Best of Outkick the Coverage for Jan 09, 2020

Clay Travis and the crew debate which QB has the most to gain this weekend and the most to lose! Frank Isola is in the house to talk all the top stories in the world of sports. Clay tells a crazy story about a Georgia recruit, his dad, a severed finger and a lawsuit (don’t eat your Wheaties while hearing this.) Chris Mannix joins Outkick to dish on all the biggest NBA stories, including one snowflake story that is bugging Clay.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of out Kick the
Coverage podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
morning from six to nine am Eastern three to six
am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every morning on the I Heart
Radio app by searching f s R. This is the
best of OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis on Fox

(00:22):
Sports Radio. We are two days away from the Divisional
round of the NFL Playoffs and I can't wait. Two
games on Saturday, two games on Sunday. I imagine that
many of you are also fired up about that. Plus
we're getting closer and closer to Monday's College Football National

(00:46):
Championship game. Going to be a really exciting and fun Saturday,
Sunday and Monday for those of us who absolutely love football.
I am flying down to New Orleans on Sunday, so
I'll be doing the show, uh from Radio Row with
the College Football National Championship on Monday and Tuesday from

(01:07):
New Orleans. So that should be pretty fun. And uh,
the more I think about Joe Burrow versus Trevor Lawrence,
the more unique that game becomes in that I can't
remember a big time national championship game like this where
you basically had two number one picks at quarterback going

(01:30):
edit head to head now in back to back years.
So Joe Burrow, barring something crazy, is gonna be the
number one overall pick to the Cincinnati Bengals in April
and a couple of months, and then in barring something
else crazy, Trevor Lawrence will be the overall number one pick.

(01:50):
And there's again We'll get into this a lot as
we get closer and closer to that game. But Joe
Burrow at fifteen and Oh, if l s you were
able to win this game down to New Orleans would
become I believe, the greatest quarterback in a single season
in college football history. Right now, I've got Cam Newton

(02:11):
as the greatest single college football season for any quarterback
that I've ever seen. Cam Newton the year he won
the Heisman Trophy, the National championship, Auburn went fourteen and
oh might have been the greatest hundred and eighty thousand
dollars ever paid in the history of athletics. Good move, Auburn.
That is the greatest single season I've ever seen. But

(02:33):
if Joe Burrow were able to win the national championship,
get his L s U team to fifteen, and oh
beat another top ten opponent, because he would have beaten Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma,
and Clemson and Alabama, and not even counting Texas who

(02:54):
was top ten earlier in the year but then fell off,
that would be as good or better than any season
that has ever occurred for any quarterback in college football history.
I believe, flip side. If Trevor Lawrence wins a second
straight national championship, he would come back for his third

(03:14):
year at Clemson chasing a third straight national championship and
attempting to remain an undefeated starter for three straight years,
which would probably make him the greatest college football quarterback
of all time because we've never had anybody go undefeated
for three years and win three straight national championships, So

(03:39):
that in and of itself to follow would be incredible
to see. So uh So, that's a big game that's
coming up on Monday. But in the meantime, we've got
games on Saturday, and we've got games on Sunday. As
they inch closer and closer to us and what I
am curious about as we look get the first Saturday

(04:01):
game Minnesota, Uh, going up against the forty Niners, Titans
going up against the Ravens, Texans going up against Kansas
City Chiefs, and Seattle on the road against Green Bay.
Which quarterback has the most at stake of all eight
of these quarterbacks that are still alive, Which one has

(04:24):
the most to gain and the most to lose down
the stretch run of this season? Uh, if they were
to win a Super Bowl, And so I'm looking here thinking, Okay,
which ones have the most to gain? I think you
take Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers. We started off the
show yesterday talking about how I thought the matchup between

(04:44):
Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers on Sunday night in Lambeau
is actually being under under sort of talked about it's
being undersold because each of these guys has won a
Super Bowl and they are going head to head big
time stars. We've talked for a long time about whether

(05:06):
they might be able to get, particularly Aaron Rodgers, a
second Super Bowl win, but they don't have the most
at stake because we basically let it be known that
you are a made man if you are able to
go out and get that Super Bowl win. So I
think you can take Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson out

(05:27):
of the equation. I think so that that leaves six
guys who have the most at stake potentially, then I
think you start to factor in age. And look, I
do believe that it's a big deal that Lamar Jackson
needs to win a playoff game. If you were to
lose two straight playoff games, then I do think there

(05:49):
would be more doubters that would creep up. But he's
twenty three years old and he's going to be the
m v P and he's gonna be in the playoffs
multiple years to come. So I think you take Lamar
Jackson out of the equation. And I also think you
do the same thing for Patrick Mahomes and for Deshaun
Watson because all those guys are so young, they've uh

(06:11):
and we know now Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson have
one playoff games, so I don't think necessarily the pressure
is ratcheted up as highly on them. And then you know,
I'm really sitting here looking at it. I mean, Jimmy
g is still relatively young as well Kirk Cousins. I
think the expectations are so low for he and Tannehill

(06:34):
that it's hard for me to figure that out too.
So as I'm sitting here looking who has the most
to gain of any quarterback, it's clearly got to be
one of the six that hasn't ever won a Super Bowl.
But I feel like Kirk Cousins and Tannehill are playing
with house money now because nobody really anticipated that they

(06:55):
would uh that they would be advancing. And also no,
he really anticipates that much from them in general. But
the more I think about it, the more I think
this would be the most impressive for a guy like
Kirk Cousins, because if Kirk Cousins suddenly won a super Bowl,

(07:18):
then everything changes about his narrative almost overnight. Like look, okay, yes,
if Lamar Jackson goes on and he wins the m
v P and he wins the super Bowl, uh there
you know. Look, I mean he's won a super Bowl,
he becomes a made man. But he's still only twenty three,
so I don't know. I think his season has been
so good otherwise, I don't think he has as much
to gain Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes. I feel like

(07:42):
in general they are they have a great deal of
commendation that already follows them. I think Kirk Cousins is
the guy of the final eight that would stand to
gain the most from winning a Super Bowl, and I
believe that partly factors in that Kirk Cousins is probably

(08:03):
the most criticized and reviled quarterback in the NFL right now.
I don't know that there's anybody else who gets ripped more.
You could maybe see Eli Manning, but I feel like
Eli is probably the most criticized double Super Bowl winner ever,
and I think partly that's a function of him playing
in New York UH and being a Manning h so

(08:26):
he's been in the public eye for twenty some five
years now. But that in and of itself is an
interesting question. Who has the most to gain here? I
want to bring in the crew. My argument, Danny G
is that of the eight quarterbacks remaining, the guy whose
resume changes the most, the guy whose public perception changes
the most with a Super Bowl is Kirk Cousins. Do

(08:49):
you buy that? I do. I agree with you on
Kirk Cousins, especially because of all that money he was
given by the Skins. The way he was franchise tagged,
he couldn't win, He couldn't get over the hump all
those seasons, and we kept tearing Ah, he's one of
those guys the game, right, he's been stealing money. Finally
he gets that first playoff w So you're right. I

(09:11):
agree with you on Cousins. I actually think Lamar Jackson
almost has the most to lose that that that that's
a decent argument. The only reason I didn't buy that, Uh,
it is an interesting argument that that he could because
he's because of all the hype, right, Yeah, he still
hasn't want to playoff game. Well, and there's a lot
of Yesterday we were talking about how you never have

(09:31):
really bought into the Packers yet this season, and Dubbed
hadn't bought in into the Seahawks. You on the same level,
have not really bought in a d on Lamar Jackson.
Buy into him long range. Right. A lot of people
told me right now of the young quarterbacks, uh, and
the young quarterbacks right now would be Jimmy I mean
roughly young, right, I mean depending on how you wanted

(09:52):
to define him. Jimmy Garoppolo is getting a little bit older,
Deshaun Watson young, Uh, certainly, Patrick Mahomes young, and Lamar
Jackson is young right well. In Our Boy Cowherd, he
stirred the pot yesterday because he argued that the Ravens
are gonna be the next big Patriots type dynasty at all,
and a lot of people pushed back. On our Fox

(10:13):
Sports radio dot com website, there's tons of comments from
listeners saying three years, maybe five years, he's gonna get hurt.
That style that Lamar Jackson plays, there's no way this
is gonna be some six seven eight run. I think
that's crazy. So and because of what happened against the
Chargers and how he got shut down last season, even

(10:33):
though he's the m v P all of a sudden
this season, if he gets shut down again, then you
and other people are gonna say, see same thing as
what happened in the playoffs last season. Yeah, I mean,
I think it's soil you win playoff games, that's what
everybody's gonna say. Everybody's gonna criticize you and say whether
or not you can win. So I think you could
make an argument pretty strong that the guy with the
most again is Kirk Cousins and the guy with the

(10:56):
most to lose is Lamar Jackson. Uh. Now the pushback,
I would say, is Lamar Jackson still only twenty three,
so it's not as if he will, you know, fail
to be in these situations again. But the pressure does
get ratcheted up a lot when you haven't won a
playoff game, and I think Deshaun Watson narrowly avoided that.

(11:16):
For instance, because if Deshaun Watson loses at home back
to back years, then that little voice out there of
you know, sort of the uh, the proverbial monkey on
the back or whatever, that you can't win the big
game gets out there. We heard it with Peyton Manning forever, right,
I mean that that whisper of oh, we can't win
the big game. It took him a long time to

(11:37):
win that first Super Bowl. And so the pressure does
get ratcheted up if you aren't able to win playoff
games early on. And look, winning playoff games is hard.
I think we underrate how hard it is to win
a playoff game because of a guy like Barrady or
even a guy like Manning that are constantly there and
put themselves in position to win a ton of games. Uh,

(11:58):
A lot of guys out there. I mean, we just
saw Ryan Tannehill had never won a playoff game, Kirk
Cousins had never won a playoff game, and DeShawn Watson
had never won a playoff game, just in the first
round of the wild Card last last week. So yeah,
that's a that's a strong argument. The most to gain
and the most to lose most of game, kirk Cousins,

(12:19):
most to lose, Lamar Jackson, I can buy that. What
about you, dub Yeah, I agree with the kirk Cousins.
I think there's another guy, though, Ryan Tannehill, if he
were somehow to make this run and win a Super Bowl,
the most a game just in the sense of a
financial yeah, I think he would make a decent amount
of money. My thing on Tannehill is I feel like
he's answered h a lot of Like the expectations were

(12:41):
so much lower for Tannehill than they were for uh,
for kirk Cousins, right, I mean Tannehill is making seven
or eight million dollars, he's kind of cast aside by
the by the Dolphins. There's no doubt, by the way,
that would be one of the most incredible stories. Ever,
if Tannehill got hot and won two more games, and
and he rolled back down into Miami for the Super

(13:03):
Bowl this year, where the Dolphins had cut him and
kicked him to the curb, and he was playing in
the Dolphins stadium to try to win a Super Bowl
after all the difficulty the Dolphins have had trying to
replace Dan Marino, and here's their former first round pick
in the Super Bowl. That would be an incredible story.
So that's a good point too. Yeah, no doubt. And
you know, looking at who would have the most to lose,

(13:25):
it's a it's a hard question to answer because, like
you said, so many of these guys are so young
and there you assume they're gonna be back here in
this moment. I think the guy with the most to
lose right now is probably Aaron Rodgers, because we don't
really know how many more years he's gonna have left
or how many years he wants to keep playing. And
he has this Packers team at thirteen and three, they
have a home game against Seattle. If Seattle goes on

(13:48):
the road and beats Green Bay. After the year the
Packers have had winning all these close games and getting
this home game off of by playing a Seattle team
that's coming off a physical game on the road. I
think that would be a big hit to Aaron Rodgers,
even though I know he's already won a Super Bowl
and he's a made man. But you keep looking ahead
and how many more times is he gonna be in
the situation with a thirteen and three team playing home

(14:10):
games at lambeau Field. I think that would be a
big time loss for Aaron Rodgers. It is interesting too,
by the way, there's probably some people out there noticing this.
This is how we define quarterbacks. There are you know,
fifty three men on every one of these rosters. But
most of us see the NFL season through the prism
very often of the quarterback, and we judge the team

(14:33):
through the prism of the quarterback in a way that
nobody sits around and says, oh, you know, like what
about Aaron Jones. Is he gonna prove, you know, as
a running back that he can get it done in
the in the postseason. Nobody's sitting around asking that question.
Nobody's sitting around saying, uh, you know, mark Ingram better
play in this game for the Ravens or else. There's
gonna be lots of questions about how well he does
in the postseason because of what happened with him when

(14:55):
he was with the Saints. Right, everybody gives way too
much credit to the quarterback and wait, way too much
blame too. But this is kind of the prism through
which we see it. Uh what would how would you
analyze this situation, Eddie? Uh? Well, I will have to
agree with just about everyone. I put most to gain
Kirk Cousins, just as far as reputation, a guy who

(15:17):
we've constantly here can't win the big one. If he
were to have a deep run get his team in
the Super Bowl, that would obviously go along way for him.
But I agree with doub Financially, I think I would
go with Ryan Tannehill and the most loose I think
it's Lamar Jackson. If he falls on his face in
the playoffs. I mean, he's still gonna win the m
v P, but for most people it will be for nothing. Yeah,
and it is amazing to think about if Kirk Cousins

(15:42):
was to win the Super Bowl. How I mean, how
much the uh, the talk about Kirk Cousins would just
flip overnight. I think even if he if he got
to the Super Bowl, I think you'd be hard pressed
to argue, oh, Kirk Cousins can't win the Big Game, right,
because at that point, as the six in the NFC,
he would have gone on the road and he would

(16:02):
have had to beat, uh, the Saints. Then he would
have had to beat the forty Niners. Then he would
have had to go on the road and either be
the Seahawks I mean sorry, yeah, the Seahawks in Seattle,
or he would have had to beat Green Bay and
Lambeau in order just to get to the Super Bowl.
Uh so yeah, I mean, but my god, if he
won the Super Bowl with that as his as his
three games to win, then plus whoever he'd have to

(16:24):
beat in the friend of the a f C down
in Miami, it would be it would be wild to see. Uh.
In terms of uh, in terms of what the reaction
would be, Roberto most to gain, most to lose, most
to gain, uh, Kirk Cousins for the reasons everybody you
mentioned there, and most to lose Lamar Jackson, cause who knows.
I'm like u clid, I'm I'm an unbelieving that that

(16:45):
he's gonna be played like this forever. I think once
the great Roman has gone on, I don't think he's
gonna be as effective anymore. But it seems like Greg
Roman will be there at least another year, so unless
the Browns hire, and it doesn't seem like Greg Roman
is gonna get a head coaching job, which is crazy
if you just look and overall achievement. Greg Roman has
had one of the all time great seasons as an

(17:07):
offensive coordinator. It's wild to me that nobody in the
NFL thought, hey, maybe this guy could do for one
of our quarterbacks what he has done, because he's been
really good, not just with Lamar Jackson. He was really
good with Tyrod Taylor when he was at Buffalo, and
he was extraordinary with Colin Kaepernick when he was in
San Francisco. So uh, it appears that that the Ravens

(17:29):
are gonna be able to keep Greg Roman. I don't
know anything about the guy. I don't know what kind
of interviewer he is. I I don't know. I mean,
he's kept a relatively low profile. But it is surprising
to me that given how good of a season the
Ravens have had, which we have put almost all the
credit for their offense with him that he wouldn't have
gotten a head coaching job. Is is wild even that

(17:50):
he wouldn't get looked at in college. I mean, I
would think there would be some colleges that would say, man,
look at how advanced his system has been for the NFL.
Maybe you could put something together that makes sense in
college as well. By the way, that Mississippi State coaching job.
They We're gonna talk about this later in the show,
but they interviewed Mike Leach. Can you imagine the state

(18:11):
of Mississippi with Lane Kiffin as the head coach of
Old miss and as the head coach of Mississippi State?
Mike Leach, Holy, I mean, you talk about just a
pure on entertainment that would be off the charts. I'm
rooting for it just for that reason if nothing else.
All Right, we come back. We got all four of
these NFL games that are going on Saturday and Sunday.

(18:35):
How do you bet them? We got Harry Gagnon from
the Against All Odds podcast as well as No Frank
I Sola Man. I thought it was Wednesday. I thought
it was Wednesday today I said it with two days away.
I'm sitting here thinking wait a minute, and then like
I feel like we just talked to Harry did I am?
I having him on two days in orrow? You know what,
Wednesday show did go really well. But you don't need

(18:58):
to live in the past. I I know it go
so smooth. All right, frank I Sola is going to
join us. There's some stupid did you guys see this
stupid story about uh? I guess John Bline use the
word thugs? Yeah? Yeah, I mean is this real? I
mean I just saw the headline this morning when I say,
he meant to say slugs. But is it that offensive
to say you played like a bunch of thugs like that?

(19:19):
It's like, oh my god, this is a It's the
number one story on a ESPN. It really wouldn't make
sense when he if he said something like that would
be like what, like, you know, does somebody elbow somebody
in the mouth and break teeth? Like just the mix
up is confusing. It doesn't make sense. We'll talk to
Frankie Solo about this. Some of the NBA drama stories,
like there's so many athletes that are perpetually it seems

(19:41):
like they're triggered. I mean, when did everybody become such
a bunch of pussy willows. When we come back, we'll
talk with Frankie Soul about that. Be sure to catch
live editions about kick the Coverage with Clay Travis week
days at six am Eastern three am Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Frankie Solo
at the frank Guy Sola on Twitter. You can watch

(20:02):
him on Around the Horn sometimes p t I as well,
and you can read him at the Athletic Listen to
him Serious XM as well as here frank Sometimes I
see stories that are headlines and I'm like, I can't
believe that this is actually a sports headline. And such
is the case right now. When I woke up this
morning Adrian Moznorowski reporting that John Beeline used the word

(20:28):
thugs and somehow that's incredibly offensive during a film session.
I am I crazy? Or does the vast majority of
America you think, agree with me that this is not
actually a number one sports story in America? Yeah? I think, Uh,
I think things have got a little crazy. I do
think you have to be a little careful with the
things that you say. I think, especially for a guy

(20:49):
like John Belin, look at the position he's in to
begin with. He's an older guy coming from college, you know.
And I think we've already seen stories which I think
have been on air about you know, the players basically saying, oh,
you know, he's doing things in a college way and
he wants us to be more of a development team. Yeah, sure,
like what have you guys? You know, you guys have
been terrible for the last couple of years, ever since

(21:11):
Lebron left. But I think it's something like that. And
it's funny you mentioned that because I has heard from
somebody yesterday that this is gonna be it for John Dealon.
He's gonna be kind of like a one and done
kind of guy. And yeah, well perhaps, I mean he's
gonna have a lot of money coming to him from then,
not that it's gonna be his choice. I think Cleveland's
gonna get rid of him, and then he's still gonna

(21:31):
get paid his money. And I think something like this
will only um accelerate the process, does make him just
think why in the world that I ever leave college.
It's it's you know, it's funny you say that. The
other day, Michigan played Michigan State and it was like
on a night where Cleveland got killed by somebody, and
I kept thinking, he must have like saw that game.

(21:52):
Not that it's easy to play Michigan State in East Landing,
but he must have thought to himself, you know, life
is just so much easier fact then. But you know
what happens. I'm sure for a lot of these guys,
you reach a certain age and you know, here's an
opportunity to coach in the NBA's only thirty of those jobs,
and you're thinking, you know, if I'm ever gonna do it,
now's the time to do with the money is going
to be pretty good. It's you know, it's a tough higher.

(22:13):
It's it's unfortunate because you're in a tough position as
a college coach number one, and I think as an
older guy, I think you're in a much more difficult position.
Brad Stevens walked into a good situation because he's a
little bit younger and the the Boston Celtics are more
stable franchise and at the time when Brad Stevens came there,
they were also a bad team and they didn't have
a player like Kevin Love. Let's be fair, Kevin Love

(22:35):
is one of the guys causing some issues with that
team too. He's like the way his antics kind of
lashing out of people, and he's been fined lashing out
in the bench, yelling at the general manager. So like
the one veteran player on the team that you know
you would want and hope could kind of like be
the leader of the team. That hasn't happened with John Bielo. Uh,
there's a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen

(22:55):
in the off season. Let's that's the NBA story that's
out there, So I'm gonna leave it. Let's go back
to the NFL. Uh, what do you think happens with Brady?
Do you think that he comes back for another year
or two with the Patriots or do you think this
turns into another power struggle Belichick maybe ends up winning,
Because I think this could turn into Okay, the Patriots

(23:17):
are willing to let Brady come back for a year,
but they won't give him a multi year deal, and
I think Brady probably thinks to himself, I want at
least a two year deal going forward, and so that
could be the lynchpin that leads him to consider other
options out there in the NFL. How do you see
this plan out? I I think you nailed it. I

(23:37):
think it's him wanting him maybe for one year, and
him wanting a two year deal. And so let's not
forget that this weekend, the San Francisco forty nine is
going to be playing in a playoff game. In the
quarterback there is Jimmy Garoppolo. And if you look at
Bill Belichick the way that he's done business all throughout
this incredible run that the Patriots have been on, he's
kind of gotten rid of the guy just when he thinks,
thinks you're about to turn and this and Brady won

(23:58):
the Super Bowl ast year because they have done that.
Maybe with Jimmy Garoppolo, perhaps, but you can't tell me
that Bill Belichick is not gonna sit there this weekend
and thinking this guy should be our quarterback right now.
And Jimmy garoppolos not be the quarterback of the forty niners.
We had him in our system where the team that
developed him, and you know, and I'm still convinced that
Bill Belichick didn't want to get rid of him. I
think Baby Brady felt a little threatened. He and Robert

(24:21):
Craft are pretty tired. I think they live on the
same street, So I think that whole situation, it's just
different the way they're dealing with Brady, who is the
unique case number when he's the quarterback number two. He's
a legendary player who's been there for all the Super
Bowls and he's been the leader of the team. But
it just goes against everything that Bill Belichick has always done.
He's always gotten rid of the guy one year too

(24:42):
early as opposed to one year too late, whether it
was Richard Seymour. You know, we can go down the
list of guys and it's always been and it's always
be a Catholic and it's always been sort of an
emotionless move by Belichick, right like, I mean that ultimately
he is, and I think that's hard when you go
to war with these guys to then be a will
to just cut bait because you're ultimately just a it's

(25:04):
business for Belichick. You're only as good as the dollar
value next to your name. Uh do your job? Is
kind of the mantra that they have in New England,
And there's agree with you. There's no way that Belichick
wants to be paying big money to Tom Brady when
he thinks he's on the back end of his career.
I think Belichick's gotta be ready to turn to page.
And I think, by the way, both of these guys

(25:26):
want to prove that they were the reason why this
dynasty came to be. I think there's a power struggle there.
Who was the bigger reason for the success? Was it
Brady or was it Belichick. I think both of them
want to be the guy, and that means they want
to win a super Bowl without the other. I think
there's an element of that. That's why Belichick is now saying, hey,
I'll coach into my seventies, and also why I think

(25:48):
Brady might possibly be interested in exploring some of the
other teams out there, because if he could win another
super Bowl without the Patriots, then he has an argument
of I'm the reason and why we wanted such a
high level. Yeah, and I think you know, if you
look at the way things went down the last couple
of weeks with them, you know they you know, Brady
did drive them down the field and put them ahead

(26:10):
against Miami show. You know, Bill Belichick's bread and butter
in the page, it's bread and butter this year has
been their defense. So if the defense can get one stop, uh,
you know, they're getting a bye week and then they're
getting a home playoff game. So they got when one
home playoff game and then they're in the a f
C Championship game. The defense failed. Then last week, you
know the Mleman dropped that was big. I mean, Brady
clearly wasn't himself, and I just thought the whole thing

(26:32):
was weird, like when they when they didn't go for
it on fourth down, the puncher punts it into the
end zone and then once again it's up to the
defense to make a stop. They eventually did stop Tennessee,
but then they end up getting the ball back with
fifteen seconds. So I don't think Brady was as bad
as everyone says. I think he's hurt. I don't think
I think when you're Mr. TV twelve and this is
kind of how you market yourself. I don't think that

(26:53):
he wanted to come out and tell people that his
elbows hurting him, because that's kind of like maybe bad
for business his TV twelve, that the TV twelve method
and all that other nonsense. I also think, let's face it,
two the season began and everyone thought, yeah, listen, Gronkowski
will be big, but then they ended Antonio Brown and
people like, maybe they'll go and defeat it. They'll got
great this offenses. They didn't. They weren't great at the

(27:14):
skill positions either An Edelman because everyone says it's a
slot receiver that they were trying to turn in to
the next Jerry Rice and it wasn't gonna work out
that way. So I just think, I think injuries for Brady.
I don't think his elbow is right, and I just think,
you know, basically, talent is what eventually was there, you know, undoing.
We just had to open the show looking at the

(27:35):
eight quarterbacks that are left. Who has the most again
and who has the most to lose most again? We
said Kirk Cousins, because if he suddenly won a Super
Bowl UH and beat in the process the Saints, the
forty Niners, and either the Seahawks or the Packers to
get to the Super Bowl, plus whoever he'd have to
beat in the a f C, it would change every

(27:56):
belief about Kirk Cousins. We said the most to lose
Lamar Jackson, because he still hasn't won a playoff game.
Last year's playoffs didn't go very well. Granted, he's going
to be the m v P had a great regular season,
but everybody who doubts whether or not his range and
style of football is sustainable would have a lot of

(28:16):
ammunition if he were to lose again in the first
round of the playoffs. You buy into those or do
you see it as a different, different analysis? Well, I
also think you know, I put Aaron Rodgers up there
just because you think he's running out of chances here
to get back to a super Bowl. And you know
they're in a position now where one home playoff winner
in the NFC title game, they could conceivably be the

(28:38):
team that hosts the NFC Title Game. But I do
agree with Lamar Jackson because you know, he was not
good last year losing to the charges. I thought at
the time that they should have taken them out in
the second half to give themselves a chance. If John
Harvard credit because I think he thinks, you know what,
this guy is gonna be my quarterback, So yes, I'm
not gonna mess mess with him right now. Into Harbor's
credit and Lamar Jackson's credit, you know, they bounce back

(29:00):
pretty well from what was an ugly. You know that
the numbers that he had and the score look good.
But Lauren Jackson was terrible last year in that first
playoff game. He couldn't do anything. So I do think
that he has a lot to lose. Plus, you know,
they have the one team no offense. Here's Tennessee guying. Here,
they have the team that everything that they you know,
they should win the game. So I think there's gonna
be a lot of pressure on him. Kirk Cousins finally

(29:20):
got his first win out of the way. We'll see
if Jimmy Garoppolo could do that. But the big one
will be Lamar Jackson. The guy's gone from never winning
a playoff game to now being the favorite. So can
he win three playoff games and lift the trophy? But
and he's gonna get two of those games at home.
But we'll see how he does because the playoffs, it's
always it's always a different animal in the playoffs, and
you know you and if you fall behind and now

(29:42):
you're kind of relying more on his arm than you
are in his legs, We'll see how that works out.
But who knows, maybe he doesn't even trail at all
during the playoffs. We're talking to Frankie Sola at the
Frankie Sola on Twitter. You can find him there. You
can watch him on Around the Horn and listen to
him on Serious X them read him at the Athletic.
What are you hearing about a ULYI? Uh, there's a
lot talk about the off season free agents. We talked

(30:02):
about Brady and what he's going to decide to do.
Cam Newton obviously got Jamis Winston, Marcus Mariotta, Philip Rivers, uh,
Teddy Bridgewater. I mean they're gonna be a lot of
different moving parts for quarterbacks. What are you hearing about Ali?
Is he officially going to retire? Is he going to
test the market to see if anybody's interested in him?
What happens? I'm sure the Giants that's what they want,

(30:24):
and they wanted to be a nice, like little clean,
you know, break like that where he would retire. It
sounds like he still wants to play a little bit,
which you know, I find surprised. You know, the one
thing about Brady, I still think that Brady could play
Drew Rees. I think could play Philip Rivers. I don't
understand why he throws the ball like that. It's like
pain little almost. I'm not so sure about him. I
just don't know if Eli has it like can he

(30:46):
might be a starting quarterback on the team. I'm not
so sure. To me, he's been kind of declining for
a bunch of years. Now. You know, he had his
one moment, he got to play one one last time
at that life and he won the game. I just
the word was to like, he's not that crazy about
being a backup quarterback. I think if he was open
to being a backup, he'll be in the league. But
it sounds like I understand it that he wants to start,

(31:08):
But I don't know. I I just don't see it
unless unless there are things that are happening over the
summer where you know, guys are getting hurt and things
like that. But I think what the Giants want, he's
for Eli Manning to to come back and be the
backup to Daniel Jones or just announced that he's retiring.
You have like a nice little clean break and let
him go out as a two time Super Bowl champion.

(31:30):
Last question for you. I know it's the new year.
I don't think we had you on last week, but
you've been covering New York area sports and beyond for
a long time, but with the two thousand tends the
worst decade of New York sports of your life in
terms of being relevant on a big stage for football
and for basketball and for big sports in general. I

(31:51):
think someone said that, I mean, think about it. We've
got two teams in New York. I'm pretty sure someone
said there were two playoff games played at MetLife. One
of them was the Super Bowl between the Broncos and
the fotun I mean, the Broncos and the Seahawks. So
think about that, and then, you know, and I think
the big one would be you know, it was the
first decade that the Yankees didn't you know, make it

(32:13):
to a World Series or win a World Series. So
that's that's is kind of the measurement, because the Yankees
are always like hell in a in a different category
just because all the winning that they've done. You know,
the Knicks, for the Knicks in this decade actually probably
was the worst decade ever for the Knicks, even though
they did win a playoff series. But they're right now
on a stretch of five straight seasons of at least

(32:33):
fifty losses. Twice, I think they lost sixty games. I
think that would be pretty fair. And the pathetic thing
about it is I've said to see before, we have
two of everything, and we have technically three hockey teams.
I guess the Rangers made the Stanley CuPy, the Mets
did make a World Series, and the Giants one of
the Super Bowls came in this decade right against the Patriots.
That had to be right, right, Yeah, I think that's right. So,

(32:57):
but I think it's kind of judged by base all,
especially in the Yankees having kind of a decade that
even though they were good, but the Yankees are kind
of like you know, the you know, like Tom Brady
or Lebron James are basically judged on whether or not
they made it to a final. I won a championship,
not if they made you know, game seven of them,
you know, of the American LEA Championship Series. Outstanding stuff

(33:18):
as always these Frankie Solo at the Frankie Solo on Twitter.
You can watch him on ESPN around the Horn, read
him at the Athletic, and listen to him in serious XM.
Thanks for manam. Be sure to catch live editions of
WOULT kick the coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six
am Eastern three am Pacific. Appreciate all of you hanging
out with us as we inch closer to the Divisional

(33:40):
round of the NFL playoffs. Can't wait see what's gonna
happen with both games on Saturday and on Sunday. If
you're just waking up with us, encourage you to go
download the podcast. We had a big debate about who
had the most to win and the most to lose
among the eight quarterbacks still alive. Most to win, we
agreed Kirk Cousin is the most to lose Lamar Jackson.

(34:03):
As we come down the stretch run here of the
NFL season, Sadly only seven games remain in the NFL
year four UH Saturday and Sunday combined to the next
weekend and then the Super Bowl, whch would be taking
place down in Miami. By the way, we will be
doing this show live in Miami for a week. I
don't know, Danny G. You may know more details about

(34:25):
exactly how that's set up. Do we know if the
if the venue is public? Uh? In any way, this
is always a question we ask whether you can walk through.
When we were on early in the morning six to
nine am Eastern. Sometimes they open it up if you're
gonna be in the Miami area or if you're down
in South Florida. There are a lot of really cool
free events usually that surround the Super Bowl. They do

(34:45):
a good job, the NFL does of putting on events
around there. And one of the things you can do
that I think is pretty cool and I would have
wanted to do if I were a kid, or certainly
if I were a teenager and I was there with
my parents is walk through Radio Row and just see
kind of the set up where everybody is broadcasting and
there's lots of athletes and uh and famous people walking around,

(35:05):
uh doing the rounds on Radio Row. UH. That's usually
open a part of the day. But whether it's gonna
be open the three hours that we're there or not,
I'm not sure. But we will be there live all
the entire week. Also, i'll lock it in, which is
gonna be really fun. Fox is building, my understanding, is
a huge television set on South Beach, which I believe

(35:27):
will be visible and accessible to the public. In other words,
like we're literally on the sand in South Beach. Because
Fox has this year's super Bowl and uh, we will
have lock it in every day for an hour our
television show, which is at four thirty Eastern, three thirty
Central to thirty Mountain one thirty Pacific. Uh, and we'll
have a live audience, I think, and we'll be right

(35:48):
there on the beach. So that's gonna be pretty wild.
It's gonna be a lot of fun. And I'm I'm
told that the set that they have built for the
super Bowl is gonna be incredible. It's really kind of
wild how they build this entire uh, this entire venue
from scratch, and then they'll take it down right afterwards.
But it looks like, uh, a legitimate big time venue.

(36:12):
They did it. Uh, let's see that. The last couple
of I've been to two super Bowls that Fox has had. Uh.
The first one was in New York City and they
had an awesome Time Square venue where they had when
they did the New York City super Bowl, and then
they did one in Houston. And so this will be
the third one that I've been a part of, and
those are always even more of zoos. But this will

(36:33):
be the first time that I've been uh with Fox
where we've been on television so every day. So this
will be this will be fun with lock it In
with the gambling show and everything else. So that uh,
that is all still on the horizon. We'll be finishing
the NFL season with a real bang for for OutKick
both radio and TV. But there are a couple of

(36:54):
crazy stories out there that I I saw and I
thought to myself, oh my god, this would be incredible. Uh.
One is Mississippi State is considering who they're gonna hire
as their next head football coach. Now, the two names
that I'm hearing the most are Steve Sarkisian, who is
the offensive coordinator for Alabama, formerly the USC and Washington

(37:16):
head coach, who had to lose his job at USC
over alcohol related issues. Seems to have managed to uh
to to to cleanse himself. He was also then the
offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons that maybe he could
get back into coaching at Mississippi State. The other one
is current Washington State head coach Mike Leach, who reports

(37:38):
are interviewed for this Mississippi State job. So can you
imagine how much fun purely from a football and off
the field related uh perspective? As well? Having both Lane
Kiffin as the head coach of Old miss and Mike
Leach as the head coach of Mississippi State could be

(38:00):
both in the state of Mississippi, both in the SEC.
That would be must see television every single day with
what would be going on between the two of them,
And honestly, I think Mississippi State felt a lot of
pressure to move on from Joe moorehead because Lane Kiffin
was soaking up so much of the oxygen in the

(38:20):
state of Mississippi and getting so much attention that if
they decide to go with UH too, and I think
they may well do it, if they decide to make
the decision to hire UH Mike Leach, I think it's
a response in many ways to all of the attention
that's come to bear for Lane Kiffin UH and my god,

(38:42):
that would be incredibly entertaining. Starkville would also somehow fit
with Mike Leach, who has been prior to that at
Texas Tech, which is kind of off the radar, at
Washington State, which is certainly off the radar, and Mississippi
State stark Vegas. Starkville kind of in the middle of nowhere,
but it would be the most fertile recruiting region that

(39:03):
Mike Leach had ever been in. And I've always been curious,
how would Mike Leach be able to do if he
ever got a job that was actually really good. We
had him on the winds and lost his podcast, and
what he made a distinction was he said, I've only
been at schools where you recruit. I've never been at
a school where you get to give out invitations. And

(39:24):
that was a good way of putting it. He said,
there's two different times types of schools. There's the schools
that recruit, Hey, please come here, we think you'll be
a good fit. And there's the schools that send out invitations.
And he said, I've never really been at a school
that sends out invitations. I think he was at Oklahoma
for one year as offensive coordinator, if I'm not mistaken,
But by and large, he's mostly been at the at

(39:47):
the schools with chips on their shoulder, the ones that
are a little bit outside of the mainstream. So that
would be an incredible story. If he were to come
to Mississippi and join Lane Kiffin in that state, another
cra easy story, and I want to bring in the crew.
I don't even know if you guys saw this story
because it just came out last night and I couldn't.
I'm just gonna read you a paragraph from Mark schlay

(40:10):
Bass story. Uh. Mark Slab as a reporter at ESPN
dot com. But there is a so Georgia. We said
in the end of last hour, Jake From is going
to go uh going pro and uh. And Georgia has
had a lot of players that have basically decided they're
gonna leave early or they're in the transfer portal. Kirby

(40:31):
Smart has been recruiting incredibly well, but it seems clear
that there is a lot of drama associated with the
Georgia football program right now. And sometimes that comes when
you recruit a lot of really high level talent. That
talent expects to be coddled when it gets to campus,
and if things don't go perfectly, they might decide to leave.

(40:52):
And for instance, you can use as a quarterback UH
situation right there at Georgia and example, they they have
signed Jake Decent, Jake From and Justin Fields, all big
time quarterback talents in three different years, right, boom boom boom.
And so you had Jacob Eeson lose his job to

(41:14):
Jake From, and so he transfers to Washington. He's now
in the draft. Jake From is in the draft, and
he had justin Fields. Unhappy about the amount of playing
time he was getting in the fact that he couldn't
win the job from Jake From, he wasn't willing to wait,
and so even though he's a Georgia native, he decides
to transfer to Ohio State. So all three of those

(41:35):
guys are now gone from Georgia and Georgia kind of
is scrambling to figure out who their next quarterback is
gonna be. They may have to go get somebody out
of the transfer portal, but one of Georgia's top recruits,
and they've got a lot of top recruits, but they
had a five star left tackle by the name of
Cade May's. Now cade May's has a dad who played

(41:58):
at the University of Tennessee on the offensive line, and
he also has a younger brother who just committed to
the University of Tennessee as well. So Kate May's has
officially left Georgia. He was there starting left tackle in
the Sugar Bowl. He has officially left Georgia and his

(42:19):
dad is now suing the University of Georgia. This is
all of a real story, all right, And I'm gonna
read this to you guys. And I don't even know
if anybody else on the show has heard anything about this,
Danny g if you know anything about cad May's or Georgia.
I saw this alright, alright, So here is I'm reading

(42:39):
directly from an ESPN dot com story. According to Athens
Clark County State Court records, Mayses parents sued the University
of Georgia system, Board of Regents, the Georgia Athletic Association,
and others after Kevin mays Is Are I get ready? Right?
Pinky Finger was amputated because an accident involving a folding

(43:05):
chair at the Bulldogs team gala in December of the
sun was then a senior on a recruiting visit to Georgia.
According to the complaint for damages filed on December five,
are you ready? Are you ready for this? Plain? If
Kevin May's that's the dad right. Peaky Finger was partially

(43:30):
amputated as the subject folding chair. Oh this is making
me cringe just reading it. Wedged against a column, his
severed finger shot across the floor. Georgia offensive line coach
Sam Pittman, who is now the head coach at Arkansas,
picked up his severed finger from the floor and it

(43:54):
was put on ice. You might be thinking to yourself,
Oh my god, can SEC football get any stranger? Yes,
this lawsuit is being used as evidence for why Cade Maze,
this five star should be eligible to play this coming
fall at Tennessee because his dad is suing the school

(44:18):
over his finger getting amputated. I mean, and I want
to bring it so you saw, like Danny, you saw this, Doug?
Did you know this story? Eddie Garcia? Did you know
this story? Roberto? Had you guys heard this? I knew
this story because one of the two other people I
live with, he is a Georgia alum, and he was
not too happy. They're furious, they are absolutely furious. He was,

(44:41):
you know, saying some things that are not appropriate for
terrestrial radio right now. But he was hot and bothered
about it. I mean, he was up in arms. And
like Eddie, when you hear this story as a Californian
that a severed finger is being used as evidence of
why a player should be I mean, I, by the way,
I just cringe thinking about your finger getting caught and

(45:01):
getting clipped, getting amputated, and then the guy that the
the offensive line coach picks it up on the ground.
I mean, is this is this is crazy of a
story to you as it is to me. Yeah, I
rub some dirt on it, and yeah I get back
in there. But so so the wild thing is here.
The expectation is that the sun is gonna be eligible

(45:24):
to play. And this rubs people the wrong way at Georgia,
not just because this is a crazy story, but because
there's still a lot of of anger over the way.
Justin Fields left to Georgia and was immediately eligible to
play at Ohio State. And I'm surprised this didn't get
more attention. You guys remember the background for how how

(45:44):
Usually so, if you're not a hardcore uh college football
or college basketball fan, the general rule is if you transfer,
you have to sit out a year before you can
play for the new school that you transfer to, but
there are limited exceptions. The most common exception is if

(46:04):
you graduate from from your original school early, then you
can transfer anywhere and be eligible to play. And this
happens a lot with quarterbacks. This is, for instance, how
Jalen Hurts was able to play without having to sit
out going from from Alabama to uh to Oklahoma. This
is how Joe Burrow was able to play going from

(46:27):
Ohio State to l s U. If you graduate, that's
a pretty understood exemption that you're able to then come
in and play immediately at your new school. The graduate
so called graduate transfer exemption, that's well established. That isn't
that controversial. I think it's a rule that makes a
lot of sense. The general rule, however, if you are
an underclassman, is that you have to sit out for

(46:48):
a year, But if you can show extenuating circumstances uh
i e. Conflict or or major issues. Sometimes it can
be as simple as and it's not simple, it's fortunate.
But if you have, for instance, an ill parent, if
you have gone away from school a long way away
and then one of your parents becomes very sick, you

(47:10):
can use that as a hardship in order to be
closer back to home. You can be able to transfer,
and a lot of times that's allowed and not fought right.
But in this scenario, what the hardship would be is
that there's a lawsuit being filed between the dad and
the university, and as a result, the kid doesn't feel

(47:33):
comfortable because his dad is suing the university for a
lot of money, and so he should be eligible to play.
But the one and they never really explained the n
C double A, didn't what the full uh reason for
the waiver was. But Justin Fields left Georgia did not
have to sit out at all and immediately started playing
for Ohio State, and the at least the public story

(47:58):
for why he got a hardship waiver or was somebody
in the crowd who was a baseball player at Georgia
made a racial slur and so he then didn't have
to sit out for a year. And a lot of
people at Georgia are fired up about that, not because
they're trying to defend the guy uh for for what
he said, but because Justin Fields, as sister is my understanding,

(48:21):
is still playing softball at Georgia. So can you really
argue that the standard for a hardship waiver should be
one person in a crowd of a hundred thousand dollars
a hundred thousand said a racial slur, and so you
get to use that as an excuse to then be
eligible to play without having to sit out at all.

(48:42):
At Ohio State. A lot of people at Georgia were
mad about that because they felt like, oh, that's just
justin Fields playing the game, trying to use that to
his advantage so that he doesn't have to sit out
for a year and he gets to play immediately for
Ohio State. And now they're similarly angry about this lawsuit
that has been filed over the amputated finger that theoretically

(49:04):
could lead to this five star offensive lineman not only
transferring but transferring in conference, and not only transferring in conference,
but transferring in division and be ineligible to play all
because his dad's finger got chopped off and he's now
suing George over it at a recruiting dinner, so that

(49:24):
means there was food on the table. I just I
I find the idea of getting a finger amputated to
be really difficult to handle. To begin with, I'm sure
there isn't a lawsuit, So what do you think? Like,
I mean, so the so the argument is that this

(49:45):
lawsuit is convenient. However, I will say this, I wouldn't
get my finger chopped off in order for my kid
to be able to not have to sit out for
a year at school. What kind of father, are you yeah,
that I'm drawing. I don't know where I would draw
the line, but I'm drawing the line at fingers getting
chopped off. So welcome to SEC football, where you can't

(50:05):
even make up some of these stories that you would have.
A five star this guy is expected to be a
first round draft pick. I mean, that's how talented he
is on the offensive line. Where exactly on the offensive
line he ends up playing in the NFL that's still
to be determined. He might be a tackle, he might
be a guard, but he's a big time talent. Five
star recruit was starting for Georgia at left tackle in

(50:28):
the Sugar Bowl less than a month ago, and now
is enrolled at the University of Tennessee and taking classes
today as we speak, because classes have now started at
the University of Tennessee, and his expectation is that he'll
be able to play and start come September. Because his
dad got his finger amputated and is now suing the

(50:48):
University of Georgia. So what does his dad's finger have
to do with his hardship? I think the argument is,
uh that when you are in a lawsuit suing, when
you're Faan Lee is suing the university that you are
worried about your treatment, and so that is considered to

(51:08):
be one of the criteria for potentially a hardship to
be granted. Uh that Uh. And I'm not an expert
on hardship waivers when it comes to to n C
double A transfer status, but the attorney for Cade Maze's
dad has said they've already filed I think a hardship

(51:28):
waiver with the n C double A has said, effectively,
this clearly fits the criteria for what would have to
happen in order for somebody to be eligible. I mean
I I uh you know they they have ah, they
have a lawyer, uh and attorney Uh that this is
this is the attorney talking, UH said, I'm very confident

(51:51):
Cade won't have to sit out a year. Uh. He's
representing Cade mays. Uh. He says that, Uh let's see
what does he say? Um any basically that that he
believes that that that this is going to uh to
allow kad May's among and there may be other factors, right,
I mean, I don't claim to understand everything associated with
the hardship, and I do know that Justin Fields is

(52:13):
uh to a team legal team that got him eligible
to play at Ohio State. They would say, well, it
wasn't just about that racial slur. There were other hardships involved.
I have no idea what those were, again because to
my understanding, those hardship applications are not public for everyone.
But it is I think indicative of the fact that
systems can be gamed. Uh sometimes in these scenarios. All right,

(52:37):
when we come back, we are scheduled to be joined
by Chris Mannox. Uh. We'll break down the latest NBA controversy. Also,
there's been a lot of debate, and I do think
this is an interesting question. Is Luca don chick uh
the best twenty year old basketball player since Lebron maybe
since maybe Magic Johnson? Is he the best? Ever? How

(52:58):
good is Luca? How important is that to the NBA?
Plus the latest stupid controversy in the NBA. Fox Sports
Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
com and within the I Heart Radio app. We're joined
now by Chris Mannox. He writes at s I you
can read him there. So let's start here. Uh, Luca

(53:20):
lost a tough game last Night to yokich Um. But
there's been a lot of debate of late. You are
an expert in this realm. Where does Luca rank among
the best twenty year olds that we have seen in
the last twenty five or thirty years of NBA action.
There seems to be kind of a consensus that he's
up there with Lebron James and Magic Johnson as maybe

(53:44):
one of the best three we've seen in the last
thirty or forty years. Fair or foul to make that comparison, Well,
I think that's very fair. Um. You know, I'd have
to go back and and look at how good Magic
was at twenty years old in the end A but
I remember Lebron at twenty and he was great. Um,

(54:04):
So I think Lebron is really his his only peer.
I mean, if you go back and look at some
of the high school guys that came in in the
mid nineteen nineties, whether it was Kobe or Kevin Garnett,
there was a reasonably steep learning curve for those guys,
and Kobe look at his numbers, then he wasn't great
early on. He wasn't anywhere near what Luke is early on.

(54:25):
So um, the the speed with which Luca don Check
has has risen to this level is remarkable and and
look at a lot of it is attributable to the
fact that he was playing pro ball at fourteen, you know,
and he was, you know, playing he was the MVP
of the EuroLeague at eighteen. So uh, you know, when
you get to play pro early on and go up

(54:45):
against men early on, it makes us so much easier
to adjust. So how what is this ceiling? I mean,
so this is I think a big deal for the
m B A uh. And again I do think it's
not ideal in that it would be better like we
I think we talked a lot fast time we talked.
I said, man, can you imagine how much different Janice
would be received if instead of being Greek he had

(55:06):
been born in America? And I feel the same thing
if instead of being named Luca, if if if he
was named Luke right and he was from you know,
somewhere in the middle part of the country like Larry
Bird was, that that would be a big, bigger and
better connection. Because still, even in this era where everything
is globalized, I think American sports fans react better to

(55:28):
American sports heroes. So but having said that how big
is he potentially for the NBA in general, um, given
how talented he is at such a young age. I think, Look,
I really think that Luca has a chance to be
the face of the NBA over the next five or

(55:48):
ten years, whatever long it takes for Lebron to be done.
I mean, you know, it seems a little bit different.
I mean, we did have that conversation, but Joanie and
you know his you know, not inability to truly connect
with NBA fans, but it's not as strong as maybe
it should be. I think Luca is a little bit
different though maybe the position he plays, in the style

(56:09):
with which he plays. But he's flashy. He's, you know,
kind of a six foot seven point guard in the
same way the Magic Johnson was. I think because he's
just more of a perimeter ball handling type of guy,
he might be a little bit easier to connect to
for NBA fans. So, I mean, there's a handful of
guys that you could see being the heir apparent to Lebron.

(56:30):
But you know, because Luca is so good at this
age and because he's able to do what he could
do right now, I mean I think he's he's the
kind of the top of the list of the next guy.
All right, So if you're comparing him to Lebron, and
that's obviously an insanely favorable comparison to anybody right at
the age of twenty. Lebron has continued to get better
and better as his age. And I know, now he's

(56:52):
thirty five years old or whatever the heck he is,
and he's still incredible, and he's had that sort of
long plateau of excellence. A guy down in uh in
Dallas who did have a long plateau of excellence was
Dirk Navitski as well. But one of the questions about
Luca I would say, is how much better can he get?
You mentioned that he started playing with professionals when he's
fourteen fifteen years old. Do you worry at all that

(57:14):
he doesn't have the same you know, kind of climbing
and mountain that he can climb like Lebron? In other words,
he might already be closer to his plateau than certainly
Lebron was at the age of twenty. Well maybe, but
I mean, i'd have to look at his numbers right now.
But like a couple of weeks ago, he was you know,
within a couple of stats of averaging a triple double.

(57:36):
So I don't I mean, that's still a pretty high plateau. Ye. Yeah,
if this is this plateau, I mean like all right,
I mean great, he's he's a consensus All Star, a
top five m v P. I think there are a
couple of ways that I think he's going to get better. One,
you can't really teach athleticism. But I think he's gonna
as he gets more and you know, just at the
NBA game, I think he's going to be a little

(57:59):
bit better in that regard. Like he was shunky last year, right,
like he wasn't a critical condition. Well this was this
was a knock on him coming into the NBA that like,
you know, he didn't have the body for uh for
for playing NBA basketball, And you know, you're two, he's
got a significantly better body. And as we've seen with
every NBA player that plays for a long time, you

(58:19):
have three, four or five, they get big. I mean, God,
look at Janice. If you're one year two, he was
a stream being. Now he's he's a tank out there
on the floor. I don't think that Luca is gonna
be the exact same way, But um, you know, I
think he's just gonna get better physically. I say, I
was after this conversation, and I'm in Orlando this week
working on a story with Marquel Foltz, And you know,

(58:40):
you look at at at the teams have passed on Luca.
It is inexplicable, Clay, that that Sacramento pass on Luca Dodge.
You have one of the great you know, and you
know all side international players as GM and Vlady de
Buck his assistant GM is pages the Akapec. They've got
a European guys, they're their top scout. How do you

(59:00):
pass on this guy? Like, how in the world do
you miss on Luca? Donche can take Marvin Bagley. I
don't Factley's fine, but like, how how that front office
missed on Luca is still is going to go down
as one of the most incredible passes I think in
recent NBA history. Well, and this is a big part
of Lucas story, right, is that Mark Cuban passed on

(59:22):
Janice because he was like, I don't really buy into it,
and he was like his guys like beat the table
this time and said, don't blow it again. Like we
think Luca can be another nice And I think I'm
correct those two guys are the leading vote getters in
the in the NBA All Star right now, if I'm
not mistaken. Yeah yeah, But like even the Cuban stuff
like that was back in at that point, Cuban one

(59:45):
of the cap space to sign free agents that you
could see the argument. I mean, it looks a lot
of people passed on Janice back then. He was nowhere
near the like the obvious choice that Luca was. I
mean just there's when you come when you play over
in Europe, and you know you should know if you're Vlad,
like how good the euro League is, Like the guy

(01:00:05):
was the m v P of the euro League? How
do you pass on him? Like I even get like
DeAndre et in a little bit that you take him
number one overall, Like you can see the obvious potential there,
but there's no like it just it just blows my
mind that that Marvin Bagley was the choice over Don Sacramento.
We're talking to Chris Mannox at s I Chris Mannox,

(01:00:26):
all right, this is I. I didn't see this story.
I woke up and it's a it's a number one
story right now, John beeline uh saying that he used
the word dugs to describe his players during a film
session or something. Is this a twelve hour story? Is
this a twenty four hour story. I think a lot
of people are kind of rolling their eyes over this
being a story at all. But how significant is it

(01:00:46):
in the NBA universe. I think it's it's significant. I
think it will blow over. But in the greater context,
it's just kind of another log on the fire being
built under on the line right now. I just look,
I don't think he's cut out to be an NBA coach.
I mean, some he had never left Michigan right now,

(01:01:08):
like if you if you get now, you can go back,
I mean like when you are like he's sixty six
years old, and in some ways, you know, this is
like fantasy camp for him. He got to leave the
the cesspool that that is college basketball, and he kind
of alluded to it being as such and and take
a chance at being an NBA coach. But from everything

(01:01:29):
I hear from people around that team, he just he
runs the practices and runs the day to day like
it's still college and you can't do that. You can't
have like three four hour days where you're doing long
practices and long film sessions with NBA players. Maybe some
of them you can do it with, but most of

(01:01:50):
them you can't. And I had somebody just a couple
of days ago, you know, compare his run as an
NBA coach to what Mike Montgomery went through when he
left Stanford to coach the Wars. He just wasn't cut
out to be an NBA coach. I'm starting to get
the feeling that that John b Line, you know, maybe
the exact same way. I mean, I was working play
in Boston when Rick Pottino came to the NBA. And

(01:02:13):
Rick Pottino back then had like his own guys basically
at Kentucky two point oh, like Tony Delkin, Yeah, Walter
McCarty and Antoine Walker, and he still failed because he
just couldn't figure out a way to to coach differently
and run a team differently. And it feels like is
just the same way. So this that's a long way
of saying that I think this, this current incident will

(01:02:34):
will will pass. But it's just another reason why maybe
the Cavaliers will part ways of Belin after the season,
because this is a big story that he had decided
to leave Michigan and take over. I mean a lot
of people were stunned that he had made this decision.
And the reason why, I say, do you wish he could? Do?
You think he wishes when he watches Michigan play in
Michigan State. Let's say that a part of him wishes. Man,

(01:02:55):
why in the world did I ever leave that for this?
I mean, and and and I guess the larger context
is what is the biggest difference between coaching in college
in the NBA. I'm sure there are tons, But is
it just that there's a lot less xs and ohs,
especially during the regular season, a lot less coaching, so
to speak. I mean, how would you assess it so

(01:03:17):
far as you can tell the difference between a coach
making the leap to a different league. I think that's
part of it, the the X of the os. Remember
when Calipari went pro, it was he was not a
good ex of the nose coach. I mean there was
one time I think he you know, sent four guys
out onto the floor at one point for first sequence.
I mean, there was there was a lot of I mean,

(01:03:37):
there's a lot of stuff that went on there in
New Jersey. But I think more of it is, Look,
you can, you know, run guys into the wall over
a thirty games season, you know, and you can say
whatever you want eighteen year old. You can't do that
to grown men who are making more money than you.
And you can't do that over eighty two games. It
just it just doesn't work. And and when you're and

(01:04:00):
from what I hear, they're I mean, like I said,
there are like these these long practices in Cleveland and
long U film sessions in Cleveland, Like I just can't
connect to that. Um, there's gotta be a middle ground,
and I don't think the Lion has has found. I
still don't don't think he regrets it. I mean, guy
got a five year contracts like the coach in the
NBA guarantee, so he can even if he gets let go,
and he can just walk away with his sort of

(01:04:21):
you know, proverbial rolex watch for the next you know,
four years and if he really does want to get
back into college coach, and there's no doubt he'd be
able to do it. But I just I don't understand
it from a Cleveland perspective. I mean, I just there's
so many good young coaches out there. I mean, his
assistant coach, JB. Bickerstaff is a really good coach they
could have hired to coach that team. So I just
understand the thinking between, you know, hiring a guy like

(01:04:43):
hiring a guy like that to coach a rebuilding team.
What else should we be aware of as we come
up on the midway point of the NBA season is that?
You know? Because I think there's a lot of people
out there, certainly in my audience, who are all in
on football, and they're gonna watch the Divisional Round this weekend,
and they're gonna watch the be A the national title
game for college football on Monday, and then they'll suddenly realize,

(01:05:05):
oh wait, you know, they got a couple of games left,
only three games left in the regular NFL season, and
they'll start to pivot to college and to the NBA.
What would you say is out there that they should
be really paying attention to as they come out of
this football universe. But look, when you get into February,
it's gonna be a lot of fun because I think
there's gonna be a lot of activity before the trade deadline.

(01:05:26):
Not the Monster players being moved, but the fringe guys
that a lot of teams are going to be after
the Tristan Thompsons, the Robert Covington's guys, that that could
make a difference as your six or seventh man, because
there's more parity in the NBA right now than there's
been been really I can remember, at least in the
twenty years that that I've been been covering the league.

(01:05:47):
And look, you know, to to talk about something that
I'm working on right now, I think the market l
Full story is the best story in the NBA. I mean,
this guy went through hell in Philadelphia, you know, dealing
with with everything you dealt with physically, and I've seen
two games of his this week. I mean he kicked
the crap out of Brooklyn with twenty five points on
Monday and had seven assists last night to blow out

(01:06:08):
win for Washington. I mean, this is Orlando doesn't get
a lot of pub and I get why, but you know,
watching Marquel Folks turn his uh, you know, turn his
career around down in Orlando and become you know that
they have the beginnings of a high level point guard
is really fun to watch. I mean, I honestly, I
think he's the best story in the NBA. I really do.
Just his just because of where he was and and

(01:06:30):
and all the things he went through to where he
is right now is really remarkable. The last question for
you is Zion comes back when I from what I hear,
either the end of this month or early next month.
And when he comes back, it will be very reduced
minutes like fifteen to twenty per game for a little
while and until he kind of kind of sees what

(01:06:53):
so basically the higher season for him as a wash
a little bit a little bit. Look, I gotta tell you,
I mean, you know, it's not the same thing, but
seeing Blake Griffin undergo another season ending type of surgery
on his knees has got to be kind of a
red flag if you're New Orleans. I mean, they're not
the same player, but it's another you know, Zion is

(01:07:13):
another guy that just explodes and plays at the rim
and put a lot of weight down that body when
he comes back down. And really since the beginning of
his career, Blake is dealt with significant knee injury. So
if you're the Pelicans, you've got to really slow play
of this, try to get him back. So it is
it is in a way kind of a red shirt
eear for Zion. He'll get, he'll play, It's no doubt

(01:07:35):
about it. But I don't think he'll be giving you
thirty thirty five minutes anytime soon. Good luck with that article,
look forward to reading it. He's Chris Mannox at s I,
Chris Mannox. We'll talk to you next week. Man, you
gotta Clay. Be sure to catch live editions about Kicked
the Coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six am Eastern
three am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
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