those three guys with LeBron versus just LeBron and A.D. because with LeBron and A.D., you were still searching for a third and a fourth guy to do a couple extra things to take stuff off their plate. That's why I was like A.D. was probably the best piece to move, but they didn't want to move because everyone was going by this narrative.

[00:17:11] Like, oh, you got two top 15 guys. You got to keep them. And you're like, listen, you got to move one of them because you can't keep both of them because you weren't keeping A.D. If LeBron, who's currently 40, if he decided in August, like, you know what, I'm not going through another seven months, seven, nine, seven, eight, nine months of basketball. Well, you know, different teams have different values. So, like, say you're the Warriors, for example. You know, you won, what was it, like four championships in like a seven-year period or something like that?

[00:17:41] You know, people have like the Warriors didn't win in the 2022 season. Right, right, right, right, right. They just won. No, but the point being is that if the Warriors decided to start over, I think people would be okay with that. Like the fans, you know, there's always going to be the extremist, but most people would be like, hey, we won four championships, whatever. Let's start. That would have required them to trade Klay, Draymond, Kaminga after they won a championship. Right.

[00:18:08] As soon as the championship parade was over, they cleaned the streets up. They cleaned up all the aces. Which I argued that they should have done. Like, whatever, that would have worked in. They should have done. But, like, when you look at the Lakers, but when you look at the Lakers, the franchise that the Lakers are, you don't necessarily get that same grace. You know what I mean? And especially they haven't won the championships recently that Golden State has won. They won the one in 2020. But outside of that, you've got to go back to Kobe again.

[00:18:35] So the Lakers expect championships every year. I think people – No, I know. I know. I think we've gone to the media narrative now. We're in the media. But the championships, something that Nick Wright said on the show yesterday on First Things First, he was like,

[00:18:52] The Lakers are the only organization for, like, the last 50 years, 60 years have had a guy on their team in his prime that deserved a statue at the end of his career. Right. He was like, they never had a gap. He was like, you had – it was like, whoop, Kareem, Magic.

[00:19:17] Then you had a little bit of a gap, Shaq, Kobe, Kobe all the way up to a couple years without Kobe, then LeBron. Then you had Elgin Baylor, Jerry West. You just had, like, guys that the coach deserved a statue, like the owner deserved a statue. So, like, they have just had – they have just had a luxury of riches that other organizations haven't had. And they won a handful of championships in between that.

[00:19:45] You know, like, each one of those guys delivered a championship to the organization. And you know I got to – real quick, you know I got to laugh that Max Christie scored 15 points tonight. Yo, we – I talk about it all the time. You look at the pregame interviews when the two commentators are sitting there and you watch behind them. You see how many shots are just all falling. And these guys are superior at what they do is just the role you have to play. Right.

[00:20:12] I just – I want – if you sign on optimism, you think to yourself, I'm the Dallas Mavericks. I just got AD. If whatever he's got going on in his oblique can be rested between now and the all-star break, he chills. I don't know if he plays in the all-star game, whatever. But, like, he rests up. He's healthy. He's good to go.

[00:20:37] That run from 19 February to 19 April can be – can have us in contention and then the playoffs start. If you're L.A., you're hoping that maybe by Thursday, maybe somebody's willing to give you a 6'11 guy. So, right now, all the – An expiring contract or whatever narrative they need. Right.

[00:21:01] All the team leaves are saying that they're pursuing Vucicic, Nick Claxton, and Miles Turner. So, those are the three targets right now. Like, I would think out of the three, you might want Claxton. It just depends on what your goals are. Like, if you're trying to win a championship this year, you probably go for Miles Turner. But if you're looking at now and beyond, you might want to look at Nick Claxton because he's the same age as Luka. You know, whereas Miles Turner – he's not old.

[00:21:31] I think he's 28 or so. He's not old. I don't know why they just don't just go to their G League and get one of their 7'0 guys. Well, they just drafted the guy from Florida two years ago. Castleton had 7'2". You know, I like him a lot. You know, he's slow-footed. Yeah, he's slow-footed, but he grabs boards. You know, so are we going to wake up Thursday or Friday this week and find out that Luka was a mafia boss all this time? Like, usual suspects?

[00:22:01] No, I'm just like – Like, they know something that we don't know. Oh, you're saying like he's connected to some super far-right organization from Slovenia that's plotting some kind of coup, and he's funding it? Yeah, because I figure, like, you know, he's been – That's right. Honestly, it sounds crazy. I was thinking, like, does he have, like, a post on his old burner Twitter account? And he's only had – Wow, shit.

[00:22:29] He's only played 22 games this year. And there were rumors that earlier this year when they said he had a wrist injury, there were rumors that that was getting shape time. They gave him days off so that way he could work out and do all these things. He's been hurt since Christmas. He hasn't played since Christmas. I don't believe that. I don't believe it. So is the calf strain a little worse than we know? Or is it not a calf strain? I don't know.

[00:22:57] Because if that is true that they did that, they could be pulling all the wool over our eyes. You know, because, I mean, he genuinely looked shocked and subdued, you know, when talking about the trade. You know, like, I can't believe – And then there was the – you know, Nico allegedly didn't talk to Jason Kidd about it. You know, they only talked to the Lakers. But my thing along with that, they had to talk to Danny Ainge.

[00:23:28] Right, right. To get the third team in. And Danny Ainge – And he gave both teams 50 grand. Danny Ainge is a savvy guy. Like, it was to the point where it was like between him and Bill Belichick, if you see these area – this Boston area code, this Massachusetts area code pop up, you don't answer the phone from like 2005 until forever. You just don't answer the phone. So for him to be involved and not come out – I was talking about that.

[00:23:57] Like, I don't want to use the word collusion. Like, I don't want to be, you know, accusational because this is – they made a legal trade. I will do it for you. It just seems that either he was like, listen, I want a top 10 guy. I don't think any other team would – I want to say keep the integrity of the trade.

[00:24:25] But I don't think if you called – let me see. OKC wouldn't do it. Give me a top 10 guy in the league. Like, Donovan Mitchell. We'll go Donovan. He's like he's a star. Cleveland. You know, I know it's like – but it's like if he called Cleveland and was like, listen, I'm looking to move Luka. But I want, like, your best young guy.

[00:24:55] I want Donovan and I want a couple more things. I think that GM is going to look at an opportunity like, you know what? This guy's ready to move Luka. Let me see how much blood I can squeeze out of this stone. So if you call Sacramento, they probably would have done the same thing. You could have had a mega deal. If you call – no, but that's the thing. I'm thinking if you reach out because no one's going to call you about Luka.

[00:25:21] It's not a GM of the other 28 teams besides the Lakers and Dallas that would have called Dallas before this week and say, hey, man, what do you think about Faluca? Because their expectation is, Luka, I'm going to get the Paul-George deal that OKC got from the Clippers at a minimum. They still got picks. So what's the list? There's what? Like, before that trade happened, right?

[00:25:48] It was Luka, Jokic, SGA, Jason Tatum. Jason Tatum, maybe Jalen Brunson, Steph. I think LeBron was probably untouchable in my estimation. I'd say Palo and Orlando was probably untouchable. Wimby. Wimby. That might be it. Lesser degree, maybe Embiid.

[00:26:13] Because I don't think you would get a great enough offer for Embiid because of his injury. So I think you would have to go over the top. So essentially that makes him almost by default untouchable. But Luka was definitely – he was at the top of the list. There was no – I didn't see a rumor. I didn't see an AI-generated question. We talk about all kinds of hypothetical stuff in this sports group chat all day long, 24-7, 365.

[00:26:43] Not a single person ever mentioned trading Luka for anyone. Anybody. Anybody. So it had to be one of those, like, I'm going to call Rob. Rob is going to shoot me the fair one. Like, listen, Rob, I really want AD. I've known you for 20 years. I've known you for a while. I really want AD. So what's the minimum we can do? And you get Luka and I get AD.

[00:27:13] Like, whoa, we got to make the money work. We got to make this work. So we got to get a third team involved. Who could we call that loves a good deal? I almost think this is born on a fireable offense. Like, you know what I mean? Like, especially, like, you know, considering his reputation already for – Mark Cuban would have fired him. I was talking to my pops. Like, Mark Cuban, if you would have walked into Mark Cuban's office and said, hey, I got an idea, how about we trade – and before you, like, stop, no, don't even go back to your office. Sit down. Sit right here.

[00:27:43] Security, come to the office, please. Bring some extra bodies. I got some trash for you to take out the bill. You got to help clean out somebody's office. Oh, no, he can't – he won't help you. Not yet. He's not allowed back in his office. He's fired. He doesn't know it yet. Wait, hold on. You're fired. Yeah, he's fired. We're going to see. Like, I like the Jason Kidd tie to AD. I like the, you know, like I said, playing off of the finals last year.

[00:28:07] The only question that I have is, can Kyrie, can he be more of a setup guy? Because, like, I don't know. I don't think you need to. I think AD – I think AD is an independent player. I think he's like an independent contractor, a mercenary. So, I think you just get him the ball. You get anyone to get him the ball.

[00:28:30] I don't think you have to run sets for him because he can play – he can play – he plays like – like Pau Gasol, a little bit bigger, a little bit more athletic. Same type of – you don't have to run a lot of sets for him. Like, especially with the triangle, you just get him the ball. Get him the ball in his spot. Let him work. Now, if you think about who's defending him, if he's playing a four,

[00:28:59] are you rotating the five over? And I think even having a guy like Klay that can stretch the floor, I think Kyrie stretches the floor, I think Kyrie stretches – stresses the defense out. So, it could work. I still don't understand how the conversation really started and how it came to fruition. We can talk about the pieces now that they're gone. I still don't understand.

[00:29:27] Was his weight really that big of a problem? Because we talked about it for years. And every year in the league, with all of this weight concern that we had, he got better every year on great numbers. It wasn't like he was averaging 18, 6, and 4, and then went 21, 9, and 5. It was like he was averaging 27, 7, and 4.

[00:29:57] And then it was 28 and a half, 8 and 8. Then it was 29, 9, and 9. It was like he was going up exponentially. And then in the playoffs – Imagine he averaged 34 or something like that. Yeah, and the playoffs, his numbers went to like 31, 10, and 9. Western Conference Finals. That was not – They got out of Luka what New Orleans wanted to get out of Zion. They got out of Luka what every team wants to get out of a guy that they draft top 10.

[00:30:27] Right. And more. Five-time All-NBA. So those are the things that just make me think like then – Did they have rumors that he was going to ask out or something? Or like, you know, because I know like he was eligible for the Supermax, you know, but now, you know, he's going to be 116 million short on that once L.A. gives it to him. You know what?

[00:30:52] If they have a good enough lawyer in the stash as the NBA PA, I think they can probably figure out a way to get them close. I don't know. I mean, if the NBA rule, we'll see. I don't know how it's written, but if it's written like, oh, the team that drafts you – That's how it's written. If it's written flat out like that, I imagine there's some kind of caveat. Like some lawyer can put one paragraph together, mix it with this one, and say, hey, in this situation,

[00:31:22] I think these two paragraphs warrant to be applied to this situation. Well, you might see that down the road. You might see that down the road. Like Luka's going to lose his money, and then you might see that introduced later. And it'll be the Luka rule. Because I think the logic behind the rule – and it's sometimes where you have too many rules that can really kind of bog you up.

[00:31:43] I think the logic behind the rule was to – because ultimately, if I draft you and you are the talent level that's worth a super max, you're probably really, really, really good. And I probably drafted you at age 19 to 21. So nervous walking over to that bench. What's that? Luka. Like he looks so nervous walking over there. They just – their game just about to start.

[00:32:12] They were showing him walking over to the Lakers bench. He just looks so awkward. But – It's like the first time ever. But, yeah, like I said, if you're one of these players that's due for a super max, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Zion, John Morant, you're probably thinking that you're not going to lead that team.

[00:32:35] So I think the rule is written so if you're in Milwaukee, if you're in San Antonio, if you're in Minnesota, New York, L.A., Miami can't come through with the same exact deal as the team that drafted you. Mm-hmm. It's to keep you in this – that market that drafted you. Because normally, as we think about it, like a lot of the smaller markets end up – when we're getting more to it in baseball, a lot of smaller markets end up being high draft picks.

[00:33:05] Cleveland's your – Chicago's on a small market. The world's not a big – It's not a big popular market as far as like – Which is wild. They're the third largest city in America. But it's not like – like movies that you see on TV are based on L.A. or New York. You know what's funny about that is Phoenix is the fourth biggest city and like you wouldn't know it. You know what I mean? That's what I'm saying. Like people don't base their – people don't base their view of America on those cities. It's New York, L.A.

[00:33:34] Everything's New York, L.A. And then Miami. People are weird. There's other great cities out there. But, you know – People are Chicago. Yeah. So like that's the thing with that rule is like if they trade me when I'm healthy and I'm performing at a super max level, that seems like an odd way for my previous team to get out of pain. You know what I mean?

[00:33:55] Well, like if they do have true concerns about his fitness or whatever, I can understand not giving somebody $345 million. But they weren't – they weren't – it wasn't a requirement for him to get it this year because it's an extension on his contract that makes next year. So even with that, it's like – And they still did the Lakers a favor because the Lakers don't have to give them that.

[00:34:23] So it's like the ultimate motivation – people say losing the finals should – like that's what I'm saying. I'm still baffled by this trade. Losing in the finals should have been his motivation. But maybe $116 million would have been good motivation. Maybe it takes for the bright lights. I don't know. We'll see. But, you know, there was another trade in the NBA. You know, De'Aaron Fox got exactly what he wanted. He said he wanted to go play with Wimby. He's going to play with Wimby.

[00:34:53] And Mr. Logical, this shit drives me nuts. Not even – this ain't even the Jimmy Butler thing where I'm upset that he got what he wanted because De'Aaron Fox was pretty quiet about it. He was like, hey, I would prefer to go to Wimby. But there were no – that's the only team he's going to resign with and all that kind of stuff. But the reason that it made me go crazy because I was like, no Steph Castle. No Devin Vassal. No Jeremy Sohan.

[00:35:26] What? Like – Like, I'll go back to our Friday show. I saw a video today. Granted, yeah, I don't believe in conspiracy theories. I do think they're interesting if they're – if they're formulated properly, I find a little interest in them.

[00:35:47] It was like the commissioner or the financial powers that be of the NBA said, like, listen, man, it's the week of the Super Bowl. We're not getting a lot of buzz this year. It's been all NFL's been – Joe Burrow for MVP has gotten more buzz than NBA talk. And Joe Burrow's team was under .500 when he was getting NFL MVP.

[00:36:17] More buzz for that than the NBA. Right, and it wasn't even a possibility. It wasn't even a possibility. It was the most – making a playoffs was highly unlikely, but let alone him winning MVP. But they had more run than Nick's conversations, than Wimpy conversations, than LeBron conversations. Like, hell, Wimpy has more blocks than, like, 96% of the NBA all time in two years. And it was like, you know what?

[00:36:47] You GMs need to do something. But I think really they needed to do something. I think if you were an NBA individual independent consultant, I think a lot of these moves would have been made over the last two or three years. Because you and I have had conversations about don't pay that guy. Don't trade for that guy. Don't hire that coach. Don't fire that coach. Trade this superstar.

[00:37:14] I think you've had more of those ideas, but your job was arrested on it. And I think a lot of GMs are kind of operating like, if I make this move and it goes sideways, I'm going to lose my job. I'm like, if you're under contract and they fire you, they're still cutting you a check. So it's like, if you're getting $8 million off your GM and you got three years off in your deal and they fire you, you're like, cool. So you're going to cut me a check for $25 million? Go out their way.

[00:37:41] I'm sure there are some owners out there that would take risk. Like Mark Cuban would bring you in if he was still the owner if you took risk. That made sense. That didn't involve Luka, yeah. Right. And, you know, because looking at this deal, you know, the Spurs got Fox and Jordan McLaughlin. Sacramento gets Zach Levine, CeeDee Sissoko.

[00:38:05] Three first round picks, which includes a 2025, you know, that's this year, Hornets pick, which is probably going to be somewhere. Top three. Yeah. Top three to 10. Lottery at the least. Top one to three. They're 12 and 32 right now. And then the Bulls end up with Zach Collins, Cray Jones, Kevin Hoarder.

[00:38:29] And then they got their own 2025 back from the Rosen deal when they sent the Rosen to the Spurs. Oh, they got the Rosen from the Spurs. From the Spurs. Yeah. So, you know, so now, like, you go back and you look at this. Considering now we look at the Luka deal, it was like, what, seven total players and three picks? It was Luka, Markeith Morris, and Maxi Kleba. Then AD.

[00:38:58] And then the Jazz got Jalen Hood, Shafino, and I believe it was two second round picks? A couple of picks. Yeah, a couple of picks. And then Max Christie. Oh, yeah, Max Christie. So we had six total players and what we counted? Three picks in the Luka deal. And you just said the De'Aaron Fox deal had three players go to the Kings. Yeah, they got three picks themselves. Yeah. And the Bulls got a first round pick out of it.

[00:39:28] And they were the third team. You talked about this with Jimmy Butler. And KG talked about this as well. And on his podcast with Paul Pierce. Which is just the greatest two old men talking about basketball podcasts ever. Because they hardly ever agree. Paul Pierce is like this cool Southern California guy. Like, listen, man. Listen, he not ready for the moment. We talking about Lord.

[00:39:56] We talking about Lord. He ready for the moment, Lord. But what he was saying about Jimmy Butler, he was like, man, this is kind of behavior that's going to set other players back to where now GMs aren't going to guarantee contracts. That's De'Aaron Fox. It's the same thing. James Harden did it three times. No, two or three times. You know, people talk about other guys moving like they talk about the KD move. They talk about LeBron's move.

[00:40:27] Both of those guys played out their contracts. They were free agents. Yeah. They were free agents. They played out their contracts. They picked a team that they wanted to go to. And they allowed each team to pitch them. But I play out my contract with you, then I'm afraid as I go where I want to go. But if you give me $200 million, I think KD kind of forces way out of Brooklyn. And Brooklyn was kind of like over there. But he was still nice about it, though. Like, he wasn't like, do this or else or whatever.

[00:40:57] Like, he was just like, yo, I want to go to Phoenix. Yeah. And James Harden already slid. They already traded. They already had an issue with Kyrie. We'll help you get to Phoenix. Where Jimmy Butler is like, nah, I'm only going to Phoenix. When he sent the text saying, I'll meet y'all there when they're waiting for him on the airplane. I'm telling you, me and Dre, me and Dre, we were leaving Germany like 03. And I caused us to miss our flight. Like, we were together.

[00:41:26] And it was my fault. Like, I was late taking my time. We missed our flight. So we had to take another flight from Frankfurt to Philly. We had to go from Frankfurt to Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh to Philly. He didn't talk to me until we were in the air. Yeah. Leaving Frankfurt on our way to Pittsburgh. Right. So, and he's my boy. So I can imagine how pissed these dudes were sitting in an airplane waiting on him. He was like, I'll meet y'all there. And you're our leader at that. Yeah.

[00:41:55] Like, this ain't just Kyle Ahero fucking off. Like, you're supposed to be heat culture. Yeah. And I'm not going to act like I haven't slept right up until the alarm last minute where I got to go catch a flight. I get it. But he's pouting about it. And Kevin Garnett was like, you're going to hurt other players because the owners have all the leverage. So when they go back to the table. Butler rule.

[00:42:22] Yeah, it's going to be the J.B. rule because you don't have Chris Paul as the president of UCBA, of the Players Union, and faces like D-Wade, LeBron, maybe ladder KG. Paul Pierce might have still been in the league maybe 70 years ago when they last time they did this. Even some rising stars like you had the Ben Simmons.

[00:42:47] You had stars all over the place that the owners were like, okay, we are outnumbered here. Like, their star power outweighs our financial power. Yeah. And they were building that financial exposure bridge with China. You needed guys like Kobe. You needed Dwight Howard was a big guy in China. Obviously, LeBron. Steph was huge. This player association list is so random. Yeah.

[00:43:17] So, like I said, it just – Real quick. But the owners know. The owners know. Like, yo, you don't have LeBron as your negotiating tool for the next four years. You don't have Steph until 2029. You don't have KD anymore. Like, it's LaMelo Balls and Donovan Mitchells and other guys that we have star power leverage over because we have more money. So, right now, the committee is CJ McCollum is the president.

[00:43:45] You got Andre Iguodala, Grant Williams, Harrison Barnes, Bismack Fiambo, Malcolm Brogdon, Jalen Brown, and Jaron Jackson. Okay. Good, smart players. But – But not that stature. But I'm talking about in the league in itself. Oh, you just mean as far as the players?

[00:44:07] Your representation can be just the smartest guys you have and the guys who want that position, the guys who treat it with respect and deference and everything else. And they're working hard to make that work. But the leverage that they have is Steph is international. Katie's international. LeBron is international. Dwight Howard's international. Kobe Bryant is international. You know, the brand of Jordan is international.

[00:44:37] Like, there's so many feathers in their cap that they can stick in and argue and lobby with the owners to get what they want. But now the owners are looking around like, yeah, Jokic is a superstar and he's winning MVPs. He don't care. He's winning MVPs. He don't care. He's not on it the way you guys are on it. We don't need to do the social justice movements anymore. Well, you heard the latest. You don't need to guarantee your contracts anymore.

[00:45:05] You guys don't have the star power because, like, who of all the guys that are currently in the league – okay, maybe LeBron can be like, yeah, we walking out. But how many of the guys in their early 20s are going to be like, yo, LeBron's my guy. I'm rocking with him. I'm following him. Like, those guys haven't – They want to shoot – They want to see what Anthony Edwards got to say. Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, maybe – Jarlin, Jar. Those guys have –

[00:45:34] Like, I'm not saying they have nothing to say. Right, right, right, right. They haven't been the polarizing figures in your league through these kind of – Like, LeBron played through lockouts. The way he was in lockouts. Derrick Rose was in lockouts. Carmelo. Like, some of these recent icons, for lack of a better word, they've been through all that. This new wave of guys are just simply living off of that legacy.

[00:46:02] And it's like, when you get to the table with these owners, you don't have those guys. Have you heard the latest rumors? So, allegedly, if the Suns can't find a way to get Jimmy Butler, then Dallas might try to pursue Kevin Durant. And then, apparently, out in San Francisco, everybody not named Wardell can be had. Yeah. Yeah. Shams reported that.

[00:46:33] Winhurst co-signed it. And it's like, why? Because they want to try to get Steph one more if they can. I mean, I don't think there's any deals out there that's going to make that happen. Steph has four rings. I know. He is an all-time great. He is an icon of the sport.

[00:46:56] And your team has to look like OKC, Boston, 2023 Denver, 2021 Milwaukee, or 2020 Lakers.

[00:47:18] If your team doesn't have all of those pieces, because each one of the last championship teams, they all had bigs that just defended and rebounded. They had a big that was an offensive mismatch for whoever was going to. They had either a group of shooters or just a great three-point barrage approach. Because even KCP was not a lot of threes in the bubble. Right.

[00:47:49] Then you had your perennial superstar, LeBron, Giannis, Jokic, Steph. And then with Boston, you had Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum. If your team doesn't look like that. Look at that shade. You just couldn't bring yourself to say Kawhi, could you? Kawhi didn't win a championship. He did. With Toronto. No, I went back to 2020. The Toronto team. That was the year before. That was the year before.

[00:48:18] Yeah, 2019. That Toronto team won because he did not bring up Kawhi. If KD plays, if KD is healthy, Toronto gets swept and the scores are probably 118 and 98 for four straight games. Like, let's keep it a bean. He was unstoppable healthy for those three years. It was unfair how good he was in those three years until he had that cash.

[00:48:44] So apparently the Kings want Malik Monk to run the point now that De'Aaron Fox is gone. I'm wondering if they're going to try to flip Levine somewhere because, you know, we saw this Levine DeRozan thing in Chicago and it wasn't a thing. So maybe on a better team with somebody like a Toronto team. Chicago might have really bad losing culture, though. Ever since they, like, we saw the last dance.

[00:49:09] Ever since they ran Jordan out of town on back-to-back fucking three-piece, essentially. If y'all go 82-0. Still ain't coming back. And that was the piece that, that was the way you kind of think was like, yeah, I want to get ahead of it before falls. But it's like, that wasn't the time. That wasn't the time to do it.

[00:49:34] Like, I think you had two more years of Eastern Conference guarantee runs. And in hindsight. Number six. And in hindsight. Maybe not finals runs, maybe not finals victories. But I think with the way, because that was 98 when he won six, right? Yeah. So the players that came in between 96, you had Jacoby's, your Iverson's.

[00:50:02] You had like Ray Allen's. You started getting these different kind of guys. You started getting guys that were more like as athletic. You started to see the turn. Like the new. Yeah. Yeah. So you started getting like these, these, these. Scotty Pippen guys that were like, got a lot of six, eight guys that can handle the ball. I think Chicago gets one or two of those guys mixed in with their championship team with Phil.

[00:50:32] I believe Jordan can do what we think Luke and LeBron are going to do. Where it's like, you take a, take 15 seconds of every other possession off. Save your energy. But every fourth possession, you get to do whatever you want to do. But, but also 2020 that ended up being a strike shortened season.

[00:50:58] That next year, you know, like after Jordan. Yeah. After they got six, that next year was the, the, the 52, 50 game season. 55. That's 55. Right. It was that season. So, you know, you might've had fresher legs for the playoffs too. Easy. Just saying, just saying. But yeah, so, you know, the trade deadline is in two days. So when we, so when we come back on Friday. You know what I'm saying? It should be at least one more crazy move.

[00:51:27] More than likely Jimmy Butler's release. I'm kind of hoping this Kevin Durant thing happens. Kevin Durant to Dallas? Yeah. I'm kind of hoping that happens. You know, get him, get him back with his best friend. And like Adam, Adam posted in the group and he posted the, you know, the screenshot. And I was like, I wouldn't say cap, but after Saturday, I might be like KG screaming. Anything is possible. I know. After Saturday, I'm like, Hey, watch it back. Jill and Brown. You don't watch it back.

[00:51:57] Anthony Edwards. You know, if I'm, if I'm. Menace. I noticed Julius Randall conversations have been going on, but I was like. What has. So my dad wrote that topic to me. I know we're talking about the Aaron Fox, but it's the same thing. It's like, I get that you want to go to San Antonio. But how do you fit with Chris Paul? Does Chris Paul go to the bench?

[00:52:26] Do you go to two for a little bit? Or do you run a two point guard system where you have Wimby who can just basically get lob passes and entry passes from either side. And you stress that way. But I don't think anyone's ever played offense like that in NBA. So I feel like theoretically you would think, you know, like, Hey, we saw Chris Paul and Harden, but Harden's bigger and not necessarily a traditional point guard.

[00:52:56] Yeah. Harden's a two guard that Dan Tony had played a one and they brought Chris Paul in to take away that stress. So if it's me, I'm starting Fox and Castle and Chris Paul's coming off the bench, but that's a whole different conversation. Cause you got to talk Chris Paul into coming off the bench in the first place. And that, and that's what I mean. It's like, cause the earning coming off the bench. You probably, you'd probably put the young guy on the bench, right? Have him run a second unit.

[00:53:24] I would, I would think so, but I don't like it. I think that's an easier sell. Yeah. It's the easy, it's the easiest, it's the easiest. And tell him he'll get eight more shots a game. You know what I mean? But I'm like, you know, you gotta give him, you tell him you're going to the bench. You gotta give him the old, you gotta give him a green light. I might, I might end up with a castle pulling a Fox in three years. Like he goes that after this, like, you know what I mean? So, I mean, I don't know. We'll see. Yeah.

[00:53:50] So yeah, it's, it's very, it's a very, I'm, I'm liking the fact that the NBA, like these guys are making moves. I don't think, I don't know if any of the moves are good or bad moves. I just know that when it comes to sports and success of sports, you can have all the names and the bodies and everything else. And you could win. Right.

[00:54:15] Like I said, my, my, my, my immersion in the sports over the last 10 years and seeing the dynamic from coaching and organization and players and, you know, leagues has been like my son's youth programs and people are like, Oh, that doesn't make any sense. It's like, it's a lot of comparisons because my son shot out. He won the Swiss army knife award because he literally played every position on offense and defense.

[00:54:44] Um, so it was like, when people ask him like, so what position you play? He was like, well, linebacker safety, primarily on defense and then running back fullback tight in wide receiver and backup quarterback. They're like, really? He's like, and this coach is like, Oh yeah, he, he does all that. So in some honor and sometimes on the field, it's like, okay, everything doesn't translate. Like we have all these ideas. We know we're a good program. We know we have good kids.

[00:55:11] I personally known a lot of these kids since 2016, a lot of their parents. Like I have like, you know, we, we spent a lot of times at banquets and games and sidelines of practice. So it was like the organization works well. Like we get the kids get good swag. They get good, you know, food and pasta nights is very organized. The parents are very involved, but some organizations just go out and get the biggest kids who live

[00:55:40] in cities that kind of border where they live and they put them on the team and they get the trophies. And it looks like it's well-established. But when their high school programs come to play, none of the kids from the youth teams, like, yeah, where are your kids at? Oh, like, no, he lives here. He's going to, he's going to a school in Hamilton. He's going to a school in Trenton. But it was close enough to where parents like, okay, cool.

[00:56:07] I can drive 15 minutes way, this way to practice or 15 minutes this way. What's the difference? Whereas we're kind of out in the boonies. It's like, you're driving to this field. You're going to go to this middle school. You're going to go to this high school. You're going to go to this Greyhound day and the structural organization is going to be up and down because you don't bring all those extra pieces in.

[00:56:30] And I think NBA teams could probably look at that like, you know what, can we keep what we have tight in here? That way everybody that flows in here knows their role, knows how to be successful. And we're going to talk about football. The Chiefs do that well. Yeah, we're going to talk about football right now. You know, like, just, it just, you can stack your team, the Miami Heedles, the Boston Three Party.

[00:56:59] The Miami Heedles and the Boston Three Party got three rings in what? We're going to call it six years? Because you got one or two years. So you got the Boston Three Party with KG. That was 2008. 2008. And then the Heat won in 12 and 13. Heat won 12 and 13. In between that, Boston lost to the Lakers.

[00:57:29] The Lakers for one finals. They didn't make another finals. You know, so it's like even stacking a team with those stars from 2008 until 2015, right? Because LeBron went to Cleveland. Cleveland that year. And the 14. So 14-15 because 15, they lost and 16, they won. So from 2008 to 2014, those seasons, you had two teams that were pretty much stacked.

[00:57:59] They got three chips. So sometimes just the structure of your organization is how you win. And I think Philly does a great job of structure because people are ready to get rid of Jalen Hurts two years ago. And they're like, nah, we're going to give them $240 million. So I already know that you'd be talking a lot of shit. Of course. And being disrespectful is all get out.

[00:58:25] But with this Super Bowl, is the public and media going to put Mahomes ahead of Joe Montana? Well, Mahomes has been ahead of Joe Montana for two years, in my opinion. Yeah. Like, let's keep it a buck. Let's keep it a buck. You hear this, Presidente?

[00:58:49] I know it sounds sacrilegious, but Joe Montana had Hall of Famers from the park-a-lot attendants up to the owners. They all in the Hall of Fame. Their number one fan is in the Hall of Fame. He had a great career. It was weird with the Steve Young thing. I think about it now. Like, because I knew growing up, I was watching football.

[00:59:19] I was a young kid. I loved Icky Woods. I loved the dance he did. So when they played the Super Bowl against the Bengals, I was like, okay, I love Roger Craig. I always felt like, in my mind, Roger Craig scored every time he touched the ball. Like, I remember growing up thinking, like, every time he touched the ball, he did that little high step, stutter step, and he scored. Like, I remember thinking, like, they were that good. John Rathman. John Taylor.

[00:59:48] Obviously, Jerry Rice. Brent Jones. Brent Jones. Ken Norton. Ronnie Lott. George Seifert. Charles Haley. Charles Haley. Dionne was there for all. Like, I actually remember all their legends that they had, like, throughout the 80s and 90s. And it's like, you had the stacked team and a great culture in Joe Montana. It's not a slight to Joe Montana that I think Mahomes succeeded him.

[01:00:18] No, no. But Mahomes, as a quarterback, I know quarterback wins and losses is one thing, but it's like, he does play a major role in their victories. Currently, he's played 28 postseason football games. On top of the fact, he has two regular season MVPs. He probably should have three, but two for sure. Two are like the net he has in his house.

[01:00:43] He's 17-3 in the postseason. One game, they got an interception, but a defensive end's head was offsides, which had nothing to do with him. He put them in position for them to be up and win. Tom Brady gets the ball, bat in the air, it's intercepted, but D-4's helmet's offsides. So they lose that game. After it goes to overtime, they don't change the rule, by the way. Right.

[01:01:13] Throw it out there, 13-second game. That came later. They don't change the rule. So that's AFC championship game and Arrowhead. Second year league, MVP, 50-plus touchdowns. Then his next loss in the playoffs is in the Super Bowl to Tom Brady. So, once again, in the Super Bowl, that's his next loss. And then his third loss in the playoffs is to Joe Burrow.

[01:01:37] But they had an 18-point lead, and they just – Joe Burrow is – he is just as special at the moment where he was special against Kansas City as Tom Brady was on his hire. You know what the craziest part of it is? Out of the whole run, he's played two road playoff games. Two road playoff games. One of both. He beat Joe Burrow. He beat Josh Allen.

[01:02:06] He beat Lamar Jackson. His contemporaries. There's no one in the league that can compare to him. You can only compare him to the greats. Okay. So, this is – so, now he's the – I'm chasing that ghost in Chicago, right? So, you know. Okay. So, let me ask you this then. Like, let me change it a little bit. There's no one chasing ghosts. You know what Jay said in the corporate takeover. Because they got me chasing ghosts. Anyway. Okay.

[01:02:36] So, what would Patrick Mahomes have to do? We'll get back to this in a second. But, what would he have to do for you to say that he passed Tom Brady? You know what? Tom Brady is a slick motherfucker. And Tom Brady does the likelihood of – let's talk about Tom Brady for a second. People like to shit on Tom Brady.

[01:03:04] But, Tom Brady played 20 – 22 seasons, 21-22 seasons, something like that. And then I think that includes a year when he got injured on the first play of the first game against the Chiefs. They changed the rule. Oh, I'm not a good bat. Yeah. And so – Oh, right? And Tom Brady talked about it. He was like, something you realize is that you are not bigger than the game. Because, like, once I got to the sideline, they blew the whistle and they started the next play. He's like, I haven't even made it off the field yet.

[01:03:34] It's like, they were already running the next play. Like, I'm not even out of the – off the field. Like, they're taking me into the tunnel. Right. In Kansas City. And it's like – so he realized, like, he wasn't bigger than the game. But he played, like, 21 years, 22 years. He went to 15 championship games. I know people talk about Super Bowls and Super Bowl wins. He went to 15 championship games in his NFL career.

[01:04:01] We could talk about organizations that haven't been to five. Should there's some that haven't been to one? Like, yeah. But, like, just, like, a simple number. All the years your organizations existed. 1961 until 2025. And your organization hasn't been to five championship games.

[01:04:25] He went to 15, 14 in the AFC and either 13 in the AFC and then 1 in the AFC. I think it was 14 to 15. But it was, like, a lot. Like, I think it was 15. Well, you know, Mountain Braves. And then 10 Super Bowls. So he has – he has 10 championship game victories where there's organizations that don't have 10 playoff wins.

[01:04:53] Yeah, Mahoney's already number two in wins now. You know what I mean? He passed Joe Montana this year. So, you know. I think he still is tied. Oh, oh. Playoff wins. He's tied. I think he passed them. I think they're – he's tied. I think he's tied at 17. But he's passed both. I thought Montana only had 16. But he's passed, like, organizations. But Tom Brady being – Yeah, it's Mahomes. Yeah, Tom Brady has –

[01:05:21] Mahomes has one more than Montana. So the AFC championship game put him over. But even with that being said and all the stuff that you're saying about Mahomes, Brady still has 18 more playoff wins. You know, but – Yeah, but – Yeah, but Brady's ridiculous. He's 100,000 yards passing or something like that. Yeah, so Mount Brady is a tough hill to climb.

[01:05:44] But I think that with this Super Bowl, I think I'm ready to put Big Red – Above Belichick? – at the top of the mountain. You haven't – And I actually – Last year, I did do it, but not officially. But this would just be a cherry on top. In this – Okay, play devil's advocate.

[01:06:15] Are we putting Reid ahead because he had the early success? Yeah, I'm just looking at that whole career. I'm looking at that whole career. He had the early success but no Super Bowls. And then he got the guy at quarterback and now he has Super Bowl success. Well, he had five – Or we're knocking Belichick for having the guy early and having a Super Bowl success and then not having the guy after.

[01:06:45] No, we're just looking at the whole picture. You know, like – Keep going. I got to grab some water. We're just looking at the whole picture because Belichick had a losing record in Cleveland before he even came to New England. And Andy Reid had five championship game appearances in Philadelphia. You know, and when you go back and look at it, you know, they lost to Belichick in the Super Bowl when Donovan and Nat was throwing up. T.O. shouldn't even have been playing. But that's just how tough he is.

[01:07:15] You know, but Andy Reid, no matter who he had because – You know, I guess when you look at specialties, it evens out because Belichick had good defenses over the last couple of years. He just had Matt Jones and that just wasn't good enough. But Andy Reid, it didn't matter if he had Alex Smith, if he had Matt Moore starting a few games, if he had Chad Henney starting some games.

[01:07:43] It didn't matter who the quarterback was. It didn't matter who the personnel was. This is what Andy Reid does. And then if you go back and look at the last couple of years, you know, they've been playing makeshift offense even though offense is his specialty, right? Like you lost Tyree Kill or you traded Tyree Kill, you know, or whatever that was. You traded Tyree Kill. Then you've been replacing him with things like Juju Smith-Schuster and, you know,

[01:08:10] Nicole Hardman, like you made Nicole Hardman a playoff savant, no pun intended. You know, like Kareem Hunt. But didn't Bill Belichick and Tom Brady had that same kind of run with that same caliber wide receiver of Shea Carwell? They did, but Belichick is a defensive dude. Jabbar Gaffney, Troy Brown, like – David Patton. David Patton, a lot of these guys. But Belichick's a defensive dude, though,

[01:08:37] so that's why I was trying to make that note about Andy Reid was that it can't just be – so like with Belichick, a lot of times people have the conversation of it was Brady more than it was him. But Belichick's a defensive dude. With Andy Reid, you know, even if you take away – Yeah, even if you take away the Mahomes years, just looking at how the team played, they were always in the playoffs, whether it was there or Philadelphia.

[01:09:04] I think that the NFC championship run that he went on with Philly and McNabb, because we saw McNabb in Washington and we saw him in Minnesota, he was out there looking like your squadron flag football quarterback. Yeah, and the same way Belichick came up under Parcells, you know, Andy Reid came up under homerun. So they both have like championship experience as coordinators as well.

[01:09:31] I'll – I'll – I'm going to say allow your argument, but I think you have – I think the only thing that hurts your argument, if you are Andy Reid is the GOAT,

[01:09:46] is that in these pressure situations, it feels as if Mahomes makes the I'm better than your defensive scheme play. And Kansas City's office has done a great job.

[01:10:14] I don't know how they're – what they're compensating Spags and Nagy with to the point where they don't reply to Instagram messages or Facebook messages or text messages from these other teams or carrier pigeons or whatever they're getting, because Spags two years ago for sure could have gotten any open head coaching job. I think Nagy over the last – after the Super Bowl last year or on that run,

[01:10:45] I think he could have gotten some interviews and some calls. I just – I don't recall hearing either one of them taking an interview. So I think that's a testament to the organization. But it takes a village, and I believe – I believe the humility of your star. I didn't get Belichick giving up 41 in the Super Bowl to Nick Foles either. Yeah, but I mean, this is NFL. Like, guys getting open. They're going to score points. You're going to get out of the scheme.

[01:11:15] He didn't play Malcolm Butler, and I don't know if that's ever came out why. I don't think I've ever heard it in my own years why Malcolm Butler didn't play that game. So – But, yeah. But anyway, we can move on. With Andy – because we're talking about legacy. Right, right. I was going to ask you about Jalen Hurts. Like, what does a Super Bowl do for him? Like, as far as how he's perceived. Because I think right now he's perceived as you're a football player.

[01:11:45] And, you know, of course we talk about you steal Saquon's touchdowns. But I don't think that at large people view Jalen Hurts as a top quarterback. I am anti-legacy guy. Yeah, I don't even like talking about it, to be honest with you. Well, I think it's an interesting conversation because I believe – I knew when I said it to you,

[01:12:14] you were going to offer a very diverse perspective on it that I hadn't heard before. My piece – and I'm going to get out of the way early because you say I do this a lot. LeBron making it to the finals, you're like, oh, now you're doing that LeBron thing. I'm not doing that. I'm just saying it up front right now. I'm just chilling. I'm watching LeBron right now with a 21-point lead. Yeah.

[01:12:36] But what I'm saying is that the Seattle, New England, Malcolm Butler, Marshawn Lynch, Pete Carroll throwing a slant at the goal line, Darryl Bellow game. That game, that was Tom Brady's fifth ring. Right. When Tom Brady went to the bench, his team had a lead.

[01:13:00] And very similar to the Eli helmet – David Tyree helmet catch game, he's like, I'm getting my ass kicked all game long, but I did the best I could to get us a lead. He got Randy Moss a touchdown, 14-10, I'm going to the bench. And then Eli breaks out of the grasp, throws it up in the middle of the field. David Tyree catches the ball in his head. They go on to win.

[01:13:28] Score to the go on ahead, touchdown, win the game 17-14. Did that hurt Brady's legacy that they went 18-1? When he went to the bench, they had the lead, and then they got a miracle catch. Same thing happened in the Seattle game. Yeah, I just think it's something that people can make fun of him about because they don't have much else to talk about.

[01:13:51] So, to me, in my personal opinion, and it's been my opinion ever since I've really started kind of formulating these sports talks, making it to the Super Bowl and having a worthy performance on display, I don't think it hurts your legacy. John Elway was getting blown out in his Super Bowls. So, it was like, yo, are you not wired for this moment?

[01:14:19] And then he got us to against the Packers and, unfortunately, against the Falcons. What up, Eugene Robinson? Yeah, like you're trying to get a hooker on the street. Like, come on, man. You're in the Super Bowl. Just walk right in your hotel. Just walk right in your hotel with no shirt on. I'm like, yo, who's trying to hang out with an NFL star? It's that easy. Like, I don't know how dudes didn't learn that growing up with game. I'm like, you got abs and you got to check.

[01:14:48] Just walk around a Miami hotel and you'll scoop something for free. But, yeah, then he got burnt by Rod Smith. So, I still watch the game after that. But, that's the piece. It was like, I think a lot of these, I think Jalen Hurts, what he's done, I think he's shown his personal stamp on football.

[01:15:17] I think what he did from high school up until now is like, this guy's different. You don't have a single outburst video of him. You don't have a single video of him pouting. He got bent for Tua, who he's obviously better than. And he always has been. And he stood there. And then when Tua couldn't finish, he came in and finished. Transferred, was a Heisman finalist at another school.

[01:15:46] Came in behind Carson Wentz. Played his role. Took his spot. Got paid. Been to two Super Bowls. So, it was like, he's done everything we've all wanted. Every other quarterback we love to do. Joe Burrow's only been to one Super Bowl. Jess Allen hasn't been to any. Lamar hasn't been to any. Jess Herbert hasn't been to any. Goff has been to one. He played the best.

[01:16:17] He played the best individual game in the Super Bowl two years ago. Mm-hmm. Mahomes just played the moments better. Mahomes just makes. Mahomes' seven-yard run on fourth and one always happens during the two-minute warning rush. No timeouts. Or one timeout left.

[01:16:44] His plays happen when it's winning time. That's the difference between him and a lot of other quarterbacks. But what Jalen Hurts is doing, he's doing everything that we've been told all these other guys could do. And I'm glad he got paid like these other guys. Right. Well, we also have to have a conversation, I guess, about Sirianni as well. I fuck with Sirianni. If they pull this off. You know? Like, you can't call him immature no more. You still can. He done grown up.

[01:17:14] You absolutely still can. You know, he's coming up age. You can call him obnoxious. But you have to be honest. Because you have Andy Reid on your GOAT list for the win here, right? Right. Andy Reid didn't coach in two Super Bowls as an Eagles coach. He did it in four years. So, like, that in this free agency, big money acquisition, you know, demanding trade era.

[01:17:44] But I ain't going to act like Andy Reid ain't have no Todd Pinkston and Fred X's and stuff like that. Oh, no. Let's not keep it twisted. I'm going to shout out the Tennessee Titans. I saw a clip today. The guy was asking. What's the boy name? I'm drawing a blank. I don't know why. That's right. He was asking. I'm, uh... God damn. Why am I drawing a blank? I'm literally drawing a blank.

[01:18:14] Number 11. The wide receiver. Number 11. Why am I drawing a blank? No. For the Eagles. Oh, A.J. Brown? A.J. Brown. Why am I? I was... I couldn't focus at all. No, you threw me off because you said the Titans. And I was like, huh? Yeah. Like, yeah. So, somebody asked him today, do you hear about the Luka trade and is he finally happy not being part of the most lopsided trade in sports history?

[01:18:42] When they gave up A.J. Brown, they gave up a first-round pick guy, A.J. Brown, and then they went and drafted a guy they thought was going to be next, A.J. Brown, and they showed up at the camp throwing up, couldn't handle the heat. So, it's kind of funny, but to think about it, like, Howard Rosen made that move. If Devontae Smith, I saw something else. The Giants were prepared to get him at 11. And Philly grabbed him at 10. And then, you know, the rest is history.

[01:19:10] So, you got to be lucky. You got to be fortunate. But you still need players to make that luck play off. So, I like Jalen Hurts. I think the issue with his legacy is going to be in this era of quarterbacks, those guys all throw the ball at a different level.

[01:19:40] I don't want to say a different level. I mean, I guess level is the word, but they make different plays throwing the ball. It's not like he doesn't make the plays that they need. Like, Justin Herbert just has that rollout point, point, point, 60-yard bomb. Josh Allen has the point, point, point, 60-yard bomb. Everything's breaking down.

[01:20:08] Lamar has the open field outrunning the DB to the end zone. Whereas Jalen is like, Chevy Silverado, come around here. I'm reliable and dependable. I can haul the trailer. I can put your lumber in here. I have everything here to help you build your house. Whereas Lamar is Lamborghini and, you know, Josh Allen, Herbert Burrow.

[01:20:38] Burrow has Jamar Chase. So, a lot of his throws are like, oh, my God, I can't believe he made that throw. But really, it's Jamar Chase being open to make that catch. So, it's like, Jalen just doesn't have that. I don't know if his legacy changes until people – he would have to win this weekend and then win another one for people to say, oh, that wasn't a fluke.

[01:21:07] Whereas a guy like Burrow, if Burrow would have – you know, Grant, we're speaking hypotheticals. I think if Joe Burrow makes this – beats the Chiefs next year in the AFC Championship because all we know for the last seven years is you've got to beat the Chiefs. You've got to beat the Chiefs to make the Super Bowl in the NFL since 2000, carried to 2018. All right, last question from me.

[01:21:37] With this Super Bowl win, Howie Roseman a Hall of Famer? I think he already is. Okay, okay, fair enough. I saw a video the other day. It was like – it was a Philly podcast. But they ran down like the last three years' first three round draft picks. Uh-huh.

[01:22:04] So I gave you that's your Quincyon Mitchells, Cooper Dejean, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis. N'Kobe Dean. Devont – N'Kobe Dean. Devontae Smith. That's just off the top of my head. And then you got your Saquon signing. You got your trade for A.J. Brown. Locking up Hurts. Locking up Hurts. Getting rid of Wentz.

[01:22:27] Like, all of these moves have made Philly this – short of last year, whatever happened in their locker room last year needs to be studied. Because they went Super Bowl. Then they went 10-1 and completely fell off the map. They finished what, 11-6? Yeah, they filled in something like 11-6. And then they got run out of the building by Tampa Bay.

[01:22:57] Granted, it was in Tampa Bay. But it was like, you guys were 10-1 a month ago. Yeah, y'all were way talented than them. So that needs to be studied. So to have that kind of steep fall off to the point where I fucking picked the Cowboys to win the division this year, even though they didn't make the moves in the offseason, because I thought whatever that cliff that the Eagles all fell off of was so detrimental that it was going to carry over.

[01:23:27] And then they're back in the Super Bowl. So, and at any point in the playoffs, short of – I know L.A. got the ball back in the snow. And I was thinking, like, are they going to – because when Saquon scored a long touchdown, they were up 28-15. I was like, is this game over? I do remember that, though, because I picked Philly to win the division.

[01:23:52] And then, you know, as we were doing our playoff preview, I said that Philly was the team that I had the most confidence in getting to the Super Bowl. So, yeah, I remember that. Yeah, so – But this is the thing. I agree with you in that. I said I stuck with my pick because my pick was still alive. Right, right, right. Because I picked Detroit and Kansas City. Right, right. My pick was still alive, and it didn't look like Detroit was falling apart. Right. They still had won the division.

[01:24:20] They won 15 games. It wasn't like they were kind of stumbling into the playoffs, and they were like 10-2, and all of a sudden the playoffs comes around, and they're 11-6. You know, it's like, okay, but they still won – you know, it wasn't one of those situations. Right. But, yeah, Philly's intriguing. I like what they do. I think what they do well travels is just that I think the Washington game might have instilled a little bit of hope.

[01:24:50] They're false confidence in the Philly supporters, not necessarily the fans, but the people who think they're going to win. Right, right, right. Because Austin Eckler doesn't fumble. I know it's all hypothetical. Right, right, right, right. If he gets touchdown right then, Jaden Daniels still has the ball. There's a real potential that they go into the fourth quarter down three points. Down one score. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, you know, that'll be Sunday, so we'll be back Friday with our official picks.

[01:25:20] Yeah. You know, so Mr. Logical brought up a topic to me that I found most intriguing. You know, he asked me, what if baseball had a salary cap? And honestly, I had never even thought about it before because I think it's such a far-fetched thing that will ever happen that I just never thought about it. They need one. Okay. Tell me why.

[01:25:47] A couple of pieces, a couple of things I'm going to look at here. Okay, so while you're, you got it or, because I was going to ask you a question, but you got, okay. Yeah. I got the one, a couple of notes and then you can ask me the question, man. Okay. But like, just a basic note. Okay. The New York Mets owner is personally worth $21 billion. Okay.

[01:26:15] So, even if he was like, you know what, I'm willing to stake 10% of my net worth to build this team, it is still $2.1 billion. Right. That's just his net worth. There are the teams, the valuations of each one of these, not every team, but I'm just going to give you the numbers they rank from 17.

[01:26:44] From, you know, one through 30. Okay. The MLB teams 17 through 30, they're all worth under $2 billion. Okay. So, as a team, 45% of your leagues are not worth 10% of the richest owner who just gave Soto was $765 million. I don't feel like that, yeah.

[01:27:15] All right. So, $765 million. That means he still has $1.4 million if he's willing to risk 10% of his net worth. Right. He still has $1.4 million to throw at players if he personally just threw his money in the pot. That's still more than the team's worth from, like, I think 17. Here, let me get the actual number. All right.

[01:27:44] Team number 17, right? Right. Is, okay, I'm going $1.4 million. So, we go Colorado Rockies at $20. Okay. Their valuation is $1.45 or $1.47. That's nuts.

[01:28:00] So, if Steve, if Cohen is willing to give $765 to another guy, he still has $1.3.5, $1.4.5 of his 10% that he can play with to get players. That is more than 33% of your league is worth. And he has that available. And now you have the deferment with the Dodgers doing that deferment.

[01:28:29] It's like, I get if he didn't have the money. Right. Like Bobby Benilla with the deferment. I think somebody else had a real famous deferment. Granted, it's still the Mets. That's why baseball needs a salary cap. Because if we look at the NFL, Cincinnati had to sell stadium rights to pay Joe Burrow's contract. But in MLB, it's like, oh, I'm worth $21 billion.

[01:28:58] I can use 10% of this to buy my team. I'll make it back. I'll make it back. And I'll make it back in ticket sales alone over the next three years. Yeah. Yeah. So, I was thinking about this. And I was trying to wrap my head around it. Like how it will work. You know.

[01:29:20] So, to some degree, I understand your points as far as why it needs to be a thing. You know. Because you have welfare teams, for lack of better words. Part of the reason why a team like Oakland is going to Las Vegas. Is because they can't keep up with the Joneses or they won't keep up with the Joneses. You know. And I think that is more or less the problem within itself.

[01:29:49] Because Oakland was fighting with the city to try to get this stadium built. They've been playing in that stadium since the 70s at least. And that stadium wasn't even full when they were winning World Series. So, a lot of Oakland fans that I argued with last year brought up Fisher, their owner now.

[01:30:18] Who owns like the Gap, Old Navy, all that stuff like that. They brought him up as a piece of shit owner. And that's why things are the way that they are. And I'm like, but what about the owner before that? You know what I mean? But, so here's my question that I wanted to ask you. So, if I'm looking at this, thinking about this. So, look at that college football, for example. You know, the conferences have their TV deals. And the schools get, they split that up.

[01:30:48] But, you also have like your regional deals, all that kind of stuff like that. So, looking at baseball. If I were to have a salary cap, how does that affect things like the Yes Network? And WGN and NESEN and all that stuff like that. I think a lot of those networks are already taking a hit. WGN was one of my favorite networks growing up. I remember I used to watch Night Court on there. I used to watch the Cubs games. The Yes Network.

[01:31:18] You just got to negotiate a good deal. And it has to be the understanding that. But you're not using any of that money towards your team, right? Is what I'm trying to get at. Well, it depends on your situation. If you're behind the eight ball and you are the Chicago Cubs or you're the Milwaukee Brewers and you're chasing the Phillies. Because right now, if I go top five or top ten.

[01:31:47] Get my source here together. Because it's tripping. So, you go. Because Phillies are nine. I think their evaluation is 2.5 million. Okay. You have. Who's one? One, obviously, the Yankees. Two, Dodgers. Three, Red Sox. Cubs. Not a lot of success.

[01:32:15] San Francisco Giants. New York Mets. Angels. And we know about Mike Trout's career with their limited success. Right. Braves. Phillies. Cardinals. But. One. Being the Yankees. Valued 7.1 billion. Dodgers 4.8 billion. Red Sox 1.25. Chicago 4.1. San Francisco 3.7.

[01:32:45] Those are only teams over 3 billion. The Mets at 2.9 billion is their evaluation. It's due to their lack of success. The guy who owns them is personally worth 21 billion. Right. So, if you in baseball doesn't have the appeal of I'm going to ride the success of other marketable franchises.

[01:33:13] Phoenix sold, I believe, for like 4.5 billion or 4.25 billion a couple years ago. Mark Cuban sold 73.3% of the Mavericks for 3.85 billion. So, if you just did that math. Yeah. Washington went for over 6 billion in football.

[01:33:41] 6 billion in football. So, a lot of these other major sports are just kind of living off the price set by the previous team. I believe the Cowboys are something like 7 billion dollars. If not like 7 billion dollars in evaluation. Yeah. But negotiation, you know, Jerry Jones, savvy guy, is like, listen, yeah, I know it says it's 7 billion.

[01:34:07] But as soon as you take it over, it's going to ramp up because people want to see me gone. Whatever the case may be. Right. So, you got a team like the Marlins valuation, $1 billion. And you can see it with their fan turn now. They got the new stadium. No fans in it. Looks good. Looks great. Looks great for all-star games. Looks great for pitchers.

[01:34:33] A lot of moving stuff in the audience is like dolphins and like swordfish and waves and all kinds of crazy stuff happening in the crowd. Except people buying tickets to watch you play baseball. And what happens is you just don't have the resources to keep your players. You don't have the resource to entice other players.

[01:34:59] So, the players that you do end up having who have some success, they go to the Dodgers. So, you know what I was thinking about? Because, you know, I try to take a different angle. So, what I was looking at was, in my mind, a salary cap means or could mean, should mean more parity.

[01:35:25] You know, because like you don't have the Yankees or the Dodgers just buying up the block. So, like for example, last year, in one week, just in one week, the Dodgers spent $1.1 billion on three different players. So, that was Shohei, Glasnow, and Yamamoto. Right? And the thing about it, they're not paying out from like 2034 until 2045, right? Right. Something crazy like that. Yeah. So, what do you think?

[01:35:55] Something's got to go. Something can't be allowed. Well, this is my thing. So, it took me down a rat hole. Okay. And this is where I ended up. All right. So, since the year 2000. This is going to be good, ladies and gentlemen. Brace yourself. Since the year 2000. Major League Baseball has had 17 different franchises win the World Series. Okay. That's good, Verity.

[01:36:21] The NBA, for comparison, had 11. And then the NFL had 13. But I'll give you 14 if you want to count LA and St. Louis as separate. But I don't. So, 13. You know, so, like, so from a parity standpoint. Yeah, it was a 13. So, as a parity standpoint of who wins the titles, even with these disadvantages, you know, the Diamondbacks have won a title.

[01:36:51] You know, the Marlins have won a title prior to the window that I used. You know, you had. Oh, my brain is not working on me. But the Rangers just won their first World Series two years ago. Yeah. You said the Royals? The Rangers. The Royals got one. Yeah, the Royals got one in that window. Yeah. Royals got one. Rangers. Houston got one. Astros. Yep. The Giants.

[01:37:20] The Yankees got one in 09. Yeah. And they were the final ones. Red Sox. Red Sox got a couple. Since 2000? Yeah, since 2000. White Sox got one. White Sox got one. Yep. I believe Boston got two. The Cardinals. Giants. The Giants got a couple. Uh-huh. Giants got a couple. The Cardinals. The Cardinals. Yeah. Post-Berry Bonds. Because Barry Bonds ever won one. Right. Which is crazy. The Angels.

[01:37:50] Because they were the ones that beat Barry Bonds. The Angels got one? Yeah. They were the ones that beat Barry Bonds in that series. Okay. But. So the reason that I brought that up is because, you know, for the conversation that we're having, before, like if we were talking to someone that had no baseball knowledge or wasn't really

[01:38:16] a follower, they would probably assume that the Yankees and Dodgers win all the titles. You know what I mean? And they do if you look at it from a historical lens. But, you know, looking at the modern game, it's not true. Yeah. But if you look at the end, if you simply look at the championship, who won the World Series at the end, it's a lot of parody. The thing with baseball, and it's, baseball is unlike any other sport professionally that

[01:38:46] I've really noticed is that their season starts March 28th to April 1st, somewhere in that window. There are teams, multiple teams, that are mathematically done July 18th. That sounds like the NBA to me. But, but this is the difference. They are done July 18th, right?

[01:39:14] So they'll trade off whatever assets they have to, you know, so they'll trade off their starting left-hander, their home run hitter, their contact hitter, their stolen base guy. They'll trade off their four best guys to Boston, New York, LA, Houston, and get Houston's best pitching prospect, best shortstop prospect.

[01:39:43] And just basically, they'll start their rebuild for like this year. The 2025 MLB season is going to run from April 1st to October 31st. We'll just go with that as a framework. There's going to be teams that are done August 1st. Like, it's a wrap. I'm not sure exactly what the trade deadline is. So those teams are done.

[01:40:10] So you'll get parity because the Royals will give up their top prospects to get the Pirates' best players and go on a run in 2025. Well, that was one of the things that I was going to bring up. Like, in a salary cap, you probably hold on to some of those guys a little longer and actually see their development all the way through. But the main question that I wanted to ask you... There's a penalty involved, but pretty much you could just sign, you could just pass off the whole contract.

[01:40:40] It's like, so none of this is on me. I gave Mike Wilson my strong right-handed closer. I gave him a three-year deal worth $90 million. I'm paying him $30 million a year. But it's August 1st, and I'm 17 games back in my division. Let me go ahead and just offload this and get all the pieces I can get from this team

[01:41:08] that thinks they are a strikeout away from winning the World Series. That's what baseball gives you without the salary cap. But that requires you to have two or three down years as the Kansas City Royals, as the Milwaukee Brewers. Or... You are a team that doesn't have, like, a lot of money. You have to have, like, down years, and then you make these trades with these teams that are constantly up.

[01:41:37] You make the trade with Philly. You make the trade with Anaheim. You make the trade with the Dodgers. You make the trade with, you know, or maybe a team that... Okay, let me ask you this. You're on the cuffs. Let me ask you this. So I do have a main question I want to get to, but since you just said that, let me run with that. So what's the difference between that and... Okay, is it the number of players on a team? Because I know we've had similar conversations with the NBA. And, you know, I would say, big market, small market.

[01:42:06] And then you would say, well, the small market team just got to spend money. Doesn't that apply here, too? With baseball, with baseball, baseball is your ultimate production sport. Because in football, you can win a game 16-13 ugly. Uh-huh.

[01:42:31] If, you know, Cooper Cup catches a slant and you get to kick a 35-yard field goal. Right. You can win a game in the snow, in the rain, if you hand the ball off 35 times. You can win the game ugly because it's only a few people that can really negatively impact your game. Right. I can just keep giving the ball to Saquon. I don't have to...

[01:42:56] I don't have to take Saquon out to put some third string running back in. Whereas in baseball... And then once I do that, he can't come back in. He can't come back in. You know, stuff like that. But with baseball, it's like, I need all hands on deck. And if it's not working, you move on and you start over.

[01:43:18] But the small market piece of it is that the market doesn't dictate how well you get on base and score runs. Because if you get on second and the guy hits a single and you have any decent foot speed, the lack of you scoring and going to 1-0 is easy.

[01:43:43] So you need a guy that can hit the ball in between first and second when you've got a guy on second base that can come around. In the NFL, you have to have a game changer disposition. You have to have a dynamic wide receiver disposition. Or you have to be ultra dynamic Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow at quarterback to overcome your wide receiver deficiencies or your defensive deficiencies.

[01:44:13] Most MLB teams, you hit a pop fly. A guy's going to get to it. You know, guys aren't just out there like it's not a bunch of guys who can't track a ball from center field hit to the wall. Every team has a guy that can do that. And that's the thing. You just need the guys that can make the timely hits. You need guys that have enough experience. Guys can stay healthy enough. And if you don't have that, if you don't have those pieces,

[01:44:37] that's why managers get fired so quickly in baseball because, like, so many people are just somewhat interchangeable that you can just trade off. You can make, like, okay, Zach Grinke. I think he got signed to the Diamondbacks. And when the Diamondbacks were kind of having their run, you know, they're like, eh, it's not going to work out. We already paid you, like, $120 million.

[01:45:04] But the Warriors were like, yo, I think we're a left-hander away. You know, I don't know if he's a left-hander, but, like, I think we're just a pitcher away to get, you know, I think we need another pitcher to make four and five in our rotation. The Pirates have a terrible season, but they got a good pitcher we can use. And the Diamondbacks have a terrible year. They have a good pitcher we can use. We can give them this prospect we got from the Dominican Republic two years ago that's in AAA. And they can build around him going forward.

[01:45:34] And when these teams make these trades, they just bow out on the season. Right. So when the Diamondbacks dump all their assets that are currently playing in the major leagues, they get whatever they get from these other teams, and then they play whoever they have to play. And then if they go, you know, if they finish the year, you know, 72 and 90, it's like, okay, cool. We had a good run. We got these prospects going forward. Okay.

[01:46:02] So the main question that I wanted to get to in the close up on is, do you think that having a salary cap, because I know we've talked about this a couple of times in the last few years, do you think having a salary cap will make baseball more popular?

[01:46:18] I believe it could if they just kind of look at how what basketball did and not follow it 100%. Just figure out better ways to keep your young talent in Kansas City, in Tampa Bay, in Milwaukee,

[01:46:45] in both Chicago teams, because we tune in to watch Aaron Judge hit the ball. If Giancarlo Stanton was on the Royals, we would tune in to Royals games to watch him hit the ball. But since both of them are on the Yankees, I only have to watch the Yankee game. And, like, you have Soto, who is now a Met.

[01:47:14] But if you're really, like, into Soto, you're like, I can watch Soto, Gary Cole, P. Alonzo, Aaron Judge, John Callen Stanton, the New York Yankees, right? Yeah. I could watch all of these guys in one game. I don't have to tune in to the Marlins versus the Pirates. But with a salary cap, I think you'd be able to keep one or two of these stars. Right.

[01:47:44] Like the – I forgot the pitcher's name in Pittsburgh that's dating the LSU. I think it's like Steiner. Yeah. Steiner or Steiner or something along those lines. Well, Pittsburgh is not a big market. I think it's a great city. I've been to Pittsburgh once. It was a dope weekend. I love it. I love the way he said it. It looks skein. Skein, yeah.

[01:48:11] So he is, you know, he's dating this popular LSU, NIL star. Right. Does his agent say, hey, man, you should call – does he tell his agent, find out what Steve Cohen's willing to pay to get me to New York so Libby can launch her makeup brand? Whatever it is. I'm not trying to be dismissive of, like, how the relations work or how you use your – the market that you're in.

[01:48:41] But as a baseball, if I'm running baseball, I'm like, no, I need you in Pittsburgh. You can lean on her star. You can lean on her celebrity is all you want. But I need you to stay in Pittsburgh. So in August, when I have these games, when I have Pittsburgh versus Cincinnati for a weekend series on ESPN from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I have star power there.

[01:49:11] And, like, baseball needs star power where they are. Yeah, and that's how I was kind of looking at it from the standpoint of going off of our previous, I guess, iteration of this conversation of, theoretically, with a salary cap, more teams would stick around for longer and have a chance. So, like, especially now that they've expanded the wild card with the extra team, you know, per league or whatever. You know, so now you have a – And I don't have a player in your playoff set off.

[01:49:40] No, I'm not – I like it, but – I just think that teams wouldn't just basically give up in July. Right, right. You got to – If you give up post-All-Star break, you got the rest of July, August, and all September to play out and charge people tickets. It's kind of like the NBA play-in, right, where we're like, hey, like in the NBA, you know, like, hey, there's 10 spots. And these final five teams are in range to get into that 10 spot.

[01:50:09] So, for baseball, it could be the same thing where it's like, hey, you know, this last wild card spot, we got seven teams down here that are within two and a half games of each other with 10 games left. Yeah. And now you got a reason to watch, you know, because the playoffs are on the line. Like a team – a team like the Oakland A's, we talk about the Moneyball or Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, great movie. I love the movie. I love – I love all sports movies. Right. I love sports movies. Right.

[01:50:38] League of the Rooms is probably my favorite. But there's been so many years since that Moneyball window where you look up at the standings in June, and they probably played through April, May, June. So, that 90-day window, MLB's probably played about 78 games, give or take.

[01:51:06] About 78, 80 games because they don't get a lot of breaks. Right. So, say – well, conservatively, they played 75 games in that first between April, May through June. So, July 1st, they played about 75, you know, 75 games. Teams could literally be 20 and 55. And just be like, we're done. But I think with a salary cap, you wouldn't be able to dump those guys off.

[01:51:35] Guys probably understand, once you get to like 20 – you're like at 19 wins and 40 losses in your first 59 games, or 19 and 30 in your first 50 games, you're like, I'm probably in a position where I can get out of here. Right. So, maybe my wrist hurts. Right. Because I'm looking to get traded to a bigger market.

[01:51:58] But I think with a salary cap, like I said, you don't have Aaron Judge and Stanton and Soto all on the same team in the same lineup. You don't have Mookie Betts, Shea Ohtani, and any other Japanese prospect that comes out on the Dodgers getting a $500 million contract. But they're getting paid $7 million for the next nine years.

[01:52:28] And then after nine years, they're getting their $51.5 million for the next 10 years. You know, it's like, how is that fair to a team that can't project that far? Like, the Marlins, with their valuation of $1 billion, they can't bring in Ohtani, Mike Trout, and Gary Cole from the Yankees and offer them – I don't even know if they'll go there if they could.

[01:52:55] All 10-year deals, $700 million each. They'll be like, yo, we're going to start paying you in 2032. It's like, we don't even know if you're going to have the money in 2032. You don't have – you don't – you know, like, how are you going to make that happen? But the – Hey, I'm JJ Becussin'? Yeah. Excessively. So, you know, and that's my piece of the salary gap.

[01:53:21] Granted, it would have to take – it would have to be the introduction of, hey, we're doing a salary gap. Then pros and cons, max number of players, max number of guys getting deferred, because that was a conversation, like I said, me and my pops, I bounced a lot of these ideas off him before I talked to you. It's like, I get it from a – like a layaway plan. People do it all the time. Like, you know what? I'm going on this cruise. My birthday is September.

[01:53:51] Say I want to do a birthday cruise. But I got, like, 10 people that I want to go, and the cruise is, you know, whatever. $1,800. We'll just go with that with the plane tickets and everything else. Like, yo, though, I was doing this cruise. It's in seven months on my birthday. You have five months to pay it off. That makes sense to me. As a normal, rational person, deferring your money, like, listen, I'm getting paychecks every couple of weeks for the next few months.

[01:54:20] I'll break off 10% of each, you know, and pay for this cruise. Right, right. That's fine. But you can have three, four players on your team that you sign this year. Like, this week. It's February. First week of February, you're signing players, and they can't –

[01:54:43] they are signing to get their first big-ass check February 2029. Because I thought that's literally four whole years. Like, how are you able to do that when the Brewers can't do that? Well, I think that's what – Yeah, that was with the Shohei thing where he's going to – Shohei's deal is probably, like, the craziest. Like, I can't believe –

[01:55:06] I can't believe this made it through whatever quality control process it is in the MLB office in New York or LA, wherever they are. I think baseball leadership is real – To some degree, it's real short-sighted. You know what I mean? Because they make money just because they have 162 games. You know what I mean? And I think that they're short-sighted and look at it almost through an NBA lens. Like, I'm sure if you left it up to baseball, you know, they would love to have New York and LA any chance they could have.

[01:55:35] You know what I mean? And against each other is even better. You know what I mean? But I think that's where the game got stalled because, you know, eventually that runs out. People get tired of it. Like, the Cavs and the Warriors, right? It was cool. Steph against LeBron. But there came a point where it was just like, but I know this is what it's going to be. You know? Whereas baseball, you don't necessarily run into that part of it because usually the hottest pitcher in the postseason,

[01:56:05] is usually what carries the day. So even if you're the very last seed, you know, if your pitcher's out here throwing heat, you have a great chance to win the World Series. And you get some timely hits because dudes don't swing the bat in the playoffs either. Right. That too. Like, it's a lot of 2-1 games. I'm like, just fucking swing. But they know it's a finality to that. And it's like a very finite amount of opportunity. Well, they also do the analytics. You know what I mean? You know, analytics has infiltrated baseball.

[01:56:34] They're probably more – the analytics are probably more detrimental to baseball than basketball and even football. Right. 100%. I do agree with that. You know what I mean? Because baseball, you can just – like, realistically, you can hit hard ground balls between second and third. Mm-hmm. If you hit them hard enough, you can get on base. But you have a guy who can't go opposite field or a left-handed guy who can't go opposite field,

[01:57:03] and it's five dudes between first and second. And it's like, yo, he can't turn his hips a little bit and go between second and third. Yeah. So, like, that's the thing that just kind of blew my mind. But, like, you know, an NBA is analytics. Make Draymond shoot his three. Eventually, he's going to knock down a couple. Right. I mean, hell, he was almost finals MVP, right? Yeah, like 30 – what was it? He had, like, a 32-point-short-thole. Yeah.

[01:57:29] In that game seven where LeBron had the greatest defensive play in NBA finals history. Yo, it was legit. People poo-pooed that when it happened. I was the boy. It's just because of who it was. I'm like, come on, dog. Like, y'all don't care about basketball if y'all – Bro, Tristan Thompson or Channing Frye did that same exact thing. Just because they're role players, it would be blown up. You know, like, players rise to the moment. I remember, like, that same game. And we'll get back into baseball talk.

[01:57:57] But I remember after he made that block, right? I'm in this room. I'm deployed. I'm waiting on my jet to land. No one really reacted with, like, real enthusiasm. And I think about when I was in Iraq in 2008 and I was rooting for the Patriots. I wanted to see an undefeated season. I thought it would be dope. And when Eli Manning threw the ball off of David Tyree's head, and I was like, we all jumped up.

[01:58:23] We were watching, like, a little theater on, like, these couches, like, this makeshift theater they made in the rec center in Iraq when I was in Belad, Iraq. Right. Belad Air Base LSA Anaconda. That's what it was called then. And I jumped up and reacted because, like, that was crazy. So when LeBron got the block and these guys in the room who were all, like, Kobe guys and anti-LeBron guys, they didn't react. And then LeBron, like, missed, like, a little baby hook, like, in the next couple of possessions. Oh, he's choking. Oh, I'm like, yo, really?

[01:58:53] Y'all go react to that. Like, he missed baby hooks. That's why I always tell people Kyrie's three doesn't matter if the block doesn't happen. Yeah. But. Like, one has to lead to the other. And then he hit the free throw. And then Kevin Love played the defense. But it's like, it's. And I get that it's sports and it's money. And as fans, we want hope. We want clarity. We want parity. We want it all. And like I said last week, parity is a byproduct of participation.

[01:59:22] You've got to participate in these situations to create the parity. But in baseball, they definitely put a lot of these smaller teams behind the eight ball. Because I don't care what you say. Getting the Miami Marlins and the Oakland Athletics in the World Series as the way that the league is currently constituted, currently constituted is absolutely impossible.

[01:59:49] But we almost had Washington Commanders versus Buffalo Bills in the NFL. Mm-hmm. Because they embrace the salary cap. They embrace, you know, cutting players, trading players. You had Phoenix and Milwaukee one year. Moving coaches. Giving coaches real power. I mean, Pittsburgh is. What's that? I said we had Phoenix and Milwaukee in the NBA finals. You know, and we've had San Antonio against New Jersey back in the day.

[02:00:20] But if I told you, hey, man, I'm going to bet $1,000 that Cleveland versus Pittsburgh is going to be next year's World Series. Everybody would take that bet. Yeah, they'd bet against me. Yeah, yeah. Everybody would take that bet. And they could probably cash that bet out. And unfortunately, like, depends on the situation, they could probably cash that bet out in August. Right. 100%. Let me go and get that $250 a month for the next few months.

[02:00:49] I'd let you, I'd give you a reprieve. 100%. But on that note, y'all, he is the one and only, world-renowned, Mr. Logical. And I am 2-5. We will be back on Friday. And that means Super Bowl picks. Is anybody bold enough to pick against the team? To pick the Atlanta Falcons. And then, of course. I ain't forget about you, baby.

[02:01:18] We're going to have trade deadline reaction and much, much more. We love you. Like, review, subscribe, share, rate through all the free things. Through all the good things. We love you. Peace. Hungry and humble. That's it.