April 26, 2022 • 29 mins
Chris and Rob explain why LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers were clearly more disappointing this season than Kevin Durant’s Brooklyn Nets, and tell us why you shouldn’t be surprised if the Philadelphia 76ers end up being the first team in NBA history to blow a 3-0 series lead. Plus, Caesars Sportsbook Chief Trends Officer and podcast host Trey Wingo swings by to explain why the upcoming NFL Draft is ‘all steak and no sizzle’, why the Green Bay Packers will have no choice but to finally take a wide receiver early on, whether or not the Los Angeles Rams’ “F Them Picks” mantra will permeate throughout the league, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
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(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of the Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. We're gonna stick
with the NBA and a lot of people talking. Now.
You know two teams that some people had meeting in
the finals, the Lakers with Lebron James, Russell, Westbrook and
(00:45):
Anthony Davis, not to mention Carmelo, Anthony Dwight Howard, a
host of others. And the Brooklyn Nets, who at that
time beginning of the year had not only Kevin Duran,
Kyrie Irving, but James Hardened. So two star studied teams
and neither one of them is playing as we prepare
(01:05):
to enter the second round of the playoffs. And Rob Parker,
I want to know which team, Lakers or Nets do
you think had the most disappointing season. I know people
today will say it's the Nets, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving.
But it's not It's the Los Angeles Lakers, because Chris,
(01:29):
we know the way that the playoffs system is set up.
We play eighty two games to eliminate Basically ten teams
twenty of the thirty are involved in the play in
and the playoffs. Right, so ten teams are eliminated. And
while both of us said that we didn't think this
(01:51):
would work, Chris and I never could imagine Chris that
they wouldn't make the play in all the playoffs. I mean,
come on, not even me. I said they wouldn't. Chris
later on in the year, right in the final two weeks,
I said it with the way they were playing. Then
(02:13):
run back to back games since January until the last
two games of the year. They won back to back.
So I could sit up here and say, oh, I
knew this was a disaster and they weren't gonna make
no anybody. If you showed me the Lakers not making
the playoffs, I'll give you credit, because there's no way
I could have believed. I don't know that anybody. I'm
(02:35):
sure there's somebody out there, Rode, but the play in Chris,
that that you couldn't believe that not to start the season.
Even when Anthony Davis hurt most of the year, Chris, right,
you still would have thought they're gonna make the playoffs.
Don't you remember when we talked about it, and it
was like the Pelicans and the Spurs. All the Spurs
(02:55):
can't catch them. They're in a good they're in a
good position, right, they got two game lead. All they
gotta do is they gotta right that we think about it. Yeah,
so I think that. I think that's the bigger one.
And when you think about the season that Lebron James had,
he averaged thirty points, Chris, he had an unbelievable season
(03:19):
in year nineteen and it didn't uh impact winning. Shocking,
And I just gave you the stat They didn't win
back to back games since January seventh until the final
two game with Lebron James on your team, forget about
Anthony Davis and and and Westbrook, Chris Carmelo, Anthony, I
(03:45):
know he's off the bench and the starter. They couldn't
win back to back games. Come on that. It's hard
to believe. I'm gonna say it's the Lakers. I just don't.
I mean it's the Lakers because they didn't make the
play At the end of the day, at least the
Nets game themselves a shot. There's an argument for the Nets,
(04:08):
and I'll talk about that in a moment, but it
has to be the Lakers. Even like Rob said, even
though we knew it wasn't a good fit, you couldn't
envision them not making the playoffs. And that was incredible
that they're the level of their futility. And so I'm
(04:31):
with you on the Lakers. And there was nothing good
to nothing to feel good about with the Lakers at all.
I mean, yes, Lebron had a great year individually, but
it was such a it was just such a bad season.
I mean, Westbrook was so ill fitting that every night, Rob,
(04:55):
every morning, it just seemed like it was killing Westbrook everywhere.
It was just a bad He's talking about west Brick
and it just was a it was just an ugly
season all the way around. Um. Now, the NETS was too,
And Rob, I think the argument if you if you
wanted to make an argument that the next season was worse,
(05:18):
I think it would be based on what the expectations
were higher, right, And I might argue that the NETS
was worse had they not made that trade for Ben Simmons,
had they kept James Harden and they go into the
first round Harden, right, Kyrie and Durant, because we would
(05:39):
have really been thinking they can win the championship, like
they really got a great shot to win the championship.
And if they went out like they did, then I'd
say that would be more disappointing. But overall, it has
to be the Lakers. And you can go also, and
I get it, you can do it with the Lakers
Anthony Davis's injury and all that, but but even with
(06:02):
the next season was so disjointed, right, Kyrie in and
out not playing and they finally bringing back Hard and
Lay it leads like the Nets, you can point to
more excuses you can. I'm not gonna bring Chris uh,
Joe Harris lost for the year. We could go on
and on and on, and they have some issues and
I'm not what they lost. They got James James Harden
(06:25):
away for Stout Curry and and I can't remember the
other guy, Drum. Yeah, that's what you That's what you
did basically, right, So you knew that was gonna be
an l So you got nothing from that and with
the Lakers, and we get the Anthony Davis. He did
come back and play Chris with the right and they
didn't play well with him. They were eleven and ten
(06:47):
when he and Lebron played, which they gotta be better
than that. Yeah, yeah, no doubt that. Rob g thinks
it's definitively the Nets, No surprise Lakers. Yeah, your pajamas
at night, purple and gold, Rob Gi. You know what,
I only got two words for christ and Rob right
(07:08):
now stopping. You guys are so on getting good joke.
It only took four years that a good joke. No,
but you guys have been so gung ho on the
Nets for two years basically, and when it goes down
(07:32):
with the fizzle, I've never heard you guys back off
on a take more meekly than you have on the
brook Lins. You guys were calling meekly. What do you mean?
Because if it was anybody else, if it was a
team that you guys were not so high on, you'd
be killing them like you guys took every opportunity to
kill the Lakers at every chance we got, because I
(07:53):
remember having production meetings where we were saying, hey, we
gotta get this Lakers slander out of the way early
because they're not gonna make the playoffs, Like, we're not
gonna have a reason. It's I think that was not everybody,
But hold on, robg here's the deal. They didn't. They
lost James Harden and like we yes, we were when
they had had the three pieces, right, Okay, So if
(08:16):
you're saying from Harden when from when this team came
together with the Big three, it was a colossal failure,
I'll give because he didn't even they didn't even like
get a shot, right, They never even played. It was
a lot. It was somewhat reminiscent of Kobe, Dwight, Howard,
Nash and Gas. They never even got on the floor
(08:37):
together for the most part. So if you want to
say that, I kind of give you that. But we
all I'm just talking about on the court when they
did end up playing, the Lakers were a much much
bigger failure. That's Chris, You kind of made the point
for me in that outside of Laker fans, most people
(08:57):
in the media and the national media thought at the
Lakers had a chance to win the championship. You guys
all panned the Westbrook uh trade rightfully, so absolutely absolutely
seventy Did you think they had a chance with Westbrook?
I was, I don't remember your you know what I
thought that? Um, I mean, I wasn't fully on board
(09:18):
with the move, but my confidence was Westbrook will get
him to the regular season, Lebron and Ady to get
into the playoffs. That was my that was my my idea.
Obviously did not work out that way. But with the
Brooklyn Nets, it's not just the media who was in
on the nets with Harden, Kyrie and Kadi. It was
the gms, it was the NBA players. Seventy percent of
(09:40):
NBA gms picked the Nets to win the championship this
but again, that was they had And that's what makes
it so disappointing is it's not like it got derailed
because because of Kevin Duran's injury or because of you
know whatever. It's because those three guys botched it themselves internally,
k A d Kyrie and James Harden, who all came
(10:02):
together seeing Kumbaya. When Kyrie didn't get the shot, that
just threw a whole monkey engine everything. Suddenly James Harden
is upset. Suddenly Kevin Durant has to you know, defend
his acquisition of James Harden then at least him getting traded.
So it's not just that they got swept out of
the first round, it's that their expectations were so much
higher than the Lakers were. Well, let me ask you this,
(10:23):
that's fair, But let me ask you this part. Sure,
only ten teams were eliminated from the play in, Rob like,
forget about making the playoffs, Chris not being the top
six right the play in the San Antonio Spurs were out.
They made the play in how many games? Fifteen games
under five hundred or whatever the number was. Yeah, Like,
(10:46):
think about that that they couldn't even make a play
in with Lebron James averaging thirty and Westbrook a former MVP,
Chris's numbers weren't, like, just if you look at him
in a vacuum, weren't terrible, am I right? Like you
just people would look back years from now and be like,
not even like eighteen seven and seven, Yeah, like like
(11:06):
like Rob g and for them not to even and
then to think that that's those guys couldn't win back
to back game for three months. I think I think
this year, Yeah I don't remember, Yeah, I think we're
kind of arguing two different things. I think. I think
(11:29):
it's kind of like the In the micro, it's the Lakers.
In the macro, it's the Nets. Yeah, that would be fair, right,
because we just never got to see the big three,
and now it's gone and we never will see it.
So I'll give you that, rob Gan. Yeah, but we didn't.
(11:50):
We didn't expect as much from their big three. But
I'm just saying it neither one of them you ever
really we did? We did? Actually, yeah, what we saw
was not pretty. Yeah, right, but we knew that wouldn't
be good. Together Brooklyn's Big three would have been right,
and and and the thing is as bad as Hardness
looked this year, I should say it's mediocre by his standards,
(12:12):
that would have been fine for the Nets, Rob He
would have if they were healthy and in good spirits, right,
because Kyrie could have been the score Harden would have
been the little point guard and would have done what
was the record when those three played thirteen and three? Oh?
I mean it never even happened this season, So don't
he played sixteen games together? Chris and I believe and
who I think they had the highest offensive rating and
(12:37):
and then, you know, but Harden was much better last year.
He hasn't been the same. I don't know if it's
related to the hamstring or if he's just old, but yeah,
he's just not well. Guys. Here's the last trump card
as to why the Nets were more disappointing, because at
least the Lakers had a championship in their back pocket.
To Cushing the blow on the Nets, one don't have
(12:58):
one since the merger. A real talk, Hey, the Nets,
you're gonna hang up that playing tournament champion? Wow? Right
there in Barkley Center. There you go. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard
and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Hey
it's me Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast,
(13:23):
Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot
baseball talk, featuring the biggest name to newsmakers in the sport.
Whether you believe in analytics or the iecast, we've got
all the basis cover. New episodes drop every Thursday, So
do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker
with Rob Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you
(13:46):
get your podcast. All right, let's get to the sixers, Rob,
And this is so interesting. Philadelphia was up three zero
on Toronto and looking great. Rob. I mean, Harden wasn't
you know, playing awesome. But Tyrese Maxie was phenomenal, average
twenty six points a game in the first three games,
(14:09):
and it was looking like, Okay, he's picking up Hardens
just kind of the playmaker and giving you still eighteen
to twenty points. Uh, you can, you can live with that.
But the last two games, Rob, the Timber the Raptors
give them credit. Right, you know you're down three, zho.
It would be easy to one, two three, can coome?
(14:31):
It really would. It's because you know, it's like the
uphill battle. It's just a lot of work you gotta
put in and you still probably won't get there. So
why you can't bother? I mean it is it's human nature.
I agree. And now Rob, they are feeling like they
not only won the last two and let's keep it
real that game three could have win either way. When
(14:54):
mbeat hit that that three pointer, by yeah, I mean
that game could have win either way. So Philly's actually
lucky to be up three two. But Rob the last
two games, Tyrese Maxi's come back to Earth. I said
the average twenty six in the first three, he's total
twenty three in the last two. James Harden is shooting
(15:15):
like thirty seven thirty eight percent in the series, looking
very very mediocre. And Rob, if they don't win, no
team is ever in the seventy five year history of
the NBA lost a three O league in any round
and anywell ever ever. And Rob, if the Sixers lose
(15:39):
Game six, and it's in Toronto, so you know the
Raptors like their chances. If they lose Game six, Rob,
can you imagine how tight James Harden, Doc Rivers and
I even think Joel Embiid are going to be. Oh no,
if they they will be they will be sick and
(16:00):
it'll be hard. Yes, you could block everything out, Chris
and say it's just one game and all that, but
all the stories will be about Doc Rivers, what has happened,
James Hardness, had meltdowns in big games, and Beid hasn't
always been great in some of these big moments. So
all this stuff is now added up and then The
(16:24):
scary part is the Raptors are playing with house money
and nobody expects them to win. They could just go
out and play. Don't worry about it. If we don't win,
people say, man, you guys fall back, right, they've already won.
Just might get into a game seven, and then you know,
people go, well, Nick nurse Man, he's a good coach.
(16:46):
They didn't quit on him, they didn't give up. They
fought it back. Okay, they lost in seven. That was hard.
Nobody's ever done it. But if they do it, there's
gonna be hell to pay in Philly, hell to pay.
And Rob, look, we said, Wen, it's not second guess.
When Doc Rivers was hired by the Sixers, what did
(17:08):
we say. We're like, how do you? How do you?
How do you win that press conference? We didn't. Not
only hear it out blown a bunch of three one leads,
he's blown three. He's only coach in in NBA history
to blow more than one three one lead. But he
was just coming off doing it. Rob right, he got
(17:29):
fired and we both thought he'd sit on the sidelines
for a year, get the stink off him, and then
somebody could say, okay, well, Doc has got a ride both, right,
he podcasting before he was great. He could have done
that easily and just kind of gone, that's what we thought,
and were shocked that they introduced him as a coach
(17:52):
in Philly and he got a five year deal like
he had won a chick I'm like a championship, yes,
and we brought this up, and my goodness, I mean,
wouldn't it just be I mean, it would be the
very thing, the very thing that people are criticizing him
(18:16):
for is what would would come back to bite him
and and worse than ever, how do they make him
like how could the Lakers do? Like his name came up?
I mean, Chris, can you imagine? Because the only way
he would be available is if they got out knocked
out early. So I'm saying, how does that work where
(18:36):
he's gonna go to the Lakers? Well, I look, if
he blew a three old lead, I don't know that
he ever coach again. Wow, I mean, what do you think?
Maybe I know what you're great Rapp. He still was
named one of the fifteen best coaches ever. But but
it is about like, as the GM, how how do
(18:59):
you uh, you know, how do you have that configured right, right, right,
you gotta be able to sell it because if I'm
at the press conference or Chris is at the press conference,
like the questions will be a little like like, please
tell me, like why did you hire Doc? He's had
failures and recently in the postseason. Why do you believe
(19:21):
he's gonna be able to get you over to hump
this time? Right? Right? Absolutely, absolutely so? And then James
Harden robbed and I'm sorry, and we talked about it
a little bit yesterday. But if they lose this series,
I get Look, you traded Ben Simmons, who was a star,
you know, with all his flaws, and you don't want
(19:43):
to just lose him for nothing, right because you also
gave up a great shooter in Curry, and uh Andre
Drummond is just a big body. So I get it,
not wanting to lose that for nothing. But Rob, I
don't know what hardened. If I'm Darryl Moorey, I'm thinking,
first thing, I'm open to a sign and trade. Right
if another team wants I'm open to it. I'm not
(20:05):
saying I definitely do it. I'm open to it. And
I'm also thinking, like James, let's look two year deal,
two year deal, big money two year deal, fifty million
each year or whatever. You know, they can max him
out at I do that, but I would do that
right nowhere, five years nowhere. I mean, he looks like
(20:26):
he's on his last leg now. But he won't get
paid Chris, and you know that because it's the nature
of the Beast, and teams can't feel like they they
got players, they gave up, you know, players for him,
and then they're like, we just can't let him walk.
And Morey loves him too. Morey loves him. Be sure
(20:49):
to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris
Brussar then Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio
app Whole host of a Pond. Further review, Wingo and
Slay Ris check it out on Spotify and the Caesar
Sports Books Chief Trends Officer, our friend Trey Wingo. Trade, Hey, guys,
(21:14):
Happy Draft Week? How are we? We are good? Many
and you got right to it. Happy Draft Week? Trade
We always I've looked forward to the last several drafts.
A lot of big names in those drafts. This one,
I think because there's a lack of you know, superstar
quarterbacks at least at this point. It doesn't seem to
(21:35):
have the buzz of the normal draft, And are we
wrong on that, and it just feels a little different. Yeah,
it does. No, No, no, you guys, you guys are
absolutely right. Look, technically, this draft is actually really deep
because we've got two seasons of COVID in college football.
We have a lot of fifth and sixth year seniors
that would have come out in the last previous draft.
(21:57):
So the depth in this draft is really good, Like
you're gonna gonna get a lot of good players from
rounds three through seven. But you're right, this is this
will be only the second time in the last eight
years where a quarterback doesn't go number one overall. It'll
also be only the six times since two thousand and
one where a quarterback doesn't go number one overall, So
it is different. You know, in a way, it's kind
(22:17):
of like the twenty thirteen draft where that draft was
three at the top four picks for offensive lineman. You know,
it was Eric Fitcher, Luke Joko, and Lane Johnson. It
was like, yeah, where's the where this is not a
sizzle draft? It's a stake draft. That's the best. That's
the best way to put it. Yeah, but there'll be
players available. How about we know it's a wide receiver
(22:41):
rich draft. Who should we be looking out for? Is
there anybody other than the obvious or that somebody might
get lucky and get you know, I don't say later
rounds or a wide receiver like that tray. Well, listen,
before we even go down that road, there's a There's
a couple of things about this trap which are unique
(23:02):
in that it's we don't even know who the number
one pick is. Like the last time, the last time
we didn't take a quarterback number one. We all knew
Mile Scarett was going number one overall twenty seventeen. Like
I'm trying to remember the last time we really didn't
know who the number one pick was going to be.
And it's it's been a while. So, but you're there
are so many good receivers in the in the later
(23:24):
rounds of this trap, we could have six or seven
maybe go in the first rounds. But like, for example,
a team like the Chiefs that has twelve picks, which
is the most any in any of the most for
this trap. For any one team. You know, I wouldn't
be surprised if they didn't pick a receiver till the
second or third round. Because of what you're talking about.
They're gonna try and go edge rusher and maybe even
cornerback or safety. But they have two first round picks,
(23:45):
two second round picks, two third round picks, and two
fourth round picks. I mean, they're loaded. They don't have
seven roster spots and they got twelve picks, so there
could be some wheeling and dealing here. We have eight
teams with multiple first round picks. That's never happened before.
We've had six. And if they use if all eight
teams use them, that would be a first So that's
that makes this draft you need we have right now,
we have eight teams without a first drop pick. We've
(24:07):
never had that before. And of course, the defending champion
Rams are in the middle of a seven year stretch
without using a first round pick, and they just won
the freaking Super Bowl. So I mean it's kind of crazy.
Trey we we saw you know, Tyreek Hill leave Kansas
City or him trading. We've seen DeVante Adams leave goal
Green Bay. Obviously, those two teams need receiver. Now, Kansas
(24:30):
City's corps is not bad. But Green Bay in Kansas
City do need receivers. Do you see them getting what
they need? Particularly Green Bay? I guess in this draft
did that position? Yeah, well Green Bay has to like
think about it, like outside of Randall Cobb, can you
name me wide receivers in Green Bay? I mean Lazard
(24:51):
is there, that's it, but that's the only one. Back
when Emmy is Saint Brown is now a Bear, Devantae
Adams is now a Raider, Marquess Valdess Scantling is now
at Chiefs, I mean literally training Gamp will be like Hi,
I'm Aaron Rodgers and I'll be your back. You know
that's really weird. But both the Chiefs and the Packers
decided on this right and I think your philosophy on
(25:12):
receivers and what you want to pay them a lot
is on your quarterback. They believe whoever they have at
wide receiver in Green Bay, in Kansas City, their quarterback
will make them better. Meanwhile, with Miami trading for Tyreek Hill,
what they're saying is Okay, to Ah, we give you Tyree.
You've got you know, you've got Jalen Waddle. We've got
(25:33):
tight end Mike Kasecki, We've got Brahem Mostard and the
Chase Edmonds coming over here. Really up to you now
to put this thing together. So whether or not you
pay a wide receiver to me, says a lot about
where you believe your quarterback is. Yeah, And you talked
about the Rams earlier, and I know people are gonna
(25:54):
draft players. That's the way you build teams in the NFL.
But their way of thinking after draft pick has worked.
That's a copycat league. We've always seen that trade any
chance other teams sought to say, you know, well, the
draft is nice, but if we can go get somebody
who's proven and drop in a piece for a year
(26:15):
or two, you know what I mean, even though we
might pay some money for him and we can win,
that's the way to do it rather than trying to
draft these guys. Well, listen, I think a lot of
teams would like to do it if they can figure
it out. I mean, you what makes the Rams best?
Five years together with Sean McVay and less Neat and
less Neat was there, but the five years they've been together,
(26:39):
they've never had a losing record. They've made the playoffs
four out of five years. They've been to two Super
Bowls and won one of them. Like, I don't know,
I don't know a franchise in the league that wouldn't
sign up for that, right, But to pull that off
with the way they've done this, you have to have
to have the talent of evaluators. You have to have
the player personnel, guys that can find a Cooper Cup
later on in the draft. You know, like a lot
(27:00):
of their key players were not first round draft picks.
And if you believe in your staff and you believe
that you can find these hidden gems. And I know
Robert Woods wasn't one of their draft picks, but you
know he was a guy that also sort of fit
into that category. And now he's moved on. Obviously, they
found ways to find gems in the later rounds. And
you can do it as long as you find those
(27:21):
gems and you hit on all those players that you
traded those first round picks for, right like you when
you trade a pick for some of those players, they
better be the players that you thought they were. And certainly,
guy like Janel Ramsey absolutely has been all right, Trey
quickly we got about a minute left. A lot of
names out there, Baker Mayfield, Jimmy Garoppolo, Deebo Samuel. Do
(27:45):
you see any big trades with some of the veterans
going down with the draft? Well, I we're hearing that
the Jets are going to go all in on trying
to get Deebo Samuel out of San Francisco. But yeah,
and listen, here's the quandary though, Like Deebo has made
it clear that he doesn't want to do what he
(28:06):
did in San Francisco anymore because he sees the dollars
that Tyreek Hill was getting, the dollars that DeVante Adams
is getting playing wide receiver. So Deevo is singularly unique
in the duality of what he can do for an offense.
But if you're trading for Deebo Samuel, you want that guy.
You don't want the guy that's not going to be
that guy. And he doesn't want to do that anymore
because he knows that he'll get more money if he
(28:27):
doesn't do that anymore. He's got to prove he can
be that guy. If you don't want the wide receiver
who gets no touchdown, correct, and you don't want the
wide receiver who winds up in the backfield and takes
twenty more hits a game, right, and you gotta be
careful and look, I don't want to just poo poo
the Jets, but you know, Deevo, you gotta be careful
where you go. Right, He's in a good situation. Casten,
(28:54):
you know you're you're exactly right. Like listen, I understand
that Deebo probably wants to be used differently, but he's
not going to be as effective that way. Like this
is a terrible thing. He's not a great route runner,
but he can get open and short intermediate stuff and
he can run over people. Like if you look at
Debo and you see him somewhere, he's a big dude. Okay,
(29:15):
he's a big dude. And other of the wide the
other wide receivers we talked about, they're not built like
Deebo Samuel. There's a reason the wide back sort of
gnomer fits for him, right, All right, stuff is always
half fund at the draft. Man, I'm gonna try really hard, boys,
but in Vegas it'll be difficult. It will be all right,
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
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(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of the Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. We're gonna stick
with the NBA and a lot of people talking. Now.
You know two teams that some people had meeting in
the finals, the Lakers with Lebron James, Russell, Westbrook and
(00:45):
Anthony Davis, not to mention Carmelo, Anthony Dwight Howard, a
host of others. And the Brooklyn Nets, who at that
time beginning of the year had not only Kevin Duran,
Kyrie Irving, but James Hardened. So two star studied teams
and neither one of them is playing as we prepare
(01:05):
to enter the second round of the playoffs. And Rob Parker,
I want to know which team, Lakers or Nets do
you think had the most disappointing season. I know people
today will say it's the Nets, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving.
But it's not It's the Los Angeles Lakers, because Chris,
(01:29):
we know the way that the playoffs system is set up.
We play eighty two games to eliminate Basically ten teams
twenty of the thirty are involved in the play in
and the playoffs. Right, so ten teams are eliminated. And
while both of us said that we didn't think this
(01:51):
would work, Chris and I never could imagine Chris that
they wouldn't make the play in all the playoffs. I mean,
come on, not even me. I said they wouldn't. Chris
later on in the year, right in the final two weeks,
I said it with the way they were playing. Then
(02:13):
run back to back games since January until the last
two games of the year. They won back to back.
So I could sit up here and say, oh, I
knew this was a disaster and they weren't gonna make
no anybody. If you showed me the Lakers not making
the playoffs, I'll give you credit, because there's no way
I could have believed. I don't know that anybody. I'm
(02:35):
sure there's somebody out there, Rode, but the play in Chris,
that that you couldn't believe that not to start the season.
Even when Anthony Davis hurt most of the year, Chris, right,
you still would have thought they're gonna make the playoffs.
Don't you remember when we talked about it, and it
was like the Pelicans and the Spurs. All the Spurs
(02:55):
can't catch them. They're in a good they're in a
good position, right, they got two game lead. All they
gotta do is they gotta right that we think about it. Yeah,
so I think that. I think that's the bigger one.
And when you think about the season that Lebron James had,
he averaged thirty points, Chris, he had an unbelievable season
(03:19):
in year nineteen and it didn't uh impact winning. Shocking,
And I just gave you the stat They didn't win
back to back games since January seventh until the final
two game with Lebron James on your team, forget about
Anthony Davis and and and Westbrook, Chris Carmelo, Anthony, I
(03:45):
know he's off the bench and the starter. They couldn't
win back to back games. Come on that. It's hard
to believe. I'm gonna say it's the Lakers. I just don't.
I mean it's the Lakers because they didn't make the
play At the end of the day, at least the
Nets game themselves a shot. There's an argument for the Nets,
(04:08):
and I'll talk about that in a moment, but it
has to be the Lakers. Even like Rob said, even
though we knew it wasn't a good fit, you couldn't
envision them not making the playoffs. And that was incredible
that they're the level of their futility. And so I'm
(04:31):
with you on the Lakers. And there was nothing good
to nothing to feel good about with the Lakers at all.
I mean, yes, Lebron had a great year individually, but
it was such a it was just such a bad season.
I mean, Westbrook was so ill fitting that every night, Rob,
(04:55):
every morning, it just seemed like it was killing Westbrook everywhere.
It was just a bad He's talking about west Brick
and it just was a it was just an ugly
season all the way around. Um. Now, the NETS was too,
And Rob, I think the argument if you if you
wanted to make an argument that the next season was worse,
(05:18):
I think it would be based on what the expectations
were higher, right, And I might argue that the NETS
was worse had they not made that trade for Ben Simmons,
had they kept James Harden and they go into the
first round Harden, right, Kyrie and Durant, because we would
(05:39):
have really been thinking they can win the championship, like
they really got a great shot to win the championship.
And if they went out like they did, then I'd
say that would be more disappointing. But overall, it has
to be the Lakers. And you can go also, and
I get it, you can do it with the Lakers
Anthony Davis's injury and all that, but but even with
(06:02):
the next season was so disjointed, right, Kyrie in and
out not playing and they finally bringing back Hard and
Lay it leads like the Nets, you can point to
more excuses you can. I'm not gonna bring Chris uh,
Joe Harris lost for the year. We could go on
and on and on, and they have some issues and
I'm not what they lost. They got James James Harden
(06:25):
away for Stout Curry and and I can't remember the
other guy, Drum. Yeah, that's what you That's what you
did basically, right, So you knew that was gonna be
an l So you got nothing from that and with
the Lakers, and we get the Anthony Davis. He did
come back and play Chris with the right and they
didn't play well with him. They were eleven and ten
(06:47):
when he and Lebron played, which they gotta be better
than that. Yeah, yeah, no doubt that. Rob g thinks
it's definitively the Nets, No surprise Lakers. Yeah, your pajamas
at night, purple and gold, Rob Gi. You know what,
I only got two words for christ and Rob right
(07:08):
now stopping. You guys are so on getting good joke.
It only took four years that a good joke. No,
but you guys have been so gung ho on the
Nets for two years basically, and when it goes down
(07:32):
with the fizzle, I've never heard you guys back off
on a take more meekly than you have on the
brook Lins. You guys were calling meekly. What do you mean?
Because if it was anybody else, if it was a
team that you guys were not so high on, you'd
be killing them like you guys took every opportunity to
kill the Lakers at every chance we got, because I
(07:53):
remember having production meetings where we were saying, hey, we
gotta get this Lakers slander out of the way early
because they're not gonna make the playoffs, Like, we're not
gonna have a reason. It's I think that was not everybody,
But hold on, robg here's the deal. They didn't. They
lost James Harden and like we yes, we were when
they had had the three pieces, right, Okay, So if
(08:16):
you're saying from Harden when from when this team came
together with the Big three, it was a colossal failure,
I'll give because he didn't even they didn't even like
get a shot, right, They never even played. It was
a lot. It was somewhat reminiscent of Kobe, Dwight, Howard,
Nash and Gas. They never even got on the floor
(08:37):
together for the most part. So if you want to
say that, I kind of give you that. But we
all I'm just talking about on the court when they
did end up playing, the Lakers were a much much
bigger failure. That's Chris, You kind of made the point
for me in that outside of Laker fans, most people
(08:57):
in the media and the national media thought at the
Lakers had a chance to win the championship. You guys
all panned the Westbrook uh trade rightfully, so absolutely absolutely
seventy Did you think they had a chance with Westbrook?
I was, I don't remember your you know what I
thought that? Um, I mean, I wasn't fully on board
(09:18):
with the move, but my confidence was Westbrook will get
him to the regular season, Lebron and Ady to get
into the playoffs. That was my that was my my idea.
Obviously did not work out that way. But with the
Brooklyn Nets, it's not just the media who was in
on the nets with Harden, Kyrie and Kadi. It was
the gms, it was the NBA players. Seventy percent of
(09:40):
NBA gms picked the Nets to win the championship this
but again, that was they had And that's what makes
it so disappointing is it's not like it got derailed
because because of Kevin Duran's injury or because of you
know whatever. It's because those three guys botched it themselves internally,
k A d Kyrie and James Harden, who all came
(10:02):
together seeing Kumbaya. When Kyrie didn't get the shot, that
just threw a whole monkey engine everything. Suddenly James Harden
is upset. Suddenly Kevin Durant has to you know, defend
his acquisition of James Harden then at least him getting traded.
So it's not just that they got swept out of
the first round, it's that their expectations were so much
higher than the Lakers were. Well, let me ask you this,
(10:23):
that's fair, But let me ask you this part. Sure,
only ten teams were eliminated from the play in, Rob like,
forget about making the playoffs, Chris not being the top
six right the play in the San Antonio Spurs were out.
They made the play in how many games? Fifteen games
under five hundred or whatever the number was. Yeah, Like,
(10:46):
think about that that they couldn't even make a play
in with Lebron James averaging thirty and Westbrook a former MVP,
Chris's numbers weren't, like, just if you look at him
in a vacuum, weren't terrible, am I right? Like you
just people would look back years from now and be like,
not even like eighteen seven and seven, Yeah, like like
(11:06):
like Rob g and for them not to even and
then to think that that's those guys couldn't win back
to back game for three months. I think I think
this year, Yeah I don't remember, Yeah, I think we're
kind of arguing two different things. I think. I think
(11:29):
it's kind of like the In the micro, it's the Lakers.
In the macro, it's the Nets. Yeah, that would be fair, right,
because we just never got to see the big three,
and now it's gone and we never will see it.
So I'll give you that, rob Gan. Yeah, but we didn't.
(11:50):
We didn't expect as much from their big three. But
I'm just saying it neither one of them you ever
really we did? We did? Actually, yeah, what we saw
was not pretty. Yeah, right, but we knew that wouldn't
be good. Together Brooklyn's Big three would have been right,
and and and the thing is as bad as Hardness
looked this year, I should say it's mediocre by his standards,
(12:12):
that would have been fine for the Nets, Rob He
would have if they were healthy and in good spirits, right,
because Kyrie could have been the score Harden would have
been the little point guard and would have done what
was the record when those three played thirteen and three? Oh?
I mean it never even happened this season, So don't
he played sixteen games together? Chris and I believe and
who I think they had the highest offensive rating and
(12:37):
and then, you know, but Harden was much better last year.
He hasn't been the same. I don't know if it's
related to the hamstring or if he's just old, but yeah,
he's just not well. Guys. Here's the last trump card
as to why the Nets were more disappointing, because at
least the Lakers had a championship in their back pocket.
To Cushing the blow on the Nets, one don't have
(12:58):
one since the merger. A real talk, Hey, the Nets,
you're gonna hang up that playing tournament champion? Wow? Right
there in Barkley Center. There you go. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard
and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Hey
it's me Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast,
(13:23):
Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot
baseball talk, featuring the biggest name to newsmakers in the sport.
Whether you believe in analytics or the iecast, we've got
all the basis cover. New episodes drop every Thursday, So
do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker
with Rob Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you
(13:46):
get your podcast. All right, let's get to the sixers, Rob,
And this is so interesting. Philadelphia was up three zero
on Toronto and looking great. Rob. I mean, Harden wasn't
you know, playing awesome. But Tyrese Maxie was phenomenal, average
twenty six points a game in the first three games,
(14:09):
and it was looking like, Okay, he's picking up Hardens
just kind of the playmaker and giving you still eighteen
to twenty points. Uh, you can, you can live with that.
But the last two games, Rob, the Timber the Raptors
give them credit. Right, you know you're down three, zho.
It would be easy to one, two three, can coome?
(14:31):
It really would. It's because you know, it's like the
uphill battle. It's just a lot of work you gotta
put in and you still probably won't get there. So
why you can't bother? I mean it is it's human nature.
I agree. And now Rob, they are feeling like they
not only won the last two and let's keep it
real that game three could have win either way. When
(14:54):
mbeat hit that that three pointer, by yeah, I mean
that game could have win either way. So Philly's actually
lucky to be up three two. But Rob the last
two games, Tyrese Maxi's come back to Earth. I said
the average twenty six in the first three, he's total
twenty three in the last two. James Harden is shooting
(15:15):
like thirty seven thirty eight percent in the series, looking
very very mediocre. And Rob, if they don't win, no
team is ever in the seventy five year history of
the NBA lost a three O league in any round
and anywell ever ever. And Rob, if the Sixers lose
(15:39):
Game six, and it's in Toronto, so you know the
Raptors like their chances. If they lose Game six, Rob,
can you imagine how tight James Harden, Doc Rivers and
I even think Joel Embiid are going to be. Oh no,
if they they will be they will be sick and
(16:00):
it'll be hard. Yes, you could block everything out, Chris
and say it's just one game and all that, but
all the stories will be about Doc Rivers, what has happened,
James Hardness, had meltdowns in big games, and Beid hasn't
always been great in some of these big moments. So
all this stuff is now added up and then The
(16:24):
scary part is the Raptors are playing with house money
and nobody expects them to win. They could just go
out and play. Don't worry about it. If we don't win,
people say, man, you guys fall back, right, they've already won.
Just might get into a game seven, and then you know,
people go, well, Nick nurse Man, he's a good coach.
(16:46):
They didn't quit on him, they didn't give up. They
fought it back. Okay, they lost in seven. That was hard.
Nobody's ever done it. But if they do it, there's
gonna be hell to pay in Philly, hell to pay.
And Rob, look, we said, Wen, it's not second guess.
When Doc Rivers was hired by the Sixers, what did
(17:08):
we say. We're like, how do you? How do you?
How do you win that press conference? We didn't. Not
only hear it out blown a bunch of three one leads,
he's blown three. He's only coach in in NBA history
to blow more than one three one lead. But he
was just coming off doing it. Rob right, he got
(17:29):
fired and we both thought he'd sit on the sidelines
for a year, get the stink off him, and then
somebody could say, okay, well, Doc has got a ride both, right,
he podcasting before he was great. He could have done
that easily and just kind of gone, that's what we thought,
and were shocked that they introduced him as a coach
(17:52):
in Philly and he got a five year deal like
he had won a chick I'm like a championship, yes,
and we brought this up, and my goodness, I mean,
wouldn't it just be I mean, it would be the
very thing, the very thing that people are criticizing him
(18:16):
for is what would would come back to bite him
and and worse than ever, how do they make him
like how could the Lakers do? Like his name came up?
I mean, Chris, can you imagine? Because the only way
he would be available is if they got out knocked
out early. So I'm saying, how does that work where
(18:36):
he's gonna go to the Lakers? Well, I look, if
he blew a three old lead, I don't know that
he ever coach again. Wow, I mean, what do you think?
Maybe I know what you're great Rapp. He still was
named one of the fifteen best coaches ever. But but
it is about like, as the GM, how how do
(18:59):
you uh, you know, how do you have that configured right, right, right,
you gotta be able to sell it because if I'm
at the press conference or Chris is at the press conference,
like the questions will be a little like like, please
tell me, like why did you hire Doc? He's had
failures and recently in the postseason. Why do you believe
(19:21):
he's gonna be able to get you over to hump
this time? Right? Right? Absolutely, absolutely so? And then James
Harden robbed and I'm sorry, and we talked about it
a little bit yesterday. But if they lose this series,
I get Look, you traded Ben Simmons, who was a star,
you know, with all his flaws, and you don't want
(19:43):
to just lose him for nothing, right because you also
gave up a great shooter in Curry, and uh Andre
Drummond is just a big body. So I get it,
not wanting to lose that for nothing. But Rob, I
don't know what hardened. If I'm Darryl Moorey, I'm thinking,
first thing, I'm open to a sign and trade. Right
if another team wants I'm open to it. I'm not
(20:05):
saying I definitely do it. I'm open to it. And
I'm also thinking, like James, let's look two year deal,
two year deal, big money two year deal, fifty million
each year or whatever. You know, they can max him
out at I do that, but I would do that
right nowhere, five years nowhere. I mean, he looks like
(20:26):
he's on his last leg now. But he won't get
paid Chris, and you know that because it's the nature
of the Beast, and teams can't feel like they they
got players, they gave up, you know, players for him,
and then they're like, we just can't let him walk.
And Morey loves him too. Morey loves him. Be sure
(20:49):
to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris
Brussar then Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio
app Whole host of a Pond. Further review, Wingo and
Slay Ris check it out on Spotify and the Caesar
Sports Books Chief Trends Officer, our friend Trey Wingo. Trade, Hey, guys,
(21:14):
Happy Draft Week? How are we? We are good? Many
and you got right to it. Happy Draft Week? Trade
We always I've looked forward to the last several drafts.
A lot of big names in those drafts. This one,
I think because there's a lack of you know, superstar
quarterbacks at least at this point. It doesn't seem to
(21:35):
have the buzz of the normal draft, And are we
wrong on that, and it just feels a little different. Yeah,
it does. No, No, no, you guys, you guys are
absolutely right. Look, technically, this draft is actually really deep
because we've got two seasons of COVID in college football.
We have a lot of fifth and sixth year seniors
that would have come out in the last previous draft.
(21:57):
So the depth in this draft is really good, Like
you're gonna gonna get a lot of good players from
rounds three through seven. But you're right, this is this
will be only the second time in the last eight
years where a quarterback doesn't go number one overall. It'll
also be only the six times since two thousand and
one where a quarterback doesn't go number one overall, So
it is different. You know, in a way, it's kind
(22:17):
of like the twenty thirteen draft where that draft was
three at the top four picks for offensive lineman. You know,
it was Eric Fitcher, Luke Joko, and Lane Johnson. It
was like, yeah, where's the where this is not a
sizzle draft? It's a stake draft. That's the best. That's
the best way to put it. Yeah, but there'll be
players available. How about we know it's a wide receiver
(22:41):
rich draft. Who should we be looking out for? Is
there anybody other than the obvious or that somebody might
get lucky and get you know, I don't say later
rounds or a wide receiver like that tray. Well, listen,
before we even go down that road, there's a There's
a couple of things about this trap which are unique
(23:02):
in that it's we don't even know who the number
one pick is. Like the last time, the last time
we didn't take a quarterback number one. We all knew
Mile Scarett was going number one overall twenty seventeen. Like
I'm trying to remember the last time we really didn't
know who the number one pick was going to be.
And it's it's been a while. So, but you're there
are so many good receivers in the in the later
(23:24):
rounds of this trap, we could have six or seven
maybe go in the first rounds. But like, for example,
a team like the Chiefs that has twelve picks, which
is the most any in any of the most for
this trap. For any one team. You know, I wouldn't
be surprised if they didn't pick a receiver till the
second or third round. Because of what you're talking about.
They're gonna try and go edge rusher and maybe even
cornerback or safety. But they have two first round picks,
(23:45):
two second round picks, two third round picks, and two
fourth round picks. I mean, they're loaded. They don't have
seven roster spots and they got twelve picks, so there
could be some wheeling and dealing here. We have eight
teams with multiple first round picks. That's never happened before.
We've had six. And if they use if all eight
teams use them, that would be a first So that's
that makes this draft you need we have right now,
we have eight teams without a first drop pick. We've
(24:07):
never had that before. And of course, the defending champion
Rams are in the middle of a seven year stretch
without using a first round pick, and they just won
the freaking Super Bowl. So I mean it's kind of crazy.
Trey we we saw you know, Tyreek Hill leave Kansas
City or him trading. We've seen DeVante Adams leave goal
Green Bay. Obviously, those two teams need receiver. Now, Kansas
(24:30):
City's corps is not bad. But Green Bay in Kansas
City do need receivers. Do you see them getting what
they need? Particularly Green Bay? I guess in this draft
did that position? Yeah, well Green Bay has to like
think about it, like outside of Randall Cobb, can you
name me wide receivers in Green Bay? I mean Lazard
(24:51):
is there, that's it, but that's the only one. Back
when Emmy is Saint Brown is now a Bear, Devantae
Adams is now a Raider, Marquess Valdess Scantling is now
at Chiefs, I mean literally training Gamp will be like Hi,
I'm Aaron Rodgers and I'll be your back. You know
that's really weird. But both the Chiefs and the Packers
decided on this right and I think your philosophy on
(25:12):
receivers and what you want to pay them a lot
is on your quarterback. They believe whoever they have at
wide receiver in Green Bay, in Kansas City, their quarterback
will make them better. Meanwhile, with Miami trading for Tyreek Hill,
what they're saying is Okay, to Ah, we give you Tyree.
You've got you know, you've got Jalen Waddle. We've got
(25:33):
tight end Mike Kasecki, We've got Brahem Mostard and the
Chase Edmonds coming over here. Really up to you now
to put this thing together. So whether or not you
pay a wide receiver to me, says a lot about
where you believe your quarterback is. Yeah, And you talked
about the Rams earlier, and I know people are gonna
(25:54):
draft players. That's the way you build teams in the NFL.
But their way of thinking after draft pick has worked.
That's a copycat league. We've always seen that trade any
chance other teams sought to say, you know, well, the
draft is nice, but if we can go get somebody
who's proven and drop in a piece for a year
(26:15):
or two, you know what I mean, even though we
might pay some money for him and we can win,
that's the way to do it rather than trying to
draft these guys. Well, listen, I think a lot of
teams would like to do it if they can figure
it out. I mean, you what makes the Rams best?
Five years together with Sean McVay and less Neat and
less Neat was there, but the five years they've been together,
(26:39):
they've never had a losing record. They've made the playoffs
four out of five years. They've been to two Super
Bowls and won one of them. Like, I don't know,
I don't know a franchise in the league that wouldn't
sign up for that, right, But to pull that off
with the way they've done this, you have to have
to have the talent of evaluators. You have to have
the player personnel, guys that can find a Cooper Cup
later on in the draft. You know, like a lot
(27:00):
of their key players were not first round draft picks.
And if you believe in your staff and you believe
that you can find these hidden gems. And I know
Robert Woods wasn't one of their draft picks, but you
know he was a guy that also sort of fit
into that category. And now he's moved on. Obviously, they
found ways to find gems in the later rounds. And
you can do it as long as you find those
(27:21):
gems and you hit on all those players that you
traded those first round picks for, right like you when
you trade a pick for some of those players, they
better be the players that you thought they were. And certainly,
guy like Janel Ramsey absolutely has been all right, Trey
quickly we got about a minute left. A lot of
names out there, Baker Mayfield, Jimmy Garoppolo, Deebo Samuel. Do
(27:45):
you see any big trades with some of the veterans
going down with the draft? Well, I we're hearing that
the Jets are going to go all in on trying
to get Deebo Samuel out of San Francisco. But yeah,
and listen, here's the quandary though, Like Deebo has made
it clear that he doesn't want to do what he
(28:06):
did in San Francisco anymore because he sees the dollars
that Tyreek Hill was getting, the dollars that DeVante Adams
is getting playing wide receiver. So Deevo is singularly unique
in the duality of what he can do for an offense.
But if you're trading for Deebo Samuel, you want that guy.
You don't want the guy that's not going to be
that guy. And he doesn't want to do that anymore
because he knows that he'll get more money if he
(28:27):
doesn't do that anymore. He's got to prove he can
be that guy. If you don't want the wide receiver
who gets no touchdown, correct, and you don't want the
wide receiver who winds up in the backfield and takes
twenty more hits a game, right, and you gotta be
careful and look, I don't want to just poo poo
the Jets, but you know, Deevo, you gotta be careful
where you go. Right, He's in a good situation. Casten,
(28:54):
you know you're you're exactly right. Like listen, I understand
that Deebo probably wants to be used differently, but he's
not going to be as effective that way. Like this
is a terrible thing. He's not a great route runner,
but he can get open and short intermediate stuff and
he can run over people. Like if you look at
Debo and you see him somewhere, he's a big dude. Okay,
(29:15):
he's a big dude. And other of the wide the
other wide receivers we talked about, they're not built like
Deebo Samuel. There's a reason the wide back sort of
gnomer fits for him, right, All right, stuff is always
half fund at the draft. Man, I'm gonna try really hard, boys,
but in Vegas it'll be difficult. It will be all right,
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!