Balls, Bats, and Bets: Separating Pretenders from Contenders -- 1/26/24

Tim O'Keefe goes through NBA real/fake contenders, latest on the #Eagles off-season, and #Sixers trade topics.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
For national winners. From a localperspective, you're in the right place.
It's Balls, Bats and Bets withTim o'kee right here on the Gambler.
Welcome in Philadelphia, Balls, Betsand bets on a Friday, January twenty
sixth, And I don't know,I don't really ask this question. Have

(00:21):
we had enough time to recover fromthat disaster that was the Eagles? I
know it's now we're coming up onabout almost two weeks out. Obviously this
shows on Friday nights last week withthe weather, didn't get a chance to
talk to everybody. So I'm doingit now cause damn there's a lot of
things we got to talk through.And if you think it's if you think

(00:45):
it can be solved in one spot, you're wrong. There's multitude of things
wrong with this team. And sincewe've had the press conferences, we've had
you know the note. I mean, there's been some news, but it's
mainly been a you know, statusquo kind of message in general with the
exception coordinators. But we're gonna divethrough all of it. So my first
and really my biggest point that I'mgonna make throughout this whole show a lot

(01:08):
of people upset with Nick Sirianni comingback, and that's fine, and I'll
go to him in a second.But if you think that he was him
and the coaching were the biggest problemwith this team for this seven game meltdown,
you're wrong. The biggest problem isJalen. Jalen played horribly down the

(01:34):
stretch, absolutely horribly. Granted didthe did we do him a ton of
favors with it? No, I'mnot trying to say that it's just Jaalen.
I opened up my first statement andwas there's a multitude of things if
we want to get this team backto where they're a super Bowl contender.
But if you aren't seeing that Jalen'sregression was the biggest thing that was wrong

(02:00):
with this team this year, Idon't know what you're looking at. The
man refuses to throw over the middleof the field. He holds onto the
ball longer than pretty much any otherstarter. He was forty second in the
league. I believe it was inuh like snap to throw, which is

(02:20):
terrible, and he leaves he leavesthe pocket way too quickly, which I
admit some of the time, likethe Blitz pick up was bad. There
that's absolutely some of it. Andagain it's not all on him, but
he did not make any adjustments onthe fly all season long. It was
he didn't trust the pocket. Hewould run outside the pocket. And last

(02:44):
year when he ran outside the pocket, he ran more like actually forward instead
of his side to side still behindthe line, which made some of those
more plays productive and help make himinto that mv B candidate. He didn't
do it this year. He's runningside to side, still behind the line,
and then some of the throws he'smaking are behind his across his body.
I guess, excuse me or justbad this bad accuracy throws. This

(03:07):
is I'm honestly, I'm concerned.We're not there yet. We're not here,
We're not where we're about to say, but this is starting to have
a lot of looking like Carson Wentztwo point zero and if you just like,
if you can't see how there isso many alignments between the two,

(03:29):
I don't know what you're looking at. Guys. An MVP quality season gets
the big contract, and now allof a sudden it's just falling off and
regressing. Now, granted Carson hadthe injury Jalen, he at least didn't
miss any significant time. I dothink one of the things might be that

(03:49):
he was hurt this year. It'scertainly possible, although we haven't heard any
definitive Oh you know, Jalen playedthis season with a broken XYZ whatever the
hell it is. I I don'tknow. I don't know that it existed.
I do think there's a chance thatfrom higher on it was, hey,
we can't have him running as muchbecause we just paid him two hundred

(04:13):
and fifty five million guaranteed. Icertainly or no, sorry not, I'll
guaranteed a two hundred and fifty fivemillion dollar contract. Not all of it's
guaranteed. But you got what I'msaying That brass on high came down and
said, yeah, hey, hecan't get hurt. Which I get that
mindset, But the problem is whenyou limit what the guy does best,
you're going to get a much worseversion. And that's what we got this

(04:34):
year. We did. It wasa disaster. And again I'll go back
to everyone wants to is gonna wantto point the coaching and the scheme and
all that stuff. How many greatplayers have we seen work through bad coaching?
A lot? I did this onthe show two weeks ago. I

(04:54):
didn't the players make the coach alot more than the coach makes the players.
We have a history in this leaguethat tells you that, yeah,
I was the coaching great, Noit wasn't. But did Jalen as the
franchise guy who is we gave thereins to do really anything to help it?
No? No, it was anabsolute disaster. I am terrified because

(05:18):
I can't tell if it's just thephysical pieces, or if it's that he's
scared to throw it over the middle, or that it's that he's not reading
defense as well. And guess whatthis is now going to be? What
is fifth year? Fourth year?If you can't read him, now,
what are you gonna read it?I don't know that the Tampa Bay Bucks

(05:41):
made it look like an absolute joke. Besides that one deep pass to Devonte
Smith, our offense did jack squat? It was bad. It was a
terrible, terrible game. And guesswhat now? You know we still don't
have the Jason Kelsey news officially whilewe're another but all kind of rumors and
signs indicate that he's probably out thedoor. So there's a big step back

(06:04):
on your offensive line. Even ifyou don't think he's as good as he
ever was, He's still a topfive center pretty much by all accounts.
Like you're gonna get a downgrade,you'll slide Jurgons in there next year.
I know that was always the plan, Jurgens as you're replacing for Kelsey at
center, and that's fine. I'msure Jurgens Jurgons is probably gonna be a
good center, I think, butJason Kelcey is an all time center.

(06:25):
You're taking a step back, andnow that means, hey, we have
to fill in it right guard.And look, we got two tackles getting
older, well one's really getting older. Lane Johnson's getting up there. There's
only so much he's gonna have leftin the tank. He's still playing an
all pro level. He's been fantastic, but at some point he'll let that
while father times undefeated Jordan Mailattap reallykind of regressed a little bit this year

(06:50):
from a guy that I thought wasturning like upwards into a top ten,
top five tackle in the leg,he wasn't that. I still think he's
good. I'm not saying I wantto move on from him, but he
didn't go the right direction on inthe backfield, DeAndre Swifts contracts up,
He's probably gonna go elsewhere. Weknow that Eagles don't pay running backs traditionally.

(07:14):
That was another one of your Probowlers out there, Dallas Goddard.
Hopefully next season he's not as hurt, but we'll see. He's getting a
little older too. He's still ayounger guy. But can the life span
on some of these guys isn't thatlong in the NFL. Then on the
outside, Davante Smith playing well,playing great. Actually, he was one
guy that kind of throughout the seasonwas consistent. And I know what you're

(07:38):
about to say, Well, whatabout AJ Brown? Was great? But
he was a little up and down? Was it was like a J.
Brown in the better season? Like, please don't read me that I'm saying
that DeVante spent that a better seasonthan AJ Brown. I'm just saying from
a consistency standpoint, and you know, also kind of consistency in the locker
room, Davante was a little moresteadfast. You know what you were getting?

(08:00):
AJ was a little bit up anddown. Some games, He disappeared
some games. He was absolutely incredible. And guess what he J Brown seems
to be all season long, pissed, he's mad. It was obviously certain
things were leaking, and then theytried to clean it up a little bit.
But you know, he's not happy, and we don't know if he's

(08:20):
not happy with Jalen, not happywith the coach, and guess what,
they're both back. So whoever he'snot happy with, unless it was Brian
Johnson, which seems like a stretchto me, because out of those three,
I think we all know Brian Johnsonis the third most power, at
least not saying that he couldn't bemad at what Johnson did with play calling,
I get that, but realistically,Johnson is the third most power out

(08:45):
of Jalen, Sirianni and Johnson.So more than my gut is whoever aj
Brown's mad at still here, andit's gonna be really interesting. It's gonna
be really interesting this offseason how thesego progress forward and if hatchets can be
buried, and if they can't,where the hell are we gonna go from

(09:05):
here? Because I'll tell you rightnow again, going back to my main
point that Jalen regressed, there theremight be twenty other quarterbacks that I would
have rather had this season I amdead serious. I went through that list
two weeks ago. We did thisexercise thing. I was at fifteen.
Now I think I'm up to twenty. Like it was bad, and we

(09:28):
just committed a lot to this guy. We gave the rein to the franchise
to this guy. We need tosee that. I'll call it reprogression next
season so that we can get backto winning football. And then, of
course I didn't talk about this,say the defense disastrous. That part's absolutely
on Howie how If you want toblame Sean to sign Patricia, fine,

(09:52):
but to me, it was moreon Howie. I look, I get
I for me to go back andsay I did, like, look at
this in hindsight, because I willadmit I was wrong a little bit.
How he keeping drafting the Georgia guys. I loved it initially. I was
like, you know what, greatprogram. Just bring him on up.
Makes sense to me, make Georgeof the minor league. I'm wondering if

(10:16):
that's not the best. I thinkwe might we went too far into that.
Jordan Davis bust. I'm done thatguy. I mean the reports coming
out that whether he's strugg he's stillnot getting his weight down into his game
weight. He's clearly just tired atthe end of the season. He's not
out there for enough plays, andhe's not effective when he is out there.

(10:37):
That's a bust. It's a miss. You missed on that first round
pick. Yeah, I guess what. He'll be back next year. They're
gonna keep trying it, but I'mcounting that one as a miss. Jalen
Carter, I think he'll still begood. He hit the rookie wall,
which does happen to guys. You'replaying more games than he did in college.
I do get that. I thinkhe'll be He's a good pick and
we'll keep going. Nolan Smith.I finally saw him alive in the last

(10:58):
in the playoff game. He gota sack. Besides that, disappear like
there's just been a little bit toomuch of we're missing in the first round.
Right, All those assets that wehad, you know, kind of
accumulated with some good trades by havingthe trades themselves, were good to get
the picks, but we have notbeen efficient at actually making the selections in

(11:18):
most cases. That's a serious problem. It is a huge problem, and
it's cost you on one side ofthe ball because the way we've kind of
broken up our salary cap, we'veinvested the money in the offense, AJ
Brown, Jalen. Our offensive linegets paid handsomely, like a lot of

(11:39):
that money's on the offensive side.Of course, the defense has some money.
The cornerbacks are getting paid. Whichwas a terrible decision to resign two
thirty year old cornerbacks. It's besidesthe point. Well, well no it's
not besides the point. That wasdumb. Look around the league. There
are six cornerbacks that are over thirtyin the NFL. I think I heard
the stab was when we have twoof them and they're starting, and maybe

(12:01):
it was like starting cornerbacks. Buteither way, let's look at this.
That's ridiculous. You know that onequarterbacks, they can lose it even under
thirty, Like it does just happenwhere guys a snap and all of a
sudden you can't cover. That doeshappen. So it's a tough position to
commit to long term. And sometimesand again it's a really important position.

(12:22):
So teams do it, and Iget why, but it's tough, like
these guys fall apart. Sometimes cornersjust fall off, and especially once they
get older, and it's not eventhe mental part, it's just the physical.
Like I hear brad Berry someone,uh, someone online on Twitter was
saying, oh, make Bradbury asafety, and I'm like, I don't
even think he's fast enough to playsafety anymore. And it's like, oh

(12:45):
yeah, but he has a greatmind, he's still smart, and make
up like he's a coach. Thenmake him a coach. I just I
don't know. It's it's a bigmess. Uh, this Eagles team and
how we go forward. It's nextyear ends up being a rebuild. But
the most important thing is I needto see Jalen progress back to being the

(13:07):
Jalen that has a shot to leaveus to a super Bowl. Because look
around the lake, look at theteams that are still in it. All
of them have had above average toelite quarterback play, every single one of
them. The AFC two guys thatare absolutely elite. In the NFC,
two guys, I mean, BrockParty is a he's absolutely above average.

(13:31):
That's what I'll get. I'll saythat he is above average. He's not
great. Jared goff Is he's notgreat, but he's getting close. Like
he has done. He's above gamemanager mode. Where's brock party? To
me is still glorified game manager JaredGoff's above that, and this year Jalen
wasn't anywhere close to these guys.And again, it's not all in the

(13:52):
quarterback, but the quarterback is thebiggest piece. It's the biggest piece of
what we missed. And hey,well look we're gonna the change that we're
gonna make. We'll see. Idid think I'm going to talk about the
press conference one second. There wasn'tmuch said in that end of season press
conference, Like it was pretty hey, the business as usual, you know

(14:13):
bs that we always hear. Theone piece that I did find interesting was
when they brought up the who tookaway power from Sean to Sai and how
he answered and said it was Nickthat was that was interesting to me.
The reason being is it feels reallyweird to me that Nick, who brought

(14:37):
who chose to sigh and gave himall that power and believed in him,
would be the one that hands itover to Patricia who how he brought in
and you know, the assist likeit almost feels like part of the like
during the last week and a halfor so, when we know the team

(14:58):
was evaluating if Sirianni was coming back, those conversations were going on. It
was almost like, I feel likeone of the conversations re establishes, Hey,
Nick, if you're staying, wewon't like you know, we're not
gonna blame you publicly. Of course, it's a group effort, but for
certain very specific decisions that were asked, they were your call. It really

(15:20):
felt like that to me, becauseit doesn't logically make sense to me that
Nick would be the one to makethat swap unless look, he was like
super impressed with Patricia, which doesn'tseem to make sense, and that Sean
decigh like lost complete faith. Butthe defense was better under de side.

(15:41):
It wasn't great, it was better, and that move of swapping out Patricia
for decide, you look back onit, and we weren't gonna win the
super Bowl this year. This teamthere was too many holes and that got
caught out. But you might havewon the division. You really could have,
and that probably you very well thencould have won a playoff game.

(16:02):
You could still be playing this weekend. It's possible. I don't know,
We'll never know, but man,that's a mess. But either way,
I found that to be the onlypart of the press conference where I was
like, huh, that was reallyactually interesting to me. And it's only
because I think it was a plant, a little bit like hey, Eric
plants the wrong word. A forcedresponsibility. That's the word, A forced

(16:26):
responsibility on Nick, even though inthe moment I don't think it was Nick's
initial idea. Not saying he might. He wasn't when he fought it,
But I also really am not buyingthat it's his initial idea. The new
coordinators, Vic Fangio coming into thedefense, veteran guy, I think that's

(16:47):
what this needs. Again. I'mnot saying we're gonna write the ship.
This could be a one and donefor the rest of this coaching staff this
year, because obviously Sirianni's on thinice. But yeah, you bring in
Fangio. I like having any experiencedguy who's had success on defense in this
league. You're not gonna have anelite defense. Actually you don't have the
talent, but what you maybe canhave is not a disaster. I need
someone to make us not a disaster. You know, fifteenth to twentieth best

(17:11):
defense. That's not an easy taskwith this group right now. It's really
not so big job for Fangio aheadoffense still being determined. One dame I
saw get thrown out Cliff Kingsbury reportedlyI believe interviewed. I I feel like
this is the only positive swing Ican have for Cliff Kingsbury. I do

(17:36):
think he say, quote unquote,shakes it up where he makes it.
He's an aggressive pass caller, likehe doesn't. He's not gonna Nickel and
dimey. He gets aggressive, andthat is a mix up from our offense.
Not trying to say that I thinkhe's the best answer long term,

(17:56):
but you know, honestly for ayear for trying to fix jail and do
something brand new, I'm not sayingthat's the name I want. I don't
hate it as much as other people. He does have an NFL head coaching
experience. Yeah, again, it'skind of like a man to me,
whereas a lot of people, soto me, it's a man. A
lot of people is like that's thedifference. That's the difference. And again,

(18:22):
there's other names out there, nothingofficial yet. Looking through a list
of some other names out there,Kellen Moore, Kellen Moore actually does actually
interest me. I would rather haveKellen Moore. He did have success with
Dallas, got a really good offensethere for a few years. Last year
in La, Chargers didn't go greatfor him. The Charger were a little

(18:42):
bit of a dumpster fire. Ithink more would be a successful hire.
I do like that one. JimBob Cooter, you know, had success
in Detroit for a little bit asthe oc elite name. I mean,
I love the idea of Philly fansbeing able to come up with some creative
ways to root on Jim Bob Cooter, I do. I do fully buy

(19:04):
that. Frank Reich, of course, be thrown around. The fact that
he hasn't been brought in for aninterview yet makes me think that it's probably
not going that way because I feellike he would be the first one having
the ties to the organization, butyou could do that. And then last
one that I saw as a potentialname, again I don't even know for
linked, but Eric b Enemy hadsuccess with the Chiefs for a long time.

(19:27):
Washington this past season didn't have thatmuch success. Obviously, Washington wasn't
that great, but not terrible either. Out of those names, Kellen Moore
is the one that jumps out themost to me, and then honestly,
maybe Kingsbury. Yeah, and bEnemy has success to it, so you
know what, they all have value. Every one of the names could bring

(19:48):
something. You'll get excited. Butyeah, there's a lot going on here,
so we are up against it.Let's go. We're gonna take a
quick break. Ripped off that Eagleband talk a little more NFL talk,
some NBA in our second segment.We'll be right back right for this Phillies
Home for all things sports gambling.Welcome back to balls, bats and bets.

(20:11):
Uh, gonna kind of try touplift for the rest of the show.
We did. We got a Iwas able to rip off my Eagles
band aid. Thank you, thankyou all for bearing with me. We
ripped off the Eagles band aid froma disaster of a season. Tim don't
go back down the road. Didwant to, Uh, you know,
stick with the I guess it ismelancholy, but you know, I feel

(20:34):
good for the guy because he gota decent deal. But Reese Hoskins,
leaving the Phillies, signed a twoyear, thirty four million dollar deal with
the Brewers. Reese Reese's history inPhilly, like the legacy when we look
back on it is it's funny,it's kind of it started on the ultimate

(20:55):
high, right, If you remembertwenty seventeen season, he comes up and
is just mashing home runs, eighteenhome runs in fifty games. And honestly,
I'm well, let's see, canI get the game log for that
season? Let's see, give meone second. I should have a bad
job at me, should have hadthis up already, but yeah, I
want to see the game log forthat twenty seventeen because he starts off so

(21:21):
hot, all right, let's see. Oh man, this MAT's gonna be
way too much for me to do, all right, but oh yeah,
so he homers in, all right, So yeah, he goes cold for
us of the season. So eighteenhome runs in thirty four games, that's

(21:45):
the way he starts his first thirtyfour games, he has eighteen home runs,
Absolutely absurd. The man was juston a tear, just ripping the
cover off the ball, and hestarts out there, and you know it's
That was a dark time in Phillies, this tree. We were not a
good team, but Hoskins. Hoskinsgave you something to look forward to each

(22:07):
night, seeing what that guy couldhit. He then you know, the
next season that was pretty good.Living up to the next set of expectations,
there's thirty four home runs, prettysolid. The batting average stays that
that dipped a little below two fifty, but nothing crazy ops of eight to
fifty. The guys Hoskin, Iwill say this, Hoskins ops is fantastic

(22:27):
for his uh crazy at eight fortysix ops. That's a lot better than
I think people would have expected.And he is just Yeah, he definitely
got on a lot of people's nerves. I was gonna say a lot of
people's nerves with the streakiness, Reeseis one of the all time streakiest Phillies

(22:48):
in my opinion. When the guywas hot, he was untouchable. When
he was off, it was youknew you were in for it and it
was gonna be your rough day.But the guy always had a great attitude.
This is from what he him andhis wife Jamie. It was so
much fun in the city with thewhole Jamie buying a whole section in the

(23:10):
playoffs, beers and just really gettinginto it, really into the city,
in the atmosphere and huge part ofit. And I know I was fortunate
enough during that twenty twenty two runto be at the ballpark for I think
I only missed one playoff game wasvery I was blessed. I got really

(23:32):
lucky. And while bedlam at theBank was incredibly loud, while winning Game
three in the World Series was incrediblyloud, I don't think either of them.
I mean, they came close.But the loudest that park I think

(23:52):
has ever been was that NLDS Gamethree when Reese hits the three run bomb
to put the Phillies up for nothing. The place just erupted, absolutely erupted,
the loudest that I've ever heard it, and him spiking that bat and
just being so genuinely pumped and happythat he had been he'd been in the

(24:19):
mess, and that we were finallyout of it, and he got this
team to the playoffs and eventually obviouslyto the World Series that year, after
being with US for the five seasonsbefore that, not making the playoffs for
him had been longer than that forUS fans, but for him, since
twenty seventeen, they had made theplayoffs, and it was like a weight
lifted off his shoulder when he spikesthat bat. As just an all time

(24:45):
Philly's moment, and you can betthat whenever he should what it'll be when
Milwaukee comes in this year and whereverhe is the seasons after that, they
are playing that clip because it's anall time Philly's moment that I will never
forget. And whether you were atthe ballpark or at home, or at

(25:06):
a bar or wherever the hell youwere watching that game, you know how
you felt, and it was justan amazing, amazing feeling for all of
us Phillies fans. So that'll be. That's my little need to give Reese
Hoskins his his proper due congratulating himon the new contract. It Dombrowski,
for here seems to have made thecall that you know, we needed to

(25:30):
go be better defensively than having Schwarburin the outfield. That would have been
the trend off. Although the onething I will say, because I'm not
off Reesse yet, I would haveconsidered signing him. And then everyone else
is listening out to the alternatives like, oh, well then you're putting Schwarber
on the opfoiks recess to DH.I I don't, I don't know if
I see it that way. Theone that makes sense to me. And

(25:52):
again I'm not I'm not his doctor, so I can't tell you. But
Bryce Harper's now had over a yearsince that injury to come back. You
tell me he can't play outfield.He's good enough to throw him first,
Like I know, long term,they think they can get more longevity out
of him at first base. Butlike I don't know, I might have

(26:12):
considered, hey, rees, Iwon't give him a one year proven deal,
come here, play first. AndI know Reese is bad at first
base. He's bad defensively, Iknow, but that gives you that righty
bat you need a lot. Iwould have been tempted by that. Obviously,
Dombrowski went and it went another way, but I never I can never

(26:33):
put Swarmer back in the outfield,but I could have put Harper out there
at least I could have not known, maybe not fully knowing the medical stuff,
but from everything I can tell,he's healthy. It's just they think
it's a longevity play to keep hima first So that's my one last call.
That's the only call. And I'llsay there, Nembrowski could have looked
there, but hey, they decidedagainst its wish Reese the best to get
in Milwaukee. Unfortunately, that's ateam that you could end up playing the

(26:55):
playoffs like. The Milwaukee Brewers area solid, solidly run organization. Obviously
no worlds. Actually I don't thinkthey've ever won the World Series, no
World Series yet or like deep playoffruns, but they are consistently in the
playoffs. So yeah, we'll seehow the brew crew keep that going with
Reese now there, So best ofluck, Reece and we'll see you.

(27:18):
We'll see you around next up.Got a few other tops we want to
talk through. So diving into then b A, I wanted to go
through the standings and let's talk through. Let's do a little uh real or
not kind of contender. So let'ssee. Let's go NBA standings. All

(27:41):
right, let's we'll start with theEastern Conference. We're just gonna go in
order here and I'll tell you andwhen I'm saying contender, I mean contender
to win the conference. So let'sstart off. Celtics, Bucks obviously top
two teams in the conference. Yes, Celtics being the favorite by a decent
amount, but yes, these obviouslycontenders. Seventy six Ers absolutely again contender

(28:06):
like I I think the Sixers rightnow, if the playoffs started, they
would be the three seed, butI would have them as the second best
chances to come out of the conferencebehind Boston Milwaukee. Something's weird obviously firing
Adrian Griffin. Also, yeah,Doc Rivers back in the league. Already,
really weird situation there. I don'tknow exactly what going I saw.

(28:29):
I don't know if this was areal rumor or not quite frankly, so
really take this with a grain ofsalt. I saw something about that coach
was like rough on Giannis's brother.I don't know if that's true or not.
Giannis's brother also on the team thatGiannis essentially went, hey, he's
got to go. I don't know. I'm not one hundred percent sure if
it's guys haven't fought it that closelyquite frankly, but I know Doc's back.

(28:53):
I'm not scared of Doc Rivers.I think this will be the first
time in a three to two matchupfor the Sixers that I think we have
the coaching advantage by a lot coaches. Might it might not be enough to
win it. Obviously, not sayingwe're blown by Milwaukee, but yeah,
I really buy into the Sixers canbeat the Bucks in a series. The

(29:14):
Celtics. Celtics might be another story. Celtics are damn good, They're deep,
and we'll see what we'll get therewhen we get there. But absolutely
the Sixers are contender. Nicks.I am going to have the Knicks not
as a real contender. I struggleto see how the Knicks win the conference.

(29:34):
I really do. It's Jalen Brunson'sfantastic. They got a lot of
good pieces around, Julius Randalls adecent star, and they did trade for
og At Aobay, who's a goodplayer. I just I struggle to see
it where the Knicks are coming outof the East, I really do.
I can't see much of a snarrow. That also goes same thing for the
Cavaliers. Cavaliers again, good team, decent Bill, Donovan mitchell as,

(29:56):
the ability to score bunches, verysolid. But I I don't know there's
something there that this doesn't jump forme. The one I'll say actually the
sixth place team again long shot,But I can see the Pacers. Tyre's
Haliburton's an elite guard, an eliteguard, and now they got Pascal Siaka,

(30:18):
who's obviously had playoff success in hispast with his days in Toronto winning
a championship. I think the Pacersare as sneaky, could actually maybe win
the conference. I'm not saying it'slikely, but I actually treat them as
a contender. Miami Heat, Yes, they're in seventh. This is the
Heat. M They don't care aboutthe regular season. The Heat absolutely could

(30:38):
win it. We all know playoffJimmy, Yeah, the Heat are absolutely
contenders, although they have lost five, but still not that worried for him.
I think they'll be they'll bounce back. Those are the only contenders.
The rest of the teams in theEast that are, you know, fighting
for playoff position, Magic, Bulls, Hawks, Nets, Raptors, and

(30:59):
then you know the basement of theHornets, Wizards and Pistons. The Magic
I thought, you know, Idon't know if I ever thought they would
be contenders. I certainly they're fun, going the right direction type of team,
but I don't have it. TheBulls. It's weird. The Bulls
should have the talent on paper,but that just does not come together.
Well, I don't know what itis. Vucevich puts up numbers DeRozan puts

(31:19):
up numbers, Levine puts up numbers. Kobe White, I like, like,
there's a lot of pieces on theBulls. I like, but this
has not worked there for whatever reason. And not Yes, that's it in
the East. In the East,I really got. I guess there's five.
I have five contenders of who Ican actually see winning the conference.
Boston's a favorite by a lot,Milwaukee, the Sixers are in that next

(31:40):
tier, and then the third tierPacers and Heat. Those are the teams
that have a shot in the Eastin my opinion. Going over to the
West. So man, the West, you open up with a question mark
Minnesota, best team in the conference, thirty two and third teen record,
Anthony Edwards, elite, absolute startalent, Karl Anthony, Town's very solid.

(32:07):
They've got some other veteran leadership guyslike I believe, like Mike Conley
junior there. They They've got somevery decently It's a very decently built team.
It's just it feels weird for theTimberwolves to be in this position.
I I'm going to call them contenderbecause I have to. They might have
home field, they might have homecourt, but I think they'll fall off.

(32:30):
I don't think they gonna be theone seed, but yeah, it
feels weird that they've risen there.But I am going I have to say
contender. I think I could seethe Timberwolves pulling it out because they have
a good balance of inside and outsidegame. They really do. Next up
the Thunder. You know a lotof people have been like a searching Timberwolves
and Thunder kind of similarly, likeyou know, this is their bump up
year, but they're fading. Theymight not be real contenders. I know,

(32:52):
I just gave you a wishwash answeron the Timberwolves. The Thunder to
me, absolutely contenders. SGA,Sha Alexander Elite absolutely might be the MVP.
If it's not, if m Bdoesn't play enough games, I think
it's Shay. I think I honestly, I think that's the way this MVP
is gonna break down. If embiidplays enough games, it'll be him.

(33:14):
If not, it's SGA. Andthat's not a cut on Yo kitch.
I honestly, this isn't even fair. I think the NBA voters are gonna
be tired of giving it to bigguys two many years in a row and
BID's just having such a ridiculous season, they won't have a choice. But
if he doesn't play enough games,then I think they're going guard or at
least like more mobile player, andthen it becomes Sga and Luca. It's

(33:34):
so stupid. That shouldn't be howit goes. But the NBA MVP voting
is so incredibly dumb that that's whatI think what happened. I think they're
not gonna give it to a bigman for a fourth year in a row.
That's my opinion. Thunder so thunder. Absolute contenders. Nuggets have to
be contenders, defending champs. They'rein the conference a game and a half
out of first Absolutely contenders. Clippers, Clippers are contenders. I know a

(34:00):
lot of people don't like here,and Harden's doing great out there. I
hate say Harden's having a lot ofsuccess if they stay healthy. The Clippers
in the playoffs are terrifying. Ididn't the Clippers have as much talent almost
as anybody else in the league.I really do. Everyone's on the last
year of a deal. Although actuallyno, it's not fair. They did
just resign Kawhi Leonard. But Ithink it can blow up really fast,

(34:22):
but the Clippers are elite. They'vebeen absolutely fantastic this season. And again
not getting into the hard and hate. I don't like him, but it's
worked. They've done it. They'vedone a very solid job out there,
especially after he first came over.They lost a bunch in a row.
They've been so hot since. PhoenixSuns contenders, Yeah, a ton of

(34:44):
talent. Kevin Durant, Bradley Beale, Devin Booker, that's a huge big
three. We'll see if they getit done. Sons in the recent years
haven't had great play off success.They didn't make the finals the one year,
but have not been great. We'llsee if Kad. Actually I want
a tangent on this for a second. Katie is a very interesting one where

(35:05):
I know he won the two withthe Warriors. I think the Warriors were
winning those anyway. Those teams wereso good. It was just icing on
the cake with KD. I thinkKatie for me to give like for him
to have that legacy of contending tobe a top ten player all the time,
absolutely has to win another title outsideof Golden State, and I don't
think he's going to. I reallydon't. I do think again, I'll

(35:27):
say the sounds and they are contendersfor the conference and they could win,
but it's just not shaping up tome, Like Katie's gonna get that ring.
He's going to be looked back onas good, great, but not
elite. How about that. Idon't think he's a top ten player.
I think most people out there agreewith me. I don't know if he's
a top twenty. I really don't. I'm probably gonna be a lot of

(35:49):
KDS stands like coming abb me forthat. But if I take away those
two years in Brooklyn or not Brooklyn, excuse me, the two years at
Golden State, the titles all ofa sudden, now it's pretty good if
he had just stayed with the Thunderfor those years and didn't win a title.
This legacy that we're talking about,I know, is he But I

(36:12):
guess he's better than Allen. Yeah, he's better than Alan Iverson, but
like it's that type of legacy,better than probably better than Barkley, I
guess. But those guys are nottop twenty guys. They're just not.
And that's where I get with Kidy. But then went back to the topic
of hand contenders. They're not Sonsare contenders. Pelicans, Pelicans, Pelicans,

(36:35):
Pelicans. I don't buy it.I don't buy it, Zion.
I don't think they've had enough playoffexperience, at least deep runs. I
feel like if they're a very goodteam that's going to get steamrolled in the
playoffs, I don't think they're readyfor that. Next jump the Kings Kings,
I do. I think the King'slegit. I can see the Kings

(36:57):
winning the conference. Dearon Fox iselite much player bonus, good fit.
I I like what the Kings doa lot, and I think they could.
I mean again, I think theyare a game out of being in
fourth or fifth place. Like thegap here is pretty tight among these teams.
I think the Kings could be ascary team in the playoffs. I
wouldn't want to run into Mavericks.Next, I'm gonna say no, I

(37:22):
don't think Luke is there yet.Oh no, I'm coming up on time
again. Lastly, last team,I'll covered the Lakers. Lakers have to
be you have Lebron in the playoffs. I'll call you a contender, but
I'm not sure I fully buy it. They did make the I think the
conference finals. Last year. Restof the teams Jazz are five hundred,
but I know not buying it.Rockets, Warriors, Sorry, Warriors,

(37:44):
you're not contenders anymore. Grizzlies,Trailblazer, Spurs obviously nothing coming out of
those teams. We're not taking anotherquick break before we come back for our
last segment on balls, bats andbets. Right after this spreads Total Bets
in between. It's the Gambler finalsegment here tonight on balls, bets and

(38:07):
bets. As always, I'm yourhost, Tim o'key if you can follow
me at TKO Underscore Picks on X. We've gone through a lot tonight,
but I do want to start withsomething that I just I found myself cracking
up about. So first off,actually, before I even get to that,
let's give it give a shout outwhere eighteen days away from the first

(38:29):
pitchers and catchers reporting for Major LeagueBaseball, exciting getting back to it.
I do love this time, butit's actually this is my least favorite time
of year right now. You know, I'm not a winter guy, like
like the spring summer. It's betterfor me. But I do love the
anticipation, like we're getting closer,getting closer, you can feel it feel

(38:49):
like coming up quick. Yeah,so exciting times. But baseball story that
I just was cracking up about.So Anthony Rendon, who sure you know
if you're a sports fan, relativelybig household name in baseball twenty nineteen World
Series was huge for the Nationals,dominant hitter and was great. Then signed

(39:13):
a huge contract with the Angels andit has been a bust. Absolute buses,
keeps getting hurt, cannot stay healthy. Well, he came out this
week while I was in an interview. I guess I should say he was
asked if there's one thing you wouldchange about baseball, what is it?
And his reaction was that he wouldmake it shorter. We gotta find a

(39:36):
way to I'm paraphrasing. Everyone waslike, we gotta find a way to
like compack the games, keep thefans engaged. Xyza, buddy, I
mean two things. You've signed amassive deal over like it was over two
hundred million, and you've played inabout a third of a season on average

(39:58):
for three years, and you're gonnacome out and tell me that you need
to shorten the season. You barelyplaying already due what are you getting paid
for? You're gonna keep getting hurt, and then what, You're gonna play
five games a year? I Idon't know. It's it just is the
dumbest answer. Like why there's somany things you could say to that question.

(40:23):
When you're a guy who already doesn'tplay much because he's always hurt,
why are you gonna ask to shortenit? I I don't know. It
just seemed like the dumbest answer.And now the reason I find it's so
funny multiple I believe. Multiple playershave come out that have played with them,
and one of which was I believeJonathan Pappa bah in former Philly who
also played with Rendon on the Nationals, came out said Anthony rendonas doesn't like

(40:46):
baseball, Like he just doesn't likeit. He hates He just does it
because he gets paid, like he'sthe guy. He obviously gets paid a
ton to do so, so he'sgonna keep doing it. But he just
hates it and that's why he wouldwant to shorten the season. And I'm
like, I started cracking up.I'm like, that's probably true, especially
at this point where he's always hurt. I actually do get that, and
I feel like I'm not I'm not. No one's root for the guy to

(41:07):
get hurt. It sucks, butit is funny. And now he probably
hates it because he's always hurt.But I think that rend don't. Actually
when Pablo and played with him,that was before he kept getting hurt.
So Rendon just might hate baseball.I remember a few years back, I
think it was Hiroki Karoda. Imight be misquoting this, but there was
a picture on the Yankees, soI think was Hiroki Krooda, and he

(41:29):
came out and said, like,I hate baseball. I just do it
because I get paid. Like hewas straight to the point with it and
actually quoted himself as like said it. It was with like a Japanese broadcast,
and I it's cracking cracking up,Like that's so honest, and like,
look, how many of us outthere? How many? How many
people out there hate their day jobs. I don't hate mine. Again,

(41:52):
look, sports sports talk is inmy full time day job, so talking
about my different one, but uh, I mean a lot of people do
their jobs. So it's actually kindof funny when people come out, like
pro athletes say the same thing,because look, it is their job.
It's funny. I can relate toit, but Randoon for some reason when
he's getting paid so much and hascrippled a franchise out there in LA But

(42:15):
the Angels, I don't know.Something just feels wrong about that one.
To me. I can't get myhead around why he would say that.
It just seems like the dumbest possibleanswer. Do that. Where I want
to end it tonight is uh,Sixers trade topics, targets, I guess
I should say, but it's thesame thing, same topics. There's a

(42:38):
lot of rumors flying out there theSixers. You know, we've been scarred
in the past. I've heard thelast week, obviously last month everyone's saying,
well, I don't want to haveTobias Harris again because everyone remembers the
Tobias Harris trade. And yeah,I guess what, we gave him too
much money and then kind of endedup hearting us for a little bit.

(42:58):
Tobias having a great season this year, way for what he is, and
I'm very happy with that. ButI don't know. I get this sentiment
of people being a little nervous,but I also am like, well,
the iron's hot and beat is havingan absolutely incredible season and you can't waste

(43:19):
it. You don't know, youdon't know how many more of these you're
gonna get. So I think there'ssome trade targets out here that you know,
the Sixers should go at. ZachLevine's one dame that keeps going thrown
around. I most people are superanti Levine, and I fully get why.
He's a guy that's always hurt.Huge contract, massive contract doesn't play

(43:43):
defense. Well. That being said, I I am open to Levin.
I'm not giving up much. I'mreally not. I'm not giving up very
much, and honestly, I mightneed a pick from Chicago to help incentivize
me for this. But Zach Lavinecan score still, I think that's still
in there. He can be anelite wing scorer, which is something that

(44:07):
the Sixers do need, and Ithink there could be value there. So
I'm still open to the Leavine idea, but I'm not locked in on it.
I'm actually a lot more interested ifwe can get to Marta Rosen.
Both of Lamar on the Bulls toMarta Rosen to me, would be a
very good fit. Not quite surewhat his contract situation is, Let's see,
let's check that out. Tomorrow contractspow Track. I guess say Track

(44:30):
is one of the best sites.It really is. It's so smooth and
simple. Okay, So Damar isa free agent after this year, so
understure to free agents, so hewould be a rental. Both would be
like phoning it in. I amall for that. I would absolutely love
to get to Marta rosen Uh tocome in no question. Would be all

(44:51):
in on to Marta rosen for thisteam. Good wing score, not a
long term commitment, and I alsohave to when I trade for him,
I have to trade for him likeit's on not long term commandment. I'm
not giving up anything major, butDemart rosen Uh I think is a very
good potential fit for this team.Some other names I've seen thrown around the
Bogdanovic's There's Bojeon and Bogdan, bothof them solid, both of them can

(45:17):
shoot, good wing players. Ithink one is Bojeon is in Detroit and
Uh Bogdon is in Atlanta. Bothof them I think could be decent fits
and I'd be kind of in onthem. Another one Alex Caruso another bowl.

(45:38):
Again, I'm in. I'll takehim. Not a major piece,
but a solid piece that I couldbe in on guard give you another good
ball handler up top, has someflair for scoring when needed, you know,
and he's not going to be amajor piece, not going to be
need the ball to score, soI could be in on him. I
also think we should look at potentiallyadding another center. Paula to me,

(46:00):
I like him, but I don'tmind the idea of having someone else.
So we got man. I'm justpicking apart the Bulls. Andre Drummond also
on the Bulls. I could bein on that if we're having a reunion.
There so decent amount of options outthere for the Sixers as we're going
through there. I expect Daryl Moreyto make a move. I don't know
if you will, but I mygut is he will make a move,

(46:21):
even if it's a minor one,because it's tough to quote unquote waste this
MBID season and not go all inon it when he's playing absolutely elite out
of his mind. Good last thingI want to cover. We obviously have
some AFC and NFC championship games thisweekend, and while we don't have our
Eagles in there, we still stillhave football to watch, which is good.

(46:45):
Last last weekend for a long timein multiple football games. Remember that
cherish it lines Right now are Ravensminus four over under in that one forty
four and a half and then Sanfran minus seven and a half total fifty
one and a half in that one. It's tough. These are these are

(47:08):
some tough numbers. I am leaning. Let's talk AFC first. I've gone
back and forth on this, sotakes us with a big grain of salt.
But today I think it's the Chiefs. You're giving me Patrick Mahomes with
points in the playoffs, Lamar Jackson. They looked, they looked very good
against the Texans. We don't havea ton of playoff success history here,

(47:30):
two playoff wins in his career.Mahomes has got a lot more than that.
I know it's more than just thequarterbacks, but that's that's the way
it's kind of shaping up to me. If I'm getting points on Mahomes,
I gotta take it one and ahalf on the money line plus one sixty
four right now, Yeah, Igotta take that. I can't pass that
up. Ravens have looked great,they have, but you know you don't

(47:53):
bet against greatness. The other side, the Lions in forty nine ers seven
and a half. I can takethe Lions. I don't think they're gonna
win the game, but Sam Frandid not look great this last week against
Green Bay. I think everyone's expectingit to be a snap and they're good
to go with a Debo injury.I don't think that snap's gonna be as

(48:13):
easy as they thought. Detroit canscore and Dan Campbell gets those guys going,
I think it's gonna be a fungame, good game for the night.
I am all in on Detroit gettingthe seven and a half for the
over unders, leaning under in chiefsRavens. I think that it's going to
be a beat them up, dukethem out type of game and Lions forty
nine ers. I am also goingto lean the under there. I think

(48:36):
both teams might run in a littlemore than they're expecting, especially with Debo
out in the forty nine ers McCaffreya little bit more to make up for
that, which keeps the clock running. We are running out on time.
Thank you everyone for tuning in.Great night on the Gambler coming up after
this royal rumble I'm making with allthe Wrestling Fund this weekend, Nick Pecone
and a bunch of those other guyshaving a great time doing great stuff for

(49:00):
the wrestling coverage, so stay tunedfor that. That's all I got.
I'll be back with you guys nextweek. Thanks for tuning in Ball's Bets
and Bets. Tim O'Keefe, I'llsee you later. Bye.