Hour 3 - NBA playoffs

Rachel Nichols stops by The Herd to talk about the NBA playoffs, including the Lakers win last night, and the Warriors-Rockets game tonight

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Good series. The Knicks could be in real trouble now
it goes to Detroit. Last night, Rachel Nichols joining us
Fox Sports NBA analyst the physicality it was. I don't
think the NBA will put it in their Greatest Games
Ever officiated category. So what adjustments did the Lakers may

(00:45):
in your.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Opinion, Well, they made one really important adjustment on Anthony Edwards.
He said after the game, he said they kind of
played me like a zone, and he acknowledged he said
it was a little confusing for me. Coaches will call
that a box and elbow more than a zone, but
whatever you want to call it. They loaded up on him.
They forced him not only to not be able to
get to the basket the way he wanted to, and

(01:06):
he did in the first game, but when he was
passing out of that multiple coverage. He wasn't really passing
out into the discipline smart assists. We saw him in
game one, he was just getting rid of the mall
and because of that, it then had to go around
to two or three other people and that's why you saw.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Him and his assists numbers. Yeah, they came down zero.

Speaker 4 (01:24):
Zero assists last night.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
So I think that that is something that the Wolves
will game plan for. You know, it's a fun like
adjustment to the adjustment to the adjustment, and what we'll
see in game three with that will be interesting. The
Wolves in general were pretty sloppy the whole game. Nasrid
got into some early foul trouble which definitely hurt what
they wanted to do out there, and I just think
there was a little bit of hey, we won game

(01:48):
one and they just didn't come out as determined And
you understand all.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
Of that, right.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
How do you think JJ Ruddick's done so far? Well?

Speaker 4 (01:55):
Man?

Speaker 3 (01:55):
I mean, I thought the Lakers in general looked great,
especially to open the game last night. You know, obviously
they tailed off a little bit toward the end, but
JJ was on them all of the time. I don't
know if you saw there was a time out that
he had.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Oh, he was curious.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Let's call it colorful language.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
I don't know if we have a video around, but
there were so many curse words in that first like
ten seconds of the time out that I asked him
about it after the game and he said, look, I
only get that angry.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
You know, handful of times.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
It was in like the sixty one fifty something.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
So exactly the Wolves have made a run, and there
you can see it.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
We won't say we won't use the sound for people
listening on the radio because this is a family show, but.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
I will say that it was very noticeable.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
And he claimed, you know, I only get that angry
a few times this season. Lebron was a little more descriptive.
He said, eah, we expect JJ to spaz out every
once in a while.

Speaker 5 (02:47):
That was the quote.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
But I think his intensity is what has really helped
the Lakers throughout this season. And as a first time coach,
these are his first ever playoff games he's coaching the
fact that he's such a student of the game, he's
so into all of these adjustments, that's a big part
of how he coaches. I think he's going to really
thrive here. He did say he found himself between games
watching Wolves versus Utah footage Utah by the way, tanking

(03:12):
team that would never give him any information, and he
finally pulled away.

Speaker 4 (03:15):
He's like, what am I doing?

Speaker 5 (03:16):
Man?

Speaker 6 (03:17):
No?

Speaker 1 (03:17):
I think the one thing about JJ he plays big
and LA Lakers have run through some coaches. This is
a bigger market. We're not as angry as Philadelphia. But
he plays big. Yeah, he's smart, he plays big. He's
got the trust of his best players. And I talk
about this. You can see their game plan. They're a
very good first quarter team, absolutely, which always tells me

(03:39):
They've washed a ton of tape. They've practiced hard, they've
implemented it. This is not a team that eases its
way in like a well coached football team. I always
feel like with the Lakers, like, oh, I see what
they're trying to do. You could tell their physicality like
first possession. Yeah. So the Kawhi Leonard things fascinating Kawhi Leonard.
And I said this, if you took Kobe's personality, creativity, durability,

(04:01):
and you gave it to Kawhi's strength and hand size,
there's your Michael Jordan, his mid range game, his hand size,
like there are no picking rolls needed. Yeah, like you
just send Gordon at me, you can send Porter at me, Like,
I got it. But I always with the Clippers, I'm like, yeah,

(04:23):
I just don't know how long it's gonna last.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
There's no way to know.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
By the way, you know, the last time Kawhi Leonard
ended a postseason healthy, think a guess I'm putting on
the spot.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Two thousand and eighteen.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Well a little later than that, twenty twenty in the bubble, which,
by the way, the Clippers then just let go of
the rope that summer. But it has been five years
since he ended a season healthy, So there is a
waiting for the other shoe to drop. Since with this
playoff run, is there going to be a game in
this round in the next round here before they get
where Kawhi sort of pulls up and then we don't

(04:58):
see him again if he can healthy. I think this
is an incredibly dangerous Clippers team. They have one of
the stingiest defenses in the NBA. You've got two offensive
stars who can go fireball at any point. We saw
it from James Harden and one we saw it from
Kawhi in Game two and when Kawhi is on that
game six he had against Dallas, some of the games

(05:18):
that won him two finals MVPs, and the game the
other night. He is as good as anyone in the top,
top tier elite conversation when he's healthy. But that's a
very important part of the sentence.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
So I think my takeaway on the Knicks Piston series is, oh,
Cad Cunningham is the best player in this series. He's
in a remarkable talent. Now he was a number one pick. Yeah,
but as we know in the NFL, a guy comes in,
he's often married, he's twenty four, he's got NBA. The
great players are nineteen. They can't go to the hotel bar.

(05:52):
And it's often like we're seeing it with Jalen Green,
like he hasn't developed a half court offense, much like
you see these guys develop. So Cade was always good,
but he was always a scorer. But I watched these games,
I'm like, no, that's that's what a star looks like.
Like he gets a shot whenever he wants. Are the
Nicks in a little trouble here?

Speaker 3 (06:11):
I think they will end up pulling this series out
just for you know, all the reasons that everyone picked
them for this series.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
I do not expect them.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
If they do win this series, I don't expect them
to make a dent in the second round if they
play the Celtics.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
I mean, I think that could get.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Be over in six of the eight quarters so far.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Yeah, so you know, look, I said on your show
last week, like Detroit has a chance here.

Speaker 4 (06:33):
People were giving them no chance.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
They have a chance the way they play, the veteran
presence there complimenting the young guys, and you're right, Kid
cunning In not only is an elite, elite player for
his age right in his development level, but he's got
such a great NBA body. And I love Jalen Brunson
as a player. I think he does some pretty amazing things.
And that kid has such an amazing heart. We saw
it in Game one. But he is small, and there

(06:57):
is a point where the balance with him and the
other player on the team.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
You have to put the right pieces around him.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
And we'll see if Karl Anthony Towns, if they can
get a figure out a way to shake him a
little more free with the defense is playing against him,
and that's part Tibodeaux and part him being more aggressive so.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah, it's you know, it's funny about this, this analogous
of nothing. I was having a discussion about two months
ago with somebody that loves the NBA. We were talking
about Jalen Suggs. People had him as a bus two
years out of Gonzaga and I'm like, guys, yeah, these
guys are nineteen years old. He played football, you know,
like give him time. And then all of a sudden,
Jalen Huggs. They figured out Suggs. They figured out, oh
he does this, well this, Well he's not a number

(07:34):
one Paul Wonkar will be that. But it's like now
everybody's like, oh man, they really miss him. So sometimes
with Kate Cunningham, you're in Detroit, you're losing a bunch
of games, you're running through coaches, and everybody labels you
like talented. But you watch this series, You're like, oh,
like that that's going to be a top ten player
in the league next year.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yeah, well yeah, maybe, I mean we'll see it as
development continues.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
But yeah, he is definitely the engine of that team.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
He is a huge part of their turnaround, and it's
just been with his growth and maturity on the floor,
off the court, if you talk to everyone in that franchise,
they say that the way he has grown, the way
he's encouraged the younger players, the way he's given up
certain things on the course of the game plan to
get other guys involved, has been just so high level
for a guy his age, and I think we'll see
that through his development.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
So we have anonymous polls in politics in sports. So
Rick Carlisle's furious. He called it shameful that Tyrese Halliburton
was the most over ratted player. Some of it, I
think is he's not labeled as cool by the players.
Steph Curry, by the way, for years was sort of like, yeah,
he's good, but because he didn't married kids golf, he

(08:40):
didn't care. And there is an optic. There is an
aesthetic to this league, which it's lasted since Spencer Haywood
and Doctor j. That's why I fell in love with
the NBA. They were cool players. So what was your
take as a whole on the anonymous poll? I mostly
agreed with the players.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Yeah, I mean, look, I thought the athletic did a
good job of being very transparent about how many guys
voted in each situation, and so for the overrated player
that you're talking about with Tyrese, only ninety guys voted.

Speaker 4 (09:08):
This is a league of four hundred and fifty players.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
That means if you look at the percentages, twelve guys
in the NBA thought he was the most overrated twelve.
So I don't know how much you can take that. Obviously,
Tyrese is an excellent player.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Katy Cunningham most underrated.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Yeah, well look again, very trendy pick there for that too.
Tyreus is the reason they're up to OHO in that series.
And I think, you know, he has good humor about it.
You remember after the Olympics he tweeted, you know when
you didn't do anything for the group project, but you
still get an A And.

Speaker 4 (09:37):
So has he been played during the Olympics.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
I think that he is the enough good humor and
sense of himself and confidence that this isn't going to
rattle him.

Speaker 4 (09:46):
The biggest thing I think about a poll.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
Like this is the NBA is such a petty league, Colin.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
These guys are so petty.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
So when we have those NFL surveys and it's like
which team is the best locker room facilities, which team
has the best training staff? The best ownership. That's about
a collective team and sort of what the team is doing.
This survey is about a lot of individual players, and
you see those individual As you said, other guys like him,
some guys don't like him. I want to vote for

(10:15):
my friend. I just think you have to take it
when it's individual players in a petty NBA, you got
to take all of it with the grain of salt.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon easternn am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS
one and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah. I want to circle back to the Lakers. One
more thing, Yeah, is that I said this at the
top of my opening rant, was that Lebron wanted Ad
offensively to kind of take the baton a little. Yes,
and AD's body got better and his defense is amazing.
But I've always said Lebron identifies guys that can allow

(10:53):
him to kind of glide until the fourth I think
he identified very early Steph. He flirted with him, Steph
wasn't leaving. I think he knows the outletting and play
of Yokich. Yeah, would it let him coast? And then
I think he looked at Luca for years and thought, oh,
Luca's great. He started complimenting him an hour after he
made the league. He was like, I'm gonna be around

(11:14):
a while, and when I watch him, last night was
classic Luca thirty one, Lebron's twenty one, and Lebron could
care less. At this point, I would argue, Lebron wants wins.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
Look, I think Lebron had you start that game with
a ton of energy just from a leadership standpoint, which
we saw, and then throughout the game.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
Look, he's forty. He talked about it after the game.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
Your body is not the same as when you were
younger in terms of stamina. But he made sure that
defensively he was still so on point, just with his IQ,
the effort on defense, gathering guys in the right places.
And as someone who has been literally courtsided watching him
his whole career, it's sort of a funny thing.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
That's kind of how he came into the league.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
Obviously, he's developed a three pointer in the shot and
all of that, but as you say, he's not using
it in the same way as he did in his prime.
It's really about being smart delivering the energy.

Speaker 4 (12:01):
When he smartly.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
Knows that it's most valuable and he needs to and
then defensively, having those core principles that he came into
the league being so good at. So it's funny to
see that go full circle. It's also funny to see
with Luca. I think this is going to extend Lebron's career.
I mean there was a time in the middle of
the season where we were thinking, Eh, maybe this isn't

(12:23):
He's played with his kid, he's done what he's wanted
to do. Maybe he'll do the one more year on
his contract. Now you've got his younger son, Bryce, who's
going to be at Arizona next year and then potentially
in the league the next year. There's a lot of
people who think he's better than Bronni was at that age,
and maybe he's going to stick around and then I
don't know, do the Lakers get two of the next

(12:44):
five titles? Is this going to be a KD to
the Warriors kind of impact on the league?

Speaker 4 (12:49):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
But if that happens and Lebron hangs around for some
of that, Lebron, is he going to have as many
as Kobe? Is it going to change that conversation what if,
And there's a lot of those that would have to fall.
What If because Luca's on his team, Lebron can extend
his career a few years. What if he gets two
more and then the Jordan conversation starts up again in
a very different way. So I think this has had

(13:12):
such a huge impact on Lebron. As you said, I
don't think he's mad at all about this. I think
he is thrilled to have another guy on the team
who's younger, who can do everything the way he wants
it done, and then he can sort of pick his spots.
And again, picking his spots doesn't just mean in the game,
I think it could mean for extending his career a
lot longer.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
Well, have to see Rachel Nichols. Always a pleasure. J
Mack with the news.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
Turn on the news. This is the herd Line News.

Speaker 5 (13:43):
All right, let's get started with Jason Tatum Colin. Unfortunately,
he is listed as doubtful for Game two to night
with an injury. Boston has not been happy with the
physicality in this series. Al Wharford calling out dudes after
the game.

Speaker 6 (13:57):
I'm not sure what goes into it with it. The
only thing I would say is that it is the playoffs,
so you know the game is going to be more physical,
It's going to be more intense. I feel like those
plays are probably gonna happen more often than that.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Al Horford should be a should be a GM senatorial, isn't.
I mean he honestly got if you put a suit
and tie on him, and here's the governor of Massachusetts,
he's such a corona.

Speaker 5 (14:23):
I'll say he called out KCP for what is something
called the dirty foul on Tatum when he was in
the air. I think tonight's game could be a little heated.
Oh no, no, no, it's got some dudes. I don't know
if I mean the spread's coming down a little ten
and a half. I'm not touching that just because I.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Think, don't know.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
Tatum's exactly this. Detroit Knicks games in Detroit, Yeah, not
feeling great?

Speaker 5 (14:47):
Is that tomorrow night?

Speaker 1 (14:48):
I think it's tomorrow night. There's a couple of these series.
Minnesota Lakers is going to be physical, Detroit New York's
gonna be physical, Boston Orlando's weirdly physical, and that resh
let them play in the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (14:59):
So are ten and three so far A lot of physicality.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
I don't.

Speaker 5 (15:05):
I'll be honest, I don't love it. Like visually Lakers
Wolves last night?

Speaker 1 (15:09):
Did you think that was a visually appealed I thought
it was visually appealing. The problem with that game is
that Minnesota just neither team was very good from three.
The Lakers were, by the way, twenty of twenty from
the free throw line. They never missed a free throw.
It wasn't artistic. But I gotta tell you something, I
like intense basketball, so I will trade scoring for intensity.

Speaker 5 (15:33):
Can't you have both the intents? Just don't grab the ball?

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Clippers Nuggets Clippers Nuggets is the best series so far.

Speaker 5 (15:40):
Listen, Neither of those teams is playing great people.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
They're not, no, but the games they were physical. There's
a I mean, the battles for rebounds in that series
are intense.

Speaker 5 (15:48):
So you're in on Chris Finch, great coach, He's picking
up the Lakers full court the entire game.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, I don't have to do that.

Speaker 5 (15:54):
Well, the Lakers started to do the same thing last
night with gave Vincent, and I'm like, you watch a
Clipper nugget. They're not doing It's just like, let's just
raiment and a half court, full court defense. That's my style.
That's what I kind of like to do. And it's
like rugged and we're in your face and we're gonna
be grinding all games. NBA needs scoring. You can't have
these eighty seven eighty four games in the playoffs. That's
not good for business. Right, you agree with me? We

(16:17):
need offense, all right? Next up, Colin, let's go to Okay.
I love this story the Atlanta Hawks. So obviously they
got bounced in the plane again GM Landry Fields got fired.
They got a new guy in there, and Colin, we're
starting to hear the chatter you like to see around corners.
Trey Young's up for an extension this offseason. He posted
on ig kind of a this won't happen again. I

(16:41):
will be back in the playoffs. And there is a
momentum that, hey, maybe the Hawks should not extend Trey
Young and they should just be like, we're gonna get
out of the Trey Young business.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, I think. Yeah. You know the thing about Trey
I like his game, but there are arguments he's not
a ning player.

Speaker 5 (17:01):
Well he was early, remember when they went to the
conference final.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Yes, he had he had a great rookie year was
the rookie year.

Speaker 5 (17:08):
First rookie, second year. He was great early.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yeah, but there's there's he doesn't want to defend and
he's going to kind of do his thing, and he
can get emotional. Bit Poudy on the floor. He had
a really bad with it against Orlando bad.

Speaker 5 (17:20):
Got ejected. So you know, you look at the Lucas situation.
When Dallas they said, basically, we don't want to pay
this guy all this money. That was one of the reasons. Well,
now and you start to wonder are the Hawks feeling
the same way.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, because with the new CBA, if you've made All
NBA or or All Star Games, you can be paid
so much that owners consider now everything. I mean, Luke
had been hurt back to back years. Luca is a
bad defensive player, even though he'd made the finals. There
was a feeling like do we want to pay him
seventy five million a year? So Trey Young is not
a guy I'm gonna pay sixty million plus a year,

(17:54):
and I like him, I'm not paying that.

Speaker 5 (17:56):
So in the NFL we talked about a wide receiver bubble.
Remember we were early on this star bullf gots you
just getting paid too much. Like I can't build a
team when you know my wide receiver is making thirty
five million. I don't know that the Hawks and some
other teams around the league are gonna be like Trey,
here's fifty million dollars. I feel like we're starting to
see the slide on NBA salaries. We saw with Luca

(18:16):
madd didn't want to pay him the three hundred and
sixty five or whatever. And I think Atlanta's probably next,
and I think after that will be Zion. There's some
interesting things happening behind the scenes in the NBA con
Keep an eye on that. One final story if there
ever was an argument to change the first round series
back to five thunder Grizzlies is exhibit A. Okse has
absolutely dominated hapless Memphis for the second straight game. Point

(18:41):
differential is plus seventy. Now we knew Oklahoma City was good,
I didn't know they were this good and just murdering
and embarrassing Memphis, the second largest point differential through two
games in a playoff series in NBA history. Lookudo is
number one. The eighty six Lakers like Magic onsen era

(19:01):
our minus eight and a half in Memphis.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, and I think I think I would take okay,
see if I had so.

Speaker 5 (19:10):
Again, it's just two games. Who's challenging okay, see in
the West Lakers. I don't even know the Lakers are
beating the Wolves or the Warriors.

Speaker 1 (19:20):
Clippers. You said challenge the first seed. I think Clippers
are pretty good. Clippers A going to beat the Nuggets.

Speaker 5 (19:28):
I do like that.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
That bike is that Sunday when they played.

Speaker 5 (19:31):
They play listen Thursday night, Yeah, Thursday night, same night.
As a draft, you're gonna need multiple TVs. Would you
ignore the NBA total No.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
No no, no, no no no, I don't ignore.

Speaker 5 (19:40):
The NBA Mixed Pistons Game three, Big one Thunder Grizzlies.
You could skip that, and then Nuggets.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
Piston's Knicks is going to be on very early, so
I'll watch that before the draft. I'll watch the first
half four o'clock.

Speaker 5 (19:50):
That's a good.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, So the draft starts at five, but it'll start
about five fifteen.

Speaker 5 (19:55):
And you all get the freck.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
Yeah huh. Tomorrow is an all old timer baby.

Speaker 5 (20:01):
Yeah, no Uber eats for you.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
No alcohol, no, no, no, no no no, I have not Tonight.
I'm gonna go out and have a cocktail. I haven't.
I've been very good focused. I don't. I don't like
to watch blurry games.

Speaker 5 (20:13):
No, no, not a multiple nights.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
No, give me a Pacifico with a line in it. Well,
cold brew, a little smash burger.

Speaker 5 (20:22):
I'm good.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
Uh J Mack with a news.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
heard line news.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
I'm telling you my phone. You never sent me that
thing you told me you're gonna send me, uh my phone.
There is stuff happening, my friends.

Speaker 5 (20:43):
Bunch, you hit up some of your GM buddies.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
No, I already am.

Speaker 5 (20:47):
Oh are they talking to you or are they going
radio silent zero dark draft?

Speaker 1 (20:52):
They they will not talk to me now, But I
I have questions. There will be two trades in this draft.
Now what again? I know two teams in the NFC
that are trying to move up. That does not mean
they'll be made.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
So can you use your superpowers and get us, assuming
the show still exists in here, into a draft room
next year? Honestly, that's on my bucket list. Like it's
like Japan being an ants into the Bears draft room
next next year. Yeah, Well, assuming I'm still here, we.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Don't know what will happen, but your head downs, break
some stories once in a while. Maybe bring it back
in La, It's the Herd.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Draft coverage YEP, with
the first pick, the biggest names that know about every
player and every team. You've got it right here. God
listen as Fox NFL insider Jay Glazer, former New York

(21:53):
Jets general manager Joe Douglas, college Football Hall of Famer
and former number two overall pick LaVar Arringtech at Fox Sports,
lead college football reporter Jenny Ta delivered the Pig Fine
Pig covering at the next night, Ay Night, Fox Draft
Night Live lives right here on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
So there's a you know, there's a lot of talk
about people moving up, people moving down on the draft,
as is generally the case, about this time. Tomorrow's the
NFL Draft starting at what is it five Pacific? Eightiestern?
Is that what time it starts? I just know I
got to be Homerly in the afternoon. H lan Zerline,
who's worked at NFL Dot com covering the draft for
over twenty years, talked about the buzz he's hearing with

(22:34):
Schadur Sanders and the New York Giants.

Speaker 7 (22:37):
I've heard they're in alignment that it's not Shudoor Sanders.
So that's what I've heard is so, I don't think
Shudar Sanders is in play at three at all. I
think they like for you to believe it. It seems
like there's a lot of teams that want you to
believe that they're in on Shudoor Sanders because they think
they're going to elicit a phone call in a trade up.
I don't think it's going to happen. I think he
goes twenty one of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I've heard Dayball

(22:58):
likes Jackson Dart, and so if that's the case, going
from the early second round into the first round for
Jackson Dart somewhere in the twenties, you know, the Vikings
don't have a lot of draft picks. The Vikings could
be a spot that you trade into for Jackson Dart.
That's been a targeted spot for me, the twenty fourth pick.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Now he mentioned Jackson Dart, So I've said it feels
like Zach Wilson, but you know, maybe a little more
talented went to the same high school. Here's Lance on
what he hears and sees. He's been doing this a
long time. On Jackson Dart.

Speaker 5 (23:33):
Well, I've got a third round grade on him.

Speaker 7 (23:35):
WHOA yeah, But I mean a grade is not where
I project him. I project him first. Second is where
I project him. My grade would be third round. I
just think that Old Miss offense is really favorable to quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
Now.

Speaker 7 (23:46):
It doesn't mean Jackson Dart can't play.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
He can play, but he's.

Speaker 7 (23:49):
Got an average arm. He's accurate, I think he has.
He really has to put something into it. I stood
on the field next to him. I wanted to see
and feel all those quarterbacks throw at the combine. I mean,
he's got to really, you know, get a lot into
it to drive the ball. But he is accurate, and
a lot of coaches like his demeanor. I just think
there's a lot of open one on one throws down

(24:11):
the field, and then there's a lot of stick routes
just quick hitches to Trey Harris on tape as well.
So it's harder to get that first round feel for
Jackson Dart.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
For me, Okay. So if we look at I'm going
to do my last mock draft tomorrow. The first mock
draft I do, first fifteen picks is what I would
do is GM. I didn't include any trades. Tomorrow, I'm
going to put a trader two in and it's what
I think will happen. So keep your eye on the

(24:39):
number five pick. There's a lot of belief. Cam Moard,
Travis Hunter, Abdul Carter is feeling more and more certain.
Are your top three picks starting at about four with
New England, five with Jacksonville. Then it can get interesting.

(24:59):
So I Mason Graham may have a lower ceiling. I
if I'm New England and I can go get a
guy like Mason Graham, you know that's right up Vrabel's alley.
But keep your eye on New England at four and
Jacksonville at five. I am hearing a team that wants
to move into that five spot. Okay. And then the
other one to keep your eye on is the thirteen

(25:24):
or fourteen spot. Miami and the Colts. So Miami has
been Jalen Ramsey, Tyreek Hill. They've tried the flashy stuff
to no avail. A lot of noise a lot of noise,
a lot of flash for the distracted Dolphin fans down
in South Beach. I think they may go into the trenches.

Speaker 5 (25:46):
Okay, So I know you like chat GPT, right, since
you keep saying that somebody's gonna move up to five,
and I think anybody with a brain can put it
together that somebody must want Ashton Gent.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
Yes, that's okay, that's thee.

Speaker 5 (25:59):
So I asked jat GBT, can you give me the
first round history in the last ten years of teams
trading up for a running back. It has happened one time.
Do you remember the deal famous SEC running back. I
could hear him say it. The Cleveland Browns traded up
for Trent Richardson.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, but that was a dumb move.

Speaker 5 (26:18):
Wait a minute. Trent Richardson was a superstar at Alabama.
He was trucking dudes left and right. You don't trade
up for running back, Colin And I know, obviously astro
Jet D's better than Trent Richardson, but it is extremely risky.
That is a position that turns over a lot injuries happened.
I think it is extremely risky. Like you put your
job on the line, you straight up for running back

(26:39):
and it doesn't.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
Okay, now this one, I like Jordan Schultz our Jordan
Schultz is reporting multiple teams have brought up Steeters receiver
George Pickens and trade discussions. If I was Pittsburgh, I
would move off him tomorrow because I got DK Metcalf.

Speaker 5 (26:54):
But who's getting in the Pickens business? Given how lazy
at times he was last year, Like there's videos of
and against the cold pretending to block at the line
of scrim is just not being interested?

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Would you make a move one year George Picken?

Speaker 5 (27:08):
Now, I'll give you a six round draft pick. I
take a flyer. I'm not giving up anything of value.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
For him, and he's pretty good. He's a pretty good player.

Speaker 5 (27:15):
You like to take risks with questionable individuals.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
You're a Cincinnati Bengals of sportscast.

Speaker 5 (27:21):
Oh stop it.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
Never move up in the draft. I think I would
take Pickens for a year.

Speaker 5 (27:26):
Why do you give it up?

Speaker 1 (27:27):
Well, if I hadn't, I think he's worth a third
round pick. If he wasn't temperamental, you could get a
first or a second. But he wasn't temporary.

Speaker 5 (27:37):
Yeah, if he wasn't yeah, if the tariffs didn't exist,
my portfolio wouldn't be out of sixty percent. You know, like,
come on, man, I just you like clean. We talked
about it at the outside of the show.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
I do.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
But I'm saying, would I do a one year experiment
with Pickens? Yeah? Sure, you want your bears getting in
the pickets business. No, but the gent business is interesting.
That one's the kind of Pickens.

Speaker 5 (28:05):
In that locker room with your young granchise quarterback.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
How about how about I mean again, a one year
Pickens is.

Speaker 5 (28:14):
A strong front office, like an Andy Reid Patrick Mahomes type. Hey,
we'll take a flyer on this guy RACEI rice, he's
a nightmare. We we get tried.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
I mean the Chiefs are a prime example. They've been
burned on immaturity multiple times at receiver and they got.

Speaker 5 (28:27):
Off Tyreek Hill.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
I mean, but they've stood. They've been I mean, wide
receiver is just diva central. It's got There was a
I went for a while where we didn't see it.
But in the last couple of years with these guys
getting huge money, it's been like a wide receiver bubble
and whatever it is. We've had a two or three
year run and receivers have got really high maintenance again.

Speaker 5 (28:48):
Number Odell Beckham like just weird stuff. Everybody's moving off
in the Rams got of the Odell business, won the
Super Bowl with him. But McVeigh and Stafford like strong
culture can handle that.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yeah no, No, Pickens is not somebody I'm building around.
But would I take a swing for a year.

Speaker 5 (29:03):
He's a different Bufalo Bills Josh Allen.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
No, they've done.

Speaker 5 (29:06):
They did the digs thing.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yeah, it's something. It is something. Draft tomorrow, Rockets Warriors tonight.
I like Houston