Nick Wright breaks down all the news out of Los Angeles with LeBron James and the Lakers in a standoff over the future. Are Jalen Brunson's New York Knicks or Steph Curry's Golden State Warriors potential landing spots if LeBron leaves LA? Then, Nick reacts to the other big moves throughout the league, from Kevin Durant's trade to the Houston Rockets to the Bucks releasing Damian Lillard to help maximize Giannis Antetokounmpo’s time in Milwaukee. Later, Nick discusses what to expect out of a reinvigorated Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Finally, as always, Nick and Damonza answer your questions. #Volume
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in What Try with Nick Right? Episode three forty six.
This episode What Try with Nick Right is brought to
you by boost Mobile. Fresh off vacation, enjoying some watching
some Wimbledon, wearing my vintage Wimbledon shirt that I still
never gone. But I wear this while I'm watching, I
feel like I'm more into it. Also, Deman's, you know,
(00:23):
I have a two piece, a nice little matching two
piece outfit that I wear whenever I go to the
US Open. That's guys playing tennis on It's just like
cartoons of people playing tennis that I wear it. I
your mom had it squirreled away in a giveaway backup clothes.
She was like, you can't wear this again this year.
You have your Wimbledon shirt. I'm like, I'm not wearing
(00:45):
my Wimbledon shirt to the US Open. Do you know
how ridiculous I would look. I'm wearing my tennis outfit,
but there's so much No, it was for real. She
was gonna get rid of it without telling me. A
ton to do today. Great to see you, We got
some good family time. Demanse was on our family vacation
(01:06):
with us. We're back from Hawaii. My sleep schedules all
screwed up. You guys don't care about that, so let's
get right into it because we have a ton to do.
We also have a three hour TV show Today shows
from two to five right after soccer so on FS one,
and there is a lot I want to discuss, not
the least of which should be one of the funny
(01:28):
what I think will be one of the funniest stories
in the history of this show, and that has to
do with what one of the hosts of the show
came home to after a ten day vacation. So we
will discuss all of that, but first, thanks to our
friends at boost Mobile, we can bring you straight to voicemail,
(01:49):
which is basically what we're not going to have time
to get into today, which is the US loses to
Mexico in the Gold Cup Final. Not great, they didn't
play great. They could have won, but they didn't deserve
to when Bronnie had a nice little highlight play in
Summer League. And more importantly, I also think that Bronnie's
quote about listen, there are guys in this league, then
(02:10):
give you fifteen to twenty points. I'm not one of
those guys right now. I'm not gonna be one of
those guys that gonna have to make it work on defense.
I thought that was a great quote. I also thought
Bronni had a hilarious quote when they asked him about
the rumors surrounding swirling around Lebron James and he's like, yeah,
I try not to pay attention to that stuff, Like, Buddy,
that is your dad, Like I would, I like it.
(02:33):
I understand you're like, I don't want to comment on
another teammate's business, but like you guys live in the
same house. And then also do they live in the
same house that you know what, I don't know the
answer to that. Does Bronnie move out on his own?
He might, he's got an NBA contract, Maybe he does. Probably,
you know what. Again, I'll stay out of the young
man's business. But if there's if there's anyone in the
(02:56):
world that could all of a sudden be making a
million and a half bucks on their own and the
house that they can afford is a massive, massive downgrade
from what they're used to living in, it might be Bronnie.
So I maybe would you know, stay at home as
long as I could. And Joey Chestnut when the hot
Dog eating competition. This is a story. The producers love that.
(03:17):
Every year I remind them I do not like Joey Chestnut.
I am not interested in Joey Chestnut. And this little
photoshop of me holding up Joey Chestnut's arm, actually I
find offensive. But it's a mustard belt though I didn't
even know that's what it was called the mustard belt
that you know, you know, that's the problem with today's sports.
(03:38):
It's you know, it's too much belt culture. All right,
like rate, subscribe, review, and do give us some likes.
I listen to my friends on poker Go. By the way,
oh man, I do have an announcement coming up that
I think I can make. I gotta clear it with
everyone I think I can make on this podcast on Thursday,
major announcement me and Poke and things going on. I
(04:02):
have to make sure I'm okay to announce it. But
on Thursday, we should do that. My point is my
friends on poker Go, whenever they do a YouTube stream,
they're like, slam that like button. Do the like button,
give us the thumbs up. So I'm gonna do the
same thing. Rate to the rate the podcast five stars.
We would appreciate that and subscribe. Of course, all right, demanse,
let's get right to it, and this first segment might
(04:24):
be forty five minutes long.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Let's see about it.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So Lebron opted into his fifty two million dollar contract
and then came the trade rumors. Rich Paul came out
with a statement and said, Lebron knows the Lakers are
building for the future. He understands that, but he values
a realistic chance of winning it all. You thought that
they were gonna come away with a center. They ended
up getting DeAndre Hayden, who was a sinner. But something
about this whole process has been peeing you off.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Do you care to share with the audience?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah? So I have just been mystified at the comm
a nation of misinformation, disingenuous commentary, and almost huffing and
(05:13):
puffing from the media, Like, ah, I guess we're forced
to talk about Lebron again. What the fuck else has
happened in free agency? The Kevin Durant trade that all
of us knew was coming, that we that we talked about.
That that was awesome, that was exciting. Other than that,
(05:34):
it's been the deadest free agent agency imaginable. One team
had cap space it was the nets. They they decided
to use it just to take other teams bad contracts.
Shams was telling us a month ago this could be
the craziest offseason ever. Nothing's happened other than the Durant move.
(05:54):
The most notable move is Norman Powell getting traded to Miami.
Norman Powell, who, by the way, oddly enough, the only
time Norman Powell's been discussed on regularly on podcasts and
TV shows aside from ones focused on the Clippers was
a different Lebron James thing when people were like, oh,
(06:16):
what did anyone think of Norman Powell and his all
Star spot? If Lebron knew he wasn't gonna play and
so but I but I'm listening to and reading folks
basically be like, all right, I guess will feed the
content and engagement monster and have the boring, tired discussion
(06:39):
of could Lebron James be traded? You mean the greatest
player of all time or you know what, to not
argue with, folks, the at worst second greatest player of
all time who's never been traded, who is open now
potentially to being traded. That's a boring discussion. We'd rather
(07:02):
talk about the Pacers losing Miles Turner because they don't
want to pay the tax because Halliburton got hurt. That's
what we'd rather talk about, Cam Whitmore for two second
round picks, Like what are we doing? This is and
it's not lost on me today, this very moment is
the fifteen year anniversary. I didn't know that until I
(07:26):
saw an article' writting about this morning. Today's the fifteen
year anniversary of the decision, which means we've had fifteen
years of enhanced more, round the clock, more, twelve month
a year, three hundred and sixty five day NBA transaction interest,
(07:49):
from player empowerment to the owners trying to wrestle it back,
super Team's homegrown, all of it. It came because Lebron
and MATV put together a TV show and changed the
whole paradigm. And fifteen years later, he's still one of,
if not the most interesting person in the league, and
(08:13):
folks who cover the league for a living seem almost
resentful that this is a story. So I don't understand that.
But that's I guess a matter of taste. That's a
personal preference, so be it. But then there is what
I consider the outright misinformation might be too strong, especially
(08:36):
in today's climate, but just misleading and incorrect. I guess
opinions on Lebron's money and Lebron's value and Lebron's impact
on winning, because here's what I know. Last year we played,
(09:00):
we had an offseason. By the way, we're in the Olympics.
They had a whole All the best players in the
world came together in Paris to play a basketball tournament,
and then they voted on who was the most valuable
player in that tournament, and it was Lebron James. Now,
I argued, you could have gone co MVPs because Lebron
(09:21):
carried the team up until the final, and then Steph
was so utterly brilliant in the semifinal and the final.
If you want to split the baby, so be it.
That's fine. But he won the MVP of that. Then
this year, we had a whole NBA season, and then
the entirety of basketball media voted on awards. And after
(09:42):
this season, if your name was not shake Gilgess, Alexander Nikolejokic,
Giannis Antena Kumpo, Jason Tatum, or Donovan Mitchell, basketball media
said you were not as valuable as Lebron James. Those
are the five guys that finished higher on MVA voting.
Those are the five guys who received more First Team
(10:03):
All NBA votes. That's the entire list, Not Steph, not Kauai,
not Durant, not who's the younger guys that I'm leaving out,
Not Kaid, not Halliburton in the regular season, he obviously
came on huge in the postseason. None of those guys
(10:27):
we had an awards. We had a season sixth most
First Team All NBA votes, sixth most, sixth in the
MVP voting. And the reason I bring that up is
then the discussion around Lebron James make being the thirteenth
highest paid player was well, doesn't Lebron understand that a
(10:52):
huge impediment to winning is his salary? In what world?
In what world is the leagues? I don't know. I'll
be conservative eighth best player being the thirteenth highest paid
player an impediment to winning. We just saw the Golden
(11:16):
State Warriors trade for and then extend Jimmy Butler, and
the narrative surrounding that is that open Steph's championship window.
Jimmy Butler makes more money than Lebron and is worse
than Lebron, they say it again, but no, I'm talking
(11:37):
about the right now, the right now, because by the way,
I would bet Lebron's got as many all NBA caliber seasons,
more All NBA caliber seasons left in him than Jimmy
Butler does. Jimmy Butler's done being an All NBA player,
Lebron was last year, and Steph and Lebron probably have
about the same amount of seasons left, give or take.
(11:59):
And I'm talking about the here in the now. People
thought that the Warriors made a great move giving Jimmy
Butler that money, and it's a touch more than Lebron makes,
and he's a worst player, great player, but a worst player.
He like, in what universe is Lebron James making less
(12:25):
than Karl Anthony Towns and the same as Paul George
a bad contract, not a world where he was second
team All NBA and sixth in MVP voting. So there's
that piece of it that if you're the seventh or
eighth best player in the sport and you're the thirteenth
(12:45):
highest paid player in the sport, you're on a bargain contract,
then there was this piece of it. Well, if he
was really focused on winning, he should have taken less
to help the Lakers, and that was that is a
understandable opinion by fans and a just abhorred job by
(13:12):
the media in perpetuating that because Lebron James, if he
had cut his salary demonsey from fifty if he had
opted out of the fifty two and said, you know what,
I'll play for twenty you know how much cap space
that opens up for the Los Angeles Lakers zero dollars,
(13:34):
not a penny, because they're that far over the cap already.
If Lebron James had said I'll go from fifty two
million to the league minimum, it would have opened up
roughly ten million dollars in cap space for the Lakers.
Ten million bucks. So this idea that the Lakers could
(13:59):
have been these major players in free agency if Lebron
had simply taken a discount is belied by just the facts.
And it's also it's also a and we all know
this is true, a disingenuous discussion because had Lebron, let's say,
(14:20):
Lebron opted out and said I'm going to be a
free agent, and guess what guys, I'm gonna play for
the minimum. The entire conversation would be about stacking the deck, unfair,
faking like that. So there was him simply saying, I
(14:43):
don't know. I'm the thirteenth igh is paid guy in
the league. I'm probably pretty underpaid. And that's even before
you consider all of the off court stuff that I
bring to the table. So yeah, I'll just play for
my fifty million? Is more? Been totally reasonable? Was there? Like?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
So you have to but he opted into the contract?
Like what would have his other options have been?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
He could have opted out and been a free agent.
He could have opted out and been a free agent
and signed anywhere for the literally anywhere for the league
minimum and leave fifty million on the table or a
lot of places for the mid level, which is about
fourteen million bucks. And the only team that could have
(15:31):
signed him for more than fourteen million dollars would have
been the Nets, which would have made no sense. So
those were go ahead?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
And why did he not do that?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Are you saying like, because he thought the Lakers are
going to do a better job with secure and a better.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
I think it's a I don't think there is a
perfect solution here for you know what, they're trying to
accomplish all these things. And I'm a big believer of
you can't have everything you want in life, and sometimes,
like you, you know, you have to make trade offs.
I'm not sitting here arguing that the Lakers owe him
(16:12):
something more than they owe Luca, which is to try
to win a damn championship this season. And I'll get
to the Lakers piece of it in a minute. I'm
not saying that there is a perfect solution for what
he's trying to accomplish. What I'm saying is the narrative
(16:36):
that a huge impediment to winning is you know, when
you pay a player way more than he's worth, that's
gonna hurt you, like the example of people uses you know,
Kobe at the end when Lebron was according to NBA voters,
which I am not was the sixth best player in
(16:59):
the league LAFTXT year. So that part is to me
just erroneous. Then there is the Okay, you've made over
a billion dollars, you want the Lakers to be more competitive,
take less money Dirk style and give them flexibility. When
(17:19):
you look at it that him taking less money would
not have given them any flexibility. And then there is
this other part of it which I mentioned on TV yesterday,
and it was the way it was captioned made it
seem like more of a shot at Durant than I
(17:41):
wanted it to be. But I said what I said,
which was and this is the part to me demans
that I find. No one can explain this to me correctly, nobody.
Do who do you think right right now this moment?
(18:02):
And there's no wrong answer here to Mon's You might
disagree with me. Who do you think right now this
moment is better Durant or Lebron? And do you think
it's close in either direction?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Offensively, I'd say Kevin Durant.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
But as far as a better player, the better players
like just yeah, better all around, I'd have to give
it to Lebron. But it's either way, it's pretty close, probably, yeah, exactly,
the like if one guy's the eighth best player in
the league, the other guy's the tenth best player in
the league or nine to twelve or whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Right, So I and despite the age, I think we
can agree that Lebron is the more durable player has
been like you know what I mean? Lebron is less
likely to miss thirty games with an injury. That's just
(18:57):
that's not a matter of opinion. We just we just
know it. Okay. So here's what I don't understand. Kevin
Durant was available for trade and the media lost its mind.
Who should go after him? These are the teams Durant
(19:18):
doesn't want, the Minnesota Should Minnesota trade for him? Anyway?
If you trade for him, do you just do you
want to just give him a contract? The Rockets were
the two seed, gave up their leading scorer, a valuable
defender who I don't like in Dylan Brooks, and the
tenth pick of the draft, and everyone's reaction was like,
what a great job by the Rockets, they might win
(19:40):
the title. A guy who at the very least is
as good as Durant and I think a touch better
is available potentially, and the same media is like, who
fucking want him? I mean, really, it doesn't make any sense.
That's what I don't understand. Like last year, last year,
(20:02):
Lebron was better than Steph. They are similar Lebron's older,
but again like a kind of similar port places in
their career. Steph's team was in twenty four and twenty
five when they traded for Jimmy Butler, you felt like
it made them contenders. They lost to the Timberwolves and
five in the playoffs. Lebron's team was hanging on to
(20:23):
the three four seed. They trade for Luca, you felt
like it made them contenders. They lost to the Timberwolves
in five in the playoffs. That's like they had after
very similar Olympics, very similar seasons. They Lebron finished higher
an MVP and all NBA voting, but it was very close.
Right If Steph Curry had released a statement like I
(20:46):
don't know about the future of the Warriors and people
thought he might be available, it would be a full
stop freakout about what teams should package, what things to
try to get him. And we just saw it happened
with Durant when last year Lebron was better than both
(21:08):
those guys, and the collective reaction is, well, I guess
maybe maybe a team or two should make a courtesy
call and a collective eye roll of I can't believe
we're having this discussion. Has everyone lost their mind? Like
(21:32):
if you if you are the New York Knicks right
now in a wide open Eastern Conference and you just
hired Mike Brown, who has I don't know, been to
a finals with Lebron. You're not having a very long
(21:59):
meeting about well, Carl Anthony towns for Lebron James and
how that works and then calling the Lakers and seeing
if they're interested and the towns for Lebron thing demonse.
Here is the pros and the cons of it. The
(22:20):
cons for the Knicks obviously are guys ten years older
than the other that's con number one, right, your team
dynamic changes considerably, that's potentially potentially con number two. The pros,
(22:40):
in my opinion are, oddly, by adding a guy in
year twenty three, a forty guy who's going to be
forty one, you actually get better defensively for two reasons.
What is it's more Mitchell Robinson minutes instead of Towns,
so that definitively, you know, that helps you a lot defensively.
(23:01):
But also, as Lebron showed last year once they got Luca,
if he's not the primary offensive creator, he still has
the ability to be a good, not great defender like
he once was, but good defender if that's where he
can put his energy. The other sneaky pro for the
Knicks is do they actually want to move towns before
(23:28):
he's he wants this next mega extension when they traded
all those picks for bridges and you're gonna have to
extend him and you've already extended og and you're obviously
in the Jalen Brunson business like does the fact that
Lebron would be short term act? Is that actually a
(23:49):
positive because you don't want to, you know, have the
big money it's associated with Karl Anthony Towns when there
are I think legitimate, real concerns of if our two
best players are bruntsing in towns, are we good enough
(24:11):
defensively ever to win four rounds? I think those are
all real, legitimate discussions. And then it's like, right now,
this moment, as crazy as this is, because he's gonna
be in your twenty three, But is Lebron better than
Karl Anthony Towns? My answer to that question is yes.
(24:33):
If you feel differently than you, don't make this trick.
But if you think the answer is yes, does the
twenty twenty five twenty twenty six season have more value
than future seasons have? Let me rephrase it, does it
(24:55):
have oddly what's the right word I'll just say it though,
instead of trying to say what I was trying to
say exactly, I'll just explain it. Because the East is
so ripped away due to injuries, does getting ten percent
(25:18):
better for this upcoming season matter more than it would
in normal years? Because it's like, man, the Celtics are
off the chess board, the Pacers are off the chess board.
The Bucks don't know where they are on the chessboard.
We're already the favorites in the conference. We haven't won
(25:40):
a championship in fifty two years. What if we go
for it? It certainly is a worthy, legitimate conversation, just
like it now. I wouldn't necessarily want this if I
were Lebron, But you know another team, Demons that should
(26:03):
at least discuss it, Golden State Jimmy for Lebron. The
Lakers get younger, and add you know a guy who
doesn't need the ball at all, a guy who's you know,
more about intangibles and devons and stuff like that at
(26:24):
this point of his career, and you put Stephan Lebron
together and be like, all right, you know, let's see, like, now,
if I were Lebron, that's not that interesting to me
because I actually think the position he's in right like Luca,
I feel is better than Steph and so at this point,
and so I don't think that Golden State would be
(26:46):
a you know that you'd be in a better position
to win, But go ahead.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Right with all this stuff going on, like what about Luca,
who has like the player option next year? And also
like and how likely do you even think that it's
that it is that Lebron will be traded what team?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Well, I don't think it's I don't. I don't think
it's likely, but I don't at all think it's fantasy
at this point. That's the first point. The second point
is and I tried to be very and I will
again try to be very cautious about how I were
of this, And this is this is a good reason
(27:24):
right here to like, rate, subscribe, review, to check out
the podcast, because this little piece right here we also won't, like,
you know, specifically push out on its own on socials
because I don't I I don't want this to be
aggregated incorrectly. But I told you guys two weeks ago
(27:50):
that I thought and this was what I would call
very in a very informed opinion that these finals specifically
were difficult. Not being in the tournament late into this
(28:17):
tournament had not sat well with Lebron at all, and
that the itch to have one more run was as
strong as ever. And I said that then I went
on vacation, and then surely thereafter Rich Paul released that
statement and it felt very in line with what I
(28:43):
knew to be true, which was Lebron is not saying
I can't win with the Lakers. What Lebron is saying
is if your focus is not winning right now, then
were not a great fit anymore. And that's reasonable.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Why do you come out and say that, you know,
after Lebron, Well, I.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Think there's two reasons. So I think there were two reasons.
One was to put I think there were potentially two
positive outcomes. One was shake the trees of the league
to see if a team like the Knicks did want
to inquire about his availability. The other one was to
(29:29):
try to shake Rob Blinka into being aggressive. And when
I saw Dave mcminnimon report that the Lakers are focused
on having max cap space in twenty twenty seven, I
(29:49):
I wanted to throw my phone that forget Lebron you're
at next year, you're gonna have twenty seven year old
Luke ad Ancic, who by the way, has not signed
an extension yet. You know when your window is right
now every year, and and I just I also I've
(30:14):
also heard the be like, well, listen, if Luke and
Lebron aren't good enough to win a title, then how
much of that is on Luke and Lebron? And the
answer to that is yes and no, because this is
how I felt at times when I was frustrated with
the Lakers when Ad was still there, when it's like, okay,
(30:35):
if it were a two on two tournament, would the
Lakers when it was Lebron and Ad and the rest
of that mismashed supporting cast, would they have a better
chance of winning the NBA title if the league were
set up as it is right now, if it were
two on two? And I felt for a number of
those years probably two on two, like their top two
(30:57):
guys against anybody else's top two guys. Take your chance,
And it's the supporting cast that is not, especially in
the new NBA with a weak link era, where you
know where you need five legitimate guys. And that's how
I feel right now if it weren't two on if
for Lebron and Luca against Yokichen Murray and I guess
(31:20):
Giannis and Miles Turner now, which would be an awkward
two on two game. And step and Jimmy and Brunton
and Karl Anthony Towns. I like their change. I like,
you know what, I like the Lakers chances Katie and
shongoon Ooh, that'd be fun, but it's not that, and
(31:42):
so rounding out the rest of the roster. And by
the way, I don't hate the eight and move. I've
never liked Dayton and Demons. If you remember, I don't
know if you saw it sidebar from all the the
Betroun stuff. Okay, I'm so glad you remembered. So a
(32:10):
year ago. Two years ago, however, long ago. DeAndre Aiden
got traded to the Portland Trailblazers and played terribly at
the start.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Of the year.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
And then he did an interview and one of the
things he said was, yeah, like, you know, everything's been off,
including I've been sleeping on an air mattress. And I
said to Demons, and I don't know if he thought
I was being unfair or not, that that right there
(32:43):
that one statement is such an indictment on Aten's professionalism
and maturity that it's not acceptable when you're a professional
athlete who's been paid, who was on a near max
contract to be like, well, shit, my bed hasn't been delivered,
(33:04):
So I guess for six weeks as a seven foot
tall NBA center, I'm gonna sleep on an air mattress,
which is not acceptable. It's not it's no, it would,
it's it's in the same like you just can't happen.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
What do you do in that situation? You like sleep
in a hotel room or you No, you haven't. You
could have got a bed expedited, is what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
It's like you can get it. I could get I
could get if you're it right now, Like the nicest
bed at mattress Firm. No free ads, but I'll just
shout them out, the nicest bed, all of it. It's
like they're expensive, that it's gonna be expensive, like twelve
fifteen thousand dollars. If you call Mattress whatever bed company
(33:50):
X Mattress firm, if you'd like more of these plugs,
you need to talk to our sales department and be like, hey,
what's the biggest, nicest bed you have in stock? Okay,
how much does it cost? Okay? All right, listen. What's
your name? Marcus? All right, Marcus, how are you doing today?
(34:11):
Today's your lucky day because you answered the phone. Here's
the deal. I need that bed or a facsimile of
it at my house by the end of the day.
I do not care what you have to do for it.
Here's the deal. I'm gonna give you my credit card,
you pay whatever extra fees there are, and when it
(34:32):
gets done, I'm having someone come down to the store
and give you five thousand dollars cash. Call me back
in a half hour and let me know how it's happening.
That would get done and you pay a five thousand
dollars I need my bed now tax and you don't,
and you have a good NBA season. So pointise, I said,
that guy's not to be taken, not to be trusted.
(34:55):
He had traded for the Blazers and the reports are,
oh my god, this guy. He's late for meetings, he
missed his treatment. He's a pain in the ass. I'm like, yeah,
you know how I knew to be sleeping on an
air mattress That's how I knew. It's just I mean,
and so you have all that said. With all that said,
I don't for eight million bucks, he's worth a flyer.
(35:20):
I've never been a DeAndre Ayton guy, but he's worth
a flyer. There are other moves I would have liked more,
but worth a flyer. I just think I think the
Lakers man, Rob Blink has never been good at this job.
And I understand he was the in that analogy. I
(35:46):
just made Marcus the mattress salesperson who a guy called
him up and was like, Hey, Lucky Day, I'm gonna
buy your best bet and give you five thousand dollars
tip for your trouble. He was the Marcus in that analogy,
and the guy calling him was Nico Harrison, and instead
of five thousand dollars, he offered him Luka Doncic. But
(36:06):
that didn't make Marcus the world's greatest mattress salesperson, and
that didn't make Rob Blinka great GM. It was just like,
ah shit, lucky Day. And so I think alienating Dorian
Finney Smith when Luca loves him and Luca hasn't signed
his extension yet, is worrisome. It's not nothing, I and
(36:34):
so I would I just I don't think the Lakers
are drawing dead. I don't think they are. They have
put themselves in the best position. And if they don't
want to contend this year, if they're like no, And
by the way, it also doesn't like I don't know
(36:54):
why Rob Blinka would be trying to save cap space
for twenty twenty seven. Rob, You're not going to be
in charge in twenty twenty seven, buddy. Those new owners
are going to survey the landscape and be like, so,
where they're inefficiencies in this league? Oh, unlimited budget on
front offices, coaching staffs, trainers, scouts, those types of things,
(37:18):
no salary cap there, Well, what if we upgraded at
that spot? And so I just that there it is.
I said it might be forty minutes, it was thirty
that That's my Lakers, Lebron ram I helpe. You all
enjoyed it, Uh, I have a less I have one.
(37:41):
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Speaker 1 (39:54):
All right demands Before we get to what hopefully is
one of the why not hopefully what I think will
be one of the funniest stories we've ever told on
the show. I do want to talk a little bit
about Patrick Mahomes first show back, gone for ten days.
Two things happened while I was on vacation.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Guys, I was attacked.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
I was just walking around, walking the beach, listening to
things on trying to I didn't really I wasn't on
Twitter much. I read three books, I did the New
York Times Crossword every day. But then i'd walk the
beach and you know, listen to things. And I just
(40:32):
heard the worst takes and they were centered around my
two guys, Lebron James and Patrick Mahomes. So let's get
to the Mahomes piece of it.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Yeah, so Mahomes wants to get past that Super Bowl
loss and get that nasty taste out of his mouth,
and he's it's also getting tired of all the talk,
saying that he wants to just settle all this on
the football field. Yeah, this is another thing that really
annoyed you. Which I'm curious what the angle is here,
what pgoff?
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Well, it's not, no, no, no. His comments didn't annoy
me me last week, which was so here's the deal.
If someone wants to have the courage to come out
and be like, you know what, you know, here's a take,
(41:23):
free take for someone who wants it. Okay, Like it's
just sometimes sometimes I'm disappointed in uh my industry because
there are these I can see these. I'm like, oh,
that would be a good take. I don't believe it.
(41:44):
But no one has made had this take, and it's
right there, and I know it would cut through the
noise and you could establish yourself with it, and no one,
no one, no one has said it. Now, I don't
believe this. This is not my take. So consider this
like the sports take version of developing some type of
(42:12):
vaccine or cure for something and be like, we're not
patenting it. Anyone can copy it free for the world
public use. Here's a take. The last few years, Patrick
Mahomes has pretty clearly not been judged based on his numbers.
(42:36):
He's been judged based on the fact that his team wins,
that he is a leader, that he plays his best
in the biggest spots, and that is how he has
held on too the best quarterback alive Moniker, despite the
fact that his two biggest conference rivals Josh Allen Lamar
(43:02):
Jackson have both won league and vps in this time
and if that has allowed Mahomes to climb to the
top of the quarterback mountain, then the exact same standard
(43:22):
should be used to evaluate Jalen Hurts and Jalen Hurts.
Who's never missed the playoffs, whose team wins double digit
games every year, who's been to two Super Bowls, been
awesome in both. Some would argue outplayed Mahomes in both,
(43:43):
certainly in this last one, and has done it with
what you know, let's call it, a polarizing coach and
a polarizing receiver in a tough city and now is
coming off off you know, leading an offense to damn
near a one hundred points combined in the conference championship
(44:07):
game in the Super Bowl and puts his body on
the line, doesn't care about his passing numbers for the
most unstoppable play in football. That player the defending Super
Bowl MVP. He's the best quarterback alive. End of take.
(44:30):
That take is again, I do not believe it, but
it doesn't have a ton of logical holes if someone
wanted to have it. Instead, these dopes want to knock
(44:54):
Mahomes off his perch a best quarterback in the league,
and they are doing it for one of three quarterbacks,
really one of two and mostly one of just one
who's never once out played him in a big spot.
(45:16):
It's the majority of quarterback rankings lists right now have
Josh Allen number one, which is hilarious and indefensible, and
it is not an allowable take until one time in
a spot that matters. It's not a quarterback wins thing.
(45:40):
He outplays Patrick, and the last two years, one in
his building, one in the Chiefs building. He's had the
ball in his hands, chance to go do it, and
it couldn't get forty yards either time, so that's not allowed.
Lamar can win every MVP from here until retirement, and
until he wins a single big game, it's obviously not allowed.
(46:03):
And Joe Burrow had outplayed Patrick in a big spot,
had a chance to really put a stake in the
heart of the Chiefs through fourth quarter interception the conference
championship game lost and has n't been back to the
playoffs since. And the amount of people trying to argue
(46:28):
any one of those three guys has ascended past Patrick.
Because Patrick got beat by Jalen arts and they played
more than the Super Bowl. It's the dumbest shit I've
ever heard. You then combine it with this whole ooh
to the Chiefs era over based on what that they
(46:50):
were just the second best team in football last year,
based on the fact that they just completed the best
three years stretch in the history of the league and
are tied for the best five and seven year stretches
in the history of the league. What is the what
is the piece of evidence you have like, oh, this
might be the Broncos or Chargers year. There is none,
(47:13):
And so the again, the Eagles have bragging rights, and
Jalen Hurts has bragging rights, And the Eagles have it
because they want as a team, and Jalen Hurts has
it because individually he played, you know, he was the
best quarterback on the field that Sunday. But these AFC
also rans that are being elevated because of what I
(47:40):
just I can't. I can't deal with just one time
at one time? Can I just see? It's what I
said to that guy in Hawaii, the guy I'm walking,
I'm walking with the family down the boardwalk in Honolulu,
(48:03):
and this guy walks up to me, and he's like, amen,
this is Bill's country out here in my head. I'm like, no,
it's fucking not, man, it's actually I'm not sure there's
a place in the United States that is that is
(48:24):
further removed literally geographically but also spiritually from Buffalo, New
York as the boardwalk in Honolulu. Like, first of all,
it's just a bad take. Second of all, get a life.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
But I didn't.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
I didn't say I didn't say any of that. I'm like, okay, nice.
I mean, like five minutes later, he runs me down
and was like, hey, man, I'm so sorry I said that.
Can I please get a picture? And I'm like sure,
so I take the picture. He's like, yeah, man, thanks,
(49:06):
sorry about that. I'm like sor right. But then I
couldn't resist because I was like, I'm with my wife
and kids like. So I was like, I was like,
hey and listen, man, one day you'll win a big game.
And I saw a look on his face and it's stung.
You know why. It's stung the same reason why when
people put up that picture of me and Mahomes a
(49:28):
couple parades ago, where I'm smiling and my nose is
casting a shadow on my teeth. It stings because I
know it's true. I'm like, damn, like that is weird.
That is like a thing that most people like it
shouldn't be physically possible, or it does cast a shadow
like that sucks. But that's why it stung him, because
(49:52):
he knows it's true, and so I just don't. But
I it is. It's really beyond dumb to me the
(50:15):
every other let me add one other thing. And I
said this to Cowherd and he just laughed because he
knew I was right, not just like this year, but
basically for all of modern NFL history. If there is
(50:38):
a team in a division that everyone agrees the same
team has the division's best quarterback and the division's best coach,
that team will be the pick to win that division.
(51:02):
If there's no debate, like it's just like so, I'll
give you an example. N FC West, there's a debate
is McVeigh or Shanahan the best coach? And I guess
for some there might be a debate is perty or
Stafford the best quarterback? Not to me, but what like
there's it's not often there that it is crystal clear
(51:24):
on both, but when it is, uh, that team is
everyone's picked to win the division and the amount of
people this year that are gonna pick fucking bon Nicks,
sorry for all the curse words today to win that division.
Or Justin Herbert, who again, I don't I don't know
(51:45):
if he's won a big game since high school, and
I have to look at the high school. I don't
think he did it Oregon. I it's just it's just dumb,
you know what. I just I just.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
People get fickle with the greatness.
Speaker 3 (52:02):
I don't know if people just don't sometimes you know,
if you.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
Heard it, but they think we have the next Trent
Williams and Johsh Simmons. Oh boy, oh boy, Now that
might be a little strong. Trent Williams one of the
greatest players of all time. But if they just if
Josh Simmons just ends up being the tenth best tackle
left tackle in the league slightly above average, it is
(52:30):
such a I mean, Mahome has been to five Super Bowls.
You had a different starting left tackle in all five,
it would be just such a massive, massive.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
Wors line situation. Yet right.
Speaker 1 (52:47):
Course of the no, the thing is what's weird is
the Chiefs had a really good guard center guard oh
line this year. The tackle it was the worst tackle
play he's had, and a previous they had been bat
up in the middle, but good of the like and
so it got really shaky by the end of it.
All right, real quick, this is a message that applies
(53:09):
to ninety nine percent of you listening right now, because
that's how many of you can be covered by fast
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(53:31):
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(53:53):
not available in all areas. All right, Demanse, we you
how should we do this? Uh? Yeah, you know what.
It's time. It's time for the snake pit. So here
what a what an amazing image? All right? I mean
(54:18):
there is actually some real if we think about it,
we that's actually again the producers do a great job.
And I'm rude, but narratively it doesn't really make sense
that demands, a lover and breeder of snakes would be
wearing a snakeskin suit. That's right, that's kind of I mean,
(54:41):
that's kind of sacrilegious. So again maybe maybe a slight
just again, if you're watching on YouTube, you see it.
It looks cool. But okay, the all right, so I
want to give can I give the setup here? Do
you care? Do you mind?
Speaker 2 (55:00):
I kind of lay the foundation of the sea.
Speaker 1 (55:03):
All right, I'm gonna because as my dad used to say,
you ask Nick what time it is, he's going to
tell you how the watch was made. I am going
to give a full background here. Demanse for a couple
of years has been trying to figure out can I
(55:26):
successfully breed these exotic snakes? And put a lot of
time and a lot of money and a lot of
time learning into Can I figure this out on my own?
Can I go to enough shows and read enough forums
(55:47):
and you know, correct me by the way if anything
I'm saying is wrong. And there have been more than
a couple times where Demanse has asked or told me
or mom or my mom, actually, who seems to be
your snake? Confident my mother? You know what? I might
(56:07):
give up? I might you know, I might just keep
you know, you know, one pet snake because I but I,
I've spent so much money and so much time, it's
so frustrating. And a month ago he was on the
verge of another one of those I don't think it's
is worth all the time and effort. And literally two
(56:30):
days later, six eggs show up in the check what's
the tank with the mother snake? And then there is
some real and I really I totally empathized, and I
(56:51):
took it totally serious. But it also was like charming,
some real anxiety surrounding every single decision Demonse was making
from their forward because it was all right, I could
leave the snakes in there, the eggs with the mother snake,
but they the better chances of success if I put
(57:14):
him in an incubator. I have a guy who will
do the incubating for me. Oh man, I actually want
them in my house. But then I've already given them
to him. Now I have to buy an incubator. Now
I have to transfer them again. Am I doing so
all of this? And then there is the realization, Oh no,
(57:39):
I'm about to be out of town for ten days
and the eggs are back in my house. I'm sure
there was some real thought on, you know, should I
have just left it with these people until I get back.
What if there's a power outage, all these things, all
of that, But all of it seemly was fine. You
(58:01):
got them back, the incubator worked, it was set up.
You sprayed them for mold. I guess you did all
those things you had to do, except for one small part,
which didn't really have anything to do with the age.
Had more to do with the other snakes. And there
I'll let you take over the story with I might
(58:22):
add a bit on my own.
Speaker 2 (58:24):
Yeah, they let me down.
Speaker 3 (58:25):
I've got like five five grownish snakes or whatever, and
I was trying to feed a rat.
Speaker 2 (58:32):
I brought in two or three rats.
Speaker 3 (58:34):
Two of them got taken trying to feed this last
one to one of the other hungry snakes. They didn't
need it, so I put it back in the box.
I was plan to overturning it to the store. That's
just how I do it. I go back and get
a little store credit for whatever size rat it was.
Speaker 1 (58:48):
And so let me add something there that is that's
that's tell me if I'm wrong, less of a you're
trying to get the twelve bucks or whatever out of
my apartment. It right, and not just release it or
kill it on your own or whatever.
Speaker 4 (59:03):
It right.
Speaker 1 (59:04):
And there's a humane piece of it as well. Yes,
So okay, so you bought three rats. Two of the
snakes ate them, one wasn't eaten. You put it back
in the box. This is last before we leave for vacation.
All right, go ahead, keep going.
Speaker 2 (59:21):
So put the rat back in the box. And you know,
I'm a.
Speaker 3 (59:25):
Late packer as well, Like I probably started packing like Thursday,
so like just got a lot of stuff on mind.
I think it was when I got to Sacramento that
I realized that I left this rat inside of the box.
And it was just super super stressful for a couple
(59:46):
of reasons. But yeah, and then I didn't have my
my homie go over there and check it into about
two days after that.
Speaker 1 (59:53):
Okay, so this is so this is if I can
jump in for a second. So I realize Sunday something
is a miss because Demanse's like on the phone about yeah,
and I'm like, I'm like, so something's going on. And
then he tells me what the deal is. And one
(01:00:17):
of the first things he says is don't rats too
wires or rats to wires. So demand has created a
vision in his head where this rat has chewed its
way out of this box and then has eaten.
Speaker 5 (01:00:35):
Has somebody kicked the wires in the apartment, the power
cord for the incubator, and so now he I'm listening
to him call the apartment get authorization for someone to
be let into his apartment.
Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
But that person's not going to be there till Monday now,
So okay, So now Monday comes around, your buddy gets
your apartment and tell me, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
It's bad news.
Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
So yeah, they they will sit in there for a
little bit. Like there's been times where I have had
to keep them in there overnight, and like if I
hear them biting at the box or whatever, I'll go
over there, and I'll nudget like I'll push it like
a little aggressively to where they like they'll calm down
and they won't be trying to get out there, like
I don't want to go out to what's out there?
Yeah and yeah, So Tara gets there and I can
(01:01:30):
tell when he first gets over to the box that
the rat is definitely not in there because he's tapping
on it and he doesn't hear any like squirming or
anything inside of it.
Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
And the rat had.
Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
Eight and eaten out of the bottom the bottom bottom
of the box and had been out and I had
tark look it was nowhere to be found, nowhere.
Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
To be found.
Speaker 3 (01:01:52):
He thought that he was. He thought that he was
hearing it behind the oven. I asked him to pull
the oven out a little bit. He seemed like halfway
uncomfortab with like like this.
Speaker 1 (01:02:01):
Yeah, of course, of course, having to search your apartment
for a loose rat. Your buddy doesn't think that, like
potentially that this favor could end with him needing raby shots.
Then then then Demanse, I want to add this part
again because at his core, Demanse is an animal lover.
(01:02:25):
One of the reasons like Demonse has talked to me about,
you know, the the pushing the pull of the snake,
of the breeding snakes, is that some sadness associated with
feeding them. And even though that's like literal nature, just
buying an hand, like picking out this animal that's now
gonna die, like having real quombra. So Demanse has his
(01:02:46):
friend leave up a saucer of water for this rat,
so which honestly I suggested. It was like have him
go get the white and some poison and put your
and and be put at ease. And I was like,
no that I think the exact quote was the rat
(01:03:08):
didn't do anything wrong. Now now it's Monday again, it's Monday,
Demanday's not going to be back in this apartment until
late Sunday night, and is trying to, I guess, create
a sustainable environment for this rats. Yeah, shut all the
doors and so that then sets us up to around midnight,
(01:03:33):
LA time, Sunday night when you come home. And this
part of the story I don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
So go ahead, man.
Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
I opened the door and it's like you just knew
that there was a dead rat inside of it, Like
you just knew there was no way the rat was alive.
Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
The smell.
Speaker 3 (01:03:52):
Yeah, I swept and mocked my floor like really good
right before I left, And there was no remnants of
pine sal because it smelled like pine sal when I'm left,
and like obviously I hadn't been in there the whole time. Yeah,
and it smelt like death, Like it was just smelt
like death. And I walked around. I go in and
I turn over to my dishwasher and there's the rat
(01:04:13):
on the ground dead. But like the tricky part was
it looked like it was just it was dead for
a couple of days, two or three days.
Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
I'd go to pick it up.
Speaker 3 (01:04:24):
And there were fifty maggots magnet like fifty maggots just
right under it. And I I sprayed those things with
TILEX like that those animals I don't love.
Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
I stomped on them. Yeah, I was. It was.
Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
It was honestly the most disgusting thing that I've seen
in a really long time. Like it's I felt bad
for sending it to the like I thought about deleting it, but.
Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
We are on an even longer flight. So demand's flight
from Honolulu in hour flight from Honolulu left oddly within
five minutes of each other, he's flying La, We're flying
New York. So this all happens four hours later we
land and in the group chat is a video that
(01:05:11):
is just horrifying of Demond the kitchen floor and that
so so Mary in the chat says, that apartment to
the maggots house.
Speaker 3 (01:05:26):
Well, it's you just know they were only there for
the rat, So like, I don't have any any thought that,
like they're going to infest my apartment. But it is
crazy how many there were, Like I don't know how
long it was dead there, but I just think it's
insane how that type of stuff finds this way.
Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
Yeah, it's like fruit flies, Like I don't believe.
Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
It's strange.
Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
But most importantly, as Vic asks.
Speaker 3 (01:05:51):
The eggs, yes, Victor, the eggs are perfect.
Speaker 2 (01:05:54):
I will not know anything for sure for another like
two weeks. But like the big.
Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
Things that could have happened over that week that I
was gone did not happen, like that stuff would be
very obvious. But there's still like two weeks where you
still see if they're really for me.
Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
But but the power never went out. The rat didn't chew.
Speaker 3 (01:06:13):
The cord, and that was like a real thought of mine,
Like I was like, dude, he's gonna get out there
and you start biting the wires. I had him put
my freaking controller charge up from my PlayStation, which was like, dude,
I don't need any wires.
Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
On the ground.
Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
Yeah, all right, well there's that. All right. Everything else
we're gonna get to on Thursday. I gotta go to work.
That was that story over delivered listener questions. Let me
let me get to these real quick. Producers want you
to weigh in on the Joey chest Numb versus Usain
Bolt debate, who could eat a hot dog and run
(01:06:48):
one hundred meters faster? Must swallow hot dog before starting
to run? I oddly think so you understand the idea.
What the question here is, Demansey, The question is this
is the contest. The contest is you must eat a
hot dog and then run one hundred meters.
Speaker 3 (01:07:08):
Because Joey Chestnut was just doing. But then you saying
Bolt would like eat it like an axtual hot dog.
Speaker 2 (01:07:14):
I think the.
Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
Answer either way, Yeah, I understand. I think the answer
oddly is I think Chessnut's a big favorite in that. Yeah,
because you know a half what can a regular human
being run the one hundred in fifteen seconds, like you
know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (01:07:30):
So like the it's gonna take you, saying bolt like
for seconds to eat that hot dog at least for.
Speaker 1 (01:07:36):
If not more, if you have to swallow the whole thing.
If not, right, do we have an update on your
ball boy? Try up for the US Open this year?
Not trying out this year? I'll be traveling sadly. What
are your book recommendations?
Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
Listen, it's gonna sound funny, but yeah, this is.
Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
Gonna sound funny. But I so as part of my
you know, eternal quest to always be a better parent
for the next kid than I was to the previous kid,
I am fully, I am. I decided to do my daughter,
(01:08:17):
my youngest daughter's summer reading with her this year, and
so her summer reading book was The Hunger Games, which
I've never seen the movie, never had no familiarity with.
So I brought the Hunger Games book with me, and
then we bought the trilogy. There's three of them for
(01:08:38):
each of us in case we liked them, and she
and I were supposed to read, like, you know, alongside
each other so we could discuss it or whatever. And
I brought with me the second Hunger Games Book because
I was like, ah, these you know, it's kid's book.
Still long, it's like four hundred pages. But if I
finish it and I like it, maybe I'll want to
read the other one. I finished the first Hunger Games
(01:09:01):
book a day into vacation, finished the second one early
enough into vacation that I had time to go on
Amazon order the third one to the hotel we were
staying at. That I got upon arrival at the Hope,
(01:09:21):
because we've stayed in multiple places upon check in was
waiting for me and read that one too. And I
gotta tell you, great thousand pages those three books. Thoroughly
enjoyed it, excited to watch the movies. Now I thoroughly
enjoyed it now Again. The idea was to be able
to discuss them with Deanna. But Deanna's forty pages in
(01:09:45):
and so there's the like she really needs to catch
up and then read a bunch more. But but so
there's you know, there's my answer, all right, like rate
subscribe review, Great job, Blue Duck Volume, DraftKings Boost, great
job to Mind, not a great job by that rat.
Talk to you guys on Thursdays. See you guys, Early
show Today on first things. First, two o'clock, what's right
Welcome in What Try with Nick Right? Episode three forty six.
This episode What Try with Nick Right is brought to
you by boost Mobile. Fresh off vacation, enjoying some watching
some Wimbledon, wearing my vintage Wimbledon shirt that I still
never gone. But I wear this while I'm watching, I
feel like I'm more into it. Also, Deman's, you know,
(00:23):
I have a two piece, a nice little matching two
piece outfit that I wear whenever I go to the
US Open. That's guys playing tennis on It's just like
cartoons of people playing tennis that I wear it. I
your mom had it squirreled away in a giveaway backup clothes.
She was like, you can't wear this again this year.
You have your Wimbledon shirt. I'm like, I'm not wearing
(00:45):
my Wimbledon shirt to the US Open. Do you know
how ridiculous I would look. I'm wearing my tennis outfit,
but there's so much No, it was for real. She
was gonna get rid of it without telling me. A
ton to do today. Great to see you, We got
some good family time. Demanse was on our family vacation
(01:06):
with us. We're back from Hawaii. My sleep schedules all
screwed up. You guys don't care about that, so let's
get right into it because we have a ton to do.
We also have a three hour TV show Today shows
from two to five right after soccer so on FS one,
and there is a lot I want to discuss, not
the least of which should be one of the funny
(01:28):
what I think will be one of the funniest stories
in the history of this show, and that has to
do with what one of the hosts of the show
came home to after a ten day vacation. So we
will discuss all of that, but first, thanks to our
friends at boost Mobile, we can bring you straight to voicemail,
(01:49):
which is basically what we're not going to have time
to get into today, which is the US loses to
Mexico in the Gold Cup Final. Not great, they didn't
play great. They could have won, but they didn't deserve
to when Bronnie had a nice little highlight play in
Summer League. And more importantly, I also think that Bronnie's
quote about listen, there are guys in this league, then
(02:10):
give you fifteen to twenty points. I'm not one of
those guys right now. I'm not gonna be one of
those guys that gonna have to make it work on defense.
I thought that was a great quote. I also thought
Bronni had a hilarious quote when they asked him about
the rumors surrounding swirling around Lebron James and he's like, yeah,
I try not to pay attention to that stuff, Like, Buddy,
that is your dad, Like I would, I like it.
(02:33):
I understand you're like, I don't want to comment on
another teammate's business, but like you guys live in the
same house. And then also do they live in the
same house that you know what, I don't know the
answer to that. Does Bronnie move out on his own?
He might, he's got an NBA contract, Maybe he does. Probably,
you know what. Again, I'll stay out of the young
man's business. But if there's if there's anyone in the
(02:56):
world that could all of a sudden be making a
million and a half bucks on their own and the
house that they can afford is a massive, massive downgrade
from what they're used to living in, it might be Bronnie.
So I maybe would you know, stay at home as
long as I could. And Joey Chestnut when the hot
Dog eating competition. This is a story. The producers love that.
(03:17):
Every year I remind them I do not like Joey Chestnut.
I am not interested in Joey Chestnut. And this little
photoshop of me holding up Joey Chestnut's arm, actually I
find offensive. But it's a mustard belt though I didn't
even know that's what it was called the mustard belt
that you know, you know, that's the problem with today's sports.
(03:38):
It's you know, it's too much belt culture. All right,
like rate, subscribe, review, and do give us some likes.
I listen to my friends on poker Go. By the way,
oh man, I do have an announcement coming up that
I think I can make. I gotta clear it with
everyone I think I can make on this podcast on Thursday,
major announcement me and Poke and things going on. I
(04:02):
have to make sure I'm okay to announce it. But
on Thursday, we should do that. My point is my
friends on poker Go, whenever they do a YouTube stream,
they're like, slam that like button. Do the like button,
give us the thumbs up. So I'm gonna do the
same thing. Rate to the rate the podcast five stars.
We would appreciate that and subscribe. Of course, all right, demanse,
let's get right to it, and this first segment might
(04:24):
be forty five minutes long.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Let's see about it.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So Lebron opted into his fifty two million dollar contract
and then came the trade rumors. Rich Paul came out
with a statement and said, Lebron knows the Lakers are
building for the future. He understands that, but he values
a realistic chance of winning it all. You thought that
they were gonna come away with a center. They ended
up getting DeAndre Hayden, who was a sinner. But something
about this whole process has been peeing you off.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Do you care to share with the audience?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah? So I have just been mystified at the comm
a nation of misinformation, disingenuous commentary, and almost huffing and
(05:13):
puffing from the media, Like, ah, I guess we're forced
to talk about Lebron again. What the fuck else has
happened in free agency? The Kevin Durant trade that all
of us knew was coming, that we that we talked about.
That that was awesome, that was exciting. Other than that,
(05:34):
it's been the deadest free agent agency imaginable. One team
had cap space it was the nets. They they decided
to use it just to take other teams bad contracts.
Shams was telling us a month ago this could be
the craziest offseason ever. Nothing's happened other than the Durant move.
(05:54):
The most notable move is Norman Powell getting traded to Miami.
Norman Powell, who, by the way, oddly enough, the only
time Norman Powell's been discussed on regularly on podcasts and
TV shows aside from ones focused on the Clippers was
a different Lebron James thing when people were like, oh,
(06:16):
what did anyone think of Norman Powell and his all
Star spot? If Lebron knew he wasn't gonna play and
so but I but I'm listening to and reading folks
basically be like, all right, I guess will feed the
content and engagement monster and have the boring, tired discussion
(06:39):
of could Lebron James be traded? You mean the greatest
player of all time or you know what, to not
argue with, folks, the at worst second greatest player of
all time who's never been traded, who is open now
potentially to being traded. That's a boring discussion. We'd rather
(07:02):
talk about the Pacers losing Miles Turner because they don't
want to pay the tax because Halliburton got hurt. That's
what we'd rather talk about, Cam Whitmore for two second
round picks, Like what are we doing? This is and
it's not lost on me today, this very moment is
the fifteen year anniversary. I didn't know that until I
(07:26):
saw an article' writting about this morning. Today's the fifteen
year anniversary of the decision, which means we've had fifteen
years of enhanced more, round the clock, more, twelve month
a year, three hundred and sixty five day NBA transaction interest,
(07:49):
from player empowerment to the owners trying to wrestle it back,
super Team's homegrown, all of it. It came because Lebron
and MATV put together a TV show and changed the
whole paradigm. And fifteen years later, he's still one of,
if not the most interesting person in the league, and
(08:13):
folks who cover the league for a living seem almost
resentful that this is a story. So I don't understand that.
But that's I guess a matter of taste. That's a
personal preference, so be it. But then there is what
I consider the outright misinformation might be too strong, especially
(08:36):
in today's climate, but just misleading and incorrect. I guess
opinions on Lebron's money and Lebron's value and Lebron's impact
on winning, because here's what I know. Last year we played,
(09:00):
we had an offseason. By the way, we're in the Olympics.
They had a whole All the best players in the
world came together in Paris to play a basketball tournament,
and then they voted on who was the most valuable
player in that tournament, and it was Lebron James. Now,
I argued, you could have gone co MVPs because Lebron
(09:21):
carried the team up until the final, and then Steph
was so utterly brilliant in the semifinal and the final.
If you want to split the baby, so be it.
That's fine. But he won the MVP of that. Then
this year, we had a whole NBA season, and then
the entirety of basketball media voted on awards. And after
(09:42):
this season, if your name was not shake Gilgess, Alexander Nikolejokic,
Giannis Antena Kumpo, Jason Tatum, or Donovan Mitchell, basketball media
said you were not as valuable as Lebron James. Those
are the five guys that finished higher on MVA voting.
Those are the five guys who received more First Team
(10:03):
All NBA votes. That's the entire list, Not Steph, not Kauai,
not Durant, not who's the younger guys that I'm leaving out,
Not Kaid, not Halliburton in the regular season, he obviously
came on huge in the postseason. None of those guys
(10:27):
we had an awards. We had a season sixth most
First Team All NBA votes, sixth most, sixth in the
MVP voting. And the reason I bring that up is
then the discussion around Lebron James make being the thirteenth
highest paid player was well, doesn't Lebron understand that a
(10:52):
huge impediment to winning is his salary? In what world?
In what world is the leagues? I don't know. I'll
be conservative eighth best player being the thirteenth highest paid
player an impediment to winning. We just saw the Golden
(11:16):
State Warriors trade for and then extend Jimmy Butler, and
the narrative surrounding that is that open Steph's championship window.
Jimmy Butler makes more money than Lebron and is worse
than Lebron, they say it again, but no, I'm talking
(11:37):
about the right now, the right now, because by the way,
I would bet Lebron's got as many all NBA caliber seasons,
more All NBA caliber seasons left in him than Jimmy
Butler does. Jimmy Butler's done being an All NBA player,
Lebron was last year, and Steph and Lebron probably have
about the same amount of seasons left, give or take.
(11:59):
And I'm talking about the here in the now. People
thought that the Warriors made a great move giving Jimmy
Butler that money, and it's a touch more than Lebron makes,
and he's a worst player, great player, but a worst player.
He like, in what universe is Lebron James making less
(12:25):
than Karl Anthony Towns and the same as Paul George
a bad contract, not a world where he was second
team All NBA and sixth in MVP voting. So there's
that piece of it that if you're the seventh or
eighth best player in the sport and you're the thirteenth
(12:45):
highest paid player in the sport, you're on a bargain contract,
then there was this piece of it. Well, if he
was really focused on winning, he should have taken less
to help the Lakers, and that was that is a
understandable opinion by fans and a just abhorred job by
(13:12):
the media in perpetuating that because Lebron James, if he
had cut his salary demonsey from fifty if he had
opted out of the fifty two and said, you know what,
I'll play for twenty you know how much cap space
that opens up for the Los Angeles Lakers zero dollars,
(13:34):
not a penny, because they're that far over the cap already.
If Lebron James had said I'll go from fifty two
million to the league minimum, it would have opened up
roughly ten million dollars in cap space for the Lakers.
Ten million bucks. So this idea that the Lakers could
(13:59):
have been these major players in free agency if Lebron
had simply taken a discount is belied by just the facts.
And it's also it's also a and we all know
this is true, a disingenuous discussion because had Lebron, let's say,
(14:20):
Lebron opted out and said I'm going to be a
free agent, and guess what guys, I'm gonna play for
the minimum. The entire conversation would be about stacking the deck, unfair,
faking like that. So there was him simply saying, I
(14:43):
don't know. I'm the thirteenth igh is paid guy in
the league. I'm probably pretty underpaid. And that's even before
you consider all of the off court stuff that I
bring to the table. So yeah, I'll just play for
my fifty million? Is more? Been totally reasonable? Was there? Like?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
So you have to but he opted into the contract?
Like what would have his other options have been?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
He could have opted out and been a free agent.
He could have opted out and been a free agent
and signed anywhere for the literally anywhere for the league
minimum and leave fifty million on the table or a
lot of places for the mid level, which is about
fourteen million bucks. And the only team that could have
(15:31):
signed him for more than fourteen million dollars would have
been the Nets, which would have made no sense. So
those were go ahead?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
And why did he not do that?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Are you saying like, because he thought the Lakers are
going to do a better job with secure and a better.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
I think it's a I don't think there is a
perfect solution here for you know what, they're trying to
accomplish all these things. And I'm a big believer of
you can't have everything you want in life, and sometimes,
like you, you know, you have to make trade offs.
I'm not sitting here arguing that the Lakers owe him
(16:12):
something more than they owe Luca, which is to try
to win a damn championship this season. And I'll get
to the Lakers piece of it in a minute. I'm
not saying that there is a perfect solution for what
he's trying to accomplish. What I'm saying is the narrative
(16:36):
that a huge impediment to winning is you know, when
you pay a player way more than he's worth, that's
gonna hurt you, like the example of people uses you know,
Kobe at the end when Lebron was according to NBA voters,
which I am not was the sixth best player in
(16:59):
the league LAFTXT year. So that part is to me
just erroneous. Then there is the Okay, you've made over
a billion dollars, you want the Lakers to be more competitive,
take less money Dirk style and give them flexibility. When
(17:19):
you look at it that him taking less money would
not have given them any flexibility. And then there is
this other part of it which I mentioned on TV yesterday,
and it was the way it was captioned made it
seem like more of a shot at Durant than I
(17:41):
wanted it to be. But I said what I said,
which was and this is the part to me demans
that I find. No one can explain this to me correctly, nobody.
Do who do you think right right now this moment?
(18:02):
And there's no wrong answer here to Mon's You might
disagree with me. Who do you think right now this
moment is better Durant or Lebron? And do you think
it's close in either direction?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Offensively, I'd say Kevin Durant.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
But as far as a better player, the better players
like just yeah, better all around, I'd have to give
it to Lebron. But it's either way, it's pretty close, probably, yeah, exactly,
the like if one guy's the eighth best player in
the league, the other guy's the tenth best player in
the league or nine to twelve or whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Right, So I and despite the age, I think we
can agree that Lebron is the more durable player has
been like you know what I mean? Lebron is less
likely to miss thirty games with an injury. That's just
(18:57):
that's not a matter of opinion. We just we just
know it. Okay. So here's what I don't understand. Kevin
Durant was available for trade and the media lost its mind.
Who should go after him? These are the teams Durant
(19:18):
doesn't want, the Minnesota Should Minnesota trade for him? Anyway?
If you trade for him, do you just do you
want to just give him a contract? The Rockets were
the two seed, gave up their leading scorer, a valuable
defender who I don't like in Dylan Brooks, and the
tenth pick of the draft, and everyone's reaction was like,
what a great job by the Rockets, they might win
(19:40):
the title. A guy who at the very least is
as good as Durant and I think a touch better
is available potentially, and the same media is like, who
fucking want him? I mean, really, it doesn't make any sense.
That's what I don't understand. Like last year, last year,
(20:02):
Lebron was better than Steph. They are similar Lebron's older,
but again like a kind of similar port places in
their career. Steph's team was in twenty four and twenty
five when they traded for Jimmy Butler, you felt like
it made them contenders. They lost to the Timberwolves and
five in the playoffs. Lebron's team was hanging on to
(20:23):
the three four seed. They trade for Luca, you felt
like it made them contenders. They lost to the Timberwolves
in five in the playoffs. That's like they had after
very similar Olympics, very similar seasons. They Lebron finished higher
an MVP and all NBA voting, but it was very close.
Right If Steph Curry had released a statement like I
(20:46):
don't know about the future of the Warriors and people
thought he might be available, it would be a full
stop freakout about what teams should package, what things to
try to get him. And we just saw it happened
with Durant when last year Lebron was better than both
(21:08):
those guys, and the collective reaction is, well, I guess
maybe maybe a team or two should make a courtesy
call and a collective eye roll of I can't believe
we're having this discussion. Has everyone lost their mind? Like
(21:32):
if you if you are the New York Knicks right
now in a wide open Eastern Conference and you just
hired Mike Brown, who has I don't know, been to
a finals with Lebron. You're not having a very long
(21:59):
meeting about well, Carl Anthony towns for Lebron James and
how that works and then calling the Lakers and seeing
if they're interested and the towns for Lebron thing demonse.
Here is the pros and the cons of it. The
(22:20):
cons for the Knicks obviously are guys ten years older
than the other that's con number one, right, your team
dynamic changes considerably, that's potentially potentially con number two. The pros,
(22:40):
in my opinion are, oddly, by adding a guy in
year twenty three, a forty guy who's going to be
forty one, you actually get better defensively for two reasons.
What is it's more Mitchell Robinson minutes instead of Towns,
so that definitively, you know, that helps you a lot defensively.
(23:01):
But also, as Lebron showed last year once they got Luca,
if he's not the primary offensive creator, he still has
the ability to be a good, not great defender like
he once was, but good defender if that's where he
can put his energy. The other sneaky pro for the
Knicks is do they actually want to move towns before
(23:28):
he's he wants this next mega extension when they traded
all those picks for bridges and you're gonna have to
extend him and you've already extended og and you're obviously
in the Jalen Brunson business like does the fact that
Lebron would be short term act? Is that actually a
(23:49):
positive because you don't want to, you know, have the
big money it's associated with Karl Anthony Towns when there
are I think legitimate, real concerns of if our two
best players are bruntsing in towns, are we good enough
(24:11):
defensively ever to win four rounds? I think those are
all real, legitimate discussions. And then it's like, right now,
this moment, as crazy as this is, because he's gonna
be in your twenty three, But is Lebron better than
Karl Anthony Towns? My answer to that question is yes.
(24:33):
If you feel differently than you, don't make this trick.
But if you think the answer is yes, does the
twenty twenty five twenty twenty six season have more value
than future seasons have? Let me rephrase it, does it
(24:55):
have oddly what's the right word I'll just say it though,
instead of trying to say what I was trying to
say exactly, I'll just explain it. Because the East is
so ripped away due to injuries, does getting ten percent
(25:18):
better for this upcoming season matter more than it would
in normal years? Because it's like, man, the Celtics are
off the chess board, the Pacers are off the chess board.
The Bucks don't know where they are on the chessboard.
We're already the favorites in the conference. We haven't won
(25:40):
a championship in fifty two years. What if we go
for it? It certainly is a worthy, legitimate conversation, just
like it now. I wouldn't necessarily want this if I
were Lebron, But you know another team, Demons that should
(26:03):
at least discuss it, Golden State Jimmy for Lebron. The
Lakers get younger, and add you know a guy who
doesn't need the ball at all, a guy who's you know,
more about intangibles and devons and stuff like that at
(26:24):
this point of his career, and you put Stephan Lebron
together and be like, all right, you know, let's see, like, now,
if I were Lebron, that's not that interesting to me
because I actually think the position he's in right like Luca,
I feel is better than Steph and so at this point,
and so I don't think that Golden State would be
(26:46):
a you know that you'd be in a better position
to win, But go ahead.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Right with all this stuff going on, like what about Luca,
who has like the player option next year? And also
like and how likely do you even think that it's
that it is that Lebron will be traded what team?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Well, I don't think it's I don't. I don't think
it's likely, but I don't at all think it's fantasy
at this point. That's the first point. The second point
is and I tried to be very and I will
again try to be very cautious about how I were
of this, And this is this is a good reason
(27:24):
right here to like, rate, subscribe, review, to check out
the podcast, because this little piece right here we also won't, like,
you know, specifically push out on its own on socials
because I don't I I don't want this to be
aggregated incorrectly. But I told you guys two weeks ago
(27:50):
that I thought and this was what I would call
very in a very informed opinion that these finals specifically
were difficult. Not being in the tournament late into this
(28:17):
tournament had not sat well with Lebron at all, and
that the itch to have one more run was as
strong as ever. And I said that then I went
on vacation, and then surely thereafter Rich Paul released that
statement and it felt very in line with what I
(28:43):
knew to be true, which was Lebron is not saying
I can't win with the Lakers. What Lebron is saying
is if your focus is not winning right now, then
were not a great fit anymore. And that's reasonable.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Why do you come out and say that, you know,
after Lebron, Well, I.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Think there's two reasons. So I think there were two reasons.
One was to put I think there were potentially two
positive outcomes. One was shake the trees of the league
to see if a team like the Knicks did want
to inquire about his availability. The other one was to
(29:29):
try to shake Rob Blinka into being aggressive. And when
I saw Dave mcminnimon report that the Lakers are focused
on having max cap space in twenty twenty seven, I
(29:49):
I wanted to throw my phone that forget Lebron you're
at next year, you're gonna have twenty seven year old
Luke ad Ancic, who by the way, has not signed
an extension yet. You know when your window is right
now every year, and and I just I also I've
(30:14):
also heard the be like, well, listen, if Luke and
Lebron aren't good enough to win a title, then how
much of that is on Luke and Lebron? And the
answer to that is yes and no, because this is
how I felt at times when I was frustrated with
the Lakers when Ad was still there, when it's like, okay,
(30:35):
if it were a two on two tournament, would the
Lakers when it was Lebron and Ad and the rest
of that mismashed supporting cast, would they have a better
chance of winning the NBA title if the league were
set up as it is right now, if it were
two on two? And I felt for a number of
those years probably two on two, like their top two
(30:57):
guys against anybody else's top two guys. Take your chance,
And it's the supporting cast that is not, especially in
the new NBA with a weak link era, where you
know where you need five legitimate guys. And that's how
I feel right now if it weren't two on if
for Lebron and Luca against Yokichen Murray and I guess
(31:20):
Giannis and Miles Turner now, which would be an awkward
two on two game. And step and Jimmy and Brunton
and Karl Anthony Towns. I like their change. I like,
you know what, I like the Lakers chances Katie and
shongoon Ooh, that'd be fun, but it's not that, and
(31:42):
so rounding out the rest of the roster. And by
the way, I don't hate the eight and move. I've
never liked Dayton and Demons. If you remember, I don't
know if you saw it sidebar from all the the
Betroun stuff. Okay, I'm so glad you remembered. So a
(32:10):
year ago. Two years ago, however, long ago. DeAndre Aiden
got traded to the Portland Trailblazers and played terribly at
the start.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Of the year.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
And then he did an interview and one of the
things he said was, yeah, like, you know, everything's been off,
including I've been sleeping on an air mattress. And I
said to Demons, and I don't know if he thought
I was being unfair or not, that that right there
(32:43):
that one statement is such an indictment on Aten's professionalism
and maturity that it's not acceptable when you're a professional
athlete who's been paid, who was on a near max
contract to be like, well, shit, my bed hasn't been delivered,
(33:04):
So I guess for six weeks as a seven foot
tall NBA center, I'm gonna sleep on an air mattress,
which is not acceptable. It's not it's no, it would,
it's it's in the same like you just can't happen.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
What do you do in that situation? You like sleep
in a hotel room or you No, you haven't. You
could have got a bed expedited, is what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
It's like you can get it. I could get I
could get if you're it right now, Like the nicest
bed at mattress Firm. No free ads, but I'll just
shout them out, the nicest bed, all of it. It's
like they're expensive, that it's gonna be expensive, like twelve
fifteen thousand dollars. If you call Mattress whatever bed company
(33:50):
X Mattress firm, if you'd like more of these plugs,
you need to talk to our sales department and be like, hey,
what's the biggest, nicest bed you have in stock? Okay,
how much does it cost? Okay? All right, listen. What's
your name? Marcus? All right, Marcus, how are you doing today?
(34:11):
Today's your lucky day because you answered the phone. Here's
the deal. I need that bed or a facsimile of
it at my house by the end of the day.
I do not care what you have to do for it.
Here's the deal. I'm gonna give you my credit card,
you pay whatever extra fees there are, and when it
(34:32):
gets done, I'm having someone come down to the store
and give you five thousand dollars cash. Call me back
in a half hour and let me know how it's happening.
That would get done and you pay a five thousand
dollars I need my bed now tax and you don't,
and you have a good NBA season. So pointise, I said,
that guy's not to be taken, not to be trusted.
(34:55):
He had traded for the Blazers and the reports are,
oh my god, this guy. He's late for meetings, he
missed his treatment. He's a pain in the ass. I'm like, yeah,
you know how I knew to be sleeping on an
air mattress That's how I knew. It's just I mean,
and so you have all that said. With all that said,
I don't for eight million bucks, he's worth a flyer.
(35:20):
I've never been a DeAndre Ayton guy, but he's worth
a flyer. There are other moves I would have liked more,
but worth a flyer. I just think I think the
Lakers man, Rob Blink has never been good at this job.
And I understand he was the in that analogy. I
(35:46):
just made Marcus the mattress salesperson who a guy called
him up and was like, Hey, Lucky Day, I'm gonna
buy your best bet and give you five thousand dollars
tip for your trouble. He was the Marcus in that analogy,
and the guy calling him was Nico Harrison, and instead
of five thousand dollars, he offered him Luka Doncic. But
(36:06):
that didn't make Marcus the world's greatest mattress salesperson, and
that didn't make Rob Blinka great GM. It was just like,
ah shit, lucky Day. And so I think alienating Dorian
Finney Smith when Luca loves him and Luca hasn't signed
his extension yet, is worrisome. It's not nothing, I and
(36:34):
so I would I just I don't think the Lakers
are drawing dead. I don't think they are. They have
put themselves in the best position. And if they don't
want to contend this year, if they're like no, And
by the way, it also doesn't like I don't know
(36:54):
why Rob Blinka would be trying to save cap space
for twenty twenty seven. Rob, You're not going to be
in charge in twenty twenty seven, buddy. Those new owners
are going to survey the landscape and be like, so,
where they're inefficiencies in this league? Oh, unlimited budget on
front offices, coaching staffs, trainers, scouts, those types of things,
(37:18):
no salary cap there, Well, what if we upgraded at
that spot? And so I just that there it is.
I said it might be forty minutes, it was thirty
that That's my Lakers, Lebron ram I helpe. You all
enjoyed it, Uh, I have a less I have one.
(37:41):
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Speaker 1 (39:54):
All right demands Before we get to what hopefully is
one of the why not hopefully what I think will
be one of the funniest stories we've ever told on
the show. I do want to talk a little bit
about Patrick Mahomes first show back, gone for ten days.
Two things happened while I was on vacation.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Guys, I was attacked.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
I was just walking around, walking the beach, listening to
things on trying to I didn't really I wasn't on
Twitter much. I read three books, I did the New
York Times Crossword every day. But then i'd walk the
beach and you know, listen to things. And I just
(40:32):
heard the worst takes and they were centered around my
two guys, Lebron James and Patrick Mahomes. So let's get
to the Mahomes piece of it.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Yeah, so Mahomes wants to get past that Super Bowl
loss and get that nasty taste out of his mouth,
and he's it's also getting tired of all the talk,
saying that he wants to just settle all this on
the football field. Yeah, this is another thing that really
annoyed you. Which I'm curious what the angle is here,
what pgoff?
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Well, it's not, no, no, no. His comments didn't annoy
me me last week, which was so here's the deal.
If someone wants to have the courage to come out
and be like, you know what, you know, here's a take,
(41:23):
free take for someone who wants it. Okay, Like it's
just sometimes sometimes I'm disappointed in uh my industry because
there are these I can see these. I'm like, oh,
that would be a good take. I don't believe it.
(41:44):
But no one has made had this take, and it's
right there, and I know it would cut through the
noise and you could establish yourself with it, and no one,
no one, no one has said it. Now, I don't
believe this. This is not my take. So consider this
like the sports take version of developing some type of
(42:12):
vaccine or cure for something and be like, we're not
patenting it. Anyone can copy it free for the world
public use. Here's a take. The last few years, Patrick
Mahomes has pretty clearly not been judged based on his numbers.
(42:36):
He's been judged based on the fact that his team wins,
that he is a leader, that he plays his best
in the biggest spots, and that is how he has
held on too the best quarterback alive Moniker, despite the
fact that his two biggest conference rivals Josh Allen Lamar
(43:02):
Jackson have both won league and vps in this time
and if that has allowed Mahomes to climb to the
top of the quarterback mountain, then the exact same standard
(43:22):
should be used to evaluate Jalen Hurts and Jalen Hurts.
Who's never missed the playoffs, whose team wins double digit
games every year, who's been to two Super Bowls, been
awesome in both. Some would argue outplayed Mahomes in both,
(43:43):
certainly in this last one, and has done it with
what you know, let's call it, a polarizing coach and
a polarizing receiver in a tough city and now is
coming off off you know, leading an offense to damn
near a one hundred points combined in the conference championship
(44:07):
game in the Super Bowl and puts his body on
the line, doesn't care about his passing numbers for the
most unstoppable play in football. That player the defending Super
Bowl MVP. He's the best quarterback alive. End of take.
(44:30):
That take is again, I do not believe it, but
it doesn't have a ton of logical holes if someone
wanted to have it. Instead, these dopes want to knock
(44:54):
Mahomes off his perch a best quarterback in the league,
and they are doing it for one of three quarterbacks,
really one of two and mostly one of just one
who's never once out played him in a big spot.
(45:16):
It's the majority of quarterback rankings lists right now have
Josh Allen number one, which is hilarious and indefensible, and
it is not an allowable take until one time in
a spot that matters. It's not a quarterback wins thing.
(45:40):
He outplays Patrick, and the last two years, one in
his building, one in the Chiefs building. He's had the
ball in his hands, chance to go do it, and
it couldn't get forty yards either time, so that's not allowed.
Lamar can win every MVP from here until retirement, and
until he wins a single big game, it's obviously not allowed.
(46:03):
And Joe Burrow had outplayed Patrick in a big spot,
had a chance to really put a stake in the
heart of the Chiefs through fourth quarter interception the conference
championship game lost and has n't been back to the
playoffs since. And the amount of people trying to argue
(46:28):
any one of those three guys has ascended past Patrick.
Because Patrick got beat by Jalen arts and they played
more than the Super Bowl. It's the dumbest shit I've
ever heard. You then combine it with this whole ooh
to the Chiefs era over based on what that they
(46:50):
were just the second best team in football last year,
based on the fact that they just completed the best
three years stretch in the history of the league and
are tied for the best five and seven year stretches
in the history of the league. What is the what
is the piece of evidence you have like, oh, this
might be the Broncos or Chargers year. There is none,
(47:13):
And so the again, the Eagles have bragging rights, and
Jalen Hurts has bragging rights, And the Eagles have it
because they want as a team, and Jalen Hurts has
it because individually he played, you know, he was the
best quarterback on the field that Sunday. But these AFC
also rans that are being elevated because of what I
(47:40):
just I can't. I can't deal with just one time
at one time? Can I just see? It's what I
said to that guy in Hawaii, the guy I'm walking,
I'm walking with the family down the boardwalk in Honolulu,
(48:03):
and this guy walks up to me, and he's like, amen,
this is Bill's country out here in my head. I'm like, no,
it's fucking not, man, it's actually I'm not sure there's
a place in the United States that is that is
(48:24):
further removed literally geographically but also spiritually from Buffalo, New
York as the boardwalk in Honolulu. Like, first of all,
it's just a bad take. Second of all, get a life.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
But I didn't.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
I didn't say I didn't say any of that. I'm like, okay, nice.
I mean, like five minutes later, he runs me down
and was like, hey, man, I'm so sorry I said that.
Can I please get a picture? And I'm like sure,
so I take the picture. He's like, yeah, man, thanks,
(49:06):
sorry about that. I'm like sor right. But then I
couldn't resist because I was like, I'm with my wife
and kids like. So I was like, I was like,
hey and listen, man, one day you'll win a big game.
And I saw a look on his face and it's stung.
You know why. It's stung the same reason why when
people put up that picture of me and Mahomes a
(49:28):
couple parades ago, where I'm smiling and my nose is
casting a shadow on my teeth. It stings because I
know it's true. I'm like, damn, like that is weird.
That is like a thing that most people like it
shouldn't be physically possible, or it does cast a shadow
like that sucks. But that's why it stung him, because
(49:52):
he knows it's true, and so I just don't. But
I it is. It's really beyond dumb to me the
(50:15):
every other let me add one other thing. And I
said this to Cowherd and he just laughed because he
knew I was right, not just like this year, but
basically for all of modern NFL history. If there is
(50:38):
a team in a division that everyone agrees the same
team has the division's best quarterback and the division's best coach,
that team will be the pick to win that division.
(51:02):
If there's no debate, like it's just like so, I'll
give you an example. N FC West, there's a debate
is McVeigh or Shanahan the best coach? And I guess
for some there might be a debate is perty or
Stafford the best quarterback? Not to me, but what like
there's it's not often there that it is crystal clear
(51:24):
on both, but when it is, uh, that team is
everyone's picked to win the division and the amount of
people this year that are gonna pick fucking bon Nicks,
sorry for all the curse words today to win that division.
Or Justin Herbert, who again, I don't I don't know
(51:45):
if he's won a big game since high school, and
I have to look at the high school. I don't
think he did it Oregon. I it's just it's just dumb,
you know what. I just I just.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
People get fickle with the greatness.
Speaker 3 (52:02):
I don't know if people just don't sometimes you know,
if you.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
Heard it, but they think we have the next Trent
Williams and Johsh Simmons. Oh boy, oh boy, Now that
might be a little strong. Trent Williams one of the
greatest players of all time. But if they just if
Josh Simmons just ends up being the tenth best tackle
left tackle in the league slightly above average, it is
(52:30):
such a I mean, Mahome has been to five Super Bowls.
You had a different starting left tackle in all five,
it would be just such a massive, massive.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
Wors line situation. Yet right.
Speaker 1 (52:47):
Course of the no, the thing is what's weird is
the Chiefs had a really good guard center guard oh
line this year. The tackle it was the worst tackle
play he's had, and a previous they had been bat
up in the middle, but good of the like and
so it got really shaky by the end of it.
All right, real quick, this is a message that applies
(53:09):
to ninety nine percent of you listening right now, because
that's how many of you can be covered by fast
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(53:53):
not available in all areas. All right, Demanse, we you
how should we do this? Uh? Yeah, you know what.
It's time. It's time for the snake pit. So here
what a what an amazing image? All right? I mean
(54:18):
there is actually some real if we think about it,
we that's actually again the producers do a great job.
And I'm rude, but narratively it doesn't really make sense
that demands, a lover and breeder of snakes would be
wearing a snakeskin suit. That's right, that's kind of I mean,
(54:41):
that's kind of sacrilegious. So again maybe maybe a slight
just again, if you're watching on YouTube, you see it.
It looks cool. But okay, the all right, so I
want to give can I give the setup here? Do
you care? Do you mind?
Speaker 2 (55:00):
I kind of lay the foundation of the sea.
Speaker 1 (55:03):
All right, I'm gonna because as my dad used to say,
you ask Nick what time it is, he's going to
tell you how the watch was made. I am going
to give a full background here. Demanse for a couple
of years has been trying to figure out can I
(55:26):
successfully breed these exotic snakes? And put a lot of
time and a lot of money and a lot of
time learning into Can I figure this out on my own?
Can I go to enough shows and read enough forums
(55:47):
and you know, correct me by the way if anything
I'm saying is wrong. And there have been more than
a couple times where Demanse has asked or told me
or mom or my mom, actually, who seems to be
your snake? Confident my mother? You know what? I might
(56:07):
give up? I might you know, I might just keep
you know, you know, one pet snake because I but I,
I've spent so much money and so much time, it's
so frustrating. And a month ago he was on the
verge of another one of those I don't think it's
is worth all the time and effort. And literally two
(56:30):
days later, six eggs show up in the check what's
the tank with the mother snake? And then there is
some real and I really I totally empathized, and I
(56:51):
took it totally serious. But it also was like charming,
some real anxiety surrounding every single decision Demonse was making
from their forward because it was all right, I could
leave the snakes in there, the eggs with the mother snake,
but they the better chances of success if I put
(57:14):
him in an incubator. I have a guy who will
do the incubating for me. Oh man, I actually want
them in my house. But then I've already given them
to him. Now I have to buy an incubator. Now
I have to transfer them again. Am I doing so
all of this? And then there is the realization, Oh no,
(57:39):
I'm about to be out of town for ten days
and the eggs are back in my house. I'm sure
there was some real thought on, you know, should I
have just left it with these people until I get back.
What if there's a power outage, all these things, all
of that, But all of it seemly was fine. You
(58:01):
got them back, the incubator worked, it was set up.
You sprayed them for mold. I guess you did all
those things you had to do, except for one small part,
which didn't really have anything to do with the age.
Had more to do with the other snakes. And there
I'll let you take over the story with I might
(58:22):
add a bit on my own.
Speaker 2 (58:24):
Yeah, they let me down.
Speaker 3 (58:25):
I've got like five five grownish snakes or whatever, and
I was trying to feed a rat.
Speaker 2 (58:32):
I brought in two or three rats.
Speaker 3 (58:34):
Two of them got taken trying to feed this last
one to one of the other hungry snakes. They didn't
need it, so I put it back in the box.
I was plan to overturning it to the store. That's
just how I do it. I go back and get
a little store credit for whatever size rat it was.
Speaker 1 (58:48):
And so let me add something there that is that's
that's tell me if I'm wrong, less of a you're
trying to get the twelve bucks or whatever out of
my apartment. It right, and not just release it or
kill it on your own or whatever.
Speaker 4 (59:03):
It right.
Speaker 1 (59:04):
And there's a humane piece of it as well. Yes,
So okay, so you bought three rats. Two of the
snakes ate them, one wasn't eaten. You put it back
in the box. This is last before we leave for vacation.
All right, go ahead, keep going.
Speaker 2 (59:21):
So put the rat back in the box. And you know,
I'm a.
Speaker 3 (59:25):
Late packer as well, Like I probably started packing like Thursday,
so like just got a lot of stuff on mind.
I think it was when I got to Sacramento that
I realized that I left this rat inside of the box.
And it was just super super stressful for a couple
(59:46):
of reasons. But yeah, and then I didn't have my
my homie go over there and check it into about
two days after that.
Speaker 1 (59:53):
Okay, so this is so this is if I can
jump in for a second. So I realize Sunday something
is a miss because Demanse's like on the phone about yeah,
and I'm like, I'm like, so something's going on. And
then he tells me what the deal is. And one
(01:00:17):
of the first things he says is don't rats too
wires or rats to wires. So demand has created a
vision in his head where this rat has chewed its
way out of this box and then has eaten.
Speaker 5 (01:00:35):
Has somebody kicked the wires in the apartment, the power
cord for the incubator, and so now he I'm listening
to him call the apartment get authorization for someone to
be let into his apartment.
Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
But that person's not going to be there till Monday now,
So okay, So now Monday comes around, your buddy gets
your apartment and tell me, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
It's bad news.
Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
So yeah, they they will sit in there for a
little bit. Like there's been times where I have had
to keep them in there overnight, and like if I
hear them biting at the box or whatever, I'll go
over there, and I'll nudget like I'll push it like
a little aggressively to where they like they'll calm down
and they won't be trying to get out there, like
I don't want to go out to what's out there?
Yeah and yeah, So Tara gets there and I can
(01:01:30):
tell when he first gets over to the box that
the rat is definitely not in there because he's tapping
on it and he doesn't hear any like squirming or
anything inside of it.
Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
And the rat had.
Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
Eight and eaten out of the bottom the bottom bottom
of the box and had been out and I had
tark look it was nowhere to be found, nowhere.
Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
To be found.
Speaker 3 (01:01:52):
He thought that he was. He thought that he was
hearing it behind the oven. I asked him to pull
the oven out a little bit. He seemed like halfway
uncomfortab with like like this.
Speaker 1 (01:02:01):
Yeah, of course, of course, having to search your apartment
for a loose rat. Your buddy doesn't think that, like
potentially that this favor could end with him needing raby shots.
Then then then Demanse, I want to add this part
again because at his core, Demanse is an animal lover.
(01:02:25):
One of the reasons like Demonse has talked to me about,
you know, the the pushing the pull of the snake,
of the breeding snakes, is that some sadness associated with
feeding them. And even though that's like literal nature, just
buying an hand, like picking out this animal that's now
gonna die, like having real quombra. So Demanse has his
(01:02:46):
friend leave up a saucer of water for this rat,
so which honestly I suggested. It was like have him
go get the white and some poison and put your
and and be put at ease. And I was like,
no that I think the exact quote was the rat
(01:03:08):
didn't do anything wrong. Now now it's Monday again, it's Monday,
Demanday's not going to be back in this apartment until
late Sunday night, and is trying to, I guess, create
a sustainable environment for this rats. Yeah, shut all the
doors and so that then sets us up to around midnight,
(01:03:33):
LA time, Sunday night when you come home. And this
part of the story I don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
So go ahead, man.
Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
I opened the door and it's like you just knew
that there was a dead rat inside of it, Like
you just knew there was no way the rat was alive.
Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
The smell.
Speaker 3 (01:03:52):
Yeah, I swept and mocked my floor like really good
right before I left, And there was no remnants of
pine sal because it smelled like pine sal when I'm left,
and like obviously I hadn't been in there the whole time. Yeah,
and it smelt like death, Like it was just smelt
like death. And I walked around. I go in and
I turn over to my dishwasher and there's the rat
(01:04:13):
on the ground dead. But like the tricky part was
it looked like it was just it was dead for
a couple of days, two or three days.
Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
I'd go to pick it up.
Speaker 3 (01:04:24):
And there were fifty maggots magnet like fifty maggots just
right under it. And I I sprayed those things with
TILEX like that those animals I don't love.
Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
I stomped on them. Yeah, I was. It was.
Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
It was honestly the most disgusting thing that I've seen
in a really long time. Like it's I felt bad
for sending it to the like I thought about deleting it, but.
Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
We are on an even longer flight. So demand's flight
from Honolulu in hour flight from Honolulu left oddly within
five minutes of each other, he's flying La, We're flying
New York. So this all happens four hours later we
land and in the group chat is a video that
(01:05:11):
is just horrifying of Demond the kitchen floor and that
so so Mary in the chat says, that apartment to
the maggots house.
Speaker 3 (01:05:26):
Well, it's you just know they were only there for
the rat, So like, I don't have any any thought that,
like they're going to infest my apartment. But it is
crazy how many there were, Like I don't know how
long it was dead there, but I just think it's
insane how that type of stuff finds this way.
Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
Yeah, it's like fruit flies, Like I don't believe.
Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
It's strange.
Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
But most importantly, as Vic asks.
Speaker 3 (01:05:51):
The eggs, yes, Victor, the eggs are perfect.
Speaker 2 (01:05:54):
I will not know anything for sure for another like
two weeks. But like the big.
Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
Things that could have happened over that week that I
was gone did not happen, like that stuff would be
very obvious. But there's still like two weeks where you
still see if they're really for me.
Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
But but the power never went out. The rat didn't chew.
Speaker 3 (01:06:13):
The cord, and that was like a real thought of mine,
Like I was like, dude, he's gonna get out there
and you start biting the wires. I had him put
my freaking controller charge up from my PlayStation, which was like, dude,
I don't need any wires.
Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
On the ground.
Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
Yeah, all right, well there's that. All right. Everything else
we're gonna get to on Thursday. I gotta go to work.
That was that story over delivered listener questions. Let me
let me get to these real quick. Producers want you
to weigh in on the Joey chest Numb versus Usain
Bolt debate, who could eat a hot dog and run
(01:06:48):
one hundred meters faster? Must swallow hot dog before starting
to run? I oddly think so you understand the idea.
What the question here is, Demansey, The question is this
is the contest. The contest is you must eat a
hot dog and then run one hundred meters.
Speaker 3 (01:07:08):
Because Joey Chestnut was just doing. But then you saying
Bolt would like eat it like an axtual hot dog.
Speaker 2 (01:07:14):
I think the.
Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
Answer either way, Yeah, I understand. I think the answer
oddly is I think Chessnut's a big favorite in that. Yeah,
because you know a half what can a regular human
being run the one hundred in fifteen seconds, like you
know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (01:07:30):
So like the it's gonna take you, saying bolt like
for seconds to eat that hot dog at least for.
Speaker 1 (01:07:36):
If not more, if you have to swallow the whole thing.
If not, right, do we have an update on your
ball boy? Try up for the US Open this year?
Not trying out this year? I'll be traveling sadly. What
are your book recommendations?
Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
Listen, it's gonna sound funny, but yeah, this is.
Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
Gonna sound funny. But I so as part of my
you know, eternal quest to always be a better parent
for the next kid than I was to the previous kid,
I am fully, I am. I decided to do my daughter,
(01:08:17):
my youngest daughter's summer reading with her this year, and
so her summer reading book was The Hunger Games, which
I've never seen the movie, never had no familiarity with.
So I brought the Hunger Games book with me, and
then we bought the trilogy. There's three of them for
(01:08:38):
each of us in case we liked them, and she
and I were supposed to read, like, you know, alongside
each other so we could discuss it or whatever. And
I brought with me the second Hunger Games Book because
I was like, ah, these you know, it's kid's book.
Still long, it's like four hundred pages. But if I
finish it and I like it, maybe I'll want to
read the other one. I finished the first Hunger Games
(01:09:01):
book a day into vacation, finished the second one early
enough into vacation that I had time to go on
Amazon order the third one to the hotel we were
staying at. That I got upon arrival at the Hope,
(01:09:21):
because we've stayed in multiple places upon check in was
waiting for me and read that one too. And I
gotta tell you, great thousand pages those three books. Thoroughly
enjoyed it, excited to watch the movies. Now I thoroughly
enjoyed it now Again. The idea was to be able
to discuss them with Deanna. But Deanna's forty pages in
(01:09:45):
and so there's the like she really needs to catch
up and then read a bunch more. But but so
there's you know, there's my answer, all right, like rate
subscribe review, Great job, Blue Duck Volume, DraftKings Boost, great
job to Mind, not a great job by that rat.
Talk to you guys on Thursdays. See you guys, Early
show Today on first things. First, two o'clock, what's right
Host
Nick Wright
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