#sportsreportsasordered - CAN'T KEEP RUNNING AWAY

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[00:00:28] Absolutely. Even though golf was created in Scotland, it was the Atlantic City Country Club that came up with Birdie and Eagle. Jersey influencing everything. Stand up. He is Mr. Logical. Don't bring feelings to a fat fight. Don't do it.

[00:00:50] Then of course it is I, your unorthodox statistician, live to you. Coming to you from the Alamo. I do believe in Joe Hendry. I go left so much that you thought I was South Park.

[00:01:01] I go by the name of 2-5. And tonight, we gonna talk about some Ace Bailey, some NBA free agency. And are the Steelers going all in? Hmm. Interesting. But do me a favor out there. Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things. Do all the good things with a liquid death in your hands. Let's get to it.

[00:01:31] So, Mr. Logical. You're? Ace Bailey finally made it on site. I was a little touch and go for a while. I was a little nervous for him. Right, right, right. So, you know, it was interesting because, you know, he had his list of destinations that nobody knew.

[00:01:56] You know, I'm guessing maybe the teams themselves knew, but it sounds like he would have been okay going to Washington. He would have been okay going to, um, uh, I'm sorry, uh, Washington and New Orleans in Brooklyn. Yeah, those were the three that allegedly he was okay with going to, but he didn't want to go to Philadelphia. He didn't want to go to Charlotte.

[00:02:21] So my question more or less is, did he just do it wrong? Uh, yeah, pretty much. Like, he, he didn't have the leverage he thought he did. Uh, he wasn't player of the year. They didn't make a deep NBA NCAA tournament run. He wasn't in conversations alongside Cooper flag for who was going to go number one.

[00:02:51] So I just felt like, I think he just overplayed his card. Looking at the surrounding talent. Right. About all the guys who went back to school, how this year was like the lowest number of guys who actually, you know, submitted documentation that they wanted to be in the draft. I just felt like he looked around people want to say he's getting bad advice. I don't know that to be factual. I haven't heard his agent come out and say anything. I went to his agent's page.

[00:03:20] It looks like he's a businessman entrepreneur. That's been building this. I believe it's called lifestyle sports brand or lifestyle brand for a few years. Now he is, is social media page. I'm with his Instagram page. So it looks like this guy's trying to build on something. We always talk about the black community. You know what we should bring home our players and build up and, and have people inside the community that help these guys get out of the community, so forth and so on.

[00:03:47] He's the father of a WNBA player and another NBA player. So I think he, he had a, and a great idea. It's just that I believe Ace Bailey was his proverbial ace in the whole part and the pun. And that was going to put him on the, like put his, his lifestyle brand company on the map. Because if I went through his Instagram page, his, his pictures probably way back to 2021, 2022.

[00:04:15] When Ace was in high school and doing these different tournaments. It's like he was, he was going to be his guy that was going to launch the whole company into this space. You know, the way LeBron did it for clutch. LeBron's already in the league, but that, that kind of, that meteoric rise was, I think that was going to come from Ace Bailey. And I think this kind of overplayed their hand.

[00:04:38] And luckily he is in a sport where having a guy that's six, seven, six, eight, six, nine, that can score the rock. They'll ignore some of the, you know, the people around them. And of course, when he gets to Utah, they'll put them around other people. Maybe they'll try to pull them away from his agent, whatever the case may be. Or maybe he'll just get out there and enjoy it. Like I say, you and I love it, but we're not, you know, 19 year old NBA stars or 22 year old NBA stars.

[00:05:07] So they might not feel it the same way. So I hope he goes out there and balls out, but he's going to get the most opportunities. He's not going to have to share the ball. He doesn't have to share the spotlight. Utah fans are going to love him. They still love Boozer. They still love Darren Williams. Even though Darren Williams got Jerry Sloan fired. Like they got statues of Carl Malone everywhere. I mean, it was like, yeah. He was buying their cars from Stockton, Malone, Toyota. Even though he was on his R. Kelly shit. Like, you know, it's one of those things where, you know,

[00:05:35] if you're looking at it just for basketball reasons, you know what I'm saying? You definitely, you definitely don't think of it as a bad move from a basketball standpoint. You know, because like I wanted him in Washington, but let's pull it back a little bit. Pause. You know what I mean? Like we thought this was a 6'2 Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith kind of dude. You know what I'm saying? We find out he's 6'7 and a half.

[00:06:05] So now your fear is like 6'10. Is he Carmelo? You know what I'm saying? And not that that's a bad thing per se, but obviously the game passed that type of player by. So when you go down to 6'7 or so, you're in here with the rest of these guys. You're in here with the SGAs. You know, like you're in here with your own teammate. You know what I'm saying? Dylan Harper. So you don't stand out anymore as you did when we thought that you were 6'10. So then he comes in.

[00:06:35] So then he comes around and he's like, hey, I don't want to go to Philly. I don't want to go to this team. So why doesn't he want to go to Philly? Because they got too many miles to feed. If you look up and down that roster, there's just a lot of dudes on that roster that need the score, that needs the ball in their hand. You know, all that kind of stuff. So I understand why you wouldn't want to go there. Why you want to go to New Orleans? No idea. Why you want to go to Brooklyn? Why you want to go to Brooklyn? Okay. Because you will get the ball and you're familiar since you went to Rutgers.

[00:07:05] You know, so you kind of. But like I said, I think the agent was kind of also building this black-owned agency brand. And that is an area where you can capitalize on it. If you're in Brooklyn, you could probably capitalize on the basketball talent out of New York City or just the location of being in New York City.

[00:07:28] New Orleans, you have, if you want to recruit football players, being in Louisiana and down south, that bolsters a brand. NIL deals for guys going to LSU. And what was the other place? Washington? Washington, Maryland, D.C. is a very black, heavily black populated and influential area.

[00:07:50] Like there's a lot of people in D.C., Maryland, that area that are black with money, with power, with influence. So you figure you rub elbows with those people. That also propels your brain. Going to Utah will not launch his brand with the black community. Just not a big enough community there. But if he's trying to find athletes, if he's trying to get NIL bills, if he's trying to still build his – I'm talking about he being the agent.

[00:08:20] There's still talent there. You just – it won't be the same talent that you think you were planning on recruiting out of these other locations. Right. And no, I don't think Tyrese Maxey is getting traded. You know, you got McCain coming off an injury. Eric Gordon's probably the odd man out. There's already been rumors that they're trying to gauge the interest for Paul George. You know, what's his name? Grimes. Quentin Grimes is a restricted free agent.

[00:08:48] So with him, they at least have the choice of we can match what somebody offers or they could just let him walk if it's obscene or whatever. But, you know, but also back to Ace Bailey, I think that you just have to ingratiate yourself to the city that you got drafted in. So when we hear, you know, Walter Clayton's already on the plane and he's headed that way. Ace was supposed to be on this plane, but he's not. You know what I'm saying?

[00:09:18] So whatever, you know, those fans, you know, might feel a certain way about initially, he's got nobody to blame but himself. And I think what happened in this situation to some degree, just to a little bit of degree, you know, I think they were looking for sympathy on some. Um, hey, like, you know, these, you know, we always hear about Eli Manning, you know, and how he tried to get out of going to San Diego and all that. So people try to make sure.

[00:09:48] Yo, that draft day photo was probably by far the saddest draft day photo I've ever seen. I know. Remember the Eli when he was holding up the Chargers jersey? Yeah. I couldn't imagine being that disappointed. And that's the other thing that East Bailey messed up on is because you weren't the consensus number one draft pick. Like Cooper Flagg could have probably got away or got not as much criticism as Ace got. But the difference would have been is if it was Cooper Flagg, people would have just defaulted to they didn't criticize the white boy.

[00:10:18] You know what I'm saying? It's like, no, he's just the consensus number one overall pick. And you got a little bit more leeway when you're in that position. Whereas, you know, San Ace Bailey, they didn't want Ace to be the bad guy, Mike. Ace wanted to be the bad guy or his or his team wanted him to be the bad guy because this is all stuff that Ace put into motion. There wasn't this thing where teams were like, hey, I don't know how I feel about Ace Bailey. Like, even though we know that he's like uber talented, teams weren't turning him down.

[00:10:48] Teams weren't bringing him in for two and three, four workouts and still not giving him like, hey, you know, we feel like we're going to take you at two or three or four. It was rumor has it allegedly he didn't do the interviews or the workouts. They said he worked out for one team and it was a day or two before the draft and we still don't even know who that team is. So he did this to himself because it's one thing, right? Everybody has a preference.

[00:11:16] Everybody has a city that they would love to go to or whatever the case may be. So you made it. So, OK, it's like, hey, I don't want to go to Philly. OK, you don't want to go to Philly. No, he was like, I don't want to go to Philly. I don't want to go to Charlotte. I don't want to go to like he was just giving you the whole list of teams that were in that range. So basically to get me, you got to get a trade. And oh, Utah, by the way, if you select me, you might have to trade my rights or you might have to like like he did all this.

[00:11:45] The the Internet journalists were just going eight because I saw one that said the Lakers are the number one. Odds team, the land ace Bailey if Utah trades them. I'm like it is Thursday morning, like the draft. Like I think like the draft is like Friday morning. Like the draft just happened. Like no one's trading the guy just because he didn't show up one day. Like calm down, people.

[00:12:13] Like like I said, I've been, you know, neck deep in these sports groups for like the last week. And it's like it's upsetting. But it is what it is. Like I said, I like. I like that he showed up. I like the answer he gave the press conference. Let's see. Hold up real quick. Real quick. Hold on. Let me say this real quick. But Mike, but to your point, though, yes, he did go number five. He did stay in the lottery. But he also cost himself about nine and a half million.

[00:12:39] You know, just from being number three to number five is a nine and a half million decrease. So like we can't. I wouldn't want to go to Utah. What? Like no one knows why they don't want to go to Utah other than there's a bunch of white people there. Because let's keep it a bean. It's like 16 teams in the NBA that aren't winning. Four of them just happen to get into the play in. They just stumble away into the play in.

[00:13:09] So there's about 12 teams that are trying to win. Of that 12, five to six really have a shot. So the only way you get an opportunity to win is get the players in. I know people who go down to Oklahoma for training because because of air crew training. They tell me there's not much out there. All right. But if you go there with Shea, J-Dub, the other J-Dub, you draft Chet, you bring in a good coach.

[00:13:38] Now those guys drove through Oklahoma City on buses that said 2025 NBA champions. Right. It just you have to go there. You can't just. The fact that people think this is NBA 2K is not realistic. You're not going to just be like, oh, I want to go there because it's like they're building something. I'm going to fit right in. Yeah, you might go there and get 16 minutes. Now you're upset because you're not getting any run. Like when you went there with two guys that already play your position. One guy's getting 42 million.

[00:14:08] The other guy's getting 16 as a backup. Yeah. And to get those endorsements you're talking about, you got to meet the hype too. You know what I mean? And as far as like these teams that aren't trying to win, like it just depends on your perspective. You know what I mean? Like there's because like, I don't know. I guess at the end of the day. Well, I mean, everywhere is racist. If that's what it is. You know what I mean? Like everywhere. Like, you know, even if he went to Philly, you don't think he's going to deal with some of those South Jersey dudes.

[00:14:37] You don't think that if he went to Washington, he's going to deal with those like Northern VA dudes. Like, yeah, I've dealt with more. Like racism and just kind of like this. This racial undertone more in Philly than I have in Salt Lake City. Like, I'll keep it a buck. Like, I lived in both places for the last 18 years between the two places. Jesus Christ, I've been there a long time. Right. And eight years in Utah, 10 years here.

[00:15:07] It's just like when I joined the military. Yeah. Just like when I joined the military. Right. Goldsboro, North Carolina wasn't the place for me. You know what I'm saying? I grew up in Baltimore. I went down to Goldsboro and it was culture shock. You know what I mean? That's just how it works. But that's part of being an adult and growing into an adult is overcoming adversity. Yes. I mean, I know money isn't everything, but yes, they can like, if they're going to pay you to move somewhere, like give it an up, give it a shot. Yeah. He's not going for free. You know what I mean?

[00:15:37] And he's going to get the ball all he wants. He's going to get all the shots that he wants, which is theoretically the most important thing. But yes, Utah is going to build around him. You know what I mean? Like they don't have a choice but to, you know what I mean? Or else they're going to replace their leadership. They don't have the luxury of expecting somebody else to want to leave. Like they don't have the luxury of thinking Devin Booker is going to want to leave Phoenix and come north to Utah. Like, and that's very close to where, like, if you think about like a player, like, all

[00:16:04] right, you think about a guy that's on the outs and he plays in New York, either Brooklyn or the Nets and you're Philly. And that guy lives in Jersey. If you're Philly, you probably think like, yeah, we probably can get this guy out of New York, get him to come down to Philly. His life's not going to really be the altar. Utah's right there. They couldn't get Devin Booker out of Phoenix to come to Utah. So they have no choice but to draft the guys they draft or make real trades with team. Well, guys are to be serious.

[00:16:34] They can't get a lot of, they can't get a lot of guys that want this, this, this kind of Instagram stardom because you're not going to get that, that it's not going to be fueled in Salt Lake city. Yeah. If you ever get a team in Vegas, you get a team in LA. Like, yeah. Kawhi Leonard can make the whole King of LA new balance commercials and it makes sense. But with Utah, they know they have to develop their players and have to give those guys a real shot. Right. But then, and again, Mike, you know what I'm saying?

[00:17:04] Eli was the consensus number one pick. That's why it works out like that. You know what I mean? And it still was a rat move like this. Right. No one looked at it like, Oh, this is a smart move. When even people talk about Joe Burrell should do it. It's still looked at as a very brash and braggadocious move. And without Eli's two Super Bowls. Like, I think people are viewing that whole process very differently. If his last name was Eli Brown, I think people looking at that differently because he was a man.

[00:17:31] And they figured he had two people already signed. Like, Ace Bailey has a few. Like, Ace Bailey's agent isn't even certified. So, like, you don't even have, like, so, like, Rich Paul would be the easy person. But let's use somebody like Drew Rosenhaus. They've been around long enough to where they have relationships with these people in the league. To where you saw the call with Rich Paul on the phone with Ishbia talking about, Oh, you want Malawash? That's all I needed to hear.

[00:17:59] Like, Ace Bailey's agent doesn't have that cachet yet. So, you're coming out the gate causing trouble and starting these ripples. And you're not even certified yet. So, like, it just put Ace in a bad position overall. But anyway, I'm happy with Trey Johnson to Washington. You know, I didn't know what was going to happen after Ace went to Utah. But I'm glad that Trey was still there. But Mr. Logical, call me crazy. Call me crazy.

[00:18:27] But I love everything the Hornets did on draft night. I love everything the Hornets did. You know, I love the Concan nipple pickup. Even though I'm not big on him, it's one of those situations where, like, hey, I just need you to consistently knock down open jumpers. I don't need you to come in here and try to be the savior. But what is there? Like, like, like I said, I'm. I'm trying to walk in this, this, this light of positivity instead of just, you know, shitting on teams moves.

[00:18:57] It's like, I got written a minute. What are you? How are you going to make this work when your point guard shoots 24 shots a game? Because I don't need you to come in here. I don't need you to shoot 24 shots. Like, I just need you. But I'm saying the guy who has the ball in his hand doesn't give the ball up. He shoots 24, 26 shots a game. Eight threes. Like, contested, one-legged, just, you know, he puts on his show.

[00:19:27] But he doesn't lead your offense. You keep going through coaches. You're in your second ownership group since LaMelo's been there. Think about how bad Charlotte is. Think about how bad they are, right? He still averages seven assists. You know what I'm saying? He's had two seasons over eight assists. So, I mean, like, he shares the ball. They just don't got good players. You know what I mean? But, like, that's what I'm saying, though. But you bring in Knipple.

[00:19:56] You bring in Liam McNeely. Like I said, I'm not big on either one of them. But, you know what I'm saying? Scott Lee is their coach. He was a Celtics assistant. But I'm just saying that, you know what I mean? You got two shooters, theoretically, that, you know what I'm saying? Because right now, your only shooter that played a lot of minutes was Brandon Miller. You know, and he was hurt this year. So, now, I got two dudes that are actually shooters and not scorers. That can catch off those wings.

[00:20:24] And I went out and got my guy Ryan Kalkbrenner from Creighton, the big seven-foot-two. Remember the overtime game against Oregon? So, I'm not saying that the Hornets are, oh, my God, they're going to be this year's Detroit Pistons or anything like that. But I think that they've set themselves up for years to come with some solid players. Yeah, I just think the contrast and playing style of the players that you put on the floor is going to be difficult.

[00:20:51] OKC, those guys play a very similar game. Like, if you look at Indiana, those guys play a similar game. You look at, like, the Clippers. Very grinded out guys. I think LaMelo plays so much, so, I don't want to say inconsistent, but it's, like, consistently, like, showtime. And that doesn't lead to winning.

[00:21:21] And you have guys that are just, like, Knipple's like, he's probably pretty athletic. And he's a big body, but he's probably not beating a lot of NBA wing defenders off the dribble. So, he's got to be ready to catch the shoot. If he's out there and Melo's just pulling up step-back one-foot threes, and he's not getting into a groove, and he ends up, like, don't connect. Where it's like, yo, y'all not putting me in position for me to do the thing that I could do.

[00:21:46] And then you try to, you know, so it's like, and I think that's what Ace Baseball is. Like, yo, I don't want to go to a team where you guys don't employ, deploy me properly, and now I'm unemployed because you guys didn't do your part. I think Charlotte is one of those places where guys just go, they don't do it right, they be in the organization, and now guys just kind of matriculate to different teams. And it looks like they are washed up.

[00:22:10] But really, Charlotte hasn't shown, like, you can't be this inconsistent for this many years when you get the same opportunity to pick players. So, hopefully their draft works out. But like I said, I think they have a bunch of styles. I mean, at the end of the day, it's just going to come down to health. You know what I mean? Like, can LaMelo even stay on the floor? And, of course, Brandon Miller missed most of this season, too.

[00:22:38] But then you got a team like, let's throw a dart in, say, Brooklyn. Oh, I knew you were going to say it. Yeah, five draft picks in the first round. And, of course, a guy like me is like, hey, package something up, you know, go get somebody, go get a higher draft pick, whatever it might be. Get up there and get Ace Bailey. You know what I'm saying? So, out of their five first round picks, they drafted about one and a half players that I like. You know what I mean? And you know what I mean?

[00:23:07] So, then on top of that, you traded Cam Johnson for Michael Porter, you know, which is basically like the Spider-Man meme. But I do think Cam Johnson is slightly better. But Spider-Man meme. You know what I mean? So, I don't even know what direction. Actually, one of those things where it's like you get him in a new environment. He has a championship. He has the ring.

[00:23:31] He has the, you know, like the understanding of like the grind to play 100 plus basketball games in a year, multiple years. And maybe just to change the scenery. Like I say, he was playing the last series, you know, with a hurt shoulder. He couldn't lift his arm up. So, he definitely was grinding out. But, you know, maybe you get to Brooklyn and he gets his opportunity. Like I said, we talk about the East. The East off the rip has three teams. We'll get to Milwaukee.

[00:24:01] But, like, so we have three top, three of your top teams missing his start because of an Achilles injury. And like I said, Dame Lillard, they just got waved. But he wasn't going to be there next year anyway. So, you have, what, 15 teams in each conference? Four or five of them are just going to be bad. Washington just tends to not really be able to get it right. Charlotte can't really get it right. Miami's going through something. And I imagine they'll be able to grind, but there's only so much you can do when you're kind of missing the playmakers you need.

[00:24:29] Well, Miami and Memphis are confusing to me because I never know what they're trying to do. Like, so I was looking at this free agency period. And obviously, it's only day two. You know what I mean? But I've been looking at this like I haven't heard the Miami Heat's name one time during this whole frenzy. I heard it. Duncan Robinson went to Detroit. Well, yeah, that too. I mean, they got Simone Fontichio out of it, but what does that do? But anyway, with Memphis, right, they gave Triple J the money.

[00:24:57] And you were saying earlier, like, once they made the Bane trade, you thought that maybe they would look at moving Ja. But they didn't yet, at least. So then they brought in Ty Jerome. You know, they lost. You know, like, I just don't know what their goal is because I did like Cedric Coward in the draft. And I am happy he won't be at Duke next year. You know, they went and got Jalen Wells last year in the draft. Remember, he got taken out during one of the last games of the season when he got undercut.

[00:25:25] So, you know, so you're good at your wings probably. You know, but I still think that they're missing something. Like, and I don't know if they have the mentality to go get it. Like, they just kind of develop you and just let it ride. Whereas Miami, Miami is doing the Mike Tomlin thing prior to this year where they're saying, hey, we have this great coach, probably a top two or three coach in this league. We could put shit out there and he'll turn it to pudding.

[00:25:53] Yeah, and that's, like I said, when you are a team like Brooklyn or anyone who's using conference teams, you feel good about your chances of being in the top six. Like, I think any team that really made moves, they hired a good, solid, smart coach. They have either one of these, one of the top, we'll say, 18 superstars in the league. That's, you know, your main guy.

[00:26:20] Like Orlando has Bancaro and they have Wagner. Then, you know, they brought Bain in. I think some teams in the East could look like, you know what, we might have a shot. And I think Brooklyn might be one of those teams. You're going to have to just play the young guys. You're just going to have to play the young guys and see how it pans out. I think Brooklyn's got their eyes on A.J. DeBancho for next year. I think that's what Brooklyn's doing. Because we talked about this.

[00:26:45] I can't imagine that a team is going to go into an offseason right now where they're cutting checks for people. No, but think about it. They're going to an offseason where they're buying supplies for their stadium, buying the T-shirts, making the deals, and having these 41 home games. They know people going to support them. 41 home games and figure like, you know, we'll go 20 and 62 and we'll get this other kid next. It just doesn't. You can't go into a season like that. Think about it like this. Let's break this down for a quick second.

[00:27:15] So they went and got Igor Demon, right? Who I compared to Josh Giddey. You know what I'm saying? He might just be more of a 6'9 Ricky Rubio. He can't shoot. He fades against good competition. Then you went out and got Traor, one of the ones that I do like. But he's, you know, a guard coming over from Europe. And, you know, there's some adjustment I would imagine. You know what I mean? He's not 7'3 or 7'5 like Wimby.

[00:27:43] You know, then you got Ben Tarath from Israel who even like, I'm sure even Jewish people were like, why? You know what I'm saying? Then they went and got Drake Powell out of North Carolina whose calling card is defense. So, like, you went in the first round and got a defender from a school that hasn't produced an all-star since Vince Carter. You know what I mean? And then, you know, I can't even remember. Or whatever it was. Yeah, top five picks.

[00:28:12] You know, I still can't remember who the fifth person is. But so you did all that, right? You brought Michael Porter in, Michael Porter Jr. in. You know what I mean? You still got to figure out if you're going to re-sign Cam Thomas or not. You know, he's a restricted free agent right now. You know, the rest of your roster is like, okay, Nick Claxton's good. They re-signed De'Ron Sharp. Then you got Derrick Whitehead. I don't know what they're going to do with him. You know, Keon Johnson.

[00:28:42] I don't know what they're going to do. So, like, you don't even see anything on their roster. Like, so if you're looking at Utah, you can go, hmm, I think Ace Bailey was a top three player in this draft. And they went out and got Walter Clayton. You know what I mean? Like, when I'm looking at Brooklyn, I'm like, I mean, they had five picks. They definitely didn't do what you think they should have done.

[00:29:08] But, like, like I said, I just, I find it hard to believe that we're going to, we have, we still have trusted process kind of ideologies in the NBA as we see how that didn't work out. You know what I'm saying? Like, as a GM, you sitting in a meeting with the owner, the president of player personnel, vice president team, chairman, COO, CFO, all these people on the board. And you're like, hey, remember that thing they did down in Pennsylvania? We're going to do that same thing. We're just not going to call it that.

[00:29:37] I just can't imagine that a team would go into their offseason with that. Can you make the bad pick? Can you make a pick based off of, like, you know what? I really like this guy's intangibles instead of being like, yo, this dude is only 6'6", 196. I really need a guy that's 6'8", 228. But you're like, I like this guy's intangibles, so I'll take him. Is that, if you're making those kind of decisions, yeah, it might backfire. But in the same sense, just like I said, it's wide open in the East.

[00:30:07] Giannis would probably, you know, be smart to stay in Milwaukee as Mike brings up the Bucs. But it's... But see, but next year's draft has... So this year, it was the big three, right, for the most part. And then they tried to throw VJ Edge come in there, who I think was a great pick for Philly just because of style of play. But next year, you might be looking at a big six or a big seven in the NBA draft. So, like, you know, I just feel like there's a lot more bite of the apple there.

[00:30:37] That we haven't seen... The league has basically transitioned away from allowing rookies to be impact players. Like, Wimby was an impact player simply because he literally looks like Slender Man. But as far as, like, on the court, if you watch... Wimby should be... I know it's difficult to average 26 to 30 points in the NBA.

[00:31:01] But he should be put in position to where that is reasonable to think he could get it. But we've watched those Spurs games. The ball doesn't go through him. The action towards the rim doesn't go through him. The lobs don't go to him. It's... They can just literally run pick-and-roll lobs with him or pick-and-pops where he's shooting jumpers all game long. He was cutting through the paint. No one's looking to get him the ball.

[00:31:28] So it's like, so many rookies have been in the league over the past few years. And the teams that get them don't even put them in position to be, you know, superstars. So, Brooklyn waiting on, like you said, you know, yours, the potential Big Six, Big Seven next year. It's like, yo, Reeves Shepard was number three overall last year, right? And he played most of his time in some suburb. Yeah, Reeves Shepard's probably like 5'11", too.

[00:31:58] But either way, they took him third. What's the boy named Rod Dillingham in Minnesota? He was doing his thing once again, undersized. It was like, you're not... These rookies that are coming out, they're not getting the opportunity to shine. Everybody, they're still moving all the old guys around and giving them a sign. Because five out of the six are six, seven and up. So, you know what I mean? Like, I think there'll be room there. You know what I mean? And I don't think you can really go wrong with at least four of them.

[00:32:27] So, but we'll get there. But Milwaukee, Mike brought up Milwaukee, you know? So, Miles Turner, four years, $107 million. But to make that work, they had to wave and stretch Dame Lillard's salary. So, now you look at the rest of Milwaukee, right? They did some things that I said they should do in my video the other day. I said they need to re-sign Torreon Prince and Gary Trent Jr. They at least got Prince done. You know what I mean?

[00:32:56] They re-signed Kevin Porter. You know, so now, what do you do with Kyle Kuzma? You know, what do you do with my guy Andre Jackson? Because, you know, Doc doesn't like to play him. You know, they traded Pat Connington. You know, so I don't know. So, I don't know if Milwaukee is anywhere closer today than they were when the season ended. I don't, like I said, I don't believe they're closer either.

[00:33:26] But I don't know if there's moves that definitively move you closer. And other than working with what you currently have. Yeah. Working with what you currently have and you add a couple pieces. I don't know how happy or unhappy Giannis is. But if he's good with Miles Turner being there and he's upset about Dame,

[00:33:54] you let him vent to you about the Dame situation. You explain to him how it works. And I think you can run it back. They are probably the only Eastern Conference team with a superstar that the other teams in the Eastern Conference are truly concerned with taking over games in a matchup. I know Jalen Brunson is a really good player.

[00:34:18] I don't think the other 14 teams are thinking like, oh man, Jalen Brunson, he can really put the team on his back. I know people love Donovan Mitchell. I'm not sure if he just kind of spreads this fear and ferocity throughout the Eastern Conference teams. Giannis is probably the only player that's going to play 60 to 75 games. So like, you know, that many games get the ball a lot and be the centerpiece of a team.

[00:34:44] And people say, you know, back in the day when LeBron was running his, you know, his eight in a row or the East this week. Like the East, unfortunately, is just injured. It's injured. And some of them don't have coaches. And then some of them have aspirations that are pretty high. I know Detroit's going to do pretty well. But as far as like night in and night out, the Milwaukee Bucks Eastern Conference team is probably the only one that can walk into the arena and say,

[00:35:09] I have a top three or four player in the NBA leading my team. I don't think anybody else in the East can say that. Yeah. So they got Bobby Portis. I don't care about Gary Harris. You know what I mean? They lost Brooke Lopez to the Clippers, you know? So there's your Miles Turner upgrade. So, you know, but from there, I just don't know. They just they need more. So so like. And I don't even think it's necessarily.

[00:35:39] I don't think they do, though. I think they do. I think they need people that you can rely on. You know what I mean? You can't rely on Kuzma. At this stage. You know what I mean? Kevin Porter is a good play. Like he he's learning how to play basketball sometimes. Yeah. It feels like, you know, dog, why didn't you just set that a good hard screen and then roll it a basket? Like, why are you in the corner waiting on a three with two seconds left on the shot clock? Like, get to the cup. Like, what are you doing? Yeah.

[00:36:08] But they just got old and hurt, though. Like, you know what I mean? I mean, it's not like, you know, when they got Dame, that's what they knew they were getting. You know what I mean? And even right now, there's teams waiting in line, apparently, for Dame. You know, but I think that, you know, Kuzma is the big issue. Are they going to bring? Well, you know what, Mike? They waived Ryan Rollins. They waived him today. You know what I mean?

[00:36:33] Then you got you need at least to get Gary Trent Jr. back because, you know, him and Torian Prince were both two of the best shooters in the NBA this year. And that's why I thought that they should bring those back because, you know, we always talk about this. You know, like, how do you build a LeBron team? You just let him penetrate and kick it out to the shooters. How do you build a Giannis team? Kick it out to the shooters. So same thing. You know what I mean? That's why Kuzma doesn't fit because, one, he doesn't shoot good enough.

[00:37:02] Two, he doesn't take smart enough shots. So I just don't know as of today. Obviously, we still got a whole free agency period and trades and all that to go through. But as we sit here today, you know, saying I think that Milwaukee's worse. You know what I mean? And we'll just have to see how that plays out. But, you know, we were going to talk about New Orleans for a quick second.

[00:37:27] Because I was upset that they traded up 10 spots to get Dirk Queen, which I don't have a problem with them getting Dirk Queen. I like Dirk Queen. But to trade up 10 spots and... The Atlanta thing where you just give up your first round pick. Yeah, you gave up your first round pick. You probably could have negotiated a little bit better. And the thing about that pick, the only reason I'm upset about that pick, if it was just a regular pick, so be it.

[00:37:52] But the reason that I'm upset about that pick is because it's the worst or I guess it would be the better draft position between their pick and Milwaukee's pick next year. So, theoretically, you could have Atlanta... So, this 25-26 season. Yes. Okay. Yeah. So, next year, they can... What's the word I'm looking for? Yeah, he could play Mike, but he can't play no defense. Like, y'all always looking at things through this offensive lens. Like, there's two sides of the ball.

[00:38:22] Yeah. You know what I mean? But Atlanta could end up with the number one draft pick, even if they make an Eastern Conference Finals run or something like that. Because New Orleans... But that's predicated on Milwaukee being terrible, correct? Well, possibly. But I think New Orleans is going to be bad enough, though. That's the thing. Because if you're looking at New Orleans right now, right? They got Jordan Poole.

[00:38:50] You know, they got DeJounte Murray, who's coming off of ACL or Nakelis. You know, you got Zion, who never plays anyway. You know what I mean? You went out and got a center today that I can't think of right now. But they went out and got... Oh, Kevon Looney. They went out and got Kevon Looney today. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, they're talking about potentially trading one of, you know, Trey Murphy or Herb Jones.

[00:39:16] So, when I'm looking at New Orleans, and I don't even know if Willie Green is basically a lame duck at this point. So, if you're the Hornets, can I trust you to win more than 32 games? And that might even be generous, depending on how many games Zion plays. So, the pick that they would have got would have been whatever was the highest pick between them and Milwaukee.

[00:39:44] So, now Atlanta gets that. You know what I mean? So, that's what I'm saying. So, even if Atlanta were to make the Eastern Conference Finals, the Hornets... I mean, the Pelicans could be bad enough that Atlanta could still get a top three pick. And that's why I feel like you don't give that up. Because you're not a team in a position right now. Like, if they were a middling team... Like, say they were Memphis. You know, you could look at Memphis and say, hey, you know what?

[00:40:10] That team might win 43 to 48 games or something like that. Yeah. Like, that pick doesn't matter so much. You know what I mean? But, like, we're talking about you and your sorry asses. You know what I'm saying? Like, you ain't winning those games to make that pick not matter in that way. I don't know if the Bucs will be terrible. But I don't think that they're going to be that good. Like, I think that I could see a...

[00:40:37] Maybe I could see a 43 and 39 or something along those lines. Just based off how they're set up right now. You know, I'll change my mind once we see the final roster. But just sitting here right now, that's how I feel. Like, right here, right now, I don't know if New Orleans... So, they're 82 games. They're 82-game season. How many are they playing in the East? About 50? Something like that? Because I think you play a couple against the Western teams. You play the West twice. Yeah, you play the West twice. That's 20, 30 games.

[00:41:06] 52 games. Chicago. Is Chicago improving? Are they going to set back? The Raptors... Well, Chicago lost Lonzo. That's what I'm saying. So, it's like Chicago, Toronto. Toronto looks like they're making advancements. Toronto's building their roster. I just don't like it. I just don't like their roster. But they're building it. Paces are taking a step back.

[00:41:34] I think the Cavaliers are probably going to get squeezed for one or two of their role players because of the type of season that those guys had playing, you know, 10 or 11 guys. And people watching and seeing how the NBA Finals... How the NBA Finals... Right now, even Garland or Allen are on the table. Yeah, and playing 8 or 9, 10 guys seems to be the new consensus for coaches. We know it's a copycat league. NFL, we talk about all the time. That cliche phrase.

[00:42:02] But I could see the Bucs having a really good season and that pick not really factoring in. And the problem with New Orleans is that their, you know, your best ability is availability. And they're kind of banking on guys coming back from injury. And then Zion just staying healthy. I don't know. I don't know what's causing his injuries. Because they say, oh, he could be... He's up to this weight. But it's like, when you see him play, he's explosive enough.

[00:42:32] He's above the rim. He doesn't rebound well. But on the break, you can tell he still has a lot of bounce. I can't imagine him having that much bounce while simultaneously being out of shape. So I'm not sure what's causing his injuries. Like, you know, is he always pulling a hand from you? And then they drafted a point guard that can't shoot. Which I do like that player. Like, he's... Like, I'm not a big person on Jeremiah Fears.

[00:42:58] I think he has the ability to become a star at some point. But I think of him more in that Westbrook mold than, you know, like a Chris Paul or like a, you know, somebody along those lines that's deadly efficient or whatever the case may be. So I don't know how good they're going to be next year. And like I said, I don't even know if Willie Green makes it through the season, to be honest with you. But that's just me. That's just me. And then, of course, Toronto got rid of Masai Ujiri. You know, a move that kind of shocked a lot of people.

[00:43:26] They've been on the front of the treadmill for a long time. I thought they were going to get rid of them two years ago. Well, indulge me for a second. Because I know a lot of people are going to do the whole, like... No, I didn't say that. Mike, it's just about the odds, though. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, the worst record, the odds. That's all. You know what I mean? So this is since 2014. These are the first-round picks that Masai Ujiri has made.

[00:43:57] Bruno Caboclo. DeLon Wright. Jakob Pertl. Pascal Siakam. OG Adenobi. Malachi Flynn. Scotty Barnes. Grady Dick, Jacoby Walter. And bootleg Julius Randle this year. So, like, there's a lot of mixed review there. And then, you know, when you really look at it... Well, they were also a 50-plus win team for a long time.

[00:44:26] So they were getting your 17th overall pick. It's like, yeah. Guess what? The Bulls got Jimmy Butler at 30. You know what I'm saying? And Jimmy Butler took 30 years to become a star. Like, let's keep it a beam. Jimmy Butler didn't come out the gate shooting Jimmy Buckets. He was Jimmy Butler, the kid that went to Marquette, that grew up homeless. It was a sad story for a long time. Hey, Jimmy Butler by year three. And then he drew his hair out and he started looking like a tiki doll. By year three, we knew what he was doing. By year three, we knew what he was doing.

[00:44:56] He was basically another jumper. Where's Bruno Caboclo right now? Oh, yeah. He's probably somewhere making, you know, coffee. You know, DeLon Wright only got in the game because Jalen Brunson was tired in the play. He had to get in the game. But that's not his fault. Where's Malachi Flynn at? Where's Malachi Flynn at? I'm going to say Israel playing basketball. You know what I mean? So that's what I'm saying. And then not only that, you've got to peel it back, right? They got fortunate that Kawhi fell into their laps.

[00:45:23] And then even then, he won a championship and left. Then you lost Siakam and OG. And what did you get for him? Yo, listen. You held on the van sleep too long. The whole city of Toronto was trying to recruit Kawhi. They had restaurants that told Kawhi he could eat free for the rest of his life. There was apartment buildings that were trying to give him penthouses. I said no. The entire city. It wasn't Najiri. He couldn't do anything about it. Like, the whole city was trying to recruit Kawhi after that championship.

[00:45:53] Literally, they were named streets after him. Give him a penthouse apartment in Toronto. He wanted the lead. So that wasn't Besai's fault. Yes. Everyone. If you looked at most of these GM's draft picks, they're going to be pretty terrible. And the lucky thing just happened to work out. We could talk about Nico down in Dallas. His plan to trade Luka and be championship ready backfired. He just got lucky when the number one pick fell into his lap. That wasn't the plan.

[00:46:22] So sometimes these GM's, they are at fault. Boy, cut it out. I mean, you see Michael Beasley in trouble right now? Or Malik Beasley? My bad. Mike Beasley? Well, and you saw, what's the boy named that just? Terry Rozier. He was just bad. He was out there playing bad. He was just bad. He played so bad, the FBI investigated you.

[00:46:49] Like, yo, he can't be this bad at basketball. You got to be up to something. Like, nah, I'm just trying to off here. A lot of things on my mind. I like what the Nuggets did. You know what I mean? You know, they brought in Cam Johnson, like we talked about earlier. They went and got Bruce Brown back. You know, so another ball handler that can kind of relieve Jokic and take some strain off of Jamal Murray from time to time. You know, they went out and got Tim Hardaway Jr.

[00:47:17] So, you know, the one thing we talked about all year was... You're going to get Valanchunas as well? Yes, they got Valanchunas, the backup Jokic, who's probably the best backup Jokic has ever had. So now we're looking at this and we're like, hey... Just give me 12 minutes of rest, dog. Denver's in there now. I seem to play 36 minutes. Can I get 12 minutes of game on this bench? Now Denver's in the mix again. You know what I mean? But then you look at a team like Golden State, and I just go like this and I say,

[00:47:48] why y'all still don't want to center? You don't say you let Looney walk. You don't say... Only thing that's out there right now that probably moves any needles maybe is DeAndre Ayton. Maybe you could trade for Robert Williams, but it sounds like the Lakers are trying to get involved in that. Just like the Lakers. I think Robert Williams already kind of promised to another team, right? I thought that conversation was already happening. Like he was already out of Charlotte with somebody else who's potentially... No, that's Mark Williams you're thinking about. That's Mark Williams. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He went to Phoenix.

[00:48:18] But Robert Williams, they used to play for the Celtics, I'm talking about. You know what I mean? Like you got him out in Portland. It sounds like the Lakers are trying to either get him, Nick Richards, or DeAndre Ayton. Those are the three that the Lakers are looking at. So I guess the Warriors get whoever's left, you know? But there's also rumors that Golden State is interested in Al Horford. And it's like, are they just trying to put a nursing home staff together? I thought he retired. I thought he didn't retire, yeah. I thought they announced two weeks ago that he was going to retire. No, he hasn't retired.

[00:48:48] I was wondering if Mike Conley was going to retire. You know what I mean? But then these playoff losses have to be disappointing to the fact. I think like, I don't know. I don't know if you can get, I don't know if you can ramp yourself back up again, considering all the conversation and the narrative surrounding, because they talked about every year, the last few years that he's been in the playoffs, they would talk about winning for Mike, winning for Mike. And every year, every team, Memphis came up short.

[00:49:19] And who else came up short? Like I said, Minnesota's come up short the last two years. So it's like, do you really want to sit in the locker room and be the old guy and have the young guy look? He's like, maybe we're going to win this for you. You go out in the second round again. Well, they just got done spending $225 million on Julius Randall and Nas Reed. And you know what I mean? So like Minnesota, I guess is running it back, which ain't nothing wrong with that. Now you can get Dillingham more minutes. You could get Terrence Shannon more minutes,

[00:49:48] get some dynamic abilities unlocked. And then you got Atlanta. You know, they were the beneficiary because Minnesota wasn't able to retain the kill Alexander Walker for, in case you didn't know, and Doris Burke didn't tell you 76 times. He is the cousin of SGA, who by the way is making $71 million a year now. $71 million a year.

[00:50:18] Get out of here. But anyway, Atlanta, you know, they picked up Nikhil Alexander Walker. You know, I love that pickup. Another three and D guy, good three point shooter, good defender, and trying to penetrate through Nikhil Alexander Walker and Dyson. Woo. Dyson Daniels. Woo. That's going to be tough sledding for these teams in the East to, to, you know, make, and that's why I like, I was trying to tell Mr. Logical earlier, you know,

[00:50:47] just like I told Mike earlier, two sides of the ball. Like we can actually say that Atlanta is going to be playing defense this year. But before I even get back to Atlanta, Mr. Logical 71, 1 billion a year. I assume reasonable. Okay. That's a lot of money. It's a crazy. And I think he left money on the table. I think his deal could have been bigger than that. That's nuts, man. I can't even like, like that math is probably,

[00:51:16] it's probably like $325 a second and a 48 minute NBA game. Almost a million dollars a game. You know what I mean? Cause, cause it was four years, 285. But, but yeah, so back to Atlanta, you know, so Atlanta has ground to gain in the East, right? This is a proverbial perennial play in team. You know, this is what they do with Trey young leading the league and assist, but the wind's just not adding up. You know what I mean? But like I said,

[00:51:45] they went out and got the kill to put next to Dyson Daniels perimeter defense on fleek. They went out and got poor Zingas, the unicorn. So if we could figure out what was wrong with him this past season, then they got, they're cooking with grease. You got Jalen Johnson coming back from his injury. He was going to be my most improved player of the year until he got hurt. So like, I like what Atlanta's doing. You know what I mean? And like you keep saying, you know, we look at this East, you know,

[00:52:14] the Nixon Cleveland are the only teams that I think can definitively say, and of course this is on paper because we haven't seen them play a game yet, but on paper, those are the only teams that can right now say that they're better than the Hawks. Maybe the Pistons just because of continuity. I like the, I like the, I think the continuity matters. And I think their size matters over Atlanta. I know poor Zingas is there, but I think the star of Atlanta is just undersized. And I think he can be,

[00:52:44] I want to say exploited, but it's just, I don't know how much energy you can, you can have when you are six foot six, one and your game 88, 89 of a season. Cause you're in the playoffs and you're battling when you're just battling through these bigger defenders, because you know, so when the ball is down to it, they're going to, they're going to figure out what your weaknesses. I think Detroit having six, seven, six, eight guys handling the ball,

[00:53:12] making shots as their playmakers. It just gives them that, that advantage. Yeah. They went out and got Duncan Robinson. Like we said earlier, they went out and got Karis Levert. So I don't know if Karis Levert makes Jaden Ivy redundant or not, but you know, just another ball handler, but a guy that shoots way too much probably. But, but, but, but you know, so, so I don't like them losing Tim Hardaway. Two of those guys, you can see who's on and who's off. Right.

[00:53:42] Where some teams just literally just had, you just have to play that guy. Cause you don't have a replacement. Orlando went out and got Tyus Jones. SGA is going to be getting 300, 300 dollars, 64 cents per minute or per second. That's nuts. And, um, you know, so, okay. See, of course they've been pretty quiet since the draft, you know, um, you know, so the Lakers, you know, we got to go there. You know what I mean? Uh,

[00:54:10] they went out and got Jake LaPervia as soon as, you know, the, I know what I said. As soon as the free agency started, you know, him and his angel Reese loving self, you know, his name is LaRavia. Yes, that was real. That's a, that's a real tweet. That was a real tweet. This year, May of this year, that's a real tweet. There and, and got his little iPhone out and said, this is how I'm going to express myself. Jesus.

[00:54:39] Yes. I thought it was sweet. That caramel make people go crazy, but, uh, you know, but that's a good pickup for the Lakers. That's the, that's a good pickup for the Lakers. The problem is he about 25 pounds too light for what they need. So there's, so they're still on this hunt for a big man. And I, and I'm at the point where I'm frustrated because I hate the Lakers more than just about anything in sports, but you know what I mean? But they, but they have the ability to go out and sign these dudes.

[00:55:09] But now it's like, Oh, now I have to give up. They are not sound organizationally. They haven't been for years. What does Palenka do all day? Does he just wait for Niko to call him? He does not do anything. That's what I'm saying. They've been gifted stars because of location. If they were in Utah, run the way they were run with the family business and the guy who used to be the agent of the, the latest greatest player you have for the organization.

[00:55:38] And then you run off one of the greatest players from the organization. After he gets you the next greatest guys, like they just are run poorly. And just by location. You know, from the broad tree, bro. Just location, location, location is how they get there. It's how they create optimism. Every year.

[00:56:02] Having going from magic to Shaq, Shaq and Kobe, Kobe and Paul, Kobe retires. Couple of years. They were in the law. LeBron comes along, delivers a championship. They've been in the law, just up and down Western conference. Found the parents out in the first round. My bad.

[00:56:31] With a D apologies. And then you move a D you get Luke. And now you have Luke and LeBron. And it's like, so do you think this LeBron, you have all this stuff. No, I don't think any of it makes any sense. All I think it is, is that everybody needs to generate conversation. And the person that they use is the face of the NBA. And it's LeBron James. There's no reason if I'm Dallas to bring LeBron in and have him stunt Cooper flag. I got golden state.

[00:57:02] Golden state. He doesn't play. He doesn't, he doesn't play the way we need. He plays well with Steph. Cause I think he recognizes that Steph is dope, but he plays well with Steph and all-star games and during the Olympic stuff. And I think that's enough. That's, you know, we give it a few warmup tune up games and practices, some time together. I think he respects the way all these guys play, but when it goes down to it, he plays a very particular brand of basketball.

[00:57:32] And I think he could adjust, but you're not going to get him to adjust offensively. And then he'd be like this juggernaut defensively. Just cause time father time was undefeated. Jimmy Butler is a few years younger. You imagine that he probably has a few more energy boost defensively than LeBron has. And like, the guy is going to be 41. Like, let's, let's not like everyone's saying this is an excuse. Like, this is a fact. 41.

[00:58:02] You've been playing basketball for 20, we get it 25 years of his life at this level where it's like, I all eyes on me since you're 15. This is going to run out. They just need to figure out a way who, what big can we get in here? What role players can we get in here to play the role? While we let Luca take the transition. Like I said, I think LeBron is good with Luca because him and Luca play the same way. Luca.

[00:58:32] I imagine wouldn't mind standing in the corner and taking a break for a couple of possessions offensively. And they coming back and playing some defense just the same way LeBron would. And I think they're still both dynamic enough that you can't take a defender off of them. You still got to have your better defenders on each one of them when they're on the floor. So the Lakers just need to operate. Like, listen, we just need to get some people in here that can create plays for

[00:58:57] themselves and a guy that maybe could defend the rim and a big that maybe stretch the floor. But if the guy doesn't shoot threes dog, that's fine. Just rebound and kick it out the game, Vincent. And maybe he won't go one for 11 every single night when he gets an opportunity to 11 shots. Well, last one, last one before we move on. How are we feeling? Cause you know, I know we were kind of both down on the whole, yeah,

[00:59:25] Kevin Durant ain't taking y'all over the top. You know, you know, now they done went out and got Clint Capella, you know, Zag get some more front court depth. Talking about trading Cam Whitmore. A week later, how do we feel about the rockets now? I still feel the same way because we don't know if Kevin Durant's going to play 60 games. Okay.

[00:59:54] So like, that's the kicker. If, if he's going to say, he say the expectation is in conversation. They are going on. Hey, Katie is going to play between 60 and 62 games. Then that means in my opinion, based on the way their, their team is kind of built offensively. If he's going to go,

[01:00:18] you got to go 45 and 17 in the 62 games that he plays. Okay. Because I think in those remaining 20, you can't go eight and 12. I'm saying 53 and 39 looks like a good record, but it's going to have you in the same spot you were in this year, but you you're in a bad matchup in the first round of the playoffs and

[01:00:48] you're out. So if, if he can play, if he gets you 70 games, I think they're good to go. But if based on recent history, he's only gave you about 60 games. You got to get 40 to 42 of those games. If he's only going to be 60. Okay. Cause I don't think they have enough. Like even with all those little additions, I think those additions work with KD on the floor. Okay. And then actually I just forgot one last thing. For real this time.

[01:01:17] This is year one of this whole new apron process and everything. How do you like it so far? Do you think it's a hindrance? Do you think it's okay? Do you think we need more time to see how it develops? I like the, I like the parody. I like teams not being able to just load up on stars. I don't think it's crazy.

[01:01:45] That miles Turner didn't resign with Indiana. I think it would have been crazy for Indiana to pay him a hundred million dollars to stay knowing that 25, 26 season. It's not going to resemble 24, 25. And why are we going to, you know, you know, attach ourselves to someone for three or four more years. I like that. It's going to, it's going to make teams, make moves. The problem is going to be just people talking about who needs to win a championship.

[01:02:14] That conversation hopefully will subside because realistically, the owners want to keep all their money. The salary cap isn't so that it's fairness in the league. These caps are set. So the owners can keep their money because if it was about winning championships, I'm pretty sure some of these owners want to win championships more than they want to make money.

[01:02:40] Like some guys might have making money is one winning championships is three. Some owners might have like Ishbia winning the championship might be number one. So I think if he could just spend all the money and get all the pieces he wanted, I think he would, I think he would spend a billion dollars. It would be the Dodgers roster. Yeah. For one year. I think he would throw as much money as he could at any of these stars. I think he would just throw handfuls of money.

[01:03:08] So the salary cap in the aprons is to protect the team's interest, which is their money. The players are going to have to adjust to, Hey, you might not get that max deal that you want. You, everyone's not going to get the shade deal. Like shade just got 71 in previous years. The next guy to get an extension, you expect them to get 72 and a half just because, but it's like, if Jalen Brown was up for an extension,

[01:03:38] I don't think he's getting 73 and a half just because shade got 71. So I think it's going to cause GM staff to really make moves, make, you know, truly understand like, okay, how do we build this team? Who do we pay? Who do we let go? Who do we trade? What assets do we trade? So it's going to be a little bit more entertaining. I think I said, I'm just glad you can't just buy the big, you know, a big three or a big four and just run out, run the ball out there and try to win a championship. I like it.

[01:04:08] So I think the NBA is chasing something that they don't need. And that's not realistic. I think that the NBA looks at to some degree, they look at the popularity of the NFL, for example, and we always talk about it. You know, you could have a Cleveland Carolina Superbowl and we're going to be front and center on that couch, watching that game with no complaints, eating chicken, we drinking whiskey. Absolutely. Whereas, whereas now, you know, we saw what just happened with this last finals, the outcry from the public and the lack of people watching it,

[01:04:38] so on and so forth. So I think the NBA is chasing that parody that you spoke of, but the NBA does better when they don't have the parody. You know what I'm saying? The problem is they need the, they need the Chicago Lakers. Yes. And you know, and how do you get that? It goes back to what we said a few weeks ago. You just got to market. You just got to market because OKC ain't going nowhere. So like now's the time to, I'm not saying they're going to win three in a row, four in a row,

[01:05:07] but you know, but this is the time where, you know, Shay, he was on good morning America. Good. You know what I'm saying? You keep putting his face out there. You got the rockets. Yeah, you got, well, you know, you got the rockets now, you know, with Kevin Durant. Now I need to see more. I'm in Thompson, you know, saying in different places, different spots, you know, I need to see, you know, if you're looking at a team like the Hawks, right. They just went out and got silver was doing a podcast toward the last, like the week after the finals, before the draft,

[01:05:35] he was on Jeff T's podcast. Yeah. So like, I think that would help. I know Roger Goodell doesn't normally do. I know he does like ESPN stuff. I think a couple of times he was on like Monday night with the man. He's when they're doing their little basement stuff. Right. And obviously he talks during the draft, but like football, like we talk about football. So probably every town in America has a, every time in America right now has a couple of dads going through equipment lockers, making sure all the helmets and shoulder pads are good because it can be issued

[01:06:04] amount to kids here in about three weeks from football practice starts. So that's the thing that America just ingrained and ingratiated itself to football. The NBA, like I said, I liked the parody because we talked about the Phoenix Milwaukee series. I'm like, I don't know why people were down on that. Like you had a guy who had won two MVPs. Cause there was Paul's a very popular player. He's part of the, you know, the, the banana boat crew. He's been around.

[01:06:34] He's a villain in the league. Devin Booker was up and coming team. Phoenix was up and coming. So it's like, I don't know why that, that series got so much flack, but you saw it recently. Like I said, the OKC Indiana thing, because it was, that was good basketball, but the NBA still needs to get, I need Houston, Dallas rivalry. I need, you need the youth, the youth. When you plant, when you take a plant, yeah,

[01:07:04] you can take the leaves off of one plant and put in the pot and it'll grow. Normally you take a brand new seed, you put in the pot, you water it properly and cultivate it and it grows. The NBA keeps trying to pluck these leaves off and get these old heads to go to new teams and grow that market and then move them again and grow that market. It's like, no, put Reed Shepard in the game, put them in the three point contest, put them in the commercial,

[01:07:34] put these guys in position to where they are actually advertising. Right. And that's all it comes down to, you know, but you know, just a quick thought. But so then of course in the NFL, you know, you got the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to the experts going all in. All I see is they just made a move to make a move. You know what I mean? So of course, you know,

[01:08:00] they went and got Jalen Ramsey and John new Smith along with a seventh rounder gave up Mika Fitzpatrick and a fifth rounder. Mr. Logical. It just doesn't do anything for me. Like, I remember there was this old Sprite commercial back in the day and there was this dude, he was just like, well, what's my motivation? Like, I don't have a motivation to care about that trade outside of the fact that we got to talk about it.

[01:08:30] You know, I don't know why the Steelers made the trade. You know what I mean? They got Friar Muth, you know, you got Washington, a six, eight tight end that you barely use anyway. And John new Smith's a good tight end. So I'm not even trying to do that, but you just didn't need them. You know, as far as Mika for Ramsey, Mika is two years younger. You know, he's probably the overall better player, not by much, you know, Sam, but probably the overall better player,

[01:08:59] especially at this point in their careers, because Ramsey is probably going to be sliding over to Mika's position, you know, or plan in the slot a little bit more. So I don't see this as a, Hey, the Steelers are going all in, you know, I just see it as the Steelers haven't been making moves. They made a few moves and they just wanted to make some more. I think the Justin Fields, Russell Wilson move last year was like, okay, let's,

[01:09:26] let's try something new because they were essentially running it back with the same construct every year. And then even in the draft this year, we thought they're going to take Shador. And they ended up just taking a defensive lineman, which works because that's what, that's what they do is they take defensive linemen, they take linebackers and they make that work. So on the offensive side of the ball,

[01:09:55] like I was having a conversation with an individual and what did a podcast, he was talking about prime Aaron Rodgers is better than my homes. I'm like, I get it. Like he had a great run. But he's a bit of a front runner because see when he's, when he's not in the lead going into the fourth, he rarely comes back. So it's like, I don't,

[01:10:23] it's Pittsburgh is going to probably get you the lead. I think he'll do well, but I'm not, I'm not sure. Or if he really moves the needle, trust me. And with Arthur Smith, I was as a Falcons fan. I was there for three years. It just doesn't seem like that is a marriage. It's going to work. Cause we saw how he treated Robert Sala. Like,

[01:10:50] if you don't align with me on these, the schematics, I'm going to just deviate. Cause he's a bit of, like I said, he's a bit. And like I said, he probably knows more about football than I'll ever learn. But in the same sense, the results don't match up to this expectation that people have, that Pittsburgh is going to be like this next greatest thing. Right. Well, I was, I was looking at their schedule, you know what I mean? And like, we're not doing our preview show right now,

[01:11:21] you know what I mean? But just for the sake of conversation, you know, I was looking at their schedule and realistically speaking, I don't see how they don't go five and O to start, you know, unless Justin Fields is that revenge hungry, that he's going to do things that we've never seen him do before. You know, I don't think that they lose that game, the Steelers, you know,

[01:11:50] I think that they beat up Sam Darnold, you know, they go after Drake may, they take out JJ McCarthy, they beat Cleveland. And then you could be looking at a five and O team that still finishes 10 and seven, you know, but I don't think we can classify the Steelers as going all in because outside of grabbing DJ, DK Metcalf, I don't know who they grabbed. That just stands out in a way that thinks over the top,

[01:12:20] because even if you want to roll with Aaron Rogers is one of the best quarterbacks we ever seen. And he absolutely is. He hasn't been that for about three or four years now. You know what I mean? And with that Steelers offensive line, he doesn't have the mobility anymore to, to just get out of the pocket the way that he used to. Cause some, I mean, it's not going to call good plays. Is that simply? It does not call good plays. We have four years of sample size to show that he has not called good

[01:12:50] plays. Ever since the play action with Derek Henry and Ryan Tannehill has gone away. He has been subpar and Aaron's not going to like it. He's not, and Aaron's not going to throw on third and seven. If it's not there, he's going to throw it out of bounds, put the defense back on the field. He's going to be on the sideline upset because so-and-so isn't open. DK is going to be upset. He's not getting the ball. It's just, I just feel like there's going to be more drama than, you know, then you got, um, you know,

[01:13:19] they lost Najee Harris, you know, so Jalen Warren should get some more snaps who I like a lot. He's electric, but he ain't that type of back. And then they went and got Caleb Johnson out of Iowa. Who's Derek Henry size, but Derek Henry, he is not, you know, uh, they got Kenneth gain. Well, from the Eagles, they got Trey sermon. So, so, so like, even from a running back perspective and you top of that with the bad offensive line,

[01:13:46] I don't know if they're going to have the type of running game that saves Aaron Rogers from having to be the hero down the stretch. I don't know if their offensive line is bad. I just think like, Oh, it's bad. I mean, they're young. It's probably, it's probably bad because the play caller and the person who designs the offense doesn't put the Russell Wilson was, an undersized quarterback trying to reprove himself after having a bad year.

[01:14:15] And then Justin Fields was a guy that didn't really, I won't say didn't process information, but he definitely wasn't a first read guy. And then you have a playmaker that has literally no like creativity. So yeah, the offense line is going to look terrible. If every route is the same all day long to the point where it's like, this isn't going to work. And that ain't going to change. That's the problem. And that's the problem. And that's why I like,

[01:14:41] unless Aaron Rogers takes over as the de facto offensive coordinator. I mean, we saw that we saw him work with Tom Brady and Bruce Arians where they just were, they were kind of butting the heads and then he let him and left, which kind of figure out what they were going to do. And they just ran with it. And then Bruce went upstairs, keep cutting his check to sit in the office. And you know, Tom Brady. Yeah. And you know,

[01:15:08] then Miami went out and got a retired tight end to replace John O'Smith. You know, they went out and got rap sensation, Darren Waller, come back Kelsey, you know, save this man. I mean, I know he went through a lot of personal struggles, drug, drug addictions, filling drug tests, him and Max Krause. We talked about it a lot about like, you know, overcoming that.

[01:15:38] But as far as the football players, like I saw one game when he was playing for, I believe they were still in Oakland. They might've been in Vegas. I'm not sure, but he was playing for the Raiders. He got like 20 targets one game. He was getting double covered. And Derek Carson was like, he down there somewhere. So for someone. And I get, I don't, the toll it puts on your body. The tolls, it puts on your mental set to prepare yourself for NFL season. And you need to step back,

[01:16:08] but I just don't know how you turn it completely off. And then on a whim in July, 2025, after you've been out for as long as you have. Right. Right. Just jump back into the pool. And then on top of that, Miami seems to be in somewhat of a flux with either the relationship between coach and some of the players, the star wide receiver and quarterback. Did you see most of the tweet? Oh yeah.

[01:16:38] Play like, if you play like a pro bowler and they treat you like shit. Something's up. And we, we already know like the, the owner's been in his, you know, situation being suspended from the scene, which I don't know how you go suspend me from somebody or something that I own. It's like telling me, lock me out of my house. I eat a dick. I got to sign these checks. I got to make sure people are doing the job. I don't care what you say. Like, I'm not just be paying people and not knowing what's going on here. Right. Right. But we know, we know how, like, you know, like that's,

[01:17:07] that's not an environment that the hunts are running in Kansas city. You know, everybody might not be happy with their contract or how to GM, you know, prioritize their, you know, them. But in Miami, it seems like it's this level of this combination that we can't see. And it's kind of matriculated down to the players. Tyreek Hill was talking like he was trying to leave from like week 10 last year, all through this off season on Twitter, social media. But like, you know, he has a huge brand. So he has to keep himself kind of in the,

[01:17:37] in the, the eye of the public. But I mean, he's literally getting arrested on the way to the game. It's like that is, it seems like to be a bit of a dysfunction and a disconnect with the Miami dolphins and sanity. It's like, it's not jiving. Another thing you got, Tua, who's a six foot tall, left-handed quarterback, Dylan Gabriel sitting there. Why didn't you take him? I mean, why did like this? Think about the quarterback.

[01:18:07] They got Zach Wilson. Well, I was talking about queen yours. Cut it up. I'm like, just like little, little things like that. Just, I know. I am just a guy who has a podcast with a friend that he's been friends with for over a decade. And I don't know everything that's going on in sports, but if I know enough about it, and then I see a move you make and I'm like, I don't understand this. And then you talk to other people that are like,

[01:18:37] I don't understand this either. It's not us. It's not the people who are watching. It's, it's you. Like your decisions don't make sense. Couple with the fact that, you know, emotions say you play like a football. But if you bring it full circle, I guess you could call Miami. The football version of the Brooklyn nets. You know, they traded a guy for a guy that are going to provide the same thing.

[01:19:04] And then they went out and got a retired tight end, but no reason at all that nobody was thinking about. Unless the giants are that terrible of an organization. I know, but we just had an NFL. We just had an NFL draft. A month ago, you know, a month and a half ago, you could have got a tight end then. If it was that serious. Maybe they heard that he's, that he was available. Like I said, I don't know how you turn it off and turn it back on.

[01:19:34] Like, like, so, so like, like in, in his career, right. Um, he's played six games, 12 games, four games. Then he had two 16s, then 11, nine, 12. So you're not even getting somebody reliable. You know what I mean? First of all, you know, and he's coming back from a year off. So maybe he's all healed up, but I don't like the way that that sounds. And then you got, you know, in his career,

[01:20:04] you know, he had the year that you were talking about 145 targets, 117, the year before that. And then there's a whole lot of low output because of the injuries. So, so from that standpoint, I don't know what the dolphins think that they're getting. You know what I mean? Like, I don't, I don't, I don't know. Cause Johnny Smith had a pretty good year considering that, you know, his quarterbacks, you know,

[01:20:33] his quarterback is always out. You know what I mean? So I don't know. And as far as the Steelers go, I don't think this move does anything. Their defense is already their defense. You know, Cam's a year older. You're still trying to figure out TJ Watts situation. As far as, are you going to pay him? What does that look like? He doesn't strike me as the type that would hold out per se, but holding out does nothing for the player. I think they get fined like $50,000 a day.

[01:21:02] It's the worst negotiation tactic in the history. Well, it's like my guy, you know, I got a guy that works at Safeway, AKA Slaveway. And, you know, like all these stores in Colorado are just walking out. And I was like, so what's the penalty for this thing? Just letting you leave. It's like $350 a day, you know, is the fine. So, you know, it's like, well, y'all better win. Yeah. Y'all better win. Yeah.

[01:21:33] Again, it doesn't, it doesn't seem fair. Like I said, the problem with Pittsburgh, excuse me, is that their division, they are, they're behind Baltimore. Cincinnati makes three defensive moves. And then they're battling with Cincinnati for two.

[01:22:03] Cleveland is Cleveland, but Cleveland does load up well defensively. And Flacco is a competent quarterback. I believe he's going to be the starter and they do have some weapons. So they're in a tough division of where Cleveland could literally go eight and nine, but go forward to in division. Right. It's like, they're that kind of team where like, no, it doesn't matter how they play against everybody else against each other.

[01:22:33] They can just be a different team. So the Steelers making all these moves. It can look like it didn't work simply because the competition you have to go up against. So that's, that's the problem. And like I said, we knew for some reason, a lot of conversation with Mike Tomlin on a hot seat over the last couple of years, you've been kind of cooking that stove up. This is a kind of off season that gets him potentially removed.

[01:23:01] If he gives them another 10 and seven gear in the first round. Like that. Yo, you were cooking it up. I got Mike Tomlin on the hot seat. So I said that Mike Tomlin should walk away. I didn't say they should fire him. I'm saying that he should get fed up with their bullshit and he should leave. Now, now McDermott on the other hand. Oh yeah. That he, you got him. I got him in the fryer right now. Bro,

[01:23:32] if I don't even, you know, I don't even, I'm blaming everything on McDermott. They like, yo, James Cook trying to sell his house. That's McDermott. Even though it's the front office, it's McDermott. You know what I'm saying? Like, look, all I'm saying is bro. They don't have enough Gatorade cups on the sideline. That's McDermott's fault. All I'm saying is, if we get to January this year or in 2026, if we get to January and these fools lose the Kansas city again,

[01:24:00] I don't want to hear nothing from none of y'all. Listen, we're not making predictions, but that matchup, it can't happen. It can't happen. Right? It can, it can not happen. They can, they can not lose the Kansas city. You remember what I brought up? You remember the analogy I brought up last year? It has to be mathematically impossible. Where's middle to grass Tyson to break this down. There's no way a team that matches up this many times in the playoffs over this span of time to be this equally talented. Like they're equal.

[01:24:29] It's not like it was years where they didn't have the talent matchup and they were getting the pieces and still losing. It's like, they are equal. They were up. You remember the analogy? I brought up 13 seconds left three years ago. Like it can't be that far off. You remember the analogy I brought up before the playoff game last year? What's that? I said, this is Jordan trying to get through the Pistons. You know what I mean? But realistically, if they play again this year,

[01:24:56] it might be Jerry West trying to get through the damn Celtics. Yeah. But eventually he got through. It didn't take five different playoff runs. It took a couple. Couple. You got, you went through. Hey, it took Jerry West like eight years, bro. You and your guy got, got bigger and stronger in the gym. And then you came back and then you hadn't walked up the court early. And then you won your championship. It just, it has to be an anomaly.

[01:25:25] If they match up with Kansas city again and lose health. Same thing for Baltimore. You can't, you can't be at home for a playoff game and, and lose it again. Like it just, it just, yeah, you just can't. It sucks because these guys all got drafted the same year. And we should be kind of rejoicing in this, this thing that the NBA will love.

[01:25:49] The NBA will love to have four guys that were drafted in 2021 competing for these final four spots in the playoffs. Every year, every year, they would kill for that scenario. The NFL's got guys from 2018 health. Don Baker in there. There's a lot of Baker for MVP stuff. So the NFL still had, you know, for a couple of years, Brady Roethlisberger was still around.

[01:26:19] You said Drew Brees for a couple of years. Then you had Aaron Rogers. Then you still had the young guns. You had your Mahomes, Allen's Lamar, you know, taking over Flacco spot, like all these kinds of these, these interweaving transitions. But now you have Aaron Rogers. It's kind of on the outskirts by himself as, as the old, the proverbial old head, Matthew Stafford is getting up there,

[01:26:47] but I don't think Matthew ever really had the same amount of pressure, but the Steelers, Aaron Rogers marriage, it has to work. The problem is the only year I could really think of where the Steelers Aaron Rogers really came through when they were like in the down bad.

[01:27:12] Like they really needed a great run was the year where he spelled relax in the, in the locker room. Right. I felt like that year he kind of took it game by game and they went on a streak five or six games and then making the playoffs. But for the most part, I don't really get a lot of those kinds of moments. And like I said, I don't, I don't believe the marriage between him and Arthur Smith is going to be beneficial. So last question to get us out of here. All right. Yes. True or false.

[01:27:43] Aaron Rogers is better than Drew Brees. I'm a save. It's, it's tough. A lot of thinking going on over there. It's, it's, it's, it's tough because I, I got to look at, because I watched a lot of new Orleans games because of the Falcons. I've seen a lot of those games where third and eight, even not even like clutch moments, just like first, first quarter, nine minutes to go.

[01:28:13] It's their first drive third and eight. And he drops back to pass. I'm like, this is going to be completed. I've just felt like that so much. Uh, I don't know. That's, that's, that's a tough question. I know people are going to look at stats, but each one of them have astronomical stats. I know Aaron has a touchdown and assumption ratio, and I believe the passer rating, but I just feel like I don't see as many.

[01:28:43] Clutch throws and like comeback moments for Aaron. I know he has a lot of Hail Marys. Yeah. I was about to say, you ain't with the Hail Marys. I know it. Like the Hail Marys are dope. It's just, it's just crazy though, because, because all this stuff that we've been saying about him, his teams have lost eight playoff games that the offense has put up at least 30. You know, that's bananas to really. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. Like, like maybe because I, I'm,

[01:29:12] I need to kind of peel back my biases for Aaron. But like I said, Drew Brees just was a guy I paid a lot of attention to. I just felt like Drew Brees was always kind of willing his team in certain moments. Yeah. And I don't feel the same way with Aaron, but maybe because it looked like it came effortlessly. Like it looked like it just kind of came like, Oh, I'm just naturally this good at this. That,

[01:29:42] you know, Tom Brady, Tom Brady, it looked like he was putting a lot of work in because he wasn't moving that well. Wasn't fast. He didn't have like outstanding wide receivers aside from the years, a couple of years. Yeah. Randy Moss. It just felt like he was always putting in a lot of work to make 24 and 27 points for New England. Right. I just feel like some years with Aaron, he would get 30 because they just had the weapons,

[01:30:09] but like maybe these guys were weapons because they had the ultimate weapon thrown on the ball. So I think I just have, that's something that I'd have to like really look at and really digest, not just look at the stats, but like really think back through to all the years of football that I've watched. All right. Well, on that note, folks, we will be back on Friday, you know, saying some more NBA free agency going on. We're getting closer and closer to football preview season. It's about that time.

[01:30:39] We got other stuff going on. I know everybody. So we're talking about football. All I know is we got basketball. We got baseball. So we got all I know is on July 31st, we got the hall of fame game. That's what I know, but I do know as well. Hey, how about those earliest I've ever seen that game? How about I was looking at them standings earlier, right? Yankees. I mean, a blue Jays and rays only a game behind the Yankees. You know, sad is he nothing.

[01:31:11] Three 64 or 28 home runs. Ain't that some shit? You know what I mean? Like, Oh, speaking of which one guest real quick, do you know? Well, at least as of yesterday, I didn't look today. Who was tied with the Dodgers for the best record in baseball? One guess. Milwaukee. The Detroit Tigers.

[01:31:42] That is the craziest thing you've said since we've had this show for two years. On that note, y'all. I don't even believe you. I got to check it. Yeah. They might've, they might've lost yesterday or something, but when I looked yesterday, cause you know, I was trying to place my bets and everything. So, you know, but, uh, we will be back on Friday. Y'all enjoy the free agency. Enjoy the fuckery. Maybe. Maybe by the time we talk to you again, the Lakers will have a center. You know what I mean? Or maybe LeBron would have asked for a trade.

[01:32:12] I don't know, but you know what I'm saying? That and much more on sports reports is older. He is the world famous, the one and only the world right now. He is Mr. Lodge. Don't bring feelings to a fact. Don't do it. And I am your unorthodox statistician to five. Shout out to grandma. Shout out to Dylan Harper's mama. You know what I'm saying? Shout out to Sonia Carey.

[01:32:42] You know what I'm saying? All that. We'll be back. Love ya. Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things. Do all the good things. With a liquid death right by your side. Peace.