05-09-24 Hour 2 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well do it Broncos Country tonight.But with all Brian Dick, Ferguson,
Grant Smith, We're gonna go straighton out to the KWA Common Spirit Health
hotline and bring on former NFL Executiveof the Year from the show, Rady
Mueller. Randy, how you doingthis evening? Great guys, what's going
on? We're doing pretty well outhere. It's been an interesting now off
season for the Denver Broncos. BeforeI get to the Broncos, though,

(00:21):
I want to ask you about thesituation that happens with the Atlanta Falcons,
Michael Pennings, Kirk Cousins, whatyou think of that and if that is
something that as a general manager youwould have done and or condoned. Oh
boy, how much time do wehave? I feel like I should lay
down on the couch before I evengo into any explanation here, and I

(00:45):
need some therapy. I struggle withit. I understand everybody has kind of
made up their mind. I've evenheard a couple top ranking analysts make sense
of it to them. Here's whyI struggle with it, and it has
nothing to do with Michael Penix,who I think is a really good prospect
and might have been the best peerpasser of the whole crew this year coming

(01:07):
out. I get it. Ithink he'll be an NFL player. But
here's the problem I have as aGM. The only people I really care
about that judge what I do arethe players in the locker room. And
I think that's a struggle for TerryFontino they're GM now in Atlanta, when
he has to walk through that lockerroom and say, hey, I did
good for us today, guys,I really got us better. I just

(01:29):
don't know. I mean, hemight be better two or three years from
now, but I just think theyneeded so many other things to make them
competitive for this year, especially onthe defensive side, that it's a struggle.
And I get the fact that they'vesaid we're not going to be up
here to draft the quarterback again.Well, nothing says you have to pick
one in the top ten to besuccessful either, So I just think they

(01:51):
need to do a better job ofidentifying and then obviously evaluating the pool of
players. They've swung and missed atquarterback many times, and maybe this was
their answer to just throwing up theirhands and giving Kirk Cousins one hundred million
and then drafting Penis in the topten. So I don't know, but
I struggle with the whole concept ofjust that, giving somebody two months earlier

(02:12):
one hundred million guaranteed, and thenspending the eighth pick on his their apparent
before he's even taken a snap.Well, Randon this day right there with
the quarterback position, because obviously thatwas something that has been in flux with
the Denver Broncos for several years.But there's this idea that when you have
a quarterback, veteran or young quarterback, you got us surround that quarterback with

(02:34):
talent. Where do you come downon either the talent helping to elevate the
quarterback level play or vice versa.Well, I think it depends on where
you're talking about a team built.I think a quarterback, no matter how
talented or how good he is,has no chance that he can't keep him
upright. So I think you needan offensive line that can do that,
or the quarterback doesn't matter. Havingsaid that, I think the quarterback makes

(02:59):
the perimeter players better. I'm notone that subscribes to that, Well,
we get him all these receivers,he's going to have all these options.
I get it. I'm all forgettinggood players, but I think the quarterback
himself will make those receivers, notthe other way around. So I guess
it depends on where you are withyour team build. Bo Nicks is a
guy that I know Sean has seenflashes of brilliance and we all saw that.

(03:23):
I think the consistency is probably thething that put him the sixth on
the list of quarterbacks that ended upcoming off the board. But that doesn't
mean that he doesn't have the talentthe ascend in a system like Sean runs,
where they give the quarterback a lotof answers. So I'm sure he
sees a good fit there. Youknow, I'm sticking with bo Nicks.

(03:44):
You're talking about a guy who hadsixty one starts in college football. Do
you view that as a positive asand he has all this experience coming into
the league, or do you viewthat as man he you know, he
languished in college football for a longtime before he finally found his way or
to find his way to the leagueto continue playing football. Yeah, I
think it can be a detriment havingthat much experience. I think in both

(04:08):
cases, and this is just myopinion. I struggled with what happened at
Auburn and couldn't get that out ofmy mind. So I think there probably
are other NFL evaluators and team builderswho may have seen that the same.
But having said that, these schemematters, the offense matters. Obviously,
he found his niche at Oregon andwas a productive player there, So it's

(04:30):
kind of a mixed bag. Thatseems like a cop out of an answer,
But I do think players who havethat much experience, you'd like to
see them further ahead in the learningcurve. But maybe the system at Auburn
just didn't fit his skill set,and that's why it's just taken a little
longer. We've heard a lot ofconversation over the past couple of years about
the expanding of the NFL season.We've seen him move from sixteen games to

(04:56):
seventeen games, and I know RogerGoodell kind of flow the idea that we
could see even eighteen games. Andnow there's some fans that are thinking,
Okay, well why stop at eighteen? Why not go to nineteen? In
order for that to happen, Whatdo you think the league would have to
do in conjunction with the players' associationin order to get them to accept these

(05:18):
I guess changes that could be comingdown the pipe. Well, the short
answer is pay the players more,and we all know that will dictate at
the end of the day. I'llsay this, if Roger has alluded to
that which we all have heard thesame narrative, it means it's going to
happen. It's not if it's justwhen. So he's one that has been

(05:40):
in that role a long time,and I think I know how he operates.
He's not going to let that catout unless he knows the answer to
the question already. So it's goingto happen. My guess is it'll be
an international game. Everybody will playone international game. They'll pool that money,
and eventually the cap will go upand players will see a benefit to
them financially. I'm not sure thatmakes it the best thing for the game,

(06:02):
and that's what I think sometimes getslost nowadays in these decisions that are
made at the highest level. Iknow this for years, I always said
Gene Upshawn, Paul Taglibhu when theyran the NFL, they did have the
good of the game at heart.Sometimes I wonder with some of these revenue
based decisions. If this is theright thing for the game, and I'm
not sure eighteen games is for obviouslythe safety reasons and some of the other

(06:28):
things the quality of play, butit's going to drive more revenue. And
as we found out Money Talks intwenty twenty four that it does talk with
Randy Mueller, former NFL executive theyear. I want to circle back to
that in a minute, but Iwant to talk. I want to go
back to quarterbacks real quick here.You know, Jade and Daniels taking number
two. Overall we got on thisshow. We got some good friends on
that staff, dan Quinn, JohnBigan over there with the with the commanders.

(06:50):
You know, Jayden Daniels was aguy that had been I don't know
if he'd been talked about as justa top prospect of whatever he comes in.
He is a great season Hewitt's heisman, all that kind of stuff.
And also he gets vaulted up there. He's probably going to be starting for
that commander's team. Is he aguy who's ready to start day one?
From your film evaluation, well,I think he progressed further from startup season

(07:15):
to the end, as you mentioned, without a doubt when you watch the
convolution of all the tape this year, I'll say this, halfway through the
year, I would say have said, no, he did advance at a
you know, fairly rapid race ratethe last month or so. I think
the big thing with Jayden is Ithink he is capable now of running Cliff

(07:36):
Kingsbury's stuff and that system. Wesaw Kyler Murray run it right off the
bat as well, so he hasto have some of that in his background.
For them to think that, Ithink with all these quarterbacks now is
once you acquire them, it's reallyI think a shifting of the baton to
Cliff Kingsbury or in Chicago to Shanewaldern and or Drake May in New England.

(07:59):
For Van Pel it's really on thesystem, the coordinators and the people
developing these players now to get thebest out of them. So we'll see.
I think the pressure is probably onmore of the coaches now to get
these guys ready to go to runthe system that they choose, and that
sometimes comes with giving them a lotof answers to the test. And we'll

(08:20):
see who can study it and havethe answers come first to September. I
want to go back real quickly.We're talking about revenue streams and whether or
not it's beneficial for football, andwe've seen what gambling revenue has done,
but at the same time, we'veseen some of the problems that that has
caused for players. What do youthink about sports wagering and the NFL getting

(08:41):
into bed with them. I'm notnecessarily opposed to it, but I do
think they can do a better jobof educating the players, and I think
initially they assumed that all players wouldknow what they could and couldn't do.
We figured out that that's not thecase. These kids don't know the rules
like some of us who grew upin the business, so they need to

(09:01):
do a better job of educating them, and I think they are starting to
do that. I also think thatthe penalties against these kids who do some
of these things have to be severeenough that it deters future actions, and
maybe we'll see that at some point, but it's at a little bit in
the NBA, with a lifetime banfor a player who made some bets.

(09:22):
I think that probably has to carryover into these other sports, especially in
the NFL, because it does challengethe integrity of the game, just the
fact that it's out there and theperception is that someone could do things that
aren't above board. So I thinkthe penalties that we will see over the
next year so are going to beso stringent, or they need to be

(09:43):
so stringent that it removes all doubtfrom what these kids think they can do
and realize they can't. There's alot of pressure for any player coming into
the league, more so for thoseguys who are drafted in the first round,
regardless of whether you're a quarterback ornot. But the title that comes
along with that is always bus potential. So as we look at this year's

(10:07):
first round draft class, and let'stalk about quarterbacks once again, what's some
of your leading things When you startto look at a guy and evaluate his
career a couple of years after he'sbeen draft and it's okay, yes he
fits the criteria for bus potential,well, I think bus potential sometimes is

(10:28):
when we put our head in thesand initially, when we evaluate these kids
and run a guy up the polebased on our own needs. Sometimes it's
not these kids' fault that they aren'twhat everybody perceives them to be. So
I would caution against the thinking theseguys are the end all be all just
because they do get drafted in thetop ten or twelve. There's desperation,

(10:50):
and teams are guilty of it asmuch as anybody. I think you've got
to find and some teams do thisbetter than others. They've got to find
a way to be critical of thesekids before you draft them and understand their
weaknesses so that you can then accentuatestrengths once you get them. And I
think that's the disconnect, and sometimesthat's regardless of any positions. You've got

(11:11):
to find what they do well andcater to that and hope that's enough so
that they can produce play in andplay out. At the NFL level,
we saw a record setting first roundin terms of offensive players selected. In
fact, the first defensive player didn'teven come off the board until the Colts
out to a lot to one ofmy favorites in this draft, is this
a byproduct of the NFL's emphasis onoffense or simply a product of what players

(11:35):
were available in this as we stilleven out, I guess from the post
COVID era. Yeah, I thinkthat's a great point. I think in
this case, it's just where wewere as a pool of draft. I
don't think it was a great draftor quality. I think that dwindled outside
the top fifteen. I mean thatcould be as simple as why these quarterbacks

(11:56):
were all ran up a poll tobe drafted, six of them in the
top you know whatever, twelve picksin the first round. That never has
happened. So I do think thispool was a little bit lacking, and
from a depth standpoint, I feltlike teams after the third maybe halfway through
the fourth round were all drafting youknow, I don't want to say free
agents, but later round picks innormal drafts. So I just think the

(12:18):
quality wasn't there. I loved whatPhiladelphia did and then they turned some of
these late round picks into picks fornext year. Looking ahead. The projections
are that that is a better group, a higher quality pool of players,
and I like teams that were ableto do that. This draft was interesting,
though. It had a lot ofnumbers that when you sit back and
really recognize, and this is oversimplifyingit, but I've always said, just

(12:41):
draft big guys and fast guys andyou'll be in good shape. Well guess
what in this draft, there werethirty five receivers drafted, only to be
outdone by thirty six corners, andthe next group was offensive and defensive linement.
So they still run the draft therejust seemed like there were fewer at
other positions this year. Well,when you look at teams as they start

(13:03):
to build through the draft, it'sall about, okay, well, getting
those draft picks signed and getting theminto camps without any guys holding out for
more money. When you look atthe Panthers and I know they're the first
team to sign their entire draft class, first answer, how difficult is that
to happen? And is this somethingthat other teams can look forward to as

(13:26):
far as being able to get theirplayers signed without anyone actually deciding that they're
going to sit out. Yeah,I think that the dynamics have changed for
those rookie deals, And really,I don't know how big a deal it
is because they're all eventually going tosign and it's not like we're going to
have holdouts. The ones that wedo, it's over language of repayment of

(13:50):
contract money that shifts from another teamon the release, and that's really about
the only thing you're negotiating, really, is language for for those back end
of those contracts, and I don'tthink they play the role the negotiations did
for many years in this business.I think it's more about really positioning yourself
in the draft to draft a positionalpriority player who you might be able to

(14:15):
get a second contract on. Soyou're looking ahead, taking for granted that
initial deal will be signed sooner thanlater last one for me, Randy Talking
with Randy Mueller, former NFL Execof the Year, I liked what Arizona
did in the draft. I likewhat they've been building over There is Money
Austin for maybe underrated or a hiddengem as a general manager. I think

(14:37):
he's really good. I think he'svery level headed. I've known Money for
a long time. I think he'sa good evaluator. But I don't think
he's afraid to make a decision.That is a lot of teams are run
by a narrative and run a littlebit too much by public perception. I
don't think Money cares. I thinkhe's going to do what's right for their
team, and I think that's agood thing. Even though his experience is

(14:58):
young as a GM, and he'sbeen around and been in some systems that
allow him to really have conviction forhis process. And he does that,
and I don't think he really caresthe narrative that the media might drive after
the fact. Well, Randy,we always appreciated time always runs out too
fast. I hope you find thatcouch so you can sit down and uh

(15:18):
and get over the penick stuff likethe rest of us. Man, But
we appreciate your time. See me. Thanks, guys, take care.
It's Randy Mueller for NFL executive.You're always love having him on the program.
It's it's just you know, onthis show, we love the fact
we get former players perspective like yourself, Steve at Water. We get former
coaches or even current coaches with coachbags. By the way, I talked
to him a couple of days ago, talk to him this past weekend.

(15:41):
He's he's gonna try and come onthe show. That's all I want to
know. Does he missed us missone hundred percent? And he's gonna come
on the show. I think afterthey get done with like mini camp and
all that kind of stuff, theyget that break, he's gonna come back
here and come on the show.He's moving out. Well, you or
not. He's moving out to uhto Washing He's moving the family. Answer
and his new landlord he found outby accident is Scottie Turner. North Turner's

(16:03):
son. Scott was out there inWashington, right, and he was the
OC out there in Yoda House.So he put it up for rints.
So he's moving into that house becauseScotty's over with the Raiders now wow.
So yeah, So it's just hada fun, you know, fun fun
connection there. Anyway, Uh,Broncos Country Tonight, rolls up, come
back, We'll talk a little bitof nuggets, your three time MVP and

(16:23):
call the jokic just Broccos Country Tonight. Right, you're on kway, Welcome
back to it, Broncos Country Tonight. Benjamin Olbrighten, Nick Ferguson, Grant
Smith here with you. Shout outto Hall of Famer Steve Atwater for being
a studio the first hour, hNFL executive. You're Randy Mueller for joining
us in the last segment is always. If you missed any of that,
you go to Broncos Country Night dotCom, slash podcast or wherever you get

(16:44):
your podcast, Apple, iTunes,Spotify, told a freid awesome iHeartRadio now
Sport. You can get to TakeIt for Granted podcast as well. We
got we got a new episode,new episode Denver musician Rob Drapkin. Rob
Drapkin, Okay, not familiar,but I will. I will get familiar
when I get a chance. WhenI listened to the Taking for Granted Podcast
as I do, if you do, you can always leave us a talkback.
These are the microphone the uper righthand corner. We always appreciate getting

(17:06):
those and some of the best dropsfrom the show have come from the talkbacks,
whether it's the you know, bro, have you even tried carrot cake
drop? The Comrade Edwards dropped,Yeah, came from there as well,
which I watched as Steve literally didchange Ryan's contact information to Comrade Edwards in
his phone. Sure it did.That is this is this is the groundbreaking
stuff we do here at Broncos Countrytoday. The Bronco, the Broncos Den

(17:30):
Broncos haven't had it great over thelast couple of seasons, but the Denver
Nuggets have up until they ran intothe buzz saw that is the Minnesota Timberwolves.
And I was worried about the Timberwolvesas the team that made the Nuggets
beatable. They've got a lot oflength, they play physical, they present
some matchups that are tough, justbased on how the Nuggets are are are
built. They're without Rudy Gobert,and they got absolutely pumped. They got

(17:53):
beat down. Reggie Jackson even hada comment on that, Yeah, this
is a test that I've just itlooks like right now our will and our
manhood. So in my life Ifelt growing up, I'm not gonna get
pucked. So hopefully that's that's theapproach we take. Is if anybody there
doubt bullies, you got a bunchof William and Mousa. That's exactly what
they're doing to us. And theyare metaphorically not Pat Bev's style. But

(18:15):
you know, it did not theydid not look like a team that wanted
to be there. In Game two, you were on your home court.
You had the coach coming out thereto yell at the rest about calls from
two to three plays earlier. Youhad Jamal Murray throwing stuff on the court
and he should have been suspended.I'm sorry, Like, let's keep it

(18:36):
a buck. He should have beensuspended. You throw a heat pack and
a towel and a referee. Youget suspended for that. You don't get
fined a hundred hundred thousand dollars forJamal Murray nothing. That's that's pocket change,
right, It is dropping the bucket. And I was disappointed by how
Adam Silver and Association actually handled thesituation. And when you listen to Jamal
actually finally answered questions two days later, he was a little dismissive of it.

(19:02):
Just me kind of paraphrasing. Whathe said was okay, well that
says two days ago. I youknow, now we've moved past this,
and I moved past it. Andthe first thing I thought was, okay,
Well, first of all, theNBA didn't do a great job of
handling the situation, because anytime youdo something like that, if you're doing
it in the stands to another fanor a fan doing it to a players,

(19:25):
usually there's a big uproar about it, especially if a player does it
to a fan. And it thoughtabout earlier in the week when the Bucks
was playing the Pacers and Pat Beverlywas getting it from someone two rows behind
him. He threw basketball into thestands. It hit a guy right,
and then the guy who was tryingto hit, threw it back. He

(19:47):
threw it back at the guy,and then Rick shd off that guy hit
someone else and everyone was in somewhatof an uproar. But it's just like
when Jamal did that to Mark Davis, who has been in an NBA for
a while and we're well respected.It was just like, you know what,
it's not a big deal. AndI thought this for a second,
and you tell me how you feelthat. Jamal was frustrated because he couldn't

(20:10):
do the things that he wanted todo. And he's saying, we are
defending champs. We're down one ohalready, right and we're playing on our
home court. Do you not knowI'm supposed to get these types of calls,
But he's not a kook. Well, and that's also the difference between
this year's Nuggets and last year's.Last years Nuggets team was hungry. He
didn't expect those calls. This year'sNuggets team is looking around expecting the calls.

(20:34):
Well, now I'm expecting, man, but demand waiting for that,
right And when I was demver Nuggets, we're not keyth sweat, they ain't
got a pass, That's what itwas. It seemed like it was a
key sweat song that you want itbad, big, don't tails here.
It's like, what are you doing? Like we saw the Lakers do that

(20:56):
when the Lakers played the Nuggets rightthis year in life last year constantly whining
and campaign complaining for calls and theydon't get back on defense. We saw
the Nuggets doing that. And thefirst thing I look at when I look
at athletes body language, and thebody language was kind of slumped over his
shoulders like they had just lost theirpuppy. And Reggie said, he look,

(21:19):
he not going out like that.I'm not gonna get pumped. And
that's exactly what the Timberwolves did.Coach Malone said after game won his team
was undisciplined and they didn't play witha certain physicality and he was gonna be
able to tell like that in thatfirst quarter what was gonna happen. But
he was solely disappointed because when youlook at the scoring that took place.

(21:41):
Let me go back to this reallyquick. I was watching Aaron Gordon not
chase rebounds down. No, Iwas watching. I mean, it's just
it was a lack of hustle.It was a team that was like,
hey, we're gonna win this becausewe're the Nuggets, not we're gonna win
this because we're gonna outplay the Timberwolves. Yes, And in that second second
quarter, thirty three to fifteen.That's a bad quarter now here, is

(22:02):
what I'm thinking. Coach m Longand the Nuggets were thinking, and even
the fan base, all right,and several of the games that we play
leading into the playoffs, the Nuggetshave been down. The thorough quarter has
always been their quarter, and theywere thinking, Okay, well we're going
to turn it. That's when wego turn it all We're gonna flip the
Swiss then yeah, and they keptflipping the switch and it was like someone

(22:22):
did played the light joke. Ye, But because it never came on right,
and the things became more problematic,desperation started to seep in and you
could see it. Yes, andthey were taking ill and by shot Yeah,
now no, you guys, don'tpass. It was just chucking the
ball up. It was you know, just trying to get through it.
And it's it's you know, watchingit. It was the antithesis of what
this team was at this point lastyear. At this point last year,

(22:45):
they were disciplined, They were hungry, they were underrated. If they didn't
expect anything, they knew they weren'tgetting anything. The popular narrative was about
how Nicola would get fouled all thetime and didn't get any calls, all
that kind of stuff. And nowyou got to you got a team full
of they got there. They gotto ring another winding about it. Now
the winding that they're not getting thecall. Well, see, man,
this is par for the course,Like this is where the Nuggets wanted to

(23:06):
be. You wanted to be inthis position and understand when you are in
the position where you are no longerthe hunter, you are the hunted teams
are coming after you. When youwatch these two teams play in these first
two games, you can tell thatMinnesota they are hungry. When you look
at Tim Conley is what he startedto build here and what he's building now

(23:27):
Minnesota. It is almost like theroster someone look like a carbon copy,
a little, a little not exact. But the team is hungry. And
you have to be able to handlethe idea of being on the top and
having everyone come for you because teamsare not gonna buy down. And to
make it worse, and I thinkwe were sitting here watching the game,

(23:48):
and I told Grant when we wentto a break that all the chatter from
coach Malone and you think about theantics from the players, that that is
not going to help you because thefishers are gonna say, well, well
you're shooting poorly from the field alreadyand you jawing at us, why should
he bow you out? And nowyou going to Minnesota where the crowd is

(24:11):
gonna be a ruckus crowd known asthough Jamal wasn't suspended, right, you
gonna get everything they have. Yeah, the crowd is going to try to
get under Jamal's skin because they knowit can be gotten under. You know,
once you show, once you putblood in, the water sharks come.
Like that's that's how that works,right, you chumb The water sharks
are gonna come. And so thatthat's you're gonna get players and you're gonna

(24:32):
get fans trying to get under hisskin. He's gonna have to he's gonna
have to draw that out. Ona positive note, Nicole Yokich wins another
MVP award for him. I thinkthe funniest thing out of all of it
was watching his reaction, like whenit got when they when they announce it
to him or whatever. Do wehave the audio from when he actually wins
and he's like, oh cool,I've got Shak's question. I don't have
his because they look at the Lookat the Nuggets Twitter because I think that

(24:53):
you might have his respust there.But if you've got Shaq's question, let's
go to this because I want toI do want to talk about this.
Let's go just get the Shack audiohere. First, as the president of
the Big Man Alliance, you havethis president of the Big Man Alliance.
You know, I love you,the best player in the league. I
want to congratulate you, but Iwant you to hear it from me.
First, I thought the SGA shouldhave been the MVP. That's no disrespect
to you, but congratulations. Now, first of all, you can't just

(25:17):
say no disrespectful wile saying something that'smad disrespectful Randy, Bobby. I'm just
saying, like, okay, Ihear you, And to be honest with
you, I would have SGA thirdbecause I would have Luca Luca second.
But all three are phenomenal basketball players, right me putting SGA third in my
MVP ballot, which I don't actuallyhave is not disrespectful to SGA. But

(25:40):
sitting there and telling the guy whowon that you thought somebody else should have
won, that's mad disrespectful. Imean it is. Listen, I'm gonna
I understand both sides of it.Shack was right. When you look at
Nikola Jokish and how dominating he isas a big man. You know,
great footwork, He's not gonna allowanyone to really speed him up. He

(26:00):
has an all around game. Hisassists has gotten better. And I'll say
this, I was one of thoseguys who criticized Joker for not being a
very having a high defensive presence.He's gotten better in that particular department.
Now, I do feel this partwith Shaq was talking about SGA. For
me, I thought this was ayear that SGA was going to get it.

(26:22):
I know Nicola Joki is dominant withthe Denver Nuggets, but looking at
SGA being on an Oklahoma City Thunderteam that most had written off after Westbrook,
James Harden and Kadi left, buthe's playing with the young squad,
one of the youngest squads in theNBA, and they are the leading team

(26:47):
in the West. They were thenumber one seed West. I'm like,
that's got to count for something.So I thought this was going to be
the year that everyone acknowledged what SGAcould do. But they're probably looking at
it from the standpoint he's a youngplayer. He's gonna have multiple opportunities,
and that's probably why they gave itto Nikola joks even though Jokich had a
sensational season. And listen, allthree guys who were in the top three

(27:11):
guys, they were all deserving ofthis award. Yeah, And don't get
me wrong, I think I thinkSean Gildas Alexander is an absolutely phenomenal basketball
player. I thought that for acouple of years. Uh when he when
it was him at four tallibo he'sthereed Okay, see two years ago and
he was and he was putting upthirty at night. I'm serious, I
really do. But if you goand you look at the statistics, if
you go when you look at theadvanced numbers player efficiency rating number one,

(27:34):
Nikola Jokic, you look at offensivewind shares number one, the Kohala Jokic.
You look at win shares, NikolaJokic win shares for forty eight Jokic
box plus minus Jokic offensive box plusminuge Jokic defensive box plus minuge Jokic value
over replacement Yokic number one in everycategory across the board. And I get
it, what Sga hit gone hasbeen phenomenal. The team is number one.

(27:56):
You take the Kohli Jokic off ofthe Nuggets. How many games they
win? You take Sga off?Okay, see how many games they win?
I think like when Yolks on thefloor, the Nuggets plus minus I
think is like eleven point eight.With him off the floor is like maybe
eight point six. So yeah,he's a key cod to what they do
on the court for sure of beingable to facilitate and get everyone else involved,

(28:19):
and also knowing because as massive ofa guy as he is, he's
going to command the double team whichallow other guys to get open shots.
Aaron Gordon should send him a greatChristmas presence because those lobs off the baseline
have been spectacular. Gordon's career revitalizationis owed Jokis because the Jokich's game,
Jokis pulling guys out from the rimallows Gordon to be the physical player underneath

(28:42):
that he is it allows him tocollect more rebounds and score more points than
he wouldn't get with a with Afor instance, Rudy Gobert. Yeah,
Well, for me, I guessat being a basketball fan, it would
have been great for Okac to kindof have that, being as though they
are not one of those top marks. Is like the Nuggets is not considered
one of those top markets in theNBA. So to have Nicola get it

(29:06):
one time, and then get ita second time and win a championship,
and then now get it a thirdtime, that's putting Denver on the map
in so many ways. But Ijust wanted as a basketball fan for Okay
Okay see to kind of get theirflowers right now because they have one hell
of a young team and one hellof a young player. They do they
get a squad and whether or notthey if they beat Dallas and you know,

(29:26):
and move on all that kind ofstuff, Well, you know,
we'll see. But at the endof the day, when someone wins an
award, I don't think in thatmoment, in that congratulations is the appropriate
time to sit there and be like, yeah, I don't think you deserve
it. Yeah, it sounds alittle disingenuous to praise someone in one bread
and then kind of valid in another. Right for me, and this is

(29:51):
the way I just view things.I'm not elevating people in the moment right.
Let them have their flowers, letthem have them on whatever it is
with I agree with it or not, we can. We can criticize the
next day. You've got You've gotthe next day for that. I don't
need in my congratulations call. Idon't need to sit there and be like,
yeah, I'm Shack one of thegreatest centers to ever live. And
you know, I get jealous whenother centers have success. So I voted
for a guard instead of a center. Well, you know, he is
something really interesting because I tell peoplethis all the time. For me,

(30:14):
there's no difference between There is asubtle difference, but for the most part,
when you look at Shaq's game inRudy Gober's game, for me,
the same thing, similar games,because I mean, the only thing that
Shaq was just bigger and once you'regetting him inside the paint he's dunking.
Only of Bear doesn't use his bodylike that. Shaq could shoot free throws,
can't really doesn't have a mid rangegame, Shaq doesn't shack Rudy and

(30:40):
and Ben Wallace belong in the freethrow Yeah, you know what, that's
what they should do next NBA AllStar Game. Put them three guys in
the free throw shooting contest that's beenthere all night waiting for somebody's sick town.
The first one is to make onebucket win, right, That's what
it is. We beat there allnight. Yes, But I think that's
why Shaq, as he praised NikolaJokis, there's a little animosity because he

(31:03):
wasn't that type of all around shaknever had check one on size kiss winning
on every skill. When you talkabout a guy having every two in his
two belt like he's batman, right, don't take this the wrong way,
Ben, That he's capable of doingso many things right, And I know
I'm not making any robbin, youknow, I'm just let it go.

(31:26):
I've just said. It's just thefact that Nicola has so many things that
he can rely on. The chestpassed and no look past. There's such
a court awareness or vision or whateveryou want to call it. He knows
where everybody is at every at everysecond of every because usually you think,
okay, transition, right, onlya point guard should be able to do
that. And when I think aboutNikola, jokis on his size, Like,

(31:49):
I don't like to compare him toother centers. I mean, immediately
I think of and it's made thisthis is an unfair comparison, but it's
based on some of the things thatthe guy who I'm gonna mention could it
was magic. Yeah, that's whatyou think of. Yes, you think
of a combination of magic and Novitsky. Right now, the only thing that
Nicola can't do that magic could dois the fan all five positions, right,

(32:10):
and and and magic could take guysoff the dribble, which Jokic can
take center or send power forwards offthe drible He's not taking a guard off
the dribble, Like, no,he's not doing that. So you know,
I mean, look, I thinkthe end of the day, I
think it was deserved. I thoughtdeserved the award. H when he got
rob I thought he got robbed thelast time, you know, I get
the embat thing. I thought hegot kind of robbed because I thought Jokop

(32:31):
outproduced him. But in the end, you know, Jokich is now three
time MVP, and there we go. Here's one thing I'll add to this.
It is also about longevity, likehow many games a guy has actually
played in the given season. Andnow you got to qualify, you have
to hit a certain game that's right, and and Nikolay has definitely done it
as as a big guy. Yeah, and that's that's that's a big part

(32:53):
of it. We'll finish up thisthis discussion on the Nuggets and get into
a few other things. We comeback. Got ANFL six pack ahead.
You listen to Broncos Atrey Night CAWNEXC