The Show Episode 543

NFL Draft, NBA Playoffs 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Now, I don't I don't know you know, speaking to all of you, I don't know how many of you actually watched any of it. I don't know how many of you actually paid attention to it, and I'll be quite honest. The host, uh, I did pay quite the attention to Thursday's first round draft, and I paid semi-attention to what was going on on Friday for the second and third round, and I really didn't pay attention at all yesterday. Now, a lot of people are gonna ask me, well, Holse, what's your thoughts on the Steelers draft? Well, we'll get there. And you may be surprised, you may not be surprised at the post. But what a turnout in Pittsburgh for the NFL draft. I mean, they set the three-day attendance record of over 800,000 people attended the draft over the three days Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. They had 305,000 on Thursday alone. Can you believe this, people? Can you believe that that many people show up at one place to hear the commissioner read names off a cue card? That's all they are. Just reading a name and you cheer. If your team makes a pick, you boo. If you don't like the pick, you're in shock. If your team makes a pick you don't like. But you had 305,000 people show up on Thursday night in Pittsburgh to see the draft. I mean, I can't believe it. I mean, I'm shocked that that many people showed up. Don't you people have homes? It's crazy, isn't it? And well, did you notice now? If you paid attention, if you paid attention, did you notice when whatever team was gonna pick, all of a sudden there was 12 to 15 fans, all decked out in that team's uniform, team's colors, jerseys, hats, t-shirts, whatever, cheering the pick on it. Now I know there was 305,000 people Thursday night. You're telling me, okay, you're telling me that 10 to 15 people traveled from Jacksonville all the way up to Pittsburgh to see the draft? You're telling me 10 to 15 people from the state of Arizona traveled all the way to Pittsburgh to see the draft? To root a pick that who knows if the guy's gonna be good or not? You're telling me 10 to 15 people all the way from Seattle traveled five hours all the way to Pittsburgh by flight just to see the commissioner read a name for your team? Come on, if you really think that that's really happening, I got a land for you on the strip here in Las Vegas at a small price. And I told you to look out. Look out for the same people dressed up in the team colors with a jersey on, rooting on the draft pick. Oh, if you paid attention, you would have noticed that that happened. When the Saints went to um pick eighth, and they picked Jordan Tyson, the receiver on Arizona State. They panned their alleged fans that showed up. And of course, they had the jerseys on. One guy was wearing a Saints helmet, guy was going, yeah, yeah. But if you wouldn't have noticed, then if you were paying attention and you noticed when San Diego went to pick, and they picked Akeem Amezzador out of Miami with the 22nd pick, you would have noticed the guy that had the Saints helmet on was wearing a San Diego jersey jumping up and down. I told you, the NFL pays a bunch of people to wear the team's colors and cheer on the pick to act like it's exciting. And it's not. But the NFL fools you like that. And people think that those fans really did show up in Pittsburgh. Yes, there was still 800,000 people there over the three days rooting or checking out the draft. And by the way, the perfect weather in Pittsburgh at this time of year, people took advantage of that showing up. And they put on, you know, they put on the draft like they normally do. Same draft I saw in Green Bay, same draft I saw in Detroit. It's the same thing. Yeah, people go crazy and show up. It's great for the NFL to get that kind of exposure. And man, the NFL is a ratings monster. If you could get that many people to show up to a draft, and you can get that many people to watch on TV, you're the king of sport. You're not going anywhere soon. That's just uh an incredible amount of people that tune into maybe hoping to see your team come through and have some kind of a future and have be able to get to a playoff game or be able to even get to a Super Bowl. But the NFL has all of us fans right there. I mean, they got us all locked in. And we're all watching. If you're a big fan, you're all watching, especially that that first night, that Thursday night. You'll see who you get for that first round pick. That that's that means a lot. Now, a lot of people are asking me, Hosh, what do you what do you think of the grade of your team in the Steelers draft? Well, before I go on about the Steelers draft, let me explain what I think of grading your team's picks. Why are you grading the team's pick? You have no idea if the player is gonna be good or not. So why are you putting a grade on the pick? How can you say that the player, that the pick is an A pick, or the pick is a C pick, or the pick is a B pick? How can you say any of that? You don't know how these guys are gonna play. You may think that you know what the team needs if you're one of these NFL experts on TV or one of these pundits that is uh, you know, saying that they know they know your team better than the team knows itself. So, you know, they know who they should be picking. Like, you know, Mel Kuyper. You know, they they think they know better than your team. You know, Warren Sharp on on Twitter. He thinks he sh he knows who your team should be picking because he's he's sitting at home telling. Yeah, and me too. I I'm the same way as disappointed I am at what the what the Steelers picks. And I'm not, I'll explain that in a minute. And you know, I could I could be that disappointed too. But what do I know? I I I'm not an NFL scout, I'm not uh uh evaluating players' potential. I just see the names they're picking, and I'm I'm booing along with the fans that are there. But I'm not gonna give my team a grade of how these players are. They haven't played one NFL game yet. How can you give them a grade? Now, you want to go back and look at a draft class that was picked two years ago. Well, let's give that draft class a grade. Then let's give all those picks a grade. How does your team's draft that you did two years ago? Let's just pick the 2024 draft. Let's pick the 2023 draft because those players have had two seasons to play in the team. Go back to your team's 2023 draft and look at the grade that the so-called experts gave it, and then look at your team's roster and see how many of those picks are still on the team. This is an example, right? I'm and I don't even know, I don't even know. I'm just throwing this team out there. Say, for example, San Diego Chargers. They had a bunch of draft picks in 2023. They've played two full seasons already. So Mel Kuyper could have gave the 2000, and I don't know what his grade was in 2020. Mel Kuyper could have gave the San Diego Chargers, that was a great draft, I gave him an A. What of what A pick? This guy, that guy, that guy, that's all they needed. Well, go to the raster right now. How many of those picks, if they had seven picks, eight picks, five, six picks, whatever, how many of those picks are still on the team? Is it an A now? Would you give it an A? Would you give it a B? C? So it's so unfair to look at the picks that your team made and give it a grade. And that's just the easiest thing to do. That's what people want. That's what people just have to do. Have to give your team a grade of the players they pick. That's just the thing to do. And I totally disagree with that. I totally think that's wrong. I don't think you should be giving anybody a grade. Because they haven't played it one game yet. And you don't know how these guys are gonna be. I love the uh the Mel Kuyper giving uh the Oakland Raiders uh an A for picking Francisco Mendoza. Well, there was no other quarterbacks in the draft to pick. What was he gonna give them? I mean, I don't understand. What were we gonna give the Oakland Raiders for their pick of Francisco Mendoza? A C? There was not any other quarterbacks to pick, and that was their number one need. They needed a quarterback. So what was the grade you were gonna give them? I mean, I don't get it. They could have been a bunch of idiots and not pick the quarterback. Would you still give them, would you have given them an A if they would have picked the edge rusher that the Jets got? Would you have given an A if they would have picked the receiver? You know, the first receiver that was off the board? Would you give them an A if they picked Caleb Downs? I don't understand. Of course you're gonna give them an A. That's what everybody wanted them to pick was Francisco Mendoza. That's who they picked. It's just it's just kills me with the grading system that you got to give your team or give a team. And you don't even know if any of these guys are gonna be good. I I you know I already think Francisco Mendoza is not gonna. And I'll compare that to something in a little bit. But to and I got I keep on putting stuff off that I'm gonna talk about. Oh, well, you're like host, you keep on saying you're gonna talk about that. I know. I'm just I got all these thoughts right now, and I'm I'm trying to get through them all. So you I you're people want to know what I thought of the Steelers draft. I got people email me, I had people texting me, I had people message me on Twitter. I I will say this. Uh, besides getting played by the Philadelphia Eagles in the draft, did everybody see that with Philadelphia? So the Steelers in their first round pick, uh, they were on the phone with, everybody's seen this already. Video is on the Twitter, videos on the YouTubes. They were on the phone with USC wide receiver Mikai Lemmon. He's supposed to be a great receiver, supposed to be very talented. And the Steelers were gonna were gonna pick him with their first round pick. And again, my thoughts? Well, you just traded for Michael Pittman. You got DK Metcalf. You need another receiver, you're gonna have a first-round pick on a receiver. Hold on. He was on the phone with dealers, general manager Omar Kahn. As he's talking to him on the phone, the Philadelphia Eagles are calling. And he says to Omar, hold on, Philadelphia is calling. Unknown to the Pittsburgh Brass and Omar Khan, Philadelphia traded up with Dallas, and they had the 20th pick, and they drafted Mikhail Lemon out of USC. That left Pittsburgh hole in the bag, and I think Pittsburgh panicked, and they took an offensive tackle, Max Illacher, as I don't know how you say this guy's name, out of Arizona State. And I think that disrupted all of the Steelers' draft plans moving forward. Now, again, you could say that the Steelers had an A draft or a B draft or a C draft, however you want to create it. But I'm just disappointed from a point of I think they drafted with the intent of knowing Aaron Rodgers is gonna win. And it really baffles my mind that they do. And again, they had 12 picks. They had 12 picks in this draft. Why didn't you use a few picks to draft up to get to make sure you got Mikhail? Did you think of that, Omar? If you were if you were really wanted Makai Lemon, you had 12 picks to play with. Why didn't you draft why didn't you trade up to get? If you really, really wanted. So I think by not getting Mikhail Lemon, I think the Steelers panicked and they got the offensive linemen they they wanted or not wanted, or they acted like they wanted. I I don't know. And again, they drafted this kid knowing that their tackle right now, who had neck surgery in the offseason, they don't know if he's going to be ready or not to start a training. And there's alleged rumors of Broderick Jones having a setback. Omar Khan is denying he had a setback, saying he's still on track. So we don't know what's really going on. But if he really did have a setback, why aren't you drafting another offensive lineman and attack? Then later, the Steelers in the third round drafted the lineman out of Iowa, that big redneck, Beavis looking dude with the red hair. Duger, Dunger, Jennings, Dunger, something like that. They drafted him. So two offensive linemen. Then in the second round, the Steelers took a receiver. In the third round, they finally took a safety. They also took a kick returner out of Iowa. They took the Navy running backslash receiver that's supposed to be like Christian McCaffrey in the later round. This is a team, right? That already has a decent offensive line. They drafted two more. They drafted two more receivers. They drafted a running back. They already have Jalen Warren and Rico Dow who they signed. They drafted another tight end, by the way. Where they already got Pat Fryer moves and Darren Allen Washington. They have an older aging defense. And they didn't address any of the issues. Yet. A lot of offensive guys. So and again, as I said in the beginning of the show, what do I do? I'm just some guy on a mic right now talking to you. But I'm just confused. What are we doing here? What are we doing with this? Was this all to help Rogers? Oh! And then they drafted QB Drew Waller out of Penn State. So now you got Drew Waller at quarterback, Will Howard at quarterback, Ohio State, which they drafted last year. They still got Mason Rudolph. And we don't know about Aaron Rodgers. So again, back to my whole thing back in January when Mike Conlin. You have a chance to start over. Start from scratch. You draft another quarterback who's the same as the other quarterback.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

Will Hollywood.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Mike McCarthy says he likes Will Hollard, but yet they drafted Drew Oler. Mike McCarthy's alleged known to like to have four quarterbacks. You could have went with Will Howard as a quarterback this year. You don't even have to have Aaron Rodgers. You could have seen how it went this year, Will Howard. And you could have waited until next year to draft draft the quarterback. For the future. And instead, you hired Mike McCarthy. You're going to rely on Aaron Rodgers. You're going to go 9-8 again. Maybe make the playoffs, maybe not. And you're going to go to the offseason next year. Still without a franchise quarterback. And because Aaron Rodgers is going to play most of the games this year, play most of the snaps because you know he's going to end up coming back, you're still not going to know what you really have with Will Howard or Drew Aller. And therefore, you're probably going to miss out on drafting a quarterback in the 2027 draft when archives. Manning could be there. Norris Sellers from South Carolina could be there. And a bunch of other named quarterbacks in the draft. Again. I don't know how these players are going to turn out they drafted. But you should have drafted. I thought you should have drafted a little bit. Again. I'm just an idiot.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

I'm like a little very hot. 9735.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

But this is confusing to me of what the Steelers are doing. I'm just really good.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

And maybe all these guys turn out to be good. Maybe all these guys end up being really good. They had they traded a couple picks because they moved up a couple times. Maybe these guys, these 10, 11 guys they ended up drafting, maybe seven or eight hit. That would be a high percentage. Maybe seven or eight of them do hit. And then three years from now, after two full seasons with these guys, we can give them an A grade. We can give them a B grade. We can't give them any grade now. You could say, you could say, hey, it's not who I thought we were going to draft. It's not who I wanted them to draft. You could be disappointed, but you can't give them a grade. You know, again, I don't know how these guys are all going to pan out in life. And that's what everybody's thinking. Everybody. Anybody's. Even the Jets had three first round picks. Jets had three first round picks. Let's just go over a few of the first round picks. Let's just go down the first round picks here on the show and just give the host's thoughts on it. So, of course, like I said in the beginning, the Raiders, of course, took Francisco Mendoza. And again, there wasn't anybody else to take. We'll get to how the Rams picked Ty Simpson here. David Bailey out of Texas Tech. Jets had the second pick. He's an edge rusher. They picked him. Now, Jeremiah Love. That's who Arizona picked at number three. He's a running back out of Notre Dame. Jeremiah Love, because of the way the NFL rookie salaries are already dictated and already set in stone, he's currently the highest paid running back in the NFL. Believe it or not. And he hasn't played a game. By being picked third, with the amount of money that these guys get, and we'll run that after I go through the list here of these players, we'll run down the list of the money the first-round picks get guaranteed. Jeremiah Love is the highest paid running back in the NFL without even having a single snap. Off fourth, Carnell Tate, a wide receiver out of Ohio State. He went to Tennessee. The Giants, with their first of two top five picks, they drafted Arvell Reese, a linebacker out of Ohio State. Then Kansas City at six. They moved up from nine to six. They traded up with Cleveland to grab that spot. They grabbed Monsour Delane, a cornerback. Of course, that takes the place out of the trade they made with the Rams. They needed a cornerback. They add that back into their mix. Washington grabbed Sonny Styles out of Ohio State with the seventh pick. We said this, Jordan Tyson drafted by the Saints out of Aragon State with the eighth pick. And Cleveland, which swapped with Kansas City. They drafted Spencer Fano with the ninth pick and offensive tackle out of Utah. The 10th pick, Miami went with their offensive tackle, Francis. I'm sorry, the Giants went out of with Miami tackle Francis. This is, I don't even know how to say his last name. With the 12th pick, Miami picked Caden Proctor, offensive tackle. And then the Rams. What a surprise. With the 13th pick, they selected Ty Simpson out of Alabama. Now, Ty Simpson was supposed to be a late first-round pick, early second-round pick quarterback, but the Rams felt like they could select him here with this pick. And I heard everybody's, here's the best part about this pick. I heard everybody's take on it. And allegedly, Sean McVay was pissed about the pick, and he and he said no, he's on the same page as Les Sneed, the general manager, and therefore he was okay with the pick afterwards, allegedly. But everybody said, well, the Rams have a Super Bowl roster. There wasn't really a need. What do you mean there wasn't really a need? Last I looked, they lost in the NFC Championship game. Last time I looked, there were that division had three teams that make the playoffs. There's always a need for talent on your team, whether it's quarterback position or not. And if you're at the 13th, if you have a chance to get one of the 13th best players out of college, and that guy can make an impact right away, and you're right on the line of teeter-tartering back and forth, of getting to the Super Bowl, getting to the NFC Championship game, you add an impact player. Now I know Matthew Stafford can't play forever. And he's going to play this season. And who knows what his future holds beyond this upcoming season. And that's why they picked Ty Simpson. Because you know the rule. It's best to draft a quarterback when you don't need one. That's what the Packers always do. That's why the Packers are always set. That's why the Steelers have been in trouble the past five seasons. They never drafted a quarterback at the end of Ben's career that would fulfill his shoes when it was time for him to retire. That's why the Steelers are in the situation they are. And that's why the Packers, who know better, are in the situation they are. Brett Barr, Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love. Boom. So the Rams are going that route. Stafford, we don't know. He's going to play one, maybe two more seasons. Best to draft the quarterback now. The only thing I disagree with with this pick is, again, you didn't make the Super Bowl. You made it to the NFC Championship game. It's not like this was the 30th pick or the 28th pick. This is a top 15 pick. You could have had top 15 talent on your team for the next four to five years. And I think you kind of wasted it drafting Ty Simpson. Baltimore drafted Pet State Guard. I don't even know how to say that guy's name. Tampa Bay drafted Reuben Bain out of Miami. Great edge rusher. You saw the way he performed in the college football playoff last year. That's what they're thinking they're going to get in that pick. The Jets picked a tight end out of Oregon with the 16th pick. Detroit needed offensive line help. They drafted a tackle, Blake Miller out of Clemson. And then our first reach of the first round was the Vikings taking Caleb Banks, a defensive tackle out of Florida. A lot of people didn't like that pick. A lot of confusion on that pick. Felt like they could have got a better player at that spot at 18. Carolina picked Munro Freeland, a tackle out of Georgia. Of course, we already talked about Philadelphia jumping ahead of the Steelers and taking Makai Lemon. The Steelers, of course, we already know their first round pick. San Diego picking Akeem Mesador, Edge out of Miami. Then Dallas back in the mix, picking Milaki Lawrence and Edge out of UCF. Then here's the Browns drafting KC Concepcion out of Texas AM, one of these hot commodity receivers. Dylan Thememan of the Bears drafted a safety out of Oregon. Texans went with Kalen Rutledge, a guard out of Georgia Tech. Miami back in the mix drafted a corner from San Diego State, Chris Johnson. The Patriots drafted an offensive tackle, Caleb Lomo out of Utah. And the Chiefs back in the first round taking a defensive tackle, Peter Woods out of Clemson. So the Chiefs taking two defensive players in the first round. Omar Cooper Jr., wide receiver, he went to the Jets. So the Jets, with three first round picks, picked an edge, a tight end, and a receiver. A lot of help that the Jets need, and they got it with three first-round picks in this draft. Keldrick Falk was the 31st pick of Tennessee. He's an edge out of Auburn. And the 32nd pick was Seattle taking Jadarian Price, a running back out of Notre Dame. Of course, he's going to replace Kenneth Walker, who moved on to free agency after his big Super Bowl performance. So Seattle back in the mix with their running back. Now, those 32 picks. Here is the guaranteed money that those 32 picks are going to get. Starting with number one, Francisco Mendoza. He's guaranteed to get of his first four years 54.6 million. That's the contract he's guaranteed to have as the number one pick. Number two pick is 52.1 million. And as we said, Arizona, grabbing that running back out of Notre Dame, he is the top paid running back in the league because why? He's the number third pick, and they have a guaranteed salary of 50.5 million. The fourth pick gets 48.7. Fifth pick, 45.6, 6th pick, it's 40. The seventh pick, it's 35.5. 8th pick gets 31.1. The ninth gets 30.8. The 10th, 29.6, 11th, 27.7, the 12th, 25 million. So between the first and the 12th pick, $25 million difference in salary. You're the first three or four picks. You're getting $50 million guaranteed.4, $23.2 for the 14th, 22.8 for the 15th. The 16th pick, 21.4, the 17th pick, 21. 18th, 20.4, 19th, 20.1. 20th pick, 20 million. 21st pick, 20 million. 22nd pick, 19.7, 23rd, 19.4, 24th, 19, 25th, 8.8, 18.5, 18.3, 18.2, and we get to the 32nd pick, 16.2 million guaranteed. So that Seattle running back that they just picked out of Notre Dame, 16.2 million guaranteed. How about two Notre Dame running backs drafted in the first round? And Jordan Zarian Price, he gets 16.2. And meanwhile, his partner in crime, Jeremiah Love, gets 50.5 million because he was the third pick. So two Notre Dame running backs making 66.4 million in uh money, guaranteed money, coming out of Notre Dame, being drafted both in the first round. So that's something there with that. Two Notre Dame. And how about all those Ohio State players getting drafted in the first round? Man, you go to Ohio State, uh, you're racking in the cash uh if you're being drafted in the first round. And everybody made a big deal about Ohio State having all those players drafted in the first round. Yeah, they had the most players drafted, but it capped out at 11. Alabama was second at 10. So while Ohio State had plenty of first round talent that quickly uh went off the shelf quickly of the rest of the draft because they didn't have a lot of players drafted after that. So, but 11 Ohio State players drafted in the first round, 10 Alabama players drafted in the first round. They were the two most schools with the most draft picks in this year's draft. Now, one other funny story that I don't know if you guys saw, uh Diego Pavia of Vanderbilt. He was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. He led his team to uh, I believe, 11, 12 wins last year. Uh he was second in the Heisman voting behind Francisco Mendoza. So he was the, he could say second or third best quarterback, because Ty Simpson was supposed to be a good quarterback. Uh Diego Pavia was second in the Heisman voting. He was seen all weekend uh with a big setup at his home, uh, had a big party, uh, had the draft on, and all kinds of people waiting uh to see when he was going to get picked. And uh, folks, uh he didn't. You imagine sitting there Thursday, Friday, Saturday, with all your family, with all your friends, with all these balloons set up in your house, who drinks, and the phone does it. And he finished second in the Heisman voting. Now, that's the first time since 2014 that a Heisman finalist wasn't drafted in the draft. And as of today, no NFL team has signed him yet. Because now, if you weren't drafted, it's you can go and sign with whoever you want. No one's called him yet to draft him. Even the LSU quarterback, Garrett Newsen hire, or whatever his name was, who was supposed to be a top draft pick. Uh, even he signed with the Chiefs after the draft was over with. He didn't get drafted, but he even signed with the Chiefs. He wasn't in the Heisman running. Maybe the video of Diego Pavia partying after the uh Heisman voting last uh January. Uh maybe uh maybe or uh last December, maybe him partying in New York City with all the nightclubs throwing up the bird and dancing and throwing an F Indiana sign out there. Maybe that didn't go over well with uh NFL executives, the way you were acting. Again, had a great season. Led Vanderbilt to uh, you know, more than 10 wins. Made them Vanderbilt exciting last year, but not drafted. I can't make this stuff up. Did any of his friends go to his birthday party? I wonder if any of his friends showed up to his birthday party. Maybe that was why he didn't get drafted. Wonder how many people showed up to his birthday party. I bet you it wasn't that many. That's why he wasn't drafted. Diego Bavia, undrafted, Heisman finalist. So look, let's let's think about that though. Hold on. And again, I I this is what I was talking about in the very beginning. I had all these thoughts in my head. If Francisco Mendoza won the Heisman, and he was selected number one overall, and Diego Pavia was the second most votes for the Heisman, and he didn't get drafted at all, then how good could Francisco Mendoza actually be? Hey, I I'm just throwing it out there. So you're you're saying that the gap between Francisco Mendoza's talent is way more than Diego Pavia's, even though Diego Pavia wasn't drafted by any team. The talent gap between the two is that much. I guess we're gonna find out. Look, I know I said my stuff about Caleb Williams saying he's a bust. He's the host is starting to turn around on Caleb Williams. I'm not there yet. But I I don't I don't know anything about the Francisco Windows. I know they went under the I know he won the. I know he had all kinds of talent around him. A great head coach and Kurt Saget. We're about to find out how good Francisco Mendoza is. And he may not play right away because you know the Raiders signed Kirk Cousins. So how long before the Mendoza kid gets in there? Does he sit a whole year under Kirk Cousins? Do the Raiders start off one and five and throw Francisco Mendoza in the in the batch? I don't know. We might have to wait a while to see if this kid is any good. Because as I said, the Raiders have Kirk Cousins. But that's just my thoughts on that. Wow, look at that. How much time I spent on the draft! Look at that. 41 minutes already. You know, you haven't been talking much football, so it's good to finally hear football.

SPEAKER_02 41:47

Yeah, I know. We know.

SPEAKER_01 41:49

Uh, of course, I gotta give an update on my NBA series parlay, and it isn't going too well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I know. Well, when the host gave the NBA series parlay out, and I gave all favorites, I knew I was in trouble. Because all favorites always don't win all. And well, I'll get when I get to the series here. Let's start in the east. Uh, Toronto, Cleveland, uh, that series is tied at two uh right now. Um I thought Cleveland would easily take care of Toronto, but that has not been the uh the case. Um Toronto seems to be hanging tough in that series. Of course, James Harden is James Harden. Um he's turned the ball over more than field goals so far in this series. Every time we see James Harden in the playoffs, he turns into uh somebody that looks like has never played basketball. And it's just this guy never learns. Uh, this guy never can step it up. I don't know if it's pressure, I don't know if he doesn't want to just keep on playing. I don't know if he just wants to be remembered as just a great regular season player. Cleveland made this trade for him, and he just can't step it up. It's the same James Harden we always see. But that series tied at two. Now, Boston and Philadelphia. Boston's leading the series two games to one. Uh, they came back and won that game the other night. They played later tonight. So hopefully Boston can keep the pedal down. Detroit Orlando. Orlando's winning this series two games to one. Uh, we haven't really seen Detroit play to all their potential. They had a great game two, but they were terrible in game one. They were getting beat all day yesterday. They mounted a great comeback, but they still couldn't pull the game off. So this series isn't looking good so far for me. I'm in trouble in this series. So, two series already, the host in trouble. Uh, the Knicks and the Hawks. Now the Knicks Knicks were down two games and one.

SPEAKER_02 44:01

They played a great game yesterday on the road four.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

Now they go back to Madison Square Garden. And despite having a terrible head coach in Mike Brown, I think the Knicks will still pull the series off. So I think that one, that series is going to be okay. We head out to the West. OKC and Phoenix. OKC doing what they do, taking care of business. SGA, 15 of 18 yesterday, uh just on fire, 42 points. Oklahoma is killing Phoenix in the series. They're going to win game four, and they're going to have some nice rest to get Jamal Williams back for uh the rest of the playoffs. Uh the surprise series is the Lakers. I thought for sure Houston would take care of business against the Lakers, but the Lakers would have no losses, no loop. And yet the Houston Rockets can't get anything. They can't make any shots, they're getting played, they're getting coached. The Lakers just seem to be having so much fun out there. They're playing as a team, they all rally around each other. Even Bronny James is getting into the act. He came in the game the other night, three-pointer, uh, Al-Yoop layup from his dad. Uh Libron is playing like he's 25. Uh, this Lakers team, uh, despite missing two other three, you know, two of three of their top scorers, not even playing, they got this series wrapped up already. There's no way Houston's coming back from getting down three games to none. And Kevin Durant. Houston went out and traded Green to Phoenix for Kevin Durant, and your team is worse. Remember last year, Houston lost the Golden State seven games, and they felt like, well, if we had Kevin Durant, we probably would have beat Golden State. Well, guess what? You got Kevin Durant, and now you're not gonna win one game in a series. So, and then again, Kevin Durant has had the goofiest NBA career, right? The only time he's ever won anything is when he played with Steph, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson and Steve Kerr and Golden State. Everywhere else, Kevin Durant hasn't won anything. Didn't win in Oklahoma when they made the uh the finals against Miami. They lost when he was in Brooklyn, they lost when he was in Phoenix. This guy, no matter where he goes, they don't win. And now he's in Houston, he's getting outplayed by Libron, and another disappointed playoff run is gonna end for Durant, Durant, and the Houston Rockets. And this is where I'm gonna lose the NBA Series parlay, right here on this series alone. And the next series, too. Uh, Minnesota and Denver, big disappointment the way the Nuggets have played. I gave you the stat at the beginning of the NBA Series parlay, how Denver had the number one scoring offense, the most efficient offense in the NBA. Yet they're losing three games to one to Minnesota. And Minnesota just lost the bread man to an Achilles uh tear. They just lost the ant man to a hyper-extended knee. They lost both those guys in game four, yet Denver still couldn't beat them. And now they go back to Denver down three games to one. And I don't think Denver can win three games in a row, uh, especially against uh this Minnesota team, which again, they're playing together. They seem to be having fun playing together, and there's no way that Denver can just rally around and come back and win this series. I think Minnesota's got that. So that's two series that I thought were gonna be winners with uh Houston and Denver. Uh both are gonna lose, and the Lakers in Minnesota look like they're gonna move on. And Portland and San Antonio, uh Wemby missed game three, but San Antonio still won. They're playing this game right now, currently, and I believe the game was tied the last time I looked, even though Portland had a big lead in this game. So uh I don't know what how Portland is gonna uh do in the rest of the series, but I think San Antonio will still win this series regardless of Wemby getting that concussion. So I'm gonna get right now it looks like a little trouble in the Toronto, Cleveland, a little trouble right now in Detroit, Orlando, but I think Detroit and Cleveland will still pull this series out, but I'm not gonna win the Houston Lakers. I'm not winning Denver, Minnesota, therefore I'm gonna lose the NBA Series parlay. And like I said, that's what you get for playing all favorites. But that's what's happening right now in the NBA playoffs. Uh again, like I said, there's been some exciting games, and then there's been those games where you're like, holy cow, these three-pointers kill the NBA game the way it's played. But hey, that's just how it is. But if you enjoy the uh playoffs, you're enjoying that. Oh, and then by the way, there's NHL playoffs going on that we haven't even talked about yet. Um, but uh we'll get to that someday on one of our shows. But uh uh nothing really exciting going on in NHL playoffs to talk about, right? I mean, I know it's ex- uh some of the games have been exciting, but uh we'll get we'll talk more about that when they get to the to the next round because there's some big series leads already uh in some of these. Flyers are already winning three games and one, Avalanche already winning three games and none, Buffalo's winning three games and one already. So a lot of big series uh in the NHL playoffs are almost already all over. So we'll talk about more about the NHL playoffs and the Stanley Cup uh in the next. But uh that's what I have for you on this show. Uh that's my uh draft review of what I thought my uh you know what happened this past weekend. Uh, you know, NBA series parlay and uh what's happening.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

Hope you guys all had a great week. Hope you guys enjoy uh weeks ahead.

SPEAKER_01 50:15

Enjoy watching the game, whether you're watching whatever you watch, NHL, NBA, baseball going on. Hey, just enjoy yourself. The weather's getting nicer for a lot of us, a lot of you people across the east. So if you all go out there and enjoy some golf or water sports or whatever you people do, you know, out there. But uh again, always appreciate you tuning in this show, dialing up the show on whatever device it is Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, Podcast Eck, Amazon Music, whatever. I appreciate the host does. And I can't think more record numbers on the last show. Record numbers on 542. And I got nothing nobody else to thank you listening. You guys have been great. As always, you know where to get this show beyond the other stuff I just mentioned?

SPEAKER_02 51:08

That's on my Twitter feature at host LGF72, Twitter, X, whatever. Again, it's nice to be important, but more important to the night.

SPEAKER_01 51:19

You know the whole screen. This is the option.