Softy & Dick 5-10 Hour 2: Seahawks Future, Return of the Sonics

Dick Fain and Jacson Bevens discuss the Seahawks’ future, grade each position group as they stand currently, the return of the Sonics seems to be eminent, and NBA playoffs.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Now from the Star Rentals Sports testsyour ninety three point three KJRFM sports headlines.
Before we get to our top ourheadlines, how about go to ninety
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Our keyword for this hour is happy. I'd be happy if I want one
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(00:23):
keyword happy and you'll be entered towin one thousand dollars cash. All right,
Ben you Kings brings you the update. Mariners open up a six game
home stand with three against Oakland tonight. Brian Wooh. We'll get his
first start of the season after beingnearly perfect in his triple A rehab start.
It starts plural, allowing only fivehits, no runs, no walks,

(00:44):
striking out seventeen and eleven, anda third innings into common. Now
here's the bad news. Matt Brash, Tommy John surgery will miss the season.
Gregory Santos set back won't be readyuntil July at the earliest. Your
bullpen is rumbling around you. TylerSaceto. Good news needs just the minimum

(01:04):
of fifteen days on the IL andJP Crawford and Tom Canzone are nearly ready
for rehabs assignments. They could comeas early as tomorrow with Tacoma. How
about this little nugget, Seattle,You and Grand Canyon will be entering the
West Coast Conference, joining the likesof Wazoo, OSU and Gonzaga beginning in

(01:26):
twenty twenty five. Caitlyn Clark madeher preseason home debut last night in Indianapolis.
This was a rescheduled game, bythe way, so they had to
scramble to get tickets out. Thirteenthousand Watch a rescheduled preseason game with Caitlin
Clark last night in Inndiana. AndWNBA will be coming to Canada as Toronto

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has reportedly been granted an expansion teambeginning in twenty twenty six. All right,
rolling into the four o'clock hour,here we are alive at Jimmy's on
First, which is now it's gettingfun and you want a table here at
Jimmy's on First before that game,I would say you got about ten to
fifteen more minutes to get your buttin here or else all the tables,

(02:13):
which will be fine because people justlike the belly up to the bar anyway,
So all good. Jackson Bevans asthe voice of Jackson Bevans from Cigar
Thoughts, he's joining us. Cameall the way down from b Ham,
all the way down here on Ifive to join us in person here at
Jimmy's and heading back up tonight.We love your stuff on Cigar Thoughts,
and you are primarily when you talksports, it's primarily football, and it's

(02:34):
primarily the Seahawks, right, Solet's get into some Seahawks and find out
between you and me how good thisfootball team is. And you know this
new coach here, it didn't takelong for us to realize this ain't Pete
Carroll. Just last week he hada seemingly innocuous remark about Bira Murphy and

(02:58):
he said, hey, he needsto get in better shape. We love
what we see, but we needhim to get through a full practice.
And I saw that, and youknow, most football fans would read that
and say, no big deal.But a Seahawks fan seeing a coach saying
one of his players needs to getin better shape, I was like,
my god, I haven't heard thatin twelve years from the Seahawks head coach.
Because Pete Carroll would never say anythingnegative about a player. So it's

(03:23):
quite a vibe switch already we're gettinghere in just the first mini cam.
Yeah, big time, man.And here's the thing like, and I
say this as someone who loves PeteCarroll. Pee Carroll had the way that
he handled his business in Seattle affectedme as a man, as a professional,
as a Seahawks fan, hugely positiveimpact on me. But when the

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time comes to switch, you haveto switch. You can't bring someone in
that is going to try and bePete Carroll or who's going to be eighty
percent of what Pete Carroll is.It doesn't mean you got to go all
the way in the other direction,but the vibe has to feel different in
order for this to become the headthe new head coach's own thing. And
we are getting that from Mike McDonald. Yeah, there's no question. And

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you know the one thing when wewere going through you know all these coaching
candidates, right, and who's gonnaget the job. Is it gonna be
the offensive coordinator from Detroit? Isit gonna be Mike McDonald, Is it
gonna be Dan Quinn? Right?And the thing I said about Dan Quinn.
I like the guy we've had himon. He was great when he
was here, but he was exactlywhat you were just talking about. He

(04:26):
would have been Pete Carroll liked.And my whole take was, Hey,
if you're gonna hire dan Quinn,you just shouldn't have fired Pete Carroll Carroll,
right, because Pete Carroll is abetter, more successful version of Dan
Quinn. And so I'm glad theydidn't go that direction. And now we
have a totally different vibe, likeyou said, And you know, Hugh

(04:46):
said something interesting on the air withus yesterday and we can bring it up
with him again today and have him, you know, kind of expand on
it. He called Mike McDonald thepreeminent defensive mind on planet Earth. Uh
huh, right now, now Imay saying, what are you talking about.
Well, he was the best defensivecoordinator on the best NFL defense in

(05:08):
the land last year. And Hugh, after breaking it down, is even
more impressed because it wasn't like theywere running out there with five Hall of
Famers on that Baltimore defense. Yeah, this was a scheme Baltimore. He
didn't hear a lot of people talkingabout justin Madobique last season. You know
what I'm saying, that's right,And yeah, okay, the Ravens were

(05:29):
used to them being good at defense. We think about Michigan and how good
they are on defense, and they'relike historically good defensive program in college,
which is where Mike McDonald was beforeBaltimore. Look, man, when Mike
McDonald came into Baltimore, they hadgiven up the twenty fifth most points in
the NFL. Two years later theirnumber one by a margin. He did
the same thing in Michigan. Theywere like one hundred and nineteenth in points

(05:53):
allowed. He got them into thetop ten in two years. This is
a guy who knows how to cookin modern football, and it's having him
choose the ingredients now too. Yes, absolutely as the head coach. And
and another thing that Hugh said,he said there was a there was a
caveat to him throwing roses at Mikemcdadger. He said, every great defensive

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mind, So whoever, whatever manthat has held the title of greatest defensive
mind on planet Earth, what hashappened to every single one of them?
They've been figured out, That's everyone of them. Buddy, Ryan dan
Quinn Dick LeBeau, like you namethe you know, you named the big
time defensive minds in football over thelast thirty forty years. They've all been

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figured out by great offensive minds afterthree or four years. So we did.
We saw it in Seattle with thecover with the cover three and what
you have to do, you said, is you got to strike when the
iron's hot. This can't be arebuilding three years for Mike McDonalds reach.
You have to take advantage of thefact that you, scheme wise, have

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an advantage over every offense that youplay because of Mike McDonald's mind. That
won't exist in three or four years. I love that take. Can we
talk about rebuilding in the NFL.You do not ever want to be in
a position where you are rebuilding inthe NFL. Okay, you there's so
much talk about, well, ifyou trade your best players, you can

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get picks and save money and whatever. Look, the teams that are making
the most picks in NFL drafts andspending the most money in free agency are
bad teams. Nine out of tentimes they're going to be bad that next
year. You and also losing leavesscars. We are not playing fantasy football.
When you're losing in the building.These are prideful dudes who are used

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to winning. They're the baddest dudein every room. And now you're stacking
loss after loss after loss. Sowhat someone can come in and take their
job the next year. That isnot how you build winning football. And
Seattle, while they haven't been stackingloss after loss after lost the last few
years, you know what they havebeen stacking. They've been stacking mediocre,
yes, sir, they have beenstacking nine and eight accurate. And so

(08:07):
that is something. And that's probablythe real reason why he's gone. And
then just John Schneider and and JodyAllen decided to make the move. Is
that, hey, we can't youknow, one one nine and eight season,
okay, two nine and eight seasonsback to back. Change needs to
be made. And that even cameafter the Russell Wilson injury year, but

(08:28):
the prior year. So Softie andI have different ideas of what this team
should be this year. We havetalked about a number of times, and
I think the expectation should be thisteam should be a playoff team right away.
And Softie's like, wow, wegot to give we got to give
the coach some time. Well,like you said, how much time can

(08:48):
you give the coach? Okay,maybe one year. I mean if they
if they look if they're nine andeight again this year and they don't make
the playoffs, but that defense istops six or seven, and but really,
then that just means Ryan, Ryangruptdon't do a good right job.
I'm trying to I'm trying to figureout how a nine and eight season this

(09:09):
year? How are we satisfied witha nine to light you like to Well,
no one's gonna consider Mike McDonald asuccessful head coach in Seattle till they
win a playoff game, which Seattlehas not done in a long time.
That's the bar. Now, ifyou say this next season was a failure,
if you don't do that, it'sa little far from me. But
I don't think this is a badteam. You gotta remember, Yeah,
two nine and eight seasons in arow. Sure, Yeah, that's not

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enough, right, Great, thatfirst one, everyone was picking them to
have a top five pick that year, and they won nine games, and
then they won five of their firstseven the next year, and we're starting
to think, Okay, this teamis further along in their development than they
actually are. If they had startedtwo and five and finished nine and eight,
Pete Carroll might still be the headcoach, right, But the way

(09:52):
the season finished and it was thatthey were soft. They were soft down
the stretch. So you got togo out and you gotta get the defense
of Sean McVay. Right, Howfrustrating has it been being a Seahawks fan
watching the Rams the last five sixyears. Just be smarter than everybody else
watching the forty nine years, andthe way they call plays, just be

(10:13):
smarter than everyone else. They areleaning into this, But I do think
this is a good team. Thisis a team that has won eighteen games
in the last two years. It'snot something that needs to be torn down
to the studs. And it's gotdecent talent across the board. And we'll
go through it right here. Imean, I gave my grades. I
gave my grades yesterday. And ifyou have decent talent, and you have
an elite defensive coach, and youhave what we hope will be an elite

(10:35):
offensive coach, he was elite incollege. We know that. Yeah,
we will see if he can translateit to the to the NFL. We'll
start the quarterback. I mean,how would you grade the Sam Howe and
Gino Smith that quarterback tandem? Ais what the Chiefs have f is pick

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your disaster, you know three orfour disasters. Where would you grade Geno
and Sam Howe? B plus?Okay, that's higher than me, yep,
because I had him as a Cplus and I gave him the plus
because of Sam Howel. But Ginoto me as a C because everything that
Gino It's done really since the firsthalf of his first year as a starter,

(11:16):
has been textbook average. Yeah,you know. I think when you
take everything that he's done in thelast two seasons as a whole, he
grades out in most metrics anyway asa top ten to top twelve quarterback.
The thing that I want people tokeep in mind when judging his struggles last
year, You remember that game onMonday Night where the Seahawks sacked the Giants

(11:37):
eleven times. Their pressure percentage inthat game was forty six percent. From
Week two with Abe Lucas out untilhe came back in that Cowboys game,
the pressure rate that Gino Smith feltfor two straight months was forty five percent.
He was being pressured every single gameto the same degree that the Seahawks

(11:58):
were not in the crap out ofthe Giants in that Monday night game,
and he was still textbook average.I do think he's a good quarterback.
Okay, and and hopefully Ryan Grubb, the combination of Ryan Grubb and not
Shane Waldron, and the the offensiveline that would hopefully include a healthy Abe
Lucas and now Christian Haynes, anda little bit more death that I mean

(12:20):
that could that could be running back? What do you think about running back?
What would you give the running backcorps? Hey Minus, I'm right
right there with you. I don'tthink much discuss I had I had,
I had a B plus. ButI love K Dub. I'm just a
I'm a huge, huge K Dubfan. I can't figure out why he
doesn't get more carries. Maybe hewill this year. Yeah, but I'm

(12:41):
a guy that and and we don'tknow about Ryan Grub. Like Ryan Greb,
you think of as a passing guy. But what do you do against
USC just kid ball Dylan Johnson,Well, they're gonna give us eight yards
of carry. I'm gonna give myrunning back thirty carries. So he might
be able to pick out the weaknessand and those games where he feels like
k dub can can run it twentyfive times, he might give it to

(13:03):
him twenty five times. Yeah,you know, I think one thing that
Seattle's offensive play calling has been missingfor a long time is the ability to
CounterPunch. You know, when youhave a advantage in a certain way that
you can lean on against an opponent. Seattle's been really good at leaning into
that. But as soon as thatgets figured out, and we saw it
with Waldron excellent during those opening fifteenplays week after week, and then after

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that pretty stagnant. So you know, when when you have two running backs
like Walker and Charbonnay who have complimentarystyles, I do think that you know
you've got something that you can leanon when the you know, when the
game script calls for it. Tightend group, no offense, Farrell Brown,
the free agent acquisition, AJ barnOf, the draft pick and our
guy, my guy, your guy, everybody's guy Jack Westover, who Hugh

(13:50):
by the way thinks will make thefootball team. Yeah, so what do
you what would you give that group? Uh? Man, I don't know
who on there is block And I'mgonna say C plus and I said,
to someone who really likes no offense, that's where I was at C plus.
Maybe A. J. Barner isthe blocker. I mean he's supposed
to be, but he's a rookieand tight end is the position that takes

(14:11):
the longest to develop in the NFL. Farrell Brown, I guess. But
what are we counting on from FarrelBrown at this point? Right offensive line?
Cross Lucas at the tackles, ChristianHaynes Lake and Tomlinson at the guards.
Big o'lu hopefully right every He wasthe He was the talk of the
town in August of last year,and then we really didn't see it materialize,
largely due to injuries. What wouldyou give the offensive line? C

(14:35):
plus and I say that thinking thatthey have an A right tackle and an
A minus left tackle. Oh soyou really don't like the interior. It's
been terrible. Yes, it hasbeen so bad. We're just we're banking
on this rookie to be something.Yeah. Man, that's a big ass,
and we're banking on Big Olu tobe something at the at the center
position. No, I'm I'm I'mright with you. I mean, I

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I gave it I gave it aB minus with the caveat that we have
a healthy A Lucas. If wedon't have a healthy AB Lucas, it
is no better than a C.Offensive line. Totally agree, if we
don't have a healthy Lucas. Allright, we flip around to the defensive
line. Well, we'll start withthe with the interior guys. You got
Murphy, you got Leonard Williams,Hankins, Draymond Jones, Read, Mike

(15:18):
Morris, Cameron Young. I meanthere's a lot of depth there. I
don't know if there's a star,but there's a lot of guys that I
think can do the job there.Yeah, and you skipped a wide receiver
because you know how I can't talkabout it. Oh my bad. Yeah,
Well you knew I was gonna talkabout DK Metcalfick. I can't.
So the only reason I didn't givehim an A is because DK has not

(15:39):
yet become the man yet. Yeah, if DK becomes the man, top
five receiver in the league, Igive him an A. So far give
an Yeah. That's that's a volumeissue. Man. They got to for
us to see him that way.They got to start throwing like a big
boy throwing team and start not runningat the five slowest pieces in the NFL
like they have been his whole career. You give that man the volume to

(16:00):
be talking about him as the guy, no question about it. So we
both think A or a minus onthe wide receiver corps defensive tackle. What
do you think those? That meansa lot of names there man, nobody
that that really you think is aall pro though? Yeah, you know,
we had Benjamin Slack from the Ringeron our show and one thing he
said is if you have one greatdefensive tackle playing next to a bad defensive

(16:23):
tackle, you don't have a greatdefensive tackle. And I think we saw
that with Leonard Williams last year,is that he was very good, but
it didn't matter because the guys besidehim were getting beat. If Murphy is
who I think he is and whothe team thinks he is, this is
a B plus defensive tackle room.But right now be minus. Okay,
I said, I said C plusand and hopefully you're right because of Bira
Murphy is the guy and I thinkhe needs to be the guy right away.

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I mean, you drafted him atsixteen. You didn't trade down Bira
Murphy needs to be a borderline ProBowl type player year one. I can't.
I can't wait for year three forBira Murphy to be one of the
better defensive tackles now with you drafthim now, with him being the number
one defensive player on your entire draftboard when the draft started, he can't
be that guy totally. Well,and frankly, i'm just really excited to

(17:07):
see what McDonald does with Draymond Jonesbecause he was so much more dynamic in
Denver than the way Seattle used himlast year. That's a great point.
He was just, you know,the forgotten guy right right, edge boy,
Chenna's back, Derek, call DarrylTaylor, what do you think about
the edge spot? B minus Cplus. I'm worried about the depth there

(17:27):
because when Mafey and Uchanna were bothhealthy, they were crushing Mafey Saxon seven
straight games. Uchenna. You know, he's a Tensac guy, borderline and
and he's just beaten guys. Butthose guys can only right now win one
way, and if they don't havethe other person on the field, they

(17:47):
don't win at all. So I'mwith you, I'm right there. I'm
BB minus with those guys right there, absolutely now inside linebacker. This got
my worst grade, has got mea day. It's got a D plus
because I don't know enough about TyrolDotson and your own Baker. I don't
know enough about Tyresee Knight, therookie, and that's what you got.
So it's just I just I wentnegative on this until I see something from

(18:08):
those guys J plus totally. Youknow. One thing that I think is
important to keep in mind as welook at this team is almost everyone on
defense besides Leonard Williams and Devin Witherspoonis unapprove it contract right now. They
got one year to try out forthe future of Mike McDonald. They are
not committed to any of these guys. They brought in Baker and Dodson essentially
on one year contracts. These areanalytical darlings. PFF loves them. Coverage

(18:32):
grade, all that stuff is good. But yeah, man, deep plus
sounds right interesting because the safety positionis very similar, right, because you
got a couple guys that came inthat you just don't know. I mean,
it's Kevon Wallace any good? IsRay Shawn Jenkins any good? I
mean maybe I think Jenkins. Ithink. I think Jenkins is real good.
Yeah he should be. And Ilike Julian Love. I like him

(18:53):
as a person. I thought,I think he's a great dude. I've
had a chance to spend some timewith him. He's absolutely phenomenal, and
I I liked what he did onthe field last year. So I'll give
the I'll give the safeties a B. Yeah, yeah, I was gonna
say B minus. I am stillnot going to be shocked if they bring
back one of their starting safeties fromlast year, uh in, either Quandary
Diggs or or Jamal Adams. Ithink that's still out there. Those guys

(19:15):
aren't getting looks from teams right now. But yeah, I mean we we
don't know. I like Julian Love, but there's not a game changer back
there, that's right. No,there's not no question. But there is
a corner. There is a corner, at least one. I gave that.
I gave an a minus. I'llgive if Reek walland can be if
we can get Rookie Reek on oneside and Rookie Spoon on the other side,

(19:40):
then that's an egg corners and andthat's not even good depth too.
I mean you got Mike and ArdanBurns, and I mean you got you
got brown Man trade brown dog.Like Devin Witherspoon, what we saw last
year is a superstar, not agood player, a superstar day one type

(20:00):
of guy. And there is achain reaction that happens in the secondary.
And when you have one guy settingthe tone like that, phenomenal. We
never said Kobe Bryant's name last yearafter he had a very good rookie season.
There's so much depth. And Iknow they're talking about maybe keeping him
at safety. We'll see. ButTrey Brown, Mike Jackson already Burns and

(20:22):
you're right, you get rookie yearreequelling on the same field as what we
saw from Devin Witherspoon as a rookie. That's an A plus cornerback room.
All Right, you're starting to convinceme this this team can win ten games.
I think so. All Right,all right, I like it.
Four twenty one on ninety three pointthree KJR FM. We come back.
We've got some NBA to talk.We haven't talked NBA let yet. I
started getting yeah, wait, man, I start getting the shakes if I
go an hour and a half withouttalking to the NBA and host in the

(20:45):
show. I don't get to talkabout it enough usually, but there's been
some good stuff going on there.Guy. We had to get back to
the to the Mariners as well.Hubrit Lemill is going to join us at
five on ninety three point three KJFMfrom the R and R Foundation Specialist broadcast
studio. Now back to Softie onyour home for the Huskies and the Sports
Radio ninety three point three JR.So cool to have Jackson Bevans from the

(21:10):
world famous Cigar Thoughts podcast joining usco hosting today soft and Dick without the
Soft One. He'll be back onMonday. We're live from Jimmy's on First
as the Mariners get set for athree game set against Oakland. We've talked
some Mariner baseball, We've talked alot of Seahawks today with you. We
haven't delved into the NBA as ofyet. And when you you know when

(21:33):
you see a letter written by theowner of the Seattle Crack and Samantha Holloway
to her season ticket holders, whichsays later this summer you will hear more
about our future Seattle ambitions as weroll out a parent brand that will umbrella,
the cracking brand, and prepare forother big opportunities. Just say it,

(21:53):
man, you don't I mean,you don't need any other tea leaves.
Guys say it out loud. They'vebeen very careful not to overstep their
bounds. I know, you know, I've talked to many people about this
and they all say the same thing. We know it's gonna happen. We
just can't tell you it's gonna happenbecause we need them to tell you it's

(22:15):
gonna happen, of course. Andthat's kind of how it is. And
what's cool is that over the years, and you know me, I've been
I've been waving the NBA flag sometimesby myself for the last sixteen years.
And what's really cool is that whenin twenty nine and ten, I was

(22:36):
standing out by myself in the middleof the street waving the NBA flag and
most people were throwing crap at me. Now you know what, I got
a lot of people around me.I got a lot of people around me.
They joined the party, And youknow, I just I can't wait
to see all the folks streaming backto a league that they said they'd never
watch again. Hey, well,I get it. But we'll forgive you

(22:59):
and the few stragglers that will missout on the Sonic party because they won't
show up at the party because theydidn't like the prior owner of the house
that is now hosting the party.Yep, if they just want to,
you know, if they want stayyou want to stay mad, stay mad,
that's right. But it's gonna bea lot of fun. Oh,
it's gonna be so much fun,man. And I think the league is
in a good place right now.There are so many likable players, and

(23:22):
I know there's a lot of oldheads out there. The game was way
better way back when. Trust me, man, you turn on one of
those old games ninety three to eightynine. You don't want that NBAI yesterday.
NBA is good, Oh so muchmore physical back then. Come on,
man, no one was running throughthree off ball screens on every single
possession back then. The game isplenty physical. But we've got this awesome

(23:45):
changing to the guard where we've gotthese guys who have been legends for so
long, the Lebron's and the StephCurries and the Kevin Durants who are still
playing at a high level. Butthey're handing it over to these young players,
man, and we are seeing themshine in the playoffs right now.
I'm wondering. I mean, Imade a comment. I want to see
you get to take it this.I made a comment with you a couple
of days ago that they said,you know, guys like Luca the Joker,

(24:07):
Wemby Johannis right for megastars, butnobody's taken over the mantle of the
face of the league. And Idon't think necessarily that a European player can
take over as the face of theNBA. Do you agree with that,
and you think it has to bean American player. I think it's harder
because I don't think anyone considers Jokeit should be the face of the league

(24:30):
right now. And he just wanthis third straight MVP and is the reigning
champion. No, that's right,and he's got shacked saying on national television
that he shouldn't be the to hisface. Did you see that, Yeah,
shacked to his face? You know, congratulations Joker. I don't think
he should have been the MVP.I bet I respect it, but I
think he should have been. Iwent and watched him live down in Portland
this year. I have never seenanyone manipulate a basketball court the way that

(24:55):
he does. But and look,you got the specter of Lebron James still
still hanging over. He's till theface of the league and will be till
he hangs it up. Might stillbe even after he hangs it up.
But I tell you what, thatboy in Minnesota, he might change that
conversation. And he's and he's probablythe likely banner holder right now. But
he's got to keep doing stuff inthe playoffs, right, he can't win

(25:17):
one playoff series each year and bethe face league. You gotta continue.
But he's only twenty two years ofage. I want to piggyback on something
you said just a couple of minutesago about do you want the eighty nine
to eighty seven, ninety three toeighty nine games? And that's the thing.
It's like, people don't remember thatin nineteen ninety when Patrick Ewing and

(25:38):
Alonso Morning were beating the crap outof each other in the Knicks Heat series,
right, we were all complaining,Yes, we were all complaining that
this is horrible, horrible basketball.And here we are thirty five years later,
going, god, it was sogreat back then. Yeah, you
didn't say that thirty years ago.Why saying it now? That's right,

(26:00):
that's right. The game is goodright now. Man, the level of
talent, and we're fast approaching positionlessbasketball. Everybody can shoot now, everyone
can dribble. Now. If thereis gonna be a foreign born face of
the league, it's gonna be VictorWemgnanna, who's got the handles and the

(26:21):
shot and can still bang down lowand all of that stuff. There's just
so many more ways to win inthe NBA now than there was when I
fell in love with it back inthe nineties. So yeah, I think
the game's in a great place,and I think, you know, I
would encourage folks. You know,I had to get Twitter battle with a
buddy of mine. That's you know, in that in that hole, I'm
not watching the NBA. It's terrible. It's terrible. Nobody plays defense,

(26:41):
stuff like that. And I justsimply said, I mean, I go
watch a game. Yeah, justI go sit down and watch Denver Minnesota
today. That's right. Tell methat the t Wolves don't play you go
watch four quarters. Now, thet Wolves might lose to Night. In
fact, I think they probably willlose tonight, because I mean, I'm
gonna go one more I'm gonna giveDenver one more chance to show that they're

(27:03):
better than the craft that they've shownthe first couple of games that I just
said, just watch one game tonightand watch Minnesota's defense. I mean,
there's a couple of reasons the wholeNBA doesn't play defense narrative. I can
understand it to a certain extent.And here's here's the two prongs that I
can understand. One, the defensethat has played now in the playoffs is

(27:26):
far superior to anything we saw fromNovember to April. I mean, so
I can understand if you want togo in the NBA doesn't play defense in
December mantra, I can go downthat road with you. I can go
down that road to you with you. But one of the reasons for that
is they got to play eighty twogames and then to win a championship.
They got to win sixteen more towin a championship. But back then,

(27:52):
everyone played so hard every single possessioneighty games a year. They'll no,
they didn't go back and watch thosegames, Oh the hell they did not.
Man, everybody has to pace themselvesin that league. It is insane
what is asked of a professional basketballplayer over the course of a seven month
season. And the other prong ofthe quote unquote NBA doesn't play defense these

(28:12):
days. You go defend your typicalsmall forward in nineteen ninety two, huh,
And then you go defend the typicalsmall forward today that is four inches
taller than that guy weighs twenty poundsmore and has point guard handles, yes,
at the three positions, right,And you tell me how you're gonna

(28:34):
defend how it's how you're not playingdefense these days when the guys are just
so much better offensively. You're nothand checking Vinnie del Negro anymore. Man,
these guys are ballers. They areathletes. They're gigantic, they're fast
twitch. I mean we are talking. I think the best athletes on the

(28:55):
planet are on NBA courts. Well, we had that debate with Austin Rivers
right a couple of day, AustinRivers and Pat McAfee, and you know,
you and I talked about that alittle bit yesterday and it was I
can see both sides. I thinkthere are a hand I'm just gonna say
a handful. I think they're ahandful of NBA players that could go find

(29:15):
jobs in the NFL. And Ithink they're a handful of NFL players that
with the right you know, withthe right training and everything, could find
jobs in the NBA. I thinkAustin Rivers take that there's thirty of them
is silly. Yeah, And Ithink it would be silly to say that
there's thirty NFL players that can playin the NBA. Yeah, but there's
more NBA players who can play inthe NFL. The size, we we
forget the size of these guys,yeah, I mean, you know,

(29:40):
I mean we talked about Lebron James. Let's talk about let's talk about Russell
Westbrook, right, one of thesmaller players out there. This is a
guy six to three, yoke twofifteen, I mean, and with an
athleticism like this is the smallest guyin the NBA. Court is going to
be built for. I mean,you'd be a very big running back,
you know that that kind of thing. You don't have six to ten guys

(30:04):
in the NFL. But imagine,right, Imagine if Lebron decided that his
future wasn't football instead of basketball andthere, guys, imagine if that was
Giannis out there doing that, andthey're training their body for a football season,
and the complexion of their body reflectstraining for a football season versus for
an eighty two game basketball season.You would see NBA players in the NFL

(30:26):
more so than NFL players in theNBA. And I say that with utmost
tantamount respect for both, in theidea that a bunch of NBA players can
just step into the NFL, youknow, to Chris Long's point and a
bunch of others, they're not makingit through training camp. Chet Holdron last
night, the catch that he madeand if you saw the catch that he
made before he hit the three beforethe buzzer went off, I mean,
this was a fifty foot pass andit reminded me of a guy going up

(30:49):
in the back of the end zonewith one hand, except he's seven feet
tall. He had to catch itat about eleven and a half feet twelve
feet in the air, bring itdown, turn and hit a twenty five
foot three pointer at seven feet tall. And he does it all within two
seconds. It was absolutely unbelievable.Four nine, four to five one.

(31:10):
If you got any text on ourthoughts there, four thirty nine on ninety
three point three KJRFM, tick FaneJackson Bevans with you at Saftian Dick Without
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