Colin’s top takes of the week!
First, he’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out”!
They start with the draft evaluation for Shedeur Sanders and Colin argues that regardless of where he gets drafted, he’ll likely be the third best quarterback in his division and whether that analysis gets factored into his draft position (4:15). They dissect the Giants roster after signing Russell Wilson and whether it would make sense to pass on Shedeur and draft a different position of need (8:30).
John explains why a “high floor” isn’t really a thing when it comes to drafting whereas “high ceiling” is VERY real (12:45).
Finally, they look at the over/under win totals and make their predictions for who will over/under perform their expectations in Vegas. (16:00).
Then he’s joined by Jason Timpf, host of “Hoops Tonight”!
They react to LeBron’s comments on Pat McAfee’s show comparing NBA eras and explain why it’s completely pointless because of how much the game has changed (33:00)
They debate whether a dominant regular season will translate into playoff success for a young OKC Thunder roster, and whether they have a weakness that could sink them in a series (36:30).
Finally, they discuss whether there’s anything the NBA can do to avoid tanking when transformational talent is so easy to identify early and incentivizes teams to tank (42:00).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
As I've told you, Fubo is my favorite way to
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(00:25):
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(00:53):
John Middlikoff, former NFL scout, you know him, you love
him the podcast three and out, loves his golf as well.
As we get ready for the Masters that's around the corner.
But we've got some NFL stuff to talk about. So
we got into this discussion on the show today and
I said you know, obviously, when the NFL had to
(01:13):
write almost a you know, a billion dollar check for CTE,
the game got safer really fast. And you can't touch quarterbacks.
You already can't go high or at the wrong angle
on anybody but a running back going forward. That's why
it's really makes sense to have two and three running
backs in the rotation, because it's the last position you
can really clobber from any angle at any time. And
(01:38):
I said, because it's become such an offensive league, there's
only one way to win with exceptional offensive quarterback play.
And I said, here's the thing about Shnur Sanders. If
you're Cleveland, if you draft him, he is at best
the third best quarterback in that division. He'll never be
as good as Burrow. He's not that kind of prospect.
And he's not Lamar Jackson. If the Steelers hit on
(02:01):
a quarterback in the next two years, he could be four.
He's not an exceptional athlete, not an exceptional arm and if,
for instance, the Giants wanted him, he's not going to
be Jayden Daniels and he's not special athletically like Jalen Hurts.
He may be better than Dak, but again, he would
be third best quarterback in a division. And so my
(02:23):
takeaway and Shaudeur Sanders is do teams think like that?
It only takes one coach to love bow Nicks, right
like Sean Payton loved him because there's a little bit
of a doppelganger with Drew Brees. But when I look
at Shaduur and I like him, I can't argue that
Burrow Lamar Chaduur is three. I can't argue that Jalen
(02:45):
and Jaden Daniels Shaduur is three. And those kind of
quarterbacks are infrequent playoff quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Do scouts think like that? Yeah? I mean these conversations
definitely come up, not only right now but throughout the
fall when your scouts are going in the problem with
that mindset, you would never draft a quarterback because who
the hell is ever going to be better than Lamar
Jackson or Joe Burrow? Right or you know you're never
gonna how are you ever gonna find like a twenty
three year old Matt Stafford. More than likely you're not
(03:15):
gonna draft this high again. And you know two names
that I hear come up a lot or definitely one,
and I'll use another name is Andy Dalton, and I
would throw Derek Carr in there as well. You know,
I think people that say you know that Kype skill set,
historically Shador Sanders, those guys went picked thirty five and
picked thirty six, I think ten years ago. He's going
(03:37):
in the second round and people are very excited about him.
Jimmy Garofflow as well. At the end of the second round.
Andy Dalton has made one hundred and sixty eight starts
in the NFL, and he was in a division with
a fantastic Ravens defense and Roethlisberger in his prime and
they were going to the playoffs all the time. Carr
took a dysfunctional Raider team twice to the playoffs. So
(03:57):
if Shador is in that mold, it's really on the organization.
And if you're the Browns, Andrew Berry's pretty good GM,
Stefanski's pretty good coach. They got a lot of talent
on the team. So if he can just become that
Andy Dalton, Jimmy Garoppolo, Derek Carr, Yeah, you're not gonna
beat you know, if Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow are on,
they're gonna beat you. But you still have a lot
(04:18):
of other games throughout the season. So it's if you
can build the team well enough, can't you compete to
make the playoffs. I mean, they're drafting two over a
hole right now, right And granted that's because I mean
Deshaun became one of the worst quarterbacks we've ever seen.
Their team just fell apart this year. But more than
likely they're not gonna draft this high again. Now. Is
(04:38):
it an quote unquote overdraft. Yeah, but the reason Mac
Jones and Daniel Jones and those type guys became disastrous.
You couldn't even function with them as your starting quarterback, right,
Andy Dalton. For seven straight years with the Bengals, they
did a good job. You could just every year you
went in like, we're gonna win ten plus games. The
Browns would die to do that. Their owner, who can
(04:59):
be a little off the sometimes I give him credit
for making the comment the other day. You never hear that,
you know, admitting we still all the guy ninety million dollars.
It's a disaster. It's like, well, yeah, that's true. Well yeah,
they never say that he is spending a lot of cash,
like the salary caps different than cash being spent Jeffrey
Lury talked about that. I saw today they are spending more.
(05:19):
I think they've spent more money over the last four
years in cash than any other team in the league.
It's like well over a billion dollars. So he is
not in this to lose. But the betting markets have
Abdul Carter as the heavy favorite to be the number
two overall pick, so maybe they're thinking shad or Sanders.
What the hell's the difference of Shador Sanders. I know,
you like like Riley Leonard's of the world and those
(05:39):
type guys. We can get a guy like that in
the second or third round, and maybe he can be
like our cousins or Dak. They also talk and think
like that, so maybe they go, I'd rather have Riley
Leonard or Kyle McCord and Abdul Carter than Shador Sanders
and whoever else we would get in the second round.
So I think you're doing a lot of those conversations.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
There's a lot of people saying that Jackson Dart has
a better arm than Shaduur Sanders, so you might as
well just wait and draft Jackson Dart, although I would
say he's not nearly as accurate as Shaudur Sanders. An
accuracy to me is like a real thing, maybe the
most important thing. Jalen Milrose mechanical. I think he has
to fold the right hands or he could just be
(06:20):
Anthony Richards at two point zero.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
You know, I've said Kyle McCord at Syracuse. I take
him in the second round and feel pretty good. I
will say this though, that you know, people say it's
not a very good draft, and I'll tell you I
look at certain teams that need skill players, like the
(06:44):
New York Giants. If they got Travis Hunter with their
first pick and then their second pick got is it
Trayvon Henderson from Ohio State, Yeah, with Molik Neighbors. I
look at that and I think to myself, Oh, that's
a great draft for the New York Giants because I
like their head coach as an offensive coach, and I
(07:06):
think Russell will actually be a better version of the
Pittsburgh Russell because I think Mike Tomlins culture is years
behind Brian Dable offensively. Is there a team in this
draft that you look at and think, you know, it's
not a great draft, but what they need running back,
tight end, defensive tackle, there's a surplus of in this draft.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Well, I think if you look at the Giants, if
you're Brian day Ball, people go, why would they sign
both those two guys? Because Brian da Ball's coaching for
his job, Shador Sanders does not help him at all
in twenty twenty five. So he can take two quarterbacks,
let the cream rise out of the two and go
back and forth. He would go all in on Travis Hunter.
He would want players that help him win immediately. So
(07:48):
if you tell me they get Travis Hunter and they're
starting running back or starting tight end or just another
more explosive player, yeah, I mean I think the Giants
are just much more feasible. You watch him at the
end of the year last year when they had some injuries.
It's like that this team has a lot of parallels
with the Patriots, right, just no talent. What's going on here?
But all of a sudden you get Molik Neighbors, which
(08:09):
he has concussion issues. You know, you get another concussion.
That's a little scary, But there is no disputing his
physical gifts. I mean, he's a freak. I mean that's
one you look back and this is the hard part
about the draft. There is no such thing as a
high floor because any player might not work out. It
doesn't matter how your floor is determined once you get
in the NFL. All I heard last year was like,
(08:30):
Marvin Harrison's floor is so Highlik's Malik could be boom
or bust. And then you watch You're like, you don't
think the Arizona Cardinals regret not going Maleak Neighbors over
Marvin Harrison Junior, because they do and the Giants benefited
from them making that choice. And I think we use
that term a lot. Ceilings are real, like certain guys
have higher ceilings. Cam Ward's ceiling is obviously higher than
(08:51):
Shad or Sanders, but a floor like we've seen all
sorts of players not work out in the end, you
never know, and we always played game a couple of
years later. Should have taken him? Should have taken him?
No one knew that information as we sit here a
month away from the draft. If we would have known
Richard Sherman and George Kittle and these guys exist in
the fifth round, they would have been top twenty picks.
(09:13):
So it is a little bit of a crapshooting. I
think it gets more difficult in a class like this,
which obviously there are gonna be a lot of really
good players that come out of this draft, but no
one feels that confident on a lot of these guys.
You know, it's like, well, how high is Mason Graham's ceiling?
Or it's like what's his name? The LSU tackle, It's like, well, yeah,
arm length kind of matters at left tackle, but what
(09:36):
if in five years he just becomes an All Pro guard?
But you don't take an all Pro guard probably at
five overall, right, you'd rather have a tackle. So there's
just a lot of unknown which I think a lot
of these the scouting community is just there's like, yeah,
it's kind of a coin flip year.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
In your years of being a scout. I mean, you
have your top one hundred and FIFTFTY players like and
you also have the red players that you won't draft
either personnel, personality problems, character issues or injuries. Are there
any dramatic moves with two to three weeks to go
in the draft process when in your experience, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Would say you know the information most of these teams,
you know, with the owners meeting, so all the gms
and coaches are flying home if not last night today,
and by either the end of the week or first
thing next week, all your scouts come in and the
scouts and your you know, your personnel people, some of
your other executives have been on campuses over the last month,
right meeting with coaches other personnel at those schools. Certain
(10:40):
guys you don't have to worry about anything off the field,
like they're just it's just perfect, you know Andrew lux Or,
But there are a ton of those guys in the
draft where it's like you don't even But there are
some guys maybe not legalot like they've been arrested or
you know, crazy bad things, but they're just like how
much does he really like football? Which might be a
non negotiable in the organize, like the Ravens don't draft
(11:01):
many people that aren't addicted to football watch them play
over the last twenty years. So you're just like, maybe
you've heard some stuff and you bring that information back
to your GM, to your head coach, and that can
sway stuff. So it's not like a dramatic unless someone
gets in trouble and that becomes public knowledge. But it's
basic things like yeah, I've heard some things that this
guy might not be quite what we thought as a person.
(11:24):
Cause I think when you know a lot of these people,
when you talk to coaches and executives, most people fail,
especially draft in the first couple of rounds, like they're
meeting a lot of the requirements of height, weight, speed,
played it sweet schools. It's usually the person that fails focus,
screw around, not dialed in, doesn't really like football. Football
(11:46):
is not like baseball where you just get to play
every day, or basketball where you play three times a week.
You practice basically five days a week and you play
once and you only hit seventeen of those games. For
the majority of the league. You don't go to the player,
and then you get OTAs you get training camp, it's
a lot of sitting in a room watching tape, getting
yelled at, getting up early, going to you know, going
(12:08):
to bed sore. It's not you know, Ray Lewis, you
pay me Monday through Saturday. Sundays are for free. There's
a lot to that. It's why the best players typically
are football addicts at all the positions, right the JJ Watts,
the Trent Williams that you just go around, George Kittle,
you know, at every Travis Kelcey forever. All the patriotype guys,
(12:30):
the human being, but you got to be careful with
overvaluing that because you do need to be able to play.
And that's I think Belichick got in trouble at the
end of his career. So it's it's hard. I mean,
you run a company hiring people. You've had a lot
of people on your show for years before even the volume.
It's you're dealing with human beings with a lot of pressure,
with a very public job. It's we all shit on
(12:53):
it when guys miss, and it's fair sometimes, but it's
also like, this is really really difficult to, you know,
pick a guy. I hear this a lot. Why can't
the Chiefs find a tackle? Well, it's like, guys, they've
draft thirty one or thirty second every single year. They
don't have that much cap space. And I don't know
if you've checked free agency. Usually Hall of Fame tackles
don't hit free agency. It's like, what do you want
(13:15):
them to do? Like Lane Johnson isn't usually sitting there
at pick thirty two, And when you're drafting at pick
thirty two, you're also drafting at the end of the
second round. And the third round. It's it's much easier
to draft when you're the Titans and you dictate every
round than it is when you're the Bills or the
Ravens or the Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So the you know the overs and unders are coming out,
So I want us to give the audience have some fun. Here.
Two overs and two unders and all start this. All
the odds are provided by Draft King Sportsbook. So I'm
going to give you an under, then you give me
an under, and I'll give you another under, and then
(13:58):
we'll do two fa overs. So my first under is
the Chiefs at eleven and a half. Okay, Joe Tooney
was by far and away the most had the most
dexterity of any of their offensive linemen.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
He's gone.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
They are now crossing their fingers on a backup left
tackle from San Francisco. They were eleven and zero in
one possession games, right and now the division is much better.
The coaching and the quarterback play Bo Nixon year two
Gino Smith if they get a running back in the
first round. Geno Smith has a one zero six passer
(14:38):
rating in Seattle on play action passing like if you
give him a run game Gino's very good on third
and two, right, He's very good with play action passing,
second to five, third and two, third and three. So
I don't think I would take the under. Now, maybe
(14:58):
they just go eleven and six, but I think the
division is going to be improved, the quarterback play between
Gino second year bo Again. I thought last year there
were offensive line injuries with the Chargers. My guess is
they'll be healthier. Okay, what say you give me an
give me an under?
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Do you say ten and a half on that number?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
It's eleven and a half. DraftKings has the Chiefs at
eleven and a half. I would bet the.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Under got you. They've won over twelve games. I think
every year Mahomes has started beside one. Yeah, but I
hear you. It's you can have a good year. I
mean they won a super Bowl winning eleven I would
say an under. I like I do think the forty
nine ers who are to the Rams won that division
(15:46):
and were really good and honestly, I mean a couple
of plays away from potentially beating the Eagles, and who knows,
they might end up in the super Bowl and win it.
They wanted a ten and seven, right, so, and they're
a team going through a lot of transition. So the
forty nine ers won six games, though they were in
a lot of them. They kind of melted at the
end in a lot of them. So I actually think
(16:06):
I think a lot of people are gonna think they're
gonna win like six or seven games. I think they're
gonna be better than people think. But once you start
getting over ten, like ten and a half, like you
could win nine or ten games, be that seven seed, hell,
compete to win the division and have a good season.
So I think the days, you know, definitely this season
that's gonna be very dependent on young rookie players.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, they have twelve draft picks.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, I mean that's we've seen the Rams the last
couple of years. I don't know exactly, they've been a
fantastic team at the end of the year, that they're
not winning twelve games. So I think the Niners probably
more likely to win nine or ten games. I don't
think that division is just gonna be you know, the
Cardinals are just a tough game every time you play them. Obviously,
the Rams are good in Seattle going through a little
(16:51):
bit of a transitional period, but they're head coach. I
think they're pretty well run operation.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, listen, they're one of my unders too at ten
and a half Seattle. Yeah, they tried to get green
Law back from Denver. They did not want to lose Ufunga. Okay,
those were two big defensive losses. And let's be honest, John,
the Bosa's get hurt when Boso was off the field.
Last year, they were not a very good defense. They
(17:17):
were really inconsistent. So now Whufungus gone, green Law's gone,
Bosa will miss the stretch and it's not a great draft.
So I don't think there's an impact player defensively. Maybe
if they got like Will Johnson at corner from Michigan,
I think that would be a really really you'd have
to be happy with that. But yeah, I think I
(17:38):
have San Francisco as an under. So I have Kansas City,
you have San Francisco, I have San Francisco. Give me
another under.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
I would say, I think there's a chance Miami is
like the one of the worst teams in the NFL. Like,
it would not shock me if you tell me. As
you and I are sitting here doing a pre draft
a couple of weeks Miami's in the mix. Maybe they
don't have the number one overall pick, but I could
see him being like the giants of the Patriots draft
in three or four. It would not shock me to
see them struggle to win four or five games. I
(18:09):
think they're gonna be terrible. I thought that last year,
and they just obviously when two was on the field,
they're more functional. It would not surprise me at all
if this Tyreek situation doesn't go away and he ends
up playing for another team this year. I don't know
if that trade would happen during the draft. I know
they've pushed back against that, maybe at the end of
training camp. But I just expect Miami to implode. I
(18:32):
really do. I mean, I don't really like the Jets
that much either, but like even last year, the Jets
do have a lot of good players. Oh absolutely. I
just don't think Miami has that many good players, and
they are one concussion away from all of a sudden,
Zach Wilson's are starting quarterback.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yes, okay, I'll give you an over. I think Brian
Callahan's a good coach. I think Will Levis is a
really really bad NFL quarterback. I don't think he was
a great college quarterback. And so I look at the
over under on Tennessee and you know it's it's five
(19:07):
and a half. Some have had it at six and
a half. I think they clear that bar easily. First
of all, cam Ward's a playmaker, and nobody's got real
film on him. He didn't do a lot of straight
pocket stuff in college. It was a lot of backyard stuff.
(19:29):
And I think the league will take a while. And
they did this with Jaden Daniels. It took a while
to decode him. People were bo Nicks. You'd not quite
sure what he is. It's a weak division. The Jags
could be bad, the Colts would be bad. Houston should
be pretty good, but not great. I think I'm going
to take the Titans over. I think it's a pretty
(19:50):
week schedule. I think cam Ward is one of the
only players in the draft that can equal wins. I
think people think Callahan's a pretty good coach, and Ellahan
didn't just lack trust in will Levis. If you listened
to his postgame comments after losses, he lost them three
games straight out, and you watched his body language, he
(20:12):
almost resented that will Levis was getting in the way
of wins, and so I Titans to me earn over.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yeah, I don't think people. You know, we talk a
lot about the Browns because of Watson, because Deshaun Watson's
quarterback play. By the month then no one was watching
the Titans. Their quarterback play was like historically poor, I
mean the turnovers and sacks he was taking. It was.
Their defense was actually pretty good, yes, And like any
team with a pretty good defense, when your offense is
that crappy by the time you get to like mid November,
(20:43):
they can't maintain that level of play because they're on
the field so much. So if their offense is just solid,
I'm with you. I mean, he's got his dad there
coaching offensive line. Massive upgrade just based on talent alone.
I would say this, if you look at Vrabel, like
the linebacker version of Harbaugh, you know, wants to play defense,
wants to run the ball. Former players, just guys that
(21:05):
just win. I think the Patriots we're right up there
with the Bears as one of the worst coach teams
you will ever see. Yes, last season, why couldn't they
go nine to eight this year? So go, the Jets
are going to be awful. I think the Dolphins are
going to be worse. Yep, listen to Bills, who cares
even if they sweep you. I could see the Patriots
(21:26):
winning eight or nine games.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Listen, they were seven and a half DraftKings. They are
now up to eight and a half. So the Sharks,
it looks like we're all over the Patriots. So New
England was one of my overs. And I said the
other day on the air, I said, I think Vrabel
from Giad Mayo is worth three points. I think Drake
May is worth another point based on sophomore season. And
(21:51):
I think it's reasonable assume one hundred and ninety million
in free agency and eight to nine draft picks is
worth one and a half to two points. So if
they're just five and a half points to six points better.
And again you're talking about between the draft and free agency,
like eight to nine new starters and a couple of
high end starters. You're talking about Drake May potentially with
(22:12):
a Travis Hunter. You're talking about the worst coach team
to probably one of the seven to eight to nine
best coach teams. That's five and a half to six points.
They were three and six in one possession games with
a rookie quarterback. If that's just six and three, you
don't have to go nine to zero. This is an
eight to nine win team. And again the Jets a
bit lost. I agree with you, Miami's a mess. So
(22:33):
I think New England's in play.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
I would say the other team would be speaking of Harbaugh,
the Chargers. You know, last year, I just didn't pull
the trigger and he did exactly what he Yes, they
were the five seed. Well this year it's nine and
a half, and everyone always gets off the scent with them.
During like free agency, Jim is not going to trade
for DK Metcalf and give one hundred fifty million dollars.
(22:57):
He didn't do it last year, He's not going to
do it this year. He won't do it next year.
You know what he will do though, in like the
second round, all of a sudden, he will draft his
starting tight end for the next seven years and in
the third round find a defensive tackle that everyone's going, hey,
this guy's not that sexy who will just be a
starter for him for a long time. Then you watch
the season and you just go, God, their team is
just physical and good. He has a really talented quarterback.
(23:18):
Why couldn't they win twelve games. I mean they're over
under right now is nine and a half. I think
they are a lock. I mean, Jim Harbaugh is now
coach in the NFL five years and made the playoffs
and four of them. So I don't know if they
can overtake the Chiefs, but it wouldn't shock me if
it gets a little closer. And don't let free agency
fool you. He's never gonna play and swimming that into
(23:41):
the pool. They are never gonna do that. But you know,
you've talked about this huge advantage for Jim. All these
kids coming in the draft. He's recruited them all, especially
the good ones, so he's gonna know these guys. He's
gonna be a huge point of difference for him. I
would expect them to have a good draft. His GM
I think is pretty good. I mean, look at last year,
It's like, did they pass on Malik Davers? I don't know.
(24:02):
They just got their starting tackle for the next decade.
So I think the Chargers they've fooled me is the
wrong word. I just didn't have the kahonas just because
I was like, I don't know if their roster is
quite good. Enough, they're not gonna have great ride receivers.
He typically never does, and he always wins. He won
a national championship, he went to a Super Bowl like
(24:22):
he's not exactly gonna have Jerry Rice in his prime,
and it's gonna work out just fine.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
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Speaker 1 (25:48):
Well, you're going to hear.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Him more regularly now over the next seven weeks, Jason Timp,
host of Hoops Tonight. You know that there was a
comment I thought was interesting. Lebron was on a podcast
or a show and he talked about, you know, Jannis
would have scored two hundred and fifty points back in
the seventies, And I laughed because I thought no, because
(26:09):
they'd fould him and he can't hit free throws, so
it wouldn't work. But You know, it's interesting because I
grew up with the seventies basketball and I loved it,
and I do think sometimes, you know, the players since
in nineteen seventy three have grown half an inch. The
NBA was big and athletic then. Now nutrition's better, travels better,
(26:33):
But it was I didn't love Lebron saying that I
was like Lebron. Wilt and Jerry West played in the seventies,
Doctor j played in the seventies. Bill Walton played in
the seventies. I don't know why it didn't bother me,
but it was one of those I heard it and
I thought, no, honest, now, you honest man have averaged
forty but he can't shoot like he can't shoot. What
(26:57):
did you make of that comment and your thoughts about
jenneral comparisons.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Well, for that exact reason, like you mentioned the size,
if it was not just size back then, spacing was
poor back then. Yeah, and in general, like Giannis would
have been running into a lot of bodies. That said,
I firmly believe Janness would average forty forty five if
you played in that era, just simply because it would
be like a man amongst boys in terms of the
athletes that he'd be competing with. I just a couple things.
(27:25):
I don't see any point in comparing era to era
in general. I mean, like we talked about the seventies
like it was not that long ago as fifty years ago.
It's a half century ago. And in general, there's just
been so many changes schematically, there's been so many changes
in player development and the skill. Like you know, what's
always so funny to me when you go back and
you watch basketball players in the sixties and seventies, the
(27:46):
jump shots.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Are all weird looking.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Yeah, And one of the reasons why the jump shots
are all weird looking is they didn't get to go
on YouTube or go turn on the TV and watch
their favorite players play when they were kids. They taught
themselves out of shoot. Everyone today kind of shoots more
or less the same type of jump shot, and some
people look weird, but most people should.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Swings, by the way, the unique golf swing is over.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Exactly because now it's been optimized. We've optimized it. Now
you reach your hand in to the cookie jar, you
start from the legs, You no wasted motion, and we
don't want to hit you in the shot, you know,
And so It's one of those things where like we've
just perfected this sport in so many different ways, and
you know, one of the things that I dislike about it.
And it kind of goes back to what we talked
about when we were talking about Stephen A. Smith a
couple of weeks ago. But when you I don't believe
(28:32):
in stooping down to that level you, by the way,
are you have a saying that you've used over the
years that I've loved. You said, I can have an opinion,
and you can have an opinion on my opinion. I
don't need to have an opinion on your opinion of
my opinion, which, by the way, is like a foundational
thing that I lean on and I'm when I'm doing
what I do too. And like one of the big
(28:53):
things that I look at there is like, Okay, Lebron,
you're playing basketball. Okay, these old guys are trashing your era.
But what good does it do to then step in
and then be disrespectful to their era? That doesn't serve
a purpose. In my opinion, it kind of is it's
stooping to that level. It doesn't forward the conversation. And like,
from that same point, I feel like Lebron is just
(29:14):
shouldn't be the guy sending that type of message that
he's trying to send. That said, like, I think in general,
Lebron's just sick and tired of getting criticized by like
the Mjklan, the throwback like the old league was better
type of plan, and I think he's just sick of it,
and I think he's acting out.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
You know, It's interesting. The other day I was saying
about Okay, see, I'm like, I know they're gonna win
into some series.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
I know they're really good.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
I'm not doubting that brilliant GM. I don't think SGA
will quite get that whistle in the postseason, but he'll
get a whistle if chet Holnggrun's healthy. They've got some
offensive options. I do worry about their young players in
big road games. You know, everything changes. No sport in
our country changes more from regular season to postseason. I mean,
(30:00):
I'm watching here today. You got to fight in the
NBA Missesota's coaches, and you're getting feisty now in playoff seating,
and it's like it changes the game. It's an outside
of the COVID year men win in the playoffs. Young
men can do really well in the regular season. But
the one thing about Oklahoma City Tom Tolbert texted me
(30:22):
when I was talking about him, He goes, they lead
the NBA and assists, or they lead the NBA in
creating turnovers but have the fewest turnovers. They just are really,
really efficient. They don't turn it over and they force turnovers.
Is there like, I don't think Golden State could beat
okay See. I think Golden State would be Houston. I
(30:43):
don't do Houston shooting's better today than three months ago.
I still don't trust them in a big playoff spot.
Oklahoma City to me is they're like Cleveland the last
couple years. They're gonna win playoff series. They're just too good.
They got too many good players, too good of a coach.
Go deep dive on Oklahoma City. And because I look
at them and I think they have two or three
(31:04):
things that really matter. They're well coached, A dominant score
so they know laden games in a playoff game, here's
where the ball goes. That is so important. The great
teams all have that. Denver had it with Jokic, and generally,
like the Spurs, you'll have a second guy in Tony Parker.
If Duncan gets doubled, it's great to have too. And
if Holme Groun's healthy, I trust him at a big
(31:26):
spot hitting a shot. He's a great player. So they
have an identifiable star and a co star. They're well coached,
they play real defense. They're not they're young, but they're
not inexperienced, like these guys have played in big colleges,
big big moments. I think they're a Western Conference finals team.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
I mean, I would take the Lakers over them, and
I don't feel like I'm being a homer. I would
just take Lebron and Luca and the possessions and a
half and a game. What do you think their journey
looks like in the postseason.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
So their defense, I'm one hundred percent sold on will
perform really well. The only team that I'm worried about
them defensively against is the Lakers because Lebron and Luca
attacking their smaller perimeter players. The Oklahoma City's defense is
nearly perfectly constructed. They're incredibly fast on the perimeter, and
Mark Dagenol has built their scheme towards ford aggression and
(32:22):
passing lanes to try to build to force turnovers. It's
optimized towards the type of personnel they have. They also
have rim protection in chet Holmgren, which is a very
important part of success in the playoffs. And then they
have a couple of different types of defenders that are
especially valuable. So, for instance, Lou Dort is one of
the very best guys in the league that you can
throw against a big star forward, and like, there's just
(32:47):
so many of them in the Western Conference, whether it's
Luca and Lebron, or it's literally Kawhi Leonard, or it's
Kevin Durant or whoever it is your planing, there's all
these star forwards. He's a great option. Isaiah Hartenstein kind
of come to the surface as like a guy they
use for the big power players, and he's had a
lot of.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Sis him defensively, no question.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
His ability to defend in a bunch of different types
of coverages, but specifically to handle the big, strong, bullyball
types of players has been a huge asset to that
Thunder defense. The only weakness I see in the Thunder
defense is size as an aggregate thing, particularly on the perimeter,
and it manifests in bad defensive rebounding, which has been
(33:28):
a consistent thing they've struggled with over the years. And
then that's where I can see some vulnerability where it's like, Okay,
you put lou dord on Luca Great, who's guarding Lebron.
There's just nobody else on the roster that can make
Lebron feel really all that uncomfortable. So I think that's
what we're saying. The offensive end is where I see
some cracks in the armor, in the sense that they
thrive in transition off the strength of their defense. But
(33:50):
what happens if there's a team that takes really good
care of the basketball and controls pace and keeps okay,
see trapped in the half court and it's a big,
high leverage playoff series where you need j Dubb and
Chet and dort In these guys to be effective offensively.
And again, I want to be clear, I'm not trying
to nitpick here, because we are. I should be clear
(34:11):
we are nitpicking here because this is the one seed
in the Western Conference. As I agree with you, I
would be stunned if they didn't make it to the
conference finals. But in the conference finals context, if they
faced a Denver or a Lakers. I think it's at
least worth mentioning that those teams would be dramatically more
experienced and dramatically bigger on the perimeter. Yeah, one last
(34:32):
thing I'll say about it. They do rely heavily on
Shay Gilders Alexander pull up shooting when things go south
for them offensively in those situations. I like a team
of a bunch of six' eight sixty nine guys that
have long arms to, contest and that's something WHERE i
could see that being a valuable of. Value SO i
think they deserve to be the. Favorite but, Yeah i'm
(34:54):
with you to where like IF i saw The lakers
in The thunder about to play in A Western conference,
finals it'd be really hard for me to not pick.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
AWAY i Think Adam silver is a good. COMMISSIONER i
thought WHEN i had him, ON i thought he overreacted
a little To Kevin durant to The. Warriors and my take, is,
Well otani came to The. Dodgers it's been great For,
otani great for The, dodgers great For, fox great for.
Baseball people like, trades people like stars and big. Brands, Harbottom, michigan.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
There was no.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Downside, yeah, Yeah michigan was gonna throttle people and you'd
have more blowouts than The big. Ten so what and
so they overreacted and they you, know they've now created
this environment, where you, know eight. Rooms it's. Hard it's,
like you can't you'll never duplicate unless you hit on
every draft pick for four, years you'll never duplicate The
celtics roster, like it's just you. Can't you can't have
(35:43):
eight good. Players it doesn't work that. Way and my
take is people like. Trades they don't mind. Dynasties And
Kevin durant was bound to not get along With Draymond.
Green so it wasn't going to be an eight year.
Run it was three. Years they wore each other, out
it Was shaq And. Kobe it was bound not to work.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Forever But.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
I've talked about this, before is that there are certain unsolvable.
Things you can go to a. THERAPIST i can go
to a. Therapist there's a basic foundational PERSONALITY i have
based on my childhood that you're not going to. CHANGE
i can get, better BUT i am WHAT i. Am and,
saying you, know change is hard when you want help
and want to change it's impossible if you. Don't so
(36:25):
we are kind of at our core sort of what we.
Are AND i think there are certain things you can't
get away from the violence in football OR. Ufc you
can't get away from the lack of urgency in. Baseball
AND i don't think you can avoid tanking because and
the reason being is because in, basketball and this is
not true with other. Sports in, basketball you could identify
(36:51):
at thirteen years Old Kobe Lebron. Wemby The spurs went
on a three year mission to Get. Wemby THEY i
saw that that's that's not the way it works in.
Football Lamar jackson we were arguing after he was, drafted
can he play? Quarterback you, Know mahomes couldn't win in.
College Josh allen is overrated and wild in basketball men and.
(37:13):
Women freshman year in high, school it's defined that player
is different That yukon girl that dominates sixth grade. Basketball it's, like,
oh that's the best sixth grade basketball player we've ever.
Seen so and my take is basketball the ability to
spot transformational talent so. Early it's not a singular year.
(37:34):
Tank people see. It they don't have to re sign.
Players they can move off players that THE nba should
just Be, like, listen if if there's a great player
every year and a different team gets the great, player
it's unavoidable and it's not terrible for the. League Like
Cooper flag probably Saves. CHARLOTTE i mean, literally if he goes,
(37:56):
there it's, like, okay, Now LaMelo Ball Cooper, flag that's a,
Watch like that's a watch on. Television my take is
THE nba spent so much time paralyzed by tanking and.
Trades it's like football. Violence just just do the best you.
Can you can't avoid.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
It what say? You?
Speaker 4 (38:17):
YEAH i LIKE i like that you you say it's
an unavoidable piece of. It i'd say the same thing
about the super teams and the willingness of players to
try to partner up in a one team becoming so
powerful that they present a talent mismatch to everyone in.
League to your point About, boston like this is POST
kd And. Steph it happened, again and you know how it.
Happened the league at large Undervalued Drew holiday and Chrisops.
(38:41):
Porzingis and that's not On Brad. Stevens that's Not brad stevens.
Fault that's the other twenty nine GM's fault that they were,
like Sure brad wants to pay For chris tops let. It, well,
okay well now he's a. Problem that's like now they
have five thirty million dollars. Players AND i also just
generally think, That, LIKE i mean to your point that
(39:02):
there's there's five six teams this year that have a
really good chance to, win even With boston being the
way that they, Are so, LIKE i don't THINK i
think it makes for interesting storylines as far as the
tanking piece. Goes it's even more unavoidable when you factor
in just basic, stuff which is, like if it's games
sixty five and we don't have a chance to make
it to the, PLAYOFFS i shouldn't be playing my. VETS
(39:23):
i should be playing my young.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Players.
Speaker 4 (39:25):
Yeah so different than if you're, like, hey you know,
WHAT i don't need to See Andy dalton start in week.
Fifteen i'd rather see my third round picks get a
chance to go out there and see what he can.
Do let him get the, reps let him learn how to,
press and so at a certain, point like even if
you disincentivized it through the, draft you would never be
able to stop a team from looking at the situation
and going this season's, over we need to give our
(39:46):
young guys the, keys and that's going to lead to
a lesser basketball. PRODUCT i would say that generally, speaking
the basketball guys will reward the teams and the franchises
that play serious, basketball meaning like you'll See okac did
this a couple years ago where it's, like, yeah they're
playing their younger, players they're load Managing, shay but they're
(40:09):
also teaching those kids to play damn good.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Basket The chicago right now is playing their.
Speaker 4 (40:14):
Arsenal, yeah that is a that is a. Foundation What
chicago is doing right now is a foundational part to
any hope they have of being good in the. Future
if you practice playing bad, basketball you'll be a bad basketball.
Team and so the WAY i look at it is,
like to your, point you'll never be able to stop
tanking because it's it's impossible to stop teams from even
(40:37):
prioritizing younger players. Minutes but, inevitably organizations behaving like losers
tend to remain. Losers and organization like here go The kings,
again they had that one, Season but it's like it
turns out that even a really good year From Dearreon
fox and uh and From Malik monk and From Demona.
(40:57):
Sabonis is not enough to overcome, organization no. Incompetence it's,
like at the end of the, day you can't stop
bad from being, bad so stop trying to legislate it.
Out if that makes.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Sense, YEAH i MEAN i look at teams Like utah
AND i know their record isn't, good BUT i love THEIR.
GM i think they have an excellent young coach and
they play, hard and they're just going to get better
with all those draft. Picks they're probably three years Behind. Oka,
see so if they Land Cooper, flag AND i think
they have the best percentage now they're. Tied If utah
Got Cooper, flag that's a playoff team potentially in the. Year,
(41:29):
like that's a really good basketball team, obviously If wemby
got him In San. Antonio but it's LIKE i look
at it AND i think If washington Got cooper, FLAG
i feel so bad For Cooper. Flag If utah Got Cooper,
flag to your, Point i'd be like that kid hit
a home. Run he's going to do really really. Well
no immediate. Pressure Danny, ainge great young, coach nice little supporting.
(41:52):
Players they just don't have a guy.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
To love him next To Walker kessler. Too, Yeah Walker
kessler is really a nice.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Player in, fact The lakers were interested in him about Trade.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
DeLine if they would have got, HIM i would have
been talking very reckless on your.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Show he's a good. Player the volume
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
As I've told you, Fubo is my favorite way to
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(00:25):
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(00:53):
John Middlikoff, former NFL scout, you know him, you love
him the podcast three and out, loves his golf as well.
As we get ready for the Masters that's around the corner.
But we've got some NFL stuff to talk about. So
we got into this discussion on the show today and
I said you know, obviously, when the NFL had to
(01:13):
write almost a you know, a billion dollar check for CTE,
the game got safer really fast. And you can't touch quarterbacks.
You already can't go high or at the wrong angle
on anybody but a running back going forward. That's why
it's really makes sense to have two and three running
backs in the rotation, because it's the last position you
can really clobber from any angle at any time. And
(01:38):
I said, because it's become such an offensive league, there's
only one way to win with exceptional offensive quarterback play.
And I said, here's the thing about Shnur Sanders. If
you're Cleveland, if you draft him, he is at best
the third best quarterback in that division. He'll never be
as good as Burrow. He's not that kind of prospect.
And he's not Lamar Jackson. If the Steelers hit on
(02:01):
a quarterback in the next two years, he could be four.
He's not an exceptional athlete, not an exceptional arm and if,
for instance, the Giants wanted him, he's not going to
be Jayden Daniels and he's not special athletically like Jalen Hurts.
He may be better than Dak, but again, he would
be third best quarterback in a division. And so my
(02:23):
takeaway and Shaudeur Sanders is do teams think like that?
It only takes one coach to love bow Nicks, right
like Sean Payton loved him because there's a little bit
of a doppelganger with Drew Brees. But when I look
at Shaduur and I like him, I can't argue that
Burrow Lamar Chaduur is three. I can't argue that Jalen
(02:45):
and Jaden Daniels Shaduur is three. And those kind of
quarterbacks are infrequent playoff quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Do scouts think like that? Yeah? I mean these conversations
definitely come up, not only right now but throughout the
fall when your scouts are going in the problem with
that mindset, you would never draft a quarterback because who
the hell is ever going to be better than Lamar
Jackson or Joe Burrow? Right or you know you're never
gonna how are you ever gonna find like a twenty
three year old Matt Stafford. More than likely you're not
(03:15):
gonna draft this high again. And you know two names
that I hear come up a lot or definitely one,
and I'll use another name is Andy Dalton, and I
would throw Derek Carr in there as well. You know,
I think people that say you know that Kype skill set,
historically Shador Sanders, those guys went picked thirty five and
picked thirty six, I think ten years ago. He's going
(03:37):
in the second round and people are very excited about him.
Jimmy Garofflow as well. At the end of the second round.
Andy Dalton has made one hundred and sixty eight starts
in the NFL, and he was in a division with
a fantastic Ravens defense and Roethlisberger in his prime and
they were going to the playoffs all the time. Carr
took a dysfunctional Raider team twice to the playoffs. So
(03:57):
if Shador is in that mold, it's really on the organization.
And if you're the Browns, Andrew Berry's pretty good GM,
Stefanski's pretty good coach. They got a lot of talent
on the team. So if he can just become that
Andy Dalton, Jimmy Garoppolo, Derek Carr, Yeah, you're not gonna
beat you know, if Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow are on,
they're gonna beat you. But you still have a lot
(04:18):
of other games throughout the season. So it's if you
can build the team well enough, can't you compete to
make the playoffs. I mean, they're drafting two over a
hole right now, right And granted that's because I mean
Deshaun became one of the worst quarterbacks we've ever seen.
Their team just fell apart this year. But more than
likely they're not gonna draft this high again. Now. Is
(04:38):
it an quote unquote overdraft. Yeah, but the reason Mac
Jones and Daniel Jones and those type guys became disastrous.
You couldn't even function with them as your starting quarterback, right,
Andy Dalton. For seven straight years with the Bengals, they
did a good job. You could just every year you
went in like, we're gonna win ten plus games. The
Browns would die to do that. Their owner, who can
(04:59):
be a little off the sometimes I give him credit
for making the comment the other day. You never hear that,
you know, admitting we still all the guy ninety million dollars.
It's a disaster. It's like, well, yeah, that's true. Well yeah,
they never say that he is spending a lot of cash,
like the salary caps different than cash being spent Jeffrey
Lury talked about that. I saw today they are spending more.
(05:19):
I think they've spent more money over the last four
years in cash than any other team in the league.
It's like well over a billion dollars. So he is
not in this to lose. But the betting markets have
Abdul Carter as the heavy favorite to be the number
two overall pick, so maybe they're thinking shad or Sanders.
What the hell's the difference of Shador Sanders. I know,
you like like Riley Leonard's of the world and those
(05:39):
type guys. We can get a guy like that in
the second or third round, and maybe he can be
like our cousins or Dak. They also talk and think
like that, so maybe they go, I'd rather have Riley
Leonard or Kyle McCord and Abdul Carter than Shador Sanders
and whoever else we would get in the second round.
So I think you're doing a lot of those conversations.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
There's a lot of people saying that Jackson Dart has
a better arm than Shaduur Sanders, so you might as
well just wait and draft Jackson Dart, although I would
say he's not nearly as accurate as Shaudur Sanders. An
accuracy to me is like a real thing, maybe the
most important thing. Jalen Milrose mechanical. I think he has
to fold the right hands or he could just be
(06:20):
Anthony Richards at two point zero.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
You know, I've said Kyle McCord at Syracuse. I take
him in the second round and feel pretty good. I
will say this though, that you know, people say it's
not a very good draft, and I'll tell you I
look at certain teams that need skill players, like the
(06:44):
New York Giants. If they got Travis Hunter with their
first pick and then their second pick got is it
Trayvon Henderson from Ohio State, Yeah, with Molik Neighbors. I
look at that and I think to myself, Oh, that's
a great draft for the New York Giants because I
like their head coach as an offensive coach, and I
(07:06):
think Russell will actually be a better version of the
Pittsburgh Russell because I think Mike Tomlins culture is years
behind Brian Dable offensively. Is there a team in this
draft that you look at and think, you know, it's
not a great draft, but what they need running back,
tight end, defensive tackle, there's a surplus of in this draft.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Well, I think if you look at the Giants, if
you're Brian day Ball, people go, why would they sign
both those two guys? Because Brian da Ball's coaching for
his job, Shador Sanders does not help him at all
in twenty twenty five. So he can take two quarterbacks,
let the cream rise out of the two and go
back and forth. He would go all in on Travis Hunter.
He would want players that help him win immediately. So
(07:48):
if you tell me they get Travis Hunter and they're
starting running back or starting tight end or just another
more explosive player, yeah, I mean I think the Giants
are just much more feasible. You watch him at the
end of the year last year when they had some injuries.
It's like that this team has a lot of parallels
with the Patriots, right, just no talent. What's going on here?
But all of a sudden you get Molik Neighbors, which
(08:09):
he has concussion issues. You know, you get another concussion.
That's a little scary, But there is no disputing his
physical gifts. I mean, he's a freak. I mean that's
one you look back and this is the hard part
about the draft. There is no such thing as a
high floor because any player might not work out. It
doesn't matter how your floor is determined once you get
in the NFL. All I heard last year was like,
(08:30):
Marvin Harrison's floor is so Highlik's Malik could be boom
or bust. And then you watch You're like, you don't
think the Arizona Cardinals regret not going Maleak Neighbors over
Marvin Harrison Junior, because they do and the Giants benefited
from them making that choice. And I think we use
that term a lot. Ceilings are real, like certain guys
have higher ceilings. Cam Ward's ceiling is obviously higher than
(08:51):
Shad or Sanders, but a floor like we've seen all
sorts of players not work out in the end, you
never know, and we always played game a couple of
years later. Should have taken him? Should have taken him?
No one knew that information as we sit here a
month away from the draft. If we would have known
Richard Sherman and George Kittle and these guys exist in
the fifth round, they would have been top twenty picks.
(09:13):
So it is a little bit of a crapshooting. I
think it gets more difficult in a class like this,
which obviously there are gonna be a lot of really
good players that come out of this draft, but no
one feels that confident on a lot of these guys.
You know, it's like, well, how high is Mason Graham's ceiling?
Or it's like what's his name? The LSU tackle, It's like, well, yeah,
arm length kind of matters at left tackle, but what
(09:36):
if in five years he just becomes an All Pro guard?
But you don't take an all Pro guard probably at
five overall, right, you'd rather have a tackle. So there's
just a lot of unknown which I think a lot
of these the scouting community is just there's like, yeah,
it's kind of a coin flip year.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
In your years of being a scout. I mean, you
have your top one hundred and FIFTFTY players like and
you also have the red players that you won't draft
either personnel, personality problems, character issues or injuries. Are there
any dramatic moves with two to three weeks to go
in the draft process when in your experience, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Would say you know the information most of these teams,
you know, with the owners meeting, so all the gms
and coaches are flying home if not last night today,
and by either the end of the week or first
thing next week, all your scouts come in and the
scouts and your you know, your personnel people, some of
your other executives have been on campuses over the last month,
right meeting with coaches other personnel at those schools. Certain
(10:40):
guys you don't have to worry about anything off the field,
like they're just it's just perfect, you know Andrew lux Or,
But there are a ton of those guys in the
draft where it's like you don't even But there are
some guys maybe not legalot like they've been arrested or
you know, crazy bad things, but they're just like how
much does he really like football? Which might be a
non negotiable in the organize, like the Ravens don't draft
(11:01):
many people that aren't addicted to football watch them play
over the last twenty years. So you're just like, maybe
you've heard some stuff and you bring that information back
to your GM, to your head coach, and that can
sway stuff. So it's not like a dramatic unless someone
gets in trouble and that becomes public knowledge. But it's
basic things like yeah, I've heard some things that this
guy might not be quite what we thought as a person.
(11:24):
Cause I think when you know a lot of these people,
when you talk to coaches and executives, most people fail,
especially draft in the first couple of rounds, like they're
meeting a lot of the requirements of height, weight, speed,
played it sweet schools. It's usually the person that fails focus,
screw around, not dialed in, doesn't really like football. Football
(11:46):
is not like baseball where you just get to play
every day, or basketball where you play three times a week.
You practice basically five days a week and you play
once and you only hit seventeen of those games. For
the majority of the league. You don't go to the player,
and then you get OTAs you get training camp, it's
a lot of sitting in a room watching tape, getting
yelled at, getting up early, going to you know, going
(12:08):
to bed sore. It's not you know, Ray Lewis, you
pay me Monday through Saturday. Sundays are for free. There's
a lot to that. It's why the best players typically
are football addicts at all the positions, right the JJ Watts,
the Trent Williams that you just go around, George Kittle,
you know, at every Travis Kelcey forever. All the patriotype guys,
(12:30):
the human being, but you got to be careful with
overvaluing that because you do need to be able to play.
And that's I think Belichick got in trouble at the
end of his career. So it's it's hard. I mean,
you run a company hiring people. You've had a lot
of people on your show for years before even the volume.
It's you're dealing with human beings with a lot of pressure,
with a very public job. It's we all shit on
(12:53):
it when guys miss, and it's fair sometimes, but it's
also like, this is really really difficult to, you know,
pick a guy. I hear this a lot. Why can't
the Chiefs find a tackle? Well, it's like, guys, they've
draft thirty one or thirty second every single year. They
don't have that much cap space. And I don't know
if you've checked free agency. Usually Hall of Fame tackles
don't hit free agency. It's like, what do you want
(13:15):
them to do? Like Lane Johnson isn't usually sitting there
at pick thirty two, And when you're drafting at pick
thirty two, you're also drafting at the end of the
second round. And the third round. It's it's much easier
to draft when you're the Titans and you dictate every
round than it is when you're the Bills or the
Ravens or the Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So the you know the overs and unders are coming out,
So I want us to give the audience have some fun. Here.
Two overs and two unders and all start this. All
the odds are provided by Draft King Sportsbook. So I'm
going to give you an under, then you give me
an under, and I'll give you another under, and then
(13:58):
we'll do two fa overs. So my first under is
the Chiefs at eleven and a half. Okay, Joe Tooney
was by far and away the most had the most
dexterity of any of their offensive linemen.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
He's gone.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
They are now crossing their fingers on a backup left
tackle from San Francisco. They were eleven and zero in
one possession games, right and now the division is much better.
The coaching and the quarterback play Bo Nixon year two
Gino Smith if they get a running back in the
first round. Geno Smith has a one zero six passer
(14:38):
rating in Seattle on play action passing like if you
give him a run game Gino's very good on third
and two, right, He's very good with play action passing,
second to five, third and two, third and three. So
I don't think I would take the under. Now, maybe
(14:58):
they just go eleven and six, but I think the
division is going to be improved, the quarterback play between
Gino second year bo Again. I thought last year there
were offensive line injuries with the Chargers. My guess is
they'll be healthier. Okay, what say you give me an
give me an under?
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Do you say ten and a half on that number?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
It's eleven and a half. DraftKings has the Chiefs at
eleven and a half. I would bet the.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Under got you. They've won over twelve games. I think
every year Mahomes has started beside one. Yeah, but I
hear you. It's you can have a good year. I
mean they won a super Bowl winning eleven I would
say an under. I like I do think the forty
nine ers who are to the Rams won that division
(15:46):
and were really good and honestly, I mean a couple
of plays away from potentially beating the Eagles, and who knows,
they might end up in the super Bowl and win it.
They wanted a ten and seven, right, so, and they're
a team going through a lot of transition. So the
forty nine ers won six games, though they were in
a lot of them. They kind of melted at the
end in a lot of them. So I actually think
(16:06):
I think a lot of people are gonna think they're
gonna win like six or seven games. I think they're
gonna be better than people think. But once you start
getting over ten, like ten and a half, like you
could win nine or ten games, be that seven seed, hell,
compete to win the division and have a good season.
So I think the days, you know, definitely this season
that's gonna be very dependent on young rookie players.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, they have twelve draft picks.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, I mean that's we've seen the Rams the last
couple of years. I don't know exactly, they've been a
fantastic team at the end of the year, that they're
not winning twelve games. So I think the Niners probably
more likely to win nine or ten games. I don't
think that division is just gonna be you know, the
Cardinals are just a tough game every time you play them. Obviously,
the Rams are good in Seattle going through a little
(16:51):
bit of a transitional period, but they're head coach. I
think they're pretty well run operation.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, listen, they're one of my unders too at ten
and a half Seattle. Yeah, they tried to get green
Law back from Denver. They did not want to lose Ufunga. Okay,
those were two big defensive losses. And let's be honest, John,
the Bosa's get hurt when Boso was off the field.
Last year, they were not a very good defense. They
(17:17):
were really inconsistent. So now Whufungus gone, green Law's gone,
Bosa will miss the stretch and it's not a great draft.
So I don't think there's an impact player defensively. Maybe
if they got like Will Johnson at corner from Michigan,
I think that would be a really really you'd have
to be happy with that. But yeah, I think I
(17:38):
have San Francisco as an under. So I have Kansas City,
you have San Francisco, I have San Francisco. Give me
another under.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
I would say, I think there's a chance Miami is
like the one of the worst teams in the NFL. Like,
it would not shock me if you tell me. As
you and I are sitting here doing a pre draft
a couple of weeks Miami's in the mix. Maybe they
don't have the number one overall pick, but I could
see him being like the giants of the Patriots draft
in three or four. It would not shock me to
see them struggle to win four or five games. I
(18:09):
think they're gonna be terrible. I thought that last year,
and they just obviously when two was on the field,
they're more functional. It would not surprise me at all
if this Tyreek situation doesn't go away and he ends
up playing for another team this year. I don't know
if that trade would happen during the draft. I know
they've pushed back against that, maybe at the end of
training camp. But I just expect Miami to implode. I
(18:32):
really do. I mean, I don't really like the Jets
that much either, but like even last year, the Jets
do have a lot of good players. Oh absolutely. I
just don't think Miami has that many good players, and
they are one concussion away from all of a sudden,
Zach Wilson's are starting quarterback.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yes, okay, I'll give you an over. I think Brian
Callahan's a good coach. I think Will Levis is a
really really bad NFL quarterback. I don't think he was
a great college quarterback. And so I look at the
over under on Tennessee and you know it's it's five
(19:07):
and a half. Some have had it at six and
a half. I think they clear that bar easily. First
of all, cam Ward's a playmaker, and nobody's got real
film on him. He didn't do a lot of straight
pocket stuff in college. It was a lot of backyard stuff.
(19:29):
And I think the league will take a while. And
they did this with Jaden Daniels. It took a while
to decode him. People were bo Nicks. You'd not quite
sure what he is. It's a weak division. The Jags
could be bad, the Colts would be bad. Houston should
be pretty good, but not great. I think I'm going
to take the Titans over. I think it's a pretty
(19:50):
week schedule. I think cam Ward is one of the
only players in the draft that can equal wins. I
think people think Callahan's a pretty good coach, and Ellahan
didn't just lack trust in will Levis. If you listened
to his postgame comments after losses, he lost them three
games straight out, and you watched his body language, he
(20:12):
almost resented that will Levis was getting in the way
of wins, and so I Titans to me earn over.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yeah, I don't think people. You know, we talk a
lot about the Browns because of Watson, because Deshaun Watson's
quarterback play. By the month then no one was watching
the Titans. Their quarterback play was like historically poor, I
mean the turnovers and sacks he was taking. It was.
Their defense was actually pretty good, yes, And like any
team with a pretty good defense, when your offense is
that crappy by the time you get to like mid November,
(20:43):
they can't maintain that level of play because they're on
the field so much. So if their offense is just solid,
I'm with you. I mean, he's got his dad there
coaching offensive line. Massive upgrade just based on talent alone.
I would say this, if you look at Vrabel, like
the linebacker version of Harbaugh, you know, wants to play defense,
wants to run the ball. Former players, just guys that
(21:05):
just win. I think the Patriots we're right up there
with the Bears as one of the worst coach teams
you will ever see. Yes, last season, why couldn't they
go nine to eight this year? So go, the Jets
are going to be awful. I think the Dolphins are
going to be worse. Yep, listen to Bills, who cares
even if they sweep you. I could see the Patriots
(21:26):
winning eight or nine games.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Listen, they were seven and a half DraftKings. They are
now up to eight and a half. So the Sharks,
it looks like we're all over the Patriots. So New
England was one of my overs. And I said the
other day on the air, I said, I think Vrabel
from Giad Mayo is worth three points. I think Drake
May is worth another point based on sophomore season. And
(21:51):
I think it's reasonable assume one hundred and ninety million
in free agency and eight to nine draft picks is
worth one and a half to two points. So if
they're just five and a half points to six points better.
And again you're talking about between the draft and free agency,
like eight to nine new starters and a couple of
high end starters. You're talking about Drake May potentially with
(22:12):
a Travis Hunter. You're talking about the worst coach team
to probably one of the seven to eight to nine
best coach teams. That's five and a half to six points.
They were three and six in one possession games with
a rookie quarterback. If that's just six and three, you
don't have to go nine to zero. This is an
eight to nine win team. And again the Jets a
bit lost. I agree with you, Miami's a mess. So
(22:33):
I think New England's in play.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
I would say the other team would be speaking of Harbaugh,
the Chargers. You know, last year, I just didn't pull
the trigger and he did exactly what he Yes, they
were the five seed. Well this year it's nine and
a half, and everyone always gets off the scent with them.
During like free agency, Jim is not going to trade
for DK Metcalf and give one hundred fifty million dollars.
(22:57):
He didn't do it last year, He's not going to
do it this year. He won't do it next year.
You know what he will do though, in like the
second round, all of a sudden, he will draft his
starting tight end for the next seven years and in
the third round find a defensive tackle that everyone's going, hey,
this guy's not that sexy who will just be a
starter for him for a long time. Then you watch
the season and you just go, God, their team is
just physical and good. He has a really talented quarterback.
(23:18):
Why couldn't they win twelve games. I mean they're over
under right now is nine and a half. I think
they are a lock. I mean, Jim Harbaugh is now
coach in the NFL five years and made the playoffs
and four of them. So I don't know if they
can overtake the Chiefs, but it wouldn't shock me if
it gets a little closer. And don't let free agency
fool you. He's never gonna play and swimming that into
(23:41):
the pool. They are never gonna do that. But you know,
you've talked about this huge advantage for Jim. All these
kids coming in the draft. He's recruited them all, especially
the good ones, so he's gonna know these guys. He's
gonna be a huge point of difference for him. I
would expect them to have a good draft. His GM
I think is pretty good. I mean, look at last year,
It's like, did they pass on Malik Davers? I don't know.
(24:02):
They just got their starting tackle for the next decade.
So I think the Chargers they've fooled me is the
wrong word. I just didn't have the kahonas just because
I was like, I don't know if their roster is
quite good. Enough, they're not gonna have great ride receivers.
He typically never does, and he always wins. He won
a national championship, he went to a Super Bowl like
(24:22):
he's not exactly gonna have Jerry Rice in his prime,
and it's gonna work out just fine.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
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Speaker 1 (25:48):
Well, you're going to hear.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Him more regularly now over the next seven weeks, Jason Timp,
host of Hoops Tonight. You know that there was a
comment I thought was interesting. Lebron was on a podcast
or a show and he talked about, you know, Jannis
would have scored two hundred and fifty points back in
the seventies, And I laughed because I thought no, because
(26:09):
they'd fould him and he can't hit free throws, so
it wouldn't work. But You know, it's interesting because I
grew up with the seventies basketball and I loved it,
and I do think sometimes, you know, the players since
in nineteen seventy three have grown half an inch. The
NBA was big and athletic then. Now nutrition's better, travels better,
(26:33):
But it was I didn't love Lebron saying that I
was like Lebron. Wilt and Jerry West played in the seventies,
Doctor j played in the seventies. Bill Walton played in
the seventies. I don't know why it didn't bother me,
but it was one of those I heard it and
I thought, no, honest, now, you honest man have averaged
forty but he can't shoot like he can't shoot. What
(26:57):
did you make of that comment and your thoughts about
jenneral comparisons.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Well, for that exact reason, like you mentioned the size,
if it was not just size back then, spacing was
poor back then. Yeah, and in general, like Giannis would
have been running into a lot of bodies. That said,
I firmly believe Janness would average forty forty five if
you played in that era, just simply because it would
be like a man amongst boys in terms of the
athletes that he'd be competing with. I just a couple things.
(27:25):
I don't see any point in comparing era to era
in general. I mean, like we talked about the seventies
like it was not that long ago as fifty years ago.
It's a half century ago. And in general, there's just
been so many changes schematically, there's been so many changes
in player development and the skill. Like you know, what's
always so funny to me when you go back and
you watch basketball players in the sixties and seventies, the
(27:46):
jump shots.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Are all weird looking.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Yeah, And one of the reasons why the jump shots
are all weird looking is they didn't get to go
on YouTube or go turn on the TV and watch
their favorite players play when they were kids. They taught
themselves out of shoot. Everyone today kind of shoots more
or less the same type of jump shot, and some
people look weird, but most people should.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Swings, by the way, the unique golf swing is over.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Exactly because now it's been optimized. We've optimized it. Now
you reach your hand in to the cookie jar, you
start from the legs, You no wasted motion, and we
don't want to hit you in the shot, you know,
And so It's one of those things where like we've
just perfected this sport in so many different ways, and
you know, one of the things that I dislike about it.
And it kind of goes back to what we talked
about when we were talking about Stephen A. Smith a
couple of weeks ago. But when you I don't believe
(28:32):
in stooping down to that level you, by the way,
are you have a saying that you've used over the
years that I've loved. You said, I can have an opinion,
and you can have an opinion on my opinion. I
don't need to have an opinion on your opinion of
my opinion, which, by the way, is like a foundational
thing that I lean on and I'm when I'm doing
what I do too. And like one of the big
(28:53):
things that I look at there is like, Okay, Lebron,
you're playing basketball. Okay, these old guys are trashing your era.
But what good does it do to then step in
and then be disrespectful to their era? That doesn't serve
a purpose. In my opinion, it kind of is it's
stooping to that level. It doesn't forward the conversation. And like,
from that same point, I feel like Lebron is just
(29:14):
shouldn't be the guy sending that type of message that
he's trying to send. That said, like, I think in general,
Lebron's just sick and tired of getting criticized by like
the Mjklan, the throwback like the old league was better
type of plan, and I think he's just sick of it,
and I think he's acting out.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
You know, It's interesting. The other day I was saying
about Okay, see, I'm like, I know they're gonna win
into some series.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
I know they're really good.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
I'm not doubting that brilliant GM. I don't think SGA
will quite get that whistle in the postseason, but he'll
get a whistle if chet Holnggrun's healthy. They've got some
offensive options. I do worry about their young players in
big road games. You know, everything changes. No sport in
our country changes more from regular season to postseason. I mean,
(30:00):
I'm watching here today. You got to fight in the
NBA Missesota's coaches, and you're getting feisty now in playoff seating,
and it's like it changes the game. It's an outside
of the COVID year men win in the playoffs. Young
men can do really well in the regular season. But
the one thing about Oklahoma City Tom Tolbert texted me
(30:22):
when I was talking about him, He goes, they lead
the NBA and assists, or they lead the NBA in
creating turnovers but have the fewest turnovers. They just are really,
really efficient. They don't turn it over and they force turnovers.
Is there like, I don't think Golden State could beat
okay See. I think Golden State would be Houston. I
(30:43):
don't do Houston shooting's better today than three months ago.
I still don't trust them in a big playoff spot.
Oklahoma City to me is they're like Cleveland the last
couple years. They're gonna win playoff series. They're just too good.
They got too many good players, too good of a coach.
Go deep dive on Oklahoma City. And because I look
at them and I think they have two or three
(31:04):
things that really matter. They're well coached, A dominant score
so they know laden games in a playoff game, here's
where the ball goes. That is so important. The great
teams all have that. Denver had it with Jokic, and generally,
like the Spurs, you'll have a second guy in Tony Parker.
If Duncan gets doubled, it's great to have too. And
if Holme Groun's healthy, I trust him at a big
(31:26):
spot hitting a shot. He's a great player. So they
have an identifiable star and a co star. They're well coached,
they play real defense. They're not they're young, but they're
not inexperienced, like these guys have played in big colleges,
big big moments. I think they're a Western Conference finals team.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
I mean, I would take the Lakers over them, and
I don't feel like I'm being a homer. I would
just take Lebron and Luca and the possessions and a
half and a game. What do you think their journey
looks like in the postseason.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
So their defense, I'm one hundred percent sold on will
perform really well. The only team that I'm worried about
them defensively against is the Lakers because Lebron and Luca
attacking their smaller perimeter players. The Oklahoma City's defense is
nearly perfectly constructed. They're incredibly fast on the perimeter, and
Mark Dagenol has built their scheme towards ford aggression and
(32:22):
passing lanes to try to build to force turnovers. It's
optimized towards the type of personnel they have. They also
have rim protection in chet Holmgren, which is a very
important part of success in the playoffs. And then they
have a couple of different types of defenders that are
especially valuable. So, for instance, Lou Dort is one of
the very best guys in the league that you can
throw against a big star forward, and like, there's just
(32:47):
so many of them in the Western Conference, whether it's
Luca and Lebron, or it's literally Kawhi Leonard, or it's
Kevin Durant or whoever it is your planing, there's all
these star forwards. He's a great option. Isaiah Hartenstein kind
of come to the surface as like a guy they
use for the big power players, and he's had a
lot of.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Sis him defensively, no question.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
His ability to defend in a bunch of different types
of coverages, but specifically to handle the big, strong, bullyball
types of players has been a huge asset to that
Thunder defense. The only weakness I see in the Thunder
defense is size as an aggregate thing, particularly on the perimeter,
and it manifests in bad defensive rebounding, which has been
(33:28):
a consistent thing they've struggled with over the years. And
then that's where I can see some vulnerability where it's like, Okay,
you put lou dord on Luca Great, who's guarding Lebron.
There's just nobody else on the roster that can make
Lebron feel really all that uncomfortable. So I think that's
what we're saying. The offensive end is where I see
some cracks in the armor, in the sense that they
thrive in transition off the strength of their defense. But
(33:50):
what happens if there's a team that takes really good
care of the basketball and controls pace and keeps okay,
see trapped in the half court and it's a big,
high leverage playoff series where you need j Dubb and
Chet and dort In these guys to be effective offensively.
And again, I want to be clear, I'm not trying
to nitpick here, because we are. I should be clear
(34:11):
we are nitpicking here because this is the one seed
in the Western Conference. As I agree with you, I
would be stunned if they didn't make it to the
conference finals. But in the conference finals context, if they
faced a Denver or a Lakers. I think it's at
least worth mentioning that those teams would be dramatically more
experienced and dramatically bigger on the perimeter. Yeah, one last
(34:32):
thing I'll say about it. They do rely heavily on
Shay Gilders Alexander pull up shooting when things go south
for them offensively in those situations. I like a team
of a bunch of six' eight sixty nine guys that
have long arms to, contest and that's something WHERE i
could see that being a valuable of. Value SO i
think they deserve to be the. Favorite but, Yeah i'm
(34:54):
with you to where like IF i saw The lakers
in The thunder about to play in A Western conference,
finals it'd be really hard for me to not pick.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
AWAY i Think Adam silver is a good. COMMISSIONER i
thought WHEN i had him, ON i thought he overreacted
a little To Kevin durant to The. Warriors and my take, is,
Well otani came to The. Dodgers it's been great For,
otani great for The, dodgers great For, fox great for.
Baseball people like, trades people like stars and big. Brands, Harbottom, michigan.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
There was no.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Downside, yeah, Yeah michigan was gonna throttle people and you'd
have more blowouts than The big. Ten so what and
so they overreacted and they you, know they've now created
this environment, where you, know eight. Rooms it's. Hard it's,
like you can't you'll never duplicate unless you hit on
every draft pick for four, years you'll never duplicate The
celtics roster, like it's just you. Can't you can't have
(35:43):
eight good. Players it doesn't work that. Way and my
take is people like. Trades they don't mind. Dynasties And
Kevin durant was bound to not get along With Draymond.
Green so it wasn't going to be an eight year.
Run it was three. Years they wore each other, out
it Was shaq And. Kobe it was bound not to work.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Forever But.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
I've talked about this, before is that there are certain unsolvable.
Things you can go to a. THERAPIST i can go
to a. Therapist there's a basic foundational PERSONALITY i have
based on my childhood that you're not going to. CHANGE
i can get, better BUT i am WHAT i. Am and,
saying you, know change is hard when you want help
and want to change it's impossible if you. Don't so
(36:25):
we are kind of at our core sort of what we.
Are AND i think there are certain things you can't
get away from the violence in football OR. Ufc you
can't get away from the lack of urgency in. Baseball
AND i don't think you can avoid tanking because and
the reason being is because in, basketball and this is
not true with other. Sports in, basketball you could identify
(36:51):
at thirteen years Old Kobe Lebron. Wemby The spurs went
on a three year mission to Get. Wemby THEY i
saw that that's that's not the way it works in.
Football Lamar jackson we were arguing after he was, drafted
can he play? Quarterback you, Know mahomes couldn't win in.
College Josh allen is overrated and wild in basketball men and.
(37:13):
Women freshman year in high, school it's defined that player
is different That yukon girl that dominates sixth grade. Basketball it's, like,
oh that's the best sixth grade basketball player we've ever.
Seen so and my take is basketball the ability to
spot transformational talent so. Early it's not a singular year.
(37:34):
Tank people see. It they don't have to re sign.
Players they can move off players that THE nba should
just Be, like, listen if if there's a great player
every year and a different team gets the great, player
it's unavoidable and it's not terrible for the. League Like
Cooper flag probably Saves. CHARLOTTE i mean, literally if he goes,
(37:56):
there it's, like, okay, Now LaMelo Ball Cooper, flag that's a,
Watch like that's a watch on. Television my take is
THE nba spent so much time paralyzed by tanking and.
Trades it's like football. Violence just just do the best you.
Can you can't avoid.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
It what say? You?
Speaker 4 (38:17):
YEAH i LIKE i like that you you say it's
an unavoidable piece of. It i'd say the same thing
about the super teams and the willingness of players to
try to partner up in a one team becoming so
powerful that they present a talent mismatch to everyone in.
League to your point About, boston like this is POST
kd And. Steph it happened, again and you know how it.
Happened the league at large Undervalued Drew holiday and Chrisops.
(38:41):
Porzingis and that's not On Brad. Stevens that's Not brad stevens.
Fault that's the other twenty nine GM's fault that they were,
like Sure brad wants to pay For chris tops let. It, well,
okay well now he's a. Problem that's like now they
have five thirty million dollars. Players AND i also just
generally think, That, LIKE i mean to your point that
(39:02):
there's there's five six teams this year that have a
really good chance to, win even With boston being the
way that they, Are so, LIKE i don't THINK i
think it makes for interesting storylines as far as the
tanking piece. Goes it's even more unavoidable when you factor
in just basic, stuff which is, like if it's games
sixty five and we don't have a chance to make
it to the, PLAYOFFS i shouldn't be playing my. VETS
(39:23):
i should be playing my young.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Players.
Speaker 4 (39:25):
Yeah so different than if you're, like, hey you know,
WHAT i don't need to See Andy dalton start in week.
Fifteen i'd rather see my third round picks get a
chance to go out there and see what he can.
Do let him get the, reps let him learn how to,
press and so at a certain, point like even if
you disincentivized it through the, draft you would never be
able to stop a team from looking at the situation
and going this season's, over we need to give our
(39:46):
young guys the, keys and that's going to lead to
a lesser basketball. PRODUCT i would say that generally, speaking
the basketball guys will reward the teams and the franchises
that play serious, basketball meaning like you'll See okac did
this a couple years ago where it's, like, yeah they're
playing their younger, players they're load Managing, shay but they're
(40:09):
also teaching those kids to play damn good.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Basket The chicago right now is playing their.
Speaker 4 (40:14):
Arsenal, yeah that is a that is a. Foundation What
chicago is doing right now is a foundational part to
any hope they have of being good in the. Future
if you practice playing bad, basketball you'll be a bad basketball.
Team and so the WAY i look at it is,
like to your, point you'll never be able to stop
tanking because it's it's impossible to stop teams from even
(40:37):
prioritizing younger players. Minutes but, inevitably organizations behaving like losers
tend to remain. Losers and organization like here go The kings,
again they had that one, Season but it's like it
turns out that even a really good year From Dearreon
fox and uh and From Malik monk and From Demona.
(40:57):
Sabonis is not enough to overcome, organization no. Incompetence it's,
like at the end of the, day you can't stop
bad from being, bad so stop trying to legislate it.
Out if that makes.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Sense, YEAH i MEAN i look at teams Like utah
AND i know their record isn't, good BUT i love THEIR.
GM i think they have an excellent young coach and
they play, hard and they're just going to get better
with all those draft. Picks they're probably three years Behind. Oka,
see so if they Land Cooper, flag AND i think
they have the best percentage now they're. Tied If utah
Got Cooper, flag that's a playoff team potentially in the. Year,
(41:29):
like that's a really good basketball team, obviously If wemby
got him In San. Antonio but it's LIKE i look
at it AND i think If washington Got cooper, FLAG
i feel so bad For Cooper. Flag If utah Got Cooper,
flag to your, Point i'd be like that kid hit
a home. Run he's going to do really really. Well
no immediate. Pressure Danny, ainge great young, coach nice little supporting.
(41:52):
Players they just don't have a guy.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
To love him next To Walker kessler. Too, Yeah Walker
kessler is really a nice.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Player in, fact The lakers were interested in him about Trade.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
DeLine if they would have got, HIM i would have
been talking very reckless on your.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Show he's a good. Player the volume
Host
Colin Cowherd
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