NFL Draft Breakdown + NBA Talk w/ Nick Rice

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
How's it going, guys, Thanks for clicking on to this
episode of the Phil Talk Sports podcast. The NFL Draft
is in the books. It's about a week old at
this point. All the storylines have simmered a bit, so
myself and Nick Rice are here to talk about it. Nick,
welcome back to the pod. Haven't had you one since
the Super Bowl recap show. I forgot how that game
went and everything, So you know, we'll just the new

(00:32):
season is upon us. This is kind of where the
new football season takes shape with the draft here, so
we're starting to, you know, leave past season behind us
and move into this one. How much of a draft
guy are you, because it's like Christmas for me. Do
you actually watch either all three days or any of it?
Or you are you someone that when it's over you
just go back and check who who all got picked?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Like on Twitter they'll say the draft is better than
the NBA playoffs, which is totally but it is very entertaining.
I probably watched about a third of it. My line
is just going there hours beforehand, tailgating and then just
standing around for on Saturday. Thousands of people were there

(01:17):
for what is it? I think nine to five pacifics
so eight hours plus whatever they did before and after.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
So yeah, that's that's.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
A pretty insane amount of time to just stand around
watching Randell's go up and talk about players.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah, I mean it's basically a work shift they spent there,
and I've had it explained or compared to like you
ever watch like the ball drop on New Year's and
you have the people that are just crammed in there.
It would kind of be like that because if I did,
let's say they had it in Tampa or somewhere that
I could actually go to it. If I went to
the event, I wouldn't just hang out in the back.

(01:53):
I can still see the stage. I can have my drains,
hang out with my friends. Because if you go in
there and you're like jammed in like sardines, you can't leave.
God forbid to go to get another drink. God forbid
to go to the restroom, Like you're not getting back
in that spot. So I agree the shout out to
the people that do go to those things. Like I
saw the graphic this year where the city of Green
Bay or the town of green Bay population is like

(02:15):
one hundred and seven thousand and one hundred and twenty
five thousand people were at this event this week last week,
so literally more than the population at Green Bay showed
up for it. So people like it. It's fine. I'm
sure it's a great experience, but I'm not gonna sit
in that crowd where I can barely move. You know,
That's just not for me for sure.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
I've said this about like Coachella, and I've said this
about like other events I'd love to and I think
literally I said this with you here. I was saying
I'd love to, and you might have even been the
one that gave me the idea to just like have
a plane and just get dropped off there for about
fifteen minutes, like that'd be awesome, and then it's time
to leave because I need to go to the bathroom

(02:54):
or I need to do something, I need to literally
move my arm.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
So I mean I went to the version of not
that it's quite coach. Hell, we have Rockville here, which
is like Earthday Birthday. It's like a music festival, and
like that was fun because it's like a million there's
like eight stages and they just kind of rotate when
bands are playing, so you have to constantly be moving
and once you get in front of that stage, like,

(03:18):
you don't need to be in the crowd of people.
You can hang out in the back and still see.
And luckily it's music. It's a concert. As long as
you can hear the music being played, it really shouldn't matter.
So like we did our best with that. But I agree,
I'm not big on the whole thing, but it looks
like fun. I think it would also depend where it is,
Like back when it was in the Radio City Music Hall,

(03:39):
which it was, you know, in New York for most
of our lives. That was more of a I feel
like you were going a Broadway because you were sitting.
You were in like the cheap seats of that ballroom
or whatever. So that's a little different. Like at least
I have my own seat. I can at least get
up and get back, and I know I have a spot.
But this stuff, and every year it's different now too.
The setups are completely different. Was it in Vegas you

(04:01):
had like get on a ferry to get on a
stage or something, So it just depends what all the
different all the different setups are and some are more
I'm curious see where they go next. It could be
interesting if they do, like the team that wins the
Super Bowl gets to host the draft.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah it is Detroit next year, just so you know.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Okay, it is Detroit. So they got they got plenty
of space that could work out. But Green Bay I
thought it was gonna look a little too grant. I
thought they did a good job though, hats off to them.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, no, it looked insane.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
And then when the Packers were on the clock, it
was just all sorts of energy. Got a little disappointed.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
This year. We had no Pat McAfee.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
I don't really punt here much, so I'm sure you
guys don't remember me, and none of the David Acres.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Most of these guys weren't even born when you guys
won the Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
When Acres announced the pick in Dallas, and a couple
other awesome you know, but there was none of the
roasting this year that we've had before.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
I did notice that. And the other thing I noticed
was when a player would come up to like, say
the Titans pick, not the first pick, but like later
if they had a former player that played at the
University of Wisconsin, they had that guy do the pick.
So a lot of these guys next year even though
they didn't play for the Packers, which is kind of smart. Honestly,
I gotta give them credit for that. Another thing I

(05:14):
want to give them credit for is I'm the first
one to complain. They say the draft starts at eight
and that number one team has only had five months
to decide or it feels like five months to decide
their pick, and the first pick still doesn't get picked
till about eight twenty eight to thirty. But this year,
the pick, like cam Ward, was on stage by like
eight twelve, So I give I give them credit that

(05:36):
they finally sped that beginning part of Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
I mean the Browns traded with the Jags at two,
which was to me a huge storyline that gets overlooked
because of other things. We'll talk about Lec Shudur Sanders
and others, but you know, the Browns hilariously didn't wait
or waited until after the cam War got on stage
to make that trade because they were wondering, what if

(06:01):
he doesn't get picked first overall? That changes our strategy
and it's like he's gonna get picked first overall. That
was like the worst kept secret in the world. So yeah,
incredible stuff throughout the draft. To me, I think ten
minutes and then five minutes for the later rounds is
a little much. But then again, apparently it's not enough
time for a team like the Vikings, which is I

(06:24):
think the last team to literally not make a pick
and they had to wait through a couple picks later.
So but in general, I think, you know, I guess
you throw commercials in there, but it is kind of
a long three days.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
I always have this opinion of it. And I even
say this about like fantasy football, where like the earlier rounds,
you should need less time because all the big names
are still there. You might want five minutes in the beginning,
in ten minutes in like the third round and later.
I could see that being a thing. But that's always
an opinion that I've shared with that. But you already mentioned,
you know, cam Ward being the first overall pick. Do

(06:59):
you think that was the right choice? And like obviously
he had we've seen great things from him at Miami,
at Washington State other place. Is he a franchise changing
quarterback in your opinion?

Speaker 3 (07:11):
Well, first of all, don't give the NFL any ideas, okay,
because we don't need the draft to be four or
five days long if ten minutes are on the clock
for each pick. And then in terms of cam Ward,
you know, I'll say this first and foremost, I didn't
watch every snap of the Miami Hurricanes, but in general,
cam Ward looked like, you know, from a lot of

(07:34):
people's opinion right around, a guy that could end up
becoming a great quarterback. But I did even hear things
like cam Ward in last year's draft wouldn't be picked
as one of the top five quarterbacks, which looking at
his numbers and his highlights and just his overall production,
felt like a stretch.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
So I think he may end up.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
Being somewhere around, you know, maybe like a Trevor Lawrence
rookie year where he solid but you know, not quite
the franchise potential that the Titans are hoping to get,
you know, but Warren Moon's given him support, the organization's
given him support, and you know, he's got a couple
pieces there, so I'd say it's a decent chance.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
But you know, cam Ward to me didn't wow.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
Me enough to say, oh, he's the next Peyton Manning
or Tom Brady in this draft.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, you alluded to it already a little bit. But
like many people, have said, like if cam Ward was
in even with the year he had at Miami, was
in last year's draft or twenty six, which there's already
a mock draft out for twenty six by Todd mcshake is,
he's an absolute madman. But that you know, that's I
digress on that. But if he was in last year's
draft or next year's, he would be like the fourth

(08:47):
or fifth best quarterback, is what they've said based on
the guys that were already picked. So when you grade
this whole draft on that curve, I think it was good.
They obviously have to give up anything for him except
have a terrible season to get the number one overall pick.
So I like him as a better chance than some
of these other guys that have gone like top to

(09:08):
like him versus Hindsight's twenty twenty, but like I like
his ability to help a franchise more than like Zach
Wilson when he was picked, when Sam darn even though
he's kind of haring things out, like he's got like
a whole second act of his career that he's being
looked at a little better. But like, I think his
chance of being productive for the Titans enough they're like,

(09:30):
all right, we don't have to worry about this position now.
Next year, we got to get more linemen to help him,
you know, stay upright, we gotta go get receivers so
we have someone to throw to. I think he will
play well enough that they can at least go get
other positions in future drafts, as opposed to like, all right,
do we need do we need to start this whole
thing over again. I think he will play well enough

(09:52):
they will at least attempt to build around him before
they try to do anything with him. I think he'll
get that opportunity, which that used to be an obvious thing, like, yeay,
he's an pick. Of course he's not. But we've seen
quarterbacks get moved on from that are top two to
three picks sooner than ever before. So it's not a
guarantee like it used to be. But I do think
he's good. He could be good enough potentially for them.

(10:12):
I don't know if he's like I put him like
a step below CJ. Stroud, And you know, Straud had
like a really good rookie year and then had that
sophomore slump. So this year we're really going to see
what he's made of but I'd put him below CJ. Stroud,
but in front of like a Zach Wilson or guys
like that is where I stand on him.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah, you know, the behavior of these teams drafting to
me suggested that we have a lot.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
Of guys in that range that you're talking about.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
So I think Trevor Lawrence is like a good example
where I for cam Ward and then somewhere around there
for about another half dozen guys. There was I believe
at least a dozen the quarterbacks picked in the draft,
and a lot of guys in the mid rounds. So
I think teams felt these are not first round talents.

(11:03):
We don't need a fifth year to figure out if
you're good or not. But a lot of guys the
Browns I think picked two of them. Where it's like,
I think there's about ten guys that got picked that
are gonna be great backups in the league, and you know,
solid starters for a few of them, and a lot
of depth I think was in this year's draft of

(11:23):
the quarterback position because you look at the numbers and the.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Talent very few, wow, but a lot of them.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
I think teams feel we've got solid starters at this position.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yeah, and they're just gonna, like you mentioned earlier, there's
gonna be more quarterback talk when we talk about you know,
the one that got the most spoken about him for
maybe not positive reasons in this draft. But we'll talk
more more quarterback in the in the future here in
a minute. But we already touched on a little bit
the Jags making the move early. You know that to me,
that's still like the storyline of the draft, despite what

(11:58):
people in like the Sanders House may tell you, that
is the move that that's what this draft's going to
be known for, for better or for worse, because this
experiment of can a guy play both ways consistently and
at a high level simultaneously will be you know what
we look at for this of the Jags trade up
to get Travis Hunter, and like you said, you already

(12:19):
brought up a great point. They kind of had to
wait till Ward was on stage with the Jersey because
if they go with Hunter for some reason, they're not
trading up for Kan Morden, So they had to make
sure that was out of the way. They had to
execute the pick with Cleveland, and this is a rare
opportunity where I felt this trade benefited both teams. Like
people have this weird thing that if you don't rip

(12:40):
the other team off, it wasn't a good enough trade
for you. I do think that extra first round pick
was a little rich for my blood. I want to
say this too. People will say that this trade was
three first round picks. It's not. It's two. And they
swap picks. People always say that always bothers me. But
they gave up the second, and then they gave up
the first next year with a couple other swaps thrown

(13:02):
in there. So really it was a first round pick
in a swap with a second, and I think like
a fourth or something. The first round pick was a
little rich for me. I would have liked maybe another
second to be thrown in there. But what do you
think about the overall price tag it took for the
Jags to trade up there.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
So in twenty eleven, the Falcons traded I think of
first and a second. They traded a major hall to
go up from twenty seven to I believe ten, to
snag Julio Jones, total difference maker on one side of
the ball, by the way, and so the Jaguars do
very similar to snag a guy who clearly, in my opinion,

(13:44):
was thrilled that he's not going to play in Cleveland.
He's gonna play in North Florida. But I think Travis
Hunter is a guy worth trading that haul in order
to grab because.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
Of all the Colorado hype.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
Around shadur to me, by far and away the best player.
Maybe not far and away Colorado, yes, but in the
NFL maybe not. But in general, the best player in
the draft was Travis Hunter. And with his overall ability. Now,
is he going to be the greatest corner or receiver ever? No,
But I think just the athleticism makes them such a

(14:20):
valuable asset. He reminds me of like Durwin James when
we picked him, where you could throw.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Them in at so many positions.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
You know, he couldn't play receiver, but you know, corner,
he could play edge, he could play safety.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
He had a lot of different skills where to.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
Me, we have to have really overvalued him in his
ability to cover and all that stuff for him to
not be effective, because you know, he can do so
many things that to me, it's very hard to fail
at everything. Is he going to play all sixty minutes
like guys back, you know, before the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
Did I don't think so.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
But you know, is he going to play maybe half
an all time corner. I think that's a likely outcome,
and that is incredibly valuable if he can give you
some production offense too.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
So I'd say he's the best player in the draft.
And the Jaguars with what they've.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
Got going there, now, they have a little turmoil you
know in the uh you know, front office and a
coach and everything, but in general, I think they're set
up for you know, a good amount of success here.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, and I think at the absolute worst, you'll get
a guy that's like above average on one side of
the ball and then someone that, if you use creatively enough,
can still be effective on the other. If if it
continues that way. But you kind of touch on that,
that was gonna be the next question to you. My
initial thought would be, make him try him at corner

(15:48):
the most, and you can throw him at you know,
in the slot here and there, similar to what they
did the Cowboys did with Dion in the nineties, you know,
kind of later in his career. But to me, in
my opinion, you you've played more ball than me. It's
easier to get thrown in cold at cold at receiver.
You know, we're gonna put you in this play that's
designed for you to get open. You catch the ball

(16:08):
and you run in space. Then it would be to like,
all right, randomly, go play corner on these like three
or four pivotal third downs. Like to me, it's easier
to get sprinkled in a receiver than it would be
to get sprinkled in a corner. Your thoughts, Yeah, you sound.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
Like a multi conference champion in flag football back in
the North Florida. Day is a little bit ago you
because very few people in media are talking about that's right.
Very few people are talking about corner being the tougher position.
And I played receiver as well, and I was I
was a very very good Pop Warner player.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
So the check out, you know Pop Warner highlights from
H five.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
But the receiver with the route tree to the chemistry
you have to have between the quarterback and the timing
takes an entire year. I mean, one of the best
college prospects in the last five years was Marvin Harrison junior,
and I I think he'd be the first to say
the adjustment to the NFL was a lot. I can
recollect about a half dozen guys since I've started watching

(17:08):
the league that popped as a corner in their rookie
year and certains like the last one Darrel Reeves two
back in the day where Boom first year became an
All Pro player. So, like you said, I think learning
the intricacies of playing corner in the NFL would be
most effective. And maybe they throw him in at strong
safety or something where they can kind of I don't know,

(17:32):
maybe hide his non four two speed. But he just
has so much skill. His chances have failed to me.
The only way he does is if to me, he
focuses on too many things at once, like which is
why I think the perfect strategies, like you said, try
him out at corner what he's best at, you know,
feed that first and then maybe you know, sprinkle him

(17:54):
in at receiver later on.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
And I was happy to see just as a general
football fan, and Yesa's a Floridian, Like I was happy.
I didn't want to see him in Cleveland necessarily because
like this is a very delicult, delicate process that he's
gonna go through here and Cleveland's ability to do it
properly not that the Jags like you should be super
confident in. But like you could see how happy he was.

(18:20):
He's from Florida, he's from I think it's West Palm Beach.
I'm not mistaken. And I don't know if you saw
the bit. It's actually my favorite moment of the whole
draft where he's running or jogging down the tunnel to
get to the stage and they have like the logos
of all the teams on the side, and when he
found the Jaguar, when he like ran over and he's
like beaten on it, and you could tell he was
just like probably like later in the draft, some guys

(18:40):
kind of like I don't say, stole the idea of
but like they probably, oh, that's cool, I'm gonna do that.
But like he seems legit. And I've seen social media
e clips with him when he got his jersey and
whatever and met Tony Bisselli the new GM or whatever.
He seems legitimately happy to be there. And that is
a big step in like this is our guy. We're
gonna do everything we need to make you successful because

(19:01):
it's only going to pay dividends for us. You can
be a great receiver to go with Thomas on the
other side. That's going to help our quarterback that hasn't
really lived up to his name, you know when we
drafted him, and then our defense can always improve. So
I think that's good for him. And the other reason
I they want to go to Cleveland. If people remember this,
and usually if you're a college football fan watcher, you'll

(19:22):
remember it a little more, we saw the poor man's
version of this already in Cleveland. If you remember the
name Jabriel Peppers from like two three years ago, played
at Michigan. He was like a super around the box
type safety corner and he would run the ball a
little bit, catch the ball a little bit. Not quite
Travis Hunter, not quite Desmond Howard, but they would playfully

(19:42):
like compare him to Desmond Howard because he played at Michigan.
He was like not a Heisman finalist, but he was
in the conversation, and he got to Cleveland and he
played defense and like he maybe got a couple of carries,
but that you know, versatility was almost a non factor
moving forward. So they already he punted on like the
poor man's version of what Travis Hunter is expected to be.

(20:05):
So I didn't want to see them get another bite
at that apple. I wanted another team like the Jags.
Who again is a Florida kid, extremely likable. He looks
twelve years old. I don't know if he's still got
like the youngest face I've ever seen an NFL player have,
and he just looked like a candy. I don't know
if you'll want a good Joss plaining. He's holding up
the jersey with Tony Bisselli and then he like rips

(20:26):
it out of Tony's like playfully, and they kind of
like stare at each other. And Tony's like a foot
and a half taller than him. The guy's a beast,
I guess. Yeah, But you know, it's just fun and
it's not a Jags fan, just a floor ridian that
enjoys good football. Like I'm rooting for this guy in
a way that I maybe wouldn't have if he went
to Cleveland, if that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
Oh yeah, no, I'm the same way.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
I don't think there's a single person that watches the
NFL that says I hate the Jags. I think everyone
is either like that's a cool team, or they like him,
you know what I mean. So yeah, I think people
are you know, big fans of it. I think guys
like you know your guy. A couple of years ago,
when DeVonta Smith came out in the draft, there was

(21:09):
a conversation about him being maybe.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
A little too small, and.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
He hasn't gotten much bigger, and ironically the size has
not been much of a problem for him.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
He just hasn't quite gotten the opportunities. But yeah, Travis
Hunter is a lot like him. He's a very small
corner by NFL standards, but.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
You know, the guy can ball, and you know he
turned that program around in Boulder, so you know, I
expect similar things in Jacksonville.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
You know, I can tell you the moment I was
sold on DeVante Smith being an Eagle when he was
walking up to the to the stage and he had
a phone in his hand and his phone didn't have
a case on it, and I said, man, that's the
guy that trusts his hands right there. If you're going
to walk around with what I assume was the newest
iPhone at the time and no case, you clearly trust
your hands at that point. But no, I'm I'm overall
excited for you know, maybe I'll catch Jaguarre game. Maybe

(22:01):
if I wait another year, they might be playing in
Orlando for a season. So that's something we can talk
about on future podcasts as that Tiptoes might even have
some baseball in Orlando too.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
That's the thing that that stadium with the dirty pool
with all those randos hopping in, it's it's not working
out as it.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Well, no, they're they're gonna do some renovations so that
or I would not be shocked if they got rid
of the pools. Like it's funny. I mean, the Marlins
have those too, but for some reason they don't get
as much flak down there, maybe because it is Miami,
but yeah, no, I would. I would go to greater
lengths to see the Jags play in person now that

(22:37):
Travis Hunter is there than I did even before that.
And I've been to maybe three Jags games. One of
them was against the Eagles, but the other two was
just like, I love football, so I'm gonna go to
the closest team to me, you know, which is them
by a half an hour over the you know, closer
than the Bucks would be in the other direction. But
I am. I am very much looking forward to them.

(22:59):
So that brings us to not that we're gonna go
through every pick, but the Giants playing it safe and
taking abduall Carter, which is probably the right pick for them.
They maybe they there was talk of shide Sanders. We've
learned why that was no longer the case. We'll talk
about that probably after this pick. But I think Giants
got it right. He was if you're worried about Travis

(23:21):
Hunter's size or whatever, you could make an argument that
Abdulah was the best pure prospect in this draft. You
can make that argument. So I think for the Giants,
who's had a really rough, like two seasons both on
the field and off the field and on television, I
think it's a good move. I think this could be
a franchise altery move for them.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yeah, he seems like a you know, a shoe in
for being a fabulous player. You know, to rival the
numbers of Micah Parsons at Penn State is something. So,
you know, the Giants they kind of doubled down on
what already is you know, a strength the defensive line.
But I mean, you can't have enough phenomenal defensive lineman

(24:04):
if you're the Giants, and that's been their m for
years and to me, Abdul Carter is great, but it's
pretty insignificant until you figure out what's going on at quarterback.
But you know, at least he's young, and maybe he'll
be around for whenever they finally figure out that side
of the ball. And you know, maybe they could get
a good running back as well. That might be a
good way to help move the football team along.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
What do you think?

Speaker 1 (24:26):
You know, what's crazy? And I should remember the guy's name.
I think his last name is Tracy. The running back
they have now is solid, and he put up similar
numbers to what Saquon did the year before, you know,
his last year in New York. So they may have
a solid guy, but they clearly need more help.

Speaker 3 (24:43):
Speaking, maybe he's gonna run for two yards next year
if he had similar numbers to that guy.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah, but no Super Bowl. Jersey finally came in and
I happened to get Saquon too, so wanted to shout
that out, all right, all you folks that were doing
the drinking game.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
It took twenty four minutes, but yet he brought up Saquon.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
And the well, you kind of brought him up first,
and then I just I just took my chance to
talk about him more, but I feel like you you
brought him up there, all right, So what is truly
the main storyline? I think I felt this Travis Hunter.
I think that will ultimately be going into the year,
the storyline from the draft and cam Ward. You know,
how good is he on the Titans type thing. But

(25:20):
this is the story, of course, that everyone talked about
during the draft. It took a lot of attention away
from guys actually getting picked. I failed at times, and
I don't know about you, because there's multiple versions of
the draft stream. On day one, I was at Kramer's house,
shout out Kramer, and we happened to watch the NFL
Network version, so it has like Rich Eisen and stuff.

(25:42):
So maybe the regular ESPN one was more sugar heavy,
less sugar heavy.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
I don't know, even though I watched Network almost the
whole time.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Yeah, and then I'm sure there's you know, because the
NFL Draft lately it's if something terrible has happened in
your life, they have to bring it up, you know,
when you're getting drafted. I don't know which channel does
that more or less. But so I was just comparing
the one. I can only compare the version I watch,
which happened to be the NFL Network version. But the

(26:12):
twentieth ranked player in this draft was Shader Sanders. He
ended up going pick one forty four. So I'm not
great at math, but that seems way lower than twenty.
So that is that was the story through most of
most of the draft when Cleveland, I don't know about
you going into it. If we would have done a
draft preview, I would have said, and it's easy to

(26:33):
say this now because we didn't do one, but my
conversation would have been, is he a first round talent
or you know, is he gonna be Is he gonna
be a Day one guy or Day two guy. That
was really the conversation for most people. And when he
didn't go in the first round to Pittsburgh, it's like, okay,
go leaving you know that draft party that day? For me,
I was like, okay, when I tune into Day two,

(26:56):
the Browns have two of the first like five or
six picks in the second round, they are going to
take Shador with one of those picks. So I didn't
even think it was a non story, like, all right,
he didn't get picked in the first round, he's gonna
be a second round pick to Cleveland, like we already
they were ballsy a little not taken him yet because
like a lot of people had him mocked to Pittsburgh
that didn't work out. But once Cleveland didn't take him

(27:20):
with that sixth pick in the second or you know
whatever it was, I was like, Oh, he may really fall.
And then when the third came around and they took
Dylan Gabriel, who you know, very accomplished college career across
like four different colleges, but his numbers are great. I
think he's the all time leading passer in college football
now when he left Oregon in his senior year. But

(27:41):
that's another guy. We talked about the size of the
Travis Hunter. He was expected to be the fifth round
back off of his size alone, because some people can't
see passed that he is like Drew Brees' esque size,
which you know, very few people can sling it like
Drew Brees. He might be one of them. But when
they took Dylan Gabriel's like, I don't know who who's
left to even want this guy now? Because the Giants

(28:04):
took Jackson Dart which I'm actually gonna bring up now
to say this, they traded back into the first round
to get Jackson Dart, And I forget who said this,
and I wish I could quote him properly. In the
modern NFL draft, there's no such thing as a second
round quarterback anymore, because if you are a second round quarterback,
somebody works a deal to get back into the end
of the first round and they take you in the

(28:25):
first round. Anyway. We saw it with Lamar, we saw
it here with Jackson Dart. We've seen it more and
more lately that I agree with it that there's not
even if you are a second round quarterback, you don't
get picked in the second round anymore, if that makes sense.
So once the Browns took Gabriel, I was like, I
really have no idea what's going to happen. Pittsburgh still
might take him away the Giants or two. We learned more.

(28:48):
And I'm sure you've been caught up on this too.
The horror stories that came out about Shador's interviews are
just like next level. I mean, what do you make
of all that?

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Yeah, he came in, flipped off the coaches, like, took
off his shirt, like I started throwing beer people's faces.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
I mean, you know, he's just horrible. What a horrible guy.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
No, I think he was a you know, late first
round talent who should be taken in the second round
because of what he brings to the table, the level
of kind of cockiness, the you know, Deon Sanders aspect
of the game where it's like, you know, the LeVar
Ball thing, where it's like, we gotta you know, this

(29:32):
is gonna be a story, and you know he's gonna
be involved in some way regardless of how awesome Dion
Sanders is or not, you know, as a coach and
as a dad. But fifth round felt a little little schemed,
like the NFL was saying, we need to kind of
you know, humble this guy. Because I get what you're saying.
A lot of teams weren't exactly starving for quarterback once

(29:55):
Dart and Ward and these other guys went off the board.
A couple I can't remember went around Dylan Gabriel as well.
But I'm looking at the draft before Shador gets picked,
and there are defensive linemen who had like four career
sacks getting taken before this guy who you know, yes,

(30:18):
Dion helped. There's a lot of surrounding talent, not exactly
upper echelon competition, and he barely maybe he didn't even
get a five hundred record, maybe one game above it.
But you know, the guy was good enough to get draft.
Like these teams take flyers on way more. You know,
guys that have had major off the field issues that

(30:41):
you know were injured for multiple seasons get picked before
you know, the fifth round.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
So it's a little of both.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
You know, I understand why he fell, but the Levely
fell was insane to me.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
So with a hypothetical draft preview show that we didn't do.
If I would have asked a question like what team
do you want him to go for?

Speaker 2 (31:03):
What?

Speaker 1 (31:04):
What team? Like you, as a football fan, would you
want him to go? I actually would have said New
Orleans because that's such a fresh start for him. That's
a team that has to rebuild everything. I think it
would have it would have been great. And when the
Saints took Tyler Schuck at a Louisville I was like, yeah,
that's another like I really don't know where this guy's going,
And he said fifth round seemed a little calculated. I felt,

(31:28):
at worst you should have gone in the third. I
think that would have been you know another and again
Cleveland had picks in that round as well. It really
comes out that like someone called in a favor to
get this guy drafted. It sounded like, you know, but
so they have the weirdest quarterback room. You know, you
have Deshaun Watson, who's like a non factor for this year.
He's probably gonna be out the whole year. They got

(31:50):
old man Flacco, they got I was gonna say, James Winston,
but they don't have him anymore. I forget who else
they have.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
It's Deshaun Watson, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
That's a Super Bowl champion. Can you pick it?

Speaker 2 (32:03):
I say, there you go, and then and then you
can you can mark this down. I mean, I guess
maybe not.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
But my my hot take is there's no way Dylan
Gabriel is above Schador on the depth chart. And it's
not a huge compliment to Shudor. It's I saw Dylan Gabriel,
who's now twenty six years old, and granted he's got
I guess more college experience, but in the final game
of his collegiate career against I think Texas, the absolute

(32:33):
no show he had in that game to me suggests
he is an incredible college quarterback by the numbers, by
the by the total facts, just the combined numbers. But
he reminds me a lot of Brandon Whedon if you.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
Remember, oh yeah yeah, where he had just he's.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
A really old quarterback going out college and his numbers
were fine, and where he got picked, which was by
the Browns by.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
The way, was like what what are you doing? You know,
so you can mark it down.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
I think shadu Or will finish above Dylan Gabriel and
maybe even Kenny Pickett. I think it goes Flaco one,
and I think it goes Shoulder too, if I were
to be a betting man.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
So this doesn't happen often, but I actually disagree with
you here and we might have a fun little bet
on our hands going into that next year. I could
see Kenny Pickett just like doing enough being comfortable as
an NFL player to be the backup going into the year.
Maybe not the whole year, but like Flacco, unless you know,

(33:35):
someone clips his break break a cable like he's gonna
be the starting quarterback week one, it's really a battle royale.
After that, I think, just by default, you'd put Kenny
Pickett at two. He like I said, even if it's
for week one and then let it go from there.
But I think Dylan Gabriel, he is older, he's clearly

(33:55):
more mature. And this is from a guy who he
left my school, so I have no reason to, you know,
talk this guy up. He left my school, and he
didn't do it in the greatest ways. I think he's
just gonna be more coachable. And maybe maybe Shaudor shows
up and blows everybody out of the water, in which
case you will be correct. But if the Chador that
went to all these meetings or the is the shador

(34:15):
that goes to rookie mini camp and the OTAs, if
he goes to the OTAs and training camp and all
that crap, I think, just by default, it's gonna be Gabriel,
And I think that's a nice fun little If he
beats out Gabriel, it's because he's turned the switch mentally
and he's like, I'm gonna take this seriously, because if
it's the guy that went into the draft, I think

(34:36):
Gabriel is better off. And you mentioned like he should
be hind on the death track. He was definitely rated
higher Gabriel should have been the quarterback that went in
the fifth and Shador should have been the one that
went in the second or third. So they really just
whip flopped there the ratings that were given to them
by like McShay and all the guys that do these
sort of things. So that's I think that's what we'll
have to mark this down. I am really curious because

(35:00):
really you only carry three, so that fourth guy would
have to not dress and be the emergency quarterback at
that point. Very rarely are you gonna dress four quarterbacks
unless you trade. Well, maybe they flip Kenny Pickett for
a third or you know whatever. I think we only
traded him for like a sixth or something. So maybe
maybe if if it gets really heated in that quarterback,

(35:20):
or maybe they just trade Kenny Pickett super Bowl champion
Kenny Picket. So who knows, but I I am interested
saying he said, we don't disagree a whole lot, maybe
not enough to make for an interesting show, but this
one I will say, I will I will pick Dylan
Gabriel to be ahead of the depth chart. What do
we do? I'd be calling this like the week one
depth chart.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
Is that we're going to go regular.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
Season week one, and we're putting a real hefty price tag.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
I don't know, maybe maybe I have a challenge or something.

Speaker 1 (35:50):
We'll figure we'll figure it out by the next show
I have you, and we'll figure out what our what
our bet is going to be.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
With that that point that might already be started.

Speaker 1 (35:59):
So long. Sorry, we'll have we'll have stuff to we'll
have stuff to talk about.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yeah, you know, but I'm not like planning my flag.
It's a hot take, but I'm not like because yeah.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
Kenny Pickett is older and Dylan Gabriel is older, so
you know, I can see your point there. I guess
we both plan our flag on. Deshaun Watson's days are
numbered there, so there's.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
That, Yeah, he's gonna be on IR and then by
the end of this year, the money would cost to
cut him drops like significantly, so after this year they'll
just eat it and finally get rid of the guy.

Speaker 3 (36:31):
So what a guy go back to his regular off
the field activities.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
Yep, whatever whatever those might be. We did. I did
miss the joke that we both did simultaneously in the
group chat during the draft that Chador wasn't even the
first Sanders taken.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Sanders, he was a linebacker. I think we've went to Buffalo.
I could be dead wrong on that, but yeah, not
even the first, not even the first Sanders taken. So
that's our dad joke for the evening was, oh, for sure, and.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
If there's one of those coming, then you know, you
and me and good old Hank as well whenever he
comes on.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
TJ. Sanders defensive tackle South Carolina. So yes, I was right,
he did go to Buffalo. I think I had the
college drawing originally though. And as we.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
Still talk about the draft, a couple real quick, you know,
rounds of applause.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Yeah hit me.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
You know you're not going to be.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
Thrilled by this, but round of applause. Another wonderful, patient, smart,
savvy pick by the Cowboys. Tyler Booker looked like one
of the best offensive linemen in the country. Cowboys didn't
go quarterback, did go fancy, and they picked, you know,
a safe guy off the board.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
I didn't watch really any.

Speaker 3 (37:43):
Of the who the Falcons got out of Georgia, but
I thought that's fun to have him stay at home.
And by all the experts, he's a great player. And
then I can't help but you know, love on my
pick or my team's picked the Chargers Omrion Hampton. I
don't know if he's going to be better than Ashton Gent,
but guys are saying that all right, because you know

(38:04):
Gent's a little smaller. Genti's going to maybe the worst
offensive line of the league. And Omarion Hampton's got just
a golden offensive line. Got the perfect fit at head
coach with Jim Harbaugh, guy that loves to run the ball.
It's like a you know, flash and lightning. If you've
got that in Detroit, we might have that in the

(38:24):
AFC with Omarion Hampton and Naji Harris, a couple of
you know, lightning and thunder there.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
So I love those picks.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
I think they're all fabulous picks and they're going to
be great players as rookies in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
That'd be my stake to claim.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
I see your shout outs, and I'll raise you a few.
I give the shout out to Penn State tight end
Tyler Warren going to the Colts. Very shocked he wasn't
the first tight end off the board. The Bears took
Colston lovelin the Michigan tight end Warren was rated higher,
but they're kind of slightly different types of tight ends,

(39:01):
so I guess, you know, the Bears just felt the
lovel and fit their offense better. Gotta go Ted McMillan,
the great wide receiver out of Arizona. Glad the Cowboys
didn't get him. I saw him enough when UCF played Arizona.
I did not want to have to play this guy
twice a year, so I'm glad he went to Carolina
and they they did a pretty good job bumping up
their offense. Like this is one of those years that

(39:23):
are like, all right, Bryce Young, like we got some
dudes here. So if you don't, you know, play any better,
you can't blame it on the offense anymore. You mentioned
the Falcons pick. I feel like, if you're the Falcons
and you don't know who to pick, take a Georgia
bulldog right now. Nobody's gonna like beat you over the
head for it, because you know Georgia and they're great
right now. And the more bulldogs on the Falcons, I'm

(39:43):
sure that fan base is fine with. I can't say
this guy's name, but I'll give it a try. I
guess Ohio state wide receiver went to the Bucks. Emika. Yeah,
I give up, but that he's a very good receiver
and assuming he's healthy, Mike Mike Evans is healthy and

(40:04):
Chris Godin healthy, that might be the best one through
three wide receiver corps in the league by the end
of the year next year. So that is something to
look out for for the Bucks. And when we leave
the first round here, I do have to give a
shout out to UCF grade r J Harvey getting drafted
second round by the Denver Broncos. He's the all time

(40:26):
touchdown leading scorer and you see a football history. He
got that in his last game as a night this
past year. He was getting pretty fair and high draft grades,
but he was listed as like a you know, third
fourth if he really falls fifth, So for him and
go in second, it like really hyped up a lot
of people. So that is you know, I'll be watching

(40:46):
considerably more Bronco games this year just to see clearly,
when you take someone like that in the second, you
expect him to start or at least play a whole lot.
And I think he's gonna surprise a lot of people.
So shout out r J. Harvey and those are kind
of my I might have a few more for you,
but those are those are the top ones. And I'll
just while I'm on here on full screen, Campbell going
to the Eagles, the linebacker, typical how he moves up

(41:08):
one spot just so the Chiefs can't get him that
and he can't help himself, right, he's got to make
some sort of move. I watched this interview with him
that they did before the draft that there are times
that the when they're in the spot they wanted to be,
the war room will take away his cell phone to
stop him from like over making moves once they're where
they want to be. This could have been one of
those situations. But that's good to you know. I was

(41:30):
happy with that pick.

Speaker 3 (41:31):
That that is someone that the rumor is while you're
on that he's like a top twenty talent and ability.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
So he was ranked sixteenth and we got him at
thirty one, so the value is good, you.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Know, typical how he moved.

Speaker 3 (41:44):
He goes best on the board like always, so I
need to add him to my shout out to outstanding pick.
Didn't watch a game of him play, but I'm sure
if all the experts say he's that good.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
He can't be that bad. I mean, right, you know, well.

Speaker 1 (41:58):
And he's not necessary has to start immediately. He's not
in the typical spot that a first rounder would necessarily
need to be. He's gonna sit behind Zach Bond or
you know, at times play next to ze Bond, who
I think is a benefit to any player out there
for that. This is the other thing I would I
would have randomly thrown out there about Shador kind of

(42:20):
in our pre draft thing one. I said I would
have liked him to go to the Saints, but every
round that he falls, I would have put money that
Jerry Jones would have drafted Shadeur Sanders or Quintin Ewers
simply because he couldn't help himself. He would either take
Dion's kid because he loves Deon and it might lure
him to coaching the Cowboys in a year when they
get bounced in the first or second round again. That

(42:42):
or quin Youers just because he's mister Longhorn and people
love I am shocked. You know, he ended up going
to the Miami Dolphins. Shout out to him. He might
get some playing time with the way that starting quarterback
operates out there in Miami. But I was really shocked
that Jerry Jones didn't get at least one of those guys,
just because maybe they only stuffed him in the closet.
They're in the war room, and Steven drafted all the people.

(43:03):
Who knows, But I was really shocked they didn't get
at least one of those guys late because they were
both there way later than they expected.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
Yeah, you know, and a certain amount of this is
just guess work, because all these names, maybe a third
of them we bring up, are probably gonna get over
shown by late round picks that we haven't heard of,
didn't think about, and undrafted guys too.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
It happens every year, and this year for sure will
be no different.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
Absolutely. I was actually also happy to see the Eagles
first time in a long time. I can't even imagine
if ever really because we've had UCF guys on the Eagles,
but like a Santae Samuel was a free agent, but
we drafted a UCF guy for like the first time
in my life that I can think of. We got
a corner. Mac McMillan from mcwilliamscuse me, mc McWilliams, who

(43:52):
played he really didn't play a lot till his senior year,
so he doesn't there's not a lot of tape on him,
but definitely big physical corner, someone that like. I don't
think any rookie's gonna step in and replace Gardner Johnson immediately,
but I think he you know, if things work out
with him, that could that could happen that way. So
obviously we're not gonna sit through every pick of the
draft here. Do you have any other big ones you

(44:14):
want to highlight before we You got the jersey on,
so I think you want to talk a little NBA,
So is there anything else you want to bring up
before we do that?

Speaker 3 (44:22):
I'd say, you know, the fun thing about the draft
is it's one of those kind of like Polock cleansers
while you're waiting for the real thing to start in
a couple of months.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
So I just got to say I'm very excited about.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
How things are going, and we got to have another
show after the schedule comes out, because yes, you know,
that's another huge day, Like when that comes out, it.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
Makes a huge difference.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
It's to me when when the games are played, especially
if you're in Lambbou in December or something makes a
huge difference. So you know, it's really fun how they
kind of spread this out and you know, nothing quite
like the league.

Speaker 1 (45:01):
Men. And did you want to touch real quick on
a on a quarterback that your team picked up you
wanta do you want to that to be the closing
closing statement?

Speaker 3 (45:10):
Ah Man. Not often do we even chat for a
second about a guy that ninety nine percent likelihood will
be cut before our next show. But dj Ujungala lea
who I saw play live at St. John Bosco, and
he had a interesting college career to say the least.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
To me, the frustrating thing.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
About what NFL teams do is that, and I saw
it all throughout the draft.

Speaker 2 (45:36):
It's like, at no point in their college career.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
Did they suggest that they should get drafted or even
in some cases picked up by an NFL team at all.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
But just there's something about.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
When when these guys made an amazing throw at fourteen
years old, you know, and was rated five stars as
a freshman in high school, that they deserve this opportunity
when there's guys that proved it over and over again
in college never got that opportunity.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
And to me, I think there's gotta be times.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
Plenty of times, maybe your local grocery store clerk or
your local garbage band would have been a starting NFL
player but never got the chance because there's this, oh,
this fourteen year old five star that was so impressive
in middle school that we had to give them a
bunch of chances. So is DJ going to work out

(46:31):
A highly doubt it, along with other guys that are
five stars, but you know coming out of high school
that you know flopped in college. But you know, it's
a crapshoot. That's what the NFL draft can be. But
there are some to me, there are some certains. If
you couldn't hold your own in college, very very likely
you're not going to hold your own of the NFL.

(46:53):
There are random exceptions, but the exception by far and far,
far and away, excludes the rule of if you struggle
in college, you were probably not gonna make it.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
To the NFL.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
To that exact point, I'm willing to bet you know,
a shiny quarter on he likes he's gonna get a
lot of playing time in the preseason, because obviously Herbert
won't play a lot, if at all, And then I forget,
you know, I don't know what the rest of your
quarterback room is. But he's gonna get all that garbage
laid in the when there's seventeen people left in the stand.
He's gonna be that camp arm and everything you just said.

(47:26):
He is not really at any point past the high
school level showed his ability to play quarterback at a
competent level. He will, in fact, either make your roster
or when you guys cut him, he will get signed
and sit on some of these packs. By he will
be in the NFL next year through no fault of
his own, which is just the weird thing that happens
in the NFL sometimes.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
Yeah, And meanwhile, you know a guy like Wes Welker,
who you know was amazing for the Chargers and the
Dolphins in the preseason, gets cut and then the Patriots
will like, oh, this guy that was awesome in college.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
He had a.

Speaker 3 (48:03):
Football life documentary that is one of the best football
life documentaries I've seen, and gets picked up by the Patriots,
and it's like, it can't these teams can't be this dumb,
Like they can't, And it turns out they were, so
to me. Shout out to DJ and his family, Congrats
on getting the opportunity. But you know what it is

(48:25):
frustrating is those guys that threw for more yards and
touchdowns and did way more that won't get the same chance.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
I mean, my version of that is, I remember, I
remember where I was one of those deals. I know
exactly where I was sitting in Denny's after like a
band concert and out of after high school, so I
guess I was. I went to one, but I remember
sitting in the Denny's. It was after the draft, and
I saw who the Eagles picked up his undrafted free agents.
Former new Summerita Beach running back Raheem Moster was on

(48:53):
that list. I remember high fiving strangers in a Denny's
that the guy from our hometown is on an NFL roster.
He then went to preseason was our team's leading rusher
and Chip Kelly or his Hank calls him Chimp Kelly
cut him and he bounced around the league and now
he's had, you know, the very successful career that he's had.
So that would be my equivalent of, like, the guy
led the team in rushing in the preseason, what else

(49:15):
did you want him to do? Like that? He is
a running back and he ran ran back more than anybody,
and that you put on.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
Should have finished laugh and rushing because that.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
Guy he should have had Yeah, he should have had
twenty eight carries for seventeen yards and a goal line touchdown.
And that guy makes the team. So I and I
have been good authority as people that know him way better,
not that I haven't met him before, but like that
know him way better than me. He's still of all
the teams in the league, he hates the Eagles the
most still because of that. I do know that for
a fact. That's been told to me from multiple sources

(49:47):
that are Oh, I'll say this for the first time.
I mean it, sources close to the persons have told
me that. So and I don't blame him. That would
be as ridiculous to me too. I could you imagine
you're at a camp and you have more yards as
of than anybody in camp, and they cut you for
the guys for the and then three guys that were
behind you made the team. What is that?

Speaker 2 (50:06):
Hey? Can I imagine? That was my whole life in
high school?

Speaker 3 (50:10):
Man, I would have been the next uh Larry Fitzgerald.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
It was ridiculous. Okay, if it wasn't for my bum knee.
And if it wasn't for on me, I would.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
Have been that guy we shouldn't hit. That was a
bad idea.

Speaker 3 (50:24):
Yeah, or maybe I wasn't fast enough, tall enough, quick enough,
but I don't think that was it.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
I digress. We won't.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
I know.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
I know you're grieving. I know you've grieven so much
that you forgot to shave today. So we won't talk
about this a long time or this month. We won't
talk about it for a whole long for a long
time here. But you know, as of last night, your
Lakers have now joined my magic on the couch after
being bounced gentlemen, swept as it's called, from the NBA playoffs,
which I say that endearing lake is the same thing

(50:53):
happened to my team. Yeah, the Lakers are now out
of the playoffs due to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Anthony Edwards.
What is the vibe in you know, not that you're
in LA, but you're near LA. What is the vibe
to people? Because once the Luca trade happened, you never
really got to talk about on a show. I don't believe,
you know, people thought this is it like break out

(51:15):
the trophy polish, make room on the shelf, start scouting
out where the next banner is gonna go in Staple Center.
I'm still gonna Sta Center. And then things, you know,
happened the way they did. What has been your thoughts
and what is the vibe in pseudo La since last night?

Speaker 2 (51:31):
In pseudo La, it's like, what happened?

Speaker 3 (51:34):
I don't care no, But in general, fans of the
Lakers are bummed.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
To me, it's, you know, because of the emotions of
this team.

Speaker 3 (51:44):
It's a it's it's a pretty insane spectrum, everything from
Luca's fat and you know you can't build a team
around them, to the Lakers had literally no help. It
was Lebron and Luca playing two on five apparently. So
there's all that. The Lakers had the worst bench in

(52:07):
the NBA by way of points per minute, and the
Knicks were close, and they tried and couldn't be as
bad as us in scoring off the bench, and we
saw it.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
JJ Reddick reminds me of.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
I guess, the stubborn high school kid, and you just
couldn't tell the simple things too.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
Wasn't willing to hear it.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
Playing a guy who didn't suit up since January over
gave Vincent a champion over trying to think of the
other guys on our bench, which is so sad they
basically never played in the playoffs, but to me is insane,
absolutely insane. You know, Bronnie saw the floor more than

(52:52):
that guy too.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
So.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
Incredible, incredible stubbornness from our coach. You know, I hope
that this offseason he kind of relaxes a little bit
and everything. To me, I land On, the Lakers were
the better team, believe it or not, the higher seed
was the better team. And not only do I say that,
but they had two great stars. Shout out to Julius Randall,

(53:17):
former Laker. I'm sure he was a little pissed about
being traded, so he came out with fire and had
an awesome series.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
Ant Man is aunt Man. That guy's top.

Speaker 3 (53:27):
Five in the NBA right now. He proved it, and
h I covered a lot of bases. The Lakers just
to me underachieved. I mean, they went out with such
a whimper. I mean I almost kind of feel bad
for just how awful they were to close the series
where they just didn't even look inspired in the second half,

(53:49):
getting blown out in the fourth quarter of these games.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
So yeah, like this is the first year now that this.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Series is over where I'm thinking, I am accepting the
fact that the Lakers are not going to be good
for a while. So even if Lebron and Luca are
on the team and they make trades and this and that,
you know, the media, they they love it.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
Let's HiPE up whoever they acquire in the off season,
or if they acquire nobody, let's type him up anyways.
But no, this team's not close.

Speaker 3 (54:22):
They are better than Minnesota, but the fact that they
ended the series like that, to me, it shows they're
not quite ready for even being competitive. So I would
much rather be you right now rooting on the Magic
than being a Laker fan right now, because we're not close.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
We're not close.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
I think the biggest questions people have said, like will
jj Reddick return, I do think he's going to get
another year? Well that, yeah, I think the honeymoon's over.
It's been over.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
But even in the world of the VA, he's got
to come back.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
I agree. And then the other question is like, because
Luca didn't it wasn't a sign in trade. He's a
free agent. I think after next year is that correct.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
No, No, he's he could go to a new team
this year.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Oh so that's that's the real question is do you
think do you think he's a Laker next year?

Speaker 3 (55:17):
Yeah, especially because Lebron is so wishy washy about what
he's gonna do. I think I think Lebron does his
farewell to her next year. You're twenty three. I know
Bryce is, yeah, maybe two years away or something like that.
But you know, I mean, if he thinks he's got
enough respect to say, look, we're not close, I'm getting
older and I'm.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
Not good, you know, as good as they used to be.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
So I would like you to be right on that,
for him to actually like have that self awareness. And
as quick as I am to criticize him and others,
I am equally quick to compliment. I'm really glad he
didn't sit at that podium last night and vaguely suggests
he's gonna retire and take the moment away from the
Timberwolves the way he took it away from the Nuggets

(56:03):
that the Nuggets like was last year year before. Either way,
that is always stuck with me that I'm like, dude,
you can't let other people eat for a minute, when
you've been eating for two decades here, like I don't
want you know that. I just thought it was strange
and like, I'm glad you didn't do that this time.
Maybe in year twenty he's finally maturing. We talked about
maturing shit or Sanders. Maybe we're finally seeing the mature

(56:25):
Lebron James. Who knows, But I think for the people
that like him and for what he's done with the league,
I do hope he does it in a way that
and it will feel a little like Kobe, especially being
in the Jersey the retirement tour, Derek Jeter style, But like,
I think that's what the league would want. I think
he would want people to know this is the last

(56:47):
time Lebron's coming to your town. I think that is
something he should do. And my only thing is, if
he's gonna retire, would Lucas sign on. If he's signing on,
it's like, all right, we're gonna let Lebron do this.
We're essentially gonna waste a year of your prime and
then we're gonna rebuild with you and only you as
a centerpiece. Is he good with that?

Speaker 2 (57:08):
Maybe?

Speaker 1 (57:08):
But maybe not. That would be my only pushback on that.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
It's a great question.

Speaker 3 (57:13):
I think he will, but I'm not one hundred percent sure.
Two things. One funny, does Lebron have the maturity to
go out that way. I'm worried that he's gonna be.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
Around another couple of years.

Speaker 3 (57:28):
And I'm a Laker guy and I like Lebron, you know,
and like all over social media people go like, oh,
Lebron's the worst la flop all this stuff, and then
when I go to the game in person, everyone cheers
all Lebron like he's the favorite. And I went to
Lakers Warriors, Yeah you did, Draymond Luca there, and Lebron
was the guy everyone loved.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
So that's amazing to me.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
I still think Luca's gonna be around a while. Gut feeling,
Lebron does a little farewell tour, but not like COVID
because people, even though people love Lebron, people.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
Love Kobe Moore like, oh, yes, he's so I don't think,
how do you do it? How do you do it
in a way that isn't like Kobe? Though? Do you
not say it at the beginning of the year. Do
you say it at the All Star break? Like do
you know what I mean, Like.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
I feel like that's what he's gonna do.

Speaker 3 (58:17):
Like he's gonna just say hey, I'm coming back, be vague,
and then towards the end of the year, I think
he'll announce something.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
And I'm the guy that.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
Said Bill Belichick, Okay, we got tape on that, all right.

Speaker 2 (58:29):
I was half right. I thought you.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
Wait to hear then retire from the NFL. That was true,
But I didn't call the girlfriend and I didn't call
the North Carolina you know.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
I mean, you said he'd he said he'd wait a year.
What ended up happening is he couldn't find a job
for a year. But I'm gonna give you that point anyway,
because it still would ended up we're there. We need
a whole another show to talk about what's going on
in that man's life. I'm sure we can get to
that in the future, but that's not I'm not I'm
not prepared to qualify to talk about all that crap
right now. For sure.

Speaker 3 (58:58):
For sure, maybe you can have a girlfriend that trying
in on you and you could you could chat, you know,
she could chat for you about that stuff.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
So but anyways, I digress. My second thing.

Speaker 3 (59:07):
The second thing, too, is with the trade Nico Harrison
made with a D and Luca. It's early, but I
think both teams lost the trade, if that's possible, because
not only did both teams lose a favorite centerpiece of
their franchise in a way where Luca, to me, is

(59:29):
not going to be embraced like a D and a
D is not going to be embraced like Luca like
they belong back where.

Speaker 2 (59:35):
They came from. But also the way that Luca plays.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
As long as Lebron is on the team, I don't
think they can maximize their potential because to me, the
best Lebron team is with him dominating the ball, and
the best Luca team is with him dominating the ball.
So the reason why the bench did next to nothing
and Reeves was on and cold and other is because
the error is getting dribbled out by Lebron Luca. And

(01:00:02):
then in Dallas he was mister Maverick and he's not
there anymore and Ad is just not the same type
of player.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
So to me, it's a lose lose. You get the
best out of Ad.

Speaker 3 (01:00:15):
With Lebron because he's a great pick and roll threat,
and then Luca brings the best out of Kyrie, you know,
because Luca can handle the offense and set up Kyrie
in ways that Kyrie can't really set up ad like that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
He's not really a playmaker.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
So to me, I might be the only person in
America saying this, but I think both teams lost the trade,
and it would have been better if they never did
it at all.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
I think Dallas lost the trade more. But I do
think you're onto something here. You know, sometimes in sports
and maybe even in life, you just root for the
chaos option. I'm gonna present to you. I'm gonna present
to you the chaos option, and then we're gonna go
ahead and close the show here. There's been rumors that
they're gonna finally get rid of Nico and they want
Dirt and vi Key of all people, to be the

(01:01:01):
new GM. I've seen multiple reports on that today. So
here's the here's the here's the just the chaos violence factor.
Right that transaction happens, Derk is now ahead of the Mavericks.
Maybe Cuban hops back in at a bigger capacity. Luca
is now a free agent, he goes back to Dallas.

(01:01:22):
Dallas now has Luca a d and Kyrie and I
guess she's the Clay Thompson. Thank you don't know why
I forgot that, and the Lakers are are left holding
the bag Allah and aging Lebron James. That would be
the that a movie, you know, like the Draft Day movie,

(01:01:42):
like I want all my picks back and I want
David goddamn putting just because I feel like it. It
would be the basketball equivalent of that. So That's what
I'm gonna root for in the in the meantime.

Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
That literally is the perfect comparison and a perfect way
then the show.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
I love it. I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
I want to thank you guys for tuning in today.
I haven't gotten to say this on air. Thank you
for hitting three hundred subscribers on YouTube. So if you've
ever watched one episode, one movie review, one Internet when
an interview, appreciate the love and support. We've been doing
this since twenty seventeen, not always consistently, sometimes there's months
in between, but we do it because it's fun and

(01:02:17):
it's creative outlet, and it's something I never really planned
to stop. I think it's something I'm gonna do in
some capacity for a long time. So I appreciate you
guys being on this ride with us. Nick has been
a huge part of that. It would not have gotten
this far without him. It would probably not continue without
him either, So I want to thank you man.

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
I'm subscriber number three hundred. Without me, you'd be at
two ninety nine.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Okay, I was at I was at two ninety eight
for like two three months and finally like getting involved
with PWR, some of the wrestling fans hopped in so
be cracked at three hundred. So I appreciate the PWR
audience that's been on here lately. Have some more interviews
with that coming up as we have our next show
coming up June twenty eighth, so look forward to that.
Some wrestling interviews coming soon, and we're gonna get back

(01:03:01):
into we'll talk to some NBA probably when we get
to conference championships, we'll do an NBA show I think
will work out good, so awesome. Other than that, guy
has been a fun hour. Appreciate you clicking on, watching,
listening however you take the show in so have a
great night everyone. As always, we appreciate you. Take care