The Value of Sports

[00:00:00] What's up everybody?

[00:00:05] It's here.

[00:00:06] The MVP order is here.

[00:00:09] The madness is here.

[00:00:12] The MVP conversation is here.

[00:00:16] Bronnie James is not here.

[00:00:18] He doesn't make the sports reports as ordered, Bob draft.

[00:00:23] You know, for y'all, y' cleanup. And then we're gonna get into some combine talk. And

[00:01:42] we're gonna get into some MVP discussion.

[00:02:46] So when you make a prediction, because a lot of these people don't have a podcast, they make a prediction and they get to hide.

[00:02:50] You don't know that some of us make our predictions and we're right here standing in the fire.

[00:02:55] So LeBron decided to play prognosticator and say that his son could play for the Lakers

[00:03:02] right now.

[00:03:04] His son could be in the league right now, and I'm glad that you represent your son, more fathers should represent their son in this way. Sure, indeed. But you got to understand what comes with this when you say washed King. Oh, I want y'all to hate on my squad or whatever you said.

[00:04:22] And then we do it.

[00:04:23] And then y'all don't make the playoffs.

[00:04:25] You got to answer for that.

[00:04:27] So keep that same energy. that's been Hannah's I mean I feel what you're saying about your response to LeBron but it was really nothing that he or Brony could really do because his name was LeBron James

[00:05:40] Jr. like he changed the name to Brony could probably beat this guy out for minutes.

[00:07:01] Another conversation with Chris Paul when he was on Phoenix,

[00:07:05] like watching Brony work out in the gym, Arizona, he went to Italy. He was having like 10 points when they drafted him after stuff. So it was like, I guess the points and everything. Yeah, he put a time in a NBA game. So like I said, I think that he probably made it. That's not what I meant, Residente. It probably is. That's exactly what I'm talking about. What Residente just did, that's exactly what

[00:08:20] I'm talking about right there.

[00:08:22] That's exactly what I'm talking about right there.

[00:08:25] I mean, because if LeBron, if LeBron was out here. can be out most of these guys in the league. He probably was really saying like, yo, I can see a lot of lazy guys in the league. But that ain't what he said. That ain't what he said. He said. Everything. But we in for. Right now. He didn't say Lakers. He didn't say Lakers. Yes he did. He didn't say Lakers. No, he didn't say he could play in the league right now.

[00:09:40] He said he could play in the league right now.

[00:09:43] Which is probably true considering that the statements

[00:09:45] that we get from other players is that a lot of guys I'm not disagreeing with you are, but in the same sense, he's allowed to look at something a year after the previous statement. If he said it last Wednesday, and then Bronnie had a bad game Friday, and then he tweeted out Saturday, like, yo, let him be a kid.

[00:11:00] He said it a year ago before he was playing college ball.

[00:11:03] When he was optimistic.

[00:11:06] He doesn't have an expiration date. this NBA player hat and put on his dad hat, like yo, lay off my son, I get that I attract attention. I get that I do. To be fair, I do think that Bronny will play in the league. I think that Bronny will develop and can play in the league. You know what I mean? I don't think he's gonna be like at the NASA's on the Kupo kind of selection. I saw a comparison. Where he just plays because his brother's in the league.

[00:12:21] He'll probably be a lot like Seth Curry.

[00:12:23] He'll be like Seth Curry, where he'll just kind of

[00:12:25] just end the league.

[00:12:26] I saw Abraham Bradley as the comparison. No, listen, no matter what he said is going to be a conversation. He could have literally said, Nike didn't deliver the shoes that I was expecting from Portland to LA and that's why they had a bad game. And the whole pundit conversation world would have been, oh, you need your dad's shoes to

[00:13:41] play a good game.

[00:13:42] No matter what the Brugg says, no matter what he says is going to be construed as stupid

[00:13:47] or supportive. opinion. So after last season, the facts were in their mind, this guy Daniel Jones number eight is going to lead us. And so they got to six, say, Juan Barkley is going to be an acillary piece to that. So we're going to pay the leader and we're going to try to get the best deal for the team for a second one, Barkley. And what ended up happening was that Daniel Jones

[00:16:10] anything. So unfortunately as those facts that they use based off the argument I made that we stopped in they paid him like a top ten guy. Well now Saquon

[00:16:16] somehow altered the deals where they didn't they took the franchise off last

[00:16:20] year now they're gonna have a regular deal. So at the combine they asked Joe

[00:16:25] Shane about it and one of the statements said a statement that let me think that it's probably a good idea that these guys don't have agents. Because last year, I'm paraphrasing, he said that last year,

[00:17:42] Saquon Barkley didn't understand

[00:17:47] how the market worked for his position because they had a negotiation. Excuse me. So that was probably by design. They had a new agent. They had a new, they had a conversation in 2022 that fell apart. That another one in 2023 that we all heard about. And now we're having this next conversation in 2024. But now they feel confident

[00:19:01] because they have a guide

[00:19:02] that they have a good agent wouldn't allow the team to put that in there because it's only in there to look bad for you. So hopefully Saquon looks at this podcast, because it's in his region, shout out to me, I mean, they're right up the street in East Rutherford. So hopefully somebody gets it in his ear, like listen, Saquon,

[00:20:22] don't listen to what your team is talking about because they already got a person here with that shit, you know what I'm saying? But hey, the combine is going on. You know, it's been a long week. Quarterback's coming out tomorrow morning to toss the ball around, including the one and only national championship quarterback, JJ McCarthy. So Mr. Logical, I'm listening. What is the value of the combine?

[00:22:46] Markably fast. I think Montes sweat ran a four four one these defensive linemen and DJ Mora in a four four two so it's like

[00:22:48] The top running back. They already pegged him as the top running back. I think patch Mahon's ran a four eight

[00:22:55] Andrew luck ran faster than Cam Newton. So once if you're already one of these guys that's gonna be

[00:23:02] one of your first

[00:23:04] You know 96 picks in the draft and you're at the combine

[00:24:03] and not do an interview, I'm still probably go number one. Yeah, I look at the combine as like speed dating.

[00:24:06] Exactly.

[00:24:07] I heard that's just, you're the second person this week

[00:24:09] that said that.

[00:24:10] It's a good opportunity to just get around people,

[00:24:13] network, kind of see, you know, like, is this guy,

[00:24:17] you know, snap judgment, is he mature?

[00:24:20] You know, especially if it's quarterback, you know,

[00:24:23] what's his personality like?

[00:24:25] Is he frustrated?

[00:24:26] Is he easily frustrated? you know, saying get picked up somewhere where he was unheard of coming into this week. So for him, the combine is everything. But then you've got people like RG3 and Anthony Richardson, who are quarterbacks, but they fly everywhere. And Anthony Richardson jumps everywhere.

[00:25:40] But apparently they don't know how to slide.

[00:25:43] So you know, if you're going to, if're Bay. You know, one of my Maryland Terps Oakland, you know, saying the Raiders reached on him, I believe, at number seven. And, you know, he played 10 years. So that's awesome.

[00:27:00] He has 16 touchdowns. Yeah, it's like if you are in that position and you are undrafted your seven round pick. How many times can you run that post route incorrectly before you are you gonna get four shots at it, you get five. But it gonna yank you and you're not gonna get back on the field because football really is such a mental thing and it should be they always say only the strong survive, but you

[00:28:23] really should be cultivating every player that you have on the team like every player on like I talked about you with the lieutenant that I worked with at Hill. He went to Utah's, he graduated from Air Force Academy, Canada Air Force. And he went to Utah's pro day to do all of his drills and end up getting drafted by the Eagles. But if you don't have like that division one school that's gonna let you in,

[00:29:40] like if you are from Mountain Union in like Ohio, you're the vision three guy.

[00:29:44] You might not have a pro day, so the combine is that was running. And Dean, I was like, well, he can run, run. Troy, Troy, Pocky, something like that, got who he was. But Dean, I was like, well, he can run, run. They were like, why are you surprised about that? He's like, you know what, I'm surprised. He ran like a four or three something and got drafted as a safety for the,

[00:31:02] I think at that time, they were the Redskins.

[00:31:04] Well, you know, I got an idea, you know,

[00:31:07] I got two ideas. have Kool-Aid, McKinstry, or Terry Arnold across from him. Let's see you complete this pass. Oh, like a seven on seven. Sort of, like yeah, instead of you just throwing to a wide open dude that's running routes, how about we put a corner out here?

[00:32:20] You know, like if I'm somebody like say,

[00:32:25] oh, I lost his name, your third or fourth round corner, to bite on a go round, to bite on a sluggo. And now he's a meme.

[00:33:40] Right.

[00:33:41] And Marvin Harrison's running right past him

[00:33:44] and he's holding on to the back of that no-bull jersey.

[00:33:47] Well, I didn't even know what no-bull was. of the people at the combat, because now you're giving them an opportunity. You can have this seven on seven slash mini game where just watch them. See who stands out to you. Yeah, see who stands out to you. See if there's anybody that, maybe you had them as like a fifth round pick,

[00:35:01] you know, but in this particular matchup,

[00:35:03] he's flying all over the screen.

[00:35:05] Like my brother.

[00:35:06] I'm still my EU resident. on YouTube or something. I used to watch, I like the 40 when something unexpected happens. When Jordan Davis runs a 4'8 and he's 375 pounds or whatever he was playing at 330 or something like that. When Patrick Mahomes runs a 4'8, something that's kind of out of the norm.

[00:37:25] His agent is probably there representing a couple of guys who are, you know,

[00:37:27] trying to join the league.

[00:37:34] But he also gets to have conversations with, you know,

[00:37:38] Reheen Morris about their quarterback situation, what they're going to do.

[00:37:42] He gets to have conversations with Minnesota and find out what's Kirk Cousins, you know, healing process looking like.

[00:37:45] He gets to have conversations with Justin Jefferson's agent. that because the combat is not like it's not like it's prime time. Then why Eric? If you Eric for the fans who like for instance NFL Network, the NFL season is a seven months season season. Having a network for a sports program that doesn't play a single game for 45% of the comp, I saw a couple, you know, some clips from interviews and things like that, but I'm thinking about it because I know how important the, the, the construct of the event is. It's not a matter of like, that's what I'm saying. So it was like, do you, if you know,

[00:40:21] what's going to be aired, do you ask that question?

[00:40:23] Do you ask about a potential? And I mean, so like that, I think the entertainment part of it is, I think it's a little overblown because I don't think it's designed to be entertaining. All right, so- I think it's designed to just be a bridge to keep us thinking about football. Yeah, so like I said, I'm just gonna watch probably some JJ McCarthy clips, more so just to hear what they're saying about him while it's going on.

[00:41:43] But yeah, the conference-

[00:41:46] They're gonna justify and rationalize, how good he or in blow the eight and inflate how. I was listening to Andy Staples today on on three and he had someone on talking about the combine and they made the comment that JJ McCarthy made a throw against Washington in the national title game that was so simple.

[00:43:00] He threw it to the right sideline,

[00:43:01] but that was the throw that showed that JJ McCarthy

[00:44:04] McCarthy doesn't have a single throw like that. Right.

[00:44:05] Maybe the Ohio State game, but it was like,

[00:44:07] you had a guy wide open down the sideline

[00:44:09] against Cover 2 and he just, he's put in,

[00:44:12] it was a touchdown.

[00:44:13] I think he might have great poise,

[00:44:15] but the Michael Penn extra against Texas,

[00:44:18] when it was, he threw, I think he looked off to safety

[00:44:22] and threw a post route for a touchdown to,

[00:45:23] you know, of an MVP race. You know, I actually picked him

[00:45:25] at the time that we had our conversation.

[00:45:28] I think Adam third, did I have third?

[00:45:31] Actually, I don't remember where you had him,

[00:45:33] but you know, but I know that at the time

[00:45:35] I actually had him as my personal MVP leader.

[00:45:41] You know, okay.

[00:45:42] So when I'm looking around the league this season,

[00:45:44] Boston is obviously the best player on the best team. Because when I look at Boston, he has two other 20-point scorers on the team. He has Captain Drew, who came in to solidify their defense

[00:47:00] and be the smart point guard that Marcus Smart could never

[00:47:04] be.

[00:47:07] They got Dirk White in there another year. at the same time and somehow Cleveland jumped up to the two seed. That is an MVP that is pulling your team up you know whereas Jason Tatum is just maybe like it hasn't been updated because this game's that are currently going. So last thing I'll say for right now, and I'll let you have it,

[00:49:42] is that Yo-Kitch cannot be my MVP.

[00:50:48] there there? Uh, we we're gonna have this current. I think baseball is probably only mostly the only. So I'm not sure exactly how the nuance of the hockey. I believe it's the

[00:50:54] cons. Smythe. Is that the league MVP or is that a different name? Go ahead. I think the

[00:51:00] constant life might be like the playoff MVP. I want to make sure the rights of you look guys. You can sprinkle tatlement but tatum is a second tier guy. Tatum is in that same bubble with your like if Harden got hot, right? Like this this current Harden not old school Houston Horton but like the record doesn't really match up. But you have a minute. You have a minute conversation. I want who deserves to be there to be there. But I'm talking about the preseason, eight to 12 names that they put out there. Luca doesn't play like an MVP.

[00:53:41] I don't think he makes the guys around him better.

[00:53:45] I just think that he does. And they've already had him up in that upper echelon.

[00:55:04] And he doesn't have like't even be a conversation. So if the season ends today,

[00:56:23] who is Mr. Logical picking as the MVP? West combined. Yeah. You know, so I think he's just kind of a victim of his early success. So it'd be hard to vote in MVP simply because of that. Even though I think, I think the last few years he has been in that conversation, I just thought Yannis, Yannis' numbers were just like Milwaukee went from just being a really, really good team and they were likezingis, you know, Jaylen Brown still averaging 22, 23 points a game. Your leadership made the game easier. So it's kind of hard to say you're an MVP when basically your team kind of got put in the position where you're just going to be better

[00:59:00] and now you're just consistent.

[00:59:02] Now, like the other thing,

[00:59:04] call this the LeBron rule, if you will.

[01:00:06] spent half the season talking about that side of the ball. You know they fell behind Cleveland. So this is the official 2-5 ladder. Okay. The first annual 2-5 ladder. Here you go.

[01:00:14] Tell me to get my pen. Starting from number five. So I'm gonna go backwards. So number He usually has a lot of rebounds. He's usually like good for 19 and 13 or something along those lines. Yeah, like literally 20 and 13. Yeah, that's what he does. Like, you know what I mean? But when I look at Donovan Mitchell, like I mentioned, his numbers match Tatum's.

[01:01:41] They're about Steph's numbers.

[01:02:42] And then he's just been your.

[01:02:45] Run in the middle, really good basketball player ever since that championship run with the with the history injury.

[01:02:49] You might be one of the best. What ifs?

[01:02:54] So he'll be like, he'll he'll be like the he'll be like a greater.

[01:02:59] What if he has the healthy kind of player?

[01:03:01] Because we have the two championship runs

[01:03:06] and the obviously you have the game six free throw misses

[01:04:02] off the top of your head. Who would you say is the greatest player

[01:04:03] that didn't win an MVP?

[01:04:06] Obviously we could go back and look at lists later,

[01:04:09] but just off the top of your head.

[01:04:10] I'm trying to think, I don't know if Isaiah ever won an MVP.

[01:04:14] I don't think he's ever won one.

[01:04:20] I imagine Will probably did.

[01:04:21] I've got one for you, President.

[01:04:22] I don't know if it's Will.

[01:04:24] Oh, did Will ever win one?

[01:04:26] Because I think he kept losing.

[01:04:27] I'm for a goal.

[01:04:28] Not MVP. Never won an MVP. I'm going with Jason Kidd. CP3, like I said, I thought he should have won the MVP

[01:05:40] in OKC.

[01:05:41] I actually thought, you know, two-five moment.

[01:05:44] I actually thought he should have won Kobe's MVP until last season. We can research, we have all information, we've had these conversations year in and year out, and we can keep going back and say, this person got the MVP because they didn't wanna give it to Giannis a third time in a row. And he got the MVP because they didn't wanna give it

[01:07:02] to Yoko's two-zero.

[01:07:03] Yeah, I think D-Wade-

[01:07:04] With the Miami, like, yeah, if you, if we, if we go with the, if we're talking about finals MVP, then, then he probably could be the best player to not win a finals MVP. I didn't see the name.

[01:08:21] Kawhi. I'm still talking about Kawhi.

[01:08:23] Oh, Kawhi. I mean, he's averaging 28 this year, shooting 42% from three. You know, Phoenix's record is better than Dallas's. The last eight seasons, he's had two all stars. When the season starts in October, everyone healthy, tip off October, November, he's on

[01:09:44] the court and 60 left the media light. Like so he's still in the media every day we're talking about him, he's on TV, we see him all the time. And then if you look at what he did on the court, Kawhi had the one run, like I said, he had the one run in Toronto.

[01:11:03] Like I don't wanna like besmirch Kawhi's foot while they were up 25 on the Warriors in Oracle. I don't know if that was the conference finals though. I don't think so. No, I don't think so. That had to be the conference finals. Like, that was the end of. And we, no one expected them to make it that far. And every since then, there's been an expectation

[01:13:40] for a Kawhi Leonard led team to make it to the finals.

[01:13:44] And him on the court hasn't dragged a single team. He's been on nothing but really, really good teams and he's giving you very, the output versus the team. The team that he's been on and the output. I don't know if dragged is the right word. He hasn't been on a team that had to drag.

[01:15:02] He didn't have, they were first, they were number one seed, two, three, one or two seeds

[01:15:06] like three or four years prior to him getting there. you saying that? I'm not even saying that, but I mean, history, that that recent history show that he was knocking him out the players every year. I'm just talking about as far as like what Kawhi did. I think people just because he doesn't talk a lot, and he doesn't like brag about himself, then people feel like his accomplishments are greater. But when you really look at it, won it, I can't really, somebody else was at a great year that year. Was it Elijah Juan?

[01:17:42] Let's see.

[01:17:46] You know, cause I was thinkinger that will be the few guys that were that size With that speed jumping shooting scoring ability above the rim 18 and 22 feet out like it wasn't only a few guys that were playing like that you know, we talked about the guys like I was a highlight today of

[01:19:03] it was nicks versus magic and it was shack versus you and and

[01:20:02] He's MVP. But now the way the game is played,

[01:20:03] the fact that the ball's in his hand the whole time,

[01:20:05] you know he's in his hand, he shoots a lot of shots,

[01:20:08] he pretty much has a complete green light the whole game.

[01:20:11] So that's the context is associated with this 34 points.

[01:20:15] Whereas back then, yeah, you can be Isaiah Thomas

[01:20:18] and have 18 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds,

[01:20:24] and really control the championship caliber,

[01:20:27] Detroit Pistons team. And then they were like, well, what do you think is an MVP? And I said, I can't tell you what I think an MVP is. I just watched the season unfold. And then I tell you what an MVP is for that year. You know it when you see it. Yeah, for that year. For me, I take the V out and put the O in.

[01:21:40] So to me, with the voting anyway,

[01:21:44] it's most outstanding player.

[01:21:46] Yeah. I mean, value, value, value is like you can say, you know, how come a guy who's defensive player in a year, that's value on a team, you know, AD, if he's averaging 22 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, but three blocks, and LeBron's averaging 27, seven and seven and normal. Well, the value piece is AD

[01:23:01] because he's taken up the slack

[01:23:02] of where LeBron doesn't do defensively.

[01:23:05] But if you don't look at it that way,

[01:23:06] you simply look at the 27, seven and seven, is getting back down by AD eight times a game and AD is going two for eight. Yeah. So yeah, but yeah, that's where I am right now. I got SGA, I reserved the right to change my mind later. As the facts change, so does my opinion. Yeah, as the facts change, but for right now, I'm going with SGA, I got Tatum fifth right now,

[01:24:25] just because I do value, to the team? Well, I mean, players play differently. Because like Anthony Edwards should be getting into a ship. If AD was only averaging eight rebounds, you probably wouldn't have him in your MVP conversation, even if he was averaging 31, because we've seen him average 15 rebounds before. You know, if Tatum was out here 23, 8, and 8,

[01:25:46] we probably still wouldn't think he's MVP, Whereas Yannis or even Yoke is kind of controlling everything and then going on a run where he gets eight points in a row when you put a defender in it, it can't guard him in a paint. When Miami had to take Bam out of Bayou out and they put the boy Zeller in, yeah, he would go get eight points. Boom, boom, boom, boom.

[01:27:00] And so Bam coming off the bench, barely rested. He's like, okay,

[01:27:04] I'm going to go at him again. So he'll go from, you know,

[01:28:02] because I guess they pointed down at their opponent, that whole narrative.

[01:28:03] Yeah.

[01:28:04] So he is Mr. Logical, ladies and gentlemen.

[01:28:08] I am 2'5.

[01:28:10] Hope you enjoyed the show.

[01:28:11] Like, subscribe, all that good stuff.

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[01:28:19] The magic, the madness is here.

[01:28:23] March Madness Conference Tournament start next week.