June 9, 2026 • 33 mins
The Bengals keep doing awesome off-brand things. MLB keeps handing the Reds something that the Reds keep wasting. The Big 12 should lean into Brendan Sorsby.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. What's
up Moager, ESPN fifteen thirty, Thanks for listening today. By
the way, Paul Tator Junior is going to be here
in this hour tomorrow. We have moved him this week
because he's got a job to do, and so there's
gonna be a lot to talk about with Paul in
twenty four hours and all of it's good. So couple
(00:25):
of things got done today. One of him is the
Bengals and Joe Burrow have agreed to a contract restructure,
which Joe has expressed publicly a willingness to do. It's
going to give the Bengals about ten million dollars in
cap space. This is great. It's great mechanically because well
in any business, whether it's your budget or an NFL team,
(00:46):
the more financial wiggle room you have, the better. Number two.
It is a sign that the working relationship between the
Bengals and Joe Burrow is pretty good right now. It
could change. Relationships do evolve if the Bengals are bad
this year and Joe is good. Don't want to go
down that road, but right now it feels like the
(01:06):
working relationship is where it needs to be. Number three.
The Bengals keep doing things that you don't expect them
to do. That has been the story of this offseason.
It is still remarkable. It is still remarkable that something
as relatively garden variety for the rest of the NFL
(01:27):
happens here, like trading the tenth overall pick for Dexter Lawrence.
It's the most shocking move of my lifetime. Doing what
they've done with Joe Burrow isn't necessarily shocking, I guess,
and it is pretty much garden variety everywhere else. It
feels like you read about a quarterback contract restructure all
(01:47):
the time somewhere in the NFL, but these things don't
happen here. The further the Bengals distance themselves from things
they typically don't do being a thing, the better. That
has been what has defined this offseason to a degree,
that and calm, serenity. The Bengals will start training camp
(02:10):
here in a month and a half, and barring something
that is not on anybody's radar, doesn't seem like anybody's
going to be holding out, doesn't necessarily seem like anybody
is going to be holding in. There's gonna be no
Chamar Stewart type situation. The other thing that happened today,
Cassius Hall signs his contract. Every Bengals draft pick has
(02:33):
currently signed. There's gonna be no Chamar Stewart Shenanigans. There's
gonna be no Chamar Stewart, hold out, hold in. There's
no reason for a draft pick to pop off about
the organization like Shamar Stewart did last year. And by
the way, Shamar Stewart may have been coming from a
really good place, but the place he was coming from
(02:54):
didn't help the Bengals prepare for the season. There's no
Trey Hendrickson grand standing. There's no ongoing contract saga. Nobody
has requested to be traded. DJ Turner wants a new contract.
Of course he does. He is an ascending player who
is maybe maybe on the verge of breaking through as
(03:15):
one of this league's legitimate stars at corner. Whatever the
contract negotiations look like they're taking place behind the scenes,
DJ Turner is at OTAs Dax Hill has been at
OTAs Bengals made the decision to not pick up the
fifth year option for Miles Murphy. Miles Murphy publicly, at least,
(03:37):
has handled that very very well. Chase Brown is somebody
else we could talk about a contract extension for. Maybe
it happens, maybe it doesn't. No Chase Brown, noise, No
Andrea Yoshavas noise, no noise at all. Like the vibe
seems totally different. I talked to somebody last night who
(03:58):
is I believe, very very very very close to this team,
who talked about the night and day difference. And I'm
not going to single out individuals, but the night and
day difference between some players who were here last year
and the guys who on some level have come to
replace them, and what that's meant for the vibe change
(04:18):
in the locker room, the sense of togetherness. These things
sound hokey and they're easy to talk about in June,
but man, I don't care what you say about Zach Taylor.
Over the last number of years, to a degree, I
think he's been a slightly sympathetic figure because he's trying
to prepare a team to win, to get to the postseason,
(04:41):
to start the season quickly, and he's had to be
the person who has to answer publicly every day for
things like contracts not getting done, franchise tags, players who
have asked for trades, hold ins holdouts, Zach Taylor's got
to be the guy who handles all that. Now, a
(05:03):
really good head coach understands that there's gonna have to
be stuff they navigate through, there's gonna have to be
stuff they work through, and there's gonna be a times
things they have to answer for that they don't have
anything to do with. But you can reach a limit,
and I have felt like in recent years like maybe
Zach Taylor is close to reaching his limit. Not that
he has ever popped off in anybody or gotten mad
(05:24):
or used any of the off field distractions or off
season distractions as an excuse, but none of those things
have helped the cause of winning it is. I've joked
about this here from a talk radio perspective June in July.
I have mined the the Trey Hendrickson stuff, and the
(05:44):
Shamar Stewart stuff, and the Jamar Chase stuff, and the
t Higgins stuff, and the Jesse Bays stuff and Joe
Mixon and trade requests and all of this stuff. It
has made my job much, much, much much. We've joked
about putting Trey Hendrickson in the ESPN fifteen thirty Ring
(06:05):
of Honor. We still have a picture of him here
in studio of him signing his contract with a big
old smile on his face. In part because he made
our jobs easier, he also made Zach Taylor's job more difficult.
Right now, there's nothing, nothing that's making Zach Taylor's job
more difficult. This is awesome. As a fan, it is awesome.
(06:31):
Training camp is going to begin in six seven weeks
and we're not gonna be sifting through unless something pops
up that is not on anybody's radar. We're not gonna
be sifting through controversies, holdouts. We're not even gonna be
wondering maybe aside from linebacker, perhaps lock corner. Remember when
(06:52):
training camp started last year, it's like, are they gonna
go add some offensive lineman? Who else is still out there?
And by the way, they got Dalton Reisner. No excuses
has been one of the themes of this season. This
offseason has provided the Bengals no excuses, and it's also
been an off season where they have done a lot
of things, including restructuring Joe Burrow's contract, that you simply
(07:18):
do not expect them to do. I don't know about you.
One of my deepest wishes for this franchise. Yes, I
want them to win. Yes, I love to broadcast from
a Bengals Super Bowl parade one day. But above and
beyond that, I would love to get rid of quote
that's just not what they do from a regular part
(07:43):
of our Bengals conversations. How many times have you heard that?
How many times have you said that? Quote? That's just
not what they do. Maybe as it relates to how
they handle a contract extension, maybe as it relates to
how they handle free agency, maybe as it relates to
how they handle trades. That's just not what they do
(08:04):
contract restructures during the off season for a quarterback or
anybody else. Frankly, quote, that's just not what they do
today they did fourteen minutes after five o'clock. Reds lose
again last night. The question is not is it gonna
(08:24):
get better? I assume it will. I assume they'll play
better than they have. I assume some of these guys
who aren't contributing much in the bullpen will pitch better.
Chase Burns throws tonight, so they've got a shot to
win the ball game. I assume they'll get healthier, Like
those things will probably happen. The question is, though, in
(08:45):
the short term, how much worse is this gonna get?
How much worse is this gonna get? Is a question
that we asked often in April and early May of
twenty twenty two. Remember what happened early in twenty twenty two,
Threads sunk to three and twenty two and the season
(09:06):
was over before it even began. Started by winning two
of their first four and then lost what twenty of
their next twenty one Just absolutely miserable and often during
that stretch with a team that I think most of
us would agree is on paper worse than the one
(09:28):
the Reds have right now? How many times did you
ask God? How much worse is this gonna get? I
think we were all really hoping that in twenty twenty
six we would be no longer asking the same questions
we were asking in twenty twenty two. But how do
you not with the bad defense, the bad fundamentals. Last
(09:53):
night in the eighth inning trying to pick up a bunt,
Absolute clown show, Absolute clown show. The bad defense killed
this team in Saint Louis. The bad bullpen work has
killed this team for most of the season. Top heavy offense,
don't have Ellie de la Cruz. Now, God love Matt McLain.
He has turned things on here recently, but still a
(10:15):
top heavy team without Ellie de la Cruz, major major deficiencies. Offensively,
You've got starting pitchers you can't rely on. Andrew Abbott
was good last night. Chase Burns has been better. Uh,
he's been terrific. But by and large, you watch this
team and you ask, how much worse is it gonna
get by the time it gets better? How much bad
(10:37):
will it? How much worse will it be? How bad
will it be? How far from first place will they be?
They're already ten and a half out. How much out
of contention will they be? It is late early, three
under five hundred on June ninth. Five point three seven
four nine fifteen thirty will get you in eight six
six seven h two three seven seven six. The Brendan
(11:01):
Soreersby discussions happening around the country are good and sometimes funny. Look, man,
Brendan Soresby shouldn't play college football, but he's going to.
So let's lean into it. As a fan. Let's lean
into it. If you're running the Big twelve, you should
lean into it. We'll spend some time on that and yeah, man,
(11:21):
major League Baseball creates disadvantages for teams like the Reds,
but they also give multiple gifts every summer, gifts the
Reds have given back. I'll explain that next ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
From the UC Health Traffic Center at the UC Cancer thirty.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
By the way, the World Cup begins the US plays
Paraguay on Friday. We'll be watching the game at the
pitch on the West End, just across the street from
the soccer venue in the West End of Cincinnati. Thanks
to our friends at Mick Ultra, you can win tickets
to a FIFA World Cup twenty twenty six match, but
you got to be there starting at eight thirty on Friday.
Details on the ESPN fifteen thirty X page. That's right,
(12:07):
I did it officially. I called it an X page,
even though I usually referred to it as as Twitter.
I asked before, what do the Reds organizationally And I'm
I'm not. I'm not talking about like the ballpark experience,
the community fund, the Hall of Fame, the broadcast, like baseball,
(12:29):
the base the part that matters the most as an organization.
What can they hang their hat on. What is the
one thing that year in and year round they do
really really well. You know, back in the day, we
used to kind of WinCE whenever we heard about the
Cardinal way, and the Cardinal Way was just a way
(12:52):
of doing things right, a way of doing things that,
by the way, seemed to work for a very long time.
There was this constant churn of players when they got
to the big leagues just seemed like they knew how
to play reds have anything resembling that. Are they really
really really good at getting value from cast off players
(13:13):
from other organizations who provide cheap labor? Is there a
complete lean in on one particular way to play out offense?
Are they known as a team and an organization that
seems like it really stresses fundamentals? Do they really feel
(13:35):
like an organization that has no tolerance for mistakes? If
the answers are yes, man, I'm all ears. You know,
it's it's interesting. You'll hear folks who complain about, well,
they can't do what the Dodgers do, and there's a
lot of validity to those complaints. But like major league
(13:59):
based ball hands teams, whether you're the Marlins or the Reds,
or the A's or the Pirates or the Royals, or
the Brewers or the Rays or the Guardians, or teams
like the Dodgers, Mets, and Phillies, major league baseball hands.
Everybody draft picks, so you can go, Okay, look, they're
(14:21):
never going to really jump into the pool of pricey
free agents. Okay, cool, Well, then you better be good
at doing other things like exposing some market inefficiencies, something
the Rays are known for, something the Brewers have become
known for. You better be good at drafting and developing
young talent. If you go back, let's look at Red's
(14:45):
second rounders since twenty eleven. There are two who have
given this team above four war wins above replacement, Andrew
Abbott and Tony Santion. The last Red's third round draft
choice to give the team itself, the Reds higher than
(15:07):
three war Aaron Boone, who was drafted in nineteen ninety three.
Eleven of the last twelve Red's fourth round picks have
yet to play an inning in the major leagues. The
best Red's fifth round draft choice this century tj Antone,
(15:33):
a guy who God love him, has had more surgeries
than on field success. And that's no knock on TJ.
But I think it illustrates. Like there's first rounders, there's
international signings, there's Ellie de la Cruz, there's Hunter Green, Nicolodolo,
Chase Burns, Rat Lauder, Sal Stewart. But like you know,
(15:54):
drafting is more about the obvious guy you take in
round one or the somewhat obvious guy you take in
round one one. It's about depth. It's about getting a
lot of guys who are part of your team and
stay and contribute, at least for those first six seasons.
So you can make the complaint that they can't do
what the Dodgers do or there's no cap, or they
(16:15):
can't spend what some of the other teams spend, and fine,
I'm here for that. But what you can do is
be really good at drafting and developing. Just look at
the alert the first five rounds of the draft. For
the last let's say fifteen years, how many guys have stuck,
how many guys have had sustained success in a Red's uniform.
(16:38):
And I don't want to be totally unfair, like I'm
not gonna count that much players drafted in like the
last three years, but I think fifteen years pretty good
sample size since twenty eleven. Two guys that have contributed
Abbott and santi Tony Santion contributed last year. He's not
been very good this season. You have to go back
(17:02):
thirty three years to find the last Reds third round
pick to give the Reds higher than three war He's
now the manager of the New York Yankees. By the way,
the one Red's fourth round pick who played for the team.
Guy that I can't even remember, TJ Anton the best
fifth rounder of recent vintage. Like dude, So like, all right,
(17:27):
we got to point to things they do really well
as an organization, find hidden gems. You know, they've grabbed
some guys you could call cast offs from other organizations
and gotten something out of them. JJ bleda very good pickup.
You got to be really, really good at getting those
sort of guys. They can't be outliers. You got to
be really good at getting and developing your own talent
(17:49):
in your system. There can't be a gap. There's got
to be a NonStop turn that for the most part,
hasn't been the case for a very long time. Questions
on this show are on Twitter. I call it a
Twitter that time. Thanks to United at Heartland Insurance, should
college athletes be allowed to bet on their own teams
to win? You will find folks including Tim Kallishaw of
(18:14):
the Dallas Morning News in ESPN who has wondered, like,
why can't Brandon Sores be just bet on his own
team to win? I think the answers as to why
not are pretty obvious, but I'm interested in your vote.
At Mulleger thanks to United Heartland Assurance, go to uhi
NS dot com. Let's see twenty nine minutes after five
(18:34):
o'clock phone calls coming up. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
From the UC Health Traffic Center at the UC Cancer Center,
Care goes Beyond cancer treatment with the region's first primary
care clinic for cancer patients and survivors. Call five one
three five eighty five UCCC in.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Exus service and Kelsey Chevrolet Home Mom lifetime power train
protection and guarantee credit approval from their family Theears for
Life kelseyshev dot com. Bengals reportedly have agreed to our
restructure of Joe Burrow's contract gives them a little bit
more cap room, roughly ten million bucks. Meanwhile, the team
is also signed second round draft pickcash as how every
(19:18):
one of the Bengals draft choices under contract, Reds and Padres. Tonight,
Chase Burns versus Lucas Giliedo nine to forty This evening
on seven hundred WLW Florence Yawls take on the New
Jersey Jackals tonight and the NHL Stanley Cup Final Game
four in Vegas. Vegas leads Carolina two games to one.
(19:39):
Uh five point three, seven nine, fifteen thirty. You know,
quickly on the Brendan Soresby thing, like, there's the NCAA
part of this, which the NCAA as an organization, if
it can enforce its rules, then it's it's not a
legitimate organization. This is awful for the NCUBA. Brendon Soresby,
though being allowed to play college football is awesome for
(20:00):
college football. Sports are about characters. Sports are about draws.
Brendan Soresby is a character. Now he's a villain. For
most he is unquestionably a draw. It's one of the
biggest storylines of the college football season. How is Brendan
Soresby going to play, how is his team going to do?
(20:22):
What reception is he going to get? How much is
his play going to be scrutinized? Big twelve chancellors, presidents
eighties got together today and bright your mark. The commissioners said, like,
we're going to keep those conversations to ourselves for now.
What they should be doing is figuring out how can
we monetize and market Brendan Soresby. Let's face it, man,
(20:45):
the Big twelve does lag behind the SEC and the
Big ten to a degree. He's a character, he's a draw,
He's somebody who matters. How many Big twelve quarterbacks can
you name right now? Probably not that many. I think
Big twelve players can you name right now? So you
have the most talked about player in college football playing
(21:07):
for a program that won the Big twelve last year,
that played in the College Football Playoff. That is a
good chance to play in it again this year. All right? Fine,
we can go all moral high ground about this. We
could talk about how wrong this decision is. We could
talk about how Brendan Sorosby broke a rule and is
now really not going to be held accountable for it.
(21:29):
All of those things are fair. But as a sports
fan game on, let's go, how many legitimate characters in
college football have there been who aren't coaches going into
a season? They emerge as the season unfolds. Fernando Mendoza
became one last year, the Heisman Trophy race becomes a
(21:50):
thing and we learn more about the particulars. Diego Pavia
became one. He ain't playing college football. Fernano Mendoza is
not playing college football. There aren't a ton of them,
and there aren't a ton of them that move the
meter like Brendan Soresby will. My mom knows who Brendan
Soreersby is. My wife knows who Brendan Soorsby is. Chances
(22:12):
are people you know who don't follow college football a lot,
or at least really wouldn't be watching much Texas Tech
football know who he is. This is awesome for college football.
Brendan Soorersby's twenty twenty six debut for Texas Tech, which
is against Houston. I'll watch Brendan Soorsby versus U see
(22:34):
has a lot more punched to it than Texas Tech
versus you see with somebody else playing quarterback, that's an event.
I'm for events. If you're the big twelve, lean into this.
If you're among the big twelves broadcast partners, lean into this.
Here's a character, here's a draw. Here's someone who's gonna
(22:57):
move the meter. People who move of the meter are
great for sports. Brendan Soresby's case really bad for the NCAA.
Brendan Soorsby being allowed to play college football really good
for college football. He has been dying to tease me
(23:17):
about the Knicks. Go ahead, Mike, Thank you. Mo.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
I was gonna, well, go somewhere else for a minute. First,
I just heard a great interview with Tom Ferducci. He's
pretty good, is terrifical. Yes, he's maybe.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
The best on that side. And this is I was
going to talk about the red but we already know
what the red problems are there. They have no wins
in the decision, They don't know how to identify talent.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Well, we can go on on. We talked about it
all before, so too's away to come. But Berducci was
saying in look At, look At, talking about the older
players from age thirty one to thirty five, For instance,
Manny MC League bottom one sixty six, hitting and what
(24:05):
Tom was saying is if becoming a younger sport, these
these younger hitters are used to hitting against pitchers that
have a lot more pitches than they used to have,
and so the hitters have to cover a lot more
ground than they used to. So the younger guys have
grown up with that. The older guys, that's why they're
(24:26):
having so much problem now. He said, Cody Bellinger is
a little bit of an exception. He's kind of between her.
But like you said, last night, Bellinger hit three hits
ground balls, one right field, one center field, one right
field because he adjusts his swings in his approach to
the pitcher, And I thought that was fascinating. Then he
(24:49):
went on to talk about the younger umpires have much
higher grades than the older guys because they've been indoctrinated
into the ABS. They can get down lower, there a
better and a variety of things which makes them, in
general so far metrically the better umpires. I just thought
that was fascinating.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I've thought about that. Chris Welsh actually talked about that,
I don't remember if it was TV or radio early
in the season, where he talked about there being umpires
younger umpires who have come up with the ABS system
and haven't been allowed to personalize the strike zone. What
I love about the ABS is the strike zone was
never meant to be interpreted or personalized. It was meant
(25:31):
to be enforced. Now you and I are old enough,
Mike to remember when you would hear about how you
know Eric greg will give you two inches on each side,
or Doug Harvey won't call the high strike, or Bruce
Framing won't call the low strike. That's all well and good,
that's not how it was supposed to be. The strike
zone was never meant to be personalized to the preferences
(25:52):
of an umpire. And so I think what you have
is you do have younger umpires who have been trained
in a system where it's here's the strike zone, here's
how I have to enforce it, and if I don't,
ABS is gonna check me.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
And this is the same situation that the hitters are in. Evidently,
it was evidently easier to hit the pitchers that are
a little older because they didn't have the variety of
pitches that the young guys have. Even though we always
just talk about the heat, the heat, the heat, but
evidently that's not the case in a lot of situations.
I just thought i'd share that with you because it
(26:26):
really opened my eyes. I thought it was really I
love it when I learned something.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
The other one is, you know, Joey Vado did a
podcast with Jason Starkville and doug Landville that or Jason
Starkin doug Landville called Starkville that He talked about a
lot of different things, but what didn't get as much
of attention, and what I thought was most interesting about
what he had to say is he talked about what
it would have been like to hit with abs now
(26:51):
when he was trying to make the Toronto Blue Jays
and he spent you know a few months in the
minor leagues. I think they had abs. But he talked
about like at his peak, where hey, look, I trusted this.
I trusted my knowledge of the strike zone. If I
were to have backing of a computer that would confirm
what I knew about the strike zone, I would have
been an even more dangerous hitter. I thought that was interesting.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
It is interesting, you know, I just I just you know,
you think you know a lot about something and then
somebody just goes, wait a minute, cowboy, you don't really
know what as much as you think you know.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
So that's that's that's me. That's me on a daily basis.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
No, it's not. You are some kind of guy. You
didn't get the money order obviously, you see I probably
you know what when you said leave it blank, I thought, Oh,
I don't know if I should do that. I don't
know how honest these people are to work at these
places because when you leave it blank, and life would
be cash.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
You see what I'm saying, Well, if you want to
send me cash, will take that's all right, Mike. The
the folks that we raise money for are grateful for
your contribution, which I made on your behalf, so we're good.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
No, well, I'm going to send you to then, but
I should be able to go to the post office.
Of course it doesn't have a name on it, so
they'll probably say you're out of luck. Calboy. Anyway, basketball
real quick, I know you gotta go. Uh, what's brunch
are doing? Last night? I counted a minimum of ten
times where he dribbled the ball for at least sixteen
(28:19):
to nineteen seconds. Now one cast? What the hell is?
Speaker 1 (28:23):
That? Drove me nuts?
Speaker 4 (28:25):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (28:25):
And I there's there's a there's part of that that
is to san Antonio's credit, because I thought they defended
him and the other Nicks guards really really tightly, and
so you've got a credit, san Antonio. But Mike, I'm
with you. They were Brunson was dribbling for sixteen seconds
at a time, forty feet from the basket. Nobody was
(28:48):
coming over to screen, nobody was coming over to take
the ball. They stopped running the offense through cat Everything
just got clunky and sloppy, and it was maddening last night.
It was as awesome as Jalen Brunson has been for
the New York Knicks in that environment, in that setting,
with that on the line, the way it just became
(29:11):
two brunts ecentric drove me nuts.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
It shocked me. And Aaron oviy was he was the
only thing guy that kept them in the game at all.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, Shamon was bad, Towns was bad, Bridges was bad.
And like you, if you had not watched the Knicks
in the postseason last night, and but all you had
heard about was the offense and the ball movement, you
would watch that last night and go, wait a minute,
were you talking about a different team. It was entirely
different than it had been all season, but certainly during
(29:42):
the thirteen game winning streak. I credited san Antonio for
that to a large degree. But how the Knicks offense
just got stuck early in the second half and never
really got out of what they were in. It may
cost him the series. I'll admit that may cost him
the series.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Nate and Stephan Castle once he rounds out his offensive. Oh,
that guy's an.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
All Pro every year, Like that's the thing, like him
and Harper. I mean, they're just loaded with dudes who
have yet to reach their full potential, and they might
win an NBA title. It gets it's so scary for
the rest of the league, Like it's I give that
team a lot of credit for how they played, because
(30:25):
they took the fight to the Knicks. They handled the environment,
they took New York out of what they were doing.
I really believed seven point game at half, that the
Knicks were going to come out in the first three
or four minutes and put their foot on them and
basically end the series. And san Antonio didn't let that happen.
That that team, and look, I'm rooting for New York
harder than anybody you'll talk to. But that team last night,
(30:47):
for the way they played, I think deserves a lot
of credit.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
I do too, and and and the other thing. Here's
one last question. I heard mad Dog Russo this morning
and he said that, you know, he knows Wemby's going
to be something special, But he said he's at this
point because Kareem was twenty two years old when he
got his first championship with the Bucks and then brought
(31:10):
Oscar with him, and or brought Oscar with him and
then got But but but Wemby is not as talented
as Kareem was at that age right now because of
the skybook, No way, not yet.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Yeah. Maybe, I mean, you know, was was Kareem? I
mean we didn't have the three point shot back then,
But was Kareem pulling up and making twenty five footers?
Speaker 4 (31:33):
No, he didn't have to, right, you know, he didn't.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Like now he had he had to, maybe he would have.
But I mean, you know, I don't know. I mean,
if if Victor Webbin Yama in his third year is
already drawing comparisons or already at least in the conversation
with Kareem Abdul Jabbar, that's that says a lot. That
says a lot about Victor Wembenyama.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
You're you hit the nail on the head, And that's
what Dan Patrick straightening out about exactly. But he just said,
he said, if they're putting him in the same words
with Kareem, that's quite compliment. Yeah, but he's got to
quit playing like he wants to be a six foot
five forward. He's going to have to stop that.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Yeah, he played closer to the basket last night.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yeah, he did at the beginning. Especially what set the
tone and.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
He was and what he was doing last night which
I thought stood out to me, is he was actually
setting screens. You know, the first two games of the series,
he was he was coming over and sort of like
throwing out his hip or throwing out his arm. Last
night he was setting picks and uh, we'll see if
that continues. He should be given a flagrant one for
shoving Jalen Brunson. That is the only issue I had
(32:40):
with the officiating last night, missing that call, which you
can't go back in time, but you could assess a
flagrant because he deserved one and he.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
Did and Mike Mike Brown took it to and well,
they had twenty they had We had twenty four thousand,
they had eight. Come on, Come on, like.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
The sperson were more aggressive, the person more aggressive. There's
a physical game, is a physical game, and stuff's going
to be let go during a physical game. And I
thought it was on both sides. San Antonio got to
the free throw line more because they were the more
aggressive team. Didn't bother me at all.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
And look at that twenty one year old castle with
seven seconds on the clock. Get up there and just
bring to them like it was playing in the backyard.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
The winner of tomorrow night's game will win the series.
I agree.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Thanks Mal, appreciate it. I know you got to go.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Have a great night, Mike. We have to go because
the show is over. Go home and rest my voice.
Uh Danner with us in the five o'clock hour tomorrow.
Have a great night. Thank you for listening, and we'll
talk to you tomorrow at three oh five. Thanks to
Taran Bland for producing. We're back at three tomorrow. Have
a great night. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the UC Health
Now. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. What's
up Moager, ESPN fifteen thirty, Thanks for listening today. By
the way, Paul Tator Junior is going to be here
in this hour tomorrow. We have moved him this week
because he's got a job to do, and so there's
gonna be a lot to talk about with Paul in
twenty four hours and all of it's good. So couple
(00:25):
of things got done today. One of him is the
Bengals and Joe Burrow have agreed to a contract restructure,
which Joe has expressed publicly a willingness to do. It's
going to give the Bengals about ten million dollars in
cap space. This is great. It's great mechanically because well
in any business, whether it's your budget or an NFL team,
(00:46):
the more financial wiggle room you have, the better. Number two.
It is a sign that the working relationship between the
Bengals and Joe Burrow is pretty good right now. It
could change. Relationships do evolve if the Bengals are bad
this year and Joe is good. Don't want to go
down that road, but right now it feels like the
(01:06):
working relationship is where it needs to be. Number three.
The Bengals keep doing things that you don't expect them
to do. That has been the story of this offseason.
It is still remarkable. It is still remarkable that something
as relatively garden variety for the rest of the NFL
(01:27):
happens here, like trading the tenth overall pick for Dexter Lawrence.
It's the most shocking move of my lifetime. Doing what
they've done with Joe Burrow isn't necessarily shocking, I guess,
and it is pretty much garden variety everywhere else. It
feels like you read about a quarterback contract restructure all
(01:47):
the time somewhere in the NFL, but these things don't
happen here. The further the Bengals distance themselves from things
they typically don't do being a thing, the better. That
has been what has defined this offseason to a degree,
that and calm, serenity. The Bengals will start training camp
(02:10):
here in a month and a half, and barring something
that is not on anybody's radar, doesn't seem like anybody's
going to be holding out, doesn't necessarily seem like anybody
is going to be holding in. There's gonna be no
Chamar Stewart type situation. The other thing that happened today,
Cassius Hall signs his contract. Every Bengals draft pick has
(02:33):
currently signed. There's gonna be no Chamar Stewart Shenanigans. There's
gonna be no Chamar Stewart, hold out, hold in. There's
no reason for a draft pick to pop off about
the organization like Shamar Stewart did last year. And by
the way, Shamar Stewart may have been coming from a
really good place, but the place he was coming from
(02:54):
didn't help the Bengals prepare for the season. There's no
Trey Hendrickson grand standing. There's no ongoing contract saga. Nobody
has requested to be traded. DJ Turner wants a new contract.
Of course he does. He is an ascending player who
is maybe maybe on the verge of breaking through as
(03:15):
one of this league's legitimate stars at corner. Whatever the
contract negotiations look like they're taking place behind the scenes,
DJ Turner is at OTAs Dax Hill has been at
OTAs Bengals made the decision to not pick up the
fifth year option for Miles Murphy. Miles Murphy publicly, at least,
(03:37):
has handled that very very well. Chase Brown is somebody
else we could talk about a contract extension for. Maybe
it happens, maybe it doesn't. No Chase Brown, noise, No
Andrea Yoshavas noise, no noise at all. Like the vibe
seems totally different. I talked to somebody last night who
(03:58):
is I believe, very very very very close to this team,
who talked about the night and day difference. And I'm
not going to single out individuals, but the night and
day difference between some players who were here last year
and the guys who on some level have come to
replace them, and what that's meant for the vibe change
(04:18):
in the locker room, the sense of togetherness. These things
sound hokey and they're easy to talk about in June,
but man, I don't care what you say about Zach Taylor.
Over the last number of years, to a degree, I
think he's been a slightly sympathetic figure because he's trying
to prepare a team to win, to get to the postseason,
(04:41):
to start the season quickly, and he's had to be
the person who has to answer publicly every day for
things like contracts not getting done, franchise tags, players who
have asked for trades, hold ins holdouts, Zach Taylor's got
to be the guy who handles all that. Now, a
(05:03):
really good head coach understands that there's gonna have to
be stuff they navigate through, there's gonna have to be
stuff they work through, and there's gonna be a times
things they have to answer for that they don't have
anything to do with. But you can reach a limit,
and I have felt like in recent years like maybe
Zach Taylor is close to reaching his limit. Not that
he has ever popped off in anybody or gotten mad
(05:24):
or used any of the off field distractions or off
season distractions as an excuse, but none of those things
have helped the cause of winning it is. I've joked
about this here from a talk radio perspective June in July.
I have mined the the Trey Hendrickson stuff, and the
(05:44):
Shamar Stewart stuff, and the Jamar Chase stuff, and the
t Higgins stuff, and the Jesse Bays stuff and Joe
Mixon and trade requests and all of this stuff. It
has made my job much, much, much much. We've joked
about putting Trey Hendrickson in the ESPN fifteen thirty Ring
(06:05):
of Honor. We still have a picture of him here
in studio of him signing his contract with a big
old smile on his face. In part because he made
our jobs easier, he also made Zach Taylor's job more difficult.
Right now, there's nothing, nothing that's making Zach Taylor's job
more difficult. This is awesome. As a fan, it is awesome.
(06:31):
Training camp is going to begin in six seven weeks
and we're not gonna be sifting through unless something pops
up that is not on anybody's radar. We're not gonna
be sifting through controversies, holdouts. We're not even gonna be
wondering maybe aside from linebacker, perhaps lock corner. Remember when
(06:52):
training camp started last year, it's like, are they gonna
go add some offensive lineman? Who else is still out there?
And by the way, they got Dalton Reisner. No excuses
has been one of the themes of this season. This
offseason has provided the Bengals no excuses, and it's also
been an off season where they have done a lot
of things, including restructuring Joe Burrow's contract, that you simply
(07:18):
do not expect them to do. I don't know about you.
One of my deepest wishes for this franchise. Yes, I
want them to win. Yes, I love to broadcast from
a Bengals Super Bowl parade one day. But above and
beyond that, I would love to get rid of quote
that's just not what they do from a regular part
(07:43):
of our Bengals conversations. How many times have you heard that?
How many times have you said that? Quote? That's just
not what they do. Maybe as it relates to how
they handle a contract extension, maybe as it relates to
how they handle free agency, maybe as it relates to
how they handle trades. That's just not what they do
(08:04):
contract restructures during the off season for a quarterback or
anybody else. Frankly, quote, that's just not what they do
today they did fourteen minutes after five o'clock. Reds lose
again last night. The question is not is it gonna
(08:24):
get better? I assume it will. I assume they'll play
better than they have. I assume some of these guys
who aren't contributing much in the bullpen will pitch better.
Chase Burns throws tonight, so they've got a shot to
win the ball game. I assume they'll get healthier, Like
those things will probably happen. The question is, though, in
(08:45):
the short term, how much worse is this gonna get?
How much worse is this gonna get? Is a question
that we asked often in April and early May of
twenty twenty two. Remember what happened early in twenty twenty two,
Threads sunk to three and twenty two and the season
(09:06):
was over before it even began. Started by winning two
of their first four and then lost what twenty of
their next twenty one Just absolutely miserable and often during
that stretch with a team that I think most of
us would agree is on paper worse than the one
(09:28):
the Reds have right now? How many times did you
ask God? How much worse is this gonna get? I
think we were all really hoping that in twenty twenty
six we would be no longer asking the same questions
we were asking in twenty twenty two. But how do
you not with the bad defense, the bad fundamentals. Last
(09:53):
night in the eighth inning trying to pick up a bunt,
Absolute clown show, Absolute clown show. The bad defense killed
this team in Saint Louis. The bad bullpen work has
killed this team for most of the season. Top heavy offense,
don't have Ellie de la Cruz. Now, God love Matt McLain.
He has turned things on here recently, but still a
(10:15):
top heavy team without Ellie de la Cruz, major major deficiencies. Offensively,
You've got starting pitchers you can't rely on. Andrew Abbott
was good last night. Chase Burns has been better. Uh,
he's been terrific. But by and large, you watch this
team and you ask, how much worse is it gonna
get by the time it gets better? How much bad
(10:37):
will it? How much worse will it be? How bad
will it be? How far from first place will they be?
They're already ten and a half out. How much out
of contention will they be? It is late early, three
under five hundred on June ninth. Five point three seven
four nine fifteen thirty will get you in eight six
six seven h two three seven seven six. The Brendan
(11:01):
Soreersby discussions happening around the country are good and sometimes funny. Look, man,
Brendan Soresby shouldn't play college football, but he's going to.
So let's lean into it. As a fan. Let's lean
into it. If you're running the Big twelve, you should
lean into it. We'll spend some time on that and yeah, man,
(11:21):
major League Baseball creates disadvantages for teams like the Reds,
but they also give multiple gifts every summer, gifts the
Reds have given back. I'll explain that next ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
From the UC Health Traffic Center at the UC Cancer thirty.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
By the way, the World Cup begins the US plays
Paraguay on Friday. We'll be watching the game at the
pitch on the West End, just across the street from
the soccer venue in the West End of Cincinnati. Thanks
to our friends at Mick Ultra, you can win tickets
to a FIFA World Cup twenty twenty six match, but
you got to be there starting at eight thirty on Friday.
Details on the ESPN fifteen thirty X page. That's right,
(12:07):
I did it officially. I called it an X page,
even though I usually referred to it as as Twitter.
I asked before, what do the Reds organizationally And I'm
I'm not. I'm not talking about like the ballpark experience,
the community fund, the Hall of Fame, the broadcast, like baseball,
(12:29):
the base the part that matters the most as an organization.
What can they hang their hat on. What is the
one thing that year in and year round they do
really really well. You know, back in the day, we
used to kind of WinCE whenever we heard about the
Cardinal way, and the Cardinal Way was just a way
(12:52):
of doing things right, a way of doing things that,
by the way, seemed to work for a very long time.
There was this constant churn of players when they got
to the big leagues just seemed like they knew how
to play reds have anything resembling that. Are they really
really really good at getting value from cast off players
(13:13):
from other organizations who provide cheap labor? Is there a
complete lean in on one particular way to play out offense?
Are they known as a team and an organization that
seems like it really stresses fundamentals? Do they really feel
(13:35):
like an organization that has no tolerance for mistakes? If
the answers are yes, man, I'm all ears. You know,
it's it's interesting. You'll hear folks who complain about, well,
they can't do what the Dodgers do, and there's a
lot of validity to those complaints. But like major league
(13:59):
based ball hands teams, whether you're the Marlins or the Reds,
or the A's or the Pirates or the Royals, or
the Brewers or the Rays or the Guardians, or teams
like the Dodgers, Mets, and Phillies, major league baseball hands.
Everybody draft picks, so you can go, Okay, look, they're
(14:21):
never going to really jump into the pool of pricey
free agents. Okay, cool, Well, then you better be good
at doing other things like exposing some market inefficiencies, something
the Rays are known for, something the Brewers have become
known for. You better be good at drafting and developing
young talent. If you go back, let's look at Red's
(14:45):
second rounders since twenty eleven. There are two who have
given this team above four war wins above replacement, Andrew
Abbott and Tony Santion. The last Red's third round draft
choice to give the team itself, the Reds higher than
(15:07):
three war Aaron Boone, who was drafted in nineteen ninety three.
Eleven of the last twelve Red's fourth round picks have
yet to play an inning in the major leagues. The
best Red's fifth round draft choice this century tj Antone,
(15:33):
a guy who God love him, has had more surgeries
than on field success. And that's no knock on TJ.
But I think it illustrates. Like there's first rounders, there's
international signings, there's Ellie de la Cruz, there's Hunter Green, Nicolodolo,
Chase Burns, Rat Lauder, Sal Stewart. But like you know,
(15:54):
drafting is more about the obvious guy you take in
round one or the somewhat obvious guy you take in
round one one. It's about depth. It's about getting a
lot of guys who are part of your team and
stay and contribute, at least for those first six seasons.
So you can make the complaint that they can't do
what the Dodgers do or there's no cap, or they
(16:15):
can't spend what some of the other teams spend, and fine,
I'm here for that. But what you can do is
be really good at drafting and developing. Just look at
the alert the first five rounds of the draft. For
the last let's say fifteen years, how many guys have stuck,
how many guys have had sustained success in a Red's uniform.
(16:38):
And I don't want to be totally unfair, like I'm
not gonna count that much players drafted in like the
last three years, but I think fifteen years pretty good
sample size since twenty eleven. Two guys that have contributed
Abbott and santi Tony Santion contributed last year. He's not
been very good this season. You have to go back
(17:02):
thirty three years to find the last Reds third round
pick to give the Reds higher than three war He's
now the manager of the New York Yankees. By the way,
the one Red's fourth round pick who played for the team.
Guy that I can't even remember, TJ Anton the best
fifth rounder of recent vintage. Like dude, So like, all right,
(17:27):
we got to point to things they do really well
as an organization, find hidden gems. You know, they've grabbed
some guys you could call cast offs from other organizations
and gotten something out of them. JJ bleda very good pickup.
You got to be really, really good at getting those
sort of guys. They can't be outliers. You got to
be really good at getting and developing your own talent
(17:49):
in your system. There can't be a gap. There's got
to be a NonStop turn that for the most part,
hasn't been the case for a very long time. Questions
on this show are on Twitter. I call it a
Twitter that time. Thanks to United at Heartland Insurance, should
college athletes be allowed to bet on their own teams
to win? You will find folks including Tim Kallishaw of
(18:14):
the Dallas Morning News in ESPN who has wondered, like,
why can't Brandon Sores be just bet on his own
team to win? I think the answers as to why
not are pretty obvious, but I'm interested in your vote.
At Mulleger thanks to United Heartland Assurance, go to uhi
NS dot com. Let's see twenty nine minutes after five
(18:34):
o'clock phone calls coming up. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
From the UC Health Traffic Center at the UC Cancer Center,
Care goes Beyond cancer treatment with the region's first primary
care clinic for cancer patients and survivors. Call five one
three five eighty five UCCC in.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Exus service and Kelsey Chevrolet Home Mom lifetime power train
protection and guarantee credit approval from their family Theears for
Life kelseyshev dot com. Bengals reportedly have agreed to our
restructure of Joe Burrow's contract gives them a little bit
more cap room, roughly ten million bucks. Meanwhile, the team
is also signed second round draft pickcash as how every
(19:18):
one of the Bengals draft choices under contract, Reds and Padres. Tonight,
Chase Burns versus Lucas Giliedo nine to forty This evening
on seven hundred WLW Florence Yawls take on the New
Jersey Jackals tonight and the NHL Stanley Cup Final Game
four in Vegas. Vegas leads Carolina two games to one.
(19:39):
Uh five point three, seven nine, fifteen thirty. You know,
quickly on the Brendan Soresby thing, like, there's the NCAA
part of this, which the NCAA as an organization, if
it can enforce its rules, then it's it's not a
legitimate organization. This is awful for the NCUBA. Brendon Soresby,
though being allowed to play college football is awesome for
(20:00):
college football. Sports are about characters. Sports are about draws.
Brendan Soresby is a character. Now he's a villain. For
most he is unquestionably a draw. It's one of the
biggest storylines of the college football season. How is Brendan
Soresby going to play, how is his team going to do?
(20:22):
What reception is he going to get? How much is
his play going to be scrutinized? Big twelve chancellors, presidents
eighties got together today and bright your mark. The commissioners said, like,
we're going to keep those conversations to ourselves for now.
What they should be doing is figuring out how can
we monetize and market Brendan Soresby. Let's face it, man,
(20:45):
the Big twelve does lag behind the SEC and the
Big ten to a degree. He's a character, he's a draw,
He's somebody who matters. How many Big twelve quarterbacks can
you name right now? Probably not that many. I think
Big twelve players can you name right now? So you
have the most talked about player in college football playing
(21:07):
for a program that won the Big twelve last year,
that played in the College Football Playoff. That is a
good chance to play in it again this year. All right? Fine,
we can go all moral high ground about this. We
could talk about how wrong this decision is. We could
talk about how Brendan Sorosby broke a rule and is
now really not going to be held accountable for it.
(21:29):
All of those things are fair. But as a sports
fan game on, let's go, how many legitimate characters in
college football have there been who aren't coaches going into
a season? They emerge as the season unfolds. Fernando Mendoza
became one last year, the Heisman Trophy race becomes a
(21:50):
thing and we learn more about the particulars. Diego Pavia
became one. He ain't playing college football. Fernano Mendoza is
not playing college football. There aren't a ton of them,
and there aren't a ton of them that move the
meter like Brendan Soresby will. My mom knows who Brendan
Soreersby is. My wife knows who Brendan Soorsby is. Chances
(22:12):
are people you know who don't follow college football a lot,
or at least really wouldn't be watching much Texas Tech
football know who he is. This is awesome for college football.
Brendan Soorersby's twenty twenty six debut for Texas Tech, which
is against Houston. I'll watch Brendan Soorsby versus U see
(22:34):
has a lot more punched to it than Texas Tech
versus you see with somebody else playing quarterback, that's an event.
I'm for events. If you're the big twelve, lean into this.
If you're among the big twelves broadcast partners, lean into this.
Here's a character, here's a draw. Here's someone who's gonna
(22:57):
move the meter. People who move of the meter are
great for sports. Brendan Soresby's case really bad for the NCAA.
Brendan Soorsby being allowed to play college football really good
for college football. He has been dying to tease me
(23:17):
about the Knicks. Go ahead, Mike, Thank you. Mo.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
I was gonna, well, go somewhere else for a minute. First,
I just heard a great interview with Tom Ferducci. He's
pretty good, is terrifical. Yes, he's maybe.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
The best on that side. And this is I was
going to talk about the red but we already know
what the red problems are there. They have no wins
in the decision, They don't know how to identify talent.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Well, we can go on on. We talked about it
all before, so too's away to come. But Berducci was
saying in look At, look At, talking about the older
players from age thirty one to thirty five, For instance,
Manny MC League bottom one sixty six, hitting and what
(24:05):
Tom was saying is if becoming a younger sport, these
these younger hitters are used to hitting against pitchers that
have a lot more pitches than they used to have,
and so the hitters have to cover a lot more
ground than they used to. So the younger guys have
grown up with that. The older guys, that's why they're
(24:26):
having so much problem now. He said, Cody Bellinger is
a little bit of an exception. He's kind of between her.
But like you said, last night, Bellinger hit three hits
ground balls, one right field, one center field, one right
field because he adjusts his swings in his approach to
the pitcher, And I thought that was fascinating. Then he
(24:49):
went on to talk about the younger umpires have much
higher grades than the older guys because they've been indoctrinated
into the ABS. They can get down lower, there a
better and a variety of things which makes them, in
general so far metrically the better umpires. I just thought
that was fascinating.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I've thought about that. Chris Welsh actually talked about that,
I don't remember if it was TV or radio early
in the season, where he talked about there being umpires
younger umpires who have come up with the ABS system
and haven't been allowed to personalize the strike zone. What
I love about the ABS is the strike zone was
never meant to be interpreted or personalized. It was meant
(25:31):
to be enforced. Now you and I are old enough,
Mike to remember when you would hear about how you
know Eric greg will give you two inches on each side,
or Doug Harvey won't call the high strike, or Bruce
Framing won't call the low strike. That's all well and good,
that's not how it was supposed to be. The strike
zone was never meant to be personalized to the preferences
(25:52):
of an umpire. And so I think what you have
is you do have younger umpires who have been trained
in a system where it's here's the strike zone, here's
how I have to enforce it, and if I don't,
ABS is gonna check me.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
And this is the same situation that the hitters are in. Evidently,
it was evidently easier to hit the pitchers that are
a little older because they didn't have the variety of
pitches that the young guys have. Even though we always
just talk about the heat, the heat, the heat, but
evidently that's not the case in a lot of situations.
I just thought i'd share that with you because it
(26:26):
really opened my eyes. I thought it was really I
love it when I learned something.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
The other one is, you know, Joey Vado did a
podcast with Jason Starkville and doug Landville that or Jason
Starkin doug Landville called Starkville that He talked about a
lot of different things, but what didn't get as much
of attention, and what I thought was most interesting about
what he had to say is he talked about what
it would have been like to hit with abs now
(26:51):
when he was trying to make the Toronto Blue Jays
and he spent you know a few months in the
minor leagues. I think they had abs. But he talked
about like at his peak, where hey, look, I trusted this.
I trusted my knowledge of the strike zone. If I
were to have backing of a computer that would confirm
what I knew about the strike zone, I would have
been an even more dangerous hitter. I thought that was interesting.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
It is interesting, you know, I just I just you know,
you think you know a lot about something and then
somebody just goes, wait a minute, cowboy, you don't really
know what as much as you think you know.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
So that's that's that's me. That's me on a daily basis.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
No, it's not. You are some kind of guy. You
didn't get the money order obviously, you see I probably
you know what when you said leave it blank, I thought, Oh,
I don't know if I should do that. I don't
know how honest these people are to work at these
places because when you leave it blank, and life would
be cash.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
You see what I'm saying, Well, if you want to
send me cash, will take that's all right, Mike. The
the folks that we raise money for are grateful for
your contribution, which I made on your behalf, so we're good.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
No, well, I'm going to send you to then, but
I should be able to go to the post office.
Of course it doesn't have a name on it, so
they'll probably say you're out of luck. Calboy. Anyway, basketball
real quick, I know you gotta go. Uh, what's brunch
are doing? Last night? I counted a minimum of ten
times where he dribbled the ball for at least sixteen
(28:19):
to nineteen seconds. Now one cast? What the hell is?
Speaker 1 (28:23):
That? Drove me nuts?
Speaker 4 (28:25):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (28:25):
And I there's there's a there's part of that that
is to san Antonio's credit, because I thought they defended
him and the other Nicks guards really really tightly, and
so you've got a credit, san Antonio. But Mike, I'm
with you. They were Brunson was dribbling for sixteen seconds
at a time, forty feet from the basket. Nobody was
(28:48):
coming over to screen, nobody was coming over to take
the ball. They stopped running the offense through cat Everything
just got clunky and sloppy, and it was maddening last night.
It was as awesome as Jalen Brunson has been for
the New York Knicks in that environment, in that setting,
with that on the line, the way it just became
(29:11):
two brunts ecentric drove me nuts.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
It shocked me. And Aaron oviy was he was the
only thing guy that kept them in the game at all.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, Shamon was bad, Towns was bad, Bridges was bad.
And like you, if you had not watched the Knicks
in the postseason last night, and but all you had
heard about was the offense and the ball movement, you
would watch that last night and go, wait a minute,
were you talking about a different team. It was entirely
different than it had been all season, but certainly during
(29:42):
the thirteen game winning streak. I credited san Antonio for
that to a large degree. But how the Knicks offense
just got stuck early in the second half and never
really got out of what they were in. It may
cost him the series. I'll admit that may cost him
the series.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Nate and Stephan Castle once he rounds out his offensive. Oh,
that guy's an.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
All Pro every year, Like that's the thing, like him
and Harper. I mean, they're just loaded with dudes who
have yet to reach their full potential, and they might
win an NBA title. It gets it's so scary for
the rest of the league, Like it's I give that
team a lot of credit for how they played, because
(30:25):
they took the fight to the Knicks. They handled the environment,
they took New York out of what they were doing.
I really believed seven point game at half, that the
Knicks were going to come out in the first three
or four minutes and put their foot on them and
basically end the series. And san Antonio didn't let that happen.
That that team, and look, I'm rooting for New York
harder than anybody you'll talk to. But that team last night,
(30:47):
for the way they played, I think deserves a lot
of credit.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
I do too, and and and the other thing. Here's
one last question. I heard mad Dog Russo this morning
and he said that, you know, he knows Wemby's going
to be something special, But he said he's at this
point because Kareem was twenty two years old when he
got his first championship with the Bucks and then brought
(31:10):
Oscar with him, and or brought Oscar with him and
then got But but but Wemby is not as talented
as Kareem was at that age right now because of
the skybook, No way, not yet.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Yeah. Maybe, I mean, you know, was was Kareem? I
mean we didn't have the three point shot back then,
But was Kareem pulling up and making twenty five footers?
Speaker 4 (31:33):
No, he didn't have to, right, you know, he didn't.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Like now he had he had to, maybe he would have.
But I mean, you know, I don't know. I mean,
if if Victor Webbin Yama in his third year is
already drawing comparisons or already at least in the conversation
with Kareem Abdul Jabbar, that's that says a lot. That
says a lot about Victor Wembenyama.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
You're you hit the nail on the head, And that's
what Dan Patrick straightening out about exactly. But he just said,
he said, if they're putting him in the same words
with Kareem, that's quite compliment. Yeah, but he's got to
quit playing like he wants to be a six foot
five forward. He's going to have to stop that.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Yeah, he played closer to the basket last night.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yeah, he did at the beginning. Especially what set the
tone and.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
He was and what he was doing last night which
I thought stood out to me, is he was actually
setting screens. You know, the first two games of the series,
he was he was coming over and sort of like
throwing out his hip or throwing out his arm. Last
night he was setting picks and uh, we'll see if
that continues. He should be given a flagrant one for
shoving Jalen Brunson. That is the only issue I had
(32:40):
with the officiating last night, missing that call, which you
can't go back in time, but you could assess a
flagrant because he deserved one and he.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
Did and Mike Mike Brown took it to and well,
they had twenty they had We had twenty four thousand,
they had eight. Come on, Come on, like.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
The sperson were more aggressive, the person more aggressive. There's
a physical game, is a physical game, and stuff's going
to be let go during a physical game. And I
thought it was on both sides. San Antonio got to
the free throw line more because they were the more
aggressive team. Didn't bother me at all.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
And look at that twenty one year old castle with
seven seconds on the clock. Get up there and just
bring to them like it was playing in the backyard.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
The winner of tomorrow night's game will win the series.
I agree.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Thanks Mal, appreciate it. I know you got to go.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Have a great night, Mike. We have to go because
the show is over. Go home and rest my voice.
Uh Danner with us in the five o'clock hour tomorrow.
Have a great night. Thank you for listening, and we'll
talk to you tomorrow at three oh five. Thanks to
Taran Bland for producing. We're back at three tomorrow. Have
a great night. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the UC Health
Mo Egger News
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