Nick Wright reacts to a recent article detailing the ongoing saga between LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Nick breaks down why he believes the Lakers are making a massive mistake with their approach to LeBron this offseason as well as its impact on Luka Doncic. Later, Nick reacts to Jalen Hurts being ranked the 9th best QB according to NFL executives, coaches, and scouts. Is Hurts being disrespected after winning the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles? Nick then ranks his top 10 QBs in the NFL including the Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes, Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson, and Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen. Lastly, Nick shares his thoughts on Kevin Durant's comments regarding Michael Jordan on LeBron's 'Mind the Game' podcast... and tells you why KD is right. #Volume
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Best of the Week for What's Right
with Nick Wright, the best takes and moments from this
week on the show Enjoy. The Summer of Lebron continues
a bit and there was a very seemingly interesting article
(00:20):
written by Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst that kind of
set off a lot of conversation over the weekend, and
it dropped I think Friday Friday morning, yet we weren't
(00:41):
on TV, and then there was a Dave mcminnimon report,
and then there was an article edit that I find
the whole thing fascinating. So I'm not going to go
through every single stanza of this article, but I am
going to go through it considerably because I actually in
credit to Chris Broussard, who on our First Thing's First
(01:05):
Morning meeting just a moment ago, when we were talking
about doing this topic, he was like, how much of
the audience do you think has actually read the article?
I was like, Oh, that's a good point. Brew. So
the beginning of this article is incredibly detailed about a
May third meeting at Craig's Restaurant on Melrose in West Hollywood,
(01:26):
a place I have been to. I think once in
my life with my buddy Colin Cowherd, and where they
where Ramona and Wendy, And this feels like Ramona's side
of it. They just because of the LA based reporting,
but I don't know detail a meeting between Luca Palenka,
(01:48):
Reddick and Luca's manager Laura Lara Beth Seeger where we
find out what doors they went in, what wine they drank,
all of this, and it's incredibly detailed and it talks
about that meeting, but that is not what people are
(02:09):
people's takeaway or the thrust of the article is because
the article's headline even Lebron James Luka Ancic inside the
most delicate superstar transition in NBA history. So the reason
for that scene setting it would appear is that Luca
(02:30):
was at this meeting and Lebron was not, which I
don't find odd at all personally, because the Lakers' first
order of business this summer, and they treated it as such,
was to cement and secure their relationship with Luca because
(02:50):
they desperately need him to sign a contract extension this summer. Now,
whether that's a four year deal or a three year deal,
he can do four for two twenty three or three
for one sixty. The reason for doing the three for
one sixties, the article lays out, is it might set
up better more money, long term and future deals. But regardless,
(03:13):
they need to make sure Luca is locked in, and
they need to do everything possible to get Luca locked in.
And if I were running the Lakers, I certainly wouldn't
be like, well, anytime we're meeting with Luca, Lebron has
to be there, because these are the Lakers. Attempt to
(03:33):
compete this season is in one bucket. The Lakers playing
over the next three, five, ten years is in another bucket,
and both of those buckets necessitate a locked in, dialed in,
committed Luka Doncic. So that is priority number one. And
I think Lebron understands that the single most important thing
(03:59):
for the Lakers this song is to get Luca resigned.
So I wouldn't have viewed that as scandalous. Oh, the
Lakers had a meeting with Luca without Lebron there, but
it was treated like it was in this article, like
it was a fork in the road where the Lakers
(04:21):
are going down the Luca path rather than the Lebron path.
And again that is. It is incredibly logical. And anybody
that thinks Lebron is put off or yeah, is bothered
by the fact that the Lakers priority number one is
(04:44):
making sure Luca is a Laker long term. Doesn't know
Lebron James and doesn't understand the way he views Luca
and what he understands about the NBA Now now, it
is absolutely fair to say. And then I'll get back
(05:07):
to the article that Lebron feels like, all right, while
trying to get Luca locked up long term, we should
try to win right now because we were the three
seed last year, Because I'm still playing at a undeniable
top ten level, Luca is going to go into next
(05:28):
year as one of the three biggest favorites to win
League MVP. That's a team that, if you make the
right moves, can compete for a championship. But those two
things not only are they not mutually exclusive, they are
not in conflict at all. There is nothing better for
Luca's long term future with the Lakers than him stacking
(05:50):
awesome seasons with the Lakers starting immediately. So then the
article goes on to discuss, you know, it talks about
the Lebron release the statement, and again I think the
statement is worth even though it's now a few weeks old,
worth reminding people exactly what it said. We understand the
(06:11):
difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future is
from Rich Paul. We do want to evaluate what's best
for Lebron at this stage in his life and career.
He wants to make every decision he has left count
and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what's
best for him. I looked at that statement as very
(06:34):
clearly saying listen, it would seem what's best for all
parties is continuing this partnership and trying to win a
title right now. But if you guys, for some reason
or another, think that you either can't win a title
(06:56):
right now or making moves to try to win a
title right now while you still have Lebron James at
an all NBA level is actually going to hurt your
chances of winning multiple titles down the road with Luca. Well,
(07:18):
if that's if that's how you feel, and that's the
road you're gonna take, then we should discuss whether or
not you want me to be I want to be
a part of this, and you want to be a
part of this that to me was very very straightforward
and again not scandalous, and I think the way most people,
(07:39):
if they were advising Lebron James would would see it
as well. And then the article gets a little confusing
because it it then just quotes anonymous Western Conference executives
(08:00):
on their opinions. One Western Conference executive chalked it up
to an elaborate pout because the Lakers hadn't offered James
a new contract extension. More on that in a moment.
Another Western Conference executive felt it was an attempt to
press the Lakers front office to go all in on
building the team this season and away from its strategy
to keep the cap sheet as clean as possible for
(08:22):
the summers of twenty six and twenty seven after James's
salary comes off the books. So I care less about
the Western Comage executive's feelings and more about if that
is the Lakers' strategy that we are certainly out of
(08:45):
the Lebron business after this year, and we think we
are going to be better positioned to win titles by
getting out of the Lebron business and using his fifty
two million dollars on free agents. X Y and Z.
(09:06):
That's an interesting opinion. I'm very curious what free agents
they think they are going to get. And this is
an important point here because I don't know if you
guys have noticed, but free agency isn't what it once
(09:26):
was in the NBA. And I'm not talking about second
Apron stuff. I'm talking about the fact that guys over
the last decade have transitioned from letting contracts expire and
hitting free agency to signing extensions as early as possible,
(09:50):
and then if they want to leave, simply demanding a trade,
and the Lakers playing of, well, we're just going to sign.
I'm curious again, who it is they think they're going
(10:11):
to sign. Now they're the Lakers. Lebron chose to save
them after six years in the desert. Lebron then greatly
helped them get Anthony Davis, and then Nico Harrison gifted
them Luke ad Ancic that they were only able to
get because they had Anthony Davis. But they don't have
(10:35):
this cupboard of when they traded for a d they
had multiple former number two overall picks and the number
four pick of that draft they were able to include
in that trade. That's not there, and I just don't
see this. Oh my goodness, Giannis is a free agent
(10:59):
in a year. If you have your cap sheet open,
he'll pick LA. So it's curious to me. But a
lot of the moves the Lakers have made her curious
to me. And then there's this. The Lakers had made
their statement in not offering James a contract beyond this season,
(11:21):
it was abundantly clear that the twenty one time All
Stars time has face. The Lakers had for the first
time a planned end date, even if James' record setting
NBA career did not. And this is where the reporting
gets interesting to me, because this, to me feels Ramona
(11:43):
is incredibly plugged in with the Lakers, and for reasons
I don't totally understand. And we've talked about me not
understanding it. Wendy and Lebron have had something of a
falling out, it would appear, and so I think it's
safe to say the info on this is Laker's info.
(12:06):
And then Dave mcminnimon, who is pretty plugged in with
Lebron and said he's you know, it was not quoting
anonymous people close to him, was quoting Rich Paul directly.
Dave mcminnimon then reports during Summer League two days later, oh,
by the way, look, we didn't ask for nor want
(12:30):
a contract extension. And then there is the other reporting,
which is to me interesting because the article initially said
that when the Buss family agreed to sell a majority
stake in the franchise Mark Walter on June eighteenth, Doncic
(12:51):
was given a heads up and notably posted congratulations on
social media. Lebron James was given no heads up. The
article was then edited and it writes now, after the
publication of this article, sources said James was notified of
the sale via his representation, but he did not post
any public acknowledgement. And then it has the part then,
(13:17):
of course the coup de gras the Lakers, by not
offering James extension, indicated they were comfortable having him on
the roster's inspiring contract, a rare position for a superstar
player of his caliber. Uh So, I don't there is
there are pretty clearly at this point it is a
(13:44):
less than a happy marriage, and it's for reasons. And
this is the part that I've spent a good deal
of time thinking about. But I just can't totally understand
why and you might say, ah, Lebron, is Lebron's doing this?
(14:11):
But here is to me a like a fair and
Lebron is obviously doing a lot of this. But is
there reason for it? As and is are there reasons
for the Lakers doing what they're doing? So let's just
go through the blow by blow of it. Is there
(14:33):
a reason to believe that Lebron is not okay taking
on a secondary role within the organization, not that I've seen.
What I saw was for four years Lebron all but
begging Anthony Davis to take the car Keys, an ad
(14:56):
god love and future Hall of Famer great player, couldn't
quite do it and wasn't willing to do it. They
then trade for Luca. Lebron correctly does not ask Luca
to change his game at all. Lebron changes his game
(15:18):
massively and all of a sudden turns into maybe the Lakers'
best defensive player, is far and away their best defensive
player and arguably their best overall player in the postseason,
and greatly changes the way he's playing while doing nothing
(15:40):
but support Luca, who famously Lebron's on the record that
the only guy he ever tried or wanted to get
to be a Lebron athlete wearing like the way Jordan
has Jordan athletes at Nike. A Lebron spent off sneaker
(16:01):
was Luca, a guy who Luca who modeled his game
after Lebron and was his childhood idol. So the idea
that well, these guys just won't fit that has not
been the case at all. And then there is the well,
(16:21):
we just don't think we can compete with these guys.
I think that is a loser mentality, and I think
it is beyond optimistic that again, if you simply remove
(16:43):
the name and the age when talking about Lebron and say, hey,
what is the likelihood over the next four years if
the Lakers were to move Lebron, move on from Lebron
(17:04):
and they don't they this article talks about they don't
want to trade him. They want him to just leave
in the offseason, either into retirement or free agency for nothing.
Who is the guy? How are they replacing second team
All NBA production? Where is that coming from? And why
(17:26):
would they not say, right now this moment, we have
something an asset we're not going to have, We're not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
To have it.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
All three years from now, which is two top ten players,
so maximize this window. I think that's foolish. But I also,
if I were running the Lakers, wouldn't go three straight
off seasons without making a single trade. If I were
running the Lakers, there are a lot of things I
would not have done that Rob Blinka and the Bus
(18:04):
and Rambis family have done. But that's what they've done,
and so I do. And I know this for a
lot of you guys are not gonna be surprising coming
from me. But I do understand lebron side of the frustration.
I don't understand the Lakers side of the frustration. And
(18:28):
if it's that, and if it's that, well, you know,
Lebron's a lot to a lot to deal with. Yeah, man,
every all time great athlete ever is a lot to
deal with in one way, shape or form. And people
keep saying nothing tougher than dealing with an all time
(18:52):
great who's not great anymore. And that's that's the part
of this that I find so puzzling. It's almost as
if the Lakers are frustrated that Lebron hasn't fallen off.
Lebron the Lakers post Westbrook debacle which obviously Lebron had
(19:20):
influence on, have treated every year as if, well, Lebron's
not going to be that good and therefore it wouldn't
make sense for us to leverage everything to try to
win at this moment. And then each year Lebron shows
(19:40):
up on the All NBA team. Each year Lebron comes
to work and gives you twenty five, seven and seven,
it's like, okay, what do you need? And now, like
I understand why Lebron might say, you know, I don't
(20:01):
want to sign an extension because maybe I do want
to hit free agency and then in my final year
go back home to Cleveland or maybe find a way
to play with Staph and under the new CBA, me
making fifty million dollars doesn't make a lot of sense,
(20:21):
and next year there could be teams with some cap
space more than the minimum that I wouldn't mind going
to play for. I understand why Lebron might say I
don't want the extension. I don't understand why the Lakers
wouldn't say, hey, you want to tack one more year
(20:42):
on this. So a lot of this is just to
me more more evidence that when the Walter family does
(21:03):
come and take over and they do a true audit
of the decisions and decision makers that the people in
charge of the Lakers should be anxious. And I understand
that all the reporting is Genie bus can run the
team for the next five years. Let's check back in
four or in three and see who's running the Los
(21:29):
Angeles Lakers. And let's also check back in four or
three and see if this cap space of twenty twenty
seven played out the way they hoped it would. But
I cannot imagine this article landed softly on Lebron's desk,
(21:55):
where it is a lot of innuendo and a lot
of Lakers pretty naked Lakers personnel whispering in the ears
of Ramona and Wendy about essentially how eager they are
(22:18):
to get out of the Lebron James business. Me personally,
if I'm trying to win NBA championships, I'd love having
two top ten guys on my team. It doesn't seem
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Speaker 2 (24:13):
So the yearly top tens have come out of first off,
we've got the quarterbacks. So executive coaches and scouts all
vote on this. Patrick Mahomes, your guy was at number one.
Weirdly enough, Jalen Hurts was number nine. Nick Sirian, who's
asked about this and if Philly carried Jalen Hurts to
the Super Bowl? Syrianni called bs, So what is this?
(24:34):
Is this disrespectful? Obviously Hurts his two Super Bowl appearances
in the last three years, thirty seven to ten in
the last three seasons. What's going on with that? Justin Hurt?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
So I do think it's Yeah, so I do think
it's disrespectful. And I think that people have to be
willing to move their opinion based on things that happen
after you have formed your opinion, Like, it is totally fine.
(25:07):
And this is maybe self serving of me to say,
because I'm going to describe kind of my opinion evolution
on Jalen Hurts. I think it is totally fine to
be like, Listen, there were times last season that I
thought the weak link of the Philadelphia Eagles offense was
(25:29):
their quarterback. That and that can be. That was actually
the exact, that exact opinion of mine. It was the
subject of the animated more than a little awkward conversation
(25:50):
I had the night before the Super Bowl with or
two nights for the Super Bowl, one of them with
Jalen's mother, when she confronted probably too strong, approached me
and I at first didn't If you guys didn't hear
the story. We were at a super Bowl party. I'm
(26:11):
standing there. A woman walks up and she's like to
ask you a question. I said yeah, and she was like,
why do you talk so bad about Jalen Hurts. And
then I'm like, well, I don't know that I talked
bad about him, and she's like, no, you do, and
then you know, I give my defense of my takes.
She comes back, and then about six seven minutes into it,
(26:32):
I say, miss may I may I ask you a
question and she said yes. I said, are you Jalen's mother?
And she said yes. And I was like, oh boy,
we're in a We're in a trickier spot than I
had thought. And one of the things that I said
to her, I was like, listen, I just I want
you to know the things I have said and the
(26:53):
things I haven't said, right for good or for bad.
I was like, and something I have said that I
I'm sure you would think is totally unfair. As I
did call him the weak link of the Philly offense.
I was like, now, contextually, you should know. I did
say that within the framework of they have a top
(27:17):
three offensive line, a top three receiving corps, and a
top one but top three running back. So if he
just simply is not a top three quarterback in that framework,
he would be the weak link because everyone else is.
But it so it wasn't that was going the weak
link of a bad team. However, I was saying last
(27:41):
year that I thought they were going to get in
a spot demons when they had to throw the football
and they weren't going to be able to throw the
football like those that was, And so that and I
would have last year had Jalen Hurts pretty firmly outside
of my quarterback top ten, I absolutely would have. I
(28:03):
don't think it is at all contradictory to then say.
But then I watched the NFC Championship Game and the
Super Bowl, and his performance in those two games by
(28:23):
itself made me totally reevaluate. And his consistent ability to
play his best in the biggest sponse, which is the
most valuable trait a quarterback can have, made me reevaluate.
(28:46):
And so I think people far too often get tied
and married to their prior opinions. Coward's the best at
not doing this. And you know, aimlessly is the wrong word,
but almost like he he will have a adamant, strong,
(29:10):
vociferous opinion and a week later be like, change my mind,
like and right, and that's what he says. He's like,
I got new information, and so and I think that.
So again, we've got to be careful about what we've
(29:31):
said and whether so if I said and I did not,
but if someone has said I'm telling you this player
will never be a top five quarterback. Then it is
a little tougher. You can still come back and be
like I was wrong, you know, but it's it's a
little tougher. I don't think people at this point are
(29:56):
fairly evaluating Jalen Hurts based on his ability to play
his best in the biggest spots, and I think that
that should whatever credit that people want to take away
(30:17):
from him, I think fairly because he is not a
guy that, over the course of a season, if you
built the offense around Jalen hurts passing game, I don't
think you'd have an elite offense. And I do think
that's fair to ding him for. I don't think that
(30:44):
the negative credit he gets for that, what I believe
is a fact, should outweigh the positive credit for the
fact that we've seen him now on two deep playoff runs,
and you can't point to a single game on those
two deep playoff runs where you're like, ah, Hurts wasn't
(31:06):
good enough for them to win. Hurts didn't do enough,
like you just can't. And he had to go two
years ago toe to toe with Patrick in a Super Bowl.
He had the one fumble, which is why I thought
Patrick outplayed him. But still he played an A minus
level game. The offense scored thirty five points, he accounted
(31:28):
for four touchdowns. And then last year he had to
go toe to toe with Jade and Daniels in a
playoff game when Daniels was the hottest quarterback in the league.
Phillies offense scores fifty five points. And then in the
Super Bowl he has the fourth and five pass down
(31:49):
the sideline. He wait, I think it's the NFC Championship game.
He had the fourth and five pass down the sideline.
The Super Bowl was the kill shots start of the
second half. He was great, And so go ahead, Pal.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
So where would you have him?
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Like you?
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Because you said you had him the outside of the
top ten last year. With the information you have, now,
where would.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You have him? So I have a I've developed a
new opinion on how we have to rank the quarterbacks.
I don't think that it is fair anymore to say
(32:30):
it's a big four and then we can debate after
that that because so here's to me where I'm at
going into and it can obviously change when a new
season comes, Like the new season has to matter. I
(32:52):
believe the top three has to be in this order.
Patrick Josh Lamar. I think that is the only because
what is the knock on Lamar? And at this point
there's only one left. He does not play his best
(33:16):
in the postseason, and I'm not gonna harp on that.
I think that is. You know, two years ago, folks
were mad at me. I was making too big of
a deal of it. Last year, folks were annoyed with me.
I was making too big of a deal with it.
Going into this year, folks, but grudgingly without saying it's like, okay, yeah,
Nick Klock this the whole time that it.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Was, and he showed so different. I was just about
to say Lamar didn't play badly. Though Lamar played pretty well.
He might have had a rough first half, but oh.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Yeah, rough first half the cost from the game. But
it was still I mean, you're right, it wasn't. It
wasn't as bad as some of the other But again,
this is what I'm what I'm about to say here
is actually a defensive Lamar. The point I'm making is this, Demonsey,
I do know, I think it is fair to penalize
Lamar's so much for bad playoff performances that he drops
(34:10):
beneath the player who has not been in the playoffs
the last two years, in Joe Burrow, Like for all
we know, Joe Cool had his Emperor has no clothes
moment with the playoff loss to Patrick Mahomes, and from
(34:30):
now on in the playoffs, Burrow is just gonna be
a shaking shell of himselself. But we haven't seen it
because he hasn't been in the playoffs since then. Now,
to be clear, I think the odds of that are
almost zero percent that Burrow all of a sudden is
going to freak out in the playoffs. My point is
you can't say Lamar playing poorly in the playoffs is
(34:54):
worse than a guy not even getting to the playoffs.
You just can't. And one of the other reasons that
two years ago I had Burrow ahead of Lamar firmly
was Lamar's injury risk. Lamar the last two years, aside
from his annual bout with the flu, Lamar has been
(35:18):
incredibly durable and Joe's miss time have been banged up,
So I think it has to and the I don't
think I need to defend Mahomes being number one, but
The argument against him is he hasn't had the last
two years gaudy regular season numbers. The problem is anyone
(35:42):
you want to put up against him. He then has
played in the playoffs and thoroughly outplayed and beatn them.
So it's not just his team has won. He has
played better than Josh in both the playoff games the
last two years. He has played better than Lamar. He
has So it's just not it's Mahomes has to be one.
(36:03):
I think Josh right now, do you demand you're the
Lamar guy? Do you think it's fair to have Josh two? Yeah,
you do.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
I think it's fair, Like I think it's I think
it's pretty close. But yeah, and then Lamar after its.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
And then lam in the playoffs right and last you know,
Josh one MVP. Lamar could have Josh. You know the
So I that's where. So here's my point and the
reason I said all of that. I think it is fair.
If somebody says Joe Burrow's four, by the way, I
(36:41):
probably agree with him for the record, But if somebody
says Demanse Jalen Hurts is four, and what you're losing
in the prolific stats, Joe Burrow gives you. You're adding
in toughness, availability, the push, push, and huge playoff moments.
(37:04):
And Joe's biggest accomplishment ever is being one and one
against Patrick in AFC Championship games, and Jalen's one and
one against Patrick in Super Bowls. So my, the point
I'm trying to make is when you say it's a
big four, you're saying you can't argue anyone outside of
(37:29):
that top four is better than anyone in it. And
I don't think you can make a credible argument, even
with all the flowers I've given to Jalen Hurts right now,
that Jalen's better than Lamar, Josh or Patrick. I do
think you can make an argument over Joe. And I
love Joe, but he's he starts here slowly. He does
(37:53):
have now Jalen has this as well, obviously, embarrassment of
riches on the outside catching the ball, and I do
think that there is a he probably has. The fact
that Josh, Patrick and Lamar are three of the most
(38:17):
dynamic and successful rushing threats the position has ever seen
has to count. And people might say Nick Patrick's not
in that class, not in the regular season, but if
you look at quarterback career yards per carry, playoff yard
rushing yards, playoff rushing touchdowns. If you remove Neil downs,
(38:38):
Patrick's right there, and he's had iconic you know, so
that he's kind of more tactical with it choosing yeah,
say it again. He's more tactical with when he chooses
yes well, and I just don't. He's not as fast
as Lamar, and he's not as bruising and big as Josh,
so he has to be more. So if you're here,
(39:01):
is what my rankings would look like. If I were doing,
I would go one Patrick, two, Josh three, Lamar four,
(39:21):
Joe five, Stafford six, Jalen Hurts seven with an asterisk
of it's probably too early, but I give it to him.
Jaden Daniels eight, Baker And then it gets trickier.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Did you say golf already? Did you say golf? You
didn't say golf.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
I didn't say golf, and I didn't say Herbert. This
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offer thirty five dollars device setup female apply requires credit qualification,
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five G speeds not available in all areas. This I
meant to talk about last week, and I screwed up
and I forgot. But Kevin Durant was all Mine the
(40:59):
Game with Steve Nash Lebron and he was talking about
longevity and while we can just play it for you
courtesy of our friends at Mine the Game.
Speaker 4 (41:10):
Yeah, I'm ten twelve years in. I got full MVPs
of faux championships, Like, but do I still don't want
to do this shit? You know what I'm saying because
some people say I want to go play baseball and
didn't want to come back. Well, some people say I'm
gonna go twenty two straight.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
One of the lines in there is some people say
I want to go play baseball and some want to
play twenty two straight. And I I don't think this
is a controversial or hot take, guys, And yet somehow
(41:57):
and this is this is one of my and if
you think about this, it really will maybe reframe how
you view some of the Lebron Jordan stuff. Which is
(42:19):
so of the myths that exist in NBA history, the
vast majority of them serve one of one or two purposes,
either tearing down Lebron or building up Michael. So like,
(42:47):
in no particular order. I think here's a here's a
myth that just everyone believes. Man, the nineteen eighties were
just the peak of NBA physicality and tough defense, when
(43:08):
in reality, up until the twenty twenties, the nineteen eighties
were the highest scoring decade of post sixties NBA basketball.
Now there were more flagrant type fouls, but it was
running gun high scoring era. Another one, you know, on
(43:34):
the flip side of that is like one of the
most just up is down, black is white myths? Is
eh Lebron great player? Not that clutch when he has
more playoff game winners, regular season game winners, all of
(43:55):
that at a higher efficiency than any other superstar ever,
just on its face, incorrect facts. And the Michael Jordan
quit the sport because of the tragic murder of his
father and therefore it's almost a third rail to discuss
(44:21):
him walking away is just a myth. And the reason
I know that, and the reason you guys know that,
is because Michael and Ahmad Rashad told us in the
Last Dance if there was ever any question that I
(44:44):
don't know which episode of the Last Dance, but where
Ahmad said, you know, Michael was telling me essentially for
months that he was going to walk away. And now,
if you believe, as I think is a totally legitimate belief,
(45:05):
that Michael looked at it as I beat the game,
I did something no one's done since Russell's Celtics. I
have nothing left to do here. I'm not enjoying this
scrutiny and this and all of it. And then if
he was, you know, on the edge the tragic murder
(45:27):
of his father, was like, all right, I need a
fresh star on everything. And then it is even like,
so wildly impressive that he came back and after half
a season where they couldn't get it done, he then
(45:49):
rips off another three pet and that is part of
his absolute legend. That's totally fair. I shouldn't even just
say it's fair. That's my opinion. I think that is
a remarkable feat. But the number of people that think
(46:09):
what Durant said was a hot take rather than an
objective fact. That is how we would evaluate literally anyone
in any field ever, which is, you certainly don't get
(46:34):
extra credit for quitting the thing that we are grading
you on. And Kevin Durant's point not only was it
not a hot take, it is damn near tutology, which is,
if we are discussing the greatest career or greatest player
(46:58):
in the history of the NBA and we say, well,
one guy after a little more than ten seasons, after
a dozen seasons, said okay, this is not even a
dozen seasons of my apologies, I'm gonna step away now
(47:25):
after ten seasons, pardon me, and then quit the game
and then came back two y or year and a
half later that that year and a half certainly doesn't
help his basketball career because there was no basketball career,
(47:50):
and that if at least in the consistent year after
year after year excellence, the guy who never stepped away
and played at a top one level as long as
(48:11):
any player in the history of the league has a
top three level longer than any player in the history
of the league has, and a top five level twice
as long as any player in the history of the
league has. That that's at least a check mark in
that guy's column. Now, is that the whole column?
Speaker 3 (48:27):
No?
Speaker 1 (48:27):
Is that the only thing that matters? Of course not,
But is that obviously true? Yes, And people saw it
and were like, oh my god, Lebron's brainwashed. Another one
as opposed to, what are you guys talking about? If
Patrick Mahomes quit this offseason to go play baseball and
(48:55):
two years later came back and was awesome again, we
certainly wouldn't say that time off helped his quest to
catch Brady. And that's all Katie was saying. But because
there's been so much mythology associated with this person and
(49:20):
this career, things that are just obvious in literally any
other mad Lib style remove the proper nouns and say,
in Nick Wright's quest to be an all time broadcaster,
(49:42):
did the two years he took off to go try
to be a professional poker player before returning to his
broadcast career those two years did that help or hurt
his quest to be an all time broadcaster? We'd be like, well,
(50:04):
they certainly didn't help, probably hurt. And so it's just
it was very informative to me the way people got
angry at that take, when it's the most obvious take
anyone's ever had. That being excellent at something for a
(50:32):
span of time, with no break and no years you
weren't excellent. That is a different type of accomplishment than
being excellent taking a year and a half off from it,
being excellent taking three years off from it, than being okay,
like that's just obvious. So another take of Kadi's I
(50:59):
agree with, how about that unbelievable
Welcome to the Best of the Week for What's Right
with Nick Wright, the best takes and moments from this
week on the show Enjoy. The Summer of Lebron continues
a bit and there was a very seemingly interesting article
(00:20):
written by Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst that kind of
set off a lot of conversation over the weekend, and
it dropped I think Friday Friday morning, yet we weren't
(00:41):
on TV, and then there was a Dave mcminnimon report,
and then there was an article edit that I find
the whole thing fascinating. So I'm not going to go
through every single stanza of this article, but I am
going to go through it considerably because I actually in
credit to Chris Broussard, who on our First Thing's First
(01:05):
Morning meeting just a moment ago, when we were talking
about doing this topic, he was like, how much of
the audience do you think has actually read the article?
I was like, Oh, that's a good point. Brew. So
the beginning of this article is incredibly detailed about a
May third meeting at Craig's Restaurant on Melrose in West Hollywood,
(01:26):
a place I have been to. I think once in
my life with my buddy Colin Cowherd, and where they
where Ramona and Wendy, And this feels like Ramona's side
of it. They just because of the LA based reporting,
but I don't know detail a meeting between Luca Palenka,
(01:48):
Reddick and Luca's manager Laura Lara Beth Seeger where we
find out what doors they went in, what wine they drank,
all of this, and it's incredibly detailed and it talks
about that meeting, but that is not what people are
(02:09):
people's takeaway or the thrust of the article is because
the article's headline even Lebron James Luka Ancic inside the
most delicate superstar transition in NBA history. So the reason
for that scene setting it would appear is that Luca
(02:30):
was at this meeting and Lebron was not, which I
don't find odd at all personally, because the Lakers' first
order of business this summer, and they treated it as such,
was to cement and secure their relationship with Luca because
(02:50):
they desperately need him to sign a contract extension this summer. Now,
whether that's a four year deal or a three year deal,
he can do four for two twenty three or three
for one sixty. The reason for doing the three for
one sixties, the article lays out, is it might set
up better more money, long term and future deals. But regardless,
(03:13):
they need to make sure Luca is locked in, and
they need to do everything possible to get Luca locked in.
And if I were running the Lakers, I certainly wouldn't
be like, well, anytime we're meeting with Luca, Lebron has
to be there, because these are the Lakers. Attempt to
(03:33):
compete this season is in one bucket. The Lakers playing
over the next three, five, ten years is in another bucket,
and both of those buckets necessitate a locked in, dialed in,
committed Luka Doncic. So that is priority number one. And
I think Lebron understands that the single most important thing
(03:59):
for the Lakers this song is to get Luca resigned.
So I wouldn't have viewed that as scandalous. Oh, the
Lakers had a meeting with Luca without Lebron there, but
it was treated like it was in this article, like
it was a fork in the road where the Lakers
(04:21):
are going down the Luca path rather than the Lebron path.
And again that is. It is incredibly logical. And anybody
that thinks Lebron is put off or yeah, is bothered
by the fact that the Lakers priority number one is
(04:44):
making sure Luca is a Laker long term. Doesn't know
Lebron James and doesn't understand the way he views Luca
and what he understands about the NBA Now now, it
is absolutely fair to say. And then I'll get back
(05:07):
to the article that Lebron feels like, all right, while
trying to get Luca locked up long term, we should
try to win right now because we were the three
seed last year, Because I'm still playing at a undeniable
top ten level, Luca is going to go into next
(05:28):
year as one of the three biggest favorites to win
League MVP. That's a team that, if you make the
right moves, can compete for a championship. But those two
things not only are they not mutually exclusive, they are
not in conflict at all. There is nothing better for
Luca's long term future with the Lakers than him stacking
(05:50):
awesome seasons with the Lakers starting immediately. So then the
article goes on to discuss, you know, it talks about
the Lebron release the statement, and again I think the
statement is worth even though it's now a few weeks old,
worth reminding people exactly what it said. We understand the
(06:11):
difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future is
from Rich Paul. We do want to evaluate what's best
for Lebron at this stage in his life and career.
He wants to make every decision he has left count
and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what's
best for him. I looked at that statement as very
(06:34):
clearly saying listen, it would seem what's best for all
parties is continuing this partnership and trying to win a
title right now. But if you guys, for some reason
or another, think that you either can't win a title
(06:56):
right now or making moves to try to win a
title right now while you still have Lebron James at
an all NBA level is actually going to hurt your
chances of winning multiple titles down the road with Luca. Well,
(07:18):
if that's if that's how you feel, and that's the
road you're gonna take, then we should discuss whether or
not you want me to be I want to be
a part of this, and you want to be a
part of this that to me was very very straightforward
and again not scandalous, and I think the way most people,
(07:39):
if they were advising Lebron James would would see it
as well. And then the article gets a little confusing
because it it then just quotes anonymous Western Conference executives
(08:00):
on their opinions. One Western Conference executive chalked it up
to an elaborate pout because the Lakers hadn't offered James
a new contract extension. More on that in a moment.
Another Western Conference executive felt it was an attempt to
press the Lakers front office to go all in on
building the team this season and away from its strategy
to keep the cap sheet as clean as possible for
(08:22):
the summers of twenty six and twenty seven after James's
salary comes off the books. So I care less about
the Western Comage executive's feelings and more about if that
is the Lakers' strategy that we are certainly out of
(08:45):
the Lebron business after this year, and we think we
are going to be better positioned to win titles by
getting out of the Lebron business and using his fifty
two million dollars on free agents. X Y and Z.
(09:06):
That's an interesting opinion. I'm very curious what free agents
they think they are going to get. And this is
an important point here because I don't know if you
guys have noticed, but free agency isn't what it once
(09:26):
was in the NBA. And I'm not talking about second
Apron stuff. I'm talking about the fact that guys over
the last decade have transitioned from letting contracts expire and
hitting free agency to signing extensions as early as possible,
(09:50):
and then if they want to leave, simply demanding a trade,
and the Lakers playing of, well, we're just going to sign.
I'm curious again, who it is they think they're going
(10:11):
to sign. Now they're the Lakers. Lebron chose to save
them after six years in the desert. Lebron then greatly
helped them get Anthony Davis, and then Nico Harrison gifted
them Luke ad Ancic that they were only able to
get because they had Anthony Davis. But they don't have
(10:35):
this cupboard of when they traded for a d they
had multiple former number two overall picks and the number
four pick of that draft they were able to include
in that trade. That's not there, and I just don't
see this. Oh my goodness, Giannis is a free agent
(10:59):
in a year. If you have your cap sheet open,
he'll pick LA. So it's curious to me. But a
lot of the moves the Lakers have made her curious
to me. And then there's this. The Lakers had made
their statement in not offering James a contract beyond this season,
(11:21):
it was abundantly clear that the twenty one time All
Stars time has face. The Lakers had for the first
time a planned end date, even if James' record setting
NBA career did not. And this is where the reporting
gets interesting to me, because this, to me feels Ramona
(11:43):
is incredibly plugged in with the Lakers, and for reasons
I don't totally understand. And we've talked about me not
understanding it. Wendy and Lebron have had something of a
falling out, it would appear, and so I think it's
safe to say the info on this is Laker's info.
(12:06):
And then Dave mcminnimon, who is pretty plugged in with
Lebron and said he's you know, it was not quoting
anonymous people close to him, was quoting Rich Paul directly.
Dave mcminnimon then reports during Summer League two days later, oh,
by the way, look, we didn't ask for nor want
(12:30):
a contract extension. And then there is the other reporting,
which is to me interesting because the article initially said
that when the Buss family agreed to sell a majority
stake in the franchise Mark Walter on June eighteenth, Doncic
(12:51):
was given a heads up and notably posted congratulations on
social media. Lebron James was given no heads up. The
article was then edited and it writes now, after the
publication of this article, sources said James was notified of
the sale via his representation, but he did not post
any public acknowledgement. And then it has the part then,
(13:17):
of course the coup de gras the Lakers, by not
offering James extension, indicated they were comfortable having him on
the roster's inspiring contract, a rare position for a superstar
player of his caliber. Uh So, I don't there is
there are pretty clearly at this point it is a
(13:44):
less than a happy marriage, and it's for reasons. And
this is the part that I've spent a good deal
of time thinking about. But I just can't totally understand
why and you might say, ah, Lebron, is Lebron's doing this?
(14:11):
But here is to me a like a fair and
Lebron is obviously doing a lot of this. But is
there reason for it? As and is are there reasons
for the Lakers doing what they're doing? So let's just
go through the blow by blow of it. Is there
(14:33):
a reason to believe that Lebron is not okay taking
on a secondary role within the organization, not that I've seen.
What I saw was for four years Lebron all but
begging Anthony Davis to take the car Keys, an ad
(14:56):
god love and future Hall of Famer great player, couldn't
quite do it and wasn't willing to do it. They
then trade for Luca. Lebron correctly does not ask Luca
to change his game at all. Lebron changes his game
(15:18):
massively and all of a sudden turns into maybe the Lakers'
best defensive player, is far and away their best defensive
player and arguably their best overall player in the postseason,
and greatly changes the way he's playing while doing nothing
(15:40):
but support Luca, who famously Lebron's on the record that
the only guy he ever tried or wanted to get
to be a Lebron athlete wearing like the way Jordan
has Jordan athletes at Nike. A Lebron spent off sneaker
(16:01):
was Luca, a guy who Luca who modeled his game
after Lebron and was his childhood idol. So the idea
that well, these guys just won't fit that has not
been the case at all. And then there is the well,
(16:21):
we just don't think we can compete with these guys.
I think that is a loser mentality, and I think
it is beyond optimistic that again, if you simply remove
(16:43):
the name and the age when talking about Lebron and say, hey,
what is the likelihood over the next four years if
the Lakers were to move Lebron, move on from Lebron
(17:04):
and they don't they this article talks about they don't
want to trade him. They want him to just leave
in the offseason, either into retirement or free agency for nothing.
Who is the guy? How are they replacing second team
All NBA production? Where is that coming from? And why
(17:26):
would they not say, right now this moment, we have
something an asset we're not going to have, We're not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
To have it.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
All three years from now, which is two top ten players,
so maximize this window. I think that's foolish. But I also,
if I were running the Lakers, wouldn't go three straight
off seasons without making a single trade. If I were
running the Lakers, there are a lot of things I
would not have done that Rob Blinka and the Bus
(18:04):
and Rambis family have done. But that's what they've done,
and so I do. And I know this for a
lot of you guys are not gonna be surprising coming
from me. But I do understand lebron side of the frustration.
I don't understand the Lakers side of the frustration. And
(18:28):
if it's that, and if it's that, well, you know,
Lebron's a lot to a lot to deal with. Yeah, man,
every all time great athlete ever is a lot to
deal with in one way, shape or form. And people
keep saying nothing tougher than dealing with an all time
(18:52):
great who's not great anymore. And that's that's the part
of this that I find so puzzling. It's almost as
if the Lakers are frustrated that Lebron hasn't fallen off.
Lebron the Lakers post Westbrook debacle which obviously Lebron had
(19:20):
influence on, have treated every year as if, well, Lebron's
not going to be that good and therefore it wouldn't
make sense for us to leverage everything to try to
win at this moment. And then each year Lebron shows
(19:40):
up on the All NBA team. Each year Lebron comes
to work and gives you twenty five, seven and seven,
it's like, okay, what do you need? And now, like
I understand why Lebron might say, you know, I don't
(20:01):
want to sign an extension because maybe I do want
to hit free agency and then in my final year
go back home to Cleveland or maybe find a way
to play with Staph and under the new CBA, me
making fifty million dollars doesn't make a lot of sense,
(20:21):
and next year there could be teams with some cap
space more than the minimum that I wouldn't mind going
to play for. I understand why Lebron might say I
don't want the extension. I don't understand why the Lakers
wouldn't say, hey, you want to tack one more year
(20:42):
on this. So a lot of this is just to
me more more evidence that when the Walter family does
(21:03):
come and take over and they do a true audit
of the decisions and decision makers that the people in
charge of the Lakers should be anxious. And I understand
that all the reporting is Genie bus can run the
team for the next five years. Let's check back in
four or in three and see who's running the Los
(21:29):
Angeles Lakers. And let's also check back in four or
three and see if this cap space of twenty twenty
seven played out the way they hoped it would. But
I cannot imagine this article landed softly on Lebron's desk,
(21:55):
where it is a lot of innuendo and a lot
of Lakers pretty naked Lakers personnel whispering in the ears
of Ramona and Wendy about essentially how eager they are
(22:18):
to get out of the Lebron James business. Me personally,
if I'm trying to win NBA championships, I'd love having
two top ten guys on my team. It doesn't seem
like the Lakers necessarily feel that same way. All right, folks,
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Speaker 2 (24:13):
So the yearly top tens have come out of first off,
we've got the quarterbacks. So executive coaches and scouts all
vote on this. Patrick Mahomes, your guy was at number one.
Weirdly enough, Jalen Hurts was number nine. Nick Sirian, who's
asked about this and if Philly carried Jalen Hurts to
the Super Bowl? Syrianni called bs, So what is this?
(24:34):
Is this disrespectful? Obviously Hurts his two Super Bowl appearances
in the last three years, thirty seven to ten in
the last three seasons. What's going on with that? Justin Hurt?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
So I do think it's Yeah, so I do think
it's disrespectful. And I think that people have to be
willing to move their opinion based on things that happen
after you have formed your opinion, Like, it is totally fine.
(25:07):
And this is maybe self serving of me to say,
because I'm going to describe kind of my opinion evolution
on Jalen Hurts. I think it is totally fine to
be like, Listen, there were times last season that I
thought the weak link of the Philadelphia Eagles offense was
(25:29):
their quarterback. That and that can be. That was actually
the exact, that exact opinion of mine. It was the
subject of the animated more than a little awkward conversation
(25:50):
I had the night before the Super Bowl with or
two nights for the Super Bowl, one of them with
Jalen's mother, when she confronted probably too strong, approached me
and I at first didn't If you guys didn't hear
the story. We were at a super Bowl party. I'm
(26:11):
standing there. A woman walks up and she's like to
ask you a question. I said yeah, and she was like,
why do you talk so bad about Jalen Hurts. And
then I'm like, well, I don't know that I talked
bad about him, and she's like, no, you do, and
then you know, I give my defense of my takes.
She comes back, and then about six seven minutes into it,
(26:32):
I say, miss may I may I ask you a
question and she said yes. I said, are you Jalen's mother?
And she said yes. And I was like, oh boy,
we're in a We're in a trickier spot than I
had thought. And one of the things that I said
to her, I was like, listen, I just I want
you to know the things I have said and the
(26:53):
things I haven't said, right for good or for bad.
I was like, and something I have said that I
I'm sure you would think is totally unfair. As I
did call him the weak link of the Philly offense.
I was like, now, contextually, you should know. I did
say that within the framework of they have a top
(27:17):
three offensive line, a top three receiving corps, and a
top one but top three running back. So if he
just simply is not a top three quarterback in that framework,
he would be the weak link because everyone else is.
But it so it wasn't that was going the weak
link of a bad team. However, I was saying last
(27:41):
year that I thought they were going to get in
a spot demons when they had to throw the football
and they weren't going to be able to throw the
football like those that was, And so that and I
would have last year had Jalen Hurts pretty firmly outside
of my quarterback top ten, I absolutely would have. I
(28:03):
don't think it is at all contradictory to then say.
But then I watched the NFC Championship Game and the
Super Bowl, and his performance in those two games by
(28:23):
itself made me totally reevaluate. And his consistent ability to
play his best in the biggest sponse, which is the
most valuable trait a quarterback can have, made me reevaluate.
(28:46):
And so I think people far too often get tied
and married to their prior opinions. Coward's the best at
not doing this. And you know, aimlessly is the wrong word,
but almost like he he will have a adamant, strong,
(29:10):
vociferous opinion and a week later be like, change my mind,
like and right, and that's what he says. He's like,
I got new information, and so and I think that.
So again, we've got to be careful about what we've
(29:31):
said and whether so if I said and I did not,
but if someone has said I'm telling you this player
will never be a top five quarterback. Then it is
a little tougher. You can still come back and be
like I was wrong, you know, but it's it's a
little tougher. I don't think people at this point are
(29:56):
fairly evaluating Jalen Hurts based on his ability to play
his best in the biggest spots, and I think that
that should whatever credit that people want to take away
(30:17):
from him, I think fairly because he is not a
guy that, over the course of a season, if you
built the offense around Jalen hurts passing game, I don't
think you'd have an elite offense. And I do think
that's fair to ding him for. I don't think that
(30:44):
the negative credit he gets for that, what I believe
is a fact, should outweigh the positive credit for the
fact that we've seen him now on two deep playoff runs,
and you can't point to a single game on those
two deep playoff runs where you're like, ah, Hurts wasn't
(31:06):
good enough for them to win. Hurts didn't do enough,
like you just can't. And he had to go two
years ago toe to toe with Patrick in a Super Bowl.
He had the one fumble, which is why I thought
Patrick outplayed him. But still he played an A minus
level game. The offense scored thirty five points, he accounted
(31:28):
for four touchdowns. And then last year he had to
go toe to toe with Jade and Daniels in a
playoff game when Daniels was the hottest quarterback in the league.
Phillies offense scores fifty five points. And then in the
Super Bowl he has the fourth and five pass down
(31:49):
the sideline. He wait, I think it's the NFC Championship game.
He had the fourth and five pass down the sideline.
The Super Bowl was the kill shots start of the
second half. He was great, And so go ahead, Pal.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
So where would you have him?
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Like you?
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Because you said you had him the outside of the
top ten last year. With the information you have, now,
where would.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You have him? So I have a I've developed a
new opinion on how we have to rank the quarterbacks.
I don't think that it is fair anymore to say
(32:30):
it's a big four and then we can debate after
that that because so here's to me where I'm at
going into and it can obviously change when a new
season comes, Like the new season has to matter. I
(32:52):
believe the top three has to be in this order.
Patrick Josh Lamar. I think that is the only because
what is the knock on Lamar? And at this point
there's only one left. He does not play his best
(33:16):
in the postseason, and I'm not gonna harp on that.
I think that is. You know, two years ago, folks
were mad at me. I was making too big of
a deal of it. Last year, folks were annoyed with me.
I was making too big of a deal with it.
Going into this year, folks, but grudgingly without saying it's like, okay, yeah,
Nick Klock this the whole time that it.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Was, and he showed so different. I was just about
to say Lamar didn't play badly. Though Lamar played pretty well.
He might have had a rough first half, but oh.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Yeah, rough first half the cost from the game. But
it was still I mean, you're right, it wasn't. It
wasn't as bad as some of the other But again,
this is what I'm what I'm about to say here
is actually a defensive Lamar. The point I'm making is this, Demonsey,
I do know, I think it is fair to penalize
Lamar's so much for bad playoff performances that he drops
(34:10):
beneath the player who has not been in the playoffs
the last two years, in Joe Burrow, Like for all
we know, Joe Cool had his Emperor has no clothes
moment with the playoff loss to Patrick Mahomes, and from
(34:30):
now on in the playoffs, Burrow is just gonna be
a shaking shell of himselself. But we haven't seen it
because he hasn't been in the playoffs since then. Now,
to be clear, I think the odds of that are
almost zero percent that Burrow all of a sudden is
going to freak out in the playoffs. My point is
you can't say Lamar playing poorly in the playoffs is
(34:54):
worse than a guy not even getting to the playoffs.
You just can't. And one of the other reasons that
two years ago I had Burrow ahead of Lamar firmly
was Lamar's injury risk. Lamar the last two years, aside
from his annual bout with the flu, Lamar has been
(35:18):
incredibly durable and Joe's miss time have been banged up,
So I think it has to and the I don't
think I need to defend Mahomes being number one, but
The argument against him is he hasn't had the last
two years gaudy regular season numbers. The problem is anyone
(35:42):
you want to put up against him. He then has
played in the playoffs and thoroughly outplayed and beatn them.
So it's not just his team has won. He has
played better than Josh in both the playoff games the
last two years. He has played better than Lamar. He
has So it's just not it's Mahomes has to be one.
(36:03):
I think Josh right now, do you demand you're the
Lamar guy? Do you think it's fair to have Josh two? Yeah,
you do.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
I think it's fair, Like I think it's I think
it's pretty close. But yeah, and then Lamar after its.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
And then lam in the playoffs right and last you know,
Josh one MVP. Lamar could have Josh. You know the
So I that's where. So here's my point and the
reason I said all of that. I think it is fair.
If somebody says Joe Burrow's four, by the way, I
(36:41):
probably agree with him for the record, But if somebody
says Demanse Jalen Hurts is four, and what you're losing
in the prolific stats, Joe Burrow gives you. You're adding
in toughness, availability, the push, push, and huge playoff moments.
(37:04):
And Joe's biggest accomplishment ever is being one and one
against Patrick in AFC Championship games, and Jalen's one and
one against Patrick in Super Bowls. So my, the point
I'm trying to make is when you say it's a
big four, you're saying you can't argue anyone outside of
(37:29):
that top four is better than anyone in it. And
I don't think you can make a credible argument, even
with all the flowers I've given to Jalen Hurts right now,
that Jalen's better than Lamar, Josh or Patrick. I do
think you can make an argument over Joe. And I
love Joe, but he's he starts here slowly. He does
(37:53):
have now Jalen has this as well, obviously, embarrassment of
riches on the outside catching the ball, and I do
think that there is a he probably has. The fact
that Josh, Patrick and Lamar are three of the most
(38:17):
dynamic and successful rushing threats the position has ever seen
has to count. And people might say Nick Patrick's not
in that class, not in the regular season, but if
you look at quarterback career yards per carry, playoff yard
rushing yards, playoff rushing touchdowns. If you remove Neil downs,
(38:38):
Patrick's right there, and he's had iconic you know, so
that he's kind of more tactical with it choosing yeah,
say it again. He's more tactical with when he chooses
yes well, and I just don't. He's not as fast
as Lamar, and he's not as bruising and big as Josh,
so he has to be more. So if you're here,
(39:01):
is what my rankings would look like. If I were doing,
I would go one Patrick, two, Josh three, Lamar four,
(39:21):
Joe five, Stafford six, Jalen Hurts seven with an asterisk
of it's probably too early, but I give it to him.
Jaden Daniels eight, Baker And then it gets trickier.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Did you say golf already? Did you say golf? You
didn't say golf.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
I didn't say golf, and I didn't say Herbert. This
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offer thirty five dollars device setup female apply requires credit qualification,
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five G speeds not available in all areas. This I
meant to talk about last week, and I screwed up
and I forgot. But Kevin Durant was all Mine the
(40:59):
Game with Steve Nash Lebron and he was talking about
longevity and while we can just play it for you
courtesy of our friends at Mine the Game.
Speaker 4 (41:10):
Yeah, I'm ten twelve years in. I got full MVPs
of faux championships, Like, but do I still don't want
to do this shit? You know what I'm saying because
some people say I want to go play baseball and
didn't want to come back. Well, some people say I'm
gonna go twenty two straight.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
One of the lines in there is some people say
I want to go play baseball and some want to
play twenty two straight. And I I don't think this
is a controversial or hot take, guys, And yet somehow
(41:57):
and this is this is one of my and if
you think about this, it really will maybe reframe how
you view some of the Lebron Jordan stuff. Which is
(42:19):
so of the myths that exist in NBA history, the
vast majority of them serve one of one or two purposes,
either tearing down Lebron or building up Michael. So like,
(42:47):
in no particular order. I think here's a here's a
myth that just everyone believes. Man, the nineteen eighties were
just the peak of NBA physicality and tough defense, when
(43:08):
in reality, up until the twenty twenties, the nineteen eighties
were the highest scoring decade of post sixties NBA basketball.
Now there were more flagrant type fouls, but it was
running gun high scoring era. Another one, you know, on
(43:34):
the flip side of that is like one of the
most just up is down, black is white myths? Is
eh Lebron great player? Not that clutch when he has
more playoff game winners, regular season game winners, all of
(43:55):
that at a higher efficiency than any other superstar ever,
just on its face, incorrect facts. And the Michael Jordan
quit the sport because of the tragic murder of his
father and therefore it's almost a third rail to discuss
(44:21):
him walking away is just a myth. And the reason
I know that, and the reason you guys know that,
is because Michael and Ahmad Rashad told us in the
Last Dance if there was ever any question that I
(44:44):
don't know which episode of the Last Dance, but where
Ahmad said, you know, Michael was telling me essentially for
months that he was going to walk away. And now,
if you believe, as I think is a totally legitimate belief,
(45:05):
that Michael looked at it as I beat the game,
I did something no one's done since Russell's Celtics. I
have nothing left to do here. I'm not enjoying this
scrutiny and this and all of it. And then if
he was, you know, on the edge the tragic murder
(45:27):
of his father, was like, all right, I need a
fresh star on everything. And then it is even like,
so wildly impressive that he came back and after half
a season where they couldn't get it done, he then
(45:49):
rips off another three pet and that is part of
his absolute legend. That's totally fair. I shouldn't even just
say it's fair. That's my opinion. I think that is
a remarkable feat. But the number of people that think
(46:09):
what Durant said was a hot take rather than an
objective fact. That is how we would evaluate literally anyone
in any field ever, which is, you certainly don't get
(46:34):
extra credit for quitting the thing that we are grading
you on. And Kevin Durant's point not only was it
not a hot take, it is damn near tutology, which is,
if we are discussing the greatest career or greatest player
(46:58):
in the history of the NBA and we say, well,
one guy after a little more than ten seasons, after
a dozen seasons, said okay, this is not even a
dozen seasons of my apologies, I'm gonna step away now
(47:25):
after ten seasons, pardon me, and then quit the game
and then came back two y or year and a
half later that that year and a half certainly doesn't
help his basketball career because there was no basketball career,
(47:50):
and that if at least in the consistent year after
year after year excellence, the guy who never stepped away
and played at a top one level as long as
(48:11):
any player in the history of the league has a
top three level longer than any player in the history
of the league has, and a top five level twice
as long as any player in the history of the
league has. That that's at least a check mark in
that guy's column. Now, is that the whole column?
Speaker 3 (48:27):
No?
Speaker 1 (48:27):
Is that the only thing that matters? Of course not,
But is that obviously true? Yes, And people saw it
and were like, oh my god, Lebron's brainwashed. Another one
as opposed to, what are you guys talking about? If
Patrick Mahomes quit this offseason to go play baseball and
(48:55):
two years later came back and was awesome again, we
certainly wouldn't say that time off helped his quest to
catch Brady. And that's all Katie was saying. But because
there's been so much mythology associated with this person and
(49:20):
this career, things that are just obvious in literally any
other mad Lib style remove the proper nouns and say,
in Nick Wright's quest to be an all time broadcaster,
(49:42):
did the two years he took off to go try
to be a professional poker player before returning to his
broadcast career those two years did that help or hurt
his quest to be an all time broadcaster? We'd be like, well,
(50:04):
they certainly didn't help, probably hurt. And so it's just
it was very informative to me the way people got
angry at that take, when it's the most obvious take
anyone's ever had. That being excellent at something for a
(50:32):
span of time, with no break and no years you
weren't excellent. That is a different type of accomplishment than
being excellent taking a year and a half off from it,
being excellent taking three years off from it, than being okay,
like that's just obvious. So another take of Kadi's I
(50:59):
agree with, how about that unbelievable
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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