What's Wright - Knicks vs. Spurs NBA Finals PREDICTIONS, Myles Garrett & A.J. Brown TRADED, Thunder MORTIFYING loss

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Nick Wright reacts to Game 7 between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. How should OKC react to the loss and what does it means for Victor Wembanyama to lead his team to the NBA Finals? Next, Nick gives his predictions the Spurs' matchup with Jalen Brunson's New York Knicks... will NY finally break their championship drought? Later, Nick reacts to the Cleveland Browns trading Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams as well as the Philadelphia Eagles sending AJ Brown to the New England Patriots. #Volume

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome in What Driving Nick Grid? Episode four sixty two.
This episode of What Driving Nick Grid is presented to
you by our dear friends at boost Mobile. A massive
amount of things to get into today, but I'm gonna
tell you on the front end two things. One is this,
I'm a little a little resentful towards the NFL, which

(00:24):
at this point is probably my favorite sports league, for
once again land grabbing what previously was an obvious NBA
time of the calendar. They already eviscerated Christmas to where
that's just now a football day with basketball in the background,
and they put their football games on streamers, so you

(00:46):
can't even easily flip back and forth on Christmas between
one game or another, which I think was intentional. And
now the beginning of June is just final stuff, basketball stuff.
But all of a sudden, this June first date, which
used to just be a salary cap designation, They're like, no,
we're gonna make massive trades on it. Miles Garrett traded,

(01:09):
AJ Brown traded. We will get to those. Technically, we
should lead the show with those, it's the newest thing. However,
it's the damn finals, so we're gonna lead with the finals. Also,
the other thing I need to tell you, Demonse is
going to be out for a few days here and

(01:30):
there for a number of reasons. He's got a project
he's working on that's very cool that I'm excited for
you guys to be able to see. But also the
other thing is this, uh we just got and by we,
I mean me. I just got my year one revenue
share check for this podcast because we've been with the

(01:52):
volume for a year. And I thought about the fact
that Demonse is not what they call a profit participant
in the show. He makes a nice living. I pay
him for his work, but the extra little gravy on
top goes to me, and so I was like, you
know what, he probably doesn't have to work every single
day I work, since he doesn't have quite the upside
With that said, I am not doing today's show solo,

(02:16):
instead joining us today with the first person to ever
ever co host this show that is not related to me,
my former producer at Mad Dog Sports Radio, Ty Butler.
We can slide him onto the screen. Ty, it is

(02:39):
great to see you. How are you, my friend?

Speaker 2 (02:41):
I'm gonna be honest, Nick, When I got that text
from you this morning, I tell Cassie, my wife, I
don't know what to do, Like I'm shaking, like this
is just surreal. So I'm excited to be on with
you because listen, cause you mentioned at you mentioned there
that we go back to Sirius Xcent, and I remember
before you left you said we will work together again someday,

(03:02):
and I guess this is that someday.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
So this is that.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
And by the way, ty if you're in New York,
if you're a New Yorker, you can hear Tye every
Sunday morning from eight to noon on ESPN New York.
You can follow him on Twitter at Tidy Butler and
on Instagram at the same handle. And your YouTube show.
Promote your YouTube show on the front end before we
get into the show. That is, just promote your YouTube

(03:27):
show for me if you would.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
The ty Butler's show. You can see the logo back here.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
We hop on pretty much every single day, So just
subscribe to the YouTube channel.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Ty D Butler on YouTube.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Ty D Butler on YouTube is perfect, all right, professional broadcaster.
Great to see you. We will get to the NBA
Finals in just a moment. But first, as oh, a
couple other things quickly, We're gonna do another mailbag episode
on Friday, so send in your mailbag questions. However you
put him in today's chat might be the easiest way

(04:00):
to do it. Reply to us on Twitter whatever you want.
And one programming note on the TV show the reopening
of Club Superstar, our fifth edition today at four pm Eastern.
All right, straight to voicemail, brought to you by Boost Mobile.
Russell Wilson officially headed to TV. They're not calling it
a retirement, but he's taking another job. Odell Beckham Junior

(04:21):
returning to the Giants and Serena Williams this is dope
coming out of retirement. I the which, by the way,
great take by the producers. I now no longer have
a honey Deuce cup from what will be Serena's final
match ever since she's coming out of retirement. Quickly tie

(04:43):
very quickly on the Giants because you are you a
Giants fan? Or no, you're a Jets fan. Jets fan
because yeah, I remember them on Rodgers thing the listen.
Odell's on the minimum, he might not make the team.
Juju Smith's on the minimum, he might not make the team.

(05:05):
Braxon Burrios I think was the other one is on
the minimum. He might not make the team, but I
would be, if I were a Giants fan, a little anxious,
a little anxious about Molik Neighbor's health. And that is
not just because I saw the video of him hobbling
the first base in that charity softball game. I would
just be a little nervous about it. So there is that.

(05:26):
But I said I didn't want to start with football,
Spurs Nicks. It's nineteen ninety nine all over again. Let's
go to game seven times.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
It's also the NBA Cup all over again.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Oh yeah, that's the Cup where their Nicks beat the
Spurs and unfortunately Nick, yet another wrong playoff prediction for you, man.
So the Spurs take the Spurs take Game seven on
the road in Oklahoma City. They are in the finals
for the first time since twenty fourteen. Another painful memory
for you. Now at Wibby, though, he becomes the youngest

(05:58):
player in NBA history to lead a conference finals and
scoring and after the game, uncharacteristically, Wimby was very emotional.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
Let's take a listen.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
All these hours we put in. It's forty type of
emotions like I want that, I want to win so bad.
It's like my life depends on it.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
So listen, here's where I come out on that. Because
I love how much he cares. I think it's impossible
not to like how much he cares. I also one
of my themes, and we will get into the nitty
gritty of the series in the game seven in a moment.

(06:52):
One of my kind of themes of Wimby commentary this
year has been that I do think he has been
put into a separate box by a lot of the
media as far as what typically we like don't like
get criticized as doesn't get criticized, and I oddly think

(07:17):
his reaction to making the finals applies it falls into
that same bucket where it was. In some ways it
was really cool and in some ways I have to
think if you're a Spurs fan, it was a little

(07:40):
a little concerning that aw Man, was this their championship
and by the way that would it wouldn't be You
would understand why they might feel that way. None of
those guys, none of the key components on that team,
just Cornett and Barnes, have been to a finals. It

(08:02):
was a set road Game seven against the defending champs.
It was the team you were measured up against all year.
But it did strike me as something that the Knicks.
For everyone on the Knicks, it's their first finals as well,
and they took it. Maybe because there wasn't the emotions

(08:24):
of the game seven, Maybe because it was they hadn't
lost in a month and this going into that game,
it was a FATA company that they were going to
make the finals. The Knicks were very business like and
understated in how they reacted to getting to the NBA Finals,

(08:45):
and the Spurs were overcome by emotion. Now that was
Saturday night. The game is not until Wednesday. Mitch Johnson's
a very good coach, and Greg Popovich, you know, has
coached what is it have a six NBA finals, so
he can help they can all get themselves back leveled

(09:06):
and ready. But do I think, and we'll get more
into this later in the show, it's on the board
that they actually come out a little sapped of not
only energy but emotion in the first game of these finals.
I do Do I think that the Spurs, I'll just
get right into it here that the Spurs going through

(09:27):
that war and the Knicks having this path is a
massive factor and why I believe the Knicks are going
to win the championship. It is I think that the
Spurs having to use so much of their emotional and
physical gas tank to get to this point, while the

(09:48):
Knicks have just kicked it into fifth year, occasionally gotten
a team down by twenty five and thrown it back
into third gear. I think really does work well for him.
So there's I'm not It is not a criticism like
it is a problem or an indictment that Wimby felt
that way and was that open about it, but it

(10:10):
is a data point. But now, Tye, I would like
to get into the actual nitty gritty of game six
and seven, because we have not talked since Game six.
Since before Game six and going into Game six, I

(10:30):
felt like the Thunder, even with the injuries, were in
firm control of the series, up three to two, defending champs,
and Wimby in Game five looked spent. But that Game
six terrified me if I were a Thunder fan, because

(10:51):
it reminded me so much of the Timberwolves annihilating the
Nuggets in Game six of the twenty twenty four second Round,
which then led to the Temperlves going on the road
and beating Okay or beating Denver. So I was anxious

(11:11):
going into game seven what I did not see coming,
And this is what I want your opinion on, because
this was the most stunning part of this entire series.
I did not think it was gonna be possible for
Shay to play as well as he did in a

(11:31):
game seven Wimby to be fine. That was a mediocre
Wimby game. He's always impactful on defens but twenty two points,
I think with seven boards like he got in foul trouble,
Wimby was just fine. And the fact that those two
things happened and the Spurs controlled the game throughout because

(11:57):
all of the Spurs young guys enroll players played well
while the Thunder couldn't find anyone seemingly other than jadeob
and Cason Wallace. That to me was the biggest shock
of the series, not that the Spurs want it, but
that they want it that in that fashion in that

(12:17):
Game seven.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
And the only way that that is made possible is
one scenario where Chet Holmgren has like the most pathetic
performance we've ever seen from a star. And it's not
just he played poorly, right, it's the fact that Nick,
he didn't even want the Smoke would winby Like, that's

(12:39):
to me what's disheartening. And I've heard you made the
make this point about Luke Conard, who obviously he's better
than Cornard, But follow me, you'd rather Canard go three
for eleven than one for four, Like you want to
see the shot attempts there, because you need to see
him be aggressive.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
And the fact that Chet comes up and we can't
call it.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
The biggest game of his life because he he's won
a title, but it's still one of the.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Biggest games of his life.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
No.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
No, he's at home in a game seven, chance to
get to the finals, do something that we haven't seen
since the seventeen and eighteen Warriors, and that's repeat.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
I have a chance to do so, and you have
zero shot.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Attempts in the second half. So that's the only way
that that's made pop.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
I was listen, it was everybody keeps saying zero in
the second half, which is true. Chet took two of
the Thunder's first three shots. He had zero in the
final forty five minutes. He took the first shot of
the game and the third shot of the game and
didn't take another one. Now, this is what I will say,

(13:38):
and we'll talk more Chet when we talk. Okay, see
future in a bit. I do give Wimby a lot
of credit for that, not just because of his physical
presence and his defense, but because of the psychological warfare
element to it. Wimby got in Check's head from the
very beginning of this series and totally neutralized him. But

(14:04):
it was your right, Tie that the thunder Jadubb was
hurt and Chet was nonexistent, and all of a sudden,
it's just Shay out there with a bunch of quality
role players, but still role players. What was stunning to me, though,

(14:25):
was that the all of all of the Spurs role
players were ready, Like I expected Castle to be ready.
He's played for a national championship. He just seems like
such a crazy competitor. Fine. Dylan Harper when he's been
healthy this postseason has been excellent. I didn't think he

(14:45):
was gonna even though he's a rookie. I wouldn't have
killed him if he was, you know, bad, but I
thought he would be good. Kelvin Johnson had done nothing
all series. He was in the fourth quarter of a
Game seven. He's hitting you choch shots Champinni was arguably
their second best guy in this game behind Wimby The

(15:07):
cell missshots but was still active. Fox had his best game,
you could argue since the ankle spring. Remember the last
time Fox was in a game seven, the only time
he was in a game seven they lost to the Warriors,
was that in Sacramento.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
I think it was Sacramento.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, yeah, I think that that was the light.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
The two seed.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Two seeds seems high for the Kings. I'm gonna fact
the fact check tie on that. There's no way the
Kings have not been the two seeds since Chris Weber
were there. I have a hard time. Maybe you're right,
but I have a hard time believing the Kings got
to the two seed. He could be correct the but regardless,
the point is all of those guys stepped up. Yeah,

(15:51):
this was for all of the ballot. The altar of
Sam Presty three seed, Wow, how embarrassed off? Come on? Man?
But the for and Presty obviously is a brilliant GM
and has done a great job the Spurs roster building.

(16:13):
Champagne who they claimed off waivers. The the hell, Carter Bryant,
didn't you know you only played a couple minutes, but
he's a late first round rookie who was playing real
he was playing in the conference finals, not late first round,
mid first round. Pardon me. All those guys contributed in

(16:34):
a road game seven, and that is what makes you
so bullish on the Spurs moving forward, and for the
thunder Man, tough night for Caruso to have his worst night.
Dort was borderline unplayable all series. You know, Chet was

(16:55):
a disaster. Hartenstein went from oh my god, he's Game one.
It was like he this isn't the series for him.
Games two and three they figured it out. You know,
he vacillated game to game. And we'll get to him
in a bit. But credit to Shay for playing great,
playing great without infuriating the opposing team's fan base and

(17:20):
keeping his team in it before we get go ahead go.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
I was gonna say, but that makes you more upset,
right because it's like, dude, you are too great to
reduce yourself to having to flop every time that you
you know you're you're in a spot where you need
to score. And he's on the floor all game and
so he was sensation.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
But no, so there is and I reference this tweet
now a dozen times, but the Miles Brown tweet mt
Brown on Twitter when he was replying to someone who
someone was accusing him of downplaying checks or Shay's greatness,
and he was like, no, we all know great And

(18:01):
the compy used was he said, it's like Sherlock Holmes
planting drugs on suspects. You don't need to do it.
There is an element of the worse you are the
more accepting we are of the bullshit. Like there is
a level of if Gary Payton dating myself here did

(18:23):
the Jose Alverado hide in the back court steels thing,
he'd be like, give me a break, man. But because
for all Verado, it's like it's a key part of
who he is a lot of the best Dort. I
don't like the dirty stuff with Dort, the objectively dirty stuff,
but some of the upper level physicality. It's like, Okay,

(18:45):
that's kind of all. That's the whole reason you have
utility in this league. Shaye doesn't need to do it.
But we'll get more to the thunder in a second.
I know you have some follow ups here about the
Spurs and Wimby and Mitch Johnson, so that we can
get to all of them.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
And are you over your concerns about Wimby's gas tank,
because you know that was an issue throughout the series.
We know he goes from playing twenty eight twenty nine
minutes a night during the regular season. Obviously that's not
the case with you having to play every other day,
So are you over that?

Speaker 1 (19:17):
Not at all? Now? I don't think it'll be as
big of a factor because the only every other day
games are Games one and two are every other day,
and games three and four are every other day. But
between games two and three and then four and five,
five and six, and six and seven they get two
days off. But I still think the totality of minutes

(19:43):
played and wear and tear on the spurs as a whole,
it's not nothing. So like just doing this off the
top of my head here. So if Wimby is played
thirty two and a half minutes a game, and they've

(20:04):
played seventeen playoff games, so if we're twenty that would
be six hundred and fifty so he's played what is it?
What is that five hundred and fifty two minutes in
these playoffs thereabouts? The Castle's played right around the same
Fox has played right around the same. The Cells played

(20:25):
right around the same. So all those guys are around
five hundred and fifty playoff minutes, am I. Now I'm
gonna know, I'm seventeen times thirty two should be right
around five hundred and fifty. Let's find out together. Seventeen
I was thirty two five hundred and forty four, and
it was thirty two and a half. I nailed that,
great job, Nick, great In fact, I said five hundred

(20:47):
and fifty two, seventeen times thirty two and a half.
Let's just see real quick, five hundred and fifty two
and a half. God, I am the great, all right,
great job. So all those guys are right around five
hundred and fifty minutes. The Knicks, on the other hand, Brunson,
they've all played fourteen games, so three fewer games, and

(21:12):
well og five fewer games was because of injury. Obviously
similar spot as Fox and Brunson's played thirty six minutes
a game. Towns, Bridges and Heart are all playing right,
you know, in the low thirties. So we're talking, you know,
just about one hundred minutes less less as far as

(21:33):
playoff wear and tear, an extra week of rest. Yeah,
that that is something, and it also is something in
this regard. I thought Wimby's exhaustion level and gas tank
vacillated greatly game to game, And this was another reason
I thought Game six was potentially so damaging for the

(21:56):
Thunder because Wemby only had to play twenty eight minutes
because like he you know, they they blew him out
so quickly and so decisively in that third quarter with
the twenty zero run. He got to chill a bit.
But I do think that'll be a factor. I do
think Mitchell Robinson, even if he's in a cast, is

(22:16):
gonna use hard fouls on Wimby and make him work.
And Kat is a load like Cat. Yes, Cat'll be
out at the three point line, but Kat also will
bang with you, So I do think that is a factor.
Here a couple more questions before we get to the
OKAC side. Go ahead, all right.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
So after the game, Wimby had this to say about
what it took to be an opponent like Oklahoma City.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
Here's the quote board.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
You got to use every single emotion in you in
order to win. And sometimes these emotions is passion, love
for the game. Sometimes it's anger, sometimes it might even
be jealousy. So can Wimby conjure up the same kind
of passion and hatred for the finals or is this
some type of emotional hangover that you expect to have it?

Speaker 1 (23:03):
Well, I don't think he's I think what he's going
to have going for him in the finals is that
he wants it so bad and this is you know,
he feels like this is his destiny. What I don't
think he's gonna have going for him is he seems
to really hate Chet, and they seem to really measure

(23:27):
themselves against the Thunder, and so I think there will
be a natural bit of a let down there. Now,
maybe pop Is and Mitch Johnson are just gonna show
him videos repeatedly of the Knicks winning the NBA Cup
against them, and they're gonna generate similar the same type

(23:49):
of anger when he had during you know, for Chet
for beating him in that international tournament. The other things
I want to bring up here is quickly, I thought
one of the Thunder's bigger mistakes was, and credit to
the broadcast for pointing this out, when Wimby went back
in the game with five fouls, they had to go

(24:12):
right at him just to see I don't think the
refs were gonna foul him out unless he cloppered a guy.
But just see how Wimby reacts to going for blocks
when I don't think they made him contest a single
shot when he was in foul trouble and once he

(24:34):
got to five fouls. So I think that was a mistake.
And the other piece of it is I know there
was a lot of commentary tie that the cornet block
was the biggest play of the series. It was an
unbelievable play, and it might have been the biggest play
of the game, but unquestionably and undeniably the biggest play

(24:58):
of the series was Wimby's three in Game one that
put the Thunder on their back foot the entire time.
I think if he misses that shot, the Thunder win
the series. Flatley, I think if he misses that shot,
it's on the board that the well hold on, let
me make sure I have this right. Jadab's first game

(25:20):
back was the Okay, that it was that game, so
I was gonna say, maybe they don't rush Jada back,
but that he had played in that game and he
played well. I just think I think that shot was
the pivot point of the series, and it's apropos that
the biggest play of the series was the seven foot

(25:43):
five freak show hitting the twenty eight footer. Now, I guess,
go ahead, I.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
Was gonna say.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
The counter to that is they still went down through
two in the series. Whereas Cornett's block, It's like me
watching it, I felt like, all right, here's where the
defending champs flex their muscle. They go on to run
because san Antonio, it felt like they were watching the
clock and they were getting a little antsy, and then
that block kind of just resets the whole momentum of
the game.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
And then maybe series listen the it would have it
would have cut the game to four. The sneaky part
about the Thunder having any chance of coming back that
ended up being irrelevant because they never got it closer
than six was they had no timeouts left. So if

(26:31):
they were at any point in one of those foul
hit A three those situations, they weren't gonna be able
to advance the ball. They were I think they were.
I think the Spurs were going to win even without
the Cornet block, But the Cornet block followed by if
it was I think was Castle Jumper kind of sealed
it all right. I want to get to the thunder

(26:52):
side of things, and then we will get to the
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Speaker 1 (29:05):
The reminder to everybody like great, subscribe review to the pod.
I was told that May was our most viewed month
on YouTube. Ever, sadly, I think that's almost assuredly just
because I was in a couple brief media beefs in May,
and the YouTube algorithm loves the media beefs. I'd loved

(29:27):
I'd love it if it were because of my cojin analysis.
But I see the numbers and it turns out no,
people just click on media beefs, but still subscribe to
the pod, and also check out Ties pod, The Tydee
Butler Show on YouTube, and check out Tie on ESPN
New York from eight am to noon every Sunday. Demons

(29:48):
will be back soon. We're giving him a few days
off as he is worried. You guys aren't gonna believe
the thing. Demanse is coming down the pike. I'm so
excited about it, I really am excited for you guys
to see it. All right, ty, let's discuss Okay, see all.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
Right, So Oklahoma City, the dynasty derailed before he began.
And it's funny we do this every year, right, team
wins a championship and it's like, oh, no, one's gonna
beat him, and then they don't make the finals. So
for the Thunder seventy one and fourteen against the rest
of the league this year, four and eight against the Spurs,
and in the end of the year press conference, here
was SGA.

Speaker 6 (30:22):
It was a failure, like I failed at my vote
and I didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve. But
through my experiences I learned the most about myself and
I make the the like great amount of increases I

(30:45):
have in my career when I failed and I going
don't get what I want.

Speaker 1 (30:50):
And I look, it is no difference.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
So he was awesome. I was gonna teach you, no, go,
go go.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
He was awesome in game seven and I saw you
say this was one of the best games he's ever played.
But your reaction to this press conference and then I
have some following care.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
No, So I think it is fair.

Speaker 6 (31:16):
Too.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
And I tried to get into this with Danny on
the TV show yesterday. He wasn't really that open to it,
but I think we have a growing sample of evidence
that and we'll get into Shay specifically in a moment.
I want to talk about the Thunder as a whole.
That the Thunder are built to be an absolute, undeniable

(31:44):
regular season juggernaut that come the playoffs. Is a very
good team, but nowhere near the all time legendary teams
that they were being comped to. And that isn't because
some esoteric or intangible clutch gene bullshit. It is because

(32:09):
when you think about how their roster is built, it
makes sense that they would be better equipped to beat
the hell out of people over the course of the
slog of the eighty two game regular season, and that

(32:31):
their upside would be limited a bit once you get
to high leverage playoff games. And here's why. The Thunder
of the deepest team in the league, and the thing
that makes the Thunder the most special is they seemed
in player acquisition and player development to prioritize defense over offense.

(32:54):
So over the course of a regular season when you're
not playing your stars hu huge minutes, when it's their
bench against your bench, they're gonna win those minutes. And
over the course of the regular season, when you look
at the schedule and you might have a couple tankers

(33:15):
coming up, or you know, an offense only finesse team
as your next game, there's an element of, you know,
early in the second half of some regular season games
against the Thunder, other teams are like, screw this, many
we're not they are. They are at a level we don't.

(33:40):
We either can't or don't care to get to tonight.
It'll be easier than whatever next game we play, and
so they roll through people. But then in the playoffs,
where how good your tenth, eleventh, and twelfth men are matter.
The least we're noody is just being like, ah, this

(34:01):
game's too hard. You know, we're packing it in where
everybody's defense steps up a bit, all of their edges
are muted to a degree. And the reason I'm saying
a growing sample size is two years ago the Thunder
I think won fifty eight games, they were the number

(34:24):
one seed, and they got beat in six in Round
two by a totally incomplete, built on the fly MAVs
team that had a rookie starting at center, Luke and
Scher the same age. Yes, Kyrie is a veteran, but

(34:48):
they did not come close to playing to their seed
two years ago. Last year, in route to winning the championship,
they faced a seventh game in round two and then
faced a seventh game and we're trailing at halftime of

(35:10):
game seven of the finals after Halliburton and tore his achilles.
And now this year and last year they won sixty
seven games, and this year, when they won sixty four,
sixty five whatever it was, games, they go to seven
in round three and lose. They have not been a

(35:31):
postseason juggernaut. They have been a regular season juggernaut. And
they won a championship and they deserved it. They earned
the title. I'm not throwing any asterisk on the title.
I'm not doing any of that. But I do think

(35:55):
that just like we have had certain teams. The most
famous probably was the latter stages of the Shaq Kobe Lakers.
I think another really good example is the twenty eighteen Warriors,
where at certain some great examples would be the the

(36:19):
twenty sixteen certainly the twenty seventeen Calves where you simply knew, Yeah,
I don't really care how they look in the regular season,
they're gonna jump a couple levels in the playoffs. I

(36:39):
do think.

Speaker 6 (36:42):
It is.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
Possible that the Thunder are a little bit of the
inverse of that, not like the you know, al Horford
Hawks that won sixty games, not like this year's Pistons,
not like some of those Lowry Derozen Raptor teams where
you just or the Donovan Rudy Gobert Jazz teams where

(37:08):
it's like, no, they are frauds. Come to the playoffs,
They're not gonna be able to do it, not to
that level, but to where the historical comps of this
is the uh, you know, these are the greatest teams
in league history and the Thunder alongside them. I just

(37:29):
don't buy that. And you mentioned the dynasty stuff, Yeah,
and that is and what we didn't talk dynasty necessarily
with the twenty one Bucks, the twenty three Nuggets. We

(37:50):
did maybe a little bit with the twenty four Celtics. Yeah,
the twenty four Celtics. About whether it was possible, I
do think it makes just from a historical logic perspective,
this Thunder team has so much more in common with

(38:14):
the twenty one Bucks or the twenty three Nuggets than
it does the dynasties of you know, our lifetime, which
is they have one all time great player, not quite
inner inner Circle Hall of like top six to eight
all time guy, but one of the twenty five greatest

(38:35):
players of all time as their lead guy, a nice
roster around him that makes a ton of sense, but
no other superstar on the roster, just like the Nuggets
didn't have another superstar, just like the Bucks didn't have
another superstar. And winning one championships a hell of an accomplishment,

(38:56):
and you're gonna fight tooth and nail to get back
to another one. Those teams haven't. And I do not
think it is a sure thing at all that the
thunder will Before we get onto the SGA piece of it.
You go ahead your thoughts on all that.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
Just to defend Danny to an extent, we're having a
different conversation. And I don't want to use injuries as
an excuse because it happens every year, but we're having
a totally different conversation. If j dub and Mitchell don't
get hurt, and you agree because you picked Okac to
win this series in seven, So if in this three
year run, it's one seed, one seed, one seed in

(39:32):
their first year winning a championship. Yes, you need some
pelts on the wall. So you go to seven with
the best player in the league, and then you win
the finals in seven. But then the following year you
beat a sixty two wins Spurs team led by Wimby
and then maybe the hottest team we've ever seen, you
clip them in the finals. It's a different conversation for
Oklahoma City.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
Yeah, but I so here's why I care less about
the injury piece, because if we're gonna play the what
if injury game, then yeah, you're right. Maybe if they
are fully healthy, they win this series. And maybe, if
we are removing injuries from the conversation, winning this series
allows them to have a chance to win their first championship.

(40:13):
Because last year, in that Game seven against the Nuggets,
Aaron Gordon's walking around with an off the bone hamstring
it looks like, and obviously Haliburton tears his achilles, So
like there is the weekend. The point I'm making is
this OKC team during this three year run was the

(40:36):
caliber of a one time champion, and they won one championship.
That feels about right, Like usually it works out about
the way it's supposed to. And I don't think Shay
is and I know you don't, Kobe Bryant, and I

(40:59):
don't care what It's not that I don't care what
the numbers are. It's that well, let's get into the
shade piece of it, right, Okay.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
So he played his best game in Game seven despite
being largely underwhelming in the series. Yes, uh, he drops
thirty one points a game in the regular season, but
that dips to twenty four in the Western Conference Finals,
which look Yeah, for a lot of players, a dip
from regular season to postseason when you're playing tougher competition
in the same team over and over, you know that

(41:31):
sends to happen, but it to be that significance.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
This was a significant dip, and the efficiency fell off
a cliff. He was fifty and then it was thirty
seven percent going into Game seven.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
But go ahead, But you know there were a lot
of MJ comps throughout the regular season.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
Is it safe to say those are dead?

Speaker 1 (41:51):
Oh? You listen, yeah, I people thought this was an
insult where I said he's neck and neck with Dwayne
Wade for like the eighth ninth best guard ever. That
is not an insult. And again I've done this before.
I'll do it off the top of my head here,
so fact check me. If I leave anybody out and
you're gonna you might get mad at the order. Actually no,

(42:13):
I don't think you'll get mad at the order at all.
For gar Yeah, but Michael Magic, Kobe Steph This is
where people might argue with me. It's Fine west Isaiah Oscar,
that's seven mm hmm, Wade Shay and then we can

(42:40):
start having the Chris Paul, Bob Coosey, you know, or
where some people would be like, where's Russell Westbrook, Where's
James Harden. I would probably bring up Jason Kidd, you know,
earlier than some of those guys. But there's he is.
The two MVPs by the way, the two MVPs didn't
get Steven in that list, and I named a bunch

(43:02):
of guys. So it's the But the multiple years of
averaging thirty, the crazy efficiency, the championship, the MVPs, they
put him in, you know, firmly in that guard top ten.
But there is something to be said for the fact

(43:25):
that in this series he wasn't getting all the calls
he normally gets, and the efficiency fell off in this series.
Stefan Castle was not afraid that if I breathe on him,
he's gonna go to the line. And Stefan Castle is
also an unbelievable defender and Whimby's the best run protector
in the league. Get all of that, and his efficiency

(43:47):
dropped fifteen percentage points in this series. Going into Game seven,
he was having the third least efficient from a field
goal percentage standpoint series by any reigning MVP ever, behind

(44:07):
only Derrick Rose and Allen Iverson in series the year
they won MVP, when those guys were, even when they
were winning MVPs, not very efficient players. And so it again,

(44:28):
even the biggest Shay fans, if they get he gave
him a polygraph, they didn't think he was actually closer
to being Stephan Kobe than he was to being Kobe
or I'm sorry d Wade and Chris Paul. Obviously Chris
Paul's a different player. I think they, I think deep
down they knew it, and would you now see can

(44:50):
he climb the mountain?

Speaker 7 (44:51):
Again?

Speaker 1 (44:51):
I don't think ty they can climb the mountain with
the roster that they're gonna have next year, which gets
us to some of the offseason stuff. So let's go.
Let's go to it, all right.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
So one of my favorite things to do is like
NBA Twitter, it's to start firing off, you know, trade machines.
And you know Chet, he seems to have gotten the
most blame. What does his future look like in Oklahoma City?
Just got that massive extension. He's a former number two
overall pick and just flatly didn't show up in that series.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
And so what do you think, okay, future looks like?

Speaker 1 (45:27):
So this is what I am very curious about, and
I don't I don't know what you do. First of all,
let me say this on the front end. Actually, I
am confused about how the second Apron works. Okay, I

(45:47):
know when you're a second Apron team, you can't aggregate, trade,
aggregate players in a trade. And I know that, as
presently constituted, the Thunder going to be a second Apron team.
I also know that they are not actually going to
be a second Apron team because they have play They
have team options for Hartenstein and Dort, so they will

(46:11):
either move trade those guys or they will just not
pick up the options. But I don't understand the mechanics
of the order of these things. So I try to
only ever propose trades that are actually allowable and make sense.
But I can't fucking figure this out. I've tried. No

(46:33):
one has done a good job. No I shouldn't take
No one's done a good job. It hasn't been able
to be explained to me. So I don't totally understand.
But let's just assume for the sake of this discussion
that Presty is able to with it. You know that

(46:53):
he can time things to where if there is a
trade that makes sense for them basketball wise, he'll be
able to navigate the aprons. All right, Then the question becomes,
do you run it back with this same squad minus
at least one, if not two, key contributors. Because when

(47:15):
people say run it back, Ti Hartenstein's gonna be gone,
the thunder are not gonna be the most expensive team
in NBA history. Clay Bennet's not gonna allow that. Dort
I thought was gonna be gone. But then Tim McMahon reported,
I think yesterday that Shay wants his Team Canada teammate back,

(47:35):
even though he said he was gonna leave it all
up to Presty. So I thought Dort was gonna be gone.
I don't know, but there is no reason to me
to think that. Simply I have run it back. Hope
on health minus Hertenstein and Dort is the right approach.

(47:57):
And the chet piece is so unnerving because what if
it just is a whim be problem. Yeah, yeah, that's
that's a big problem. Yeah, that is that that the

(48:19):
comp I used on the show yesterday and it wasn't
a perfect one. Was if the early twenty tens Pacers
when they were you know, in those wars with Miami,
if every time if Paul George was like all NBA
MVP candidate, awesome player, and then when he saw Lebron

(48:42):
on the other side of the court played the worst
basketball of his career, you'd be like, well, then we're
kind of screwed. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
It was like the Raptor It's the Raptors as a
team during those Lebron years, Right, It's not one player,
it's the entire team.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
That's a better example, because Paul George did the opposite.
He raised his game. Yes, and you know what the
Raptors did. They traded away a lot of the team
and and Lebron also left the conference, which helped. But
I don't know, there's no way, and it's Chet was
so good against every other team and was so good
throughout the year. But would I strongly consider a Chet

(49:26):
Yanna's trade. Of course I threw out there and people
thought I was nuts seeing if you could without giving
up any draft picks trade but have Chet be the
centerpiece of a trade for Anthony Davis. I don't think
that's crazy if the goal is to get through Wimby. Now,

(49:48):
I know Anthony Davis just got you know, traded for
thirty cents on the dollar, but I don't know what chets.
You know, overall value is in the marketplace right now,
but maybe in the East people would be like, he
has immense value.

Speaker 3 (50:01):
Go ahead, but think about that.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
It's that if you're Oklahoma City, I would imagine you think, man,
if we're healthy, we win this series. So now you
go trade for Anthony Davis who's never healthy. It doesn't
really pass that it makes sense test.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
No, and he's so much older and the injury concerned.
So I just don't think saying Oklahoma City can flatly
just be like we're running it back. Plus we're gonna
move up in the draft, and part of that is
because I just don't think they have been I don't

(50:35):
think they are actually quite as good as their regular
season record over the last few years suggests. All right,
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chat for Friday's Mailbag episode. All right, sorry, Ty, I
almost say that. He used to saying, all right, Deman,
say all right, let's do finals narratives.

Speaker 3 (53:05):
All right, so the NBA Finals set.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
You've got the Knicks and the Spurs rematch in a
ninety nine fine as we talked about, it's also a
rematch of the Cup. So many angles to it in
your eyes, like, what's the most intriguing.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Well, I mean, the obvious one is if Wimby wins
the title, not only is he the best player in
the league, but you do it is fair to say, now, listen,
he's at mile marker three of a twenty six mile marathon,
but he is on the trajectory of not just one of,

(53:44):
but the greatest player of all time. He would he
would be out pacing Lebron and Jordan, and he would
be on equal pace as Kareem. Kareem won a title
in league MVP and scoring title all that year two
but younger, so like further into his career, but younger

(54:07):
than Kareem. Those are the three greatest players ever. So
that that is going to be what's hovering over the
series from a narrative standpoint. The flip side of what's
hovering over the series from a narrative standpoint is if
the Knicks win, Jalen Brunson's place in NBA history amongst

(54:29):
small guards, the only small guards that you can say
unquestionably led a team to an NBA championship. I again,

(54:52):
I'm gonna be a little nerdy here, Bob Coosey, but again,
Russell was there, but Russell was a rookie. Coosey was
the MVP of the league. Bob Coosey was six to one.
And then it's Isaiah Thomas and Steph and that's it

(55:13):
for small guys to lead a team to a championship.
So I don't know what you do with that piece
of information, but that piece of information will be there.

(55:34):
And again some would say maybe Gus Williams, but I
don't know that. He was definitively the best player on
the seventy nine Sonics. And so it's really the only
guys who it's without a doubt are Steph and Isaiah
best players on a champion as small guards. Brunson would
join that list. And listen Draymond's doubling down on this.

(55:58):
Becky Hammond seemed to double down on this. Here's the
question I would have for you quickly tie on Brunson.
If this is the circumstance, you can have any player
in the league, any player in the league gets dropped

(56:18):
on your team, and the circumstances are it's a playoff
game tied going into the fourth quarter, how high does
Brunson go in that draft?

Speaker 3 (56:31):
Man, he has to be one at this point right now.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
Grants it, they've been blowing teams out and he hasn't
played in any of the elimination game in the fourth quarters,
but it has to be based on what we've seen
him do, right It's.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
He's certainly Listen, if somebody said Joker, if somebody said Luca,
if like, there's it, it's not it's somebody said Wimby.
Because of his impact on both sides, those aren't bad answers.
But if you say no, I'll take jail brunts in,
it totally makes sense.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
Well, because it's that to the point where when he
has when he takes a shot, you expect every time,
you expect it to go and like you're shocked.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
When it doesn't go in. And there's there's a lot
of value in that obviously, and.

Speaker 1 (57:16):
So here is the So those are kind of the
overarching narratives, right, the Brunson narrative and the Wimby narrative.
The other things that to me are really fascinating is

(57:43):
and I understand why this is the feeling and this
Spurs team does feel different. I get all of that.
But there will would be a school of thought of, well,
if the Spurs don't win this year, don't worry, they're
gonna have so many bites at the Apple. Maybe. Yeah,

(58:05):
but it's not only that they're in the tougher conference.
It's and I they're at in a beneficial spot because
so their three best players are all still on rookie deals,
and so they're not gonna have to worry about Apron
stuff as soon as other teams will. But we have
I watched, I didn't watch. I was two years old.

(58:26):
But a Keema LaJuan made the finals in his second
year with the Rockets, did not make it back for
nearly a decade, and in the middle of that time,
Semi requested a trade, kind of wanted out of Houston.
Luca made the finals as a twenty four year old,

(58:49):
never made it back with Dallas, got traded bron made
the finals at Wimby's age as a twenty two year old.
Oh of course they'll be back. Did not make it
back with that team for nearly a decade and left
the team. In the meantime, d Wade made the finals
and they won by the way. In year two, d Wade,

(59:14):
that would have been no year three. Year three, Uh,
with the heat, they bottomed out and needed bron to
come there for them to get back up there. I
it is Yes, it is likely this is the first

(59:35):
of many trips to the finals for Wimby. Yes, it
is likely that these that all of those come with
the Spurs, but that shit is not a guarantee. Yeah,
and you know the thunder going to They're not going anywhere,
even if I'm not as high in them as others.
We'll see if Yannis lands on a different Western Conference

(59:58):
team what that means. We'll see what moves the Lakers make,
We'll see what moves the Timberwolves make. Like teams that
are gonna be in this mix. And so I it's cliche.
No time like the present, ty, I do want to
ask you one question, because I haven't dug into this.

(01:00:21):
I see a lot of like maybe it's the same
stat popping up a bunch of times, but that Og
was the most successful Wimby defender. Okay, so you've seen
that same thing. Does that do you buy that?

Speaker 4 (01:00:38):
Like?

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
Is that a sample sized thing? Is that do you think?
Because when OG's guarding him, they have another big out
there that's kind of patrolling. Like what do you make
of that?

Speaker 2 (01:00:48):
I think it's a short sample size, But I mean
Og is clearly I know he didn't get first team
all the NBA, which was disaster in my opinion, but yeah,
first team defensive, first team NBA defense. But I think
he will draw it that assignment and do very well.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
Can I can?

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
I just hit on one thing real quick that you mentioned
about the guys who got to a finals early and
then it took a while.

Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
Man, none of.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Them were seven to five, and so like, you just
don't know what the shelf life is for a guy
that big, because I watched the game.

Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
My pops is a Spurs fan.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
Every time Wimby falls on the ground, you're you're anxious
because like you don't know what limb is gonna if
he's gonna get up, grimacing, and so when a guy
at that size we know leak history tells us you
tend to have injury issue.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
Yeah, so you almost have to. And this is more
of like a front office thing, like build your team differently,
because like every year is like our windows now.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
So I listen, nobody likes talking about that, but I
and mate Wimby might break the mold in that regard
to but that that that exists as a concert in
a way that it doesn't for Cooper Flag and the
MAVs maps build. There's no like, there's no no question

(01:02:08):
about that. So before we get to the NFL, you
know what, I want to hear this actually before I
give my pick. Demonse again, he'll be back soon. He's
off site on a project. I am curious what Demandse's
pick for these NBA Finals is. Let's toss to it.

Speaker 7 (01:02:31):
Hey, what's right? Family, Sorry that I'm not there this week.
I'll see you guys next week and hope to tell
you guys all about the reason that I'm not there.
But my finals pick would have to be Spurs and six.
The Knicks have gone through the East, the Spurs have
gone through the West. I'm not saying that what the
Knicks have done over there in the East is fake,

(01:02:52):
but I do think that it's gonna come to a
somewhat of a halt when they meet the Spurs. I
think that the Spurs just have the formula to counteract
what the Knicks are doing, Like they're just playing this
together brand of basketball. Everybody's hooping. But then you got
the Spurs, and you got one through five and all
them can guard. I just think that the Spurs had

(01:03:12):
the edge and they'll pull it out in six.

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
Thanks uh So, I think that is going to be
the most popular pick, Spurs and six. And I understand
ty the difference between playing the Calves and playing the Thunder.
I don't think that the that the Hats to the

(01:03:41):
first overall path was playing the Timberwolves is certainly harder
than who the Knicks had in round two and the Sixers.
There's no doubt about that. Round one. I actually think
you could argue the Knicks had the tougher opponent in
playing the Hawks versus playing got It so long ago
the Blazers with so I get the path piece of it,

(01:04:08):
but the Spurs on their path lost one game in
round one, two games in round two, and right they
lost it was Yeah, the Timberals, Yeah, and lost three
games in Round three. The Knicks haven't lost in more
than a month, and every single game is a blowout.

(01:04:31):
Even the game that went to overtime ended in a blowout.
The Knicks are healthier. The Knicks are more rested the Knicks,
and when I say rested, I mean emotionally and physically.
I think the Knicks steel Game one, and I think
the Knicks win the series in six at MSG For

(01:04:52):
what will be the single If the Knicks are up
three to two going into Game six, that might end
up being the single most expensive forget NBA ticket, sporting
event ticket in American history leading up to that point.
I like the Knicks and six. I don't know if
you've given your official prediction, and you also don't have

(01:05:15):
to do that here if you want to save it
for your shows.

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
Seven and seven. Can I give you two concerns quickly
about the Knicks, Wyvis. They're awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
It's the first time they are on the road to
start a playoff series. It's also the first time to
enter a series where they don't have the best player. Now,
Jalen can end up out playing Wimby, but I think
we would all agree, Wimby's the best player in this series,
and so with home court, with the fact that you
know they're coming off of that seven game series, where

(01:05:46):
like I know, people question their experience, I think you
get all the experience once you beat the Thunder in
a game seven on their home floor, and now you've
got all of this momentum. The best play I think
the Spurs winning seven. But by the way, Nick, when
you pick a team to win in seven games, it
really means corre.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Yeah, No, it means you think it could go either way. Yeah,
the I just think the Knicks are and we'll see
how much the layoff hurt, and we will see Mitchell
Robinson's wildly important in this series. Yeah, I'm assuming you'll
still be able to rebound and catch lobs, which he

(01:06:24):
has to do. But if he if he's not playable
because of the hand injury, that to me could flip
the whole thing because I just think his fifteen minutes
a game can wear Wemby down to a degree. And
I also think he is such an edge on the
glass against Cornett. So we'll see how if he plays.

(01:06:49):
But I the Knicks in this spot all right, before
we get to the NFL. You ever notice how everything
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Speaker 6 (01:07:04):
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(01:07:26):
Boost Unlimited plan. All right, one of the biggest trades
in recent NFL history happened yesterday. Let's get into.

Speaker 3 (01:07:34):
It, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
So the Rams trade for Miles Garrett. They acquire him
from Cleveland for Jared Verst Youngstad, a twenty seven first
round pick, a twenty eight second rounder, and a twenty
nine third rounder.

Speaker 3 (01:07:46):
The Rams now.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Plus six hundred to win the Super Bowl, ahead of
both Buffalo and Baltimore, who are tired at plus one thousand.
Big fans of first things First, know this term s
BOB is anything short of a Super Bowl a complete
and utter failure for the Los Angeles.

Speaker 1 (01:08:03):
Listen, I think that the NFL is so weird because yeah,
like wow, look at what huge favorites they are. There's
plus six hundred, which means the implied probability of that
is like, ah, they have about a fifteen percent chance
of winning the Super Bowl.

Speaker 6 (01:08:19):
So it is.

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
Now obviously they did this because they thought they were
good enough last year if they had better pass defense.
They lost in the NFC Championship game, and they're trying
to maximize Matt Stafford's window. I don't think you can

(01:08:43):
say it's a complete and utter failure definitively if they
don't win the Super Bowl trading for Miles Garrett, that is,
until you tell me what type of run Miles Garrett's
gonna have in Los Angeles. If Miles Garrett, who's thirty,
plays another seven years and has you know, another four

(01:09:06):
all pro years and at least five excellent years, then
you roll the dice line. At some point your team's
good enough and you'll win the Super Bowl. I will say, however, oddly,
I don't know if it's oddly or not if they
don't win the Super Bowl this year or I suppose

(01:09:28):
next year with Stafford. The only way this isn't a
I don't want to say failure, but a trade they
regret is if ty Simpson ends up being the right guy.
So I do think that they pretty clearly Tie knew
they might be making this trade when they drafted ty Simpson,

(01:09:50):
and that's one of the reasons they did draft Ti
Simpson was because they knew they wouldn't have draft picks
in the future. But here is where I think, after
twenty four hours of marinating on it, I've landed. I
really do like this move for both teams. I do

(01:10:11):
think the Rams become the definitive certainly NFC, if not
just overall Super Bowl favorites. I also, however, think this
there is close to a zero percent chance Cleveland regrets
this trade. They weren't going anywhere anytime soon. It helps

(01:10:34):
them clean up their books versus excellent, and they got
a first, a second, and a third. Now you want
to hit on the picks, but you want to hit
on the picks no matter how you get them. I
think for Cleveland this trade definitely is a smart one.
I think they got one hundred and twenty cents on
the dollar, because what do you think versus worth on

(01:10:54):
the open market? A first in a second at least
like a pass rusher that good at his age, like
maybe two firsts. So you got the equivalent of let's
call it two first two seconds and a third for
Miles Garrett. That's like quarterback compensation. That's fine. So I
don't see Tye a scenario where the Browns regret this.

(01:11:18):
I do see a scenario where the Rams regret it.
It's not the likely scenario, but if one team regrets it,
it's the Browns. I'm sorry, it's the Rams. And the
other piece of this is man oh man, ty. They
better be certain that Miles Garrett wants to play for
a long long time, that he's not like, okay, a

(01:11:39):
couple more years now. If they win a super Bowl
in those couple of years, they'd be fine with it. Yeah,
but that's the the It is a risky trade for
the Rams, but a risk I like them taking and
talk about going from pass defense being a problem to
trade for McDuffie, trade for Jalen Watson or sorry, sign
Jalen Watson, trade for Miles Garrett. Now we would expect

(01:12:01):
him to have one of the toughest past defenses in
the whole.

Speaker 3 (01:12:04):
League, speaking of, you know, improving their defense.

Speaker 2 (01:12:07):
Is there a world where you see Aaron Donald decide
he's gonna lace him up again?

Speaker 1 (01:12:12):
You know, I saw that kicked around yesterday. I Aaron
Donald has missed how many years? Aaron Donald? So he's
been retired for the last two years, So he retired
in twenty three. I don't. I don't think a d

(01:12:34):
tackle who's missed two years and is now thirty five
is coming out of retirement. He's one of the greatest
players ever. I just don't. I don't think that is
a likely outcome. I do want to say, I do
want to add one other thing on this though, And

(01:12:56):
this is where if you're a football fan, it's just exciting.
We've never seen Miles Garrett play for a team that
consistently was leading. He got twenty three sacks on a
terrible team that uh, you know, he didn't he did
not get in. The reason that matters is obvious. He

(01:13:17):
just didn't get a ton as many pass rush opportunities
as you think of, like Freenie and mathis playing with
Peyton where the team's always ahead, Like, I don't know
what the upper bound of Miles Garrett Sacks can be.
We saw twenty three last year. I'm curious about that.
All right, let's quickly do the Pats in AJ Brown,
then get out of here.

Speaker 3 (01:13:38):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:13:38):
So the Pats trade for AJ Brown, which comes as
no shock to anyone.

Speaker 3 (01:13:43):
From the Eagles.

Speaker 2 (01:13:44):
They get or they give out a twenty eight first
round pick, a twenty seven to fifth. Drake May gets
his star wide receiver, and Brown is reunited with his
head coach from Tennessee in Mike Rabel. So your thoughts
on this trade listens real quick to your analysis, Josh
Allen Steph Diggs, like, at some point that star wide

(01:14:05):
receiver quarterback, as we saw in Philly, he wants the ball.
So Drake May goes from being in a situation where
he can spread around the field to now you know
AJ Brown's gonna want the rock.

Speaker 3 (01:14:15):
And so what do you think about all of that?

Speaker 1 (01:14:17):
Well, so the other element of Josh Allen Steph Diggs
is when he first got there, it helped Josh get
to another level. And so I listen, I think this
is smart for the Patriots. It's not low risk, but
it's medium risk. It's a future, you know, a first
two years down the road. They operated their entire offseason

(01:14:40):
as if they knew they were getting him, because evidently
they knew they were getting him. I still think the Pats,
because of the schedule, because of some of the weaknesses
may displayed in the playoffs, take a significant step back
next year. But they needed more weapons on the outside.

(01:15:00):
Now they have a legitimate number one receiver twenty nine
years old. I don't think it's long long term, but
I think it's a smart move by New England. Well
it's also go ahead, no, no.

Speaker 3 (01:15:11):
No, go ahead. I was gonna say, what's his stat
line going to look like for the Pats.

Speaker 1 (01:15:15):
I mean, I don't think he's gonna be top to
an MVP. Oh, oh, you're talking about AJ Brown, Because
I was gonna say, I don't think Drake's gonna be
top to an MVP again. So last year he had
one hundred and twenty one targets, seventy eight catches for
one thousand yards. The year before he had ninety seven targets,
sixty seven catches for one thousand and seventy nine yards.

(01:15:37):
And the two years prior to that, he had one
hundred and fifty ish targets and nearly fifteen hundred yards
a season. I'm gonna say similar to last year, but
with more yards, around one hundred and twenty targets, around
eighty catches, but instead of one thousand yards, closer to
twelve hundred yards. And still you know, he lives in

(01:15:59):
the seven eight touchdown range somewhere like that. So I
think you'll be really good. I am most interested in.
I think the Eagles are the most interesting team in
the league next year. I said it before, I'll say
it again. I think they could. They are the only
team in the league that if you gave me the

(01:16:20):
right odds, I would bet on them to have the
best record in football. And if you gave me the
right odds, I would bet on them to finish below
five hundred. Like I think seven and ten is possible,
and I think fourteen and three is possible.

Speaker 2 (01:16:32):
You think that's crazy, No, I think it's hilarious and
I never thought of it that way. But they are
like an every other year kind of team, So I
guess you'd bet on them to you know, uh accel.

Speaker 1 (01:16:43):
This, but it is the other thing that I'm curious
about with the Eagles is the reason AJ Brown remained
popular with the other players is because they agreed with him.
And now that he's gone, just is someone now like,
are we gonna hear different chirping since AJ's not there

(01:17:04):
to do that? Or is it gonna be you know,
all copacetic. I don't know, uh, but it was very
clear the way the Eagles handled their offseason they knew A. J.
Brown wasn't gonna be there. They now, you know, Davonte
Smith's excellent. They drafted mackay Lemon, they signed and traded
for other kind of third and fourth receivers. But a lot,

(01:17:27):
a lot of additional pressure now falls on the shoulders
of Jail and Hurts. But we all knew this trade
was coming. All right, Tye, that's a wrap. I hope
you had fun.

Speaker 3 (01:17:38):
You did great, fantastic.

Speaker 1 (01:17:41):
Again, if you're in New York or I'm sure where
can people stream the Sunday Show, tiep Okay, All right,
there you go, So eight to noon on Sundays. You
can hear Tye on ESPN New York. You can follow
him on Twitter and ig at ty D Butler. You Lastly,

(01:18:02):
again it's is it the Ty Butler or ty d
Butler Show on a Buttler Show? The Ty Butler Show
on YouTube. He does it every day, so check him
out there. Demand will be back soon, very excited for
you guys to see what he's working on. Huge thank
you to GLD, to hard Rock and a Boost and
to Always to the Volume and a Blue Duck. Thank

(01:18:24):
you to Tye. I'm on with Colin in about an hour.
First things first at three and the opening of Club
Superstar Version five point zero at four o'clock. See you
guys then, what's right