Skull Drag Skenes, Blow It Agianst Burrows? NBA All-World All-Star Change, Rockets Top 100 Where?

The A-Team is back at 100% with AC back in action to break down...what happend on Wednesday night against that one pitcher you'll never hear from again. Plus, where do the Rockets rank leading into 2025 season in the top 100 list for 2025. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam Raised.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
My Earl.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Nolan multed by the magnificent roller coaster ride.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
That is Houston Sports.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Chill lge down for the only homegrown afternoon team is
talking your teams?

Speaker 4 (00:30):
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the eight teams eighty.

Speaker 5 (00:39):
It's straight up two o'clock here on a Thursday edition
of the A Team. It's Sports Talk seven ninety. It's
wex over there. I'm ac Cole Thompson in his usual
position as we take you up until four point thirty
transition into Astros on deck. I will be very transparent
and honest as I normally am filtered and whatnot. I

(01:02):
hated the fact that I was out yesterday after the
Astros hit a home run off of Paul Skeens and one.
It was the final score on that one, three to nothing.
No three nothing was last night too. It was just
the other way around, so yes, no, was it three?
I can't remember. It's three one or three nothing on
the opener.

Speaker 6 (01:18):
The losing team has lost because you can't win when
you don't score. Three consecutive Astros gimes just making sure
Tuesday and Wednesday shutouts yeah, just not all for the
same team.

Speaker 5 (01:27):
Yeah, but the final score in the opener was also
three nothing correct, exactly all right. I was just making
sure I was in the middle of driving when all
that was happening, and uh so anyway, Yeah, I was like, God,
that would have been a fun game to talk about
the next day, but I didn't. I wouldn't hear. And then,
of course last night they get blanked by some triple
A superstar pitcher for the Pirates that they couldn't hit
for some reason. So here we are.

Speaker 6 (01:50):
You should know this spun out didn't really have much
to do with the other pitcher. They're not there. They
had a bad offensive month, and then they had a
good offensive month without scoring a ton of runs. And
we'll find out what this month holds bemoaning what they
do on a daily basis, or even a pitch by
pitch basis, which a lot of people do pitch by pitch,
Who does that? Oh, what a surprise this offense didn't

(02:12):
come through exactly Why is it a surprise to you?
Do you not know who's on this team? Have you
not been here for the like I'd love to see
them get shut out less. I'd love to see them
score three plus four plus five plus runs with regularity.
Be nice if they weren't middle of the packing homers,
be nice, if they were top ten in runs scored.

Speaker 5 (02:32):
They're not.

Speaker 6 (02:33):
They're playing without your on Alvarez. When they played with him,
they weren't any good also because he wasn't. Who do
you think is on this team? What's this big? I
can't believe they're underperforming. Are they underperforming as an offense?
They're performing, Yes, they're performing. They're performing right as is.
This is kind of who they are. I mentioned this
yesterday going into the game. There's six games over five hundred.

(02:57):
There's only two teams in the American League better than them. Well,
mind you, this is going into yesterday, and they have
coming off of a very strong offensive month where you
are on Alvarez contributed the same number of hits that
you did.

Speaker 5 (03:11):
Zero.

Speaker 6 (03:12):
He went over for four in May, so far as
oh for June, and they look at what's ahead instead
of maybe looking at what they should be doing. What
they should be doing is thanking their lucky stars. They've
pitched themselves into a very good position. With one hundred
games or so to go, they can absolutely win this Division.

(03:32):
I do think it's within reason to believe they could
catch one of the two teams that's in first place.
Along with them, they're still a first place team. The
American League West went for five last night, so nothing
changed in the standings. And yesterday afternoon the Angels lost
to an afternoon game and extras when they scored seven
runs in the first two innings. Because they're not good.

Speaker 5 (03:52):
Astros would kill for that kind of offensive production.

Speaker 6 (03:54):
The Angels have a better offense than the Astros. What
can I tell you? And who's in first place today? Yeah,
it's baseball. It's a team game. The part of the
team's game we mentioned the least is the part of
the team's game that is the best. They have an
unbelievable defense and it's paved the way for a lot
of extra outs that they are no longer giving away
their infield defense, even with cleanup hitter Christian Walker playing

(04:16):
bad offense. Guess who's up with runners in scoring position.
Guess who's walking back to the dugout after a swing
and miss on a third strike. It's been the story
of his entire season, with a home run mixed in
here and a walkoff mixed in there, but the majority
of his season has been you're in a position as
the cleanup hitter with runners on to do damage, and

(04:37):
he doesn't. All things considered, his involvement in their best
in the Major's infield defense matters. I mean, Jeremy Paine
has taking hits off the board. In yesterday's game, they
probably I mean, I would have loved to see him
throw home early in the game. Instead he chose to
throw to first, which at that point in the game,
is it's the right play. It's the second inning. Kind

(04:58):
of assume that the games if they score, when in
fact the game was over because they scored one run
was all that was needed. Same thing happened the day before, though,
the Astro's got to run off Paul Skeins and the
seventh inning and that was all she wrote. So think
about who they are maybe as we roll through today's show.
In the final one hundred games or so, finish up
the series in Pittsburgh tonight. Another early start times, so

(05:20):
we'll get you into the Astros on deck show. I'll
go to Cleveland from here. Guardians and Yankees involved in
their series this week. Guardians are right there with the
Astros roughly the same record, so do four or five
other teams roughly the same record. Plenty of things to
still change, and got a little bit of info on
where things stand with a couple of the injured players

(05:41):
over the last couple of days with conversations with Dana
Brown here on Sports Talk seven to ninety Joe Spott
It we will hear from Brian McTaggart a little bit
later on this program. He made his weekly visit to
the Matt Thomas Show with Ross earlier, so we'll share
some of his thoughts on this series mirroring so many
other roads series for the Astros. They're now eleven and

(06:02):
sixteen on the road. They don't win series on the road,
even when they open a series with a victory over
Paul Skeens, the only good pitcher on the other team,
and then they have a chance to still win the series.
But you'd like to have already taken the series going
into Game three.

Speaker 5 (06:18):
You're not a professional athlete, nor have you ever been,
nor will you ever be. In the same can be
said for me, but I'm still asking you this question close.

Speaker 6 (06:26):
I get paid and I work in sports.

Speaker 5 (06:29):
Yeah, to talk about it.

Speaker 6 (06:30):
I'm a professional in the sports industry. Yeah, but we're very,
very close with this question. Is aj Stroud and I
very similar? Jordon Alvarez and myself can barely tell us
apart me and Jalen Green.

Speaker 5 (06:42):
It's like we're twins. I'll wait until you're done. Were
you done?

Speaker 6 (06:45):
What you got?

Speaker 5 (06:47):
It had to feel like I mean, I don't want
to use an inappropriate term like some people in sports do,
but to hit a home run off of Paul Skins,
it's gotta feel good.

Speaker 6 (06:57):
I'm sure it felt good in a game like that too.
The situation I had more to do with. I got
to Paul Skeins is a veteran player who's trying to
not be a drain on his employer. Who said, how's
sixty million dollars over the next three I.

Speaker 5 (07:12):
Think he's already doing that. He's draining their funds.

Speaker 6 (07:15):
Well, again, there's not the player's fault for saying yes
for this. I don't know that it will turn out
to be a bad contract. It's just really bad for
it to begin this way. Are two months in, we are.

Speaker 5 (07:28):
Rapidly approaching one more signing in which you start getting
the stick. Because this is how things are in twenty
twenty five with social media, is first base cursed for
the Astros. You're gonna start getting that kind of stuff.
If they signed one more.

Speaker 6 (07:40):
All lines are open for that. It will be a
brief conversation. If that's the uh, what's presented to us
or at least to me. No, I believe me, I get.
I'm all for what do we need to sacrifice? I mean,
if you want to play that game that's called Major League,
it's it's a movie, people, And if we need to
sacrifice something, I mean, well that was Jose's glove and
Bull Durham something that to sacrifice.

Speaker 5 (08:00):
That buried Carlos Beltron's glove in the outfield, and then
he was the ringleader of the cheating scandal.

Speaker 6 (08:06):
His glove wasn't cursed.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Stuck.

Speaker 6 (08:09):
His glove wasn't needed.

Speaker 5 (08:11):
Well, neither was his bat.

Speaker 6 (08:12):
Well, he didn't bring his bat to Houston. He brought
a scheme to Houston. I think I don't know, but yeah,
if you want to talk about what they need to
do lift a non existent curse, I'll entertain that idea's kidding.
They signed a player that wasn't very good, and then
they signed Christian Walker very very very good defensively, He's
not gotten off to a very good offensive start here,
He's not enjoying basically the worst offensive season since he

(08:35):
became a regular over the last five years. Very unexpected.

Speaker 5 (08:40):
I just it is even now surprising to me how
feudal most of the time. But you said something that overall.
I don't know if it's if it helps Astros fans
sleep at night or what have you. But this is
not just and I was talking about this with Ross,
this is not just an Al West thing, like the

(09:04):
American League is so mediocre this year by and large.

Speaker 6 (09:08):
Well, if you hadn't noticed, and I know, I think
somebody put something together on this earlier today, and the
numbers are all there for anybody who wants to look
at them. I think one of the reasons the records
are what they are around the American League. You know,
yesterday the Dodgers lose a game to fall two games
behind overall the Mets and the do Dodgers don't have
the best record in baseball around Major League Baseball, offense

(09:29):
is down, and with offense being down, it's brought everybody
closer together. The best teams with presumably the best rosters
of offensive players and sluggers, et cetera. Well, those numbers
are down enough that you know, these teams aren't that dissimilar,
even with dissimilar payrolls and clearly star power versus non

(09:49):
star power. I do think it's also on the other
end of things, with a team like the Rockies, like
they can't score almost at all. They just got to
twelve wins. Pittsburgh's kind of in that same boat. Terrible
offense and not very good pitching. The A's are really
good offense, terrible pitching. But most teams aren't that different
because very few teams are really going off consistently offensively.

(10:13):
Just look at the overall numbers they are down as
a league, and I think that's brought so many of
these teams closer together. I mean, the Asters are five
games over five hundred. They're battling for the third best
record in the American League. Yeah, five games over more
than a third of the way through the season.

Speaker 5 (10:28):
Imagine if the Yankees played with the same baseballs as
everyone else, it'd really get everybody.

Speaker 6 (10:33):
Back there to the same baseballs as long as they're
not in New York.

Speaker 5 (10:36):
Well fifty percent of the time it works every time.
That's basically the moniker. I could attach to that way
of thinking, which is right, by the way, I agree
if it's only in Yankee Stadium, where.

Speaker 6 (10:46):
Do you think their numbers this year are significantly better
at home than they are on the road?

Speaker 5 (10:50):
Offensively speaking, Yeah, probably, But I think they're similar to
last season. I think it would be the same scenario
because wan Sota was awesome for them last year. You
could make an ar argument he was better than judge.

Speaker 6 (11:02):
You could make an argument that he was in a
contract year, and there'd be nobody on the other side
of the argument.

Speaker 5 (11:07):
Yeah, and there would be going with the money still
in the bag.

Speaker 6 (11:11):
Yankees have a higher ops on the road than at
home this season.

Speaker 5 (11:15):
Is that supposed to impress me?

Speaker 6 (11:16):
No, just saying that even the baseballs that fly further
in Yankee Stadium that they obviously use, it's not making
much of a difference in how they perform.

Speaker 5 (11:25):
Many other stadiums they've played in so far also have
jet streams to be investigated. Well, we'll have to see,
but I am not I am not even concerned at
this point about first of all, the Astro's ability to
win this division. It's just blah. I mean, it's really
as a matter of fact, you could argue that the

(11:48):
Mariners are underperforming offensively, and that's just laughable when you
think about how bad they were last year as an offense.

Speaker 6 (11:55):
Yeah, I think that's just a factor of what I
just talked about. You've got one players putting up an
MVP caliber season, and who else on their offense? The
other eight guys in the lineup on an everyday basis.
Maybe Dylan Moore is having a plus offensive season, Julio
Rodriguez is not. JB. Crawford is not, although much better
than he was last year. There's really nobody else for them.
Jorge Polanco had a great month of April and has

(12:17):
been unusable ever since. That's who that I mean, this
is who they are. The biggest difference for them is
their their pitching staff. I mean, I'm not a genius
and I wasn't guaranteed to be right, but the odds
were in my favor. They were gonna have injury issues
on their pitching staff this year. They just basically didn't
have any last year. Just got George Kirby back. He
took one off the face in yesterday's game and what

(12:39):
was his best performance of the season, but they did
not win. You've had Lucas or You've got Gilbert Logan
Gilbert on the sidelines for a couple months, and obviously
there's not a definitive end in sight. It takes a toll.
They're Bullpen's awesome at the very very back end, and
they're figuring it out everywhere else. So I mean, I'm

(12:59):
not surprise. They're on pace to be exactly the same
as they've been for the last three years. They're gonna
win more than they lose. They're gonna be in the
hunt till the end of the season, and I expect
them to come up just a little bit short of
the Houston Astros. I hope the Astros are no worse
than the third best American League team to make the playoffs,
but that remains to be seen. I don't want to
just see them arrive in the postseason. You'd like to

(13:22):
believe in their ability to win in the postseason. Win
a wild card series if they're forced to be in
it again, Win a series where you have home field
advantage in a short five game series because you won
the division and we're one of the best two teams
all that in front of them, and finally today in
front of us tonight the first of the last four
to seven games of the NBA season, which will send

(13:43):
us into full blown off season mode, with these two
teams joining the twenty eight others that are positioning themselves,
getting ready to make their contract option decisions, getting ready
to line up the last of their draft workouts, getting
ready to finalize trade deals in advance of free agency opening.
And the Rockets obviously are very very very much entrenched

(14:05):
in that if there is a player that's very good
at basketball, well though Rockets probably have their name attached
to him, if there's a possibility that he could be
on the move. To that end, the best the NBA
has to offer, and how much of that best is
made up of Houston Rockets basketball players talk about that.
Welcome in your Phone call seven one three, two one
two five, seven ninety mentioned Brian McTaggart. We'll make a

(14:28):
visit to the show. We'll hear from him at three
point thirty, and of course we bring you the Astros
on Deck show at four point thirty. Here on Thursday's
edition of The A.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
Team The Age on Sports Talk seven ninety they.

Speaker 6 (14:43):
Gonna clean up your looks with all the lazin the
books to make a citizen out of you.

Speaker 5 (14:50):
All right, let's get it out of the way.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
Call.

Speaker 5 (14:56):
This is the most underwhelming quote, big name. I'm a
quarterback signing, possibly in the history of the NFL until
further notice, but it will be don't worry. Aaron Rodgers
is apparently going to finally sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Hey,
maybe the Astros will see him on their way out
of town. I doubt it.

Speaker 6 (15:15):
Probably not a first pitch candidate for tonight's game, imagine,
but nonetheless probably will be asked at some point during
the course of the summer and fall to do so
for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But the reports are in all
across the league Aaron Rodgers is set to agree to
terms to become at Pittsburgh Steelers. This was, again with

(15:38):
so few teams needing a change at quarterback to begin with,
then with so many teams making those changes at quarterback,
whether it was simply going about it through the draft,
doing what Cleveland did, going with other veterans, and then
doing it through the draft what the Saints did watching
their quarterback retire, replacing him through the draft, Vikings were

(15:59):
able to elevate JJ McCarthy. Kirk Cousins is still probably
playing for somebody else. Russell Wilson, whom Aaron Rodgers is replacing,
is one of a host of options that the New
York Giants have. They traded into the first round of
the draft to draft a player they probably should be
starting over Russell Wilson and now Aaron Rodgers, as many,

(16:21):
many many people expected for many, many, many weeks and months,
will in fact team up with Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh
try to see what they have in the addition of
DK Metcalf. How their offense quite obviously will change. Running
it with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields last year, running
it with no capable quarterbacks the year before that, this

(16:43):
is not a very good place to be if you're
an NFL team. And even though Mike Tomlin has been
a perennial playoff coach, he even made the playoffs with
both of those two sets of quarterbacks the last two years.
Before that all was well, Ben Roethlisberger was Mike Tomlin's quarterback.
This will be the third straight year they have not
made the effort or come up with an idea or

(17:06):
felt the best move to make is not to make
one at all. This is a third straight year they
do not have an answer at quarterback. They're just employing several.

Speaker 5 (17:15):
Yeah, and you mentioned the one thing that intrigues me
about this even here on June fifth, twenty twenty five.
This late in the game in Aaron Rodgers' career, and frankly,
if we're being honest, this late in the tenure of
one Mike Tomlin with the Pittsburgh Steelers, because as you
have you you're the one that kind of I mean,
it's it's it was not a breaking news concept that

(17:39):
bad quarterback play gets head coaches fired in the NFL,
But as is usually the case with the Steelers, nothing
about any of those scenarios as normal. They've had three
head coaches in the history of their franchise.

Speaker 6 (17:50):
Yeah, you can overcome bad quarterback play getting you fired
when you have a resume like Mike Tomlin.

Speaker 5 (17:56):
Correct or Bill Kwer before him. I mean, and it's
not like they had a litany of awesome quarterbacks there.
When he was taking Neil O'Donnell. By the way, that
was the last time the Cowboys were in the Super
Bowl Cowboy fans want to just tell you about that again.
Neil O'Donnell defeated by Troy Aikman and company back in
after the ninety five or ninety six season. But you know,

(18:17):
if anybody could make something out of this union, this
marriage in football terms, I mean, and we talked about
this a little while back when there was speculation Mike
Tomlin is in charge there. Mike Tomlin is not some pushover.
Mike Tomlin's not gonna probably deal with any Shenanigans from

(18:40):
a DIVA quarterback like Aaron Rodgers. But at the end
of the day, Aaron Rodgers still has to get the
job done.

Speaker 6 (18:46):
Yeah, all the Shenanigan stuff with Rogers, to me, has
had zero impact on anything other than his last year
in Green Bay because I do think his unwillingness to
participate with a very young offense and the group that
they had there, do think that hurt their ability to
play really good football. Since obviously he's only been gone
a couple of years. I don't think any of this,

(19:07):
all that stuff mean to me. It means that nothing
because it's not going to impact this season. They have
not changed at all. The only thing that's changed is
what the equipment manager has to stitch on the back
of a new number jersey. They have the same caliber
quarterback play they've had for three straight years. They got
the same caliber talent around the quarterback, around the defense
on the football field, same coaching styles, same leadership. They're

(19:29):
going to be exactly the same team. They are not
out of the picture unfortunately in the AFC until the playoffs.
If they get to the playoffs, they will be as
easy to eliminate as ever. But I can't eliminate them today.
Even though among all the good teams in the AFC,
which I have to include them, they clearly have the
worst quarterback situation. They should not make the playoffs. They

(19:52):
certainly should not make the playoffs from a division that
boasts the Bengals and the Ravens. It's probably nice that
the Browns are all also there, but they have each
of the last two years, four times in the last
five years, so I'm not ready to write their team off.
But this this move to me, means absolutely nothing. They
would have been the same team if they didn't sign him.

(20:14):
They're the same team now that they have signed him.
Because their level of quarterback play remains unchanged, it's unacceptable,
it's subpar.

Speaker 5 (20:22):
Well, yes, that's I cannot argue with that. But we
talked about this a few weeks back when we were
arguing about whether or not the Cincinnati Bengals would make
the postseason, meaning I was arguing they wouldn't for a
number of reasons. It would be like, that's a death
knell in someone's Cincinnati Bengals career over there. If that

(20:44):
happens at the expense of the Steelers with sixty year
old Aaron Rodgers leading them to the postseason, right since
they're in the division and all that kind of stuff,
don't you think somebody loses their job in Cincinnati?

Speaker 7 (20:55):
You mean, if Zach Taylor finds a way to finish
below a Mike Tomlin leve Aaron Rodgers team.

Speaker 6 (21:00):
Yes, again, that happens last year, that's iain, Yes, it
just happened. He also coached the team to the Super Bowl.
So somewhat like Mike Tomlin, there's a little resume to
look at. What if it were probably more like what.

Speaker 5 (21:15):
If what works this marriage temporary or as it would be,
he's not.

Speaker 6 (21:21):
Good enough, he's he's better than.

Speaker 5 (21:23):
Better than what they had last year when they made
the playoffs.

Speaker 6 (21:25):
No, they're gonna be Tenant. Ten and seven is the
high water mark. That's as good as they can be,
just like they have been for two years three years
now with him, nothing's gonna change.

Speaker 7 (21:34):
By the way, you were talking with Zach Taylor, it's
dan Quinn two point zo when he was at Every
coach that isn't the elite.

Speaker 6 (21:40):
Everybody tries to put that on every coach that gets
there once, like they can't get there again. No, dan
Quinn was thirty minutes away from getting there again this
past year.

Speaker 7 (21:49):
No, no, no, no, I'm saying it's in Atlanta, Like after
those three years, he kind of no longer had that
leeway Lee, so they sent him elsewhere.

Speaker 6 (21:55):
Oh you mean the timing of Okay, your resume was
good until we kiss can't handle it anymore.

Speaker 7 (22:00):
That makes more sense, That's what I'm saying. No, the
Atlanta dan Quinn, not this past dan Quinn. No.

Speaker 8 (22:04):
I know.

Speaker 6 (22:05):
I see what you're saying completely now, and you're probably right.
I just wonder if it's more well, can we allow
him to change coordinators again? Usually your head coach is
allowed to change coordinators once, for sure, Dimiko's done that,
by the way, and Zach Taylor's done that defensively, do
they allow that on the offensive side his forte where
it's really his fault and not the offensive coordinator. So

(22:28):
I don't know that that appeases anybody, But yeah, I'm
what you're saying could certainly play out. I don't believe
that's I mean, how that could even happen. Like the
amount of talent that Cincinnati has on offense versus what
Pittsburgh has on offense, I don't think it's balanced out
by the opposite, the amount of talent the Steelers have
on defense versus what the Bengals have on defense. I

(22:50):
just look at those two teams, and I think the
Bengals are better. I don't anticipate Aaron Rodgers to the
Steelers making a bit of difference. They're not a pushover.
They're hard to beat. They'll be in games. They might
make the playoffs. They will be the worst team in
the NFL playoffs if they make it, just like last year.

Speaker 5 (23:11):
It's I'm still gonna be fascinated to see how it
how it all works out, because if for no other reason,
then this is not because it sounds to me, like,
you're blaming ninety percent on the non success in New York,
on the fact that he was playing for one of
the most dysfunctional organizations in sports, not necessarily that he
wasn't a good quarterback, he was injured one.

Speaker 6 (23:31):
Of those years, any of those things, and I would
definitely disagree with I.

Speaker 5 (23:34):
Didn't say you said it. I said it sounds like
what you said.

Speaker 6 (23:38):
Well, I'm sorry it did, because I don't think that
at all. He was definitely one of the reasons they
were a five win team. Well the first year he
didn't play. Yeah, I don't care about the first year.
We're talking about last year. No, I know he was
one hundred percent one of the major reasons why they
had five. Like he's there are things he still does
well enough in a game you're like, yeah, this is
why he's here, this is why they should win. But

(23:58):
it's all counteracted by all the things he thinks he
can still do, but.

Speaker 5 (24:01):
Can don't you think even last year and especially the
year before, they had a better roster than that to
overcome some of that stuff in Pittsburgh, No, it's in
New York.

Speaker 7 (24:10):
Yeah, but they had no quarterback play and that was
why he got That's why Salar got fired.

Speaker 6 (24:14):
He played with Garrett Wilson and Devonte Adams, right, who
I mean, there's five teams that have better than that.

Speaker 7 (24:20):
Maybe he got to pick his coordinator, he got to
have a say on aut he got to.

Speaker 6 (24:24):
James Harden the team. What would you like?

Speaker 5 (24:26):
So hard the team?

Speaker 6 (24:28):
Apparently, But we're saying the two players he had there
are good. I just yesterday you weren't here. I was
talking about the Rams and their roster. Well, they have
DeVante Adams this year, and I think that's good. It
might be an upgrade from what they got from Cooper Cup. Obviously,
Garrett Wilson is one of the most desirable young receivers
in the NFL, right, and they were out there on
the field with him for the majority of the season
as they for a number of different reasons. By no

(24:50):
means all on Aaron Rodgers. I'm not saying that either,
But if you watch their games instead of only looking
at the numbers, which weren't all that good to begin with.
I mean, a passer rating of under ninety one in
this day and age is not good. He was a
reason their offense, his play, their inability to convert on
third down, the lack of being on the same page
with the coordinator and the player. It was all right

(25:11):
in front of you. I don't know if it happens
again this year, but a bounce back to the really
good Packers version of Aaron Rodgers, which is four years
removed from this as he gets to age forty two,
I'm definitely not expecting that this year.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
Here.

Speaker 7 (25:25):
Let me ask you, guys, which one are you taking?
Garrett Wilson DK Metcalf.

Speaker 6 (25:29):
I mean I would probably. I think it's kind of
a I'll take the younger player. I'll take Garrett Wilson.
It's Garrett Wilson, and therefore he's a longer on the team.
So congratulations, you're gonna have a worse roster, any worse
receiving core than what you had last year in New York.
On offense, the team might be better.

Speaker 5 (25:45):
We can we can kick this around, but we're late.
So our best of KS segment is straight.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Ahead the A team on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (26:00):
And you'll see this should be putting out between five
and fifteen.

Speaker 6 (26:03):
Posts a day. Four hundred people were arrested for things
that they said on social media. History repeats itself type
and you'll succeed. Never doubt that you're the one who
plus we go one building lead. You're the best X.
Nothing's gonna ever top You know you're the best of X.

(26:25):
Posting every single day. You know you're the best of
XX breaking the entire internet. Back at it here on
a Thursday edition of the A Team halfway through our
number one brings you best of X. Anything out there
on social media, especially the comments and the replies, usually

(26:46):
find its home here on this program at this time,
and today is no exception. We will look at the
NBA someone we reference here and there oh need for
the name, but just some of the commentary from him,
was quoted as saying on his program. As the NBA
Finals approached this evening game one tonight between the Pacers,

(27:09):
second best team in the NBA in twenty twenty five
January first to date, against the Thunder, the best team
in the NBA since twenty twenty five began January first.
Those two teams have the best two records. They are
the only two teams to have won twelve playoff games
this postseason and arrive in the finals. These are the
best two teams as the basketball has dictated for the

(27:31):
last five and a half months. But on the program
in question, this person said, I'm not that excited for
these NBA finals. I like superstars in the NBA finals,
and we don't really have that. I'm gonna bash Adam
Silver here. You're the reason we've got this. Everybody is
entitled to an opinion and certainly is welcome to debate it,

(27:51):
which I'm sure he undoubtedly did. But two different former
NBA hoopers certainly didn't feel like this was a particularly
good take. One said, just say you don't like basketball,
go on YouTube and watch highlights. You're upset that the
two best teams are in the finals. This is loser talk.
You don't love the game, don't know the game, so

(28:12):
you can't talk about it without a superstar fan base
to cater to. The second former NBA player, who's a
current broadcaster, said I get why you think that, and
in this case a different quote from the same person,
Give me super teams or give me death. That's what
I like. I like superstars in the NBA Finals. And
as mentioned, this other former NBA player current broadcaster said,

(28:34):
I get why you think that. You can only decipher
basketball by watching a couple of players, whereas actually understanding
the game is a problem for you. You're where do
you stand on this? As we get to an Indiana
Pacers four seed against the Oklahoma City Thunder number one
seed NBA Finals, which includes the MVP, multiple all NBA players,

(28:58):
the two teams as I just mentioned that have laid
by record the best basketball in the NBA through January, February, March, April, May,
and now June.

Speaker 5 (29:07):
That part right there is where you start. Because anybody
who watches any league, if they're telling you they don't
want the two best teams meeting for the championship of
that season, they're lying to you, or they just I
don't know what they want. If that's not what you
do want, you know what I mean?

Speaker 6 (29:23):
Well, I can understand a viewpoint on anybody's platform, whether
you're tied to the NBA or you think maybe bread
is buttered there and maybe it's the truth, and maybe
it's a little bit not the truth. Do you think
more eyeballs are on the NBA's marquee product, the NBA
Finals if the Boston Celtics are there this year and

(29:46):
the Los Angeles Lakers are there or Steph Curry's there.
I mean, at some point we've talked about this billion times.
Steph Curry's not playing forever. Lebron James, while it seems
like it is also not playing forever, they will both
be retired very very soon. The little has to fall
into somebody else's hands first and foremost.

Speaker 5 (30:04):
And that's something else that Ross and I talked about
today is the viewership based on market size is in
my opinion, one of the biggest hurdles the NBA has
to overcome. Not to get on the same footing as
the NFL, because that's not gonna happen, but just to
not be looked at in such a basic way. I
really do think that's a basic way of not only

(30:28):
fans looking at you, but the league itself not promoting
itself the right way. And that's a that's an Adam
Silver thing. That's a league problem, a perception problem. You
don't even have.

Speaker 6 (30:38):
All of the Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Shay Gilders, Alexander
commercials that we've been watching at nauseum for the last
couple of while. That leads to more I want, that
leads me to my face forward. These huge superstars.

Speaker 5 (30:49):
That leads me to my next point. If you have
a good product, even if people don't figure that out
until Game one of the finals has been completed or
what have you, people will watch you if it's being
discovered by casuals, even they Hey, this Pacers Thunder series
is really exciting to watch. If you just take the

(31:11):
time to put your eyeballs on it, that'll take care
of itself.

Speaker 6 (31:16):
Yeah, some of the games played by the Thunder were
probably not very fun to watch because they clabbered the opposition.
Even in the most recent final series in the Conference Finals,
they clabbered the Wolves a little bit too often. But
a just style of play. You're talking about the product, Like,
is it fun to watch Oklahoma City play the way
they play? Obviously with the caveat of except for the fouling. Yeah,

(31:39):
if you're really watching how they play, I would think
a basketball fan would like watching that team. And if
you're watching the Pacers play and you don't like how
they play basketball, I don't know what to tell you.
They the way that these teams play, like watching the
Knicks play, and some of it was the Pacers defense.
Is it fun to watch teams use only the last
six seconds of the shot clock all game long, for

(31:59):
an entire six game series, because that's what Tom Thibodeau's
Nicks did for six straight games. Couldn't get the ball
pass half court or didn't want to put the ball
in Brunson's hands and let him hang on to it,
and then with six seconds left they would do something.

Speaker 5 (32:12):
Yes, that's how fun the way is certainly one thing.
But going back to the market size thing, just real quick,
because we're up against it. Unlike Chicago, which was a
built in big market team that just happened to have
Michael Jordan fall to them because Portland was stupid. I mean,
Cleveland was.

Speaker 6 (32:28):
A slide by the way, the Draft Knight slide of
Michael Jordan. It was farther than it needed to be
one spot, I mean, geez. And they did it again
a few like twenty years later. They did it with
Kevin Durant's It says Greg odin Am, I supposed to
pronounce that Kevin Durant or is this really what you want?

Speaker 5 (32:44):
Are you guys this stupid again? Yes they are. It
was the answer. But Cleveland and Lebron James, that's not
a big market and a big market player. That's a
really big market player playing in a crap market. That's
what that is. But it doesn't matter because the player
and the style of play and the eyeballs and all that,
they will follow the best players.

Speaker 6 (33:04):
Yeah, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, LA. They can't always be
in the finals for your league to succeed. If the
other twenty six teams get there, you fail as a league.
That you can't operate like that.

Speaker 5 (33:16):
Before Philadelphia won the Super Bowl, Kansas City was basically
ruling the roost and last time I'd checked, they're not
a very big city or big market.

Speaker 6 (33:23):
There were a bunch of other comments and replies added
to all this. By the way, the NBA players that
responded to this, like, man, you are a casual and
don't know what you're talking about. This NBA should be fun. CJ. Miles,
former Utah Jazz player and elsewhere and one of the
broadcasters for the Phoenix Suns at jump Shot eight former
Houston Rocket legend Eddie Johnson. As we continue here on

(33:46):
the eighteen.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 9 (33:50):
Ninety, winding down the first hour here on the A
team Sports Talk seven ninety, we take you until four
thirty and then get you into Astros on deck.

Speaker 5 (34:08):
Is the rubber game between these two teams, not the
Steelers and the Astros will get underway. Pittsburgh in the
news today, man, big, big, big time news. How did
you like to feel if you were a Pittsburgh Pirates
fan and you've got, you know, the best young pitcher
in baseball? Bar none, There's no like, is there anybody

(34:29):
in the rotation you wouldn't trade on the Astros to
have Paul Skins? The answer is no, by the way,
I mean you have to there. You go like, but
there's no chance you're ever gonna win anything. And I
remember very vividly right before the Astros started going on
this run we're talking. I think they had consecutive three
consecutive years where the Pirates were in the postseason. I

(34:51):
want to say twelve, thirteen and fourteen, but it might
be thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. It was right before the Astros
started winning. And I remember watching those games on TV
and the environment there, and I mean it was basically
terrible talents for baseball, and just I was like, oh
this is cool. Man, Like the Pirates they finally are
like getting some of this taste of postseason and it

(35:12):
looks like it's a good environment and that ballpark's fantastic,
and it's just no, there's no chance. And you go
in every season having like the guy at the top
of your rotation like he's must see TV nationally and just.

Speaker 6 (35:28):
There's no chance they're ever going to do anything with it. Well,
the only chance. Like many teams that spend or don't
spend the way they do, you just can't miss on
any of your players. They did not miss on Paul Skeins.
They probably missed on Kibrian Hayes. They got him to
the majors and it looked like they didn't miss on him,
But now that he's been in the majors and gotten
a fat extension, it kind of looks like they have.

(35:51):
They thought they did the same thing with Brian Reynolds,
who had several good years, but they extended a player
who he doesn't help you win. He should have been
move long long ago, and I think because of the contract.
There have been other teams that have balked at that,
but they just you don't have much of an opportunity
to miss on draft picks, first, second, third picks of
whatever draft you have. You know, it'd be nice now

(36:12):
for these teams if there was not a draft lottery implemented,
because their record is going to put them near the
top of the draft, but a lottery could then get
in the way of that. We'll see how it goes
over the next handful of years if we really feel
like that impacts teams like that. It's just an ownership decision.
It's not a bad market. Shouldn't be. And you're right,

(36:32):
those years where they were really really good from thirteen
to fifteen a great time to be a Pirates fan.
It was fun. They were not only were they winning,
it looked like they had the type of team that
would win in the playoffs and advance. You know, back
to back years they went to the wild card game
and lost and played one postseason game. They never got
out of the DS the year before that, and they've
had only one winning season since. It's twenty twenty five.

(36:55):
That's ten years, two years of one hundred lost seasons.
They were on very much a one hundred lost pace
during the COVID season and they're not far off from
that right now. They are on a one hundred lost
pace again.

Speaker 5 (37:08):
And McCutcheon was a bright young star back then. Now
he's the.

Speaker 6 (37:13):
He's a nice player to have on a team. You
hope the younger players can learn from, but they don't
have any of those younger players.

Speaker 5 (37:20):
He was that guy back then, is what I'm saying.

Speaker 6 (37:21):
Yeh, he was awesome. Yeah, I mean he was really
really good. I think the level of his excellence is
lower than most. Like he was the best player they had,
and they were very good, but not a superstar.

Speaker 5 (37:34):
No, no, and you have to have other guys. But
I know, look, I'm not but when we're talking about
the NBA, and you know, market size and how people
go about it and perception and all that, I would
argue it's a way worse problem in Major League Baseball.

Speaker 6 (37:55):
But some of its ownership related it, and the Rays win.
Of course, they can't.

Speaker 5 (38:01):
Anybody can win in baseball. There's no salary cap.

Speaker 6 (38:04):
So it's it's a very different issue. Yeah, But the
issue is the Rays are unbelievable at developing players and
not very good at doing anything with those players of greatness.
Now they've been to the playoffs, they've obviously reached the
World Series, and even in the World Series, the manner
in which they've put together all these great players and
developed all this and analytics heavy we're even complaining about

(38:26):
what they did in that appearance. Yeah, enough of Blake Snow.
We got to get him out of the game. This
is too much, too good. We got to go with
somebody else here. You know, the the the openers of
Major League Baseball. They do a lot of good things
except spend money to keep players. And then when they did,
they chose Wander Franco. Bad choice. Oh, unless you don't

(38:48):
mind everybody minds guy who's everybody minds felonies plural.

Speaker 5 (38:54):
Yeah, that was That's unfortunate in a number of different ways.
But like I'm saying, like you know it, major League baseball,
it's almost exclusively an ownership problem. It's not the market
size never really comes into play, other than to say,
the Major League Baseball powers that be loved last year's
World Series.

Speaker 6 (39:13):
Well, it's it's ownership related, not market size, except for
the fact that some of the markets generate way way
way way war money that they keep for the most part.

Speaker 5 (39:23):
That's a good point. That's actually a very good point.
All Right, we've got the three o'clock hour coming up next.
Do not go anywhere. We've got a lot to get to,
including how many Rockets players are in the top one
hundred as we go into a very pivotal offseason for
the Rockets.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
The A Team on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Ninety two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam Talking Your Team,
Adam Clinton and Adam Weckler are the A Team.

Speaker 5 (40:04):
It is the A Team here on Sports Talk seven
ninety It is a Thursday edition of the program wex
ac Cole Thompson with you until four p thirty when
we'll transition into the Astros on Deck Show. We've already
done the best of X with Lazy NBA takes. By
the way, did you ever reveal those those principles that

(40:25):
were involved in that?

Speaker 6 (40:27):
I sure did.

Speaker 5 (40:28):
That was at the beginning of the segment when I
was walking back in here.

Speaker 6 (40:30):
I'm assuming no, it was at the end when you
were sitting next to me, Eddie Johnson and Miles.

Speaker 5 (40:34):
I forgot about that part.

Speaker 6 (40:35):
I did not say who spoke it on the air.

Speaker 5 (40:37):
That's what I was. That's what I was actually asking
the uh And you're doing that intentionally, I'm assuming sure
you don't want to just tell.

Speaker 6 (40:44):
Me who it is, not while our mics are on.
I mean, I'm not trying to keep it from you,
but it doesn't need our attention.

Speaker 5 (40:52):
All right, I'll go with it. The NBA Finals do
start tonight is the Thunder and the Pacers. By the way,
I know you know this, but I don't know if
everybody else does. Tyrese Haliburton was on my list, you know,
that's very lengthy, the one that I have with the
sports figures. But what he did for the guy that
got the trash thrown at him outside him Mount Madison
Square Garden in the the moments leading up to the

(41:15):
Eastern Conference finals kind of turned me around on him.

Speaker 6 (41:17):
On your list of what sports hate, of course, like
for a player in the Eastern Conference.

Speaker 5 (41:23):
Yeah, but Rockets, that's all it comes down to.

Speaker 6 (41:25):
Yeah, like the one time a year, two times a year,
you come in the house competition with him.

Speaker 5 (41:30):
Really, you come into their house, you try to show
them up on their floor, you.

Speaker 6 (41:34):
To play them.

Speaker 5 (41:36):
I wouldn't say that beat them they I mean the
final score said he beat them. That's a team game,
and that's what I go with. I mean, it's a
team game. It's not the only one that scored that night.

Speaker 6 (41:46):
But that was acting like he's he's oh for his
career in games where he's the only pacer that scored.
I haven't been any, but I'm sure there will be.

Speaker 5 (41:54):
Well, then technically he's not OH for Well, I guess
he is. Technically there you go semantics on Tyrese Halliburton.

Speaker 6 (42:01):
If you saw the NBA ranked since you brought him
up first, yep, where would you put him?

Speaker 5 (42:11):
I mean he is Let me put it this way,
I think he's a top fifteen player, but I think
because of the market he's in, he isn't in the
top fifteen. But I could be wrong because I have
not looked at this. Was the market have to do
with it?

Speaker 2 (42:27):
Well?

Speaker 6 (42:27):
What do we just talk about? Perception? Is reality not
in this? In my opinion, it has Literally it couldn't
be further from can you play basketball? That's what how
you ranked players.

Speaker 5 (42:36):
Let me ask you this, just because you brought that up.
Who was the second best two guard for most of
the time that Michael Jordan was in the league? Scott, No,
No two guard? Scott? He was a okay. See, but
you know that because you're you, I don't know how
many people would have would have automatically said that name

(42:57):
simply because of the fact that he played on the
West Coast and Portland's.

Speaker 6 (43:01):
Mean there might be something to that, But I also
think we're talking about West Coast now doesn't.

Speaker 5 (43:07):
Matter, not as much when people.

Speaker 6 (43:10):
Watch games or know about games. There's no social media.

Speaker 5 (43:13):
It's social media.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (43:14):
Right.

Speaker 6 (43:14):
He was also a five time All NBA player while
playing on the West Coast for almost his whole career. Yeah,
and again to make All NBA there there's only the
other spots available to the t guard. If Tyler Jordan
was going to be ahead of you.

Speaker 5 (43:28):
But if Tyree's Halliburton played in New York, don't you
think he would get just by default? Don't you think
he'd be higher up this list than wherever he is,
which I still don't know where he's at.

Speaker 6 (43:39):
I do not really, I don't know how he could be.
I know where he's on the list. So I'm giving
a much more informed and.

Speaker 5 (43:46):
I'm just saying it's right. I'm saying that's the way
they end Also not.

Speaker 6 (43:49):
Asking our listeners to listen to you and me and
Cole talk about a list made by someone not paying attention.
It's made by people who are paying attention, So I
think it's a respectable list. Okay, I mean he's an
all NBA player, so that, as you said, all automatically,
that puts him in the top fifteen. Right, he's seven. Wow,
I'm not sure why I would look at that and think, well,

(44:11):
that's not right. I think that is right. That's actually
still higher than I thought he would be. But try
to bump him back. How do you do that? Give
me the all these players that you think should be
ahead of him. Uh, I can tell you the ones
that are ahead of him, that's the easy part.

Speaker 5 (44:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (44:28):
No, I'm looking at MVP candidates. Shay one and Nikola
was the winner before he won. Jannis, Luca and Steph
are one through five. I'll tell you what he Edwards
is six. So who are the all these other players
that should be ahead of Tyrese Haliburton, who's about to
play for an NBA championship.

Speaker 5 (44:46):
I'll tell you one that jumps out immediately is Jason
Tatum because he has won an NBA championship in addition
to playing for one.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
It's fair.

Speaker 5 (44:56):
And I would as I look down this list, it's very.

Speaker 6 (44:59):
Easy to stop looking because there's all those players are
so obviously not ahead of him.

Speaker 5 (45:03):
Yeah, I mean, maybe maybe Devin Booker a couple of
years ago, but not right now. The same reason that
supposedly the Rockets have cooled on interest in him because
he just had one of his worst shooting and all
around performances, plus the team was terrible.

Speaker 6 (45:19):
Tyre's Halliburton helps you win more than Devin Booker does.
That's true, dumb and obvious. Placers are good and the
suns are bad. That's not what I'm saying. No, Tyre's
Halliburton is going to put up forty Fantasy points. He's
gonna get you twenty five points. Its going to get
you ten twelve cists. He's rarely going to turn the
ball over and he's gonna grab some rebounds for it.
He's going to do all the things that make his

(45:40):
teammates better, and I don't think Booker's incapable of doing that.
But he's not the same type of player. He's also
not a point guard. He's been asked to play point
at times. He's also nineteen on the list and not
in his prime. Tyre's Halliburton is quite obviously in his prime.

Speaker 5 (45:53):
I'll tell you what I like about this list the
most that Shay Gilles Alexander is not number one, and
it's not because I don't think he's the number one player.
It's because that would have meant that he supplanted the
guy they did put a number one.

Speaker 6 (46:08):
Well, what I like about this list is they give
you visuals with their attributes, Yes, passing virtuoso post moves,
with a picture of a ballerina float.

Speaker 5 (46:19):
Game, ballerina's feet specifically.

Speaker 6 (46:21):
Yeah, those are the things that they use to describe
a very thin Nikola Jokic based on the picture that's
been used. But I also brought this list up very
specifically because of your team, the Houston Rockets. They have one, two, three, four, five,
six players in the top one hundred on this list.

Speaker 5 (46:46):
What's the most interesting about that? I'll go ahead and
let you say it because it's obvious.

Speaker 6 (46:50):
Uh maybe to me, the most interesting is they got
all the way to that number and one player among
them who's not last among the six Rockets made the list,
and a player who's not among them, Jabari Smith Junior,
did not make the list. My biggest surprise Rockets related
was the eighty eighth best player ranked in the NBA

(47:14):
is a lightning in a bottle of gasoline. He's got
that dog in him. His off ball defense and on
ball defense elite, so is his positional versatility. His name
is Tari Easton.

Speaker 5 (47:26):
And he's not one, but two spots ahead of Rockets
on this list in which Jalen Green's bringing up the rear.

Speaker 6 (47:36):
Yeah, he's several numbers ahead of Dylan Brooks, who comes
in at ninety three, and Jalen Green makes the list
at ninety eight. Barely, Yes, the list top one hundred,
he's ninety eight behind players like Jalen Duran, Herb Jones,
to Monty Kamara, Mitchell Robinson, the other Rockets on the list.
I mean, as much as I was a positive surprise

(47:58):
from Tarry, I was equally surprised in a different way
that the sixty fourth best NBA player is likely Rockets
point guard. Contractually, we'll figure out exactly how they go
about it. Going Fred van Vliet, He's a floor general,
he's got a feel for the game's good spacer, and

(48:18):
his off ball defense is strong. Now he's coming off
the end of a series where he was really really
really good, but he also was really really really bad
to start the series and did not have a particularly
good offensive season, so to see him sandwiching, he's the
meat of the two off season additions to the Western
Conference champions. Alex Caruso is sixty three, Isaiah Hartenstein is

(48:41):
sixty five. So maybe that gives you a little bit
of why maybe Fred fits in there. I don't think
that's crazy. They would have fit there among players like that,
more of a glue guy, more of a well, he
is going to help you win. Fred clearly helps this
team win, but individually speaking, he certainly would have liked
to have done things a lot better this past season,
and expecting better for a player at that stage of

(49:03):
his career in the future, probably not likely.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
You and I had what I'll kind of refer to
is this is the first time I've made this terminology
with it. I think you and I kind of had
a cold war about Fred van Vliet all season long
because there was nothing I could do to dispute the
fact that his shooting just fell off a cliff. But
and I would as time went on, especially after he
came back from the injury the second time, because remember

(49:26):
he got stepped on when he in his first game
back and then he just wasn't right, and then when
he came back, you know, things kind of tended to uptick.
And then, as you mentioned, it seemed like the lone
playoff series that the Rockets were a part of. He
just improved with each passing game until nobody really did
anything in Game seven. All of that is to say,
I still kept going back to the fact that the

(49:49):
Rockets by far had their worst stretch of the season
in the exact same time that he was out for
that entire month of February.

Speaker 6 (49:58):
Hopefully, in the future, because of learning the game a
little bit better because he's basically playing with a bunch
of kids and Dylan, that won't be an issue if
he's either not a part of the team or just
quite obviously not on the team. His shooting was so
bad at the beginning of the season it was impossible
to overlook. He shot under thirty three percent on threes
for three consecutive months to open the year, finished the

(50:18):
year as a thirty seven point eight shooter. Overall, that's
benchable and stuff that's I can't believe it so shoot less.
So stop leaning on Fred to take all of these shots.
Somebody else has got to be the guy. That was
probably my biggest issue and also something of great note
on this list. The two players that were ahead of Fred,
only two Rockets players. We're ahead of Fred the forty

(50:40):
first best player with his on ball and off ball defense,
his positional versatility and athleticism. That's a men Thompson forty
one second only to outp five spots better at thirty six,
an All Star this year. So top twenty four Ish
landed thirty six on the end of season list.

Speaker 5 (50:58):
What does the exclamation point me? Is that their first
time on the list or what does that mean? I
didn't see that in the key. I don't know.

Speaker 6 (51:05):
I don't read the key. I just read the stuff.

Speaker 5 (51:10):
Look, it's I think these are all fair with the
exception of what you're talking about with Fred van Vliet,
Like going back.

Speaker 6 (51:17):
It sounds really promising for what is ahead?

Speaker 5 (51:20):
Does Yeah? And the only question I would ask you,
I'll save for the very next segment and then we'll
move on. Don't worry.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (51:39):
Eighteen continues here on Sports Talk seven ninety Just one
quick thing on that list of the top one hundred
NBA players and where the Rockets fell on it. In
case you missed any or all of the last segment,
Al Brnching guns the top one at thirty six, followed
by A. Men Thompson at forty one, Fred van Vliet
at sixty four, Tary Easen eighty eight, Dylan Brooks at

(52:01):
ninety three, and just squeaking in at the back end
at number ninety eight is Jalen Green, who, by the way,
they refer to as a stupefying athlete. I like that
we were talking about Fred van Vliet and his place
on this list, and while I agree with Wex that
it's probably a little too high, given that we're I mean,
this is all based on this last season. If Fred,

(52:25):
who was a much better shooter overall and obviously a
much better three point shooter in his first season as
a Rocket, if he's even like half as good in
year two in a Rockets uniform as he was in
his initial maiden voyage with Houston. Don't you think they're
pushing the OKC thunder for the top seed?

Speaker 6 (52:46):
Uh? I would I might be able to push. I
might answer that yes because you asked, but I would
look at it completely differently, not expecting it. If that's
the player that takes the jump their host.

Speaker 5 (52:58):
No, I'm not saying that they I'm saying this last season,
if he had been that, if he had been if
he had shot more like year one. No, I'm not
saying next.

Speaker 6 (53:06):
Year of the gap. Next year there's sixteen games back
at the thunder right, And I.

Speaker 5 (53:10):
Said, maybe pushing is a little too strong, But like
they won fifty two games, maybe they're pushing sixty wins.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
How about that.

Speaker 6 (53:16):
I don't think so are shot that many games? No,
but they maybe because they were actually pushing for it.
And the Rockets clearly tried to win as many games
as they could. Not every team does that. They're younger, they.

Speaker 5 (53:25):
Can Like I feel like this is in the same
realm as if the Rockets were just a little bit
better of a free throw shooting team. Collectively, I just
feel like they left wins on the table because of
their own mistakes at times.

Speaker 6 (53:35):
Yeah, leaving wins on the table is one thing, maybe
if you, you know, turn the ball over or if
you you miss an open shot. But I still can't
get past the free throw stuff because I don't expect
them to go in they're bad at it, Like, why
should they go in, they're not doing free throw shooters.
They need to become that right and maybe that turks
place during the year. But you got, you know, sixty
to eighty games of a sample size of amn Thompson

(53:57):
being poor. And he started the series as an embarrassment
at the free throw line, especially the zero for four
right out of the gate. He turned it around as
the second part of the series came to play. So
does his overall play. You know, Jalen Green probably should
be between eighty five and ninety and he wasn't obviously.
Opera and Shangun has been very untrustworthy at the free
throw line, by the way, and he's going to get

(54:18):
there more than anyone.

Speaker 5 (54:19):
If you go trade for Giannis this offseason, he's not
going to help that part of your game. He's a
terrible free throw shooter.

Speaker 6 (54:25):
I mean compared to where you'd like someone who gets
there as often as he does.

Speaker 5 (54:29):
If they went and got Kevin Durant, he'll alone improve.

Speaker 6 (54:32):
Yeah, seventy percent for his career is borderline adequate for
a player who gets there that often. Borderline. But he
hasn't shot seventy percent from the lot free throw line
in four seasons.

Speaker 5 (54:43):
And imagine what the numbers are worse if he was better.
I mean, he's a thirty point per game guy.

Speaker 6 (54:48):
Yeah, he probably have more than two MVPs and more
than six consecutive seven consecutive top five finishes.

Speaker 5 (54:55):
But I think, like while Fred van Vliet is probably
it's fair to say he's he's not. I wouldn't say
he's on the downside of his career, but he's not.
He's not shrending upward. But I also think that just
by default, he's going to be a better shooter overall
next year than he was this last year.

Speaker 6 (55:13):
I won't disagree with the second one because I'm not
here to, you know, bad mouth the Rockets. But he's,
in my opinion, without question, on the downside of his career,
and his play is evidence of that. They need to
use him less. So it's not as obvious, so it's
not as accentuated that he can't do those things for

(55:33):
thirty six seven minutes a night. His minutes were down
slightly this year, and essentially all of his numbers were
down significantly. Guess what he also did this year. He
played as a thirty year old basketball player and then
a thirty one year old basketball player. He's going to
be a year older than that. They need to lean
on him less. There is something that's obvious but worth

(55:55):
pointing out. The Rockets lack something. And we've talked about
it for all the years they've built this team, the
four years since drafting Jalen. We've talked about it during
the postseason, we talked about it during the series quite clearly,
and this list I think drives that very same point home.
The best player on a team that won fifty two games,

(56:16):
that was the number two seed in the Western Conference,
that had a better record than everybody over there except
for one team, the best player is thirty sixth. In
other words, they know what we know. They lack the guy,
They lack the star. Most of the other teams have one,
if not two players ahead of them, certainly when you're

(56:36):
talking about the Western Conference, and these are even teams
behind them that sometimes have a player considered of a
greater magnitude than that. Phoenix is a good example. They
have two dogs. Now they suck. They're awful at basketball
as a team because the rest of the roster, and
clearly their coaching was very, very bad. But I also
think it's not foolproof, and it's not this is the

(56:56):
gospel by no means. I don't like to see a
list that has Alp Shangoon at thirty six, but Darn
Fox at twenty six. Darren Fox is Alpa and Shangoon
just shorter and a lefty. He he hasn't done anything
differently than Shangoon. He's been the best player on a
team that can't win in the playoffs. He's had a

(57:17):
good year after a bunch of bad years as a team,
and now he plays somewhere else where. He's not the
best player on the team. There's no way the Spurs
have two of the best twenty six players in the NBA.
I mean, come on, Wemby's in outside the top ten
at eleven and Daron Fox is twenty six. I can't
get on board with that. Darren Fox is not one
of the top twenty six players in the NBA anymore.

Speaker 5 (57:36):
Do you think Victor Wembinyama is the quote best defender alive?
Because I don't.

Speaker 6 (57:41):
It's very hard to score at the basket like people.
Tall is one thing, but well he's Rudy Gobert has
been piling up defensive player of the Year awards, and
Victor Wembinyana is a significantly significantly better shot blocker than
he is.

Speaker 5 (57:57):
Shop blocking's one thing to defender is another.

Speaker 6 (58:00):
Yeah, well as a shot blocker, you like, think about
playing against Utah during the regular season with Rudy and
how often the Rockets would man they can't get to
the basket. Every time they go, they either turn around
and give it to somebody else or they can't finish
because he's just there. And I don't think he plays
post defense like Rudy does. Somehow he's weaker than Rudy,

(58:21):
which is definitely accurate. Rudy's a weak player and Victor
is weaker. If that changes, he might be able to
push back on what you're noting. I think accurately, he's
still more of a shot blocker than a great defender.

Speaker 5 (58:33):
Because if you go at him, even if you're at
a decided disadvantage from a size standpoint, which most people are,
I know, But what I'm saying is, if you're a
big man and you're going at him, you can not
only go at him and succeed, you can move him
out of the way if you need to. I mean,
that's just part of who he.

Speaker 6 (58:51):
Is, There's no doubt, and we saw it firsthand with
what Alprin did to him once. But like I said,
he's doing things that no player it's currently in the
NBA does. He's barely, you know, blocking more shots than
everybody else. There's an additional shot in a half or
two per game if he's on the court, and that

(59:11):
definitely matters. And he showed progress from year one to
year two, and I'm sure there are more will be
coming in year two to year three on both ends
of the court again, provided he's healthy.

Speaker 5 (59:20):
Is the biggest surprise on this list, the fact that
Kevin Durant is as high as he is still.

Speaker 6 (59:25):
I mean not if you watched him play, that's that's
pretty much where he played. He's fourteenth on the list,
right behind Dallas Maverick's Great Anthony Davis and San Antonio
Spurs X Kawhi Leonard. I think that's totally fair. That's
how he played basketball last year. He's a little bit
better defender than probably people give him credit for, because
I do think he's at the point of his career

(59:46):
where he picks his spots and needs to because they
lean on him as much as they do offensively, so
he needs to give them elite offense, so he can't
always give everything he has defensively. But I think when
he's asked to play one on one defense he still
does it. He's also a six to eleven wing defender
who can move his feet, who can block shots. That's
hard to deal with, and there aren't very many of those. Offensively,

(01:00:08):
he is clearly still elite.

Speaker 5 (01:00:10):
I love the first sentence of their analysis. How can
a player so metronomically consistent keep finding himself in such
a bleep bleep.

Speaker 6 (01:00:20):
Mess o kdi Yeah, I mean that is so accurate.
He's been in a mess currently. This is the only
mess he's ever been in. They were great in Oklahoma City.

Speaker 5 (01:00:33):
Because you avoid messes by having him on your team
most of the time. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:00:38):
I mean he's in a mess and they're not. They say,
keep finding himself in a mess? Well, I think he's
talking about.

Speaker 5 (01:00:44):
Now, Yeah, but I think he's talking about the drama
and like the Kawhi or the the uh James Harden
and Kyrie Irving situation in Brooklyn was a mess because
Kyrie was like, well, I'm not playing as long as
I have to be vaccinated and like they only played

(01:01:06):
thirteen games together. That's a mess. But it wasn't his doing,
like you're saying.

Speaker 6 (01:01:10):
Yeah, I felt like again the Nets, it was a
mess because ultimately they didn't do great things and it
was a very short lived and they it was different reason.
But Chris Paul gets hurt and James Harden doesn't advance.
Kevin Durant makes a huge shot like Tyree's Halliburton just did. Yeah,
And in both cases they're toe got in the way.

(01:01:31):
In one case it cost you a win. In the
other case, you still got to overtime with Halliburton did
That's the difference. That's it.

Speaker 5 (01:01:39):
So the moral of the story is that Tyre's Halliburton
is seventh overall on this list.

Speaker 6 (01:01:44):
That's what we It's indicative of what we all know
we're facing with the Rockets. They need somebody who's a
little bit better. If it's aub if it's a men,
then they have it, but the evidence has to be there.
During the twenty five twenty sixth season, Brian McTaggart astros
dot Com made a visit to the station early today,
as he does each and every week on The Atomy
Show with Ross hear from him about the beginning of

(01:02:04):
this series and other Astros related items when we come back.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
The Age on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (01:02:20):
Rex. One of life's greatest mysteries is being able to
uh well, tack on an l on one of the
hottest young pitchers in Major League Baseball and then not
be able to do the same thing the very next
night against a not nearly as bally hood prospect, if
you will, Is that safe to say that's the assessment

(01:02:40):
of the last forty eight hours worth of Astros baseball.

Speaker 6 (01:02:43):
Uh yeah, definitely on the ladder, because every person walking
the earth is a not quite as ballyhooed prospect. It's
compared to Paul Skin.

Speaker 5 (01:02:50):
That's a fact.

Speaker 6 (01:02:52):
First win in the major league career for I bet
you the Astros never face this guy again.

Speaker 5 (01:02:58):
Does anybody else?

Speaker 6 (01:02:59):
Oh yeah, he's a major league pitcher, I'm sure just
because he's a look at him yesterday. I mean, my gosh,
how can anybody score against sim Brian McTaggart made his
weekly visit to The Matt Thomas Show with Ross and
as we've begun this conversation, that's how their conversation begins.
The interview in its entirety as always, can be found
at SportsTalk seven ninety dot com or via the iHeartRadio app.
Please make sports Talk seven ninety number one on your

(01:03:22):
preset on the iHeartRadio app if you have not done
so already. Makes it that much easier to keep up
with what we are talking about each and every day
on our respective shows and the podcast we produce for
you on those same subjects, and all of our sister
stations as well. But that conversation begins with Brian's thoughts
specifically on how they did what they did in game one,

(01:03:42):
and we're unable to do much of anything in game two.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
Yeah, just like we all all drew it up right.

Speaker 8 (01:03:48):
I mean, I think I think you had more to
do with who the Astros had on the mound probably
than who the Pirates would throw, I mean schemes they
had no business winning that game. But I mean mccolor
you know, had tipped mccolors because he matched him for
six innings and then they got the big swing from Walker.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
So nice job there.

Speaker 8 (01:04:03):
But you know, when when Gusto has pitched, it's you know,
his last four or five starts, it's it's you know,
he's not getting deep in the games, not giving them
much of a chance. But hey, they got fromber today
in a chance to win a series on the room.

Speaker 10 (01:04:17):
How long much longer do you think Gusto is going
to stay in the rotation? And then who do you
think would be the next man up?

Speaker 8 (01:04:24):
Yeah, I mean I think they might be getting close
to that point. They're also going to be entering the
stretch up or a bunch of games without a day off. Again,
not as long as they did, you know, last time,
but like you know, I think about you know, two
weeks for us, so that might be an area where
they want to go to six man rotation.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
But who do they put in the rotation at that point?

Speaker 8 (01:04:42):
I mean they're pretty much at the end of their
pitching depth right now, you know. You know, do you
bring up Uola, who's throwing really well? I mean again,
he's he's a rookie. You don't know what you're gonna get.
Blue Ball is here before do you bring him back?
So they're in a bit of a buying here, I think,
starting pitching wise, because you feel really good if you're
the Astros when you got Hunter Brown or Fryed Bervaldez

(01:05:04):
going and I mean, I'll even put Lance in that
category now and then when Gusto and Gordon go you know,
not so not so good. I mean, not that you
can't win those games. And Gordon's pitched a little bit
better than Gusto at this point. But the point is
they're just at the end of their pitching depth right
now until they get Eric Getty back, maybe they get
Garcia back in August, or they make a trade. So

(01:05:25):
they're in a bit of a tough spot with their
pitching depth, just with all the injuries.

Speaker 10 (01:05:29):
Yeah, you mentioned mccullors and on what a God said,
he's been the last couple of starts out there, quality
starts and one hundred and two pitches, ninety six pitches
to say that that's where we are, where you're kind
of putting him in the safer or reliable category. Or
even not even a month ago against Cincinnati he was
out there getting shelled and you're like, is this guy
about to get DF eight in a couple of starts.

(01:05:50):
It has been crazy that he has turned around the
way he is, And you're saying, Brian, you think that hey,
going forward until further notice, we can kind of trust
this guy in the rotation, I think so.

Speaker 8 (01:06:01):
I mean, yeah, I mean it's only been a you know,
three four star sample here, but when I mean, if
you look back at Lance's entire career, when he's been healthy,
he's been good. So it's not like this is a
guy who hasn't done it before, and you're like, okay,
but if he's healthy, he's a really really good starting pitcher.
You know, he pitches a little differently than he did before,
but you know he can still be very effective when

(01:06:22):
he's laying in both of those breaking balls, and you
know his fastball is good enough, and so you know,
I'm not ready to put him in the Fromber Hunter
Brown category, but I think if he's pitching on you
the Astros, you're like, we got a really good chance
to win today.

Speaker 10 (01:06:36):
Brian, When, as we often do on these segments, ask
you to get out your crystal ball. In let's say
three months, how are we viewing Christian Walker and where
is he in the Astros lineup? And like at the
end of the steak, yeah, we're just in a few months.

Speaker 5 (01:06:55):
Is he still in the cleanup spot? Do you think?

Speaker 10 (01:06:56):
I mean, can he turn this around? Is this who
he is? Is this decline?

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
Is this?

Speaker 10 (01:07:01):
I mean, we were We're way too far in the
season to blame the oblique thing from the start of
the year.

Speaker 8 (01:07:06):
Yeah, you can't say he didn't have a you know,
a spring training anymore or any of that stuff. Yeah,
I mean, you know, you're you're past the third point
of the season, so you know, you start to say, well, well,
maybe this is who he is. He's he's declined. He's
not Joseah Brad you decline, but he's declined quite a bit.
You know, his numbers, you know, the last month or

(01:07:27):
so aren't just terrible. They're not what you want them
to be. You know, if you're the I think his
last you know, thirty games, she's you know, he's still
hitting like two nineteen.

Speaker 2 (01:07:36):
I mean that you know you need that to be higher.

Speaker 8 (01:07:38):
He's on base percentage just you know, like two sixty seven.
So uh, you know, I'm not defending him, but yeah,
the deeper you get into this, you're wondering, well, this
this is who we have. I mean, the good part
is he's still playing a very very solid first base.
But yeah, I mean it depends how else the lineup
shakes out, too I mean, if you know, when Alvarez
comes back, I mean, I think Alvarez is going to

(01:07:58):
hit clean up.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
That's that's pretty cleared.

Speaker 8 (01:08:00):
Joe said that he likes the one, two, three at
the top of the lineup like they are, so that's
going to bump him down to fifth. You bump him
down a little deeper, you know, maybe put somebody else
in that fifth spot.

Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
I mean, that's probably conversations that they have to have.

Speaker 8 (01:08:12):
And I think Walker is enough of a pro where,
you know, they get to the midway point of the season,
you know, he's still got a you know, you know
ops of you know, around seven hundred or whatever it
is that he'll understand what they're doing. And because he's uh,
you know, I know this is not what he envisioned either.
So but yeah, we'll see. I mean, you know, he
could get hot and turn it around. You know, he's

(01:08:33):
but so far through a third of the season, it's
with especially the money they're paying him, he's he's been
a disappointment.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
At the plate.

Speaker 5 (01:08:41):
First base curse continues.

Speaker 6 (01:08:43):
What no way they can continue hitting him where they have,
and as Brian alluded to, they won't have to Whenever
Jordan Alvarez comes back, He's obviously going to hit him
front of Christian Walker. H same with the three guys
who are currently hitting in front of Christian Walker, and
it remains unchanged today with Paina, Peretis and Altuve batting

(01:09:04):
ahead of him. Altuve will go to the designated hitter
spot today for the Houston Astros against Mitch Keller of
the Pittsburgh Pirates, who's one and seven on the season.
But when we get into the Astros on deck show
tell you a little bit more about while that's not
necessarily indicative of the work that he's produced this year.
A no Victor Keratini in the lineup today, the lone

(01:09:24):
left handed bat will be the same left handed bat
they've had in the lineup since Sunday, Jacob Melton. With
no Keratini. Essentially, those guys behind him just bump up
one spot. With Jose at DH that means Mauricio Dubon
is playing. He'll bat ninth. The three outfielders bat in
front of him, Jake cam and Jacob and Jeiner behind Walker.

(01:09:45):
He'll do the catching today for from ber Valdez, fresh
off of his twenty seven out performance the last time
he took the mound on just eighty three pitches. As
Brian said, you like your chances.

Speaker 5 (01:09:58):
I feel like I'm not a kidding when I say this.
I feel like a no hitter is imminent, say like
it's a good chance, Like they're so bad and he's
so good right now, good Fromber if you will, I
wouldn't surprise me at all.

Speaker 6 (01:10:13):
Yeah, the good Fromber, bad Fromber stuff to me would
be a thing if it were closer. But when eighty
five percent of your starts or seventy five to eighty five,
they're they're so good, it's just it's pretty hard for
me to accept that he's he's really, really good.

Speaker 5 (01:10:27):
Even I'm shying away from the moniker.

Speaker 6 (01:10:28):
This season, and he has had some starts you know,
you don't expect from him the bad kind obviously, but
his last five have been outstanding. His most recent one
has been tremendous. Gotta have some offense or it really
doesn't matter. They managed to win that start we just
talked about via a walk off after he had already
completed those twenty seven outs. A new All Star game format.

(01:10:49):
One more NBA item this hour kind of expected, but
we'll hit on that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:54):
Next the A team on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (01:11:07):
I believe it was Yannis Rockets trade target maybe that
initially brought this up, at least in broad form from
a player standpoint, that he would like to see the
NBA take on the world when it comes to revamping,
tweaking or doing the latest change to the NBA All

(01:11:28):
Star Weekend format.

Speaker 6 (01:11:30):
Yeah, the only change that's truly going to work is
players caring. And that's something clearly out of management's hands.
Do they care about All Star Weekend All Star Saturday Night?
Clearly they don't. And that's why Mac McClung has won
the Slam Dunk Contest three times. And Mick McClung is
a nice enough person and a swell enough guy, and

(01:11:50):
he is a professional basketball player. And I don't even
frown on them asking him to participate these last two times,
because what else can they do. He's not an NBA player,
This is an NBA event. He doesn't play in this league.
He doesn't play in this league. And he's winning your
signature event on your Saturday night activity That is heat insane. Yeah,

(01:12:12):
And now again I don't frown on them saying, well,
we might as well bring him back. They just don't
have any star power from the league itself to put
in this contest. And they've tried other events, and they
had controversy with that other event, with what the Spurs
got involved with. I don't even think it was necessarily
Chris Paul and Victor's fault, but clearly it did not
go as planned. And then the Sunday Night activities, you know,

(01:12:34):
drafting separate teams and going to the round robin tournament. Clearly,
from a ratings standpoint, which is all that they can
kind of hope for, there's nothing else going on, they
need to see numbers there, and they didn't. They went
down dramatically last year, and so on the table and
off the table. The last twelve months or so, they've
had discussions and it's been brought up about going with

(01:12:55):
a new US versus Them format Rocky versus Drago format,
Ryder Cup style format, Okay, well USA versus the World,
and at points in time the commissioner himself had said
this is an antiquated idea, and I think has clearly
since changed his tune. It is obvious that one player, Yannis,
who will be back at the All Star Game next year.

(01:13:16):
Representing the world. I'm not sure which team he'll be
playing for in the NBA the rest of the year,
but he would be representing the world. If we go
to the East or the NBA or America excuse me,
versus the World and we go back to our list.
It makes for some pretty entertaining groups of teams. Have

(01:13:37):
just start right off at the top, the player ranked first, second, third,
and fourth. Well, they all hate us, clearly they would
be playing for Team World. To be fair, every Luca Jannis, Yes,
Shay who lives very close by is Canadian. I guess
I could make it simple, and Nikola Jokic that's one, two, three,

(01:13:57):
and four on Team World. Then you would have Steph Curry.
He's going to get selected for the All Star Game.
I would imagine if he plays at a reasonable level,
he's no longer a guarantee to land one of the
voted in spots. Anthony Edwards, Tyre's Halliburton, Donovan Mitchell, Jalen Brunson,
Jason Tatum. Each of the next six they're state siders.

(01:14:19):
They're USA ors. Victor on the other side, kd Or
Anthony Davis or Lebron On this side, I mean you're
not going to go super deep with super talents for
a team world, but you can get enough. So certainly
at the top they're very good. The obvious question is
who's going to win well. The obvious question to me

(01:14:41):
is what I opened this with. Are they going to
care enough for us to care enough just because we've
put them on teams that are a little bit more
representative of maybe bringing some passion and emotion to the table.

Speaker 5 (01:14:54):
Do you think this is an unfair question to ask?
I think I know your answer, But like, does the
Lion's share of the blame about the NBA All Star
Weekend falling from grace not having the players you're talking
about care about it the way they should or we
think they should. He ain't. The Lion's share of that
blame goes on Lebron's shoulders.

Speaker 6 (01:15:16):
Uh, just because of the dunk contest on Saturday?

Speaker 5 (01:15:20):
Right, No, it's good. That's that's fair.

Speaker 6 (01:15:21):
That's a fair answer, because you know how many times,
how many times if things were done to keep it
off of his shoulders, how many times should he have
participated in the dunk contest? Because twice so.

Speaker 5 (01:15:35):
One more than zero and once to defend so and
then even if it if wins, he wins it the
second time, he can.

Speaker 6 (01:15:40):
Still say so he should have participated twice. So what
would you say about this entire dialogue you're bringing up
over the last fifteen years when he wouldn't participate it
at all? Right, because those would have taken place early
in his career.

Speaker 5 (01:15:52):
He at least during the in the game.

Speaker 6 (01:15:53):
Yeah, at least during the first seven or eight years
of his career. If he would have participated, which most
people still think he should have done and can't believe
he didn't do it, he wouldn't still be participating ten
years removed from his participation.

Speaker 5 (01:16:03):
The blame would stem from him creating a attitude towards
that event that prolonged after long after he was done participating.
Like Kobe, he never did.

Speaker 6 (01:16:15):
Putting this out there to kind of absolve him for it,
but what it really it's not him. Every year, it's
him saying I did it for the league and for me.
Now you need to do it for you and the league.
You're the next guy. You're the next guy. You're one
of the five best players in the league. You're a
twenty five point per game score, you're well known. This
can't help you. This helped me. He didn't need much help.

(01:16:37):
But the best players like Anthony Edwards just would destroy
in this. Yeah, or he could not participate at all.

Speaker 5 (01:16:44):
He's only doing that because Lebron didn't before him. I'm kidding,
but you know.

Speaker 6 (01:16:48):
It's it's unfair on both sides. If if Lebron did,
would more players of that caliber have followed suit, Or
because Lebron didn't, did more players follow suit and not
participate themselves the game itself. Like I put ninety three
point six percent of the blame on the players. Just
watch the games from you know, taking last year's game

(01:17:08):
out of it, the way that they've played in the
you know, five six years prior. They're going out there
in front of you know, fifteen thousand fans on TV
and I don't know what number of fans on television,
and they're playing low level pick up basketball. They're not
playing basketball. It's it's an exhibition game. You want to
stay healthy. There's some element of that. I totally understand

(01:17:29):
that part, but it became a forty foot shooting contest
three minutes into the game, and you know, there's no
nobody's running back. You're throwing full court passes over and
over and over again. You know breakaway dunks are fine,
that they're so much better in a competitive game than
they are in this situation. The players, there's some balance
between giving everything you have to a mid season exhibition

(01:17:52):
game where you closer to the end of the season
exhibition game where you truly wish you were you had
eight days off and could get healthy, and these are
the handful of players that don't get that time off.
There's travel involved, there's obligations to it, and there's the
game itself, which is limited, especially when you're not participating
in anything else. You get into the site later, you
participate in media days, you participate in media open practice,

(01:18:15):
and then you play the game. Then you go back
to your team with still four to five days off Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
for sure, and some teams didn't PLAYGA until Friday. It's
not the end of the world to spend three of
those days on two flights to play in an NBA
exhibition game and still have enough juice left for the
rest of the season, even at an advanced age.

Speaker 5 (01:18:34):
Unless you're Anthony Davis, in which you need three months
to get better so that you can make that finals
run in the bubble.

Speaker 6 (01:18:41):
I mean, this is a good idea. I wish I
also felt it would make a big difference. It's definitely
a good idea. I'm happy they're trying this. I'm still
questioning whether it does much for interest in the game
from the players and interest in the game from the fans.

Speaker 3 (01:18:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:18:58):
To me, it just feels like it's something that's going
to be the next thing that they've tried, and then
it's going to lose, to lose its luster, or its effectiveness,
or it's whatever.

Speaker 6 (01:19:10):
Might be fun to watch Luca go against Lebron, might
be fun to watch some of those things happen if
they're there. But we shall see. We'll see which players
are invited by the fans and the coaches and the
voters next year for this All Star Game extravaganza. Another
half hour of the A Team still in front of
us before we get to the Astros on Deck show
not talk Texans Football yet, something very very important. We

(01:19:32):
start on that next.

Speaker 3 (01:19:36):
The A Team on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (01:19:38):
Ninety two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam Talking your Team.

Speaker 4 (01:19:49):
Adam Clinton and Adam Wesler are the A Team eighty.

Speaker 5 (01:19:56):
Eight, an abbreviated final of a Thursday edition of the
show Sports Talk seven to ninety. Matter of fact, most
of the shows this week have been abbreviated, save for
that Monday when the Astros were off. But they are again,
as we've mentioned numerous times, back at it in the
rubber matchup between them and the Pirates coming up in

(01:20:17):
just a little bit bottom of the hour. We'll get
you ready for that one. As fromber Valdez will go
tonight in the finale with the Astros on deck, show mentioned,
we get to some Texans conversation by way of a
division rival. I don't know how much this will really
affect things, simply from the standpoint of Anthony Richardson is

(01:20:39):
just not that good to begin with. I look, I'm
sure they'll be better off with him versus just him
being unavailable, but the quarterback situation overall with Indianapolis just
ain't that great these days. So when I find out that,
unlike what we kind of did at the beginning of
the week, which is speculate about what's going on with CG.

(01:21:00):
Shroud's shoulder, the Colts just came out and said it.
Their head coach Shane Steichen. Anthony Richardson dealing with a
shoulder injury and will not participate in mini camp next week.

Speaker 6 (01:21:09):
So what's wrong with the shoulder?

Speaker 5 (01:21:11):
I don't know.

Speaker 6 (01:21:11):
Oh, he didn't come out and say that. Nope, Okay,
well good good for him. He gave you part of
the story, just like what happened here, just earlier than
what happened here, but otherwise as of now, exactly the same.

Speaker 5 (01:21:24):
It's the way he went about it, though.

Speaker 6 (01:21:26):
Yeah, it is the right way to do it, definitely.
I think that the you know, simple way is always
the best way, and they almost made it that way
to the Texans, but in their situation, the actually went
out and got somebody to compensate for this for the
second year.

Speaker 2 (01:21:40):
Nro.

Speaker 6 (01:21:41):
You know, the opportunity to put him on the bench
unfolded last year and Joe Flacco was out there on
the field for them, the opportunity to put him on
the bench. And I don't mean bench him, I mean
if he's hurt or if you feel the need to
get a quarterback out there, doesn't tap his helmet. Now
they have Daniel Jones and presume Jones will be healthy
enough throughout a season to handle that he has before,

(01:22:03):
but hasn't always been able to stay healthy. It's I
don't know, ironic is the word, but the two quarterbacks
can do similar things. If you're running an offense tailored
to Anthony Richardson, you don't have to change anything for
Daniel Jones or vice versa. I don't think in my opinion,
I might not call as many designed runs for Daniel Jones,

(01:22:26):
but go back to when he first got there. It's
a tough spot for a coach, especially an offensive coach
who's clearly tied success is tied to his quarterback. Very
tough position to know what you have and still know
how much you should use it. If you want to
run him like Cam Newton, go ahead. If you want
him to last like Cam Newton, then you have to

(01:22:48):
take the good with the bat. You know, Cam Newton's
playing a lot more NFL football for a lot longer
period of time, at a much higher level than the
end of his career got. If he's not the best
red zone runner for five years, which he was, the
guy's among the league leaders in touchdowns a year in
and year out from the quarterback position, and those are
just a handful of the runs that he's making. Anthony

(01:23:11):
Richardson comes aboard. We saw it right out of the
gate opening season, second week of the season here in Houston.
He ran the ball in, he got clobbered right when
he got to the end zone by MJ. Stewart and
unfortunately suffered a concussion. The following year, on a running
play again at NRG Stadium, he ran out of bounds

(01:23:31):
and indicated to his coaching staff and his performance staff
and his teammates, I'm gonna need this playoff. And Joe
Flacco came into the game at this point for just
to play, and he ultimately this was a bad locker
room situation. But to be like we talked about with
CJ this many months removed from football and your shoulder
is a problem, here's the difference. His shoulder was a

(01:23:54):
big problem from year one and into year two and
now still into year three, same shoulder, presumed some sort
of same problem. That's a big deal.

Speaker 5 (01:24:07):
Yeah. I first of all, I have to start by
saying I'm not gonna say I was completely wrong about him,
but I just feel like this was maybe unforeseen. Like
put it this way, Anthony Richardson getting or being more
likely to get injured because of the way he plays football.

(01:24:28):
That's kind of baked in. That's not a surprise, that
kind of thing. I guess it's the injuries we're talking
about from like almost the outset that I didn't necessarily
expect to see. And the ironic thing is it happening
against the Texans.

Speaker 6 (01:24:41):
Yeah, you just have to be careful. Do you want
to run him that much? You know he's gonna get
you six yards. You know he can get you into
the end zone. You know he's a big, powerful, almost
full back sized player. Well, yeah, this is gonna be
a successful play. That's why I'm calling it. What's your quarterback?
You have to consider that. And I do think Steiken
tried and there are times where it's not a called play. Clearly.

(01:25:03):
He gets hit on plays that are pass plays. He
gets hit on plays where he actually throws the football,
but he's in harm's way a lot more than other quarterbacks.
And this is a throwing related injury. This is a
shoulder problem that's preventing him from passing at the NFL level.
He's also awful at passing at the NFL level. Sometimes
completion percentage is it's tabulated the same way as it

(01:25:24):
was for the last fifty years. You threw the ball,
was it complete? We'll calculate it. We have a little
bit more advanced numbers on catchable passes and some other
elements of really some better calculations to figure out your
ability to throw. But you can't ignore forty seven and
a half percent. You can't ignore that at all. He's
rookie season. He completed less than sixty percent of his passes,

(01:25:45):
missed the big chunk of the year, and then he
dipped to under fifty percent of the time. He dropped
back to passing. The guy and his team caught it.
You bench players if they're on your junior high team.
And that's the case. Can I just say the quiet
part out loud?

Speaker 7 (01:26:00):
He was never a first round pick, and the problem
with that was because if you look at his stats
in college, he was always a what if type player.
This was a guy that came in with less than
eighteen starts under his belt, and you were banking on
the athleticism and the intangibles. And Shane stiched in working
with another mobile quarterback and took him to the Super

(01:26:20):
Bowl and worked out like a little bit of the
Kings with him in Philadelphia. It was always going to
be a risk reward type of move. Those same things
in Philadelphia. Another not first round quarterback difference is he
wasn't taken in the first round.

Speaker 6 (01:26:33):
Obviously. Another difference is he played a ton of college football.
He played a ton of successful college football, and some
of that successful college football for Jalen Hurts was including
passing the football. All that being said, and clearly this
is a you know, personnel issue, a quarterback problem, and
Anthony Richardson problem. I don't know what the new leadership

(01:26:54):
of the URSA family will think, but good for Tennessee,
good for Houston, good for Jacksonville, and good for the
other teams in the NFL. Chris Ballard bad GM still
working there. It's good for everybody else this last year.
I've said that for about four years now. I don't
think I didn't always think he was a bad GM

(01:27:14):
because I thought Ryan Grigson was way worse. Yeah, well,
the bar was set so low, and looking back, I
feel foolish saying that. But Indianapolis has put a bunch
of Middland talent, Middland talent rosters together and when you
add lack of quarterback play Onceandrew Luck retired and were
many many, many many years removed from that now, and

(01:27:35):
it's still the same problem there.

Speaker 5 (01:27:36):
Now.

Speaker 6 (01:27:37):
I'll give them some credit for trying to address it,
but like Cole said, addressing it by just drafting somebody
in the first round, if they missed on Richardson, it's
it's more egregious, but it's no different than you know, Pittsburgh,
we tried. We drafted Kenny Pickett at number twenty. Yeah,
you made a mistake at number twenty, and the Colts
made a mistake with a much more valuable selection, not
only in who they might have picked if they used

(01:27:58):
it themselves, but in that they probably weren't the only
team that thought this about Anthony richards They probably weren't
the only team that thought a player was worthy of
being picked at number four that a team was willing
to trade up for it to get. Thus, you add
a bunch of other assets that us GM would have
then batched.

Speaker 7 (01:28:13):
So keep in mind also that Kenny Pickett, after two years,
was shipped off to Philadelphia. So Pittsburgh realized pretty quick, hey,
we made a mistake. Any Nowpolis isn't doing that just yet.

Speaker 6 (01:28:22):
Yeah, but That doesn't change the fact that you have
an entire scouting staff that spends all their hours of
the day, every day for six months scouting college football,
and both teams thought the same thing. Kenny Pickett can
make us winners. Anthony Richardson can make us winners. Whether
you or you come to the conclusion correctly, sooner or later,
the initial decision is the crippling one crippling when it's four,

(01:28:45):
less crippling when it's twenty. The franchise in Pittsburgh isn't
crippled by that mistake, but they don't advance their team
at all, and we're three years removed from it, and
their team is just the same. The day they sent
the card in on Kenny Pickett is the same as
today when they signed Aaron Rodgers. Their team is no different,
no better. They've made no advancement and making a non

(01:29:07):
selection adding a zero player at number twenty unhelpful.

Speaker 5 (01:29:13):
I don't know why I feel like Aaron Rodgers is
going to be better than everybody's talking about today.

Speaker 6 (01:29:18):
He could put up comparable numbers twenty eight touchdowns, eleven picks,
and you know, maybe that looks good, but it doesn't.
He doesn't come through enough, he's not making the play
at the right time enough. Because some of the numbers
don't look awful. But even the you know, like I
said earlier, ninety point five as a passer rating in
other eras of the NFL, even the era earlier that

(01:29:38):
he was playing in wasn't all that bad. Well, now
that is bad. Yeah, everybody can do better than that.
Almost every starting quarterback does do better than that. Ninety
point five last year in the NFL puts you on
the wrong end of things, puts you on the we
don't want you here anymore scale. That was nineteenth in
the NFL, right ahead of bench Kirk Cousins.

Speaker 5 (01:30:00):
So, who's throwing shoulder affects their team worse this upcoming season?

Speaker 7 (01:30:03):
C J.

Speaker 5 (01:30:04):
Strausser.

Speaker 6 (01:30:05):
I mean, I think we've talked it out quite clearly,
the Anthony Richardson industry injury. Because Daniel Jones is there,
their backup quarterback situation improved going from Flacco to Jones.

Speaker 7 (01:30:18):
Did you guys see sports ultradings backup quarterback rankings?

Speaker 6 (01:30:23):
I missed those. No, So who do you think is
number one that would take a little bit more than
on the spot?

Speaker 5 (01:30:29):
I gotta think about it.

Speaker 6 (01:30:30):
Okay, it's Kirk Cousins. Who do you think is number two?
Now it doesn't matter, Okay, Schimmy Garoppolo, Who do you
think is number three? I can't do this too. Kirk
Cousins is the best backup quarterback in the league. Because
the parameters for this list were if you definitely positively
don't care about winning in the playoffs, this is your
guy because Derek Carr is retired or else he would
be the guy.

Speaker 7 (01:30:50):
I'll save the show. Well, number three was Daniel Jones.
That's how highly they think of him.

Speaker 5 (01:30:53):
And I knew he had to be high on the list,
otherwise you wouldn't be bringing up that kind of list.

Speaker 6 (01:30:58):
He's also a backup quarterback for the first time. Yeah,
he's a starting quarterback who's on a team where he'd
have to battle or be promoted to be the starter.
That's that's a big difference, and I tend to agree
with his abilities. I mean, I'll be honest with you
right here. I don't know where Kirk Cousins is playing
football next year. If he plays anywhere, I'll take my
chances with Daniel Jones absolutely positively every time. At this

(01:31:20):
point in their respect.

Speaker 5 (01:31:21):
What if the Texans signed him, signed him as a
backup Kirk.

Speaker 6 (01:31:25):
I mean, I know we think Nick loves burning Cow's money. Well,
but with the cap space they just gained June first
with the Shaq Mason designated release, I still think adding
Kirk Cousins is way out of their league and absolute nonsense.
So I will only entertain it for the time we
just entertained it. Well, just entertaining Davis Mills is fine.

Speaker 5 (01:31:48):
I want to go back to Minnesota, so but what
wouldn't he feel better about him leading your team to
a victory the upcoming week CJ was out versus Davis Mills.

Speaker 6 (01:31:57):
Yeah, that's fair. Davis Mills is not as good as Kirk.
That's totally fair.

Speaker 5 (01:32:01):
That's all I wanted to hear you say.

Speaker 6 (01:32:02):
I'm proud Tendson's long time backup quarterback who almost never
sees the field is not as good as a long
time several hundred million dollar earning quarterback.

Speaker 5 (01:32:13):
Got is correct. Look at the growth here on the
show by Wex.

Speaker 1 (01:32:18):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (01:32:32):
It is the eighteen Sports Talk seven ninety Bottom of
the hour Astros on Deck getting under way fromber with
his latest I'm gonna call it it's his latest chance,
which you could say this every night, but it is,
it's his latest chance to throw a no hitter. I
only say that as much for who they're facing is
as I do for how well he's been pitching of late,

(01:32:54):
he and Hunter Brown basically all season. It's been like
and I've always felt this way with a lot of
the Astros rotation over the last you know, nearly decade
because of the run they've been on. If you're at
the top of the Astros rotation, it's like must see TV.
I can't wait for the next start, can't wait to
see what they do, can't wait to see how efficiently

(01:33:15):
they do it. But like I have yet to see
even when he threw no hitters, I don't think I've
ever seen the type of performance from or had the
last time out? Is that like? Is that fair to
say that? It was almost like it wasn't a no hitter,
So it's not as impressive from that standpoint, But like
I pump my fist when they got that final out

(01:33:35):
because he eighty three pitches. That's insane, especially in today's mL.

Speaker 6 (01:33:41):
I mean, he has the no hitter the near no
hitter that same season and a no hit performance for
less than nine innings less than an year ago.

Speaker 5 (01:33:52):
Cleveland was the no hitter who was the near no hitter.

Speaker 6 (01:33:54):
Against Well That was the same year, just also during
a year where man, there was parts of the season
where he wasn't very good.

Speaker 5 (01:34:00):
Was that the Rangers one, So his no hitter?

Speaker 6 (01:34:03):
Remember what he did during parts of that season. Right
after the no hitter, he gave up six runs, four
runs and six runs.

Speaker 5 (01:34:10):
Yeah, that's where good from bad fromber came from.

Speaker 6 (01:34:12):
Then he pitched against the strike seven no hit innings
three times. Since mid twenty twenty three, he's gone seven
no hit innings and been done for the day or more.
The one time he went nine innings hadn't done that yet.
This year, his stuff was definitely that of a no
hit caliber.

Speaker 5 (01:34:29):
Stuff like he was just out of pitches. In other words,
his pitch count was too high.

Speaker 6 (01:34:32):
Yeah, he thrown one hundred and fourteen pitches against the
Tigers on the in twenty twenty three, five starts after
his no no and they decided that's probably enough, even
though there are six more outs to go and we're
gonna lose that game. But I'm not. The low hit
game for the Pirates this year is two Lance mccullors
start where they had four earlier. This series, they've done

(01:34:53):
that a bunch and they are a bad hitting team.
They're hitting about two twenty five as a team, one
of the worst in baseball. Probably not predict no no,
though pretty rare, none so far this year.

Speaker 5 (01:35:06):
It again, the elements always have to be there. All
the ingredients have to be there. This lineup.

Speaker 6 (01:35:12):
Draft my post on X right now, see not a
no no, and I'll just hit send it, you know,
six oh five tonight.

Speaker 5 (01:35:22):
Expecting a text. But you're gonna go You're gonna go
public with it.

Speaker 6 (01:35:25):
Yeah, we're talking publicly here on the show, So I
would go public with it on the X platform if
needed to be.

Speaker 5 (01:35:30):
But I'm not.

Speaker 6 (01:35:31):
I'm not rooting against it, But I'm not rooting for
a no no. I'm rooting for just outscore them and
get a road series victory. It should not be that
difficult for a team that's pretty good. I mean, the
Astros are pretty good, right, it's not a bad baseball team, right, Well,
they can't win on the road. They're now eleven and

(01:35:52):
sixteen away from home. It's five games under and just
winning series on the road. They don't do that. They
have road series victories this year, they don't have any. Well,
I'm sorry. The first one I knew there was to
say none since Minnesota, the opening road series of the season.

Speaker 5 (01:36:17):
That's insane. Well, but that's also very twenty twenty five
for the Astros.

Speaker 6 (01:36:21):
Lost two out of three, then they lost two out
of three, and then they lost two out of three,
followed by losing two out of three, followed by losing
two out of three, followed by losing two out of four,
followed by losing two out of three. Well, at least
they have the split to point two. Yeah, it's just
they got to take this series. You got to be
better than that. It's pretty simple, and.

Speaker 5 (01:36:39):
Maybe you wouldn't only be leading the division.

Speaker 6 (01:36:41):
By well, it's also fair to recognize what's been going
on lately, even back to when they were playing Tampa
at home, their last six games, they've scored three runs
or less in all six. They've managed to win three
of those games, winning with less than four runs scored.
Astros don't do that a lot. Most teams don't do
that a lot. They've won half of these six games

(01:37:04):
and they can't score well.

Speaker 5 (01:37:05):
I do love the fact that the part of the
reason that the Astros lost last night and still find
themselves in first place is because when Seattle has been
losing of late, and they've already lost this series, it's
been against not great teams.

Speaker 6 (01:37:18):
I mentioned this yesterday, so i'll mention it against you
weren't in here. The Orioles record is bad. I think
the Orioles have probably turned to the corner a little
bit on where their season was headed. They've gotten a
little bit better starting pitching, and it's definitely been in
effect in this series. They've gotten Colton Cowser back. He
got a long ball from Adlie Rutchman yesterday. One of
the guys has gotten off to an awful start. I

(01:37:40):
think there's some signs that dreadful baseball is not what
they're destined to play this year. I think the holes
too big for it to make a difference in their hopes.
But I think they're not going to be in this
position all year. When teams lose to Baltimore the rest
of the way, and it's maybe starting now, it won't
seem so awful as it did a couple weeks ago.
They're still last place. They're probably only the fifth best

(01:38:03):
team in their division, but they're not quite as awful
as it looked like they were headed. Over the last
ten to twelve games, I think you're seeing signs of
why they had a little bit of hope this year.
Still sellers, and I still expect a lot of phone
calls to be made to their general manager and their
baseball ops. And I think they should be sellers, but
they're not a pushover. The A's are pushovers now. The

(01:38:25):
A's have scored a bunch of runs in their last
I think twenty five games. I think they're in the
top seven in run scored, and they've won three of
them because they can't stop anybody.

Speaker 5 (01:38:33):
I can't believe we're to a point where you're saying
the Orioles are sellers.

Speaker 6 (01:38:38):
I mean, it's just they're just they had such a
poor start, and they have some players that aren't obvious
parts of their future. They have so many they still
have prospects that they believe in. They still have younger
players that are with them that they believe in, and
it's it's totally fine at this point to say, Okay,
it's your job. They can they move on from Mullins.
Is there enough to be gained in trading Rhyan O'Hearn,

(01:39:00):
who's been awesome this year. You might get such a
nice haul that it's worth, you know, making a deal.
He's not gonna make. It's not gonna make you better
by moving him, so that's always dangerous. But where he
is in his career and what he's putting up, it
might be worth moving on from him. They still need
so much pitching up, all all these prospects we keep
talking about, and the Grace and Rodriguez injury, one of
their few good young pitchers. It all adds up to

(01:39:22):
the timing is right for them to sell so they
don't have to wait long to be right back where
they were.

Speaker 5 (01:39:27):
And it does despite all of this we're talking about,
when it comes to them, it does look like they
made by far the best decision of not retaining Anthony
Santon there.

Speaker 6 (01:39:38):
Yeah, I mean that was money not well spent for sure.
It didn't seem like they were really considering it. I
think they said he got us what we could get
out of him during his years here. He was a
really good player for us. He's coming off a fantastic year,
he hits free agency and he's in a league we
don't want to be in payment wise with where the
rest of our roster is. That's the kind of money
we would only hold for somebody we know is going

(01:40:01):
to be this great every year.

Speaker 5 (01:40:02):
Like I look at Christian Walker and the disappointment he's
been so far overall, and it's like it could have
been worse.

Speaker 6 (01:40:09):
Yeah, you're only into you know, two plus years now,
two years forty after this year, that's all you're into.
Christian Walker.

Speaker 5 (01:40:16):
For Santandre though, is like multi more.

Speaker 6 (01:40:22):
Years than the Astros in that regard have been a
little bit smarter with how they do things, and it's
been pretty constant through multiple gms. Three years for a Brave,
three years for Christian Walker, some of the you know,
I know, it's a ridiculous no matter how many years
it was, three years for Rafael Montero. Most of these
contracts are still, relatively speaking, short term. They've had two

(01:40:43):
long term contracts in the last handful of years, an
extension for Jose Al Tuve, which unfortunately is probably not
going to look very good very very soon, and a
five year deal for Josh hater, they'll have three years
still remaining on it after this year. No reasonablieve he's
not going to be elite at least one more year.
But believing he's going to be elite for two more years,

(01:41:05):
that's reasonable. Maybe he's still pretty good in year five.
He's obviously awesome in year two.

Speaker 5 (01:41:10):
I hate the part that you said about hose Al too, Bay,
because I do think that's the case.

Speaker 6 (01:41:14):
He's been really, really good lately. He's hitting well over
three hundred over his last fifteen games and ops over
one thousand, and as a chandler Rome wrote about earlier today,
this is a really true definition of hiding a player defensively.
There's no place to be made in left field, so
put him there. Their infield defense is excellent, among the

(01:41:34):
best in the league, and by some measures, the best
in the league. It's worked, and it'd be nice if
he was just a little bit better offensively this year,
not a second or third consecutive year of less production.

Speaker 5 (01:41:46):
Could you could argue that with all the things that
have either gone wrong or have just been unfortunate from
an injury standpoint, because lord knows, there's enough of those
that is that has probably been the most. This went
according to plan move the Astros made on or off
the field.

Speaker 6 (01:42:02):
Yeah, he's not to say he's a good left fielder,
but if you're being displayed or the ball's coming your
way so infrequently, the other teams have less of a
chance to take advantage of you.

Speaker 7 (01:42:14):
There.

Speaker 6 (01:42:14):
He played second base yesterday and there are a couple
of plays not made. I don't know that any other
second baseman could have made them. He also played second
base two days ago and made a nice tag to
on O'Neill cruise when he slid past the bag. He's
capable over there. They have three second basemen, he's the
third best one. Yeah, so that's ends.

Speaker 5 (01:42:33):
Yeah, but that's so sad to say here in twenty
twenty five, after everything he's done. But yeah, it's it's
absolutely the case. All right, we'll leave it at that.
You know what we're gonna do when when we come back,
we're gonna talk more Astros baseball. But that's because it's
the Astros on deck show. We'll get you ready for
the finale of this three game set rubber game, if
you will. With Fromber going on the bump and the

(01:42:55):
Astros looking to maintain their spot in first place in
the AO West. It's all coming up here on your
home for Astros Baseball. Sports Talk seven ninety is the
A Team transitions to the Astros on Deck show. Right
around the corner, the A Team

Speaker 3 (01:43:12):
On Sports Talk seven ninety