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January 15, 2025 • 40 mins
Matt Cassel chats Vikings/NFL and his new podcast to start the hour, then some Vikings fodder gives way to Wolves coach Chris Finch before their game tonight!
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Play action to Adrian Castle, back to pass, fires back
right to the end zone. Caught touch down Brek Jennings
back right of the end zone and Minnesota opens a.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Twelve zero lead. Castle out of the shop on play action,
fires to the.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
End zone, caught touchdown Vikings.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's a touchdown for Kyle Rudolph, the.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Third touchdown today for the Minnesota Vikings, extending the lead
to twenty six to three. The Castle play action floats
out right, passes right, caught Azziata room fifteen to ten
to five. Matt Azziata touchdown, a twenty five yard touchdown

(00:50):
from Metcastle to met Aziada and the Vikings try first,
taking a six to zero lead.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
And ladies and gentlemen, we're seeing what a sophisticated offensive.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Game looks like you talk about.

Speaker 4 (01:03):
Cody Here comes up former Vikings quarterback Matt Castle, co
host of an iHeart podcast called Lots to.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Say with the host Bobby Bones.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
My brother, how are things and how is the podcasting
world treating you?

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Mister Castle?

Speaker 5 (01:17):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:18):
What's up?

Speaker 6 (01:18):
Brother? First and foremost, you know, I love you, and
happy New Year. The podcasting world has been amazing, honestly,
Bobby Bones, who I'm doing the show with He's incredible,
great personality, great conversationalists, funny and we've got we've got
some episodes that we've done already, and it's been been

(01:39):
a blast. The format's been fun and just having fun
doing that and conversating about football entertainment. We had Tim
McGraw and Parker McCollum, and then we've got guys like
the great Jared Allen on Kurt Warner, So we've had
some great guests and great people to talk to you.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
So it's been a blast.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
You're Bobby Bones.

Speaker 6 (01:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
I say the name Bobby Bones, and I feel like
I should follow it with Bobby Bones. I got all
his albums, but a lot of the newbies don't know
what albums are. Your host Bobby Bones one Dancing with
the Stars and I read shook down Donald Trump for
one hundred grand to Saint Judes after trademarking the phrase

(02:19):
make America great again. What's it like doing a show
with Bobby Bones.

Speaker 6 (02:26):
On? My dog was barky in the background. I know
that he won Dancing with a Star. Tell me the
trademark thing one more time.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Well, it's make America great again? Okay? According to Wikipedia.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
Donald Trump, he he locked it up, but not via trademark,
so Bobby Bones recognized he trademarked it, and then he
supposedly got with Donald Trump and said, here's the deal.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
You can have it for shirts and hats.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
If you donate one hundred grand to Saint Judes, which
is in Memphis. And then Bobby Bones is based in Nashville.
I think so they cut it deal. There's a picture
with a check from the from President Donald Trump to
Saint Jude's without the amount included, but assumably it's around
one hundred grand.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
That's pretty cool. How he did that.

Speaker 6 (03:13):
That's incredible, right, And that's the type of person he is.
He's genuine, he's authentic, he cares about people. But the
fact that he trademarked that phrase and all those proceeds
went to people and need kids and needs in Saint
Jude's hospital, I mean, that's just who he is. I
didn't know that story, but that's a remarkable story. And
we're definitely gonna be talking about that on the podcast
next week because I'm.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
Gonna bring it up.

Speaker 4 (03:33):
Okay, if I just took a fat l because Wikipedia
is wrong, don't blame it on the announcer. Well, do
blame it on the announcer, but Wikipedia is where it.

Speaker 6 (03:41):
Definitely blaming it on you. I'm definitely blaming it on you.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
It's Wikipedia. It's super sweet, okay.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
Now, Also, when I hear the name Bobby Bones, it
feels like the moniker for a man somebody owes five
grand after losing an over underbed on a playoff game.
The name has like a gambling bent to it too,
you know what I mean, I owe some money to
Bobby Bones.

Speaker 6 (04:03):
Yeah, and he's gonna come break bones, right, But this
is not the Bobby Bones when you see him in person,
that you're going to see and be very much intimidated by.
So I think he definitely shows a different path based
on his build and his athleticism and everything else. But yeah,
he was a great athlete supposedly in high school. So yeah,

(04:24):
but I think he chose the right career path because
I think he's also the youngest guy to go into
the Country and Music Radio Hall of Fame at thirty
seven years old or something like that. He's been doing
it for a long time and just a great guy
to work with. And he's right here in my backyard
in Nashville, so it makes it super easy.

Speaker 4 (04:40):
How often do the podcast drop? And assumably it all
started Januar, like right around New Year's Day and I
saw McGraw allan, I listened to summer Kurt Warner, Ian Rappaport.
Rapaport was recent with all the news and everything. How
often do you guys do this podcast in the iHeart family.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
It's a once a week deal.

Speaker 6 (05:00):
We usually record on Tuesdays and they usually drop I
think Wednesday's Thursday something like that, and it's gonna be
continuous through on. It just took a little while for
all the pieces to come together for the podcast through
the NFL Media Department and also iHeartRadio.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
But once it did, we kind.

Speaker 6 (05:15):
Of hit the ground running and we've been knocking out
some episodes, so it's been it's been good just leading
up to it, but it did take a little while
to get going.

Speaker 4 (05:23):
Matt Castle nine to Noon. You know Vikings coach Kevin
O'Connell very well, and he's into the last year of
his first deal with the Vikings. Did do you see
anyway he doesn't coach this team for many years to come.

Speaker 6 (05:37):
I mean, if they don't re sign him, I think
that that would be a very foolish decision on behalf
of ownership and management because what he's accomplished and what
he's had to overcome with some of the adversity with
injuries the key players throughout his first few years here.
I think he's done a remarkable job this season, included
with obviously Aj McCarthy going town early. Who knows but

(06:00):
Sam Donald, the way that he played and just the
belief that this team has in him and getting the
most out of his players. I think he's got a bright,
bright future and we'll be doing it for a long
period of time, and I think the Vikings are lucky.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
To have him.

Speaker 6 (06:16):
Obviously, this season, I don't have to tell you ended abruptly,
ended in a way in which everybody's got a sour
taste in their mouth. But I think that there are
some holes that they can figure out, and particularly on
the offensive line, that if they can correct some of
those interior issues on the offensive line, that this team

(06:37):
will be competing for championships in the near future.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
Sadly, your former Vikings En Trojan's brother brother in arm
so to speak. Sam Darnold may have lost out on
tens of millions of dollars the way the last two
games went right.

Speaker 6 (06:51):
Yeah, you know, it's amazing because of the year that
he had really resurrecting his career and then going in
and being at some different points in the season an
MVP tech caliber player.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
And then everybody.

Speaker 6 (07:07):
Now just sees these last two games, and one against
Detroit obviously, I believe was probably the worst game of
the year. And then you look at last week this
last weekend's game against the La Rams, and there's a
number of different reasons.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
It's not all on Sam Donald.

Speaker 6 (07:20):
I mean, anytime you get sacked six times, and some
of that is him holding the ball two times six
times in the first half, nine times overall twelve different players.
That pressure they're playing the quarterback position is difficult enough,
but when you get pressured at that type of rate,
when you're getting hit consistently, then you're processing speeds up
right and you have to try to anticipate you're getting

(07:41):
through your reads quicker because you know you got to
get the ball out of your hand. But at the
same time you're trying to make plays down the field.
You're also playing from a deficit. Some of it is
your fall as well. With the stripsack. But it's a
lot of decisions that are going to have to be
made for the franchise and for the Vikings. This year,
I think Sam Donald proved that he can play at
a high level and.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
That he can do it consistently.

Speaker 6 (08:02):
I mean, to go on a five game win streak, loose,
to go on a nine game win streak and the unfortunately.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
Lose these last two.

Speaker 6 (08:08):
Everybody's going to judge him on these last two, but
there are bigger issues at hand, or a combined issues
at hand, that go into the results of why he
played the.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Way that he did.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Agreed.

Speaker 4 (08:20):
Matt Castle part of a podcast called Lots Lots of
Lots to Say with.

Speaker 6 (08:25):
A Lots to Say, Lots to say, Lots.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
To Say with Bobby Bones, part of just go to
the free iHeartRadio app and very easy to find as
yours truly founded yesterday.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
And here's Matt former Vikings quarterback.

Speaker 4 (08:37):
And speaking of quarterbacks, we have Daniel Jones on the
squad now with some with some decompression time and O'Connell's
masterful work with quarterbacks. Would you expect the former Giant
to be at his very best, I mean all of
his career if needed next season, I believe so.

Speaker 6 (08:59):
I mean, Daniel Jones was putting in a few different
situations that were difficult for him early in his career,
and especially with the surrounding pieces that he has. When
you look at the as I said, the Minnesota Viking,
this rosters particularly offensively with Jefferson and Addison Hawkinson, Aaron
Jones in the backfield, I mean, they've got pieces that
any quarterbacks drooling to play.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
And then you look at Daniel Jones.

Speaker 6 (09:20):
And he's impressed me at different parts of his career,
and I know that he can play the game. And
then you put Kevin O'Connell, who's a master at developing
quarterback play and helping those guys understand what they need
to do. I mean, case in points Sam Donald this
year that it could bring the best ound of Daniel Jones,
and you could catch lightning in a bottle with a
guy like that as well.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
With the Dallas Cowboys, Matt, do you think the speculation
is real in that Dion Sanders could be the next
coach of the Cowboys.

Speaker 6 (09:51):
I believe it's real because of Jerry Jones and his
belief that it's just as much about entertainment as is
about football, and I think there's two different ways to
approach it. Right Deon Sanders has been an incredible player
in the NFL and the MLB, been on television, then
goes coaches high school football, coaches at lower level college football,

(10:15):
and takes over Colorado programs, able to rebuild that program
within two years from a team that was one in ten.
So obviously he's able to direction me do it now.
I have pushback on it because it's different from what
he is right now. He's the CEO of a college
football program, and all the things that he does with
his shows and how he speaks to the team. I mean,

(10:36):
that's a different level. And then you get to the
professional rankings, and especially for a most story franchise like
the Dallas.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
Cowboys, those same things. I don't think that take place.
You're the head coach of a football.

Speaker 6 (10:50):
Team, You're not the CEO, right And so I just
I would wonder how that's going to work. But I
do believe he's somebody that understands that dynamic and Lookam
Sanders is a really smart guy and I think you
either love him or hate him. But at the same time,
a lot of the stuff that he does, he understands
what he's doing. He's promoting his program. He knows that

(11:12):
if you're going to get game day to come to
your state, you gotta win the first game. But it's
also the primetime factor and he understands that. So I
think a lot of what he does at Colorado is
because these are calculated thoughts, and he initiates it because
he knows it's going to bring attention to his program,
which was desperately they needed. Now, going to the Dallas Cowboys,
I don't think that you're going to see all that

(11:34):
side of beyond because he doesn't have to.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
Promote the Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 6 (11:38):
They are the Dallas Cowboys, and maybe that'll change change
who he is as a head coach. In addition to that,
the final thought is I think that he'll be able
to go out and put together a tremendous coaching staff
with his relationships and the ability to touch people and
really connect with people.

Speaker 4 (11:55):
Last one on Man, appreciate the time. Fantastic work. Matt Castle,
what do you think about your former coach Bill Belichick
coaching the North Carolina Tariels?

Speaker 6 (12:04):
It's wild, man, I mean, of all the things that
I did not think was going to happen in Bill
Belichick's near future, especially now he's become a media jugg
or not.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
I did not believe that he was going to.

Speaker 6 (12:14):
Go back to college football and be at UNC. Now
with that being said, you hear the old adage or
coach is always a coach, and he's definitely a coach,
and he's going to one of the greatest of all
time is now going back to college football ranks. It's
exciting for you and See, it's exciting for that conference,
and honestly, college football. You when you lose a guy
like Saban and Harball the year before, and then you

(12:36):
have the most legendary coach ever coached the game come
back into the college rankings. It's just it's great to
be a spectator of it. It's going to be interesting
to see.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
How it goes. He's never lost to any level.

Speaker 6 (12:48):
I don't anticipate that he won't be able to put
together a great program down there.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
And you you and.

Speaker 4 (12:53):
See you you absolutely had quote lots to say, end quote.
And I'll look forward to following the progress of the
podcast on the free iHeartRadio app with Matt Castle called
Lots to say, let's stay in touch. Do this again
sometime maybe before the Super Bowl. God bless you and
your covenant, and we'll talk soon.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
Okay, you're the best, buddy. I'll talk to you soon.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Mattcastle.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Chris Finch sho joins nine to
Noon seventeen minutes from now.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
Welcome back nine to noon.

Speaker 7 (13:31):
Kind of an extension of vits bites from earlier in
the show.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
Just it's moving day time.

Speaker 7 (13:37):
Some of this audio I'm actually gonna save until tomorrow
when there's room for plenty of Vikings related talkers.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
Putting the twenty twenty four season to bed.

Speaker 4 (13:48):
Saquon only went for three to zero two total and
two against the Rams a month and a half ago. Yeah,
only is there any reason to like the Rams in
this game?

Speaker 2 (13:56):
I just did that.

Speaker 4 (13:57):
I left that on the table for Castle, lend Or Florio,
Ravens Bills, who do you like and why commanders Lions
gave him Montgomery's back. So and then the Chiefs played
the Texans. So the those four games, man, that's that's
gonna be cool.

Speaker 7 (14:11):
I think the reason you like if you like the Rams,
you like them because the Eagles have started so slowly
offensively this year, and part of it is because of
their their addiction and commitment to getting Saquon in the
mix early and often and throughout.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
So that might be a reason you play that game.

Speaker 7 (14:28):
Rams start fast and you have a lot of respect
for McVeigh. Yeah, I personally, to be honest with you,
you know, weird coach and situations and bravado and all
of that aside, it just looks like a collision course
of Eagles in Detroit.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
Yeah, and you're on your own after that, you know
what I mean?

Speaker 4 (14:46):
Yeah, I mean the Eagles beat the Rams by seventeen
month and a half two months ago or something like
I said to you into the Vikings game, the Rams
are better at this point now than they were week eight. Ye,
And I came into it and left it flabbergasted. In
the same way, how are the Vikings favored in this game?

(15:06):
I could not believe they were a two and a
half point favorite. I believe it likewise for you, and
they moved all over the place, but I ended up
with the Vikings favorite. And finally, I don't I'm not
going to get into this today because I haven't fully
written it out, and I was going to bring it
up to Matt Castle to see if he could give me,
like some quarterback related steam to see if there's if

(15:28):
there's veracity and or if I'm onto something here. But
when I left the Rams Vikings game and I was
chatting with somebody who knows more about football than me,
and they shared something with me that they learned many
decades ago with somebody who said something to them about

(15:48):
running offense. And so therefore, what I was going to
frame up to Matt was they still very much call
it a passing league, but I like caw the Rams, Ravens,
Eagles and Chiefs put the Lions in there too, for sure. Yeah,
how they run before passing, okay, and also utilize their

(16:14):
tight ends.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
What do you think about all that? And not you?

Speaker 4 (16:18):
But I was gonna say to Matt, there's something to this, Okay,
there's a segue taking place here?

Speaker 2 (16:24):
There is? And are you saying there is exclamation point
or question mark?

Speaker 7 (16:30):
I'm saying exclamation point because I believe it based on
what we watched in twenty twenty four and kind of
I'd say, actually the last two years of passing league.
But even with the potential three time champs in a row,
the three Peters, and how important Isaiah Pachecko was to that.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Operation thank you a year ago and Kelsey.

Speaker 7 (16:51):
And Kelsey, and how important not having Isaiah Pacheco was
at times, albeit fifteen to one team at one point, right.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
Yep, how much because they got Kareem Hunt and they
had to go get him, right, but he led the
NFL and carries for a long portion of the season, and.

Speaker 7 (17:08):
So how important he was. And then you see that
this year with.

Speaker 4 (17:13):
Maybe it's not a novel approach to football, I found
it to be novel because of the way I asked
some pointed questions about the way the Rams use their
tight ends. And then I started thinking about Sam Laporter
and brock Wright and Travis Kelcey and Noah Gray and.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
The Ravens.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
Well, now they have three of them, and they used
Lively a certain way. Lively's awesome, but though, yeah, he
got usurped this last game by some guy never heard of.

Speaker 7 (17:39):
And then the resurgence of Mark Andrews at the same time,
who over maybe the last five or six games I
think has five or six tds.

Speaker 4 (17:45):
Look at where the Packers in that deep tight ends
draft took Luke Musgrave, who has a lot to do
to justify that pick.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
Tucker crap.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
Then they found Ben Simms on the Vikings practice squad,
But the Bills had Dalton Schultz, Dawson Knock, have Dawson
Knox and still draft Dalton Kincaid. Yes, with a team
that can run and run with his quarterback.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (18:12):
There is a segue because what eyeslash we saw the
other night with Higbee's back and he's gonna have fifty
eight yards in the first quarter. But Long and Alan
Davis Allen and Hunter Long who cares? Right, Yeah, you
don't care until Davis Allen scores on you and then
you realize, well, Hunter Long was a third round pick

(18:34):
in twenty twenty one, drafted by the Dolphins, oh, by
Brian Flores, and the way they use him, it's I'm
gonna and then the tight end position is super vital
to the Green Bay Packers.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
So I'm gonna look.

Speaker 4 (18:46):
Into this with all the teams and stuff and just
kind of just because I know, I know from the
teams the Vikings play. You know what the tight ends do,
but more importantly, how much they play and when they
use them I'm not a big I don't like sharing
it's it's twelve personnels, thirteen personnel's eleven personnel. I'm just saying,

(19:07):
you know, here's a green dog. Here, here's a zero.
I don't I don't talk like that because nobody understands
what it means, so it takes a while to explain it.
And I'm not into that either. I'm just saying I
want to get to the bottom line here. That the
what I you know, what I learned the other night
was somebody super famous said decades ago, you give me

(19:31):
the right running game and the right three tight ends,
you ain't gonna beat me.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
And it's kind of stood the test of time.

Speaker 4 (19:40):
But then off what we saw the other night with
how McVeigh uses those tight ends, why he uses them
and win? And then you start looking at the Lions. Okay,
so the Lions have David Montgomery and they draft Jamir Gibbs.
So now we got to what's the best one two
in the NFL. It's not close, and we have Andrew's
but we're gonna play Lively and.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
We're gonna play him together.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
And then we got this this new guy whose name
I didn't recognized, I think he caught a pass last
game might have been because they were winning by a
large margin. This is a thing, Yeah, this is a
thing the high end offensive coaches are doing.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
And I just want to kind of get to the
bottom line of it.

Speaker 7 (20:18):
Well, I'm curious how you can kind of bring that
back into the mix. Then as you try to get
to the bottom line of it, is what did you
get or not get out of TJ after we returned
from an injury. We saw moments of greatness and brilliance
earlier in the season from Josh Oliver. Did we see
that pan out over the totality of the season? And
Johnny Mutt? Johnny Munt's always good for a little gotcha

(20:40):
going one way, He's wide open for thirteen on the
far side and for a little catch and run. How
the Vikings deploy or did not deploy those tight ends.

Speaker 4 (20:49):
But we don't run close to as effectively as the
teams we just mentioned. Well, here's what I'm curious. Well,
I guess that's a major part of the equation. Look
at the Ravens, Look at the Bills. Okay, the Ravens
are Bills. May win the Super Bowl?

Speaker 2 (21:01):
Amen? Yes, Amen, Okay, well, I mean, what.

Speaker 4 (21:06):
If how do the Ravens pay their wide receivers with
nichols and dimes?

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (21:11):
How do the Bills pay their receivers with nichols and dimes?

Speaker 2 (21:14):
That's right now, Yes, let's just well know that. Yeah,
and we're in the now.

Speaker 4 (21:18):
Yeah yeah, so and they in the now both of
them can win the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
It's true.

Speaker 4 (21:23):
Let's just keep that in the back of our heads
before we talk to Chris Finch, coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Nine to noon.

Speaker 8 (21:30):
Fan, I can't wait. I can't wait until tomorrow. Go tomorrow,
mine very well be Trulie.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
I can't wait.

Speaker 5 (21:47):
I can't wait until tomorrow. Chris tomorrow Conneticum. Okay, oh,
we could in.

Speaker 9 (22:02):
Any minute nine to noon, but I've read a mom
come time for two more, but it could be to
good stuff I'm.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Reading as mom long. Wow, alrighty now much here we go.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
Let's close this Wednesday nine to noon with one of
our very, very favorites. You know, the Timberwolves played a
thirty to night against Steph Curry and the Dubs. Joining
us now is Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch. Thanks to
prize picks and second Harvest Heartland at two Harvest dot Org. Chris,
how was physical therapy this morning? And does it hurt?

Speaker 3 (22:40):
It was good? Thank you? Yeah. I mean it doesn't
hurt as in like injury pain. It just hurts, as
in fifty five year old man pain trying to go
through a workout.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
What So, when does this clipping penalty of life come
to a conclusion?

Speaker 3 (22:57):
I don't know. I mean they told me from the
jump it'd be about a year's long recovery, and we're
eight months into it, so I think hopefully another four
or five months to be done for now.

Speaker 4 (23:08):
The the Golden State Warriors, uh Rick Barry, how about
Rick Barry and those underhand free throws? And by the way,
props to uh Rick Barry's father and his his his wife,
uh for that stable of Barris they had that that
all got to the n b A. I mean, that's
that's some serious genealogy there, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yeah? Pretty incredible when you think about it.

Speaker 4 (23:31):
The uh the Warriors have lost four of the last
five and are in last place in the Pacific Division.
Transition time for the Warriors right now? Or is there
more to it?

Speaker 3 (23:43):
No? I think, uh yeah, it's it's just, you know,
it's growing pains of a of a roster with different
you know guys, young players, experienced players, uh, you know,
free agent signings. It's just, you know, it's not unlike
anything everything else we see in the league right now,
Like once these teams have some level of success with

(24:05):
the new CBA agreement, it's it's it's highly putitive to
keep to keep teams together. And they've you know, they've
actually been paying the luxury attacks at a very very
very high level. But there that there comes a time
when you know, the players, uh you maybe age out
a little bit, or their contract becomes so so burdens

(24:29):
that it keeps you from being able to start reshaping
as you go. And I think that's that's the thing.
I think. Used to you used to be able to
just try to keep a run together with the roster
as long as you possibly could, and then you then
you then you take that as a complete tear down
and a rebuild, and who knows however many longer years

(24:49):
it takes. But like now, it just feels like it's
so putitive too to let these let these teams play
out to their full you know, full destiny.

Speaker 10 (24:59):
If you will Is Steph Curry, we were a little
bit of an example about ourselves, right, you know, just
trying to have an eye on the future as you
work through your roster construction the president and you're trying
to build around certain parts of your of your roster.

Speaker 3 (25:17):
Whether it be a you know, an aging superstar like
Staph or a young superstar like Anthony. Yeah, you still
have to maintain some level of flexibility to be relevant
and competitive, you know, and then take your swings when
they come to try to get to that next level.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
Well, you know, I'm not asking you to speak for
the bosses or the GM, but like, wasn't that part
of the Cat deal. I mean, Cats having a whale
of a season and Julius is things are coming to better,
coming together in transition there and I like Randall on
the team, but like the future financial part of that
whole thing, that that was part of it, right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
Absolutely, it wasn't just exclusively a money deal. There were,
you know, many things involved in it, but at the
heart of it, it was certainly let's say a medium
the longer term perspective to how do you continue to
like maintain flexibility. That's what really is the key maintains
flexibility in your roster to be able to keep shaping

(26:19):
it around like a guy like Anthony. And you know,
at some point you have to kind of pivot and
make these decisions. And every team is going to go
through it at some point. And again, it might be
around an aging corps who's won number of championships, or
it might be around a young corps who's kind of

(26:40):
coming up together.

Speaker 4 (26:42):
Is is well, let's pivot Dan quickly because it's I
read earlier.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
Hopefully this is accurate, or.

Speaker 4 (26:48):
Actually hopefully it's not, because there's a lot of money
two hundred and eighty five thousand dollars in fines for
edwards this year for things he said about officiating, et cetera. Dang,
I mean, it's it's he he.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
He does realize.

Speaker 4 (27:02):
The the more animated and or loquacious he becomes with this,
the fewer calls he'll get. I mean, it feels like
the Karl Anthony Towns conversation you and I had, I
think your second year here, and I know you worked
hard on getting Cat out of that mode and it
worked and he started getting more calls.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
Yeah, yeah, he does. I mean, he does, you know,
I think he does. He does realize that. I think,
you know, his comments after you know, the game the
other night, he took ownership for his latest fine and
and has been very conversational with the league, and you know,
I think at times he feels, you know, you know,

(27:48):
maybe a little bit uncomfortable, you know, with his relationship
with the league. As you know, everybody wants and needs
and hopes that this this guy is going to be
the face of the league. It's not something that he's
ever particularly asked for, but he also knows that it
comes along with everything, and you know it's for young

(28:08):
young player trying to balance a lot of different things.
You know, it's part of the growing, you know process.
And the great thing about him is he's pretty self
aware when it when you have these conversations and he
realizes and he has the ability to pivot and change.
And he's racked up technicals at a higher rate in
the last few years, but then at some point in

(28:29):
the season he's just you know, curtailed it and it's
never really been in danger of you know, missing games
due to suspension because of the technical account. You know,
the amount of technical to have gotten too high.

Speaker 4 (28:45):
Christ you guys have won four of the last five.
And how about Edwards at the Nation's Capital eight for
eight from the line, And I bring it up weekly
with you as long as he keeps going to the line,
because that's what the best and the best do.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
I mean, you just love that, don't you.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Yeah, we do. I mean I said, it's a superpower,
getting the getting to the paint, getting too the rim.
He's very good at it. Really like how he simplified
his his his approach right now with attacking quickly, decisively
going downhill. We've challenged him in this part of the
season to get to the line more. His free throw
rate had dropped fifty from the year prior. Some of

(29:24):
that was due three point volume, which we also love
because he's making that at a high rate, but finding
that right balance. It feels like he's kind of figured
that part out as well as the part of you know,
when he sees double teams or he sees denials or
sees other you know, defensive uh tactics that you know,

(29:44):
he's been able to work through and you know, sometimes
it gets frustrated, but mostly he's been able to stay aggressive,
create for his teammates and for himself.

Speaker 4 (29:53):
Edwards in that Wizard's Game had seven turnovers. It's obviously
easy to look the other way on I mean, that's
a big number when you'll win a game, or do
you just never look the other way on seven turnovers?
It's always a conversation.

Speaker 3 (30:08):
Yeah, it's always a conversation. I mean it's for us
right now. Turnovers are huge. We just have a lot
of kind of really ugly ones, quite frank, and those
are the ones we have to get out of our game.
They come from, you know, carelessness, And it's not like
they don't it's not like screw you, I don't care turnover.

(30:29):
It's just like, hey, we just got to be more careful,
like make the safer play, like, you know, we don't
want to thread the needle into triple coverage at the
one yard line. That's not what we're trying to do
right here. But sometimes you guys get carried away and
they feel like they're trying to make home too many
home run plays. And so those are the ones we
certainly can address. I mean, part of our struggles, you know,

(30:50):
we have been with turnovers and rebounding. We lose the
possession battle every single night, you know, again, that's no
different than the NFL. I mean, if you lose the
turnover battle every day, you're not gonna win, you know,
as many games as you probably should, right.

Speaker 4 (31:05):
And then when you do get a turnover that's a
scoop and score and it gets into the end zone
and it's reversed by a full, well, then you gotta
you gotta factor those things in there too.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
I'm sorry, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
Yeah, there's there's no accounting for fools.

Speaker 4 (31:17):
Yeah, I don't mean, I don't mean to be hussy,
I mean huffy with the conversation. But anyway, let me
ask you this, what determines if you run plays with
Julius initiating the offense.

Speaker 3 (31:30):
A lot of things. I mean, we have a we
really like his playmaking and in the in the pace
that he can inject a lot of it will do.
Let's what kind of pressure is being applied elsewhere? You know,
are they are they pressuring pressuring up? He's a good
pressure release, you know, a really good playmaker from the

(31:50):
top of the floor. Uh, you know, just also trying
to get him activated early and often, particularly in that
first smitted to the game where we need him to
go out and be aggressive.

Speaker 4 (32:03):
Well, did you I mean casting the Gays shoot even
the way of the Knicks game. You got the Warriors tonight.
But I'm gonna ask you about the Knicks in a second,
let alone, casting your gaze the way of the playoffs
where you will be Uh, but I'm gonna do that
just to get a little dreaming here for a second.
So say you got say you have julius free throw
line extended somewhere around there initiating the offense, which which
he does and he's quite good at it, even in

(32:25):
congested areas. So do you envision like he's getting off
and they have to double him, and then that leaves
the superstar open for some threes?

Speaker 3 (32:36):
Yeah, Yeah, that we we've we've actually benefited from that.
You know, he's he has the ability to draw draw
a crowd. Uh, certainly the closer he gets to the basket,
and posting up Julius. It's been one of them more
efficient and repeatable offenses that we've been able to do,

(32:56):
and a lot of times that's benefited in Anthony threes
early in the season. They were really the three point
volume that we were talking about with Anthony's was has
been up a lot of that also just because he's
created those kickout three I looked at the stat the
other day, he's created one hundred and at that point

(33:18):
in time, I think we were thirty one games in
the season. He created one hundred and seventy five kickout
threes for teammates, which was nearly double the amount that
we had created in the same situations last year. So,
you know, that's that's huge, and we've we're now starting
to make them and that's you know, we're making them

(33:39):
at a much higher level. And early in the season
we weren't making them consistently on a ninth to night basis,
and that was, you know, part of our offensive lag.
But our offense is really starting to pick up or
top ten on offense in the last couple of weeks.
So we, you know, feel good about that. He feels
like we have something we can kind of repeat in

(34:00):
a nice rhythm.

Speaker 4 (34:01):
You Yeah, Chris Finch Prize picks second Harvest Hartland, two
Harvest dot Org time for a couple more, uh four
games in like five and a half days, and that
includes what we got tonight. They were at Madison Square
Garden Friday night. What do you think of round two
against the Knicks.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
Yeah, it's gonna be you know, gonna be a fun
one for sure. It's always a great, great experience playing
at the Garden. You know, the return of Julius and
Dante showed me the very emotional and that's I think
that's gonna be part of it. You know, all of
the all players get up from playing at the Garden.
But you're able to control our emotions in the right way,
play within the framework and the style and the rhythm

(34:40):
that we've been playing, you know, not getting drawn into
personal battles. That's gonna be huge. Yeah. And then just
you know, to beat a really good team like that,
you gotta you gotta put together a consistent performance, I
think defensively when we played them last time, obviously Kat
got loose on us. Uh and you know, we we

(35:00):
need to make some adjustments to our game plan to
be able to kind of counter some of that.

Speaker 4 (35:06):
You know who you know who beat the Knicks at
Madison Square Garden the other night, The turnaround team of
the decade, Your Detroit Pistons.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Here they come.

Speaker 3 (35:16):
That's right, Yeah, we root for a lot of Detroit
victories right now as we hold their.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Pick yeah, man, the Pistons.

Speaker 4 (35:24):
It's it's like, see, I'd watched Kate Cunningham before and
sadly you guys lost, but I've never seen him live,
so like I'm watching, I try to watch at least
a quarter of him every single time he plays. Holy cow,
has he gotten good? Last one here? Nice scheduling, NBA.
We get the Nickson Madison Square Garden.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (35:42):
Then then Finch's team, the Wolves host Cleveland on a
back to back with travel and the Calves might be
the best team in the NBA at this moment.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
That does sounds easy.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
Right, Yeah, I mean these are the exact challenges we
need to kind of measure up to. So the schedule
has been a meat grinder, there's no doubt about it.
And then we turn around and the next day leave
to go on the road again. To We've had a
bunch of games where we kind of shuttle out east
for a game to come back home back out east.

(36:15):
But you know, it is what it is. Everybody has
some some sort of sort of sort of scheduling woes
that they're complaining about. But we got a good run
of games right here against some really good teams, and
we've got to continue to play our best basketball.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Last one and you mentioned Memphis.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
You guys have a I mean that one that you
lost over the weekend, tightly contested, wonderful game. There were
mistakes made, yeah, but I really enjoyed watching that before
taking off the next day to Arizona for the l
But you guys in the Grizzlies, man, you got a
nice little rivalry going there. And with Zach Edy, Triple Jay,
Jaron Jackson and Brandon Clark, is Memphis size a problem

(36:57):
for teams?

Speaker 2 (36:58):
And how does one get around it?

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Yeah? I mean they've they've got a big front line,
and they have an active front line. I mean it's
not just big, it's super active.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
You know, Clark has got a ton of bounds. Uh.
Jackson Junior has all the skill you need and he
and he plays, you know, he's pretty relentless, always coming
at you, always always on the glass. And then Edie,
you know, it's a really nice Rooki. I mean he's
got really good size, good touch, knows what he does well,

(37:29):
can repeat it every single night, got a good blend.
They all have enough skill where they really accentuate each other.
But it's just their overall activity their their high energy,
multiple multiple efforts they hit first. You know you got
to you got to really be able to match their
physicality and that's kind of where they've been able to

(37:50):
get us.

Speaker 4 (37:51):
Uh eight thirty tap tonight, get some rest. Thanks for
the time. Appreciate you, man. Good luck to your Eagles
this weekend and we'll call you next week.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
Yeah, man, appreciate it. And you know, just congrats on
a great, great Viking season. You know that didn't end
the way people want, but I thought it was really
fun to watch. Obviously got a stud and Kevin O'Connell
I've never met him, by a big meyer from Afar,
and you know, it was a heck of a season.

Speaker 4 (38:19):
Awesome season, full of a lot of fun games. The
ending the last two were awful, but that's part of sports.
I'm sure you didn't like some things in the Mavericks
series when it was over and then you move on.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
But you guys are fans. Both of you are fantastic.
Thank you for the chat.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (38:36):
That's Benchi Finchy and that's nine to noon. It is
Thursday tomorrow, so expect not you liber Ben Lieber to
join nine to Noon plus so we'll work on some
other tricks for you. Oh John Hines, coach of the
Minnesota wildt nine thirty, can't wait.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
I'm Paul Allen.

Speaker 4 (38:49):
Here comes big Daddy con to put a rap on
the chef.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Time for two more? What what did I do wrong?
Time to roll and put a rap on the show man.

Speaker 7 (39:07):
We were feeling so different just ten days ago, like
a Gia Teine quick chop at the blade, and twice
this year we get Campbellton mcveighe it was back to back.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
And it's over like that.

Speaker 7 (39:17):
All the fond memories of Sam being peeled off of
the Matt nine sacks or staffers, like half the season
our squad set in playoff records for the wrong reason
still stings, just from getting smacked. Now like half the team,
they're out of contract. The head coach wants a new
one in Flores, though might be seeing b flow twice
a year in Chicago, but who knows.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
K Sara Sarah go to Target Center tonight. Hurrah Hurrah.

Speaker 7 (39:42):
The Wolves playing better, so hold on to those tickets
dubs while getting healthier, leading to more Dubs.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
Warrior Podcast Today's Paul Allen Show. We're listening back to
previous show and interviews like going to the iHeartRadio app
or KFA and gone o
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