No Name A's Strike, Bad List Take Center Stage & KD Comes To Town!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam raised by Earl Nolan,
multi byt the magnificent roller coaster ride that is Houston Sports.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Chill lags down for the only homegrown Afternoon team is
talking Your teams? Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the
A teams a A.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
This studio is like a frat house. There's like fifty
remote controls in here, and they're all the way.

Speaker 4 (00:58):
Very small fraternity though, which two and a half six
members sit, okay, but you're not. There's only six people
that call this office their home.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Well, I wasn't good. I was gonna include the producers
just to.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
They don't sit in here, and you were referencing the
mayhem in the studio.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
I just to get to where it looks good for
us to be on TV an hour from now, so
that we're not scurrying to do it the segment before,
in the seconds before we're on screen. It just takes
a lot of things, I feel like, but that's neither
here nor there.

Speaker 4 (01:29):
I haven't even gotten rid of all the hair that's
on the console.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Who left that, Matt Thomas, not me? All right, So
that's an interesting series. The intro is just completed, getting
bookended with walk offs by the same player, and then
just blowout losses sandwiched in between us time.

Speaker 4 (01:49):
It was unfortunately waste of time. Waste a trip to
Sacramento where you outscore them handily, outplay them for a
lot more of the series than you were outplayed, but
two games for them, two games for you, and you
head onto the next stop, still hoping, hoping to have
a winning road trip, hoping to get your road record
much more respectable than several games under five hundred, unbecoming

(02:10):
for a first place team in Major League Baseball. Not
the way to do it, so hopefully more of the
good stuff, less of the bad stuff. A Colton Gordon
start that was just like all of the others. You
have a chance to win. He's not gonna pitch shoot
a victory, but you're not gonna lose because of his
efforts out there, and they certainly didn't, even though they
were trailing nearly the entire game. Give up a couple of

(02:31):
long balls, and not until the A's went to their
closer and he threw one pitch did the Astros get
themselves back in a very positive situation. And even that
positive situation was only a tie game. The three run
homer from Victor Karattini put them there. They had had
a lot of extra inning success so far this season
for extra inning games, four wins for extra inning games

(02:54):
no runs allowed, and that did not continue last night.
Squander their Op two tenth inning with three consecutive awful
at bets and then the A's and Nick Kurtz one
of several and it's almost an entire rosters full now
of very promising young hitters. Took the second best Astros

(03:17):
bullpen arm out of the yard to open the series,
and last night the best Astros bullpen yard arm over
the yard's deepest part of the park. And that's how
you split a series. Walked off twice, dominated twice, and
it's you, say Kakuchi opposing Hunter Brown tonight for the
Angels and Astros this evening on the road. We'll have

(03:39):
it here for you right here on Sports Talk seven nine.
You're home for Astros baseball. Keep an eye on Kyle
Tucker this afternoon, see if he can help his Cubs
beat your Mariners, and currently they are holding the lead.
Before we close up shop this afternoon, we'll have a
final for that one for you. The lead in the
division sits at five games heading into this weekend series. Obviously,

(03:59):
the Mariners are just getting going with their three game
series with the Cubs, as the Astros begin their three
game series with the Angels. Now, I wanted to quickly
as we set the table for today's show, take you
back to yesterday's show. Final segment of yesterday's show, so
mine the uh tonight portion of it obviously references last night,

(04:21):
but there's no question the season ends tonight.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Right.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
M Oh my gosh, no way this guy thinks the
Pacers are.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
Going to win. I do put it this way, play tonight.
If they do win this game tonight, they're winning at all.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
That's not happening.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
You know how broken the thunder would be if they
lost this game? That would be tremendous. And Tyrese Haliburton
scored fifty five points on a busted leg.

Speaker 4 (04:45):
I'm gonna set the tie over under it. Thirteen and
a half had to give you that entire audio stretch.
So finally at the end there I looked less dumb,
but it was like fifty on a bum leg. That
wasn't accurate.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
That was a joke.

Speaker 4 (04:58):
I set the over under for Tyres Haliburton at four
thirteen and a half. He scored fourteen in last night's victory,
as predicted by you. That's why I said it so low.
I figured this is about where you could get the
most action on it, and there he was his last
points of the game. The over would have hit, but
the Pacers just simply late second quarter or middle of

(05:22):
the second quarter all the way through until halftime, including
the last shot at the buzzer four halftime for Pascal Siakam.
They just ran them off the court, had a or
a thirty to nine run to increase their advantage to
ten twenty thirty at times in last night's game. It
allowed them to need only twenty three minutes worth of
basketball and change from Tyrese Haliburton. Granted, the other team

(05:46):
also had a lot of rest for their starters, but
they've earned it. They earned this game seven with how
they played. They did get their injured player out there, obviously,
so we're more discussion on what he might look like,
not tonight or tomorrow. It takes a long time to
get from Indiana to Oklahoma City, so they will play
Sunday night. The NBA season will definitively close up shop

(06:07):
on the twenty four to twenty five season Sunday Night
in Oklahoma City. The Thunder or A have been this
postseason at least a dramatically different team when playing at
home versus playing on the road, both teams probably lamenting
some lost opportunities. A Game one victory that looked like
a sure thing for the Thunder, let's slip through their fingers.

(06:28):
A Game four victory for the Indiana Pacers, they let
slip through their fingers. And here we are a Game
seven and what has been a super compelling series, while
nobody's willing to acknowledge that because the dumbs are focused
on the ratings when they shouldn't be. We're focused on
exactly what's going to happen as soon as this season
comes to a close. And instead of re signing your

(06:49):
own which the Rockets have done with Steven Adams and
they've done with Ema Udoka giving him a contract extension,
you could start taking other teams players and they can
start shipping you their players. An other player will be
available for anyone to go grab in free agency, and
all that's going to take place over the next two
to three weeks in addition to the NBA Draft, so
additional thoughts from those covering it most closely ourselves and

(07:12):
the national reporters on where things stand as we head
into the weekend with Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns.
We'll have a conversation with someone who covers the Suns
in Phoenix at three point thirty this afternoon, Gerald Borgay,
who works at Phoenix Sports, will join us his thoughts
on where things stand and what the Suns are looking

(07:33):
for from this team, from the Wolves, from the Spurs,
from the Raptors, from the Clippers, from the Heat, et
cetera in order to make a deal happen. So obviously
looking forward to that conversation. Four thirty, our signature segment
on a Friday, we hit you with the eighteen Friday Draft.
We will look inside the boob tube television TV shows
that were very very very very popular and we scratch

(07:55):
our head why because the main character was the worst part.
That is the category for today's Friday A team draft
popular television programs where the main character was the worst part.
And obviously some other items on the NFL front still
continue to spell out a minor roster move officially made
by the Houston Texans earlier today, but looking ahead to

(08:17):
another series inside this division for the Astros, They've now
completed two series with the Athletics, moving their way to
just about the halfway point of their American League West
Division jaunt. It's only fifty two games inside this division.
You have one bad team, you have three teams that
are almost identical, and then you have the best team,
the Houston Astros. Presumably they will treat the others as

(08:40):
they deserve to be treated, very badly and in dominant fashion.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
Well, yeah, I'm annoyed. I'm not gonna lie about this
last series because I know everything you said about their
young promising talent is by all accounts true.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
This is it to me, this is the last year
they're going to be awful. This is it. I hope
they take advantage of it.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
But okay, So in order for that to be true, though,
they can't be sellers of any kind at the deadline.

Speaker 4 (09:06):
They have to find like Mason Miller can't get depth wey.
They have to find somewhere between one and five starters,
and so whatever they need to do to move like
they don't have a lot of veterans, which is it's
both good and bad thing. It means all their kids
are getting to play, and that's who the Astros faced
all week. You know, their lineup one through seven is
nothing but young players. And these are all the players
they're going to be able to build around. But if

(09:27):
they can find some pieces that they can move, if
somebody's willing to take on the Sevarino deal, he might
be nice to have for the next two years to
help solidify things when you're not pitching in Sacramento. But
they need probably other younger and honestly cheaper talent they're
pitching stinks. Their offense is going to be very, very good.
It's probably going to be one of the more fun

(09:48):
teams to watch because of that ballpark also the next
couple of years. But it's going to be a pain
to go and play there because you have to bank
on them not being able to pitch, because they're going
to be able to hit well.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
And you know, I think the reason last night's game
frustrates me way more than the opener of this series,
even though they ended the exact same way, is the
fact that you instead of you know, the opening game,
you just didn't look like you were doing anything that
whole night. You were stranding runners like you always do,
but that's every game for the Astros. You just didn't

(10:21):
look like the offense was gonna get anything done. And
you kind of looked like that last night.

Speaker 4 (10:25):
Yeah, Ty, hello carbon copy until the eighth inning.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
But wing Vic Carrottini takes like one of the best
closers in baseball, at least from a stuff standpoint. Just
purely trying to hit one hundred and two miles per
hour is tough, even if it's not located correctly, but
a lot of times it is with him, and so
I just it's one of those things where I always
get on It gets on my nerves when we when
we talk about baseball, because I'm like, well, you did

(10:49):
all the work to tie it up, Why would you
do that? And do we really need to leave the
bases loaded like this Astros? Is this gonna be what
we're doing now? Especially when it's it's out too But
for all of the talk about that stadium and the
heat even at a night time, and the ball carrying
out the way it did, I guess I thought more

(11:10):
of those pop flies that weren't on the infield, because
there was like ten in a row at one point
would have carried over and they didn't. I mean, Mauricio
Dubon thought he had one that went over the fence
and it didn't.

Speaker 4 (11:22):
That was the one that was the killer, because that's
two runs and they didn't get both of those runs.
They were able to squeeze across the one Mauricio was
stranded at third base. It was a handful of feet
away from flying over the fence. It never really got
up into the air. It was more of a line
drive than a monster shot. And every shot they hit
this week that did go over the fence they did have.
I mean, honestly, I think Mauricio Dubon hit his ball

(11:43):
better than Victor Carratini. But a little bit of a
change in the wind patterns, a little bit of change
in the conditions, and last night was really the first
time the conditions impacted play. You had pop ups that
were in the stands and then ended up on the field,
and Victor Carrottini showed that off the first few innings
chasing baseballs down, and Christian Walker and jose L Tuvey

(12:04):
and Cam Smith showed it off similarly later in the
game when nobody caught the pop up and the inning
that kind of got away from him salvaged a little bit,
and that Jeremy Pania made a very smart defensive play
and the A's made a very dumb base running play.
But you'd already given the inning away. You made it,
the uncaught pop up, a couple of other plays that

(12:24):
could have been made and were not in in a
close game, those things, you know, the team that usually
is a little bit cleaner will come away with it.
Astros did give up two runs from their bullpen, which
is pretty rare. One of those or two different pitchers,
I should say, in their bullpen gave up runs. With
what Oker did and obviously what Josh Hater did at
the end of the game. It's been few and far between.
It's why they win most of these close games. Their

(12:46):
record and one run games is still outstanding. Their record
and extra inning games is still outstanding, and I don't
think that changes. After two unfortunate walkoffs in four days
in sacdo.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
All right, we will take a quick time out when
we come back. We'll do it been doing for several days.
This week, we'll talk about Kevin Durant and where he
might go and if it's the Rockets, the latest on
the Kadi saga that I think increasingly winds up with
him not coming to Houston, just my gut feeling.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Next, the A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
It's the A Team. It's Sports Talks seven ninety. Space
City Home Network simulcast will begin at the top of
the hour as it has all week long, and then
later on tonight we'll get you ready for Astro's Angels
as the scene shifts to Anaheim and they'll try to
uh well, we'll try to get a win against an old,
familiar face that wasn't here very long but was very

(13:49):
effective when he was Hunter Brown and Yusey Kakuchi. That's
about is an awesome matchup in twenty twenty four as
you could have asked for. I don't really know four
yes exactly the post trade deadline portion of that calendar.
Kakuchi has not been as effective as an Angel, but
no one goes to the Anaheim Angels and because more effective. Yeah,

(14:10):
but I mean you're never gonna his best stretch of
his career for the rest of his life will be
as an Astro.

Speaker 4 (14:17):
I think that's a given. I even think the Angels
knew that when they acquired him. His time with the
Astros was pretty spectacular. A two seventy ERA over his
sixty innings ten starts was thera. This year's three oh five.
Now he's not winning any games, because why would you
you're an Angel's pitcher, And unlike when he was in Houston,
he's walking batters again. That has been his biggest problem.

(14:39):
It's one of the bigger reasons why he's been a
little less successful.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
There.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
Doesn't last quite as long, and some of the other
numbers don't match last year even close merely his era
does and his ability to kind of give them a
little bit more length than others. Last year, his whip
with the Astros was under one zero point ninety three
because he stopped walking back. She was throwing strikes. He
was making guys beat him by swinging the bat and

(15:04):
wasn't putting anybody on base, And it was the biggest problem,
in my opinion, is an entire career. He didn't throw
enough strikes, He walked too many hitters. He brought a
career era from his time in Toronto and Seattle almost
at one point four, which is right back where it
is again, it's now almost at one point five as
an Angel's pitcher. So what Kakuchi does from the left

(15:26):
side against the Astros predominantly right hand and hitting lineup
tonight in terms of throwing strikes, will probably determine whether
or not they're able to do to him what nearly
everybody else has been able to do to him, and
that's end up on the right side of things. That
three zero five era there, he personally only has two wins.
Team's basically a five hundred team when he pitches, and

(15:46):
with an era like that, you'd like to be a
little bit closer to the winning side of it, like
the Astros are from or their ras are very very similar.
And Hunter Brown continues to be right at the top
of the league in pretty much every single category. That
line applied to one NBA player for the last nearly
twenty years, Kevin Durant. He's at the top of the
league nearly across the board. He's one of the league's

(16:08):
top three point shooters for the great chunk of his career.
Anybody over any five year period where KD has been
in this league, well, he's been among those better shooters.
A guy who at some seasons as high as forty
three percent like last year, and other seasons all the
way down to the high thirty percent. Very good there,
very effective around the basket, flirting with a fifty to

(16:29):
fifty ninety season and many of his season's career, and
again this past year, he is the subject of very
loud trade rumors. I went and had a discussion with
some people in Phoenix earlier today, actually two different people
will have our conversation with somebody from Phoenix coming up
at three point thirty. But the question remains the same,

(16:50):
when is it going to happen? Now, will it happen?
When is it going to happen that Kevin Durant will
be wearing thirty five for somebody else?

Speaker 3 (16:57):
Well, yeah, I don't think it's a question of whether
it will happen. I all those you know, whispers, write
ups whatever about there's a chance he stays in Phoenix
like Corpass So.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
I don't pay any attention. And there are very few
of them. Every day that goes by a few, you
would think every day that goes by more people would say, well,
maybe no, there is no Maybe that's no way to
operate a basketball team. Just get taken advantage of as
a new GM. It's going to happen. Do it now,
you can wait, get it over. Take the player unhappy.
You can make the locker room unhappy. Not the locker

(17:29):
room that's throwing punches at each other that's eight minutes
from now in best of X, but the locker room nonetheless.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (17:36):
So Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Suns management
clearly having conversations with multiple teams around the league. I
think at this point we can acknowledge for sure one
of those teams is the Houston Rockets. Reportedly this is
available to you, and these things are not available to you.
A line in the sand, an idea that we can
keep some of the continuity going and still go get
Kevin Durant. We can't keep a lot of our future

(17:58):
assets in hand and still land Kevin Durant. I think
we still believe those are all possibilities. The topic of discussion,
of course, on the Worldwide Leader, with some good voices
and other people were had this morning. Once again. One
of those good voices is Brian Windhorst. Split it up
into two comments. Initially his thoughts on Durant and your

(18:18):
Houston Rockets.

Speaker 5 (18:19):
Hey, Wendy, Houston is the team that can make the
best trade and also is the best spot for Durant.
And there's a connection there with emy Udoka. He emay
Udoka was an assistant coach for Brooklyn when Katie was there.
If Durant ends up in Houston, I think you've got
a serious contender in the Western Conference.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
There so two different things that must be addressed before
we get to the second part of the comment about
what would the Rockets do to get him serious contender
in the West. I think regardless of what is sent out,
giving Rafell and Email a little bit of credit, they
wouldn't send so much out. I think that statement is accurate.
They are a threat in the West. They are a

(19:01):
contender in the West if Kevin Durant plays for their team.
Without adding additional context, well you believe it that statement
is accurate.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
I can't. It's an incomplete statement.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
Do you think there is a deal out there that
Lance Kevin Durant as a Rocket But so much was
given up that you're unsure that they're a competitor atend.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
Maybe the phrasing so much isn't how I would put it,
But I do believe it's key what goes out, even
if it's not that much from a players standfot.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
What would go out that would prevent you from calling
them a contender? That's reasonable. We know Amend's not going out,
we know Alpern's not going out.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, why am I more and more with each passing
second this summer here in Houston, Texas, wanting to hold
on to Jabari Smith Junior more and more.

Speaker 4 (19:43):
In this particular scenario. I don't know. I really don't,
because what is it that Jabari Smith Junior can do
for this team if he remains on it that you're
losing and not regaining In Kevin Durant, that's gonna make
you so much better like he's and the things that
Jabbari's good at. Offensively, No, it has nothing to do
with it. Rant's better than him offensively in all those categories,

(20:06):
all those spots on the floor, all those abilities, and
in some cases way better than him. And defensively, I
think there's different camps on Durant, even though the numbers
absolutely support he's a plus defender, He's an outstanding defender.
He's an outstanding one on one defender when he is
the closest defender. The numbers this past year his age

(20:28):
thirty seven year were excellent. Now, is there something about
the way the Rockets want to deploy their five way
they play defense that you think maybe Jabari is still
a bigger defensive asset.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
There's two things. Defensively, I just think he's I just
think he's a plus player for for any team. I
think you put Jabari Smith Junior on the floor, not
from a post defense. I know he gets bullied around.
I know he's relatively slim if you will, But someone's
Kevin Durant.

Speaker 4 (20:59):
But one of them. Nickname is slim Reaper, correct, not Japari.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
But I think, and this is maybe what I keep revisiting,
and this is why I'm very, very get increasingly more
and more excited with each passing second that Steven Adams
is now a long term Rocket relatively speaking. I think
that a big reason why the Rockets overall were the
best rebounding club in the NBA for much, if not all,
the entire NBA season was because there was no slacking

(21:28):
on that department once the second unit came in. And
remember Jabari Smith Junior was only part of the second
union unit post hand injury. He lost his starting job,
but they had become the best rebounding team in the
NBA when he was a starter. That's proof that he
is a very very good rebounder. Now, Kevin Durant's not

(21:48):
a terrible rebounder, but he's not. That's not what he's
known for. It's probably the least efficient part of the
big three categories that you're talking about. You know, he's
gonna put up twenty six a game, and you know
he's pretty assist guy. But I don't. I don't think
of Kevin Durant as a guy who's gonna say, all right, well,
when we start losing things that made us successful last year,

(22:12):
it's not gonna be the rebounding that he hurts us in. No,
it could be, But I think I'm splitting hairs. I
just the more time goes by, the more I I'm
not opposed to a Kevin Durant coming to Houston scenario,
but I don't want to give up that much. I
just don't, and I don't think they have to.

Speaker 4 (22:31):
Yeah, nobody's saying that we'll revisit this quite obviously, because
I think there's a lot to be said about this
that is very very specific ask from Phoenix if it's
Jabari Smith Junior and what is coming here in his place?
And it's the other part of Wendy's comment that I
thought was pertinent and we just hit on it. It's
the fit, especially if that's what's going out. Kevin Durant
is going to the Hall of Fame. Kevin Durant is

(22:52):
probably one of the top ten players in NBA history
and certainly in that group, probably currently among the top
ten active players somewhere in that neighboroo. Jabari Smith Junior
isn't today, he wasn't the last three years, and he's
not going to be in the next ten years. We
totally understand that completely in one but they're going to
play the same way. The Rockets don't have to change
anything about what they do defensively. I don't believe anything

(23:14):
about what they do offensively except they have. They were
never throwing the ball to Jabari Smith Junior with fourteen
seconds on the shot clock and saying go. But they
can if they want to with Kevin Durant at any
number on the shot clock, and he will create it.
What's likely a very good shot can beat guys off
the dribble has a better handle all sorts of things,
So definitely extended conversation needed on that. But a look

(23:37):
inside the Phoenix Suns locker room from this past season. X,
You're the greatest, We love you. The best of you is.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Next the eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
Did you just see this?

Speaker 6 (23:55):
We should be putting out between five and him posts.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Four hundred people were arrested. Things so they said on
social media.

Speaker 6 (24:02):
History repeats itself type bang, you'll succeed.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
Never doubt that you're the one too.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
Plus we go one building, You're the best.

Speaker 6 (24:14):
X. Nothing's gonna ever top you know you're the best
of X, post an ever single day. You're the best
of X, breaking the entire Internet.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
That's what time it is. Halfway through our number one
each and every weekday afternoon here on the eighteen, two thirty,
we hit you with the best of social media, best
of X, replies, comments, posts, picks, what have you. We
also work you guys into the conversation throughout the afternoon
and instead of diving right back into best of X,
since Richard wants to continue the topic and joins us

(24:50):
here on the phone lines, we will do that for you, Richard,
Welcome to Best of KD.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
What's up?

Speaker 7 (24:57):
Hey, good afternoon. So I wanted to get in on
the KD and this might tie into the best of
egs a little bit, but so originally I was totally
against the KD coming to Houston. And aside from his talent,
and also let me just say that I'm a huge
Jabbari Smith stand like, I think he is the most
criminally underrated player on the team and what the guy

(25:20):
brings just just defensively positioning everything, he makes a difference.
I love that player. I think he's going to be
successful playing in the NBA. If probably not an All Star,
but I think he's going to have a good career.
That said, my main reason for not wanting KD originally
to come to Houston, and it's changed, is because of

(25:40):
his ego. Like I believed in coach Udoka, I believe
in the culture he's created. But Coachudoka is a like
a guy who paid his dues, who worked his way
up from nothing and has turned himself into a recognized
like leader in the NBA, and I think he just

(26:04):
has it seems to me, has a very short temper
for egos or entitled players and KD. Though KDE is
obviously matured over his career, KD is one of the,
if not one of the ten best players in NBA history,
one of the ten biggest egos in modern NBA history.
And I don't know if Coach Udoka's ego and Kd's

(26:26):
ego are going to be able to mesh, to continue
the culture that he's created and get us to where
ultimately we want to go. So that said, I want
to give it a shut because of what I've seen
on X what I've heard on YouTube, specifically a crossover
with locked on Rockets and the Phoenix guy and just

(26:47):
Phoenix fans in general. They love KD like they love
his defense, they love everything about him. They think he
is still an elite player. Though I haven't watched him.
I'm taking their word for it, and that's my take.
That's my concern. I gotcha why I want.

Speaker 4 (27:04):
It all right, Well, that's an interesting case to make.
I'll ask AC and not answer myself. The premise that
you present us before you get to the ultimate and
best of X ego. First of all, ego of Kevin
Durant seems to match that of elite players your top
ten fifteen NBA talent at any point in the last

(27:25):
the existence of the NBA. You probably have what most
people perceive as an ego. Steph Curry has a huge ego.
Janna Sonoda Kompo huge ego. All these guys. I think
it kind of goes hand in hand. It's just a
matter of how they present it, how people feel about it,
whether they find it off, a little put off by
it or the opposite. And the second thing you mentioned
is much more pertinent to what the Rockets are doing

(27:46):
and how much they're going to lean on the people
that know him best inside the organization. I brought it
up yesterday. There are already four people that know him
very well. Steven Adams is a former teammate. Roy Al Ivy,
the assistant coach, is very close friends with him. Augustin
now part of the Rockets front office, teammates of his
at the University of Texas. They were both freshmen together

(28:07):
that one season for Kevin Durant there and quite obviously
his former assistant coach in Brooklyn was I may Udoka.
So as Richard presents at ac IF, I may Udoka's ego,
culture leadership style wasn't going to mesh with what he
personally knows about Kevin Durant. We would have had about

(28:27):
thirty empty segments the last three weeks because we would
not be talking about this because the Rockets would not
be interested. If the Rockets felt that that was an
issue because I May told them I don't want him
here because I don't think it would work, then we
wouldn't be going through this. Don't you believe that ego.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
Is not going to be an issue in this scenario?
If the Rockets acquire Kevin Durant, one of the main
reasons they're going to do so is not only because
imay Udoka thinks that he can help the team win.
It's because emy Udoka has coached him before and they
get long and they're friendly, and Katie wants to come play.
Specifically for I May Yudoka, it's probably the number one

(29:07):
reason why if he has indeed put the Rockets on
his preferred wish.

Speaker 4 (29:12):
List after San Antonio, of course.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
Well yeah, of course, I mean, why wouldn't anybody want
to go play in that cesspool of an American city?

Speaker 4 (29:21):
He just heked absolutely like everybody else currently in the
NBA that could be on the move, they want to
play for Mitch Johnson. What can you say?

Speaker 3 (29:28):
I know it has nothing to do with the alien
or the fact that Greg Popovich. I mean, it's not
gonna be around. I'm not sure how everybody views.

Speaker 4 (29:36):
I don't know if ego Kevin Durant's ego is necessarily
what people would talk about from a non basketball standpoint.
With Katie, I think they would certainly talk about his
presence on social media because it is very unlike every
other NBA player, he appears to be extremely involved. If
anything related to the letter K and D or the

(29:57):
word Durant or the word Kevin or the word son
Nets Thunder, if it's out there untagged, he will see
it and he may even have a response to it.
And he's been doing that for a long period of time.
And the idea of a burner being out there and
him going back and forth, sometimes pleasantly, sometimes less pleasantly
with a lot of people on social media, it's pretty common.

(30:18):
It's happened almost every day this offseason, and today is
no different. When the podcast with Chandler Parsons and lou
Will and Michelle Beadle and usually an NBA guest former
players often when they say something that he has to
respond to it must be, must be outrageous, and his

(30:41):
thoughts on it are that, yes, it is absolutely outrageous.
Former Houston Rocket weighs in on the goings on inside
the Phoenix Suns locker room this past year. We're talking
about Boogie Cousins. Boogie Cousins on this program, said in
a sense deleted post. Reportedly the Phoenix had multiple fistfights

(31:02):
in the locker room this past season. Quote tweet at
KD Trey five. That's Kevin Durant and his ego. He says,
I have to contest this ninety four footer. This some
be to throw on us. Yeah, yeah, we were trash
this year, ha ha ha. But we never all caps

(31:23):
got close to this. Never, No, I mean, oh, I'm sorry,
I didn't get to the best part. Oh you know
what X offers us now with everybody out there who
wants to fact check, readers added contract A reader did
add context to this. Kevin Durant said, this never happened.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
I mean, don't you think if it had, we would
have heard about it a lot sooner than June twentieth.

Speaker 4 (31:48):
Well, it's partially true. Yes, I would agree with that,
and also I would say it's extremely unlikely a random
afternoon on a podcast from a somewhatted former NBA player
which just casually break what is fairly sizable news. Fist
fights aren't as common as I think some people think.

(32:10):
Actual fights verbal altercations, guys going at each other and
needing to be separated. Maybe, And I don't know how
much you want to differentiate that between a fist fight.
But that's why Kevin's like, I'm not just gonna sit
here on my phone and drink my coffee and wine
and say nothing. He felt compelled to say this did
not happen.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
Most likely NBA player, not just star to do just
that remains Kevin durant.

Speaker 4 (32:35):
Yeah, to check in on things and check people on
whether or not now at Boogie Cousins also responded.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
Oh, what did that former Rockets legend have to say?

Speaker 4 (32:45):
He recognizes the source not by name, but who do
you think the source is? Not by name? The sources
one of your teammates. The source was one of your teammates, killer,
and I wasn't referring to you. Save this bleep for
the others, Homie.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
Typically when this kind of stuff is filtered out there.

Speaker 4 (33:03):
So now I give it to both of you as
we hit the brake. Here, Cole you first, Ac you second.
Are you believing in truth? Are you Team Durant truth
teller or Team Durant our team Boogie truth teller? Who's
telling the truth? Boogie's lyon Ac agreed, Well, there you

(33:23):
have it. Judge and Jury, the A Team No Fights
in the Sun's locker room.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety carry one.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
Is this your favorite Kansas song? What I mean?

Speaker 4 (33:48):
Sadly, this is excellent, but dustin the winds pretty strong.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
You have to choose between this and Dust and the
Wales with that diss That's why I said, makes.

Speaker 4 (33:57):
You feel like an old guy died in a Why
Will I said it was sad when I introduced it.
I agree it is sad, but I try to tell
the truth here. I actually agree with Wax that is
the best song, dust in the wind What.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
Do you know? What do I know?

Speaker 8 (34:11):
I know that Will Ferrell sang it like an angel,
but he was honoring Blue That's what I know.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
At the funeral, he was his boy.

Speaker 4 (34:19):
We don't have the autopsy back yet, but we think
it was natural bassus a.

Speaker 3 (34:23):
Uh. George Bourby got out of a jam.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
He was on the roster. It's a shame that his
name was still on the roster. It ruined the curve.
His name's still here on the roster. He's dead. He
passed away two weeks ago.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
Uh. Seattle Mariners got to within one run of the Cubs,
and then the Cubs tacked on another run, and so
George Kirby, despite walking former astro Kyle Tucker, got out
of a jam. I don't call it a jam, but
there was a There was a man fair.

Speaker 4 (34:49):
As we said, we will keep you abreast of all
things Mariners and Cubs this afternoon. Four runs for the Cubbies,
two runs for the Mariners. Plenty of baseball left from
Wrigley Field. They head into inning number six, So we
continue talking about a couple of different things. The NBA
will have one more game this season that will come Sunday.
Haliburton maybe will be even a little bit healthier, although

(35:10):
it is reported that the injury he is playing through
is one that would have him sidelined if it were
not the postseason. Interesting what he was still able to
do most everything he usually does the manner in which
he plays, I actually think affords him a better opportunity
than most to play through an injury like this. But
just keep in mind in the last two games he's
played with that injury, one game he helped his team

(35:32):
blow the other team out and only needed to play
twenty three minutes, and in the other game, he missed
all of his shots and their team kind of let
the series, which they might have had a handle on,
definitely slip through their fingers. Jalen Williams Game five to
Game six also rather remarkable. Game five thunder win. He
scored forty Game six thunder loss. He was a minus

(35:53):
forty in his time spent on the court, which is
insane for any game, let alone the potential last game
of the season, as you after the game get to
hoist up the trophy, but they don't. I don't not
have to wait and get back to Oklahoma City see
if they can close up the deal.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
There.

Speaker 4 (36:10):
Brought up comment from Brian Windhorst from earlier today on
one of the Yaki Yak shows and said there was
a second part of it as related to how the
Rockets would maybe make their way to the top of
the list and these sons would actually sign off on
a deal in terms of what the Rockets are truly
willing to offer. We had an extended conversation both with
ourselves Richard about Jabari Smith Junior and other parts added

(36:32):
to it, so that second part of the comment from
Wendy about Rockets Sons negotiations and trying to work out
a deal.

Speaker 5 (36:39):
However, Houston is really not motivated to dip into the
stash of picks that they have. Specifically, guys, they have
two future Phoenix Suns draft picks. That's what the sons
want back. They literally want some of the stuff back
that they traded for Durant. The Rockets went out and
acquired that stuff from Brooklyn with the possibility of making

(37:00):
a Durant trade, but they don't want to pay that
price right now, and they're basically wagering that the Sun's
price will come down and they will make the deal.

Speaker 4 (37:09):
This is something we brought up way back when the
Rockets focus shifted on we hope Brooklyn is terrible too,
we hope Phoenix is terrible, and they made those trades
and all of a sudden, instead of holding so much
of Brooklyn's future, the Rockets now hold so much of
Phoenix's future. And again, at the time you're talking about
Phoenix with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, and you're talking
about Brooklyn with nobody. It was pretty clear Brooklyn wasn't

(37:30):
going anywhere. But give the Rockets credit. The two scenarios
that are super super beneficial to them that could absolutely
play out, are you use those picks with a trade
with Phoenix. You give them their picks back so you
get what you want and you don't have to give
up a player potentially that you don't want to give up.
Now you've just made the current Rockets that much better.
Or you don't make a deal with Phoenix, or you

(37:52):
don't make a deal with Phoenix including those picks, because
no matter what deal Phoenix makes, those picks are gonna
be continue to be valuable.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
If the Rockets don't make.

Speaker 4 (38:03):
A deal with the Suns and thus keep the control
of phoenix future picks. Is there some deal out there
where you're now worried as a member of the Rockets
team management team saying, man, Phoenix did so well on
this trade, these picks we have of theirs aren't gonna
be as valuable, Like what scenario is that who are
they landing that these picks? They are lottery picks at worst.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
Yeah, And here's what I'm starting to think about A
lot Just in the back of my mind, I think
the Rockets A and I well, I know this. The
Rockets are perfectly fine if the Durant deal doesn't happen.
They are perfectly fine with all right, another year of development,
another year of men Thompson getting better, hopefully, Jalen Green
getting better, Emay being in charge outprinching Goon getting better.

(38:49):
Dad d d da da da da. What if they
don't do the Kevin Durant deal. What if Kevin Durant
does get traded, What if he goes to the Spurs
or what if he goes somewhere else, doesn't matter, he
gets traded. Therefore, the Sons are obviously going to be
even worse than they were just by default. I think
they might get some players back that whatever, but they're
not going to get back a player of Kevin Durant's caliber. Now,

(39:13):
it's next offseason and the Sons really would like to
use those picks that are even better. Now, what if
they're like, all right, now we will let go of
Devin Booker, and now the Rockets get Devin Booker for
those picks, a much better, well, a much younger player.
I don't know if I'm going to say he's better.

(39:33):
I think at this point they're comparable. They just do
different things at different positions and at different sizes. But
what if that's the scenario that unfolds. Do you feel
better about all of this a year from now?

Speaker 4 (39:44):
Can I push back on something real fast?

Speaker 8 (39:45):
Are you saying that Phoenix doesn't add in anybody to
pair alongside and haven't booked this offseason?

Speaker 3 (39:49):
Well, they're gonna try to, But I mean, you can
only get so much for Kevin. That's what this conversations about.
The asking price for Kevin Durant is going down by
the minute, not up.

Speaker 4 (40:03):
You're landing both of these players, how No?

Speaker 3 (40:05):
No, I mean I can't guess you're not. You're not
landing KD. You're landing Devin Booker. A year from now?

Speaker 4 (40:11):
No, I mean you're you sell the team if this
is how you're going to operate the Rockets.

Speaker 3 (40:17):
No, the Suns, well, the Sons are already in a
mess anyways.

Speaker 4 (40:20):
The thing we're gonna trade them now, you're gonna hold
on to Booker to realize you're not good. Oh I
thought they're gonna be good. They're already doing that.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
That that's right.

Speaker 4 (40:30):
So they're not going to turn around and say, well,
we made a mistake by keeping him. They're making They've
already decided to make the mistake. They're locked in on that. Yeah,
that's not going to change.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
Well if now.

Speaker 4 (40:38):
Unless Devon goes to them and says, I'm not staying here.
But the whole reason he's staying there is because he's
told them I want to be here.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
Yeah, But the way things are going for Phoenix right now,
I don't think they're going to be I don't think
you have a better record than they did.

Speaker 4 (40:51):
No, I don't either. But they're they're they they're keeping
Devin Booker because they believe they can build around Devin
Booker and they're not going to learn that they can't
this offseason with whatever trade they make.

Speaker 3 (41:00):
I don't believe they're gonna lose. They're gonna learn that
all of next season.

Speaker 4 (41:03):
They're not gonna learn it period. There there might Yeah,
maybe my opinion is that's Kevin Kevin Durant being moved.
Bradley Bealle being moved, every other player on the roster
being moved, Devin Bookers not being moved. If they don't
move him now, it makes He's He could net you
so much more than Kevin Durant if you moved him
right now.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
That's true, but they wouldn't be the first team to
do something stupid.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
We'll take a break. The a team on Sports Talk
seven ninety two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam Talking
your Team.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the eight team.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
It's a Friday edition of the show Sports Talk seven
ninety Space City Home Network. As the simulcast has begun,
He's wex I'm Cole Thompson is our producer. We're taking
you until six o'clock tonight. Astro's taking one on the chin.
In the first and the finale of a four game
set out in West Sacramento against the Athletics, who are

(42:12):
no longer from Oakland, but their crowds still chance for them.
Did you notice that during the series.

Speaker 4 (42:17):
They were loud and annoying.

Speaker 9 (42:18):
I did.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
I heard it, but specifically let's go Oakland. I heard
that a number of times throughout the four games.

Speaker 4 (42:24):
I didn't watch it closely enough.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
I guess dumbs anyway, Yeah, walk off fashion. Last night.
The Astros lose on a night where the Seattle Mariners
were idle. They are currently trailing the Cubs in Chicago
right now. They are Oh no, when did that happen? Seriously,
I just looked at the score. It was four to two.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
Garver tried entered them with a two run homer.

Speaker 3 (42:47):
I don't like Mitch Garver. You know why. He's a
former ranger. Yeah and twin Yeah, I know. I just
don't like him. He does things like that.

Speaker 4 (42:55):
Yeah. Again, I think it's a little bit unnecessary, but
I'll go along with it. Scoreboard, watch here the Mariners
and Cubs tied it for top six.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
From Rickley, I want to put distance between the Astros
and anybody behind them.

Speaker 4 (43:07):
I'm not trying to compete with them. I don't thank
you the Yankees and Tigers.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
Oh, you've got bigger fish to fry, exactly. But you're
the guy that always says whin your division first? You're
that guy?

Speaker 4 (43:20):
And was it last week or the week before?

Speaker 3 (43:21):
What I said?

Speaker 4 (43:22):
They've already done that. I can't remember which day I
said it.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
You can exactly. It still has to happen.

Speaker 4 (43:28):
Yeah, it has happened. Wow, You're like, I'm just saying
it again. I've already said this.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
What was the year? It was two years ago? I
think that Matt Thomas said the Astros have won the
division and it was like early it was. I think
it was this month, like.

Speaker 4 (43:39):
A rash of new injuries would have to hit the Astros.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
See that's what you've that's your number one selling point
on your take on this, because they can't get much
less healthy than they are right now.

Speaker 4 (43:52):
Well, not only that they can't get much less out
of their first baseman, they can't get much less out
of several other spots. Their second base position. They've not
gotten nothing of from your on Alvarez lately. They can't.
He's not going to produce less than what he produced
in just one hundred at bat He's gonna he's gonna hit.
He's gonna step to the plate for one hundred at
bats in the first eighty one games of the Astros season.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
That's it.

Speaker 4 (44:15):
That's gonna be his whole half season for this team.
And during those hundred at bats he got twenty one hits.
That's awful. He's not gonna give them less unless he
doesn't play.

Speaker 3 (44:25):
Well this time. He won't have a broken hand. He's
got that going for him.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
Yeah, he's not. There's no new timetable on that. The
healing process has not become complete, so picking up a
bat so you can swing it has not happened. So
he's his return is not imminent by any means. This
is still an extended period of time and a lot
more games that he will miss. It's really not any
different for any of their injured players other than Chas McCormick.
He's the only one really doing things that will get

(44:49):
him back on the field, doing all of his baseball activities,
but nothing yet for Zach Decenzo in terms of picking
up a bat and hitting. There has not been a
live BP simulated game, a rehab date for Spencer Araghetti yet.
Now the extended injured pitchers Luis Garcia, JP France, Christian Javier,
they've actually made progress in the throwing a session, whether

(45:12):
it's a side session or a live VP. Those things
have happened, and second and third instances of those things
have happened, So they're actually making progress without setbacks that
we know of. As of this point in time, which
means at some point maybe over the next six weeks,
you either see a return and presumably you see a
return for ARAGEDTTY in the six week period, but over

(45:33):
that same time period we probably have a better handle
on a date for a return, as in a real,
true rehab assignment might actually have gotten under way for
one of those other three pitchers. And that they've advanced
past live vps, they've had simulated games, they've done the
things on the side, they haven't had any setbacks. They
feel like they're ready to now ramp up, and that's
what all for those pitchers still have to do, So

(45:54):
nothing much is going to change from a roster standpoint
for still quite some time. And the unfortunate waste of
time that was Sacramento. They lost on two walkoffs. They're
not playing bad baseball. They didn't run into a spell
where they're starting pitching fell apart. It to the opposite.
They got four starts from four randoms or three randoms

(46:16):
and fromber and they had a chance to win all
four games. And that has been the case against every competition,
not just the bad Oakland A's. It's been the case
for the entire season, they still have the best pitching
staff in baseball this month, on the heels of pitching
in Sacramento, on the heels of allowing home runs on
the last swing of the game from both Brian Abreu
and Josh Hater, I just can't. I'm not forecasting a

(46:40):
bunch of injuries, so I'm not envisioning much of a scenario.
The only way the Astros aren't gonna win the division
is if they don't beat these teams. They have to
lose lots of games to the Angels, they have to
lose lots of games to the Mariners, they have to
lose lots of games to the Rangers. That's the only
way those teams can kind of control their path to
getting passed them. They have to be the teams beating them.

(47:02):
And I don't really see why that would happen.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
Yeah, no, I don't. I don't either.

Speaker 9 (47:06):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
I don't happen to disagree with the fact that they've
probably won the division. But I just go ahead and
have them sew it up as soon as possible.

Speaker 4 (47:16):
Much probably won't sew it up till if you have
a seven, eight, nine game lead, you're still into the
final ten games of the season before you've.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
No, you're not unless you're the Mets.

Speaker 4 (47:30):
And there's ten games to play, and.

Speaker 3 (47:31):
Nobody does that except for the Mets. They don't lose
the you're talking the beginning of September. Essentially, you're you've
got it.

Speaker 4 (47:38):
I mean, I just takes sewn up to me clinched.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
Yeah, but sewing up is not clinched. Is clinched. That's
a difference, all right. There is a number of things
we have not gotten to in the first hour. We've
talked a lot about, you know, whether the Rockets, Well,
here's what it comes down to. The Rockets aren't in
any way, shape or form any sort of hurry to
do a Kevin Durant deal. And I love this. The

(48:04):
more that time goes by, the more I'm like, eh,
just stay put. If this were Yannis, it's a completely
different conversation because not only are you having to break
up a lot of that core because you're gonna have
to send out some good stuff, but it's just the
return is just so franchise altering.

Speaker 4 (48:22):
Two rewinds for the people here on that topic, a
rewind from earlier this week and a rewind from earlier today,
we're talking about Jabari Smith Junior being a part of
the Kevin Durant trade, and you're pushing back on it.
I just, you know, I don't know that I want
to give him up for Kevin Durant. And earlier this week,
when we were talking about a much much larger package,
including a lot of picks and a lot of core players,

(48:42):
young core players to get Janisanatakoupo, your response to that was,
but you're getting Yannis. But Yannis is a rocket, and
so I'm gonna put those two together. So you're a
little reluctant to give up Jabari Smith Junior as kind
of the big piece of the Kevin Durant deal. But
you're getting Kevin Durant for Jabari Smith Junior.

Speaker 3 (49:05):
You're getting Are you worried about.

Speaker 4 (49:06):
Twenty twenty eight, twenty nine thirty when Kevin Durant's retired
and Jabari Smith Junior is a firm, important starting piece
of a very good team, which he almost assuredly will be.
But you have Kevin Durant.

Speaker 3 (49:20):
Yeah, But I'll answer your question with another question, wouldn't
you rather in twenty twenty eight you have Giannis who's
still only thirty three or thirty.

Speaker 4 (49:28):
Four separate conversations only brought up to so I can well,
Jabari's going out in both deals. So again, forget about
Yiannis for the next three minutes and forty seconds. I
can't no, I need you Tory, focusing on this deal.
You're saying no to Kevin Durant because you have to
give up Jabari Smith Junior.

Speaker 3 (49:47):
Why you're giving up Jabari Smith Junior and a deal
that also includes Jalen Green. Well, that's different because Jabbari Yeah,
but it's that's the deal.

Speaker 4 (49:55):
But that's not the conversation we've been having. You've been
reluctant to part ways with your Smith Junior, and these
are your words.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
Well, because because if you're dealing for Kevin Durant and
the centerpiece going out is Jalen Green, then throw the
picks in and call it a deal. Don't include Jabari
Smith too, That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (50:12):
Well, I think the they can make this deal without
Jalen Green quite obviously. I think that's to me, it
is that they're fine with well, Okay, we don't need Jalen.
We don't want to have to be figuring out where
to send him next because we don't want him here
because he doesn't fit here. It's not keep in mind
both of all the conversations we've had about Jalen Green
and Phoenix not wanting him. I just said that, and

(50:33):
Jabari Smith Junior, how could you not want to give
him up for Kevin Durant or anything else it said.
It doesn't have anything to do with what I think
of them and their futures. Both bright, both worth keeping,
Both will be part of a winning Rockets team. If
they don't make a deal, the Rockets an't going to
be worse next year. The Rockets are not going to
be worse next year. Under every scenario, The Rockets chances

(50:55):
of winning the title will not be less next year
than it was this year because of their own team.
I'll at least afford you. If some star ended up
on a different Western Conference team like Minnesota or somebody
else that was close enough to you in competition, maybe
your chances of winning the West were lowered because other
teams got better. It's not gonna be because the Rockets

(51:16):
got worse, not because they're less competitive. They don't know
how to win, They aren't capable of stepping up their
game in the postseason, or they're leaning on the same
guys they leaned on this year, because they quite honestly
will be If they don't make a deal, they're gonna
be asking Omen Thompson to matter more to winning a
playoff series next year than they did this year. And
insert different Rockets name and its exact same statement. Alpi

(51:37):
will be better and has to be. Jalen needs to
be better and has to be Jabari Tari can't name them.
They're going to be better if they just hang up
the phone, pull it out of the wall, and throw
away all their sellies and don't have a burner, they
will be fine.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
So they're gonna win fifty three.

Speaker 4 (51:52):
Games, doesn't mean that they didn't miss out on an
opportunity to be better than fine. Yea to cement their
chances to give themselves a little leeway on a night
where these three guys aren't hitting, because you know how
few of those nights are for Kevin Durant. You know
how many bad nights of offensive basketball he has and
I do mean in the postseason, not many many. Maybe

(52:13):
there's more as his career has advanced. He obviously didn't
have any bad playoff games this year for a very
very bad reason his team didn't make the playoffs. But
I'm just not I can live with what these players
become elsewhere if it's not a lot of them that
have to go out. And we keep talking about the
price going down, the price being what the Rockets dictate.

(52:35):
If the Rockets feel like trading both of those, two
of their top six players plus more to get Kevin Durant. Yeah,
it's a different conversation, for sure. We're definitely cognizant of
that and hesitant to rubber stamp it immediately to send
out what might still make you better. I think we
know what makes the Astros better on any given night
when you give the ball to the Diesel. Talk about

(52:57):
that coming up on the A.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
Team the Age on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
Just for public consumption before we get to our draft.

Speaker 4 (53:19):
Today's Friday eighteen draft. This category popular television shows where
the main character.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
Was the worst.

Speaker 4 (53:27):
And I will add to this as you ask your question.
There are some shows where you could argue who the
main character is because it's an ensemble cast, correct, So
there's some leeway presented for a choice should you make
one from a show like that.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
For the purpose of clarity, it's not this is a
bad person who the character is bad? Like, you know,
that's the gist of the show. This is you can't
stand that persona when you watch that show, and that
you can't believe that's the main character.

Speaker 4 (53:54):
Right, Well, it's a super popular show and one of
the people you're supposed to watch you don't.

Speaker 3 (53:58):
Like, Okay, just making sure I had it.

Speaker 4 (54:01):
I don't even know I've heard you. You asked me that
off the air. Now you've asked me that on the air,
and I'm curious who that is that you're describing because
I can't well, like you can't think of about how
you're saying it. What show would this be? What character
is there's a couple out there for me. Well, but
if you were like a bad person, yeah, like like.

Speaker 3 (54:16):
Tony Soprano is a bad person, but.

Speaker 4 (54:18):
You know, but his character is awesome. Yeah, So it
has nothing to do with what you're suggesting at all
in any way.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
I'm making sure.

Speaker 4 (54:24):
Yeah, like a villain on a show, they're they're a
horrible person, but it's hilarious, like he and I might
allow leeway on some of the other characters, but I
don't know why you would dislike them. How could something
that they're not bad, they don't suck, They're not a
terrible main character. Yeah, a terrible person doesn't doesn't really
fit the what we're talking about. It's more like, how

(54:47):
is this show so popular when this is what is
out front on this show? When that character sucks.

Speaker 8 (54:53):
A see they start talking and you scream at your television,
please shut up, get off my screen.

Speaker 4 (54:58):
Okay, yeah, I'm gonna I guess we'll make nine selections nobody,
because Tony would be the only one you should suggest.
But like I said, there's a lot of quote unquote
main characters on a show like that. To some extent,
you're not. Nobody's drafting anybody from Sopranos.

Speaker 3 (55:13):
No, because it's one of the greatest shows ever.

Speaker 4 (55:15):
Now I will say you could. I just thought anticipating
it because I think Tony on that show is such
a main character. Judges might not even accept a Ralphie
or an aj by the way, because he would absolutely
fit he sucked. But I think Tony's sister would fit

(55:37):
even better. Yeah, but is she really a main character?
That's why I think that show is not in the
well you could take any You know, all these these
shows where I like Seinfeld has four main characters, you
could take any one of them, Friends and How I
Met your Mother and so many of them. They have many, many,
quote unquote main characters. So you could draft anyone. At
least I would be okay with that. Yeah, you could

(55:57):
draft anybody from that show. But if you're telling me,
when that person is on, you turn it off.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
Who is it?

Speaker 4 (56:03):
I mean, I guess I would guess there's maybe one,
but she's so far down the list of what I
would consider a main character. I wouldn't allow it. The
judges would say, no, she's not a person that I'm
thinking of. It is a key. Yeah, so among the keys,
there's there's three. You could guess. None of the others
would be acceptable. You can't take Andy, you can't take Stanley,
you can't take Creed, you can't take Ryan the intern.

(56:24):
So you just said I can't take Andy. Not quite.
He's close because he did run the offense.

Speaker 3 (56:29):
Why yeah, but not until later he.

Speaker 4 (56:32):
Became a main character because the better main characters had left.

Speaker 8 (56:36):
Okay, Okay, see that's a very good way. So I
would have to if I took it. I would have
to take Steve Carl you have to.

Speaker 4 (56:42):
Take Jim or the host of the Dundees, or.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
Or Dwight.

Speaker 4 (56:50):
Yeah, the best character on the show. So I don't
think anyone's taking any of those. But it's up for
the next hour and ten minutes. If you guys want
to assist with any of our selections, feel free to
let us know who that might be. Hit us up
on the socials, find a line to the show, and
we'll take all information under account.

Speaker 3 (57:05):
All right, let's talk about the fact that tonight, I
feel very good Astro's going into Anaheim. I'm sure it's
gonna be hot there too, like it was in Sacramento.
But I just you know, last night, I don't feel
like the Astros lost because their starting pitching was just subpar.

(57:27):
Far from it.

Speaker 4 (57:28):
It was exceptionally Colton Gordon esque.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
Yeah, and that's you know what you should be able
to win with that, especially against a team like the
non Oakland A's. For all the fans there in West
Sacramento who don't know who they're rooting for, they're gonna.

Speaker 4 (57:44):
Win seventy games this year. I mean, they're gonna they're
gonna beat teams just not a lot.

Speaker 3 (57:49):
Astro should have won three out of four.

Speaker 4 (57:51):
Definitely, try just split the walkoff games. Split the games
that were tied in the ninth and tenth.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
In at least this time. Four as mad about the
gift Runner because everybody was coming home on that swing.

Speaker 4 (58:02):
Well, the gift Runner, it only mattered, and that you
put yourself in a bad position. I don't know how
many people even thought to debate it. But after the
runner got to third, after there's one out, and after
Nick Kurtz is the hitter at the plate, I mean,
do you look more at who's coming up next. They've
already changed catchers, so that's two men away. You've got

(58:23):
Urius next after that. I'm not saying you're afraid of Kurtz,
not at all, But is there some sense to make
even though it's left on left, even though he's never
seen Hayter before, even though Hater is phenomenal, is there
some sense into well, the other two hitters are so
bad even left on right, and even though all they
need to do is punch one to the outfield, slap

(58:45):
one between our infielders, you're not likely to drop back
your middle infielders because you put a runner on first
and play for the double play, because you have to
cut the run off at home no matter what. So
I'm not saying you're putting him on first to set
up the double play. I'm saying maybe you just feel
like these hitters that are in the lineup after Kurtz,
now with the changes that Katse has made, they're not

(59:07):
gonna get hits. I'm going to have Hater blow through
them and we'll go to the eleventh.

Speaker 3 (59:12):
Well, that's why I think it's still again more about
to do having to do with the Astros than giving
it's not giving the athletics credit, or specifically Kurtz, because
he's the guy that did it not once but twice.
He took your two best relievers out of the yard
to win ball games. But both of those relievers, in
my opinion, did not have their best stuff on the

(59:34):
nights in which it happened. Bray, you did not look
comfortable from the very start in the opener. In my opinion, Man,
I don't think Hater he didn't look uncomfortable, but he
just he wasn't his dominant self. I didn't think last
night I could see why it happened, and once the
runner got to third base with nobody out, I was like, well,
this game's over, it's just a matter of win.

Speaker 4 (59:51):
Yeah, I don't know. I mean again, that's why one
of the biggest reasons why I love this format and
love this show. I thought Brian Obray was exactly the
same as he's been all year. He doesn't throw it
off strikes. He puts himself in this awful, awful position
on all the time, and then he does the second
part of what he did the other night. He got
out of it. Last night was even worse than when
he gave up the walk off. They were in dire

(01:00:12):
straits in a tie game, and he put runners on
first and third with nobody out, and then and then
he got himself out of it. Because that's what he's
been doing. He should say that in game one, you'd
like to think so. And then, in Hater's case, the
wild pitch obviously is a little bit out of the ordinary.
There's not a whole lot Kartini could have done with that,
and so you put the runner over it at third,
and then I would just say I don't really care

(01:00:33):
what Hater looked like when he enters an inning with
a runner already on base.

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
Well, even if Karattini was at fault there, I wouldn't
have been mad at him because he tied the game up.

Speaker 4 (01:00:41):
Yeah, it's it's just a different You pitch differently because
you're not entering a clean inning. I mean, you come
off the bench and you're not relieving a guy. You're
not running in from the bullpen mound. Sure, but you
don't come in in a clean situation where you could
lose if your line is ground out, ground out. You
could lose if your line is ground out, flyout because

(01:01:01):
the runner on second advanced ninety feet on both plays.
You could do your job and get the hitters out,
but you have to get them out in a very
specific way because there's already a runner in scoring position
before you've even thrown a pitch in that inning. Hunter
Brown has been phenomenal. Hunter Brown the last better part
of the last two years, has been outstanding. One of
his starts last year in June and one of his

(01:01:24):
appearances in May came after he became the Diesel became
Hunter Brown, the Hunter Brown that is probably the best
pitcher in the American League from that time. Throwing from
the right side. Both of those appearances against the Angels,
one here in Houston and one there in Anaheim were awesome.
Twelve innings allowed, only two runs, allowed only four hits

(01:01:45):
in those two appearances against them. No reason to think
about more of that coming. Angels do hit quite a
bit of Homer's. They're still a pretty young team. Mike
Trout will be in the lineup. That's probably also worth
mentioning regarding the A's. The first time the A's and
Astros got together, Nick Kurtz was not available, and this
time he was, and you can see that he makes
a pretty big difference. Mike Trout has missed a bunch
of time this season. He's also if you haven't been

(01:02:07):
paying attention and you weren't even phased by the fact
that he was nowhere near the top of the vote
getters in the outfield this year when the All Star
returns came out, He's played in forty eight games. He
just went over two hundred plate appearances on the season.
Talking about Trout, he's hitting two thirty six is ops.
While not embarrassingly bad, it's seven eighty nine. There's plenty

(01:02:29):
of players on this team that would kill for seven
eighty nine. It's still the worst of his career by
a ton, and he's played a third of a season
now with two hundred plate appearances. I imagine things might
get better, but maybe at age thirty three they won't.

Speaker 3 (01:02:45):
Well, I mean, if there is ever a time for
that decline to start for a guy that has been
injured as much as he has, I think that's the
caveat because any other time, going into this last stretch
of his career, where you'd be like, Mike Trout's gonna
start a decline at age thirty three, he'd be like,
are you crazy? He's the great, He's the best player
in baseball. And then he started getting hurt every year thereafter.

Speaker 4 (01:03:09):
Yeah, five straight years of significant injuries. This will make
it or five straight years following the COVID season. This
is year five. The first two of those years, he's
still produced well over thousand ops despite missing a ton
of time. He was still a very good hitter. He
just couldn't stay on the field. The last two years
he became a pretty good hitter, but not great, and

(01:03:30):
he also missed even more time. And this year he's
just a slightly below good player. You put everybody in
the lineup has a seven eighty nine. Ops, you're gonna
win a ton of games, and that's where he is.
So it's not like he's awful. He's only not the
Mike trout that everyone is used to. Three point thirty
hits us. Next, we revisit the Kevin Durant topic by
taking a trip to Phoenix. Gerald Borgay from Phoenix joins

(01:03:54):
us to talk Katie.

Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
Next, the A teen on Sports Talks ninety.

Speaker 4 (01:04:10):
Back here on the A Team halfway through our number two,
so that means three point thirty here Central time. We
take it out West. Adam Wesler and Adam Clinton here
with you on the A Team talk a little for
the first time all day.

Speaker 9 (01:04:22):
Haha.

Speaker 3 (01:04:22):
Kevin Durant and.

Speaker 4 (01:04:23):
The possibilities of him landing here in Houston, the lead
sons writer for Phoenix Sports at Phoenix Underscore Sports, same
thing for the podcast that he co hosts, Gerald Borgay
joining us here on the A Team in Houston. Jerald,
I spent a little time with some people in Phoenix
over the last two weeks and conversations about these possibilities
from a media standpoint, and I think we're all kind

(01:04:44):
of circling the wagons on what possibly tips the scale
one way or the other. But being there in Phoenix,
since we had a discussion about it earlier, what were
the vibes of Kevin Durant, the player leader of the Suns,
during the time that he's been there all through this
obviously not very fun time of not winning a lot
of basketball games.

Speaker 9 (01:05:03):
Yeah, I mean, it's tough to explain because on the
one hand, individually as a player, he is still an
All NBA caliber player. You know, the only reason he
wasn't an All NBA selection this year was because he
didn't meet the threshold for games the season before. He
played in seventy five and he was one of the
top ten players in the league still and defensively he's
been their best player over the last two years in

(01:05:25):
addition to being you know, one a on the offensive
end efficient as ever, handle is great and still get
to his spots like he's he's still Kevin Durant. But
at the same time, you look at the results for
the Suns over these last two years, not a single
playoff win. They missed the playoffs the play in entirely
this year, so it's kind of hard to figure out

(01:05:47):
his value on top of the fact that he's turning
thirty seven in a few months. So I understand why teams,
especially the teams that can trade for Kevin Durant that
are maybe a little bit younger, have been hesitant to
put their best offers forward because trading for a player
like Kevin Durant, obviously he can help you win, especially
if you have the infrastructure to make that trade and
not be crippled by what you have left. But it's

(01:06:11):
it's hard to put your best foot forward when you
could just stay patient and run it back with your
young guys and see if they take the next step
next year.

Speaker 3 (01:06:19):
I think the most fascinating part of this whole scenario
between you know, Houston and Phoenix and all that, is
what I want to ask you next. It's not necessarily
questions I have about Kevin Durant or the fact that
he's thirty seven or any of that. What is Phoenix
right now? What is their front office? You know, they've
the head coaches knew, there's been all sorts of turnover,

(01:06:40):
and then Devin Booker's in the middle of all this
just kind of give us an idea of what it's
like behind the scenes for the Suns. Organization right now
while they at the same time happen to be going
through making this kind of pivotal decision.

Speaker 9 (01:06:55):
Yeah, this is very much a time of change. Obviously,
the new GM, the new head coach, Matt Ashbia is
still here and he's still very active. And I reported
on this a few weeks ago. There was a letter
that he sent internally to Suns basketball ops saying that
he was going to be more involved instead of you know,
he said he tried to do things the conventional way

(01:07:16):
by hiring a championship caliber head coach, maybe not necessarily
someone that he personally wanted. And he said he's going
to be extremely active and involved. He's gonna, you know,
be in alignment with his GM Brian Gregory. That was
the buzzword of Gregory's intro presser. And Gregory obviously has
ties to Ishbia as an assistant coach at Michigan State.

(01:07:38):
So there is a lot of concern that this was
kind of, you know, an epicism higher or getting a
guy in the door who would be a yes man
for Ishbia. And we're gonna have to see how Gregory
does on the job because he's only got one or
two years of front office experience. Most of his time
around basketball has been as a head coach and not
a front office exec, so there's a lot of change

(01:07:58):
going on. Devin Booker is on board. He was on
board with the hiring, He was part of the interview
process there, and it was kind of the guy that
he signed off on. So he's very much involved in
the personnel decisions that are going to be made moving forward.
But at the same time, it's going to be interesting
to see, Okay, you have a new head coach who
has a say, you have a GM who has to say,
you have an owner who's very active and involved. What

(01:08:20):
happens when you guys aren't aligned, to use that buzzword,
what happens when you have differing opinions on certain prospects
or players or trades. So it's very much up in
the air in terms of what to expect from this
front office moving forward, because it's been pretty revamped compared
to even just a few months ago.

Speaker 4 (01:08:38):
Gerald Borgae of Phoenix Sports joining us here on the
A team on Sports Talk seven ninety Ishbia has said,
you know, and I believe it's been reported from other
parts of the organization that they need to do what's
best for the organization while we continue to understand their
quote unquote working with Rich Kleimban and Kevin uran on
trying to find a home. But there's two different avenues

(01:08:59):
to take in the return. The discussions, it appear about
a return from say Minnesota, would be more about landing
players that will turn the current Phoenix team into a
much more competitive one, say a Rudy Gobert and or
Julius Randall versus San Antonio or Houston trade, which brings
in more young assets and potentially draft assets. Where do
you think this really sits inside the building with what

(01:09:21):
they actually want.

Speaker 9 (01:09:24):
Yeah, I think they know that they're not going to
like last year. They entered the season with you know,
title or bust expectations, and obviously that was a bust.
I think expectations heading into this season are going to
be more tempered. They know that with Kevin Durant trade,
they're going to be taking a step backward so that
they can take steps forward in the future. And they're
kind of backed into this position by a you know,

(01:09:46):
dangling Kevin Durant at the trade deadline and be not
being able to get out of Bradley Bill's contract. Something's
got to give, and it's Kevin Durant. So I think
expectations are going to be a lot lower than last year.
But I do think that they're probably not wanting to
surrender Kevin Durant for some package of just young players

(01:10:06):
and you know, a bunch of draft picks. Like they
value their pick from Houston, that number ten pick this
year because it's a top ten pick. I think they
value that pick a lot more than the other two
first rounders that Houston owns from Phoenix because in their mind,
you know, they think we're going to be competitive by then.
Those picks aren't going to have as much value by
twenty twenty seven and twenty twenty nine. So I think,

(01:10:30):
you know, if you're trading Kevin Durant, you probably want
some combination of starting caliber players, maybe a young prospect
that can develop into something, and a draft pick or two.
That would be the ideal return. But we know that
the Suns may not have all that leverage right now,
and we know that deals with Houston San Antonio, which
are two of the three places that Kevin Durant wants
to go. You know, the return would primarily revolve around

(01:10:53):
young players, although in Houston's case, I think the young
players are a little bit more established, and so I
think that would appeal to the Suns. It kind of
feels like each deal that they've been talking about, there's
like one or two pieces that they are waiting for
the other team to relent and give up in order
for that deal to go through, and the other teams,
understandably are maybe not ready to offer that.

Speaker 3 (01:11:14):
Up yet just yet. Are you somewhat surprised that Devin
Booker wants to stay put, especially in light of what
you said about you know, they're gonna they're probably not
gonna be as good next year, and it's gonna be
a little bit of a building process. I mean, there
was this This was a guy who went to the
NBA Finals led the Suns there a few years back.
Are you surprised he's not kind of more of today's

(01:11:37):
NBA player where he kind of wants to get out
the door as well and doesn't want to stay around
for the dirty work.

Speaker 9 (01:11:43):
I think at some point something has to give on
that front, But as of right now, I'm not surprised.
I think he's been given kind of the keys to
the kingdom here. In Phoenix. He is beloved throughout Arizona.
He's kind of the face of Arizona sports out here,
and he knows that like team with the right pieces
around him can't compete. He was the best player on

(01:12:03):
a team that went to the finals. He was the
best player on a sixty four win team that's got
a franchise record for most wins in franchise history. So
he knows that it can happen here. And I think
his thing all along is, you know, he's looked up
to guys like Kobe and Dirk and Tim Duncan who
stayed their entire careers in one place. I think he

(01:12:24):
told ESPN a few months back, you know, the grass
isn't always greener somewhere else. I think he probably looks
at a guy like Damian Lillard that he's friendly with
and sees how that has developed since Dame left Portland
and understands that. You know, he wants to win a
championship here. He wants to bring the super team to him,
as he said, and he has. He's brought Chris Paul here,
He's brought Kevin Durant here, He's brought Bradley Deal here.

(01:12:47):
It hasn't worked out, But I don't think that means
he's ready to move on just yet. I think a
few more failed Sons experiments and you know, he's thirty
thirty one and looking around and realizing, Okay, maybe I'm
not going to win one here. Then maybe that changes.
But you know, he's due for a contract extension this summer.
He had input on the head coaching search. He's going
to have input on personnel decisions most likely moving forward.

(01:13:09):
So I think he understands that he's got a good
situation here and in his mind, if he can bring
a championship to Phoenix, he'll kind of be immortalized as
the greatest player for one of thirty NBA teams. I
think that means a lot to him.

Speaker 4 (01:13:22):
Well, certainly appreciate the inside.

Speaker 3 (01:13:23):
Gerald.

Speaker 4 (01:13:24):
Somewhere down the line, we'll catch back up with you
and see who you think won the multiple locker room
fights that the Sons had this past year per Booge Cousins,
and we'll get the lowdown on that. But definitely appreciate
you joining us this afternoon and looking forward to a
resolution to where's Kevin durantling basketball roalk?

Speaker 3 (01:13:40):
Quick before we do let you go five seconds or last,
Where do you think he ends up?

Speaker 9 (01:13:46):
I think Houston. I think he does end up Houston.
I think they wind up giving up one of the
pieces that the Suns want and and that number ten
pick and I think it goes to the rockets. That
connection with Imo Udoka and Royal Ivy does matter.

Speaker 3 (01:13:58):
Interesting stuff. We appreciate that, ye.

Speaker 9 (01:14:00):
Man, Yeah, absolutely, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 3 (01:14:03):
All right, we will continue to talk about that and
many other things as we wind down the three o'clock hour.
I know this is a recurring theme on the show,
but we got to get to it. Bad umpiring, bad
officiating in general. There's another example next.

Speaker 1 (01:14:19):
The a on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (01:14:27):
Right there at the end, he says that Kevin Durant's
gonna wind up a rocket. That was interesting because I think,
listening to Gerald say what he said, I think he
actually believes that. Man. I don't know, I just I
don't know why I have this feeling it's not gonna happen.

(01:14:48):
I do think he's obviously getting dealt. I just don't
think it's gonna be to Houston. And I don't know
where I want him to be dealt. Like if he's
not going to go to the Rockets. Do you have
a preference on where he lands.

Speaker 4 (01:14:59):
Because two of these play Minnesota.

Speaker 3 (01:15:01):
Well, I was about to say to these teams are
Western Conference.

Speaker 4 (01:15:05):
He goes to San Antonio. I mean, that's not ideal,
but it doesn't bother me at all because I just
I just don't think that the San Antonio Spurs are
putting together a team just yet. That's a factor in
the West at the top end, and that's where the
Rockets are. They're significantly better. They're probably, like I said
a couple of days ago, there's no I would assume

(01:15:26):
they can rise above you know, thirteenth, twelfth, eleventh, then
at least get in the play in tournament. But it
still takes a pretty significant improvement. If they win ten
more games next year, they would be ninth. Forty six wins,
was that's where you would be, And they won thirty
six games last year. Clearly they haven't yet had a
full healthy season with Victor, and that's always permanently a concern,

(01:15:48):
just like it is with chet Holmgren, for what they've
both been unable to do health wise early in their
respective careers. So that would be something that I would
always be concerned about. I do think there's a ton
of development left in Castle's game. Just an awful, awfully
inefficient offensive player so you can't shoot, But that all
can come very quickly with whatever work he puts in

(01:16:09):
this offseason. He's no longer a rookie. His whole offseason
is spent getting better at basketball versus a whole off
season of trying to do well at a combine. Duell
at interviews look good doing this. I mean, it's just
very very different year one to year two. And then
there's somewhat of a wild card in dearon Fox's role
with that team. But a Fox Wemby, Castle Durant team,

(01:16:31):
especially with Durant still playing at a pretty high level defensively,
Wemby helps make you a pretty good defensive team most games.
That's a much much better team. But Minnesota's already better
than you. If they land Kevin Durant, they definitely, to me,
remain better than you.

Speaker 3 (01:16:47):
Even though it's probably going to cost them more because
they don't have the draft capitalist sendback.

Speaker 4 (01:16:52):
It's going to change who they are for sure. If
they trade Rudy, it changes who they are straight out,
and if they trade Julius Randall. I mean, to go
from cat to Randall to Durant. That's very, very different
basketball Randal though, further the postseason went, he actually played
more like Durant. He was getting further away from the basket.
He was taking and making a bunch of threes. But

(01:17:15):
they're very different basketball players. I mean, he's like, he
does have the ability to stretch the four as a four,
but he also he's a four. He defends the four.
He's a bigger player. He bangs people around, he pushes
people around if he wants to. Katie is a three
who plays four in certain lineups, a little bit like
Jabari Smith Junior. So yeah, I guess there's an element
of it could make Minnesota worse. But every night they play,

(01:17:37):
if they're healthy, two players on their team are Anthony
Edwards and Kevin Durant, and you don't have them and
they do.

Speaker 3 (01:17:44):
That's tough. That's tough. It's also tough when you appear
to have an immaculate inning and then it gets taken
away from you because Major League Baseball umpires continue to
be absolutely awful. And far be it from me to
feel sorry for the Los Angeles Dodgers. But that's exactly
what happened here last night. Here's the O two here

(01:18:06):
it is. Oh, No, Marvin Hudson cost him an immaculate INNY.

Speaker 4 (01:18:14):
I mean that was borderline middle.

Speaker 3 (01:18:15):
Middle Yoshinobu Yamamoto was one pitch away from it. He
ended up losing and giving up two more runs and
a whole bunch of things went wrong after that.

Speaker 4 (01:18:29):
But not because of that. No, he struck the batter out. Yeah,
two pitches later, Yes, But I just want to make
people understand it didn't extend the inning and do this,
that and the other to where he fell apart or anything.
He was denied an immaculate inning. I wonder if you ask,
I believe it's Joe and Eric that were in the
booth for the Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (01:18:48):
Yeah, Joe Davis and Eric Harross.

Speaker 4 (01:18:50):
I believe if you ask them just a guess, do
you remember the two Astros pictures that had the immaculate
inning very very recently. I don't think they would.

Speaker 3 (01:18:57):
Know this is They wouldn't know that it was film
aytonist Garcia, right, just.

Speaker 4 (01:19:02):
Like the rest of us would know that it was
Yamamoto in two years, Like I know, it's neat, and
this statistical oddity that does not happen very frequently, very infrequently,
was taken away from him. Well, let's focus on what
actually happened.

Speaker 3 (01:19:17):
This is one.

Speaker 4 (01:19:18):
This isn't a well, you're giving him too much of
the plate. I can't believe you've gone that far off.
And this might even fit in the Major League Baseball
grading scale where it was four inches off the plate,
but it still landed inside the box. Where we don't
even knock our umpires for the quote unquote missed call,
where that one wasn't a strike and you called it
a strike. This is the opposite. It wasn't close, it

(01:19:40):
wasn't close to the being too high, it wasn't close
to being too wide, it wasn't wasn't to the dirt middle.
It's a pitch that I'm trying to use the word
literally less, so I won't say it here. It's a
pitsh that should be missed zero percent of the time
by one hundred percent of the umpires the that come

(01:20:00):
up for a weekend series as a replacement. Minor league
umpires should miss that call zero times in their major
league career. And it's not a coincidence, as you heard
them say.

Speaker 3 (01:20:11):
Come on, Marvin.

Speaker 4 (01:20:14):
Marvin is routinely graded as one of the worst behind
the plate umpires in baseball. This year is no different.
He's in the bottom ten again and will continue every
fourth day to get assignments behind the plate. I mean
the real punishment. And we're only a day removed from

(01:20:34):
an umpire missing a call at first base. The ball
was four to five feet from the first baseman's glove
when the raised runner hit the bag, but they were
out of challenges, so the call couldn't even be challenged,
and none of the other umpires came in to say
you screwed up, and we all saw it, so the
call stood. My point is the vast majority of our

(01:20:56):
complaints are behind the plate, so the ones that are
graded out there work. Take the ten worst umpires, the fifteen,
twenty worst umpires every year of the eighty nine or
ninety that you have and say it's gotten so bad
that this year your rotation is we were not even
going to eliminate your trips behind the plate. We'll let
you improve, we'll let you try to be better, but

(01:21:17):
you're not getting there every fourth day or fifth there
or sixth there or whatever it is. If there's a
four game series and you're one of the four umpires
assigned to that series, well one of them is getting
two days behind the plate and you're getting none. Stop
sending him behind the plate as often allow them to
try to get better, if you believe that's even a possibility.
But Marvin Hudson's not in his first year or his
fifth year. I don't even think he's in his tenth year.

(01:21:40):
I think we're way beyond that. It's probably actually going
in the other direction and he's getting worse.

Speaker 3 (01:21:45):
Yeah, and this is why I'm still baffled when the
athletic can run a poll out there of actual active
MLB players and sixty percent of them say, yes, I
would like more of that crap.

Speaker 4 (01:21:57):
Yeah, you know, you throw two hundred or so pitches
in a game and five to ten of them stand
out right, the five to ten you can get.

Speaker 3 (01:22:06):
We wouldn't have the human element.

Speaker 4 (01:22:09):
Did you pay attention much ball strike? Last night? Astros's
so Cochin Gordon was beating the bottom portion of the
plate up all night long and never could understand what
the strike zone was. It wasn't his fault and it
was definitely the pitch to keep throwing. I'm glad Kroten
he Adham keep throwing it. When you see the breakdown
on the scorecard from upscore cards, there were six or seven,

(01:22:33):
maybe eight pitches. They're all on top of each other.
I can't even tell all in the same spot. One
hundred percent of them caught part of the zone and
all of them were called no, not all of them.
Some of them were called balls, and some of them
were called strikes. Very difficult for a pitcher to get
in tune with that day's umpires strike zone, which should

(01:22:54):
never be said because it shouldn't exist, and yet it does.
Just like the back half of the show, which is now.

Speaker 1 (01:23:00):
Next The A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety two
lifelong Houston sports guys named at him Talking Your Team.

Speaker 2 (01:23:15):
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the A Team eighty.

Speaker 3 (01:23:23):
It's a Friday edition of The A Team Sports Talk
seven ninety Space City Home Network. As we take you
up until six o'clock tonight four o'clock hour underway, wex
Ac and Cole Thompson with you on a day we
have discussed again a lot about the possibility of Kevin
Durant winding up in Houston or other places. We were
talking a little bit about that last segment, in addition

(01:23:45):
to well, egregiously bad Major League Baseball umpires which struck again,
costing an immaculate inning to be called. Speaking of which,
we've talked a little bit about the fact that the
NBA is going to see a Game seven in the
NBA Finals for the first time since twenty sixteen, when

(01:24:06):
Steph Curry and the Warriors blew a three to one
series lead, which was awesome all in Game seven. Yeah,
well they had a three to one lead and then
it was three to two, and then it was three
to three. Seven.

Speaker 4 (01:24:19):
It's played pretty well to win a Game seven, as
you suggested yesterday. If they went tonight, I think they're
going to win the series.

Speaker 3 (01:24:27):
Here's the thing.

Speaker 4 (01:24:28):
Most recently the Game six winners, obviously they were down
in the series. Yeah, thus the series continued went on
to win Game seven.

Speaker 8 (01:24:35):
Two.

Speaker 3 (01:24:35):
If you are the thunder or really anybody who is
playing in that scenario where you have, you know, a
sixty eight win season this year like they did, I mean,
the Warriors were a very good team that year. They
won well, some would say they were the best team
of all time just because they won more games in

(01:24:56):
a regular season than anyone else. But seventy three means
nothing without the ring. Just ask the Chicago Bulls. If
you have that game seven that has been forced, and
it's on your home floor, and you're the better team,
and you're the heavily more favorite team, and you have
the best player on the floor, you have the MVP
who happens to be the best player on the floor.

(01:25:17):
All that stuff factors in. You're the one that has
the pressure on you.

Speaker 4 (01:25:22):
Yeah, you're the better team so far in this series,
through the first six games, the Pacers as favorites in
any one of these games are zero and zero. They've
been favored to lose every game. The thunder have been
favored to win every game, and they've managed to do
half of that. Mentioned earlier that the numbers home and
road for them in this particular series have been pretty
jarring different. They're twenty point seven on the plus side

(01:25:46):
with their net rating when they play I'll just call
it the thunderdown Dome, even though no, that's not what
it's called. When they play at home, and they're minus
six point two, which as a road team. That's not
the worst thing, though, it's not unbelievable. You're on the
road and this is how it works in the NBA.
But to be that dramatically different from venue to venue,
that's jarring. That's disastrous. That's a twenty seven point different

(01:26:08):
in net rating. And yes, they're headed back home. To
the positive side of it, they still seemingly are a
pretty healthy team. Obviously, Indiana is not at the same
health they were when the series began. They're going to
need Mathern or McConnell or Turner to do something maybe
a little bit more out of the ordinary, Nemhard or
Nie Smith as well. I think you're gonna get what

(01:26:30):
you probably got most of this series, other than the
zero field goal game from Ty Halliburton, because I don't
imagine he's got a twenty five, twelve and ten game
in him in his current health. But Pascal could go
out there and have his best game of the series.
Even though the Thunders defense is very, very good. I've
watched the series. I don't think I've missed anything. I

(01:26:51):
do think that the Pacers were smart. Finally, I'm surprised
it took this long, even though you don't know if
it's gonna work until you do it. They backed off
defensively a little bit like last night. Instead of picking
them up so far out on the floor fifty feet
sixty feet of defense in the back court, they spent
more of their energy in the half court, blitzing things
a little bit more often, forcing the Thunder into things

(01:27:13):
that they wanted the Thunder to do. Offense loots I'm
sure they're going to do again in Game seven. But
it also impacts the pace I think of how they play.
The pace is not quite frenetic pacer pace, but now
they've figured out how to play well without it being
that way. The Thunder I mean, I don't I haven't
changed my opinion, and I know they're forty eight good

(01:27:33):
minutes away from beating the Thunder. I don't see how
they win, and I've watched them win three times.

Speaker 3 (01:27:41):
Well, look, those are the best chances I would say
to have the Pacers win is those intangibles we're talking about,
where they're tight and they don't play loose and they
have the pressure on them and all that kind of stuff.
But there could be another factor. I'm just gonna say it.
After missing a large chunk of the regular season. He

(01:28:06):
was inserted just in time to get into the playoff rotation,
and would you know it, it's Game seven. Scott Foster's
gonna officiate tonight.

Speaker 4 (01:28:15):
But what does that mean? I don't know who is
there some I don't know who's supposed to be more
mad storyline, that's the thing. So what difference does it make?
Are you saying the league needs the Thunder to win
game seven or the league needs the Pacers to win
games seven?

Speaker 3 (01:28:28):
I'm just saying that an official who continuously comes up
in conversations about things not being on the up and
up now.

Speaker 4 (01:28:37):
It's called the fixer. What's he fixing?

Speaker 3 (01:28:39):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:28:40):
I don't either.

Speaker 3 (01:28:41):
I'm just saying that it's just curious that he's always
winding up in the biggest games on the planet when
he's not one of the best officials in the NBA.

Speaker 4 (01:28:49):
Yes, it's the word I wouldn't use is curious. The
word I would use is obvious. Whether you disagree with
their analysis, that's perfectly fine. Clearly a lot of people do.
But this is nothing new. He always you're right, he
always wears the best games. Well, I wonder why the
league views him in this way, they could be wrong.
I think most people think that they are. They are,

(01:29:10):
but you also have to tell me who should be there.
And yes, I know that one of the officials that
should be there just worked and was the crew chief,
Zach Zar, but he was with Tony Brothers among the
officials in game six. I would put Zach as a
crew chief in any important game if his schedule, travel
and rest worked out and they set it up. We
talked what three games ago, and Foster worked game four

(01:29:30):
when he had to fill this. Well, it's it was
calendar wise, very obvious.

Speaker 3 (01:29:35):
That's that's what I'm saying though, And I just there's.

Speaker 4 (01:29:37):
Only what twelve officials working the finals, and yeah, three
or four of them are crew chiefs. He was gonna
work Game seven.

Speaker 3 (01:29:44):
That's why I predicated all this by saying he was
inserted into the rotation just in time for the posts.
He hadn't been officiating for like weeks or months due
to injury. I get, yeah, but like, you don't have
to put him in there just because just because that's
what it feels like here.

Speaker 4 (01:30:01):
Well, they're putting him out there because they believe he's
very good and he's healthy. Yeah, that's why he's been
there all. I mean. Now, he was listed as a
playoff official the entire postseason, but during the opening round
of the playoff his only assignments were in secaucas He
did not work a single game in the opening round
of the playoffs. While being listed among the available officials.

(01:30:23):
The assumption was he isn't actually available. He isn't healthy yet.
And I don't think it's like college sports sometimes when
you get to the playoffs or Major League Baseball, when
you get to the playoffs, from a credentialing standpoint, well
you gotta we got to you gotta cover all the
series in order to work this one. You gotta put
in credentials for this series and this series in this series,
and then if they get there, we'll we'll see if

(01:30:43):
we can get you in. Maybe they did that with Foster.
We got to put you on the original list because
we can't bring in from the outside any time later.

Speaker 3 (01:30:49):
Well, regardless of all this, and I don't mean I
honestly don't care who it Annoise or whatever, if it's
a dead horse and all that kind of stuff, I
just find it fascinating that this league that by far
has the most question marks about its officials and has
for many many years, whether they're unfounded or not, and

(01:31:09):
I think a lot of them are founded, especially in
the case of the ones that would center around this
particular official. You are on the record as punishing and
banning for life and all that kind of stuff. Unofficial
who was gambling on your games, and he was texting
hundreds of times with this particular official. You can't sit

(01:31:34):
there and say he's so good that we can't find
anybody else on the planet that has to be in
our rotation of twelve guys that are our best officials,
and for Game seven, of the most important game of
our season, he's got to be the crew chief.

Speaker 4 (01:31:48):
So, like you were saying about the players, sixty percent
of them voting for Yeah, we like the human element,
we like the umpires who make mistakes the players in
the NBA, And I don't know what number it would be,
but I'd say it's all over fifty percent. If you
pulled them and asked them if Scott Foster is a
good official, they would say yes, I mean it gets
accurate professional athletes of being Rose scholarship. No, but it

(01:32:10):
means they want him working the games.

Speaker 3 (01:32:11):
That's fine. Then he can screw up your games if
you keep wanting it, just like the ones in MLB
can keep doing that.

Speaker 4 (01:32:16):
So obviously, when you said this league has had issues
with official officials and the Tim Donning angle, it does
put them in a totally different stratosphere as any other league.
But just this year Major League Baseball heard the appeal
of one of their umpires who was told to get
lost because of violations of their collective barneying agreement because

(01:32:37):
of gambling. Nobody even knows who it is. I'm sure
you don't know his name. I didn't know his name
before I looked it up again. It was just a
couple of months ago. It just was not a huge scandal.
It might not have been far reaching. There wasn't as
much definitive contact information because while I say, yeah, his friend,
I mean that it's it's so easy to eliminate the conversation.

(01:32:57):
And you've had twenty year, fifteen years to do it.
Get enough officials good, get enough officials up to speed,
find a bigger group of really good officials. So you
have absolutely no reason whatsoever to say we need Scott
Foster if you really believe he's so good and you
can't afford to lose him. That means you don't have
enough good officials. There's too many things attached to it

(01:33:18):
that you always bring up with the attachment to Donneghie
and just the sentiment of something was there. I mean,
you're not talking to the other officials. They're not records
of one hundred and thirty phone calls with him in
some other NBA officials. It's just you, and that is
very curious. So we'll just move on. And I know
there's unions involved, and I know it makes it somewhat
difficult to do things.

Speaker 3 (01:33:38):
But but the worst part about what you're saying, find
better officials is that they have.

Speaker 4 (01:33:43):
This is a league.

Speaker 3 (01:33:45):
I mean that tan of Heat thing that was twenty
years ago now.

Speaker 4 (01:33:47):
So over twenty years, they haven't planned enough officials to say,
we don't have an excuse to keep you here.

Speaker 3 (01:33:54):
They have. They've just also kept him here. That's the
thing they have found. Zach zar was a perfect example.
Zac Zarba is a guy who was not officiating games
I want to say ten years ago. He might have
just started ten years ago, but that's that game in question,
that series in question, that time period in question centered

(01:34:14):
around the two thousand and two Western Conference Finals between
the Lakers and the Sacramento Kings, where Donnie is on
the record as admitting he was calling, you know, calls
not on the up and up, to try to infect
that series based on his gambling debts. Zack Zarba came
along well after that. He's a perfect example of a
guy who was a crew chief in the game six

(01:34:36):
game that you know that the Pacers won, and is
perfectly capable of doing the job without all of these
questions surrounding it. I just don't know why these things
are so hard for other people. I've got it all
figured out.

Speaker 1 (01:34:51):
The eight on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (01:34:58):
Rapidly approaching our our signature segment on a Friday, which
is the Friday a team draft. Popular TV shows with
the worst main character. Somehow it didn't keep people from watching,
even though they were abhorns in some form or fashion.
A little bit of NBA talk there. Wanted to revisit
the last topic, but only briefly. I just kind of
let it go so we could continue the discussion. Today's Friday.

(01:35:22):
There's no basketball today. Tomorrow is Saturday, also no basketball. Well,
I'm sure it's true. I'm sure it will happen. We
don't know who's officiating Game seven. They don't announce that
till the morning of the game, that is Sunday.

Speaker 3 (01:35:36):
I thought you just said from a calendar standpoint.

Speaker 4 (01:35:39):
Very likely Scott Foster will be working as crew chief
in game seven. But it's not no, because we think
the same thing. We both think he's going to get
that assignment.

Speaker 3 (01:35:47):
You want to bet.

Speaker 4 (01:35:48):
While it was posted on social media report Scott Foster
will officiate Game seven Comma per League sources that came
from a parody account. Because it's not yet, it's not official.
They don't announce that several days.

Speaker 3 (01:36:00):
Sometimes parody accounts get things right to exactly all the time.
We're both saying the same. So we can't bet a
box of American flag cheese.

Speaker 4 (01:36:07):
It's on this well, we definitely can't because we're not
in disagreement. I don't know what the bet would be.

Speaker 3 (01:36:13):
That doesn't you bet Foster?

Speaker 9 (01:36:14):
Will?

Speaker 3 (01:36:17):
I just want the box of cheese. The story is,
why don't you go down the street and just buy
one for me?

Speaker 4 (01:36:22):
I'm working.

Speaker 3 (01:36:23):
I can can't. I can handle a segment or two.

Speaker 4 (01:36:25):
We did if the Pacers go on to win this series.
We did get a pretty nice signature moment just a
little bit before halftime when uh Jalen Williams decided to
throw the ball turn it over. We got a nice
little fast break opportunity. A couple different versions of what
the dunk heard round Indiana sounded like last night, not

(01:36:50):
that one. That one doesn't come first. My mistake. I apologize.
Let's try that again.

Speaker 1 (01:36:56):
Williams sixty it away, comes up with it cross courts, see.

Speaker 4 (01:37:01):
You come, put a stamp and the place went nuts.
I meant to play this second, so now I will.
This is what it sounded like. If you were watching
Korean television, probably didn't even measure out where did they

(01:37:28):
stop with this part of the call and going to
that part of the call. And I'm not saying you
do or don't understand the language they're speaking, but it's
a little bit run together. Even if you don't understand
the link, I don't, it sounds a whole lot better
if you're a Brazilian watching that broadcast in Portuguese.

Speaker 3 (01:37:44):
Cold Fish.

Speaker 4 (01:37:47):
The whole bot hold bakhaana, how's a possy well see.

Speaker 7 (01:37:50):
How basco see how can the ball, don't game Bridge.

Speaker 3 (01:38:00):
He goes up on did you say if you were
a Brazilian watching in Portuguese? I did, okay, I'm just
trying to keep track of everything here. That was well done.

Speaker 4 (01:38:10):
That was representative of the excitement inside Gainbridgefield.

Speaker 3 (01:38:15):
Very good.

Speaker 4 (01:38:15):
It was a huge moment. It definitely is a posterization,
and that's actually the main reason I brought it up.
I don't like people frowning on the players in NBA
games trying to play basketball. How can people think, man,
Jalen Williams, what are you doing? You should have made

(01:38:36):
a business decision and gotten out of the way. Why
because nobody's ever going to remember this, because I don't,
come on, it really makes me ad. He wanted to
defend a potential dunk. He wanted to defend a play
that was gonna light the crowd on fire, and they
were down big already. You want him to get out

(01:38:56):
of the way. You don't want him to play defense
when you don't want him to possibly end up on
the no longer existent posters. Nobody has posters anymore. I
love the reference, but there's no such thing. I know,
we can see it, and everyone's you know, made a
picture of it, and it's all over social media. What
actually made it all over social media is the look
that Siakin gave him, intentionally or not. It is brilliant

(01:39:19):
and you want to deprive us of that by asking
players in the most important NBA games of their lives
to just back away and not defend.

Speaker 3 (01:39:29):
Was Hakem supposed to get out of the way when
here came Kevin Johnson down the lane? I got posterized?
And who won the series? He cares, Yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (01:39:37):
I mean Jason Terry chalk out line, Lebron James flattened him.

Speaker 3 (01:39:44):
So what any number of guys who were the DeAndre Jordan?

Speaker 4 (01:39:49):
Yeah, like he has a famous one against the Pistons and.

Speaker 3 (01:39:53):
Was that the one where they put him in the coffin? Yes?
I love that.

Speaker 4 (01:39:56):
It's your That's what I mean. Like, in addition to
saying play assketball, you're depriving us, from a social media
standpoint of the excellence that we're gonna then see creatively
after the play. Well, it's just dunk. Otherwise fans went crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:40:10):
Nobody's thinking in the split second, I better get other way. Nobody.

Speaker 4 (01:40:14):
Well, you know we have evidence of that too. Players
do that all the time. What do you mean, do
what I'm probably I don't. There's maybe a five percent
chance I have to block this, so I'll just I'll
just take two steps to the left.

Speaker 3 (01:40:27):
Well, once you're in the air, I mean yeah, they.

Speaker 4 (01:40:30):
Don't even decide to go in the air. They're like, ah,
he's got this.

Speaker 3 (01:40:32):
A lot of those happened so fast, though. I don't.
I don't fault either path of your life to take.

Speaker 4 (01:40:38):
I'm pro play basketball.

Speaker 3 (01:40:40):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's that's the easiest way to put it.
Just just be pro basketball and you should be good
to go. So okay, what's this? I see that before?
And by the way, our our a team draft coming
up next segment. There are a lot of would be
deals that could be made. There are a lot of

(01:41:03):
there was a lot of reunions that have happened, justin
Verlander being one of them, as costly as it was.

Speaker 4 (01:41:09):
Yeah, I have no doubt he will win at least
one game this year with the Giants. Just hasn't happened yet.

Speaker 3 (01:41:13):
When's it happening July. I'm sure he will.

Speaker 4 (01:41:15):
Like I said, I'm sure he will get one. He
returned from the IL earlier this week and had a
twenty twenty five vintage Justin Verlander appearance, just a bunch
of runs, short appearance, not winning.

Speaker 3 (01:41:25):
They didn't win well. He went fast for him.

Speaker 4 (01:41:28):
He's not capable of putting hitters away, and he makes
too many mistakes. You just see his walk count. I
mean that was the one thing at this age that
kept him going because he never put on anybody on base,
and it wasn't because he had to throw pitches right
down the middle that they would smoke. Well, now he
does and they do.

Speaker 3 (01:41:43):
Who lost it quicker from a Houston athlete standpoint, Hakeem
or Justin Verlander. Akeem, it was like the next day gone.

Speaker 4 (01:41:53):
Verlander has been like, we're not very far removed from
him being unbelievable. Even the pitcher they got the year
they traded for him for the remainder this he was
still okay. He was still pretty good and then not
at all like he's Also, the injuries have caught up
to him. I think it's pretty much a given now
he's not gonna stay healthy for a year. I do

(01:42:13):
think my opinion. Only haven't heard a word from he
or Kate or their daughter. I don't think he's going
to continue playing because I don't think this is fun
for him. I don't think the challenge is there anymore
because he can't challenge himself as a pitcher anymore, because
he can't keep from getting hurt pride.

Speaker 3 (01:42:27):
He's coming to play.

Speaker 4 (01:42:28):
He's out for a month every year with some sort
of issue, and if not longer. And I don't think.
I don't unless there's money involved. And there's not many
pitchers who've made more. And I know pictures that are
newer getting these outrageous deals, and he really didn't have
one of those. He's signed very lucrative short term deals recently,
but the Giants have basically been better off when he

(01:42:50):
hasn't been out there. Yeah, they're really really good this year,
and they're probably getting better after the Dev's deal. How
old is he forty two best forty two year old
in the majors.

Speaker 3 (01:42:58):
How old is Charlie Morton?

Speaker 4 (01:43:00):
I believe he's forty on the nose?

Speaker 3 (01:43:03):
Well, his first UH eleven outings this season, he was
zero and seven, had a He pitched thirty six and
two thirds innings. He had an eight three five ERA,
a one eighty eight whip and thirty four strikeouts. It's
forty one since rejoining the rotation. He is four to
ozh in thirty and a third innings. He's got a

(01:43:25):
two oh nine ERA, a one to twenty six whip,
and he has shruck out forty You like him.

Speaker 4 (01:43:33):
I hate to it's been gone all day, but it's
coming to this segment today. It is wet and it's
a blanket. He makes fifteen million dollars. Yeah, pro rated
for the remainder of the year.

Speaker 3 (01:43:46):
What if they pick up the tab?

Speaker 4 (01:43:47):
What scenario? What do you think they could do to
If they pick up the tab, that means they're buying
even better prospects from you. Yeah, And it's not about
it's not about the money. It's about how it hits you.
Your CBT figures he signed out, they or pay for it. Yeah,
but it's still your figures on your calculations. He's signed
a one year, fifteen million dollar deal and he No,

(01:44:09):
I don't dismiss the I'm fine with pitching him and
I'm an absolute believer in what we're seeing. I do
think whatever he worked on, whatever he figured it out
during the little over a month in change of bullpen
work with Baltimore. He probably did figure this. I was
doing this, or I was tipping that, or I wasn't
quite in the right place, or my step something was off.

(01:44:30):
This is a pretty good stretch. That's five start stretch.
He's had one bad start in there, but the other
four are tremendous. He's given up three earned runs and
the other four starts combined, and he struck out over
thirty batters in those four starts. Yeah, someone's going to
trade for him. Baltimore's played well enough that they might
consider are we still in it? Can we still make
the wildcard? And if we're hot, can you do great

(01:44:52):
things out of a wildcard spot? But even saying that,
I think there's a reasonable chance they would be strongly
considering moving Morton. It's unfortunate. I just don't see an
avenue financially, just based on can the afford it. Jim
Crank obviously he can't afford I just he's operating in
a manner that just he doesn't want.

Speaker 3 (01:45:09):
To heene or him.

Speaker 4 (01:45:10):
If you had to choose, just the money, says Heeney, Yeah,
far far less money. Okay, you think he's got a
five million dollar one year, five million dollar deal pitch
pretty well for the Pirates this year. He obviously can't
win games for himself because he's a Pirates pitcher, but
he's pitched very much like he did for the Rangers
and others in the last couple of years. He was
somebody that everybody looks at every offseason. Is this the

(01:45:31):
guy we want as our fifth starter for a five
six seven million? That would be an entertaining thought. If
they need a pitcher by then, Eric Getty's back, mccullor's
is back, Luis's pitching, JP's pitching, alve years pitching. How
many starters do you want not to mention Gordon and
Walter and blue Ball and Gusta, I mean, fifteen man rotation.

(01:45:52):
Bring it on. How about an eight team draft? That's next.

Speaker 1 (01:45:58):
The a Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (01:46:07):
With the first pick and with the second pick, with
the third pick, with.

Speaker 3 (01:46:11):
The second pick, with the first pick, Friday Draft.

Speaker 4 (01:46:17):
Here you go saying, second time on a Friday is
the Friday eight team drafts? He held one just a
week ago, Friday A team draft. Top heavy metal songs.
Last weekend, the Boys from Suicidal Tendencies played at Energy Stadium.

Speaker 3 (01:46:34):
Do you have anybody with them Pantera. Okay, good, that
was an awesome show.

Speaker 4 (01:46:38):
I bet none of their songs made the list of
Top heavy Metal Songs which we drafted a week ago,
but some from Metallic who who also shared the stage.
Technically did they share the stage at any point in time? No,
they shared the headline. They were on to the same stage,
but later in the evening as those two other bands. Yes,
I did not win again. Cole did not win for
a real rare time. AC came out on top with

(01:47:01):
Crazy Train one and Welcome to the Jungle. Congratulations on
winning last week's Top heavy Metal Songs. Friday Team Draft.

Speaker 3 (01:47:10):
How did I cheat?

Speaker 4 (01:47:11):
I don't know, you just did? Yeah, stop drafting correctly.
After he went first and before I went third. We
will continue the rotation. I will go first, Ac, you
will go second. Okay, I take that back. You will
go third, Cold second. And we are drafting television shows

(01:47:33):
main characters, Well, which one? Well, they must be a
popular TV show. You decide popularity. Judges will vote on
whether or not as popular enough. But you're actually taking
the worst main characters on popular TV shows. We're drafting
very well known, very important parts of programs that were
very popular Which of them are the worst main characters

(01:47:56):
on popular television shows? Any variety of show I think
will fit. Plenty of options I think are out there,
maybe some duplicates, maybe not. I asked somebody this very
question yesterday, wondered if they would understand the gist of
it and nowhere to go with their selections, and I
got some pretty good input. So I feel pretty good
about maybe doing all right. I do not like having

(01:48:18):
the first pick. I do not expect to come out
on top. I also don't think I'll put together the
worst list. I've done that pretty much every week.

Speaker 3 (01:48:25):
This lack of confidence this particular week, as we've already discussed,
you had so much trouble even figuring out exactly what
we were after.

Speaker 4 (01:48:37):
There's no obvious Oh my god, of course this character
on this show.

Speaker 3 (01:48:41):
To me, it's subjective.

Speaker 4 (01:48:42):
I don't think there's an obvious choice. So the number
one pick carries just a little bit less value than
name your favorite Houston athlete that played basketball and war
number thirty four. You have the first pick. Sometimes it
works out quite nicely. I don't know if this is
going to anger people or anger you two people. I'm

(01:49:03):
trying to go a little bit more recent, but it's
been off the air for a while. Ensemble cast, all funny,
all carried the show at different points in time, but
only one of them was the wet blanket of the cast.
It's Ross from Friends. Hi, Yeah, it's a great pick.
There are six main characters. Quite obviously, they all spent

(01:49:25):
their days. Few of them had jobs, but mostly they
were just at Central Perk. And this guy who dated
his students, loved getting married and divorced to straight or
not straight women. Yep, was Ross worst main character on
a very popular TV show. That's my number one pick.

Speaker 3 (01:49:44):
No wonder Bruce Willis hated him.

Speaker 4 (01:49:46):
He like he ended up coming out on top in
that battle with Bruce on the show How I too
am a love machine. I'm a neat guy, eat guy
all right? Ooh, the number two pick will be made now,
col please. Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:50:04):
Basically, it's the two thousands versions of the show Friends.
And while it's my favorite Televisions show of all time,
and I don't think that he is the villain of
the show, he is the ultimate wet blanket and you
couldn't even stay with.

Speaker 4 (01:50:16):
Her longer than five minutes.

Speaker 8 (01:50:18):
After nine seasons, Ted Evelyn Moseby from How I Met
Your Mother. My God, dude, we hear your sob sach
story about how you live in one of the greatest
cities to ever exist, how you love to be an architect,
how you can't wait to find the one shoe love,
only to go back to the one person who made
it abundantly clear from the very opening of the show,

(01:50:38):
not really interested, bro, not wanting kids, Bro, not wanting
anything but my career.

Speaker 2 (01:50:45):
Bro.

Speaker 4 (01:50:45):
And then you meet the right person.

Speaker 8 (01:50:47):
You have the beautiful story with the yellow umbrella, and
you only got the killer off to get back with
Aunt Robin. And you tell your kids the story about
how long you were perusing through the streets of New
York City to find the one to really set yourself
up and tell them, Hey, can I date your aunt?

Speaker 3 (01:51:01):
Number one? Wow?

Speaker 4 (01:51:05):
I could add, but we got it all.

Speaker 3 (01:51:06):
We got it all. We did get quite a bit
right there. All right, I'm gonna throw you a curveball
with my first of two straight picks. Because nobody told
me that I couldn't pick from a reality TV show.

Speaker 4 (01:51:17):
I knew when you're gonna go with him.

Speaker 3 (01:51:19):
And when you talk about insufferable characters and a ensemble
cast full of them. Scott dissick, Wow, Kim is the
worst of the keeping up with the Kardashians bunch.

Speaker 4 (01:51:33):
Judges will accept she sucks. I'm amazed that you think
there's a difference between three Kardashians famous from a worst
main character like their stories, their.

Speaker 3 (01:51:47):
Tim is also a qualifying character.

Speaker 4 (01:51:49):
Absolutely, you knew which one to pick.

Speaker 3 (01:51:52):
I don't know thought Robert, who was one of O. J.
Simpson's attorneys, would be the least insufferable member of that
particular family.

Speaker 4 (01:52:00):
What about Rob found out? What about his son? He's
pretty insufferable? Saying he was pretty I guess.

Speaker 3 (01:52:07):
Yeah, No, I still think Robert, who's dead, is the
the least insufferable of the bunch. He would just roll
in his grave. If your second thick, Well, this one's
a little bit more obvious. Again an ensemble cast. I
hate this show, but it was wildly popular, and she
was so insufferable of a lot of insie. I actually

(01:52:30):
liked one of the cast members because she was a
melrose Place alum and she was good looking. Her name
was Charlotte, but that's not this character.

Speaker 4 (01:52:37):
Her name was Charlotte. Yeah, Mel recurring character on Melrose,
Did you really just steal my next pick?

Speaker 3 (01:52:43):
Carrie Bradshaw, that's pretty obvious, played by Sarah Horseface Jessica
Parker on Sex in the City, Get her a bag
of oats.

Speaker 4 (01:52:52):
I think I'll just limit my thoughts on that entirely
and only say this. I'm a little bit sad that
that show was as popular as it We.

Speaker 3 (01:53:02):
All should be because it's a commentary on our society.

Speaker 4 (01:53:05):
I'm oh, hbo, come on now, stupid.

Speaker 3 (01:53:09):
Hey, all the girls that I was either talking to
or dating at the time who bought the box set
when it came out, Oh look at this and every
woman I've ever been with, marriages and otherwise love that show.
It's a long list. Looting my current one?

Speaker 4 (01:53:23):
All right, you get another one before I get to
fill up the caddy.

Speaker 3 (01:53:27):
What do you got? Cool?

Speaker 8 (01:53:28):
Do you guys know that I used to be a
very big musical theater kidd ever tell you guys about
that stage and screen star love it, mister t Absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 4 (01:53:37):
I did all of it.

Speaker 8 (01:53:37):
I did even Glee growing up, and this one character
ruined it so much that I could never be associated
with that lifestyle ever again. One Miss Rachel Berry come
on down. You deserved every slush that was thrown in
your face. You made every single scene about you. You
couldn't even find it in your heart to truly mourn
the passing of Corey Monti because you made it all

(01:53:58):
about you. And that instance, you didn't even have that
great of a voice. You were the third best singer
in the entire group. So sit down, shut up, and
get off. By television screen Lea Michelle.

Speaker 4 (01:54:07):
Wow, the one who allegedly can't read? Is that the
one one who elected can't read? I heard that that story.

Speaker 3 (01:54:15):
By the way, Cole has taken two picks of shows
I never saw.

Speaker 4 (01:54:20):
Very popular shows that clearly We'll save the last handful
of picks for the other side of this break. Hopefully
you're enjoying the conversation by really popular television shows with
a wet blanket main character.

Speaker 1 (01:54:35):
The age on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (01:54:42):
T to roll through this quickly picked back up on
the final selections. The last four selections for the Friday
Team Draft. Very popular television programs shows realities or otherwise,
but their main character a bit of an issue, kind
of a downer, kind of a wet blanket on the
whole show. We've seen ross And and Rachel and Carrie
and Kim all be selected thus far. My final two

(01:55:04):
selections come here, and there are the lead characters and
in name the lead characters of both of their respective shows.
There's a hospital show. It's been on for two decades.

Speaker 3 (01:55:18):
Is it placed in an emergency room? It's not e
r Is it in the Pacific Northwest? It is in
the Pacific Northwest. How my next guest, it's Meredith, She sucks.
It's Meredith of Grey's Anatomy. And you that's all the
input we need. I don't need to add to it.
You said everything that needs to be said. A lot
of cast members suck on that show.

Speaker 4 (01:55:36):
She was the main character. It's her show.

Speaker 3 (01:55:40):
She sucked. There's another TV show that someone I used
to be with really like to watch.

Speaker 4 (01:55:46):
This one may hurt you a little bit. Oh No,
show is named after the main character. He was the
main character. He's a big old wet blanket on the show,
even though we love him now he's gone on to
great things. He even played a high school quarterback in
a movie we all love. Oh Boy, But his name
on the show was Dawson.

Speaker 3 (01:56:03):
Well, another guy that I would never ever disparage because
of a personal shout out he sent to my phone.

Speaker 4 (01:56:10):
Pacey you're great, Josephine also nice to have on the show,
the teacher you got with both of you guys great,
But Dawson yesh yees man yees those are my three choices,
Ross Meredith.

Speaker 3 (01:56:24):
And you think he's celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of JOWS
today since he's such a big Spielberg guy.

Speaker 4 (01:56:29):
Could be what's your final selection call? Brian Rickson? Don't
fire me after this? Oh no, Brian Rickson helps everybody
here on a daily basis put these great products together.
They actually do both on this dial and others around
our am landscape.

Speaker 3 (01:56:45):
Who do you got for him?

Speaker 4 (01:56:47):
And it's either going to win the draft for me
or are gonna lose entire like is it a Boston
based program or something? It's not okay.

Speaker 8 (01:56:54):
I can't stomach him, and part of the reason why
I think the show is awful and I've.

Speaker 4 (01:56:58):
Never gotten into it. It's but popular but popular.

Speaker 8 (01:57:01):
I never found Houston Ashra's picture George Costanz a funny. Ever,
I think he's terrible. I think he is a wet
blanket of all wet blankets. I think he is a
total Delta Bravo, and honestly, he does not deserve anyone's attention.
Elaine is awful, Kramer's awful, Jerry's awful for their own
different reasons. But of all the awful characters, George Cassandra stands.

Speaker 3 (01:57:22):
Out like his peace and woman either.

Speaker 4 (01:57:26):
Yeah, for the first time ever on the A team
is not the summer of George at all in any way.
For those that didn't hear that reference his role in
Pretty Woman, that would qualify as a bad person, very
bad person.

Speaker 3 (01:57:42):
Now she was a prostitute, which also qualifies as well.
It doesn't unsavory at the very least. That means she's working.
But that doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. Well,
you certainly can't kiss her on the mouth. That's what
she said.

Speaker 4 (01:57:57):
All right, last pick for you. You got Kim, you
got Carrie.

Speaker 3 (01:58:01):
Yeah. I took those first because I knew that this
was going to be a bit of a curveball. But
I think the audience when they delve into my picks
and they're making their very very important vote, they're gonna
see my genius here. It's a kids show. It was
wildly popular I don't know if it still airs today,
but god forbid, I hope it doesn't.

Speaker 4 (01:58:23):
It's not Miss Rachel, is it?

Speaker 3 (01:58:24):
No? It is it an animated character, no real life,
real kids dancing around this idiot singing stupid songs with
a purple dinosaur Barney. I hate that show and I
hate that main character because he sucks. It doesn't matter

(01:58:45):
what version it was, doesn't matter what shade of purple
he was. Barney the Dinosaur.

Speaker 4 (01:58:50):
Is that your favorite SNL episode when Barkley beat him up?

Speaker 3 (01:58:54):
Obviously and for other reasons, because Barkley's awesome? So yeah,
I've got or face Barney of what show is that? Barney?
Barney and Friends is the technical name of the show,
So if it was just the Friends, it would have
been a better show.

Speaker 4 (01:59:08):
Got it all right?

Speaker 3 (01:59:09):
Well?

Speaker 4 (01:59:09):
The list will be compiled. It will be posted on
social media. Please participate in the voting Stupid show Popular
Television Shows? Who are the worst main characters on popular
television shows? As selected by the three of us here
with outside input. I did get a few suggestions. I
thought most of the people or dinosaurs that were selected

(01:59:32):
I did have on the list, and as we talked
our way through the Sopranos. I do think aj or
Janis would have been an acceptable selection. I mean, it's
called the Sopranos. They're in the family, and they were
in almost every episode. Yeah, for sure, you could have
picked two Janises, even though she wasn't a main I
would if the judges would have not allowed it. Do

(01:59:54):
you think?

Speaker 8 (01:59:54):
Okay, let me ask, do you think Skyler White would
be considered the main character?

Speaker 3 (01:59:58):
Yep, she was on the list in software. I thought
about her, I really did.

Speaker 4 (02:00:02):
How about another show with the main character's name in
the title? Very popular show, very funny show, a lot
of very funny people in it. But Malcolm, Malcolm in
the middle, little wet blankety. Yeah, I got another real fast.
How many of you guys watched A New Girl?

Speaker 3 (02:00:21):
Never? Okay? Why do you watch so many shows I've
never seen.

Speaker 4 (02:00:24):
I don't know a Cyren like she was. I haven't
seen it either, And I can absolutely visualize why she
would be a great selection.

Speaker 8 (02:00:31):
She was the runner up to George Costanzo. I just
felt like I had to throw them on there. I mean,
Seinfeld doesn't really work without Elaine, or without George or
without Kramer.

Speaker 3 (02:00:42):
My honorable men, well, it's a show about nothing.

Speaker 4 (02:00:45):
You'll acknowledge it was moderately popular.

Speaker 3 (02:00:49):
It was moderately I mean the finale was very very well.

Speaker 4 (02:00:52):
I mean wasn't. At one point Demas viewed finale of
all time and nobody even liked it as Finales.

Speaker 3 (02:00:58):
Go until the sopran Knows came along.

Speaker 4 (02:01:00):
That's what I mean. Nobody liked that one either. And
how about your mother.

Speaker 3 (02:01:04):
I'm gonna go this. This is my honorable mention, and
it has more to do with like I I never
watched the show enough to even know. I'm sure she
was insufferable because it's one of those shows. But just
walking through the room hearing her narrate the show, Blake
Lively got some girl here?

Speaker 4 (02:01:22):
Well, if you were going down that road, I certainly
would have drafted Rory of Gilmour Girls.

Speaker 3 (02:01:27):
Oh god, yes, a part of this segment. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:01:31):
I tried to steer clear of shows. I mean, I'm
aware of the shows, and I know what happened in
the show.

Speaker 3 (02:01:35):
My most popular WB show, I think, which was Dawson's Creek.

Speaker 4 (02:01:40):
Okay, time out, Zach Morris, where do we stand on him?
Discussion about him? Moments ago? It would have it would
have been an acceptable selection. I don't think it would
have helped your your three picks.

Speaker 3 (02:01:51):
And my reasoning for not even approaching that as a
pick is so stupid and so niche. But he was
on in WHYPD Blue the Final few seas and so
I'll never say anything disparaging about him, and by all accounts,
he's a really good dude in.

Speaker 4 (02:02:04):
Really Gostler, Yeah, fantastic.

Speaker 8 (02:02:06):
He's a great guy, fantastic and a good actor that
has gotten opportunities to show that he has more than chess.

Speaker 4 (02:02:11):
The Delta Bravo that resided a.

Speaker 3 (02:02:13):
Bit that had a brick phone?

Speaker 4 (02:02:15):
Would would it have been okay?

Speaker 3 (02:02:17):
I never watched that show either, By the way.

Speaker 4 (02:02:18):
Even though he's a Ustonian, would it have been okay
to go after the Big Bang theory and take Jim Parsons?

Speaker 3 (02:02:24):
I would have gone with Leonard. I No, I'm with
you on that. And my dad loves that show. Darryl
Morey loves that show. Klein high school Graduate. I believe
that have never the only good part about that show
is Kaylee Kualco or whatever her name is.

Speaker 8 (02:02:38):
Yes, Penny Kaylee big fan. We all are big fans.

Speaker 3 (02:02:42):
Not on that show, though, because I don't watch it.

Speaker 4 (02:02:44):
Nobody from Roseanne. Roseanne was fine.

Speaker 3 (02:02:48):
I agree with producers for ousting the title character because
of political differences.

Speaker 4 (02:02:53):
And then continuing the show. Nobody wants this. Football at
five is next? What is your quarterback up to these days?
We'll tell you next, The AG

Speaker 1 (02:03:05):
On Sports Talk seven ninety

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