#sportsreportsasordered - LOWERED EXPECTATIONS

[00:00:04] Good evening sports fans. Happy Friday one and all. Getting ready for the weekend. How many of y'all getting loaded tonight? Water. Yes, you are now listening to the sound of Sports Reports' audit.

[00:00:29] And what's up Liquid Death? We still repping. Up in the house tonight we're gonna talk about Victor Wimbiyama, sad news. We're gonna talk about what to expect coming down the stretch of this NBA season. Where is Myles Garrett gonna end up? We'll talk about it. We. Because I got with me. The one and only world renowned born and tested, raised in the NBA, representing everything new to Bruce.

[00:00:58] And he wants you to know that New Jersey started tolerance. They have the second biggest Hindu temple in the world. Biggest in North America. Everyone is welcome. He is Mr. Logical. I am your unorthodox statistician who does believe in Joe Hendry. Who and left so much you thought I was South Park. I go by the name of 2-5. And do me a favor, like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things.

[00:01:27] And do all the good things. So, Mr. Logical. Yeah? You know, there's that old saying, you know, saying, like, I'ma just say see you later. I won't say goodbye. Okay.

[00:01:44] I'm not saying goodbye, Wimby. You know, saying get well soon. You know, I was sitting at lunch yesterday at a restaurant. Couldn't get any service. I just happened to walk to the bathroom, come out the bathroom. And my phone was just going nuts. Victor Wimby Yama out for the season. And I said, hold up. We just had the All-Star game. And we only had one game, the Lakers and Hornets in between. What the? So as I started going through the motions.

[00:02:16] Whew. Blood clots. First thing I thought about was Chris Bosh. Yeah. Second thing I thought about because I wanted to be positive. So the second thing I thought about was Brandon Ingram. Because, you know, he was able to have surgery or whatever happened and he was able to come back. You know what I mean? Then I thought about Asar Thompson. You know, our men's brother. You know, he went out last March and didn't come back at the start of this season. He was out the first couple of weeks of the season.

[00:02:45] So I started to kind of take a breath because there is a possibility that he can come back. I don't want to be bleak. We've seen it before. Correct. Right. But I just, it was just stunning in real time. When I saw it, I felt the same way because immediately the information started coming out and people started saying, well, is this the year where David Robinson didn't finish the year out?

[00:03:13] And then Tim Duncan ended up being the number one pick. So it was just a Cooper flag move. But ultimately, like you said, the Chris Bosch piece, I even think back to Ryan Clark when he was still wanting to go play games in Denver. And they were like, yo, you can't travel to altitude because of these. You got to get this rectified first. He was trying to, you know, go play. Yeah. Yeah. Chris Bosch did come back and people say, yeah, he was never the same, but he was also at the tail end of, you know, his prime.

[00:03:42] Like he played all those years, you know, in Toronto. Then he had that, he had a great run in Miami with, you know, LeBron and Miami Eagles. So it might've just been one of those situations where like time was going to catch up with them. Eventually a guy that tall, you know, there's always something that's going to stone down joint problems, deep problems. So I think he came back well from that and he seems to be, you know, operating well now in his, in his private life, not being an NBA.

[00:04:06] So, I mean, we're living in the day and age. I know it seems chaotic if you look around, but medically, if you, if you have the resources, the medical community that exists, especially the cohesive medical community, international doctors. I know we, we pulled out of the world health organization, but they still exist. So he'll, he'll get the best treatment available.

[00:04:31] I'm pretty sure the San Antonio Spurs organization will make sure that happens and, you know, he'll bounce back. I know that there's this whole talk about the face of the league and you can miss a year. You can miss some time and still come back and, and rain like Jordan missed was a second year because of a broken leg came back. Like 30 something games. Yeah. Yeah. So you, you know, it's when it happens, it's unfortunate, but it's good to find out now versus, you know, in the summer.

[00:05:01] Now it jeopardizes, you know, your 2025, 26 season. Well, you know, there's a potential silver lining here, you know, saying thank you, ma'am. Thank you. We appreciate you. Thank you very much. You know, I think there is a silver lining though, provided that he ends up coming back, you know, because now, you know, the, the, I was about to say Deandre, De'Aaron Fox, you know, has a thumb issue going on. So now he could potentially go get that surgery.

[00:05:28] You know, he could be out for the season as well. You know, you don't have to worry about whatever internal strife could have been happening because, you know, Chris Paul still got to play. You know, you got Steph Castle who got sent to the bench who can now grow and get more minutes and become more of that. I guess the leader of the team while Wimby is out, you know, kind of put the keys in his hands a little bit, see how he does.

[00:05:53] You also get to potentially, and you were going to do this anyway, but it just makes more sense. Now you can start thinking about pops replacement. If there hasn't been a serious conversation about that yet. And then to top it all off, you got Atlanta's pick.

[00:06:12] So now if you tank and fall out of the playoffs, I mean, they're not in the play in right now anyway, but if they just stay out and fall further and then Atlanta starts to fall off, you know, Jalen Johnson's out for the year. You know, you got Deandre Hunter just got traded at the trade deadline and Atlanta starts to fall back. Then you find yourself just like last year with two lottery picks.

[00:06:37] You know, they ended up picking Steph Castle. They traded the other pick in that ended up being Minnesota grabbing Rob Dillingham. So now you can put yourself in that same type of position this year. And maybe it's not Cooper flag, because I don't know if you're going to get enough odds. To end up number one. So if the Spurs end up number one, I might have to change course and say that it's rigged. That's first and foremost. You know what I mean? But why would you rig it to get him to San Antonio?

[00:07:06] I don't know. But because he's coming back, you know what I mean? Like now you got Wimby, you got Steph Castle, you got De'Aaron Fox. Now you get say like an Ace Bailey in there. You know what I'm saying? Now you're cooking with gas. I mean, you have the pieces. It's just, it seems as if in recent years,

[00:07:34] the smaller market teams, they treat opportunities like it's an all in. And it's not a very progressive like, yo, so we're slowly going up the top of this roller coaster. Then we get all of our pieces in place. We'll come down. So like you said, sitting De'Aaron Fox, I don't know if you want to do that. I would. Because we're going to talk about like the fan experience. I mean, he's going to probably need the surgery at some point anyway.

[00:08:04] Like probably after the season. If he needs the surgery and it's. And it's a thumb. It's not like, you know what I mean? It's not like an Achilles injury or something along those lines. It's a thumb. You know, go get that done. Rest up for the offseason. Come back preseason. Ready to rock and roll. Steph Castle gets these minutes or whatever to be the lead guard, if you will. And that'll pay off next season because you're not. Did they extend them when they traded for him? I'm not. I don't remember reading that they did.

[00:08:33] But he still has another year left anyway. OK. And, you know, so if Wimby comes back next year, you know, you got De'Aaron Fox, Wimby. You know, maybe Chris Paul finally fades to black. You know, you got Steph Castle who would have used these last 30 games or so to kind of refine his game. Yeah. And now he's and now he's got a little juice. Right. He did well in the slam dunk contest. He's got a little juice now.

[00:09:00] So outside of Wimby, if he can come back, of course, the Spurs might become even more must see TV. If Castle gets those reps and gets comfortable. Yeah. Like, I think the future is bright. You know, like I said, I have like a family group chat and I talked about like, you know. Hey, sometimes it might not feel like this is the right path. But if you keep grinding, keep working, you get the right ingredients together.

[00:09:27] Then when you turn the corner, you'll be you'll look back like, oh, wow, that just that was just the. That was just something difficult I had to deal with to get through to the other side. And I think San Antonio, like I said, if they had your level of optimism, they're right there. They can come and hire you. You can work in their office and you could be like the voice of reason. Because what you said makes a lot of sense. Like, listen, take take all feelings out of it. Take take all the emotions out of it and look at it objectively.

[00:09:56] You have young talent. You have injured young talent and you have the you're in the position to bring in talented prospects. You get your young talent, some development that's currently on the team. You get your injured talent, an extended health break. And then you bring in the new talent, the new youth that you're going to get. And then you put that on the court September for training camp and see what you got. Yeah.

[00:10:25] So right now there are three games out of the play in, you know, and Golden State is sitting in that 10 spot and Golden State just got Jimmy Butler. So I imagine that they're going to be all right. Like, you know, you got this, you got the Kings tied with them with Golden State. That is, you got the Mavs who just got hurt, you know, Gafford, Powell, Lively, AD, all out, you know, so like the Mavs might come and join you in the lottery.

[00:10:52] And, you know, you got Phoenix right there, who I would imagine is going to exhaust themselves to try to get into the playoffs. So, so, so this isn't a place for you. Because I mean, what's, what's your reward? And then you have, you have zero, you should, you would have zero expectations of even making it out of the play in and then into the first round. So it was like, yeah, you're literally just going to be exhausting people for nothing. Yeah.

[00:11:16] And if you get the eight, you know, you get what Oklahoma city and don't look at the standings. Now, don't look at the standings now. Don't look at the standings now, but you see who number two is now in the West. As I say, don't look at the standings. You start flipping shit. I mean, I already had it, I already had it up. Like the nuggets past Memphis last night.

[00:11:39] So, so, so you're going to go in and play in, even if you're fortunate enough to get out of the play in, you're going to play one of Oklahoma city or Denver. Playing anyone in the top six. It should be something that the Spurs don't want to do. Maybe even seven. Because I think Minnesota, Minnesota just had an eye year. Like I said, I didn't like the Randall move. And he's hurt now.

[00:12:07] Not liking Randall, but I just felt like having Kat there. I think, I think it was easier to figure it out. I think it would have been easier to figure out what you had with the Twin Towers going forward after you had success with them. Because everyone said it wasn't going to work at all. Right. And then you got to the Western Conference final. You play, if you play better in a couple of those games where you don't switch Rudy Gobert onto Luka. You don't go drive from the field for like three and a half minutes in a couple of games.

[00:12:36] You know, you're in the NBA finals and all of a sudden. So, but like I said, anybody one through seven realistically would beat the brakes off the Spurs in the playoffs here. And ever since Randall's been hurt, Anthony Edwards has been averaging 34 points a game. Sometimes you need, you need the ball, you need space. And some, some guys are kind of in the way. But speaking of 30, speaking of 30s and bad numbers or whatever, big numbers.

[00:13:06] So you got the Knicks, right? They went out and got Kat, who you were talking about. And I was talking about how Kat is probably going to get an MVP vote or two. So I fast forward and I look at this. So the Knicks are 0-2 against Boston this year. They play them this weekend. And they lost both those games by a combined 50 points. So coming out of the all-star break, right? You know, the Knicks come into action tonight.

[00:13:35] Playing against who? The Cleveland Cavaliers. They were eight and a half point underdogs. So now they lost to Cleveland the first time they played them. Close game, six points. That's the logical. Knicks lost by 34 tonight.

[00:13:55] Certain teams, everything has to go right for the entirety of the game for them to be successful. Boston, I think Boston can have a bad... Oh, make that 37, by the way.

[00:14:12] So if you look at teams like Cleveland, Boston, if you go out with OKC, you know, these top teams, because they have this type of firepower and they have guys that kind of run the show, Denver with Jokic, OKC with SGA, Boston with their three-point barrage. They can go down 17 in the first half, you know, that six-minute timeout in the second quarter.

[00:14:41] The score could be 37-20. Boston hasn't played great that entire first half. And then they can go into halftime. The score is 44-41. They called their way back by just playing the way they play. The Knicks have to be scrappy. They got to turn you over. They got to get out and run. One, they have to be able to play aggressive defense. So if they're on-ball defender...

[00:15:06] You know, if their on-ball defender picks up a cheap foul and they're down 17 and now Jalen has to hold on to the ball a long time, you know, you know, Cat has... Cat's a good basketball player. He's like, you know, one of the top basketball players in the world. But he's kind of limited in the shiftiness. Like, he's not going to be able to, like, break you now. Whereas Jokic kind of embraces, like, listen, I'm a lumbering kind of guy. Like, the kids are trying to get him to dunk at his camp. He's like, have you watched me play? I don't dunk. They're like, but you're tall. He's like, yeah, but I don't dunk.

[00:15:36] They're like, come on, just do it. He's like, ugh. And he, like, reluctantly dunked. But he plays his game that way. Like, Kyle Anderson's slow-mo. Like, they play their game that way. Cat wants to play faster. But it's like, he's limited because you can guard him with pretty much any big forward. You can guard him. You know? So, I just feel like the Knicks, everything kind of has to just fall into place. And they got to be in that striking distance. Eight or nine points, I think they can get you. They turn you over a couple times.

[00:16:04] Brunson goes on, you know, his own little 8-0 run. But if they get, like, double digits, 12, 14 points with a team like Boston's, Boston's going to step on your neck. So, you know I got to say it, right? Let's hear it. So, they lost by 37. They lost those two games to Boston by a combined 50. But somehow, they've beat Milwaukee twice by a combined 56. Milwaukee is an odd team.

[00:16:33] They are. Top five defense in the league, though. It just feels like they don't. I think the expectations on Milwaukee. Giannis and the Milwaukee Bucks. I'm not saying him as an individual. They won a championship. And I understand that they, that he feels like, I want to win more.

[00:16:58] But if you look at it realistically, the championship that he won was probably the tail end of their real championship window. And it was full gazey anyway. Cut it out. Like, they probably, he probably should have maybe squeezed out maybe the one in the bubble. I think the bubble, when they were in the bubble, I think they should have gone further in the playoffs then.

[00:17:27] And I think the year maybe after that. No, he got hurt in one series. I think he hurt his back. Yeah, he got hurt against Miami. He hurt his back and missed a game or two. Came back. Those first couple of MVP seasons, I think that was the open window. Once you start making these kind of Dan Lillard super team moves, you just kind of bring down your championship chances because you lose key pieces.

[00:17:56] And other players, your role players kind of lose, like, their spot. And I think Giannis is looking around like, I wanted the championship. But it's like, yo, I don't think you have the team that's champion. You have a really good team. You have a very competitive team that could probably make the Eastern Conference Finals and do well. But because of the moves and the trades, like, moving Drew Holiday at all was a bad move because you see exactly what he did when he got to Boston.

[00:18:26] Like, as soon as he got to Boston, it was like, okay, this is the piece. This is the piece that puts us over the hump. Now, we don't have Jalen and Jason Tatum have – if your energy is divided up in a basketball game, most players are putting probably 55% to 60% defensive in because they don't get that many shots up. Most star players are probably putting – it's probably like 50-50. You got to play as hard on defense. You're doing offensively to get most of the shots.

[00:18:54] Now, those guys can probably go, like, 55%, 45%, 60%, 40%. Like, listen, we can focus offensively and I can take breaks defensively because I'm just going to stand over here and guard this guy who's not going to get the ball. And that's the crazy part. And Drew's going to match up with Jalen Brunson. He's going to match with SGA. He's going to switch on to Luka. Like, he's going to handle all that and I'm going to guard P.J. Washington over here in the corner. You know, so it's like – Right, and that's the crazy thing because, like, looking at Milwaukee, Giannis is second in league in scoring.

[00:19:24] You know, Dame is number 11 in scoring. They have the number three shooting percentage defense. And they're only 31 and 24. It makes no sense. Because sometimes you need, like, a scrappy guy. You need, like, a Grayson Allen, like a crazy guy that just kind of, like, can make a few people in the ass. But he's going to scrap for rebounds. He's going to use his six fouls. He's going to give Giannis a break by just being, like, that extra energy guy, like a guy like – Like, sometimes you just need these blue guys.

[00:19:54] Because I was thinking about this when they talk about, you know, not to bounce over this place, but, like, I was thinking about this with KD. I heard someone talk about KD. If KD were to go to OKC now, then the team – No, it was on First Things First. They were talking about it. Okay. It was, like, expectations. Like, him and Phoenix, there's no real championship expectation. But if he somehow got traded to OKC, it would be expectations.

[00:20:18] And it's like, yeah, I know you're looking at KD as, like, this piece because when he was there, when he was younger. But when he was there, when he was younger, it was a bunch of younger guys that were high-caliber basketball players like him. There were dynamic guys, Harden, Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, a seven-footer that can shoot, stretch the floor, play defense, very, you know, good defensively. And then there was, like, scrappy guys who were older.

[00:20:45] Now you got these older superstars and you got young guns. The young guns aren't scrappy like the old vets that these once, you know, young superstars played with. So it's not the same team dynamic. So that's why you got a guy like Giannis. He's giving you 32 points. He's giving you whatever you need offensively. But he doesn't have those kind of scrappy guys that win the 50-50 balls. And you remember. Close out hard on three-point shots.

[00:21:13] So, like, when you're down one and you can't give up a three and you give one up, now you're down four. It's like it changes your whole dynamic. But if you have a guy closes out hard and that shot is missed, now Giannis is rebounded and his ability to dribble and transition a score. Now you're up one. It's a totally different dynamic when you don't have those kind of guys. Well, you remember. That's how you end up losing games like that. I remember I was talking about that in the offseason.

[00:21:42] You know, their front office is just negligent. You know, I know that they didn't go swing for the fences and miss like Philly did with Paul George. But I just wanted Milwaukee to do something. You know, then they drafted a guy who averaged two and a half points in Australia and then traded him at midseason to end up with Kyle Kuzma anyway. So, so you got a score another scorer in.

[00:22:06] But I don't know if they're changing their identity from we play tough defense to we're just going to try to outscore you. But it looks like they're going to match up potentially with the I was about to say the Patriots with the Pacers again in the first round of the playoffs. And obviously this year you look at it and you say, well, Giannis was out last year. Dame missed a few games. So it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You could probably beat. You could probably beat Indiana this year.

[00:22:32] And then you play Cleveland in the second round versus playing Boston. So that might be a win for you. You know, even though Cleveland's better this year, they're not necessarily used to success and they haven't, you know, gone to the conference finals or anything like that. Guys that they have are like kind of like, you know, use one of Stephen A. Smith's favorite ingratiated into their role. I think that's the dynamic. I think Cleveland's guys on Cleveland.

[00:23:02] That's why everyone's talking about big trades at the trade deadline. I'm like, I don't, they don't always work unless you have someone who can like carry the load until everyone figures it out. Cause trade deadline is February, all-star break, playoff start in April. I believe the last major trade deadline move that really had impact in the NBA. And I could be wrong.

[00:23:27] But it was when LeBron traded or Cleveland traded half of the team after they beat Minnesota. I don't even think that was big impact. I just think LeBron was going to take whoever he had. When he got, yeah. And they got, and they got to the NBA finals. Right, right. He was just going to take whoever was there. They were coming. It just doesn't seem like that's the move that, you know. But I do like the move that Cleveland made at the deadline. You know, they picked up DeAndre Hunter from Atlanta. All they really gave up was Karis LeVert. So I'll take that swap any day.

[00:23:57] You know, you get you a 6'8", 6'9", guy that can step out, shoot the three, play legit defense. So, you know, they got him to be the Tatum stopper. That's what they got him for. Get a guy like that who has like a very clearly defined role. Right. And that role is. But not like a Luka. Yeah, like we got Luka and now we it. Oh, hey, speaking of which. If anyone traded for KD, if Minnesota trades for KD and they make that move, whatever, no matter how badly they deplete their team,

[00:24:27] the expectation is Ant and KD, because more likely they probably still would have kept Rudy O'Bear, is like those two should be considered contenders in the West. It's like, no, there's no continuity. He has, other than the Olympics, he has no idea how Kevin Durant likes to play against other NBA teams. And he has to figure out. Well, speaking of which, look, man.

[00:24:54] So, we try, we pride ourselves in not being the hot take dudes. Yeah. Not being hyperbolic, not being, you know, just gloviating. Hey, man. People might have to look back at Nico in a couple of years. And say he made a great move. And be like, I don't know if they'll call it a great move, but it's like, I wouldn't have done it. But I understand. But I see, yeah.

[00:25:19] It's going to be like a Belichick kind of, in hindsight, it was a good move. Honestly, like I said, I'm always going to be a LeBron fan, but I can see that sometimes it is tough. Oh, that ankle feeling better too, ain't it? Hey. Maybe he had a real reason he didn't want to play. Who knows? But that's neither here nor there.

[00:25:46] But I can tell it is, I think Kyrie fit great with LeBron because Kyrie was never going to falter mentally in LeBron's space. Like, honestly, I don't think he viewed the basketball court as me operating within LeBron's space. Oh, Kyrie, you think he better than LeBron?

[00:26:14] And I believe a lot of other players operate in this. I'm in orbit around LeBron's aura. And I don't know if Luka plays that way, but I don't think he feels that way. But I don't know. The only way for him to be Luka is to do what LeBron does without having a guy like LeBron on the floor.

[00:26:44] I don't know if it's going to work. So I know we're talking about this season, but for a quick second, you think the Lakers trade LeBron in the offseason? Nah, not at all. Okay. All right. So where do you – so what are your expectations for the Lakers going forward for the rest of this year? Because, you know, I'm looking forward to tomorrow night. Tomorrow night they're playing Denver. So that's going to be fun. You know, Luka will be back for that game, obviously.

[00:27:10] But I know we used to do this thing because LeBron was young and we used to say, if you put LeBron on 27 or 28 teams, he's taking them to the finals. And then you go back to years like last year, right? Every game in that series against Denver just about they were up double digits and they just couldn't hold it. So I was talking to somebody the other day. Hey, no one can guard me if they switch this pick and roll. So let's keep doing it all night.

[00:27:35] So I was talking to somebody the other day or yesterday and he said, you ain't picking the Lakers to go to the finals though. And I was like, yeah, of course not. But – But why would you? But, but, but, but, you know, considering that in the last two years they lost to Denver in the Western Conference Finals the first year. Last year I just mentioned what they did to Denver even though they lost the series.

[00:27:58] So if I'm the Lakers, if I'm LeBron, I don't look at anybody in the West minus say Oklahoma City and maybe Denver just because of what's happened. I don't look at anybody else and say, ooh, that's going to be tough sledding because the Rockets don't have experience. Minnesota traded cat like you're talking about. You know, the Clippers are the Clippers for better or worse and they still got James Harden and they added Ben Simmons. So, okay, that's scary. You know what I mean?

[00:28:27] Like Memphis, John Morant. Remember back in the day – I wonder if they sit around and talk shit about Philly and Brooklyn. Well, you remember back in the day that like all the people on ESPN used to say, LeBron looks so disengaged right now. Like he just doesn't – I'm seeing that in John Morant now. So if I'm the Lakers and I match up with Memphis, wait, this is easy money. It's – you're optimistic.

[00:28:53] Your optimism that you're talking about is through the lens of this team. That still doesn't make any sense, but I'm going to say it out loud anyway. This team has Luka and LeBron. LeBron and Luka, however you want to go about it. Alphabetic order, LeBron and Luka. Age, LeBron, Luka. Logic, it still doesn't make any sense how this happened in today's NBA. Right, right, right.

[00:29:17] But the problem is I think people are only stopping at you got LeBron and Luka. This should be a trajectory that pushes you to the Western Conference Finals. Yeah, this was five years ago. Even if the trade happened in July 2024, if it happened last offseason, if it happened before the draft and they got to work together,

[00:29:46] LeBron could have probably – maybe LeBron talks to him, gets Luka in the building last summer and say, Yo, I got a trainer for you. This is what I'm going to do for you. It costs $200,000 a year. I'm going to break him off $75,000. You've got to come out of your pocket $125,000. You know what I mean? But I'm going to get you squared away because this is what I do. I got this chef. I'm going to put you in touch with these people. Just talk to Mads. He'll hook you up.

[00:30:12] And then maybe Luka gets to $250,000, $245,000, $250,000 and he plays at that. And then, you know, he works on different stretches and bodies. Hey, where do you have right now? No. I'm just figuring like because what they're trying to do now is play him in the shape. Right. Off of an injury. And I don't know if they have enough season left to do it. And I don't know if they have enough season left.

[00:30:33] And considering how valuable – how much of his value is wrapped up and controlling the game with the ball in his hand, you don't have enough games for you guys to figure out can LeBron and Luka do this because it's like, okay, it's, you know, you're playing against – like I said, they got the Nuggets, right? Right. Third quarter score is, you know, 70 to 64. Lake Nuggets up six.

[00:31:01] You don't have the luxury of kind of leaving Luka out there to figure it out and calling a timeout. By the time you call a timeout, the score is 76, 64, you're down 12. Now you got to switch the whole thing up. You don't have enough – if they had like eight less losses, if they were like 40 and – like 40 and 13 or something like that, then maybe you could work that in. But at 33 and 21, like it's – you got to make – every game is going to count.

[00:31:30] It's dire straits because you don't want to fall into the play-in because you might need Luka to get, you know, even though a little bit, but it's still rest. You might need Luka to get that. And you got a 40-year-old dude. Or you don't – you want to keep a couple of games on the Timberwolves that way on a game like, for instance, let's look at the couple of Lakers games just going forward. Just grab one randomly.

[00:31:57] So you might want to get a – keep your couple of game leads that way when you go to Brooklyn on March 10th. You could sit Luka if you need to. You could sit Luka or you could sit LeBron. I know LeBron loves playing in New York, so he probably won't sit that game because he doesn't play many. But Suns-Lakers on the 16th. Spurs-Lakers on the 17th.

[00:32:24] Do you sit LeBron – like Luka on the front end, have LeBron match up against KD, and then sit LeBron on the back end because they're both home games. So you get the Suns at home, you get the Spurs at home. But if you lose three out of the next four, you don't have that luxury of even making those kind of pregame plans. I know. Speaking of which, on Tuesday, the Mavericks come to the crypto.

[00:32:49] You know, like I wish the game was in Dallas, but, you know, it is what it is. They probably would have moved it if it was. Yeah, they probably would have had to play in Austin or something. Yeah, they would have played in OKC or something. They would have played it out of, you know, in New Orleans. But, yeah, like, you know – so I think the Lakers – you know, so this is the problem with this Luka deal. Because you know that you're not winning the championship this year. So theoretically, it's a next-year move.

[00:33:19] But you can't tell yourself that because when you look in there, you see 70-70, you see 23-30. And you see Luka taking less to, you know, to the Western Conference Finals at least, the year they got swept by the Warriors. And he became Devin Booker's daddy. You know, but like – so when you – but when you look at it, you know, LeBron's going to be a year older next year. You know, so you still have to play free agency to get people in there. And this is where that Mark Williams trade comes back because you're stuck with Jackson Hayes at center.

[00:33:48] And you don't really have another center on your roster because you let Christian Wood go. And so, you know, you might need LeBron to play some minutes at center at times. So – and that sounds good in theory because LeBron can definitely do it. But he's 40 now. You don't want LeBron spending – Right. A bunch of energy defensively guarding Jokic. Right. But the good news is, you know, centers aren't like they were in yesteryear.

[00:34:14] There's no Ewing's and Olajuwon's and people like that that he would have to theoretically potentially match up. Yeah, but he would have to pay attention because they're all standing by the hoop. Like traditional centers that you have out west, guys like Nurkic, Jokic, you know, just your traditional bigs, like Mavericks bigs. Those guys are by the hoop. So he can't – no one can slack off of them. Nurkic is in the east now. Oh, yeah. I just – Because I was thinking of all the –

[00:34:44] Yeah, he went to Charlotte. The eastern block names. Yeah. But if you look at, you know, Mavericks, their bigs, Sabonis in Sacramento. So these guys around the rim, it's easy points. So you need someone that's going to be able to – Body them up. Body them up. Fight for the rebounds because if Gaffer gets the ball two feet from the hoop, it's going back up. I mean, he made like 33 shots in a row at some point last season.

[00:35:13] So it's like that's what these guys do. Like I said, the Laker trade, like you said, they should be – they should – the same way you're talking about San Antonio with your optimism shouldn't falter. It just has to – you just have to alter your timeline. Right. I don't think the Lakers are looking at that, willing to do that, and they'll do that only if plan A falls apart. Right.

[00:35:39] Like I don't think they'll panic if the playoffs doesn't turn out the way they want this year and start moving bodies and guys retiring or whatever the case may be. I think they'll still hold court. But they still have to make moves, and I don't know if all the moves they need to make once again every year are out there because it's the same thing with Giannis. Giannis has a championship taste in his mouth, and he wants to make it happen.

[00:36:06] It's like, yo, we don't have any more leverage pieces to use to get you over the hump. Right. You're just going to have to live and die with the results of the team that's on the court now. It can't improve. It's too much money tied up in a couple of players. It's only enough money in a salary cap. There's only enough ball to have in one team. You're not going to – I mean, what do you expect? Do you go get Paul George or something?

[00:36:32] Like, there's not enough to go around. And, you know, something that you've been saying a lot during this season is about to rear its ugly head, I fear. You know, the Houston Rockets. You know, you always say, they just got too much. And that was something that I said. Like, you know, they got too much. So Jabari Smith is on his way back. Now you've got that conundrum, right? Can you put him back in the starting lineup?

[00:37:01] Or do you got to leave Dylan Brooks in there? You know, like – I think you take Dylan Brooks out just because it's like if you lose Dylan Brooks, you're not losing – But Dylan Brooks has been playing so well lately. You know what I mean? And that's very good. Everyone plays so well. That's why 400 guys in the NBA. But when you look at – You know E-May is going to want the vet in there. Yeah, but it's not like the vet is like cool, calm, and collected. It's like it's Ken Draymond.

[00:37:28] I mean, like, it's not like he's like – it's not like he's Drew Holiday, like a calming defensive piece that kind of settles things. He's a stoker. Like, he stokes these problems. Well, you know he's Canadian. So if they play the Lakers at some point, LeBron better watch his back. Yo. Muggin. These hockey dudes are different. I love hockey, guys. Oh, yes, we'll talk about him in a second too. But I think OKC is on cruise control for the most part. You know, Chet has come back.

[00:37:56] He's went right back into where he was, and they still look the same. Number one in defense, number six in offense. So I still don't see anybody stopping Oklahoma City from getting to the finals. I think that the Clippers could be a wild card, you know, just off of coaching and the way that they play. Wild card as far as knocking somebody off in a series but not really doing much other than that, but just kind of being the spoiler, if you will. The playoffs is 20 teams in the NBA.

[00:38:26] It's 30 teams in the NBA. 66.7% of the league makes the playoffs. But if we look at it right now, you got – I got Boston, Cleveland, Boston, OKC, Memphis, Denver. One of those five teams is hoisting a trophy. It ain't Memphis. I'll tell you that right now. I mean, you never know. Yes, I do. It ain't Memphis.

[00:38:55] It might – they might be five of the five that I – you know, if we had to rank them one through five, they're probably – they're obviously your five out of the – Right, right, right, right, right. But I think that's your window.

[00:39:06] The NBA, I believe they're so hard-pressed to have stars in the championship conversation year-round that they're missing an opportunity to basically pit the teams that are winning at a high clip against the teams that are grinding with the superstars.

[00:39:30] It's like I think the conversation and the narrative around the NBA could be, hey, is one of these new teams going to take over as, you know, the faces of the league? Boston, a big market team with probably the – they have their two stars. I think their coach has great quirkiness, and it seems to work.

[00:39:59] Like, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown. Jalen Brown's very smart. Jason Tatum's very – they're both very good basketball players. I think they work well in the media. I think they look – like, they look good on camera. They look like good basketball players. They look like good, wholesome men, intelligent, one's a father, very responsible. You know, shares time with his mother is one of his biggest, you know, his advocates who's always there all the time.

[00:40:21] I think they just – they shine as, you know, potential public pieces for the NBA to use as – not use, but, you know, to highlight. And they're in a big city. And they really have a chance to win another championship. Like, this time last year, Boston was so far ahead of everyone in the East, the conversation was, are they so far ahead because the East is down?

[00:40:47] It's like, yo, you have – it's essentially Boston, New York City, Philly, L.A., even D.C. Like, if you have a team in one of these markets, you should be pounding the pavement talking about how basketball is back, big city basketball is back. You know, like, you should have – they should have put more energy into that. Now, Boston's doing it again this year. They're in a position, the way they play – like, we talked about that three-point shooting. The percentage is good. The roles are well.

[00:41:16] Guys have – they had a great NBA finals. They beat a really good, you know, superstar, all-pro, all-NBA player. So it's like they're on the rise. And then you have Cleveland is playing with their new coach. You know, so it's just like it's so many things that the NBA could be highlighting. But they are just so focused on our stars aren't these teams – aren't leading these teams that have the most championship odds. And instead of looking like, yo, Jokic is your star.

[00:41:47] SGA is your star. You know, Jalen Brunson in New York is your star. Like, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, they're your stars. Prazingis, these are your stars. Some of them are foreign. Some of them are black. Some of them are white. Some of them are tall. Some are guards. Some shoot a lot. Some play good defense. You have a conglomerate. You have, like, this rich tapestry of talent. And all you want to do is talk about we believe Luke is overweight. You know, so it's like – or there's two – don't argue about the rest. Or we need to fix the All-Star game.

[00:42:16] No one cares. The All-Star game isn't the end-all, be-all for your NBA season. Well, you know, also this year, real quick before we get into the – or not retort to that, but the other part of that, is, you know, back in 2015, Golden State Warriors won 73 games. People forget the San Antonio Spurs that season finished six games behind them.

[00:42:42] So this year, Oklahoma City and Cleveland have a chance for the second time in NBA history to have a season where two teams win at least 67 games. So, you know, keep your eye on that as well. That's great stuff. They both got to go around 23-5 the rest of the way for that to happen. But, yeah, so PK Subban, you know, was making the rounds yesterday. And he kind of talked about some of what you're talking about.

[00:43:09] And for lack of better words, you know, he challenged NBA players of hockey players can't take nights off. You know, these people are paying good money to come see you. Kind of what I said last week, paying your salaries and all this kind of stuff. And you don't treat them the correct way, for lack of better words. So I like it. Obviously, I was the one that liked the whole world champions of what?

[00:43:35] So I like these sports wars where dudes from different leagues are kind of at each other's necks and whatnot. I wish he would have put a name on it. But I think that he hit the nail on the head. And so, like we were talking earlier before we started, basketball is basketball. You know, like the NBA is getting some of what they want. Like you look at the top five leading scorers right now. You know, we talked about it. You know, SGA, Jokic, Giannis, Tyrese and Maxey.

[00:44:04] So you got young people. You got established superstars. You got MVPs. You got everything you want. You have everything you need for an organization to succeed on a global scale. But the problem is, is the game on the floor itself and the commitment, in my opinion, of those players. Because the All-Star game, like you said, I hate when people say it. I hate when you say it. But it's absolutely correct. It's an exhibition.

[00:44:33] But I don't look at it like an exhibition. I look at it as... It should be a showcase. Yes, this is a showcase and thank you to the fans, you know, that support you. And they treat it like it's beneath them. And I think that's what he was speaking to. Well, I like PK and to your hockey talk. I was a hockey dad before I was any other dad.

[00:44:59] Like my first, my first like sports dad hoodie purchase was my son's junior wildcat Ogden Utah hockey hoodie. It was a 3X. It was the last one they had. It was gigantic. But I'm like, you know what? I'm a hockey dad. I was at the ice sheet three, four times a week. And on Saturday mornings, I was waking them up at 5 o'clock in the morning. Getting them, getting dressed, getting there. All the kids in their hockey gear sleeping.

[00:45:28] Parents giving them tea and coffee to try to wake them up. Right. It's a different mindset when you're playing hockey because it is a, it's very family rooted from the beginning. I was buying, so my youngest son or my oldest son started, it was 2011. So he was nine. He turned nine that year. And I bought some gear. And then I was talking about where I should buy some other thing.

[00:45:58] And this other mom was like, don't buy that. We bought one for Connor. He, the elbows is too big for him. Your son's bigger than him. We'll just bring him to practice next time. You can, you can have ours. And it was, it was like that every time. Like, so when my, when I bought him new skates, I'm like, here, here's some skates. I gave them to the guy who ran the hockey house or whatever. So it's very, it's very family oriented and very connected from the beginning.

[00:46:24] And then with hockey, everybody on the bench has to play. It's a 60 minute game. It's action back and forth. But some of your top stars, they average like 20 minutes of ice time because of the line changes. That's about as long as the all-star game was. So everybody has to participate. And everybody has to participate at the highest level that they can participate because you're out of position.

[00:46:52] If you're out of position in a basketball game and Jackson Hayes gets a lob dunk, it's two points. You can come right back down no matter who you are and hit a three. And that two, that two is null and void. You're out of position as defenseman in hockey too many times. It's 3-0 before you're. Hey, if you're out of position once, you can lose a game. You can lose a game. And you can lose a throw. It's like soccer. Like one time is all it takes. One time. And that's all it takes.

[00:47:21] So for hockey, everybody has to play with the same intensity. Everyone's skills not going to be the same. Sidney Crosby is going to be better than guy number 14 on the bench. But guy number 14 on the bench has to skate as hard as Sidney does when Sidney's out there for his turn to put pressure on the other guys. And I think that's what PK was talking about. I was like, listen, we can't slack even though the talent might be. There's a gap. There's a size difference. There's a speed difference.

[00:47:50] But you have to play as hard as you can with the other guys on the ice at all times because this guy's playing as hard as he can because when he – even when they do their line changes, you've got to skate hard as hell off the ice when you're dead tired. Because that other guy has to get on. Like he can't jump onto the ice until you are in the box.

[00:48:11] So it just – the whole mindset of getting on and off the ice as a unit and working as a unit, basketball players don't have that because basketball players, you can be just the best kid on the team and everybody else can be in a support role and not get the same value out of the game. Because they don't get the points. They don't get the rebounds. They don't get the interview.

[00:48:35] They don't get all the other stuff that you need but that you get if you're a star basketball player. And quick side note, I just want the world to know just in case you aren't tracking, Alexander Ovechkin is 16 goals away from passing the great one Wayne Gretzky on the all-time goals list. And also while you're checking out some hockey, make sure you're checking out the One Mike podcast Mondays and Thursdays at noon. Get your black-on-black news and your gems.

[00:49:04] But look, at the end of the day, NBA players are – they've turned into entitled brats. And I know we like to talk about – because, you know, we're in that age group, right? Jordan would never do this and this person would never do this. And, you know, and to some degree, obviously, that is right. But at the same time, those guys back then at that point in time weren't making the money that these guys are making now. But I don't think it's individual player money.

[00:49:32] I don't think the players making money is making them, like, slack or lack or whatever the case may be. I think that the league is making a lot of money and the players are asking for, like, certain – like I said before, I just feel like there's a disconnect between the league owner and the players because the players had almost total control around –

[00:49:57] so LeBron was up 2010-11 with the decision. And then when KD went to OKC – Golden State? Yeah, yeah. So from OKC to Golden State. And then there was a few other players that kind of forced themselves out of positions, out of places. You know, Anthony Davis kind of forced himself to L.A. And it was a couple of other moves happened like that. But for the most part, the players have been very cooperative and everything else.

[00:50:27] It's just that the all-star game has been like this linchpin. But the players were like, yo, get better refs. Stop teching us up. Stop fining us for everything. But the players are also getting 49% of the revenue split. You know what I mean? So that's another thing is that they're getting some of that TV deal and all that and all that. So I think that to some degree, you know, you just breed a certain level of that ain't got nothing to do with me. You know what I mean?

[00:50:54] Because like I said, these guys were talking about, oh, why the rising stars out here? Like playing on Sunday is supposed to be – you're supposed to earn that. And it's like, hey, these dudes are trying to – they're the ones out here trying to take your head off right now. They're the ones out here playing off defense. They play – like the NBA players, like I said, it's – Because they're trying to make a name for themselves. It's an exhibition. It shouldn't be a showcase. But it's an easy time for people to jump on the NBA because, like I said, I don't think –

[00:51:25] I do not believe – the way that people in the media and pundits talk about Jalen Hurts, even after now being in two Super Bowls in three years, in both Super Bowls he played very well. He's probably the MVP. If Bradbury doesn't hold Juju, Kansas City, it's incomplete pass. They got a minute in some change. Don't give up a big punt return. You know, it's a minute in some change. I like Anthony Black.

[00:51:55] I think Jalen – I think Jalen moves him back down the field. Yeah. But the way pundits talk about these teams, NFL players don't get on TV and talk about the other players like that. They don't talk about the shield like that. But even like a guy like Max Crosby, he's getting to interview people like his personality, his tattoos, his story. He doesn't badmouth the Raiders. We do. We're like, yeah, what are they doing out there?

[00:52:24] And he just says – he just says, you know what, I want to win these guys in the locker room. We don't badmouth the Raiders. The only time I even talk about them is when James is around. Nobody cares about the Raiders. They're a bad decision or like, you know, firing or the coach's lack of a haircut. You know, got to get another barber when you're a billionaire. Little stuff like that. Like most of these guys, even when guys ask for trades, they don't bash the team. They talk about – And even then, you don't see –

[00:52:50] Because football, very much like hockey, is you need to be in position because if you're out of position, all this hard work I'm doing to get to the quarterback, if you are in cover two and the play is cover three and the guy runs right by you, you blew it for the other ten people on the field. But you also don't have – I can make up for your lack of your ability to score. I can drop 40. I just need you to rebound. But if you miss this rebound, cool. I still can score 40. I can still get us –

[00:53:19] But you also don't have Ryan Clark and Nate Burleson running around talking about, oh, yeah, like back when I was playing and, you know, Ryan Clark ain't out here talking about, oh, these defenders and blah, blah, blah. Like they don't got no heart. They don't play like this because you see Shaq and Charles, you know, on TV talking about, oh, this is terrible and all this kind of stuff. Because the NBA is a – And it is true. It's a very – Like we can talk about all the old heads. We can talk about their competitiveness and how they're going to take the last shot.

[00:53:48] The NBA by design is a very selfish organization. You – in hockey, if it's 30 seconds left on the clock and you got a timeout, you got to score one goal, one guy doesn't stand at the blue line hitting the puck back and forth. In football, if it's, hey, we need a touchdown, Jalen Hurts is not back there like, oh, you know what? I'm going to make this throw. Like he needs everybody up front to make these blocks.

[00:54:18] I need this guy to win his route. I need this guy to help him downfield block. I need – if the ball doesn't get out of bounds, I need the wide receiver to get up and sprint the ball over to – Like everyone needs each other to succeed as an individual. But I think in the NBA, like we talk about LaMelo Ball. LaMelo Ball can average 30-something points. Hell, Kobe was – the year he didn't win MVP when he dunked on Steve Nash,

[00:54:43] and Steve Nash won MVP, Kobe was averaging like 34.5 points that year. But he couldn't pull that team out because it's like what you're doing for the team, there's nothing else that anybody can do that's the equivalent. Whereas Lane Johnson pancake blocking defensive ends is just as great of an impact to the game as Devontae Smith catching that touchdown up the seam. And that's the difference with the NBA.

[00:55:13] It's like you can literally be a non-factor and people just trade you like you're doing nothing or you can just sit on the bench. We'll pay you to do nothing. And I think the NBA treats their players that way because I think by design, the sport is very selfish. Right. And Bobby Portis, we learned from day one, do not take a prescription that is not yours. Now, I'm glad that he owned up to it even though they tried to do – I don't know if it's true or not.

[00:55:42] They said he was trying to get Tremal, I believe it was, or Adderall, whatever. But it was a mix-up. He was trying to take one pill, got the other one. Now he's suspended for 25 games. By the time he comes back, there's going to be four games left in the season. He owned up to it and said – he apologized and all that. Don't own up and apologize or anything. Y'all need to stop acting like your integrity matters all the time. Get a lawyer. Get that shit appealed. Rudy O'Bare getting shit on.

[00:56:11] Listen, people need to stop going out here confessing their sins to people who are going to cut chains. Hey, he trying to be a stand-up guy, man. Stand up at home with your family. In public, you get lawyers. That's what they're there for. And then last basketball thing from me. This is college real quick. So you remember a couple of years ago, I was the only one in the world probably that was like, I'm happy that FAU is in the Final Four. You remember that? Yeah, you were in.

[00:56:37] I was looking at that roster the other day, and I'm like, damn, you got one dude at San Diego State now. You know, go figure. You know, the head coach left and went to Michigan. You know, took one of the players, the center of Vlad Golden with him. Now they're second in the Big Ten in year one. You know, like it's amazing what FAU, you know, has contributed to the sport of college basketball. And there's another one that I'm, oh, there's one in Arkansas right now as well playing for Coach Cal.

[00:57:05] So FAU still make an impact in college basketball after the fact. But, you know, moving on. So, Mr. Logical, you know, you asked me a question. The Hotbox asked me the same question last night. Is Miles Garrett going to end up in Philadelphia? You know, truthfully, I don't know. You know what I'm saying? I mean, and I don't want to sound like a homer because I know what people are going to accuse me of.

[00:57:33] I know, for one, he ain't going to the sorry-ass Raiders. He ain't coming there, James. But, you know what I mean? But what I will say is I think Washington has a chance. I think we got a chance, Mr. Logical. That depends.

[00:57:53] The reason I think it works for Philly is because I believe they're probably a little bit more willing to not be as deep in the cornerback room and not be able to pay, like, a second punter and, like, a second kicker. I think they're willing to be like, you know what?

[00:58:24] We are so good, we can sacrifice a couple of bodies, maybe restructure a deal or two. Because if you look at a guy like A.J. Brown, I believe, like, the day after they won the Super Bowl, he was talking about how, man, I want this feeling again. And I want it over and over again. I think you can go to him, like, yeah, man, can you give us $12 million back? Or we can restructure and give you a nice little roster bonus.

[00:58:53] Or we give you some 30-catch $5 million bonus or something. Something like that to where, like, we could still work this under the cap to make a little room for Myles Garrett. Brandon Graham's going to retire. Where Jalen Hurts, I believe his contract kicks in next season, if it has already kicked in this season. You got Zach Bond as a free agent. I think Zach Bond, I think it will, and that's the thing.

[00:59:20] If you're Philly, you're like, I could probably let him go. You ain't letting Zach Bond go. Listen, why? Because I can get Myles Garrett to eat up these blocks to where I can get another linebacker to – not a development linebacker, but, like, another linebacker that won't have to deal with the same things Bond has to do with because now I have Myles Garrett.

[00:59:49] So the offense has to now cater themselves. But guess who else are free agents? Guess who else are free agents for the Eagles? You know, Josh Schwedt is a free agent. You know, on top of Bond, you got Mekhi Becton is a free agent. Milton Williams is a free agent. And that's all restricted too. You know what I mean? So you go out and you – you've seen it work, and that's the thing. The Eagles have seen it work before, so the fear isn't there.

[01:00:18] Like the same thing we talked about Boston with the basketball. They were shooting 48 threes last year again – or 40 – was it 44 last year? They were shooting 42 last year, 48 this year. 42 last – 48 this year. Well, now that I think the confidence of winning a championship, they know now, okay, the way we play will lead to victory.

[01:00:39] Philly's like, okay, if we lose Sweat – because someone's probably going – if Sweat's a free agent, someone's going to want to pay him some money strictly off of his performance in the Super Bowl. I think teams are looking like we could try to get Miles Garrett, or we can pay whatever the market pays for Sweat and build around him. That was one of those things, right? Like the back of his jersey say Mahomes, but the front of it say Sweat.

[01:01:09] Yeah. So you have – like you have those kind of options. And I think Philly having the championship, I think the fan base is so amped that they would – they wouldn't – they wouldn't question Roseman for losing Zach Bond if he can get Miles Garrett. Because like we said, the last three or four years, his first three rounds of the draft, they're all hit. They're all contributing.

[01:01:39] Right. A couple of them scored – like a couple of them scored in the Super Bowl, like three of them. Right. No, hold on. So Jalen – Well, no, they didn't draft A.J. Brown, but Devontae Smith had a touchdown. But, yeah, well, they made the draft a trade for A.J. Brown. Right. He made an impact. He scored. Cooper DeGene scored. Devontae Smith scored. Jordan Davis got a sack.

[01:02:07] Like, I mean, all these guys that they drafted that they're eventually going to have to pay. Like, eventually that hand's going to come to roost or something like that. Yeah. Well, like, looking at these teams here, you know, this is the top ten here of who has cap space right now. You know, Pittsburgh and Tennessee are nine and ten if you can't see that.

[01:02:34] But looking at this list and just being realistic about who could have a shot to make some noise. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, that's true, Mike. You know, and don't forget Quincy Mitchell, you know. But, yeah, so you got Washington who made the NFC Championship game. And that's why I brought them up. You got the Chargers who have Coach Harbaugh.

[01:03:00] But if they're trying to get rid of Joey Bosa, I don't know if you're necessarily trying to commit what you would need to commit to Miles Garrett anyway. Because you're probably trying to spend money around the team because you're losing Khalil Mack as well. Cincinnati doesn't make sense from the standpoint of what else are they going to surround you with? You know, and, you know. You're like Hendrickson, I hear. Right.

[01:03:26] 16 and a half sacks, but the next play they give up a third and 12 completion. Yeah. Pittsburgh still doesn't have, I would say, for lack of better words, the requisite quarterback that you need. Minnesota doesn't know what they're doing at quarterback. You know, are they bringing back Sam Darnold? Are they going to tag him? Are they going to go with JJ? So, yeah, that's a great point, Mike. Cincinnati doesn't pay people. You know, I mean, they're going to pay. They pay in Burrow. They can afford to pay people the number that they have to pay.

[01:03:56] Well, yeah, especially if they're talking about bringing T. Higgins back, you know. I don't know. I don't even. That's cap. I'm calling it right now, February 21st. They can't. They can't. You cannot pay Joe Burrow damn near $55 million.

[01:04:15] Jamar Chase, whatever franchise tag money he's going to get and pay T. Higgins a contract and then turn around and give Jamar Chase his contract next year. Nor can you pay both of them this year. Damn near. Because 35 to 40 million per player. Uh-huh. Cincinnati. Yeah. And then if I'm Miles Garrett, I'm like, I don't want to stay in this division. I don't even want to stay in the conference if I'm Miles Garrett. I don't want to stay in this state.

[01:04:46] In the state, yeah. They tag Jamar Chase yet? I don't think they tagged Jamar yet. They might have tagged Higgins. Yeah, but that's what I'm saying. They can't. I mean, you could do it again, but you can't tag them both. So you got to pay one of them. I mean, you're obviously like gun to your head. You're going to pay Jamar out of the two.

[01:05:15] I mean, who do you? Is he on the contract enough where you could trade him and get a haul from someone? You could, but I don't know. You would piss off your franchise quarterback. Yeah, that's what I was about to say. I don't know what ground that puts you on with Joey. Yeah, I mean, like I said, they only have bad moves left in Cincinnati. So I'm just trying to figure out what's the best bad move for them. I don't know if the cap, for some reason, the cap doesn't really seem to affect really good teams. I don't know where Carolina is.

[01:05:44] I don't know why they're not top 10 in cap space because I don't think they're going to the bottom. How? Who's getting money there? They still paying Cam or Luke Keekly or something? Like, where's their money going? Unless they're paying... They're not paying Bryce yet. They traded Brian Burns. I mean, unless you're paying them $40 million a year, you still should be... So Carolina is... Where are they at?

[01:06:13] Oh, they're number 19 right in front of Philly. They have 19 million in cap space? They got... No, no, no. They're at number 19. They got 21 million in cap space. Oh, because I didn't know what this column was. What's this 19 on the end over here? The 19 is like their rank. Oh, cap space. Yeah, yeah. So from number one down to 32. Okay. So Carolina, yeah, it says they have 19... Or is it the 21 million that's in the middle? Yeah, they got 21 million. Yeah. Okay. Oh, I didn't see this thing in the way. I wasn't looking. Yeah.

[01:06:43] What is this gray area then, you said? The gray area is... Well, that's... So let me back up. The gray is the total cap space. So I mixed that up. My bad. Yeah. Okay. So it says for the 51 players. So I guess two players. Yeah. Some kind of exception or whatever. These ads are driving me nuts. That's why. Fucking Google. I know. But anyway, go ahead. Yeah.

[01:07:11] So, I mean, if I'm Miles Garrett, I'm looking at the NFC. I don't want to be in the AFC. I don't want to be the team that goes to Kansas City for the Kansas City, the Arrowhead Invitational and lose. I think the... You have an established quarterback in Philly. You have a winning culture. Like the one I was trying to sell everybody on with Dallas.

[01:07:41] They actually have in Philly. And I think the GM... I think the GM has... He has a couple of those cards he can play. I think Jeff Flory, the owner, is like, you know what? Mike said they need Doge. I'm going to let you make that rock. I'm going to let you make this move. It just better work. And we better not lose a bunch of our young talent because we can't pay them all.

[01:08:08] So, if you can get me a spreadsheet that says Miles Garrett and we give up. I mean, what are you looking at? If you're Cleveland and you take... Are you taking their 20-25 first-round pick, which is 32 overall? I think I want... I don't know. Whoever I deal with, you know, I might want your first for this year and next year. Or at least a first for this year and a second for next year at the very least. It's kind of... Like, I think...

[01:08:37] Maybe I'm just being just... Like, I'm just like being a big spender. I think a couple of firsts and a second is probably the minimum Cleveland should even take. So, what do you think he commands? Because... I mean, because... Well, I guess right now he's on contract. So, he's at five years, 125 million. How many years was? He's not a free agent until 2027. So... You get him for three years, it sounds like.

[01:09:06] You get him for this upcoming year, 2026, and then 2027, and then he's a free agent after that year. And I imagine any kind of success you'll restructure because I think he hits 30... I think he's going to 28, right? Yeah, he'll be 30 in December. 30 this year. Yeah, 30 this year at the end of this... Or near the end of this season. Okay. Played a lot of games. Very durable.

[01:09:33] And on top of that, yeah, he's had 14 sacks the last two years. He had 16 the previous two years to these two years. You know, this year he had his most solo tackles in his career in a season. So, I mean, he's not slowing down, you know. So, it's not as... He's not slowing down. I've seen a delay of game because they kept trying to shift to covering him.

[01:09:57] And they were so worried about 95 that they didn't look at the play clock and got a delay of game penalty because they kept trying to move the tight end over to his side to help out. And here's some other pass rushers that are on the market right now as far as free agents because he would be a trade. And this is their age, right? In the middle of that. Yes. Yes. This is their age right now. Yeah, right now. And then... So, you got that. You know, you got some good names out there. Grenard's a good name. You know, Leonard Williams is pretty good. Bryce Huff, DeNeal.

[01:10:26] You know, obviously, once you hit, like, Dorrance Armstrong right after him, it starts to tail off just a little bit. But, you know, you still got your Leonard Floyds and Jadeveon Clowney's. There's rumors that Chase Young might be coming back to Washington. Yeah, it's a tough market.

[01:10:51] And I think it helps Cleveland be able to squeeze a little bit more blood out of the stone from Philly. But Philly, honestly, if I'm looking at it, I'm not dealing with Philly. They've hit on everything. Like, they've hit on everything for the last few years. I don't want to be the team that helps them. Like, Kansas City dealing with Buffalo. Like, I'm not answering that phone call. Any 215 number calls me and I'm in Cleveland. I'm not answering.

[01:11:21] Yeah, I'm looking at Washington. I've heard Buffalo, you know, but I don't know if they have enough money to get it done right now. They're going to have to do a bunch of restructures. But I think Washington has the cachet of we have the young quarterback. We made it to the NFC Championship game. And it was our defense that let us down. Bobby Wagner's a free agent, so you'll go replace him as well. But does he really want to go?

[01:11:48] Listen, this is not a disrespectful comment at all. No, no, I'm not being a homer. I just think it makes sense. But yeah, if you're Miles Garrett, do you want to leave Cleveland that was headed towards rebuilding and going to Washington to see was this a sign of things to come or was it an anomaly? Are they an 11-5 team?

[01:12:15] Well, I'm looking at them and I'm going 11-6. 11-6, yeah, 11-6. 11-6. Are they 11-16 that could be a 12-5 team next year? Or are they 11-6 and they could be 9-8 next year? But I'm also looking at who is their head coach and what is he known for? Yeah, there's tons of coaches that can coach defense. You know what I mean?

[01:12:44] But if I'm Miles Garrett, he's like, do I want to go? He can be the big fish in the big pond as well. No, no. Philly makes absolute sense. He'll command nothing but double teams in Washington and he's going to be fighting through. Whereas in Philly, I'm not saying it's easy. No, no, no. Philly makes absolute perfect sense. It makes 100% sense. You know, I'm just saying.

[01:13:14] For him, but for Cleveland, I'm not giving the Super Bowl champs. Well, it don't matter. You're going to run into them or something anytime soon. It's just the fact I don't want to be part of shifting the balance of the NFL like that. Like, I don't want to. I don't want. Wait, you ain't sing that tune when Brooklyn didn't want to send Kyrie to the Lakers. You ain't sound like that. Well, Kyrie was out of the league.

[01:13:38] I thought Kyrie was going to keep saying whatever he felt like and I thought he was going to keep egging people onto the plane. You thought he was going to go Kanye style? Not quite Kanye, but I figured he wasn't going to cower to like all the BS because it was a lot of BS coming at him because he was talking about those rabbis, didn't he?

[01:13:58] But he was talking about like, you know, he's like, I can sit and he's like, I can sit on the bench behind the team, but I can't go on the locker room and I can't play games, but I can sit with the team. Right. He's like, it didn't make, and I thought he was going to keep going and going and going and going. That was okay. The price was going to go down. They can make the move. But here, Cleveland, I don't know if I'm Cleveland, I'm, I'm sending them to like the Rams to get, you know, whatever first round picks they have.

[01:14:25] I'm, I'm not doing a Luca AD nighttime, you know, midnight deal. I'm taking the best deal I have. If I'm Miles Garrett, going to Philly is a no brainer. Yeah. I don't think there's many, I don't think there's many options that would satisfy the need of, I want to play for a contender. So I think, so, so I've heard Detroit. I don't like it.

[01:14:56] I've heard. They already had Darius Smith. I don't know if they're going to resign him, but then eight Hudson's coming back from injury. Right. Right. I've heard Buffalo and that makes sense in the sense of, yo, we got to do something to beat Kansas City. And we thought we had them in the last two years. And like, we are at the end of our rope. You know what I mean? So I could see Buffalo, a team in their position that is going to make a drastic, what I guess would be a drastic move.

[01:15:26] Like this is going to be the move that put us over the top. That's what they would feel like if they made that deal. So I could see a team like that doing that. But now they got a James Cook problem. You know, what about the, oh, you said, what about the Ravens? It's indivision. I'm not sure. I don't think Cleveland makes that deal. Yeah, I don't think Cleveland makes that deal. They're not taking that phone call. I think I would like to see him, just me personally, just for the sake of making new contenders, I guess. You know what I mean? I would like to maybe see him in Green Bay.

[01:15:55] I was thinking when you said making new contenders, I was like, but if I'm Miles Garrett. I don't want to go there. I don't want to make a lateral move and learn new stuff. It's like, you don't apply for a new job just to get the same pay and have the same hours just to learn new stuff and have to learn and deal with new people. It's like, I need better hours, better location.

[01:16:24] Something has to improve my situation. If I'm like, if you pen a letter that eloquent as saying you're requesting the trade, like the letter looked like a retirement letter that he shared, that his press release, so to speak. Are you ready for this? I'm not going to some regular degular team that's doing the same thing Cleveland's doing. Regular degular. I don't know what I came to my head. You ready for this? Let's hear it. Let's see it.

[01:16:55] So this is from Fox Sports as of five days ago. Oh, wrong screen. My bad. I'm up here zooming in on the screen. We're on. I'm like, hold up. Why is it not working? So this is what Fox is saying right now, you know, as far as what are the Vegas odds of where he's going to end up. So there's Washington up top there, Philly staying with Cleveland, going to Buffalo.

[01:17:25] I don't think he's staying with Cleveland. Go to Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, Green Bay, and Kansas City. So Kansas City, I don't think is an option just because they're potentially losing Nick Bolton. You know, they're potentially losing Justin Reed, Josh Uche. You know, so I imagine they want to keep something. You know what I mean? Yeah, but if, like I said, having a defensive. And they don't have money.

[01:17:52] And having a defensive lineman that can make it easier on the replacement linebacker that you have to bring in. You can look at it that way. Like, hey, like I said, the same thing with Philly. If I let Bond go and I got to bring another guy in to play middle linebacker, at least I've improved the defender in front of him. But I don't even think you need to. To make it easier on. I don't think you need to. I mean, if you could get a player like Myles Garrett, you do it.

[01:18:20] But I don't think Philly needs to get Myles Garrett. Unless they just know that they're losing sweat. You know. If sweat's going to walk him with the number that they can't pay. Right. Whatever the premium is for a defensive end. If he got to be an MVP, I think his agent probably would have been like, okay, yeah, it's on. Here's one for you. Dude, this is the last team I'll bring up for this.

[01:18:47] Do you think you could see a desperate team out near the ocean that would make that trade? I got red and gold in my mind. The 49ers. Yeah. Nah, they got to figure out how they're going to pay Brock. They got to figure out if they're rebuilding or retooling. And I don't think you do that.

[01:19:17] It's like I said, you know, it's cross sports references. It's the same thing I felt about Houston. In the NBA. It's like, are you like, do you have young guns and you want to move forward with young guns? Or are you because we're seeing it not work. It's like, I know a lot of teams are making these moves. But for the most part, you need to be exceptional somewhere for like a lot of these onesie twosie moves to work.

[01:19:45] Kansas City last couple of years, making it winning two Super Bowls, making it to a third with this makeshift lineup of wide receiver threats. Because you were special defensively and you're special at quarterback. And the relationship between coach, quarterback, tight end, scheme, all of that was, you know, A++. You could be B, C in other different areas just to leave out with a great grade at the end.

[01:20:12] And San Francisco has so many, their expectations were so high. They fell so flat. You can't go out there and make desperation moves. You got to, you got to just sit down and think, look, I think they have to almost because their window, you know, is just about close. If they pay Brock Purdy 60, if they give Brock Purdy the DAC deal. Yeah, then they can't. They can't, you can't do, you're almost hand cut.

[01:20:39] But they're also, but they're also potentially losing Chavarri, well, they're going to lose Chavarri as Ward. He already said that. Yeah, so you can't, you can't be in that state anymore. Right. And I understand that 100% because like, that's how I felt about Utah at one point in time. But, you know, but yeah, Greenlaw is probably gone, you know, unless he comes back for a discount. I guess that's really about it. And the likelihood of you. Trent Williams.

[01:21:06] The likelihood of a guy on a team taking a discount when you're about to pay one guy so much money and he's the reason I have to take a discount. It's unlikely. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, those are the teams because like, I think Kansas City has much more pressing needs, you know, like to try to go and make that move. I mean, first of all, you know, Rasheed Rice should be back next year, but they got to figure out because, you know, Hollywood's a free agent.

[01:21:35] You know, Hartman's a free agent. DeAndre Hopkins is a shell of himself. So they got all three of those guys are going to be playing football elsewhere. Yeah, I think that they could be in the UFL. No, I'm just playing. I think Kansas City probably is going to go after one of these, like a real wide receiver threat in the first round, maybe.

[01:21:59] Or maybe they go offensive line, like they move back and like they have holes to fill, but they have to they have to figure out a way. Like I'm still banking on like I like I said, I text you during the Super Bowl that a T Higgins phone a conversation between Red Veach and T Higgins agent or T Higgins manager or T Higgins friend or T Higgins high school coach.

[01:22:25] Like whoever you need to talk to call Dabo Sweeney, like, yo, dog, can you talk to your boy and see if you want to come, you know, come to Missouri? At the very least, I know that the word on the street is that Cincinnati is going to tag him. So, you know, at the very least. Two years in a row? I believe there's that there's that rule where you have to give up a is it a first round pick if you trade for the tag? It depends on it depends on the kind of tag.

[01:22:54] I think Lamar was in that situation. I think it was protected. It's like, I don't know. I think there were I could be wrong, but, you know, we'll just go with it. I'm looking it up. I think it's like a protected franchise tag or restricted franchise tag. It was some kind of tag. But even with the Lamar thing, it was so it was so messed up. So as long as they signed the tender.

[01:23:15] It was it was it offered him less money, too, because of the type of tag that it was, because it was it gave him an option to lead. It's such it's I don't know if the lawyers for the NFL PA didn't really examine it, but it's basically we don't want to pay you what you think you're worth. So we're going to franchise tag you.

[01:23:40] And instead of you getting the standard average of the top five guys or average of the top three guys who've been tagged two years in a row. We'd give you like a conditional franchise tag, which paid you less than that. And if anybody wants you, they have to give up a couple of first round picks. It was like, yeah, so so so there is the option where it kind of turns into a restricted free agent where you sign the tender.

[01:24:08] A team can make an offer. And Cincinnati will get the chance to match it to match it. But that's the thing. Most teams aren't going to offer. Like if if I'm Lamar got what, 250. Something along those lines. Something like that. If I'm Atlanta, you know, I'm Atlanta GM. I'm not sure if I'm offering 60.

[01:24:31] So I would I personally thought they should have gotten involved in this conversation once it felt publicly like he was being disrespected. Like, you know, test the water, dip a toe and see what's up. See, see what his mom was because his mom was acting as Asian. What's the number you're looking for? And tell Cal Pitts, listen, you got to give up eight because we've got to give two hundred sixty one million dollars to Lamar Jackson.

[01:24:58] I think you make that move because he's a force multiplier. And you needed to make that move. And he's young enough to where it doesn't hurt your team because he's in his early mid 20s. Instead of a guy like about to be on Medicare. Exactly. So it's just like it's that's that's the kind of thing I think they would examine. But but that that kind of franchise tag.

[01:25:24] So so like I said, I text I said T Higgins, T Higgins to Kansas City. I feel like they should. It makes too much sense. You know, that's the water. Like, yo, he's available. I know he might not want to play for the rivalry, but he'll definitely want to play for thirty eight and a half million dollars if you can get it to him. So I think he'll. I think he'll send his Cincinnati bank on how about the Missouri and they'll just take the paint off and put the Kansas City emblem on it. He'll be just fine. Yeah.

[01:25:54] So, you know, we'll see. I mean, it's going to be interesting. You know, we're a couple of weeks away from free agency, so we'll see how that goes. You know, we will back on Tuesday, you know, with more NBA. Maybe we'll talk a little pre draft, you know, talk some Shador Sanders, some Travis Hunter. We're definitely going to talk some more hockey. And I mean, get into that.

[01:26:15] Hey, and hopefully by the time we come back, you know, Alex Ovech, you know, Alexander Ovechkin will only be about 14 or 13 goals away from catching the great one. Yeah. Yeah. You know, NBA playoffs and NHL playoffs. They run, you know, run concurrently. So it's a good time for sports. People just got to stop knocking the NBA. Listen, we get it. These guys are coming off very much like divas.

[01:26:39] But if you look at it, if you separate, divorce yourself from the fact that some of these guys are acting like divas. Some of these GMs are acting like divas. Look at the success of the teams that over the last few years, Denver, OKC, Dallas has run, Boston, the Knicks turnaround. We've been begging for the Knicks to be good for years. We who? They had it.

[01:27:09] We, we the fans. We the media. We part of the media. Fuck the Knicks. We part of the media. Look, look, look, look, look. Fuck the Knicks. Listen, I know you meant to say the Wizards, but that's not your fault. Fuck the Knicks. If you go to, if you go to Madison Square Garden now, the whole thing. What the fuck is a knickerbocker anyway? You left, you come up out of Penn Station, Midtown Manhattan, the whole Madison Square Garden facade got a facelift. Like people are dying.

[01:27:38] We're dying for the New York Knicks to be good. And right now they're good. They're not championship contenders. That's right. Yeah. Everybody takes the Knicks. The only person that hates the Knicks. The only person that hates the Knicks more than me is Reggie Miller. Man, that's right. The Knicks keep him relevant. If he didn't beat the Knicks, we wouldn't talk about him. Who else would he beat? Well, then the Knicks should have beat him then. You know it's all about having a good game. You know what I'm saying? He hit that game winner over MJ in game six. What's your best loss? He shoved the shit out of Mike.

[01:28:08] Yeah, he did. You know what I'm saying? I like it. You know what I'm saying? But look, all I'm saying is at the end of the day, I don't care about none of that. I'm here to watch sports. I don't care who's good outside of my team. I don't care who's bad outside of my team. The Knicks don't got no bail with me. You know, the Yankees don't got no bail with me. It's all about the teams being good and having an entertaining aspect. Can I tell you a secret? Let me tell you something that you might not know about me. I don't make any money off of NBA ratings.

[01:28:37] So I don't give a fuck about the New York Knicks. I don't give a fuck about the Lakers. Yeah. I don't know. We might get a contract and they're like, listen, man, we need you guys to talk about the Knicks. Hey, don't get it twisted. It'll be a goddamn Knickerbocker hat on and all kinds of shit up here if they say, hey, we need sports sports to talk about the Knicks. You know what? I'll make a deal. If ESPN, not that I really watch ESPN, but if I stop seeing clips of Mad Dog, I'll take back my fuck the New York Knicks. How about that?

[01:29:07] Yeah. You can't let him influence how you feel about anything because he's the worst. You know what I'm saying? But no. But for real though, all jokes aside, like look, fuck the Knicks. But you know, and I mean, and plus, you know what I'm saying? The Knicks show you that they ain't about business anyway when they held on to Julius Randall for so long. And, you know, so when I look at this. Hey, so Minnesota best don't be about business because they took them off their hands. Hey, you know, hey, Minnesota in a three-point game with Houston with two minutes left. So, you know, old Houston and young Houston. Who's on the floor?

[01:29:37] You know what I'm saying? Young Houston. But no, seriously though, like seriously though, the thing with the NBA is that you can't not do your part and then expect everybody else to hold you down. So the reason that we love the NFL so much, even though, you know, you could argue, you know, the games got softer, you know, all that kind of stuff over the years. But when you watch the NFL game, you see the effort. You talked about hockey. I talked about soccer.

[01:30:05] One person out of position messes everything up. That's the difference between winning and losing because it's so hard to score in those sports. You know, and basketball, like it's literally a three-point contest for one. For two, it's, uh, okay, the fourth quarter started. Let me turn up or whatever the case may be where you might've won the game. If you played with the effort in the fourth quarter in the third quarter, you know what I mean? It's a lot going on.

[01:30:32] I mean, it's a lot of games, a lot of games to play for awards and contracts. So for the, so on, um, Oh yeah. March 9th and March 10th y'all March 9th and March 10th back-to-back games in Oklahoma city, Denver at Oklahoma city. The MVP will be decided on the second night of that matchup. Yeah. Like I said, the NBA, they, it's a familiarity thing. Cause you can see their faces.

[01:31:00] So people, I think people feel like they know the players and they feel like they can just kind of dictate how the players operate and people, people can play. People can pick up a basketball and go to the gym and play five on five. And for that, they kind of think that they are, Oh, if I was on a team, blah, blah, blah, blah. Cause Jeff T talked about this. He was like, man, the 13th guy on the bench used to average 35 points in high school. He'll be anybody who out there was out here doing the people. Yeah.

[01:31:29] He was like, I'm closer to Brown than you are to me. And he was right. I mean, that's what he was. He was right. So it was like, I think the NBA has, they have a good product is just, they have to shift their focus to instead of, like I said, instead of being from like their burden with this, this, I don't know, Mike, lack of superstars in the, in the, uh, in there, you know, the,

[01:31:54] the atmosphere, they have plenty of stars and they have rising stars highlight these rising teams, these coaches, get them on TV, get them on ESPN, get them on FS1, have her, have them on TNT, get them interviews with, you know, the TNT crew. Like really put Donovan Mitchell out there for longer than just the post game interview. Get them out there in between their game.

[01:32:22] You know, just get boss, get Boston players on TV more often. It's your biggest, it's your most successful large market that you have going. Like over the last six or seven years, they've been the most consistently good teams of the large market. You still have, you know, Kawhi and LeBron out in LA as superstars. And then, you know, you had Brooklyn with Kyrie and everyone else, but as far as consistency,

[01:32:51] the Boston Celtics have been your biggest market that's been the most consistent. It's like, you don't, you don't have them on TV, like just talking, not just basketball, just highlighting them on TV. All I know is Draymond said they went in the championship. Dream on, you couldn't win a championship on 2G. Anyway, on that note. Like, I don't like, what world is he living in? Yo, you got your four rings. I'm being delusional.

[01:33:19] I didn't know I was joined tonight by Oscar Robinson. I'm a logical thinker, man. Like logically he's out of his damn mind. But yeah, we'll be back on Tuesday. You know what I'm saying? And we'll be talking about some NBA, some more NFL, you know? Yes. Mike shot. Hold on. What's that thing? Yes. And, you know, saying Yoke is just top five in five different categories, including three point percentage.

[01:33:48] And he's a center. And he's a center. And I told y'all this on the hot box last night. If his name was Jamal Dean and he was from Brooklyn, New York, and he looked like Michael Jordan skin-wise, none of this conversation would even be happening. But that's just two fives take. We love y'all. You know what I'm saying? We'll be back. Y'all hold it down this weekend. Lakers and Nuggets tomorrow. Enjoy it. You know what I'm saying? Let's do this. Denver's number two.

[01:34:18] Denver's number two. Come on now. You know what I'm saying? And Sha got the young guns with him. It is what it is. We'll find out on March 9th and March 10th. The day the greatest rapper of all time, Don. Shout out Biggie. Rest in peace. You know, to Biggie's mom, too. You know, Valetta Wilde passed away today. But like, review, subscribe, share, rate. Do all the free things. Do all the good things. Don't break feelings for it, man.

[01:34:49] Peace.