Aaron Torres and Kerry Rhodes talk NBA Playoffs and NFL Draft!

Aaron Torres and Kerry Rhodes talk about the Lakers experiencing déjà vu at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, some thoughts on the upcoming NFL Draft, Aaron goes down memory lane on his Twitter beef with JJ Redick, the future of Bill Belichick after his tumultuous interview cycle, and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome in everybody, Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Sunday error
Torres and Carrie Rhodes broadcasting live from the tyreck dot
Com Studiosdirect dot com. We'll help you get there an
unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection, and
over ten thousand recommended installers. Tirec dot com The Way

(00:25):
tire buying should be. Sunday noon, Eastern NBA Playoffs about
the tip off again in about an hour.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
First of all, Kerry roads Man, how you doing heron
doing well? Man? This is the first time with you,
you know, so it's I'd worked the whole gauntlet and
now it's.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I was gonna a lot of pressure. I mean, you've
worked with Martin Weiss, You've worked with Steve Hartman. I mean,
I can't be worse than Steve Hartman.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
So that's it. That's an easy one. Love you well.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Steve is probably dry. If I know Steve, he's probably listening.
He's probably driving in. I think he does this show
after us. But uh, dude, it's an absolute pleasure. I'm
excited to work with you. You know, NFL Draft is coming up.
Curious for your perspective on everything that's going to happen
on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and you want to talk to
other football But as Isaac just told us, NBA Playoffs
last night, four games, all four games go to the

(01:12):
home team. So I don't know that there was anything
super surprising. As Isaac said, the Los Angeles Lakers have
largely been owned by the by the Denver Nuggets, and
that ends up being the nightcap there. The Knicks win,
the Calvs win, and of course the Minnesota Timberwolves beat
the Phoenix Suns. If I said to you Kerry Rhoades's
biggest takeaway if there is one out of Day one

(01:35):
of the NBA Playoffs, what would you say it was?

Speaker 3 (01:36):
I think the biggest takeaway is that Cleveland can be scary.
Ooh okay, yeah, yeah. I mean I know they've had
they got a lot of good players, and they've been injured.
You know, Donovan Mitchell has been in and out since,
you know, post All Star breaking. So if those guys
can stay healthy with you know, with Evan Mobley starting
to pick his game up a little bit and played
the way that he played last year with that supporting

(01:58):
cast and the way that they can play defense, they
could be fun to watch. And I think also with
the Lakers, even though they got you know, you know,
stretched out there a little bit at the end and
the score looked a little, you know, a little worse
than what it was, they played some good basketball. So
if they can maintain that, maybe maybe that can be
a fun series. They were up by three. You know,
it's interesting. I did three hours last night in my

(02:18):
normal spot. We really didn't talk much about Cleveland Orlando. Yeah,
so I'm curious for your perspective because the thing about
I just find the East to be very interesting.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Boston has obviously been to the finals, multiple conference finals,
but it doesn't feel like anybody really has real faith that, Like,
are they really gonna beat whoever comes out of the West.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
You know, they've been weird.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
They get to the finals, they kind of get embarrassed
by Golden State a few years ago.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
Obviously, Milwaukee's a mess.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
We don't even know fully the status of Giannis Antennakupo
going into today. Philly obviously mbe coming off the injury.
The Knicks with their own injury issues, even though they're.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
The two seed.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
So you think you think there might be a nice
little path here for Cleveland potentially, well, they're.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Not going to be Boston, but I mean they could
challenge Boston. They could. They could give Boston the scare
here and I think you know, Boston's gonna need that.
I mean, the East looks like looks like a cake
walk for them. They played well, They've been head and
shoulders above the rest when it comes to the competition
out there. But again, Cleveland during the year had a
big stretch where I think they were almost I think
they were like fifteen in a row right there during

(03:21):
the middle of the season. And if they can stay
healthy and play well, it'd be an interesting series, all right.
So let's go to the Lakers really quick. Denver.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
You know, Denver just owns this team, and obviously there
was a lot of talk late in the season, could
they have manipulated the schedule whatever where they didn't have
to play Denver in Round one? But you know, it's
crazy because you watch all four of these games, and honestly,
I just feel like, to me, I feel like this
is almost the least interesting one to talk about. Now,
understanding that we're here in Los Angeles, Tyreck dot Com Studios,

(03:53):
Lakers are the biggest brand in the NBA.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
We get all that, but.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
It's like this game kind of went the way that
I thought it would because I honestly I saw four
of these exact literally the exact same game. I mean,
I'm not even kidding when I say last year those four,
that four game sweep. You know, the Lakers were essentially
in every single one of those games. We were talking
to produce. I was talking to producer Bo this morning,
and it's like, it just feels like there's that one,

(04:18):
you know, five to eight minute stretch where it's just
like the Nuggets go on to run, the Lakers have
no answers, and then they're playing catchup from there.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
And last night it was no different.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
You know, Lakers up by three at the half, and
then they come out and it's just like it's just like,
you know, the the light flips for Denver. They go
on whatever run it was, They hold the Lakers to
eighteen points in the third quarter, outscoring by fourteen, and
it's just like, you know, the Lakers cut it to
six eight in the fourth quarter, but you never felt

(04:46):
like they were gonna get in it. Just you know,
I want to talk about the Lakers and Lebron throughout
the show. But it just feels like this team has
the Lakers number, and I like, does it go five,
does it go six, does it go four? I don't know,
but I just don't see the scenario where the Lakers are,
you know, where the Lakers are kind of coming through
you know.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Well, Denver's been big time in the clutch. They have
a two man game that's just been pretty much unstoppable
the last couple of years, right and so, and they
have a better start in five, I mean they starting
five just meaning and not even skill wise. I mean
I think the Lakers have a really pretty skilled starting
five as well, but continuity pieces and the way did
they run you know, their team and they run it

(05:25):
through Yokics. Man, it's just been unstoppable. But I mean,
I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, you know, push the
Lakers to the side. Yet I agree with you it
has it has kind of been up to par when
it comes to those games. But you know, I just
I find it hard to believe that the Lakers are
gonna get handled the way they did last year. Really,
So what what do you think the series ends up

(05:46):
playing out?

Speaker 4 (05:46):
Like?

Speaker 3 (05:47):
I think they're gonna put some pressure on Denver, and
I think it's gonna be good for Denver. I'm not
saying that Denver is gonna lose this this series. It's
one of those things, the same when I talk about Boston, right,
there's always gonna be a series in the playoffs where
you have to you're gonna be scared and you have
to get over that hump to essentially get it done.
And it can be as early as the first round
for the Nuggets, because I think the Lakers are actually
when you talk about pieces fitting well they're playing, they've

(06:09):
been playing really good basketball down the stretch.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Let me ask you about the Phoenix Minnesota series, because
that to me, if I had one big takeaway from
Day one of the NBA Playoffs, it was in that game.
And it was, frankly, a little bit of confirmation bias,
like like, you know, you know, I get a lot
of stuff wrong in this business. We all do, and
we share, you know, big strong opinions whatever. But I

(06:34):
just bring it up because I saw the KD with
two superstars thing with no bench.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
I saw that already, it was three years ago in Brooklyn.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
It didn't work then and I get you know, Booker's
probably got a little bit of a better head on
his shoulders than Kyrie did at the time.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
James Harden's a little.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Aloof But like I just you know, like like when
I go back to the day the Bradley Beal trade
happened last summer, and you know, the internet.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Oh my god, that big three?

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Oh well what and it's like they have no bench,
Like what are we talk Like? Okay, it's cool, it's fun.
This isn't fantasy basketball. And I think you know what
was especially interesting to me about the reaction to it
was it was coming off of the Denver run last year,
where yes, Jokich is the star, Murray's the clear number two,

(07:22):
but you're getting contributions from Michael Portiere, getting contributions from
Aaron Gordon, You're getting contributions from Bruce Brown at the time,
who was on the team, from Christian Brown off the bench,
and it's like, so, I guess what I'm trying to
say with Phoenix is it's I don't it's not gonna work.
Like it's not gonna work this year. I'm not enough
of a capologist to figure out how they make it work.

Speaker 3 (07:42):
But what I saw last night. Like I I.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
One, I think they're probably done in this series. But
even if they're not, Yeah, you basically need a great,
great game, not a good game, a great game from
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker every single night. You look
at last night, Devin Booker eighteen points five of sixteen
the field, he finishes with eighteen points, you'll lose by
twenty five. And so by the way Booker goes for eighteen,

(08:07):
even if he goes for thirty five, you still lose
that game. It's like, I just that is My biggest
takeaway is the Internet loved it the day that the
new Big three was formed in Phoenix, and what is it.
It's like, you need a bench, you need depth. The
Phoenix Suns bench, by the way, outside of fourteen points
from roy O'Neil combines for four points off the bench.

(08:29):
It's just I just it's done. I think it's been
done since the day that that trade. I've just never
bought into this team. And maybe I'm overreacting in one game,
but it just I don't see it.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
I'm with you, I've never overreacted to that trade as well.
I thought that trade wasn't gonna put them over to hump.
Seeing Bradley Beal, I watched a lot of him last
year in Washington because I'm I was gonna why yeah,
only because I porzingis so Porzingka is my guy, and
so I being able to watch him and see how
he was going to react in Washington. So I saw
Bradley Beal. He's not a point guard, right, so you

(09:01):
bring him in to run that show, That's not what
he does. Watching him last year and Washington tried to
assume that position, even when you know when John Wall
left earlier, he was kind of slid to that position.
Number One, he doesn't take care of the ball. Well,
he's flashy with his handle, he can get hit shot,
but he's not a facilitator so to speak. Right, So
to put three guys in that system together who need

(09:22):
to shoot the ball, it just didn't fit in the
sense of structurally for those guys and for that team
to win, Booker has to be the alpha. Right now.
You know, everybody kind of defaults to Kevin Durant, especially
when it comes to the playoffs, because of who he is.
Sure he's not that guy anymore. Obviously, he's one of
the best scorers ever, he still can score at an

(09:42):
unbelievable clip. But for that team to win, and we
saw them when they were winning, the structure of that
team was totally different. We had a point guard where
Chris Paul was able to facilitate and get Booker in
the spots that he wanted the ball. Right now, Booker's
getting trying to get to his spots without that, and
that's what's causing the confusion with the organization of their offense.

(10:03):
And so if Booker's not won a in this situation,
they're not They're not gonna have a chance. And so
watching Minnesota and watching how structurally well put together they
are and the fact that they play defense, yeah, I
don't see Phoenix having a chance either. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
That was one of those things where you know, it's like,
and to your point is if one of your one
of those three guys has the ball in his hands
running the offense, and last year at times it was
Booker even you know, when they had Chris Paul, it's
like it takes away from what they do best really quickly.
We're talking before the show actually about the NFL you know,
wanting to play everyone wants to play GM this time

(10:38):
of year in the NFL, do you think And obviously
we don't have all the cap numbers here, but but
you know, this core is they're gonna have to try.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
To figure it out with these three.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
Do you think there's something that they can do in
the off season, because I look at it and I
see an ascending Minnesota team and ascending you know, OKC team.
Obviously the Nuggets are operating at the highest level in
the E. You know, you can make fun of the East,
but listen, Boston's here, They've arrived. I just by the way,
even the Lakers. I just think the Lakers are better
constructed as a roster.

Speaker 3 (11:09):
Do you think there's.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Something they can do because it's just I just feel
like they sold their soul to get Kevin Durant. I
get it, he's an all time guy. Yeah, but there's
just I don't know what you can do to fix
this thing. And yeah, presently constructed, they have no shot
to win. They're gonna have to bring in the point guard,
and I think one of those guys, and it'll probably
probably be Bill. You have to go to the bench, sure,

(11:30):
And I think that works for them, and it may
not work for him right now, but that would be
the scenario that I see them having any success. They
need a real point guard that can speed up the
pace their tempos. Really it's kind of methodical as well,
because they don't have a guy that can handle the
show that way. So that number one. But they got
to get some players on the bench that can come
in and contribute. I mean, you bring in a bowl

(11:53):
bowl and I know he's not a name where people
are saying he should be playing or getting big minutes,
but I know the kick play, I don't know what
it is, but him on the bench, Royce O'Neill obviously,
I mean, he's just very serviceable.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
He he's an annoyance and so you have a guy
like that, but you've got to get some points off
the bench too. And the other problem too for them
is you know, I'm checking right now, but I'm pretty
sure you know they've traded all their draft picks to
get those guys, so not that you know, college basketball
is quite like college football where you're gonna get a
lot of regular contributors. But even if there were those

(12:27):
veteran guys that you could draft, you know, kind of
his cheap labor for lack of a better term, I
don't think the Phoenix Suns have the draft capital to
do it. So yeah, Day one of the NBA is
in the books. I think we both agree.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
They're not. They're not, so it'll be interesting. That to
me was just it was like jarring. It was like
if And by the way, I remember I was on
vacation last year when they were playing the Nuggets in
the in the second who they play before the Nuggets? Now,
it must have been when they played the Nuggets, and
it was like every night Booker and Durant, we're going

(13:03):
off thirty five of pop and they were still losing it.
And I was like, oh, so we're just gonna add
another guy take away all the depth. And it was like,
you know, listen, there's a lot of dumb people on
the internet, myself included many times, but like that was
one that I was just like, I don't see why
everybody's excited. They lose by twenty five yep to the
Minnesota Timberwolves. On Sunday. So Saturday, so Fox Sports Radio,

(13:28):
aeron tors and carry Rhodes here in on a Sunday morning,
we'll look ahead to the NBA schedule later, everything coming up.
But what I do want to talk Carrie is a
little bit more on the Lakers and as this team
is constructed with a thirty nine year old Lebron James,
kind of the same thing. Do they have that ceiling?
Maybe it is Denver just a bad matchup for them,

(13:52):
or can Lebron still do it at that level?

Speaker 3 (13:54):
We'll discuss that next should mention.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
By the way, Fox Sports Radio's Draft Night Live through
the first round is this Thursday night, beginning at eight
pm Eastern, presented by Express Pros, the official employment agency
of Fox Sports Radio, Draft coverage insider Jay Glazer, Former
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Big Noon Kickoffs Rob Stone will have pick by pick

(14:16):
predictions and reactions to every first round pick. That's Thursday,
eight pm Eastern through the entire first round of the Draft,
live right here on Fox Sports Radio on the iHeartRadio app.
Presented by Express.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Pros, Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup
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Speaker 5 (14:40):
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Speaker 4 (14:47):
All happening in only one place. This League Uncut, the
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Speaker 3 (14:54):
And me Mark Stein join.

Speaker 4 (14:56):
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Speaker 2 (15:01):
Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein.

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On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
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Speaker 3 (15:10):
Welcome back, everybody.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Fox Sports Radio Aaron Torres and Carrie Rhodes broadcasting live
from the tire rack dot Com Studios. Four games in
the books in the NBA Playoffs. Four more today, starting
at the top of the hour, Boston hosting Miami, the
eight versus one matchup in the East. After that, Dallas Clippers,

(15:35):
Indye Milwaukee and New Orleans, Oklahoma City is the nightcap.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
So, Cary, I want to ask you this.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
We started with a lot of the you know, just
kind of going through all four games yesterday, but I
want to kind of hone in on the Lakers game
because we talked a little bit about this a minute ago.
But the Los Angeles Lakers, I thought that game and
I think you feel a little bit differently, but it
was eerily similar, in my opinion, into the Western Conference

(16:02):
Finals last year, where the Lakers, you know, they come
out game plan sharp, Lebron sharp, this and that, and
then the Nuggets take their best punch and then all
of a sudden, you look up and what should what
was a ten point lead or whatever is is now
a tie game. And then the Nuggets make their run,
and then the Lakers don't just have enough juice, and

(16:24):
I look at it. Lebron James finishes last night twenty
seven points, six rebounds, eight assists. That's incredible for thirty
nine year old. Will never take that away from him.
I'm not anti Lebron whatever. But of those twenty seven points,
eighteen were in the first half. It's interesting because plus
minus was minus nine, which I think is a little
bit of an overrated stat.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
He played forty one minutes.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
I just look at Lebron at thirty nine years old,
and I think the combination of the time that he
is naturally going to miss during the regular season because
he's thirty nine years old, I don't know if he
can be the best player on a championship team anymore.
You would argue he's not even the best player on
this team with Anthony Davis, but the great like Lebron

(17:06):
still has those twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen flashes
for a quarter or a half, but he just can't
sustain it for forty eight minutes. That's not a knock
on him, right. I just think that that era of
Lebron just putting an entire organization on his back is
kind of over.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
Yeah, it's over for sure. Yeah, it just can't. It
just can't sustain the energy. It doesn't matter how much
of a freak of nature that he is, you just
can't sustain it. So you'll see it in the game yesterday,
right where first half he looks like a world beater. Yep.
Third quarter he does nothing. I think he takes I
think he takes two shots, right, So it's like, and
that's strategic for him, Like he's trying to get them

(17:43):
up to a good start. He wanted that third quarter
somebody else to step up and take, you know, take
the pressure off of him in AD's shoulders. That's usually
D'Angelo Russell, that's usually Austin Reeves, that can be Ruy Hachimura.
Nobody really stepped up in that position yesterday, and so
talking about this year in particular, last year is a
different year, different animal. This year, those guys have played

(18:06):
well and they have had moments of taking over games,
especially D'Angelo Russell. He's shooting the best he's ever shot
from the three point land right, so he had an
off game yesterday. I don't expect him to do that
next game. And so that's why I don't feel as
bad about the position that the Lakers are in, because
they have guys that can step up and be able
to give them that extra scoring punch that they've had

(18:26):
confidence in this year. So that's why I'm excited to
see game two. On your question, Lebron should not be
the number one player on the team right now. He
just can't sustain it. He's always good enough. He can
be a two for sure where he can take time off,
but not a number one guy anymore. Shouldn't be a
number one guy anymore. Let me ask you a bigger
picture question. We talked about this a little bit last night.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
This playoffs to me, like we've known this lebron kd
Golden State era. You know it's hitting its end point.
You know Lebron is thirty nine. KD is gonna be
thirty six this year, I think is already thirty six.
This feels like the year because we've been there for
a while, but then twenty twenty two, the Warriors make

(19:08):
their run win the title. Yeah, last year the Lakers,
to their credit, they were in the Western Conference finals.
This feels like the year like you know, those old guys,
you know they're going down, kicking and screaming. But Warriors
are out. I think the Suns, we just talked about them.
I think it's not gonna end well for them. And
I think the Lakers, even if they put up a fight,
I think it's a five to six game series and
I think they're out. This feels like the year where

(19:30):
the league is slowly going to transition from a Lebron
STEPH KDI league, at least in the postseason, right to
something else. And I don't know if the next big
guy is Luca, if it's Anthony Edwards, if it's whoever.
Jokic obviously sort of established himself last year. This feels like,
kind of whether they want to or not, kind of

(19:51):
the handing the baton from the older guys to those
young guys.

Speaker 3 (19:53):
You agree with that men absolutely. Right now this league,
the top three four players are all European, yep. And so
it's like number one, that's that's the new wave. The
new wave is free flowing basketball points skilled players at
the top that are young. And we have that. We
have Luca, we have Sga who's from Canada, we have Jokicic,

(20:17):
we have Giannis. Giannis has been hurt and I'm not
even putting Giannis in that group right now. I think
he's on, he's on. I think he's on the tail
dive as well. His game isn't really built built for
where we are right now. He's still kind of in
the same place that he's been. He scores the same way.
He's not really evolved his game, and I don't think

(20:37):
he really can. He's not that skilled of a player.
He's a good player, obviously, one of the greats, but
he's not that skilled to be able to make transitions
to evolve his game to now shooting threes and shooting
mid range and doing all the things that Luca or
SGA can do. Right. So, Anthony Edwards as well, So
you talk about these players, you talk about Jason Tatum,

(20:57):
Thrum in the mix as well. So the game is changing.
It all always does. And yeah, I'm with you. I
think the game has kind of passed them on as
far as postseason coming, because they'll be fine in regular season.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
I'm gonna throw a total curble at you that I
didn't you know, mentioned to you before, but you're obviously
you know sports here around him all that, it's kind
of been a talking point. Are you at all worried
about like the quote unquote like state of American basketball?

Speaker 6 (21:22):
Right?

Speaker 2 (21:22):
You have, like you said, all all the emerging stars Jokich,
Luca Sga.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
I mean, if you want to throw Jamal.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Murray from Canada in there, Tatum, it's like, is he
ever gonna be that guy that's like, you know, he's
had success, but he got to the finals and he
kind of flamed out whatever. Anthony Edwards maybe, but I
don't know, is it something you worry about it being
a sports fan? Is it in your consciousness or do
you think that's an over overblown kind of narrative.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
I think is overblown. I mean basketball is basketball skilled
players of skilled players. Obviously, our kids can can be
just as skilled as they are if we teach it
that way, sure, and we give them the blueprint on that.
But right now, a lot of times, you know, in
the US, we get caught up on flash more than substance.
And I think that's kind of just what it is
we're in in the community in an era now where

(22:14):
you know Instagram, it's the socid media man. And so
like all these mixtapes and highlights highlight tapes, I want
to see a game. I want to see if you're skilled.
I want to see if you can pull up in
the mid range and make a shot, if you can
get in the mid range, take a pump fake and
do a you know, a two step to get to
the lake, to the layups and know just the stuff
that Luca does. And so it's that's about teaching it.

(22:34):
We have the ability, So I'm not worried about that.
I think Jason Tatum receives a lot of unfair critician
as well. I mean, the guy has done nothing, but
when he hasn't won the big one yet, but he's
been there. He's twenty six years old. To say I
was gonna look it up, I bet he's And it's
just like I get it. We want instant gratification. But
the kid is he's gonna win one. You know what

(22:57):
I think it is. It's because he was so good
so young. If you remember that rookie year, nineteen years old,
he's going shot for shot with Lebron in the Eastern
Conference Finals twenty eighteen. And like you said, sometimes it
just takes time. Just because he had a moment when
he's nineteen years old doesn't mean that he's gonna be
the best player in the league aet twenty years old.
So I do think this is kind of an important
as we start to kind of look ahead to today's games,

(23:18):
I think this is an important playoffs for him. I mean,
it's a weird correlation, but I remember going into the
NFL playoffs this year, it's like everything's kind of breaking
Lamar Jackson's way right, home field advantage, the defense is
playing great. Those Kansas City Chiefs say they're not playing
very well right now.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
They just lost to the Raiders on Christmas Day, and
I you know, it didn't work out for Lamar.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
I don't blame Lamar. I think it was terrible play
calling in this.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
But the point I'm trying to make is I kind
of feel that way for Jason Tatum. It's like Giannis
is hurt and beat is hurt. You know, the knixt
of the two seeds, Julius Randalls hurt. You know, it's
like this kind of has to be the year you
have to at least get back to the finals. And
it's like, you know, if you lose, because the Nuggets
are incredible, that's one thing, but if you know, if

(24:05):
you lose in round two to whoever, to the Calves,
it's gonna be like that's when I do think we
start to have questions. I mean, I think the path
has opened up very nicely for Boston this year.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
Yeah, I think the thing with Tatum as well, is
he's an people question whether he's in alpha male when
it comes to whose team is that. Obviously he's the
best player on that year, but a lot of times
you'll see Jayleen Brown step into that role a lot
of the times. You see Al Horford jumping that role
a lot of the times. And I think this year,
with the addition of Holiday in porzingis obviously Holiday has won,

(24:37):
so he has something to kind of take from to
lean on, and so he doesn't essentially have to be
the alpha all the time. But they're gonna be big
moments in the playoffs where he's gonna have to and
I think that's where we have to judge him because
that team is so good. They have three team, they
have three players averaging twenty points per game. So his

(24:58):
numbers as far as score may not look like the
Luca the or the Jokics as far as the number
the top number, right, But in the big moments is
when he's gonna have to step up. And we'll see
this year.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
We will see this year, we will see twenty seven
minutes yea, now, as Game one of the Miami Heat
and Boston Celtics will tip off, and I'll tell you what.
We'll come back, maybe switch gears, talk a little bit
of NFL. But before we do, first time this afternoon,
let's toss it over the news desk, Isaac Lohnkrawn.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
What is trending, my friend?

Speaker 5 (25:30):
Well, thank you, fellas, and that is what is trending
the playoffs, both the NBA and the Stanley Cup variety.
Game one, as you said, tipping off of the top
of the hour from Boston between the Celtics and the
Miami Heat. Boston, of course the one seed in the
Eastern Conference, On Saturday night, Denver defeated the Los Angeles
Lakers in their Game one one fourteen to one h three.

(25:53):
Nikola Jokic thirty two points, twelve rebounds and seven assists
is Denver won it's ninth straight head to meeting with
the Lakers. Earlier Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, the
New York Knicks won their Game one over the Philadelphia
seventy six Ers one eleven to one four. Today's Stanley
Cup playoff action about to face off with Game one
from Florida between the Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning,

(26:16):
while on Saturday night, the Boston Bruins toppled the Toronto
Maple Leafs five to one. Now in boxing, on Saturday night,
heavy underdog Ryan Garcia upset the previously thirty one and
oh Devin Haney by decision. He knocked down Haney three
times during the course of the bout. Garcia was not

(26:40):
eligible to win Haney's junior welterweight title belt, however, because
he weighed too much at the waiy In on Friday.
This the same way In where Garcia drank a beer
while on stage at the way In and then after
the fight last night. After his victory, drinking was still

(27:00):
very much on Garcia's mind.

Speaker 6 (27:03):
I walk through the fire and still how to down
and still drink every day and still beat them and
ill I do everything. Drank every single night, went out
on the first Monday and a Tuesday and.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
Drank andrew what happened?

Speaker 6 (27:13):
I won? I necessarily am I proud of that, But
I'm just saying this is why it.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Was a statement, to show you that's right. I do
whatever I want. I still win.

Speaker 5 (27:22):
Ryan Garcia with the anti Tom Brady TB twelve method,
back to you guys.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Oh nice, that was incredible. Actually, yeah I hear that audio.
Me neither. I'm excited too. I'm having to drink right now.
I drink of coffee. Yeah. Whatever, as laws, we do
the show.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
By the way, twenty five minutes until tip off. Just
put on NBA Countdown. Kendrick Perk is still in our take?
Is Jason Tatum ready to be the best player and
take over in the postseason? I think they must be
listening to Fox Sports Radio over there, so yeah they are,
no question, no question.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
Why wouldn't they. Everyone knows Perk looks up to.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Me, So all right, Fox sports radio aeron Torust carry
roads in on a Sunday afternoon Sunday morning, depending on
where you.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
Are carry let's switch gears.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, all right, so you obviously, you know, played in
the NFL for quite some time. First of let me
just ask you this, what is this week like for
a player? So NFL Draft Thursday, we'll get to all
our takes and who's gonna go where and all that stuff,
but you live through it. What is this week like
for a guy getting ready for Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
It's big, man, It's it's life changing, it's nervous, it's
it's it's nerve wrecking, it's it's a lot of things.
I think you go through the whole gauntlet of emotions, right,
a guy like myself, who you know, was projected anywhere
from second to fourth round. And you know, obviously as
an optimist, you're always thinking, oh, I know better than

(28:47):
second Sure, sure, sure, And you bring your whole family
comes up to Louisville and we have like a little
watch party in my room, and you know, grandmother's there,
the whole family's there, and we're sitting there and obviously
second round comes around. You're excited, it's my time. It's
my time, Aaron. And then you sit through the first
day and you don't get picked, and you're like, oh,
it's not my time. It's not my time. So you

(29:07):
go through those emotions and you got to be comforted,
and you have to have those conversations with your parents
and you love one, so it's to be reassured that
it's going to be okay. So the whole gauntlet of things,
and I go out and see my friends later that
night and they're doing the same thing, which is great.
So having that great support staff support system around helps.
So were these ex team like teammatescheers, oval some of them,

(29:29):
some of them and just you know, like I said,
family was there. But then you know, you come back,
get taken off the board early in the second round,
fourth pick, so the Jets, and then it's like, all right,
I'm in the door. I got drafted in the situation
where it looks like it's going to be good for
me as well, and so you kind of have to
temper temper things down to okay, do you want to

(29:50):
go second round, you want to go highest or do
you want to go to the best place, the best
possible fit. And so as a player, you want to
go into those situations where you have a chance to
go to the best. I believe and that that was
my experience, and I went to the Jets and you know,
never looked back. Started from day one, and you know
the rest is history.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Let me ask a dumb question, do you have because
so like Caleb Williams, right, so he's obviously probably only
met with the Bears, maybe Washington whatever, but he's not
going eleven to the Vikings, right, I mean the Vikings
could trade up when you're you could go you know,
you said second to fourth. Have you met with all

(30:27):
thirty two teams? Do you have an idea of who
is interested less interested? Or is there a group of
four or five teams where you know, because like as
an example, like right last year, this is an extreme example,
but we knew, Okay, you know Bryce Young's going one,
and then you know Houston needs a guy, the Colts

(30:48):
need a guy. And then it's like there's four quarterbacks
for three spots, and whoever doesn't get picked by the Colts,
there's probably a pretty good chance that they're gonna fall.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
Right.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
Do you know if there's four or five, seven, whatever,
it is teams that are interested. And then do you
also know, like, oh, I thought I was going to Arizona,
and I know these next four teams I didn't really
have a conversation with, so I'm probably not going to
them or at that stage?

Speaker 3 (31:11):
Is it not like that? Yeah, it's like that. I
mean for me, it was that way as well. So
I talked to, you know, a lot of teams. I
remember distinctly four or five where I was like, I'd
probably go there. I'm probably going to one of those teams, right,
so for sure, I mean I met with the Jets
at the Combine. I met with the Patriots at the Combine.
I had visits to all these teams. I had visits

(31:33):
to the Ravens, I had visits to the car and
it was like all these things, and so it's like,
all right, this is probably what every time that team
came up, I'm like, all right, you know that whole deal.
And so, you know, I really thought I was to
be honest, I thought it was going to be Baltimore
or the Patriots, meeting with both of them here and
all those guys, you know, talking to Menjenie Belichick and

(31:53):
all those guys, you know, man Genie ended up being
my coach after after my second year, and so like
you start to see that, you're like, oh, I get it.
But the Jets actually moved up in front of the
Patriots to take me even a little fourth round movement.
We had a little fourth round movement that happened. So
it was it was fun to see. It was. It
was cool that process. I'm guessing I know the answer

(32:14):
to this.

Speaker 2 (32:15):
You never saw Belichick never like pulled you aside in
one of those big AFC matchups in AFC East matchups
and was like that pesky, those pesky Jets, we were
ready to grab you two spots.

Speaker 3 (32:25):
Like I'm guessing nothing like that ever happened with him,
not that in particular, but me and Belichick we talked
a lot. Actually, he was very complimentary of my game
on in the media and stuff like that, and so
talk to him on the field every now and then.
But the Mangeniu one was funny because playing them my
rookie year, I mean, obviously we talked and you know,
they wanted me, and then he ends up being my
coach the next year, so it kind of worked out fantastic.

Speaker 2 (32:49):
I'll tell you what we'll come back. We'll actually share
some takes. We know that Caleb Williams is going number one.
Once we get to number two, it gets much more interesting,
speaking to which the Patriots at number three are kind
of a fascinating spot as well. We'll come back, we'll
talk some NFL Draft, which is obviously Thursday, and remember
we will have live coverage here on Fox Sports Radio
with Jay Glazer, Steve Kime, LeVar Arrington, and Rob Stone.

(33:10):
NFL Draft next Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio Sunday
edition thirteen minutes from tip off of the first NBA
playoff game of the day Miami at Boston one pm
Eastern Time. But NFL Draft on Thursday, again, eight pm Eastern,
we will have live coverage with Rob Stone, former Cardinals,

(33:30):
GM Steve Kaime, insider Jay Glazer, and College Football Hall
of Fame LeVar Arrington.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
Carry.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
When I say twenty twenty four NFL Draft, it is
a very broad question. You could take it in any
direction that you want. We know Caleb's going one. After that,
like I'll say this, it's a fun draft. From that
perspective is I think you can see two or three
different guys go at number two. Then what happens at
number three? Are teams like the Cardinals or Chargers going

(34:01):
to trade back knowing that people need quarterbacks. You know,
I think even the quarterback order depends on who you
talk to. So there's a lot of variables going into
Thursday night. What intrigues you the most going into Thursday night?
I mean, I think the most intriguing thing is there's
a lot of scenarios.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
But for me, the the Iowa cornerback Dejigon, Wow, that
was a curveball. He was injured, so he didn't go
to the UH to the combine and do anything, but
he did his drills here a little bit before the draft,
and all the measurables are that he's really explosive dB

(34:38):
and that I mean, we saw that on tape, but
to actually see him work out and do it that way. So,
you know, as a former dB seeing seeing that guy,
you know a lot of that hasn't been a white
starting cornerback in the National Football League in a long time,
and so I would love to see him have some
really good success.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Well it's wild because you know, we all make fun
of Iowa football, but Jack Campbell came from Iowa. It
was very successful last year. Chris Purfett may be familiar
with him. Sam Laporta came from Iowa, that's correct. You
may be familiar with his handy work here as a
pro bowler as a rookie this year. So it's like,

(35:15):
we make fun of Iowa at the college level, but
at the pro they produce pros and whatever they're doing,
they develop guys really well internally. What do you think
happens to number two? I mean, it's it's cliche, but
I just find the whole quarterback conversation fascinating because it
felt like there was a very clear one too, Caleb's one,
then it's Drake May, and then you know, throughout the

(35:37):
season it was is that Marvin Harrison is at brock Bowers?

Speaker 3 (35:39):
Is it whatever? Jaden Daniels wins the Heisman? He's incredible.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Now it's not just oh, Jaden Daniels could go in
the top three, it's that he could surpass Drake May,
and then depending on who you listen to, Drake May
could fall you know, maybe the quarterback four, maybe JJ
McCarthy jumps up. So what do you think happens with
this whole quarterback conundrum at at the top of it.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
You know what, I really don't know. I do know.
I do know that if the commanders stay at too
and they want to take Jaden Daniels, it makes sense sure,
just from the whole regime, uh, you know, magic being
there and having that, you know, I guess a little
trickle of you know, magic and showtime in that situation.

(36:19):
To bring Jaden Daniels in that situation, He's he's he's flashing,
he can make the big plays, he can take it
to the house from from from eighty yards out, he
can make every throw, and so to have somebody that's
kind of fits that bill seems like it's the right
thing to do. I mean, I think d Drake May
watching him play, I watched a lot of him because
of Louisville and Accu seeing him. He has flashes of

(36:43):
being brilliant and looking really good, but he's also has
moments of being really pedestrian. So to have that happen
on the collegiate level where you actually look that way
on tape on film, in that league, it's hard for
me to say that he's a clear cut number two guy.
Now me personally, I would say Jayden Daniels, But you know,
we'll see, we'll see how that goes real quick.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
Do you think there's one? I'm not an exus and
O's expert. You know, we kind of know what Cliff
Kingsbury's hit track record is as a play caller. Is
there one that you think fits better at what with Washington?

Speaker 3 (37:13):
Number two? I think yeah, I think it's Daniel Kyler
and I I could see that. I mean, it would
fit him for sure, But but Drake May is not
a statue. He can move a little bit as well,
So it's gonna be fit We know that, and hopefully
whoever comes in they actually give him the resources to

(37:33):
be good and give him time as well, because it's
hard to play in that league as a rookie. I
mean obviously you know in Houston they would say differently,
yeah with their guy, but with style, but a lot
of times it takes a little time.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
So then let's go to that next part because I
think the interesting thing then becomes how about number three?
Because you talk about resources, you talk about first year
head coach, defensive head coach, no real skill, issition talent
that I'm aware of, to speak of, defensive culture. Cold
weather AFC East feels like whoever ends up in New England.

(38:08):
And I don't think there's any doubt they're going to
take a quarterback, Like I feel like their back's gonna
be kind of against the wall.

Speaker 3 (38:13):
Is that fair to say? One hundred percent? And I
would see New England trying to be smarter than everyone else.
And yep, at the end of the day, you know,
drop out of that third spot. How'd they do for
the sake of whatever quarterback ends up there? That's the point, right,
Like whoever, whatever quarterback they bring in is not going
to have instanct success there. And obviously you know this,
they've had some really bad years, some down years in

(38:33):
New England. A couple in the row doesn't really sit
well for that fan base. So I don't know what
they're going to do. I think, you know, Drake may
kind of fits the bill as far as you know,
seemingly strong arm quarterback, a bigger guy, a guy that
can come in and seems like he can whether the
stormy seems even tempered when I've seen them play and
even in his interviews and stuff. So yeah, I mean,

(38:55):
in my in the perfect draft world, if we were
talking trying to construct this thing and really do it
the book. I mean, I could see it being Caleb
Daniels and Drake May and I think everybody would be
happy in that position. Just draft JJ McCarthy. I mean,
he's the best quarterback prospect cold cold Weather too.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
I'm not as ti JJ McCarthy as everybody. I'll just
say this really quick on JJ McCarthy because we got
to come back talk a little bit, a little bit
about Bill Belichick. Yeah, the one thing that nobody talks
about with JJ McCarthy plays fifteen games this year, six
without his head coach and against the two best defenses
that he saw all year. His primary play caller was

(39:31):
the active head coach. And I just sit there and say, like, Okay,
put Michael Pennix in a situation where Calen de Boor
finds out an hour before kickoff that he's not coaching
in the biggest game, and uh, let's see how you know.
I'm not knocking Michael Penix. But it's like, I don't
feel like anybody talks about that with JJ McCarthy, You.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Know, No, I like JJ. I think he's I think
it's gonna be good, a good pro as well. I
just don't think you could take him with the top
three picks. We saw what he was. We had, he
had some good games, He has all the all the
skills set to be a very good pro. But we don't.
We don't. Oh yeah, very interesting stuff.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
It all starts Thursday, NFL Draft. We'll come back talk
about a guy that's not in the draft. Belichick. Next,
Welcome back everybody, our two Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Sunday,
Aaron Taurus, Carrie Rhodes. We are broadcasting live from the
tire iraq dot com studios, tirerack dot com. We'll help
you get there an unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free

(40:24):
road hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tire
rack dot com The way tire buying should be. Game
one of the Eastern Conference Opening Around is set to
get underway. Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat are the
first game today. By the way, me and JJ Reddick
have a little social media beef, but that's neither here

(40:45):
nor there.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
Really.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Yeah, he ended up coming at me about something I
ended up being right, and I just kind of poked
him every single time. Uh huh, I was right until
he just finally blocked me.

Speaker 3 (40:55):
So you want to speak on a little bit.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
What was it, Oh, I mean, this is like an
hour conversation, but no, it was.

Speaker 3 (41:03):
It was something I ended up proving.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
So I it was during the NCAA Tournament, so I
can vividly remember. It was the twenty twenty two, so
two years ago, Elite eight. It was Houston versus Villanova.
And I know you follow college basketball a little bit too,
very physical teams. They just play like real in your
shirt defense, like kind of defense you can't play in
the NBA, Like the rules just don't allow it. And so,

(41:26):
I mean, I could probably find the tweet right now,
but all I said, you know, it was one of
those where I love college basketball, but I get that
it's not for everybody. But it was one of those
games where it was like, you know, twenty eight twenty
four at the half, and it was like and it
was the game where all the NBA people come in
and say, this's just why I can't watch college basketball
though product is so bad. It's like and all I
said was, if NBA players were allowed to play defense

(41:53):
the way that college players are, we'd see a lot
of NBA games in the nineties and eighties didn't seem
that controversial. It wasn't a criticism, It wasn't even a
criticism of the NBA. And it was a lot of
people perceived it as, oh, look at this college guy
saying that that that that NBA players don't play defense.

(42:13):
So it kind of made its rounds around NBA Twitter,
and so JJ Reddick just hops in and he says, uh,
tell me you don't watch the NBA without telling me
you don't watch the NBA. And so what ended up
happening was so first of all, I just said, look,
this is not a criticism of the NBA, it's just
the rules have changed. I mean, you can go back
to the hand check era. Yeah, every finals game, like

(42:35):
I think the last finals before the hand check was
that Lakers Pistons Finals and four. Every game was in
the eighties. Yeah, And so he kind of turned on me. Whatever,
and so long story short, the playoffs happen. Sure enough,
defense amps up. You play a team four, five, six times,
you know each other. So every single time that a

(42:56):
game was in the eighties or nineties, I just beay, JJ,
did you see that game?

Speaker 4 (42:59):
Hey?

Speaker 3 (42:59):
J just see by the.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Way, there was a moment it was incredible. He had
Kevin Durant on his podcast that week, and he called me,
I can't say it on are He called me an
f head on his podcast I'll find you the clip
during raat Yeah, but he says there was some college
basketball writer, what an f head, he doesn't know what
he's talking about.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
So anyway, anytime a game has played in the eighties
or nineties, I went ahead and made sure that he
saw that, including games that he was calling.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
And then finally he's like, bro, you don't get it,
and then he just blocked me. That's it.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
Listen, you know, think about me. I'm you know, I'm
very East Coast, and you know I don't start fights.
I just finish him. And so you try to make
me look bad. I'm just gonna let you know, like,
you know, hey, you might have been wrong, right, and
just listen, Jada. I don't know if you were watching
the Suns Mavericks game that you were calling, but I
don't know if he caught the final score, but final

(43:51):
score was ninety one eighty eight. Just wanted to make
sure you saw. And so after about five or six
of those and then what was actually funny was a
lot of guys that listen to my show and all
that stuff. Guys and girls would chime in and hey, JJ,
I think Torres has you on the and so finally
I think he just got tired of Some would call
it social media harassment, but when he turned all of
NBA Twitter on me, you know, uh whatever, So.

Speaker 3 (44:13):
All's fair anyway. So you don't think you'll be on
the Mind of the Game podcast with Lebron and JJ
Redick anytime since any Strategy any Yeah, any that's unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
But you know what's crazy because this came up again
is college basketball in the NBA, and I do want
to get to the NFL, but they are essentially two
different sports. Like stan Van Gundy was Staman Gundy. You
may have heard of him coach in the NBA. Yes,
he was calling the Yukon Illinois Elite eight game, and
he literally said during the broadcast, he said, I haven't

(44:45):
been around college, but he's like being around college basketball
for the last month. It's amazing to me how much
more physical you can play in college. And so that
was the only point that I made from the beginning,
and it was like, oh my god, Wow, tell me
you don't know ball Torres.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
And I'm like, well, I do know ball. They're just
kind of two different sports.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
And then what was funny was this year, you know,
when stan Van Gundy said that, I put it out
on Twitter.

Speaker 3 (45:09):
I was like, this is what JJ Reddick blocked me for.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
And then I had other former NBA players like you
don't know what you're talking about, and it's like, but literally,
Stan Mtagunny just said it, like, well, what do you
picking on me for? I'm just I'm just all My
whole point was what stan Van Gundy just said. So anyway,
shout out JJ Reddick, who's on call of Game one.
But that that really happened. That was a thing for sure,
and I will show you when he called he he

(45:32):
didn't know my name, but he said some college basketball writer,
what an f head that he didn't want to give
me this. He didn't want to give me the credit.
But it was kind of wild. He's like, he has
Kevin Durant on his pot and he's talking about me.
So whatever, Now Katie knows about me too, so learn
the name Katie. All right, So let's talk NFL. I mean,
unless you want to go through more.

Speaker 3 (45:53):
I don't think I have any good social media use
besides JJ Reddick, that's really the only one that's a
good one. I mean, JJ seems like he's one of
those guys that isn't know at all. So yeah, I
could see why that would be an issue. Yeah, yeah,
yes for anybody.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
Yeah yeah, yeah, and then yeah, I mean so it
was a whole thing. But anyway, all right, so NFL
draft we just talked about. You know what was interesting,
Carrie is you mentioned, you know, your draft experience and
for people who missed it, in an hour one you
got in pretty deep with the Patriots and you got
to know Belichick and Manginie and then man, GENI becomes
your head coach. But I bring it up because this

(46:26):
week there was a very interesting article that came out
from ESPN investigative report and it essentially led into the
draft of how is Bill Belichick not a coach in
the NFL?

Speaker 3 (46:35):
Right now?

Speaker 6 (46:36):
Right?

Speaker 3 (46:36):
And there were a lot of different It was.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
A you know, probably five thousand word article, probably thirty
minutes to read it front to back, but it was
very in depth.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
It goes through all.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
The different teams, the Panthers and the whoever everybody that
had a job opening the Chargers, the Commanders, whatever. But
it really kind of focused on the relationship between Belichick
Arthur Blank, the owner of the Falcons, and then Alsoppert
Kraft obviously, who's the owner of the Patriots. Everyone's kind
of big takeaway was that the way the article framed

(47:06):
it sort of made it sound like Robert Kraft talked
Arthur Blank out of hiring Bill Belichick. But if you
really read the article, it doesn't really read like that.
It was more Arthur Blank called for feedback, right, and
Kraft was like, honestly, he's hard to work with. You know,
you have a very I know how you are. You
have a communal type setting over there. You want to

(47:27):
have a personal relationship with your head coach, that's going
to be hard. It brings it all up to say,
article is very interesting, but it leads to the fact
that a guy who has won six Super Bowls coached
in nine even more if you include time as an
assistant coach with the New York Giants, etc. I mean,
he's the most accomplished football coach ever he wants to
be coaching. He is not coaching and I just want

(47:50):
your reaction, but especially knowing now that you know you
got to know him a tiny little bit. I don't
want to, you know, over sell what your relationship is
with him, but just what are your thoughts in general
about Belichick in his future?

Speaker 3 (47:59):
Yeah, his future is one that's definitely in doubt. I
was on the record early saying once he got let
go or you know, essentially stepped away, or however you
want to frame the departure, I knew he wasn't gonna
be a hot item on the market to be a
head coach, and a lot of people were going, you know,

(48:21):
gung ho crazy about oh Bill belichicks for the booth.
All these teams can use them, and he's gonna you know,
he can even come to San Francisco and take over
and get them over the hump. I'm like, what, No,
it's it's not happening. Number one, the most accomperienced coach.
You can't take anything away from that. But we also
can't take away from the controversy controversy that surrounded him

(48:42):
as well. That's part of his story as well, and
so let's not forget that. But the number one thing
about why I knew he wouldn't be a hot commodity
as a coach right now. Is the track record of
who he is and how he established his programs. This
younger generation isn't a out that this younger generation was
about sharing and speaking and saying how they feel and

(49:04):
being able to communicate on the level that in his
heyday he didn't have that communication. Yeah, he had that
communication between one and two players, but that even that,
we find out that he had no relationship with Brady exactly.
So having that you cannot that will not translate to
this younger player. And if you don't translate to the
younger player, to the young younger generation, they're not just

(49:26):
going to buy into your way anymore. M Your way
hasn't won the last couple of years. So what do
you have to stand on, obviously, besides your past and
who you who you were? Like, we live in a
society now it's who are you? Right And that's who
he is right now. He's not a good coach right
now because of his relatability issues with players. So I

(49:47):
knew it was gonna be hard for him. Let me,
I want to get back to bellichicking and secment.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Let me ask you dumb question a guy like McVeigh
where you know, living in LA you hear interviews with
with players all the time of oh no, and I
remember the first year you got high, thirty one, thirty
two years old, and you wonder like, our player is
gonna run over him? And it's like, and I remember
hearing players, whether it was Aaron Donald, I can't remember
who it was, Like, No, he's the alpha, he's our general.

(50:10):
We take orders from him. But he does have the
way of letting that those fifty three guys in that
locker room know I'm in charge, I'm calling the shots,
but also in a relatable New age way where guys
believe in that vision. So how our coaches, whether it's
a Sean McVay whoever, the guys that are successful the floor,
et cetera able to find that balance of I'm receptive

(50:34):
to what you need, you want, you whatever, but I'm
also not letting you run over me. And I'm still
kind of running the show here.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
It's about being accountable, hold yourself accountable, hold your players accountable,
don't let the level of player accountability change that accountability. Sure,
and that's what Belichick did earlier, right like every he
treated everybody the same sure, so to speak, and so
you could see that if he's not gonna they're not
paying Brady, if they're not giving Brady any least outside

(51:03):
of this one particular game that we're playing, then from
top to bottom it's that way. It comes to the
point where if you're a new guy coming in, a
young guy, a guy that's trying to establish yourself as
the alpha, as the guy that this is my team,
the first thing you have to do in that meeting
is say that, but also make yourself human as well,

(51:27):
because if we're seeing you as somebody that's untouchable, we
can't talk to you. Okay, that's going to be the relationship,
and I'm going to act accordingly. And so now the
level of communication doesn't happen because I'd rather talk to
the assistant coach, and then it starts to become leaks.
It's in the culture right because now it seems to
be side conversations that are happening. And that's what I

(51:50):
see from the younger players because a lot of times
you have specific coaches assigned to players, obviously position coaches,
but even outside of that, I had coaches that I
would talk to that would not be my coach that
I needed to go to for quote unquote therapy sessions. Right,
And so in the Patriot way, they're all saying, no,
we're this one person. The head coach is the head coach,

(52:13):
and nothing can be said outside of that, right, where
in a healthy situation, we can all have dialogue and
I can talk to this guy that's not you, and
we can still have interesting no fishers in what we're
doing as a system. So just I think it's that
accountability on both ends.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
So you said, so you obviously didn't play for the Patriots,
but you played for Mangenie, who's a disciple. Yeah, so
would it be frowned upon, like if if you just
needed to like talk to like your DB's coach, or
maybe you had a relationship with the running backs coach,
you know whatever? Was that like frowned upon not allowed?
How did that work?

Speaker 3 (52:52):
Well? You know it always got related back to man Genie.
Interesting for sure. So it's the same way. And I
didn't have a problem with it anyway, I mean at
that point, because when he first came in, it was
that way, like it was we're all together, right, nobody's
being treated differently and that worked. We had success, we
could see how smart and brid he was. We got

(53:15):
we didn't get to see as much of his personality
that first year because he was very, very trying to
be Belichick and you know, to the to the pure
essence of who he was. But as you got to
know him, as we start to have a little success,
you could see him and you could see the jovial
nature that he I guess inherently had, yeah, inherently and

(53:37):
not everybody, but I could see it. Like, I mean,
I was a captain on the team and we had
like personal like captain meetings and stuff like that, so
I could see him. But as that went on, that
starts to wear with thin if you're not winning. And
then when it changes. And then when it really changed
for him was when Brett Farb came in. Oh my goodness.
He couldn't keep Brett Farb on that same level of

(53:57):
accountability as everybody, right, and so now it's it's like, oh,
you're not doing that now, so it's different. So just
like that, it has to stay. Holy crap, Yeah you
played with farv, I did play with Brad.

Speaker 7 (54:09):
Yeah, Well we gotta come back and talk about that now, No,
and I want to relate it back to Belichick because
you know, listen, I mean, greatest coach of all time
is out of a job, and we don't know if
if there's gonna be an opportunity for him.

Speaker 2 (54:23):
Tell you what, we'll come back. We'll continue this conversation
because now I'm fascinated. I need the dirt on Far.
Now I'm just kidding. I'm not not dirt on Far.
But we'll talk about your experience kind of being sort
of in that Patriot way with Eric Mangini. But then
also what it means for Bill Belichick's future. A lot
to discuss Belichick out of a job, that big scandalous
report comes out from ESPN just a few days ago.

(54:43):
We'll discuss that next. Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back, everybody,
Fox Sports Radio Aaron Torres, Carry Rhodes broadcasting live from
the tay Iraq dot Com studios again. NFL Draft Thursday night.
Make sure you're checking out our Fox Sports Radio coverage
as Jay Glazer, Steve Khan, LeVar Arrington and Rob Stone

(55:05):
gets you picked by pick analysis starting at eight pm Eastern.
All right, so before the break, you know, we open
the show first time that I've had the privilege of
working with you, Carrie Rhodes, and we went through your
esteemed colleagues, including Steve Hartman, who will be following us
here in just a few minutes. And you know, you
work with a guy, you know, you get to you

(55:26):
get to learn about him, you know, not just guygirl too,
get to learn about him or her. And you know,
I mean obviously followed your career, you know, about the
same age whatever, right, but I forgot you played with
Brett Farv and we just talked about it during the break.

Speaker 3 (55:37):
With that that that that that jets here and what
I think is interesting is and I want to hear
all about it because I'm fascinating now. But you mentioned
that that frankly, you know you you you said it
on airs. I don't feel uncomfortable asking about it, but
that you know Eric Mangini, who was hold everybody accountable,
nobody's bigger than the system, blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
Yeah, everything changed when Brett Farv got there. First of all,
was that one of those years I can't remember, but
there was two or three years there where he really
waited into training camp to really kind of like I remember,
like there was a couple of years even in Green Bay,
where he wouldn't even show up until after training camp started.
I mean, did was he there for all the off season,
all the OTAs or what was that?

Speaker 3 (56:16):
I can't remember? No, no, no, The trade happened, right,
I mean during training camp. So he came during training
camp and so it was ver is that? Like it
was crazy? I mean, I I my roommate. My my
roommate during camp is Chad Pennington. Oh God, like that's
like that's my guy. And so like I'm sitting there

(56:38):
just like something's going on. I mean, there was buzz
and we heard you know, far still wanted to play,
and you know, we make the trade. I mean, obviously
we have success in those six with with Pennington and
we make the playoffs. He stayed healthy his first year,
fully healthy in a long time, and so you know,
we played well, but the next year we didn't play well,
and so we knew that, you know, there was some possibility.

(57:00):
But then you know, you hear Brett coming in and
as you know, I was a Brett far fan kid, right,
you know, and so you're like, man, Brett Farv may
come and then you start hitting the rumblings, and next
thing you know he's there with his wranglers on and
he's there with us hanging out. He's like, oh, Brett
Farb's here. So bittersweet for me losing Chad, which is
a really good friend of mine still now and you

(57:21):
know Brett comes in. You're excited. First, there's buzz and
obviously we know he's won a super Bowl. You know
he's good, the Hall of Famer, all those things, so excited.
Then you know he kind of gets into the mix
and he's doing everything he can to do that and
and be one of the guys. But he's not one
of the guys. It's hard for him to be one
of the guys. He's different. He has things that he's

(57:43):
accustomed to, he has ways he's accustomed to handling things,
and so just little things like for us every game,
we had to wear suits on the on the away games.
Brett Favre doesn't wear suits. He's literally a wrangler guy.
Like he's wearing jeans and T shirts and looking like,
hold up, all right, are we all doing this or
you're gonna start making rules acquiesce to this new guy

(58:07):
coming in now. And so those things start to change,
so cracks and then it's like he didn't have a
locker with us in the locker room. He had his
own locker outside of us with the coaches.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
Yeah, yeah, that's like and so like when things like
that start happening, it's gonna be tough for you to
keep your locker room, especially if you're not winning. And
so it changed with that. But I mean, I mean,
I love Mangenie and we've talked about some of this
stuff after, but during that time it was a little
messy for us.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
No, that makes perfect sense, is and you know, like
you said, so for people who missed the front end
of the conversation, this all started with Belichick and and
you know, Carrie played for a disciple and Eric Mangini.
But that's one thing, by the way, I'll give Belichick
credit for is that he did hold Tom Brady all
that time to the same standard as the fifty third guy.
That's probably what allowed tom Brady accepting it. But that's

(58:59):
probably what all also allowed them to have all that
success for all those years.

Speaker 3 (59:01):
Right on, per it cannot be any different. Obviously, there
is going to be difference in you know, how a
star player is going to be received, but not you
can't treat them differently. Yep, that's a it's a it's
a fine line on what that is. And so you know,
Mangini being young, he was young at the time. He's
thirty four thirty five.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
People forget how he was the first Belichick assistant that
really popped right if I yeah, maybe maybe uh Romeo Crenell,
I can't remember, but I think Mangini was like.

Speaker 3 (59:31):
One of these Margenie was, Yeah, like it was. It
was actually tension in the first time they we played
the patricks, right, and so even no handshake that like
the quick handshake, no look type. Yeah, like it was
a lot of that stuff. So it was fun. It
was fun during the time, but yeah, when Brett came in,
it just it showed the cracks. It was the first
time where it was like, oh, it's not the same.

(59:52):
And so that's that's where you start to have those
leaks and things start to go south. And you said
you were a team captain, right, and you said you
met as a team capt and with Mangini separately. Is
this something that you can bring up to the head
coach or is it is it totally off bounds? He bounds.
I think you, I think you should be able to
I don't know if I did. Sure, I can't, can't
say that, but yeah, I mean the team meet I mean,

(01:00:13):
the captain meetings would be me Brett, I think Sean, Oh,
well Brett's I mean Fret's aria part right, Yeah, yeah,
so I mean but individually, I mean you probably probably
wouldn't have said anything, but during the captain meetings yeah,
I mean he's a captain too, so sure, yeah Locker, Wow,
oh the truth comes out? Yeah yeah, yeah, no, it was.
It was. It was interesting, and I think you don't
really I mean, you understand that there are levels to

(01:00:36):
certain things, but when you lose, it's just a bigger deal. Now,
if we were winning, maybe it wouldn't have been this
that way, right, But yeah, the success wasn't equating to
to what the treatment was at the time. This all
started with a Bill Belichick conversation. I'll tell you what,
we'll toss it over the news desk. Well, we'll hear
from Nick Wirt and then we'll come back and actually

(01:00:56):
get back to Belichick.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
But I'd rather talk, oh, five jets or what whatever
year it was.

Speaker 3 (01:01:01):
Wait, wait, oh.

Speaker 2 (01:01:02):
Wait, Jets because this is fascinating. We'll discuss Belichick next.
Kevin Wire, what's up man?

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
How you doing?

Speaker 8 (01:01:07):
What's going on right now? It's one of the best
times of year in sports. I think October is my
personal favorite, but the mid March to the end of
April's got.

Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
To be close to be on our Saturday really good.
It's like you go from March Madness final games to Masters,
to NBA playoffs to NFL Draft by the way, major
League Baseball opening days and there at some points pretty good.

Speaker 8 (01:01:29):
Runs and the Stanley Cup playoffs as well. We don't
want to forget that. We do have a game going
on right now in the NHL. Lightning and Panthers. That's
an all Florida matchup, and they are tied at one
goal apiece as they have reached the end of the
first period. Sam Reinhart, the goal scorer for Florida, then
Brandon Hagel answering about ten minutes later for the Lightning.

(01:01:51):
Second game of the day coming up in about an
hour and a half Capitals in Rangers at Madison Square Garden,
and later this afternoon Avalanche and Jets. We'll square off
up in Winnipeg. In the NBA, We've got the first
game of the day, Game one of the Eastern Conference
first Round, Celtics and Heat, and it's Boston in front
twenty three to fourteen, and it was kind of expected

(01:02:12):
to be this way with no Jimmy Butler playing. He's
expected to be out multiple weeks with his MCL injury
and is expected to be a tough road for the
Miami Heat in this series. And the Celtics already out
in front by nine points, and that's because they've shot
the ball incredibly well, hitting five of their first ten
to three point shots. They're nine to eighteen shooting the
basketball overall in this game. Bammi Tobayu does have six points,

(01:02:36):
the leading scorer for Miami, and it's Christops Porzingi's the
leading scorer for Boston. He's got seven points on three
to four shooting so far in this game. Coming up
at three thirty Eastern time, Mavericks and Clippers out in
Los Angeles, game one of that series and Kawhi Leonard
officially listed as questionable, but Adrian war Janowski yesterday saying

(01:02:58):
that there's increasing doubt that he'll play, and that's because
he didn't even face off against contact and practice yesterday,
So chances are we're not gonna see Kawhi Leonard again
in the playoffs for the Clippers at least four today.
Coming up at seven o'clock, Pacers and Bucks up in Milwaukee.
Pelicans and Thunder will be the nightcap nine thirty out
in Oklahoma City. Major League Baseball, a couple of games

(01:03:20):
just about to get started in the next few minutes.
Red Socks and Pirates up in Pittsburgh, White Sox Philly
is over in Philadelphia. The Astros will face the Nationals
in Washington. Raisin Yankees and the Bronx Angels will face
the Reds in Cincinnati, and the Athletics and Guardians over
in Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
Back to you guys, Yeah, thank you very much, Kevin Wired,
Thanks keV, appreciate you. Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
Sunday Erators Carry Roads taking you the top of the hour.
Steve Hartman and Rich Orenberger will follow us. Uh okay,
So Belichick, let's come full circle on this really quick.
So the part of the article was about this coaching. Second, well,
part of the article was next coaching cycle, which is,
you know, it could be explosive if the Cowboys actually

(01:04:05):
move on from Mike McCarthy, which you know Jerry Jones
has been reticent to make major moves Philadelphia. They said
that Belichick has had a long standing relationship with Howie Roseman. Yeah,
Kyi Roseman said, I just called to check in out
of him. There was never a conversation about him coaching
our team. So do you think this is it for Belichick?
And by the way, let me ask you a separate question.

(01:04:26):
A little hard to answer, but there were some insinuations
in the article about the idea that Belichick only wants
to keep coaching to break down Shula's record. I certainly
think that's a motivating factor. But to me, I get
the sense that Belichick, as long as he's healthy and
as long as he's wanted, wants to coach. So do

(01:04:48):
you think and we don't know who's going to open
up next year, but do you think there's a spot
for him somewhere in these thirty two teams? Or has
his way of doing things just completely disappeared?

Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
That's very hard, hard question. Personally, I think his time
is up. I really do sure, I really do. I think,
like I said, the league has moved on. You have
a smarter, more emostly aware player this this day and age. Sure,
it's it's more welcome back in the day, even my

(01:05:21):
time planning, right, Like the head coach's word was gold
and that's all you really cared about, even outside of yourself, right,
and to be into any type of team situation, there
has to be a level of that. But I just
don't see him being able to change his ways at
that point. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
They always say it, and it's it's really hard. And

(01:05:43):
so for him, I'm sure there is a couple of
situations that are that could happen. I don't see it yet,
so I would I would probably be surprised that wherever
he ends up going, if he gets another job. That's
that's kind of my stance on it. Yeah, no, it's
it's fascinating. And I think, you know, the thing that
the article really pointed out really well is that you

(01:06:03):
know you he said, he told Arthur blank, he doesn't
care about player personnel.

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
He's willing to work with a GM whatever. But I
do think the age is working against him. Seventy one
years old. I think they said he'd be seventy three
by the start of the twenty twenty five NFL season.
He's obviously not coaching this year, but that's basically it
is that you have to overhaul everything that you do
for what are we talking about a two year run
a three year run?

Speaker 3 (01:06:28):
It's interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:06:29):
I will say this, I do think that him being
on TV this year is going to help him. It
sounds weird, but he's an incredibly bright guy. I think
ESPN is going to put him in situations where he
sounds smart. You know, listen, I remember I don't know
if you saw this or not, but he was on
college game Day for the Army Navy game, and like
Herbie and I thought Pat McAfee did a very good

(01:06:51):
job of setting him up to look good and look
smart and ask not that he needs their help looking smart,
but ask questions that would engage him.

Speaker 3 (01:06:59):
And so I do think that will play a role.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
But you know, now that I think about it, like,
if we're talking about the fall of twenty twenty five, he'll.

Speaker 3 (01:07:06):
Be seventy three years old. I mean, that's that's a
tough spot to hire a head coach. Yeah, although he's
a baby compared to Jerry Jones, so maybe maybe that'll
player with Jared Jones ain't coaching either. Jerry Jones is
masquerading around. Well that's what. But that's what I mean.
It's like Jerry Jones is eighty one, he'll be eighty three.

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
So maybe he's like, oh, this this young whippers Stafford Belichick, let's.

Speaker 3 (01:07:26):
Bring him into to write this ship. I mean, yeah,
I mean the Dallas situation obviously, it looks looks appealing,
especially if McCarthy can't muster out something, muster up something
else here and and finally get over over the hump. Yes, obviously,
but again I just don't I don't see it, and
I wouldn't see him. I mean, if he loves coaching

(01:07:46):
so much, I actually throughout the ideal of him going
to San Francisco and being the defensive coordinator. Yeah, do
you think? I don't know? I've heard. I heard that.
There was a story that said something about that that
came out after I said it too. But if he
really loved football, he would be doing that right now
if he wanted the coach. So I think the caveat
of wanting to break that record is a real thing

(01:08:09):
as well.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
Yeah, I think it's a real thing. I just I
don't think that's the thing that motivates him. Yeah, and
you know, the insinuation was, I think it's fifteen wins
to pass shula yea, and after that it's like, oh,
you know whatever. It's like, well, first of all, that's
still two seasons. Yeah, I don't know that I buy it.
I just I don't know. I just find it to
be a fascinating story. And you know, we'll see what
happens next with Belichick. Anything else from the NFL perspective

(01:08:32):
that's caught your eye kind of leading up to the draft,
all this stuff. I mean, it's kind of a quiet time.

Speaker 3 (01:08:35):
But yeah, no, no, not really. I think the one
thing that I'm excited to see obviously my my hometown
Jets and what they're going to do with that ten position.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
What do you so, how do you feel you live
through the Brett Favre experience. Aaron Rodgers is in total
apples to apples. It's year two for him, but he's
coming off major injury all that. What are your thoughts
on the Jets.

Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
I just hope he stays healthy. I want to see
what it can be. Sure we saw what it wasn't
without so let's give it. Let's give it a chance.
You know, you know Willing willing that he stays healthy
and we get to see the best possible outcome of
that situation. And we were talking before the show.

Speaker 2 (01:09:13):
You think it's better for the Jets to go skill
position guy as opposed to offensive linemen.

Speaker 3 (01:09:18):
I do. I think they. I think they Obviously they
took some swings in the free agency, got some some
some O line depths, some O line starters, so they
address that. I mean, they do need to get younger there.
They need to get another pick there as well. But
if you can take brock Bauers, who's essentially you're you're
addressing both of those things. Skill and you can be

(01:09:41):
an extra blocker. Yeah. So if they can get him
at that position, if they don't move, I think it's
I think it's a great pick. I mean, we've seen
what the tight end position has done in the league. Yeah,
and not I think he fits that bill as well.

Speaker 2 (01:09:53):
All say is I think what you said about Aaron
Rodgers is how I feel is that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:59):
Is it gonna work? Because it's not gonna work. I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
I just want to put I want all these guys
to be put in the best position. I'll give you
an example, Like I'm a college guy love Jim Harbaugh
in a Michigan, but when it was clear he wanted
to go to the NFL, I was like, I hope
he ends up with the Chargers because I want to know,
is Justin Herbert on that mahomes Allen whatever level. I
don't know, but let's give him every resource imaginable to

(01:10:23):
see if he gets there. Then if he doesn't get
her to get there, it's on Justin Hurban. But if
you go hire another you know, defensive coordinator on the
cheap or an offense, you know, a coordinator that's never
coached on the cheap, No, And I do give the
Chargers credit for making the big move, making the big splash,
spending the money that it took to get Jim Harbaugh.

Speaker 3 (01:10:40):
And so it's it's kind of the same with Aaron
Rodgers as well. Is whether it's it's through the draft,
through free agency, through coaching, whatever, push him the best
and see what happens. I'm not as like I get
where people are just out on it. I don't know
that I'm there, but I think it's you know, forty
year old quarterback Akilles injury. I think it's gonna be tough. Yeah,

(01:11:02):
I just want everybody to be full of strength. Sure,
I just want to see I am a great product.
So I mean, Aaron Rodgers, the excitement coming into the
year for the Jets. I know, I've never been that high. Nope, never,
and so you get to see that and now I
think that it happened so in such a disastrous way

(01:11:24):
last year. Just I want to see it as a
fan perspective, just see what it looks like. And so
that's where I am with it. Oh, we'll see.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
We'll see what do the Jets have the tenth pick
this this year, so see if they trade up.

Speaker 3 (01:11:36):
We'll see if somebody falls to them.

Speaker 2 (01:11:38):
NFL Draft again on Thursday, live coverage here on Fox
Sports Radio at eight pm Eastern. Come back, we'll wrap
the show. We got a lot to talk about. Four
NBA games today, NFL Draft on Thursday. That's all next
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (01:11:52):
Welcome back, everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
Fox Sports Radio, Aaron Torres, Carrie Rhodes taking you to
the top of the hour. What we got Okay, you
guys just gotta okay, you got two headphones there. I
didn't know if it was like, uh, you had one
earphone working in one and one earphone working in the other.

Speaker 3 (01:12:11):
Whatever. But they're taking up to what what time would
that be?

Speaker 2 (01:12:16):
Two pm? Eastern time? When Rich Ornberger and Steve Hartman
will follow us. Uh, Steven rich coming up here in
just a minute. All right, So we got we got
four NBA games today.

Speaker 3 (01:12:27):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:12:28):
First one is underway, Celtics Heat game one. Celtics up
thirty seven, five to go. Three more games starting coming
up with the MAVs and Clippers. That's coming up next,
followed by Indiana Milwaukee, New Orleans. Okay, ce nightcap? What
game are you most excited about today?

Speaker 3 (01:12:49):
The next one the MAVs versus the Clippers. Aaron, you don't.
You don't know this yet, but I'm a diehard mav fan.
Real quick.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
You said, are you tight with Porzingis or you just
followed his career? You said earlier?

Speaker 3 (01:13:02):
Yeah, yeah, No, No, I know him. We're not like tight,
but I know him and we're friends, and I follow him.
I want him to have success. I know he doesn't
play for Dallas, he doesn't play with Dallas anymore, but
I was. I always stayed on the train and I
knew he would have a bounce back type, you know,
career type of situation happened in Washington. He did that,
and now he's playing really well with Boston. So yes,

(01:13:23):
so I'm excited to see that. But Dallas Clippers, I
think is probably going to be the best first round
series in in the in the playoffs, and so I'm
excited to see that one. So you were saying you're
a Dallas fan or I kind of come a Dallas fane.
Oh really? How did that come about? Five? My manager
managed the Jet Jason Terry, of course, and so I

(01:13:46):
became friendly with them and through that situation and started
hanging around the team a little bit, met Dirk and
the guys, Cuban and the guys uh as a young
as a young fellow, sure and so been in trench
with them since then. Wow, the Jet Jason Terry were
Is he coaching? I don't know what he was doing.
He was doing the G League stuff for a little bit.
Is at Arizona for well? Yeah, I don't know where

(01:14:07):
he is now, but yeah, kind of feels like this
is Luca's time. Like we talked a little bit about
Jason Tatum earlier in the show where you know last year,
first of all, a couple of years ago, you trade
for Kyrie whatever. Last year, I thought it was an
embarrassing display final game of the regular season. You can
get into the play in you rest your starters for
a draft pick that you may or may not get,

(01:14:29):
depending on how the lottery goes. But you also got
to give credit where it's due, or I have to
give credit where it's due. Where the Mavericks obviously played
very well down the stretch, and you know, Luca obviously
played at an MVP level. So so that I think.

Speaker 2 (01:14:41):
That's the one that I'm most excited about as well. Obviously,
you know the status of Kawhi Leonards. Kevin Wyer just
told us sounds probably like he's not going to be there,
but it's a little bit disappointing. But yeah, what do
you think it's been about Kyrie this year? I mean,
it's just I give him credit because I've been critical
of him. But it's been quiet, it's been business like.
There hasn't been a lot of you know, noise off

(01:15:03):
the court.

Speaker 3 (01:15:04):
Yeah, Kyrie is my guy too, I'm I I love him,
I love his game. Obviously he's had some issues in
the media. But it's more the media, you know. They
tried to paint him as a bad teammate, as a
as a bad guy in general, which he was not.
And so to see him be able to really fully

(01:15:24):
be entrenched into the into the Maverick way and really
just get back to what he does best and play basketball,
it's been refreshing. He's been a big catalyst for those
guys and a big and a great leader for those guys,
which is not been what we've talked about with Kyrie
in the last few years.

Speaker 2 (01:15:42):
No, I give him a ton of credit, and I
have been a little critical. By the way, David chimes
In says, really enjoyed the show. Guys, great duo today.

Speaker 3 (01:15:48):
So there we go. There you go, we got our
fan cup.

Speaker 2 (01:15:52):
Uh We're not okay, see New Orleans because that one.
I am a little intrigued. Look, I just think the
Okac thing. You know, everybody likes the new, the young,
the fresh, and I do think there's something to you know,
Chet's first playoff series obviously shake Gil just Alexander. I
think he might have been in the playoffs that first
year with Clear. I can't remember Bud Clippers. Yeah, but
I mean, obviously this is going to be kind of

(01:16:13):
his national coming out stage. I'm excited for that one
as well, just to see, you know, and it's cliche,
but but a lot of really young guys first moment
the Pelicans have kind of they've been there. They obviously
gave the Suns fits a few years ago, so a
lot of those guys on the Pelicans have been here
before on this stage, and I'm just intrigued.

Speaker 3 (01:16:32):
To see how Oklahoma City handles every yeh Okay See.
Reminds me of the old the old kay Okay See team,
right where you had the young guns KD. Russell. Obviously
I'm getting ahead of myself with this new batch as
far as their credentials go, but I mean it's just
it's reminiscent of that. You know, you had K D.
Harden and Westbrook and Ibaka as well, and those guys,

(01:16:53):
you know, getting into the playoffs and you just have
to wait and see. We don't know how they're going
to perform. And I think that's where we are with
this old ok Sam. You have SGA, you have Chet,
but you also have Jaylen Willgams, who we haven't talked about,
who's really good as well, So I'm excited to see
these guys get out there as well.

Speaker 2 (01:17:09):
By the way, we do have late breaking news per
our NBA Insider, Fox Sports Radio Mark Medena. Clippers coach
ty lw says Kawhi Leonard will be out.

Speaker 3 (01:17:17):
For Game one. Yeah, he was out versus the MAVs today,
So that is official. MAVs.

Speaker 2 (01:17:22):
Clippers are coming up at twelve or three thirty Eastern time.
Excuse me, twelve thirty Pacific, the Indiana Pacers and the
Milwaukee Bucks, followed by Oka c and the and the
Thunder or the New Orleans Pelicans that I said really quick,
any quick thoughts on Indiana Milwaukee out obviously outside of
the status of Giannis.

Speaker 3 (01:17:43):
Yeah, I think the Pacers is gonna win that series.
A lot of people are saying that. And I say
that because Rick Carlisle sure a lot of people don't
talk about him in playoff situations as a playoff coach.
He's gonna have devise a game plan that's going to
give them the best chance to win, and they can
score a lot of points. And they gave him fits
doing the regular season as well. Yeah, and Milwaukee.

Speaker 2 (01:18:03):
It's just you know, I'm not as anti Doc as
everybody else, but it has been weird. And even how
he got the job was, oh he's a consultant. Oh no,
he's got the job now, and it's like that was
kind of weird. And then you know, they struggled early,
then they got kind of hot, then they struggled down
the stretch, and then Giannis is hurt. This isn't like
a unique take, but not having Drew Holliday I think

(01:18:25):
has completely changed the entire complexion of that team and
just a.

Speaker 3 (01:18:30):
Weird, weird, weird series overall.

Speaker 2 (01:18:31):
So really excited for the four games today, Really excited
for the NFL Draft. All right, A couple quick hitters
before we go. Who ends up as the number two
pick in the NFL Draft Thursday?

Speaker 3 (01:18:41):
The number two, number two, I mean he's a number
two and number three, number two, I mean number two.
It's gonna be. It's gonna be Jaden Daniels, I think so. Yeah,
all the talks, just talk. You think Drake Mago's number three,
New England Patriots. You're on the club, Mayo your first
draft go Yeah, No, I don't know, because.

Speaker 2 (01:19:04):
It's you can take Belichick out of the Patriots but
it's still the Patriots, it's still the same culture, the
same whatever. There's just no Bill Belichick, so it'll be curious.
But tell you what, Carry Rhodes. We gotta go, dude, man,
I appreciate this. This was a lot of fun. I
appreciate you, appreciate the crew, per feed on the board,
producer Bo, who I've never seen work harder than the
grind that he put in over the last two hours.

(01:19:26):
Uh Isaac Low and Crawn and Kevin wired on the
news Update desk, Rich Orenberger and Steve Hartman coming up next.
They got so much to discuss. That's next. This is
Fox Sports Tradio.