JB's Sports Podcast
JB's Sports Podcast
Solo Sports Talk: NBA Playoffs, Michigan's Latest Controversy, and NFL Trades
Basketball takes center stage as we dive deep into the compelling matchups shaping the NBA playoff landscape. The Denver Nuggets are showcasing their championship DNA against Oklahoma City, with Russell Westbrook's evolution into a self-aware "force of nature" off the bench proving particularly fascinating. His acceptance of a reduced role while maintaining maximum effort represents a remarkable growth story in a league where ego often derails careers.
The Warriors-Timberwolves series has been dramatically altered by Steph Curry's hamstring injury, while the Celtics continue mystifying fans by building 20-point leads against the Knicks only to collapse through an almost religious adherence to three-point shooting. When a team shoots 25% from beyond the arc on nearly 100 attempts across two games, questions must be asked about strategic flexibility.
Beyond the hardwood, Michigan football continues making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Their self-imposed suspension for coach Sherone Moore conveniently avoids their matchup with Oklahoma (Moore's alma mater), replacing accountability with calculation in the aftermath of their sign-stealing scandal.
NFL movement rounds out our coverage with Derek Carr's medical retirement ending an 11-year career that never quite matched its early promise, while the George Pickens trade represents a fascinating risk-reward scenario for both Pittsburgh and Dallas. The Steelers gain draft capital for a player unlikely to remain beyond his rookie deal, while the Cowboys bet they can harness Pickens' immense talent while managing his emotional volatility.
Whether you're a die-hard basketball fan or just looking to stay informed across the sports landscape, this episode offers insightful analysis and passionate perspective on the stories that matter most this week.
welcome back to the jb sports podcast. Today is saturday, may the 10th and we are back for another podcast and I say we, like a royal wheat type of thing, it is just going to be a boy today. Uh, just me couldn't get jason to do it because we he had other things to do couldn't make the times necessarily work out. But I'm here. You're gonna hear me ramble on a little bit about all the stuff happening this week in sports. Honestly, not all that much. We have the nba playoffs going right on right now that I've been paying pretty close attention to not watching necessarily every second, but you know watching enough to kind of get a vibe of how things are going. But the game game last night was crazy with Denver um, and then a few. I wanted to talk about the Michigan thing and then I also wanted to go into a couple of NFL storylines, including the pick and straight, which obviously, if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, or at least a couple episodes, you'll understand I'm a steelers fan, so I have a a vested interest into how that whole thing kind of played out. So I will definitely talk about that um. So without further ado, let me go ahead and get on into things. So let's start with the nba stuff. I'll start with the western conference, because that game did happen, the. The latest game happened last night. Thunder Nuggets Denver currently leads that whole series 2-1. And this was after a game Game 1, where the Nuggets pulled out a very close one.
Speaker 1:Let me see, make sure I got the score here. In Game 1, they pulled out a 121 to 119 win, uh, and that was off a game winner, uh, from why am I forgetting his name? Oh no, uh, gordon, uh, aaron gordon. So he pulled off the game winner in that game. For them to get the game one win and then in game two was a straight up blowout in the nuggets favor. I mean sorry in the Nuggets' favor, I mean sorry in the Thunders' favor where they blew about 149-106.
Speaker 1:And really the talk between Game 2 and Game 3 was what game is more indicative of what the rest of this series will look like? Was it Game 1, where the Nuggets did everything Jokic had a 30-point triple-double where it seemed like the Nuggets were able to just pull it out barely? Or is this series going to be closer to what Game 2 was, where Oklahoma City has been the best team all year and they just come out and blow the Nuggets out. So the question is, what is this series actually going to be like? And it's based off Game 3. It's kind of like what Game 1 ended up being, where the Nuggets did end up closing out again last night. The game was back and forth pretty much all night last night. Every time OKC would get a little bit ahead, the Nuggets would come roaring back and, honestly, the Nuggets it's an all-around type of what is the word I'm looking for? Like everybody is contributing.
Speaker 1:Jamal murray has really found his stride in the series so far. He scored 27 last night. Uh, yokich is doing yokich things he had. Uh, he had 20 points, freaking, freaking 16 rebounds, 6 assists. So he did what he usually does, even if it's not a bunch of points. He's filling up the stat sheets with a bunch of things that he's doing.
Speaker 1:You have Aaron Gordon had 22 points. He went 4 of 6. Michael Porter Jr, which is like the X factor last night he went 5 of 6 from 3. He went absolutely insane last night, even with the uh, the left shoulder injury. It's not his shooting shoulder, so it's not necessarily as bad as you would think, but you can definitely tell he's hurt out there playing and, but he played his best game that he's played, probably the whole playoffs. Last night even Christian Brown had eight points, but it was a good eight points hit. He had a couple threes like it is a Nuggets.
Speaker 1:So here's the thing when you look at this series in particular, okc is the more talented team. Obviously they have Shea, which he didn't necessarily have his greatest output last night he only had 18 points, 13 rebounds. But they have Isaiah Hartenstein, who is kind of like the do-it-all type of dude, doing all the tough things, not really scoring a lot but getting a lot of rebounds, playing some good defense. Chet Holmgren had an okay night last night. He had 18 points, 16 rebounds, but it's just to a certain degree you could tell his thinness. If he was a stronger dude at the height that he has, he would probably be an even more unstoppable player. Because he's that thin. It just seems like there's some plays that he should be able to make. If he just had the requisite strength for a guy that plays the position that he does, he'd be able to do more. But even still, there are times where he kind of puts the ball on the floor he's able to make some moves that you do not see a lot of centers being able to make, so like, even with what he is now, he's still an amazing player, even with some of the shortcomings that he has.
Speaker 1:Jalen Williams he was like the star for OKC last night. He had 32 points, he had five assists. Um, he had a few rebounds too. So, like this game was really back and forth. It got into overtime. Uh, jokic did have a chance to hit a game winner at the end of regulation. He ended up getting a shot up. He did have a hand in his face, so that wasn't necessarily open or anything like that. It's from the from the left corner wasn't necessarily a three, but it was like a long two didn't hit the shot. It maybe might have been three, I'm not sure, but I don't really care to check. It was a long shot. He tried. It had a hand in his face, couldn't really get it in Ends up going to overtime and the Nuggets kind of came through and they took care of business in overtime. They kind of took control and never gave it back.
Speaker 1:And I did have to mention this, russell Westbrook, because obviously if you listen to this podcast for a minute. Me and Jace are really big fans of Russell Westbrook, even if he isn't necessarily a player that everybody would have liked him to be when he was playing early on in his career. But I think this is the thing that's gotten me right. During one of the post-game interviews I'm not sure if this series or the last series he called himself a force of nature and when he said that he's like and it kind of made sense and this is what made me, made it so profound, because he said I do everything, I play with relentless effort. I always put it out there on the floor. If I can make some buckets, if I make, I get steals, it might come with a missed shot or two. And that's when he said and I was like you know what? That comes with a sense of perspective that he has and that like self-awareness that I don't think he necessarily had his whole career. Because, again, when you're younger and you're kind of like the guy and you're hitting all the, getting all the triple double stats and people are looking at you and saying you're not necessarily the best of basketball player, you can look at that and be like, hey, what? But I'm doing all this like, why are you sitting there doubting me for the things I may not be doing as well?
Speaker 1:And now that Russell Westbrook's kind of like on the back nine of his career. He's a guy coming off the bench, not necessarily starting for Denver, but like every time he's on the court he he's running around everywhere. He's kind of like the uh, the safe, but I hate to say it's like every type of thing. He's a safety, just kind of doing everything. He's not necessarily hitting shots all the time, but he's shooting threes a lot better than what he has prior in his career. I'm not going to say magically, because obviously he's been working on it, but he's shooting threes a lot better. He's making plays, getting steals, getting assists, he's just everywhere, man.
Speaker 1:And I have to give him a lot of credit for accepting the role that he's been in, especially with this Nuggets team. I think he's accepted it more than anything any other time in his career. And then I also think that he's just trying to find ways to make impacts on games and he does that and he does it in a way that only he can Like. He just does all the extra work that nobody is willing to do, but he does it with relentless effort and he does it. Maybe he doesn't have the same athleticism he once had, but like he's still a great athlete in comparison to a lot of basketball players out there and he gives us all out there and like when he is out there doing his thing you can still tell that it's making a difference, even if it's not necessarily on the scoreboard all the time. He's out there doing his best, even if it comes with a few mistakes, and I think from Wes Westbrook's part that comes with a self-awareness that I really admire and it was refreshing to hear and I'm not necessarily saying that everybody should have been doubting him his whole career and like really talking about all the mistakes he's ever made, because again, sometimes you just need to be able to accept a player for who he is. But I also think that now, with him playing as long as he has understanding a new role, I just think having the perspective and the acceptance of what you are, I almost think can like even more ingrain you as to what you can do best and maybe help him play his best basketball in the role that he has. If that makes any sense, any sort of sense, I'm not sure, but that's what I have on that situation.
Speaker 1:But this series is probably the close like. This is probably the best series in the semifinals. This is probably the best series as of right now, not only when it comes to the teams being good but also just having tight games so far. Obviously there's the one blowout in game two, but those other two games have been absolutely amazing. Next series we got is the Timberwolves and Warriors.
Speaker 1:This one is kind of a weird one, michael, I'll lie to you. You start out with Timberwolves coming in. It looked like the Timberwolves had this series, like they were the ones that were kind of on the. They had the pole position to win this series Coming in, coming off of beating the Lakers everybody was really into the Timberwolves and saying that they have the youth. Anthony Edwards looks like he's ready to take that next step to becoming one of the phases of the league and based off the first series against the Lakers, I don't blame anybody for having that type of opinion. Then you have on the other side Golden State Warriors coming in. The new Warriors with Steph, with Jimmy Butler, with Draymond, kind of come in doing their thing. It's different from what they have been in the past. But they managed to get into round two and it's like, hey, this should be a pretty cool series. Let's see here, make sure I got this right.
Speaker 1:Game one was like kind of a stinker, if I'm being totally honest with you. Uh, it was, both teams really couldn't get anything going early. The game ended up being 99 to 88 with a golden state warriors win. Buddy hill was the leading scorer in that game. I think Steph Curry actually got hurt in this game, ended up having to leave I think that was teammates arrived at halftime, yeah. So he had to leave early on in the first half with a hamstring injury. That he won't be back from till, potentially sometime later on next week.
Speaker 1:But the problem is is that without him? The question is, is that whether Golden State can really hang on and even win a game before that even happens, like by the time he comes back? They say the 14th is probably his earliest date that he'll be able to return. Let me look at the games that they have scheduled here. That would be by game five would be the earliest he can come back, and that's if everything goes perfectly. If by that point the, the wolves, could have a three one lead by that point based on how, because game two happened and the Wolves won at 117 to 93 and I think that game was only as close as it was because, uh, anthony Edwards ended up leaving in the middle of that game too. He ended up coming back and playing well in the second half.
Speaker 1:But, like the Wolves like are a much better like the Warriors just do not have the amount of scoring that they need to have in order to face the Timberwolves as long as they kind of keep playing, playing how they want to play, but it's just they just don't have enough. The Warriors don't without Steph Curry as, like, their main guy being the main off, even if he is not scoring a bunch of points, he just he has so much gravity to him you have to pay so much attention to him as a defense. It opens it up everybody else. But without a guy like him on the court, their best shooter is Buddy Heald. Jimmy Butler isn't much of a shooter but he's still an offensive player. But he's just not that type of player that really adds space for everybody else. He's more of like the gritty, go grind it out, get a bunch of free throws type of guy. Obviously, draymond isn't much of the offensive force. He'll do it every once in a while, but he's more of a defensive guy, getting technical fouls and, uh, flagrant fouls practically every game, which I have to talk about that after game two he had a whole thing about calling him an angry black man and I'm like maybe he's overstating it a bit. But it's just.
Speaker 1:The question is, do the Warriors have enough to even hang on until Steph Curry comes back? And I really do doubt it. It's just the the Timberwolves are just better in a lot of ways. They're younger, they're more athletic, they have size, not only like girth, they have with height. And if Anthony Edwards is able to stay healthy and because he ended up leaving that second game too with the ankle injury and then coming back and playing well, but as long as they have everything going the way they want to, they should be able to beat this Warriors team without much of an issue. It's just can the Warriors hang on until game five? And even with Steph coming back, will he be able to be fully healthy and be able to go? The question with hamstring injuries man is as soon as it hits, hits once. It's one of those lingering things that, if you tweet, if you do the wrong movement, it can go bad again or even get worse.
Speaker 1:It's just the whole thing that I just I'm not sure, even with things going perfectly for staff like, if they're going to be able to pull out this series against the timberwolves. These games might be ugly a little bit because the timberwolves go into like a little bit of a thing where they just stop being able to score the way they should be able to. But you know otherwise, it's like the Timberwolves have a decided advantage of the series, especially without Steph, and I think their main goal should be to win as many of these next probably heck. Their best case scenario probably win the next two games and then be up 3-1 before Steph even has a chance to come back to where they're going to have to pull off an all-time rest of the series in order to come back and win it, while the Timberwolves only have to win one more game with Steph out there on the court, and that's even if Steph can come out and be his best self, which I highly doubt, with it being a hamstring injury. So this one can be a little bit of a weird one. I do kind of say that Timberwolves should be able to win this series, especially without having to step for the next two games. But you never know, crazier things have happened.
Speaker 1:Next series we got is the Cavs and Pacers. I think Game 3 did happen last night. It did happen last night. I don't know why I'm acting as if I didn't know that. So currently the Cavs are winning the series Sorry, indy. The Pacers are leading the series 2-1. First two games the first game the Pacers were just able to really. They really rushed the Cavs and like they were able to win that game pretty much going away. It just seemed like and here's what I have to say I think the best player on that Pacers team is Tyrese Halliburton and again, if you've been watching him play over this whole playoff run, I don't think you can much say anything different. This whole playoff run, I don't think you can much say anything different.
Speaker 1:He's a 6'5 point guard, does everything. He can shoot, put the ball on the floor. He can make plays for everybody else. He can also be a playmaker himself. He can drive to the basket Like he can do everything you necessarily need him to do in order to win. And I think they have a bunch of shooters around him. They're playing well and as long as Tyrus Halliburton is able to get to the bucket, he really does open up everything else like shots for everyone else, and I think you put that in display in the first two games, especially in that game two, where he ended up hitting a game winner at with like absolutely I think it was with little time left there in this in game two. Let me see here he has the end regulation. He ended up getting fouled, going for two free throws, hitting the first one, and then I'm not sure if he actually like actually meant the miss to set the second free throw or not, but he did and then ended up getting the rebound. Somehow, with the with the ball getting tipped to him, he comes out and then goes and hits the shot to win the game, like I think I heard I think I heard a stat that he was not like 10 for 11 in uh clutch shots in the playoffs. Like. He's been absolutely amazing for this Pacers squad and he's been doing everything he needs to do.
Speaker 1:Man, I think this Pacers team is a very good team and but the problem was in that second game the Cavs didn't have like three of their top players. I think they were missing Darius Garland. I think they're also were missing. Let me see here box score they were missing Mobley. They were missing DeAndre Hunter and they were missing Mobley. They were missing DeAndre Hunter and they were missing Darius Garland. So like all those guys were out due to injury and the fact the game was that close in the second game kind of makes it like, well, the Pacers should have won that game a lot more cleanly than they did, but they didn't.
Speaker 1:The game was pretty close and the next thing you know, game three happens last night and the Cavs won that game without much of an issue. They kind of dominated a lot I hate to say dominated, but they won 126-104. So the Cavs were able to keep a comfortable lead. They had all their guys back, they weren't missing anybody due to injury and then they were able to win the game pretty comfortably. So the question is, for the rest of these games, how is this one going to go? This one might be, might be the other very close series they could possibly have.
Speaker 1:Game three was just a little bit of a weird one. Uh, not a weird one, it was everybody going into the series. That game was more what everybody thought it was going to be. Donovan Mitchell was absolutely amazing last night. I think he had like 43 points. He was absolutely unstoppable, um powering the Cavs to that win.
Speaker 1:I think this series definitely will go back and forth. It might even go seven, if I'm being totally honest with you. But very good series, two very good teams. The Cavs are definitely the more talented team, but it's just the Pacers, are they? I think the Pacers just play as a very cohesive squad that knows Everybody knows their roles. Tyrese Halliburton is making big plays when he has to and I think that just makes it a very good series for everybody involved. But yeah, it's a very fun series to watch. If you're not watching, you probably should. It's a very, very fun game-by-game to watch, for sure. And then, last but not least, you have the Knicks and the Celtics. The Knicks currently lead that series 2-0. Game 3 is actually happening today. I think the other Game 3 that's happening today is the Timberwolves and Warriors. So with the Knicks and Celtics, Knicks are up 2-0.
Speaker 1:This one's the weird one for me because I have my stepdad who was a Knicks fan. I was talking to him the other day and I don't necessarily want to get into all the particulars about this series, because obvious, like the biggest thing for this series is that in both games that they've played so far, it's been in the Celtics building and they have gotten to the point in both of those games where they've had 20 point leads in both. In both of them and they have systematically like combusted and allowed the Knicks to come back. In both of those games the Knicks were able to pull them out in both of them. So a lot of the talk coming out of both of these games is what's going on with the Celtics.
Speaker 1:And I think in the first game I think the Celtics set the record for the amount of missed three point missed three point shots in a game which was previously held by the Houston Rockets. Let me get cause. I want to make sure I have it right. So I'm pretty sure in the first two games they they attempted a hundred threes and it only hit 25% of them. Again, 25% is not necessarily the craziest like percentage. Obviously you want to be anywhere in the 30 to 40% in order for it to be really be worth its salt when it comes to attempting them. But they have tempted so many, which I, which is what I think has made it as bad as it has been.
Speaker 1:Game one Knicks won it 108 to 105 again, with the Boston Celtics having a two second half lead. I think it was the second half of like 20 plus points. Let me make sure I have that here. So, yeah, there was a point in the third quarter where Boston was up by 20 and they managed to heck. They went into the halftime with a 61 to 45 lead and then the Celtics kept going for all these three-point shots and again I get that's what got them to win their championship last year and that's what they did for most of this regular season this year. That was what they did. Is that, hey, we're going to be shooting a lot more threes and you were going to make a lot more than you. That has been their thing.
Speaker 1:But I think, to a certain degree, once you get to the point where you're getting to these 20 point leads, you have to start taking the easy shots and I'm like, when you have Jason Tatum, when you have Jalen Brown and Jalen Brown has not been playing to what he was last year on their championship runs they had, but Jason Tatum has, like, released up to the playoffs up to this point, but these last two games he just has not been playing all that well. He's been going for a lot of these crazy three-point shots. He probably doesn't need to and honestly he should be going to the bucket a lot more. He's 6'8, he's over 200 pounds. Like he has all the skills in this necessary to go be the best player out there, even with you having a certain philosophy that you like to stick to. If you Jason Tatum, you should be willing to have the power to go do something different if you think that can lead your team to a win.
Speaker 1:Let me make sure I have the team stats here because I want to say how many. So in game one, field goal percentage for the Celtics was 35%, but they went 50,. No, sorry, that was 35% from the field for the Celtics, but they went 15 of 60 from three point range that they shot 25% from three. In the in game one, again setting the record for amount of missed field goals in a game missed three pointers in a play, I think in a playoff game or just in a game in general, I'm not sure, but it was definitely a playoff. It was definitely a record for the playoffs and then in game two, where the Knicks won 91 to 90, the team stats were again the Celtics shot 25 from three, where they went 10 of 40.
Speaker 1:So I think everybody that has watched the series has had the question like, hey, if you're not, if you and they're getting a lot of open shots, they're like it's not, like all these shots are being contested and they're next to playing perfect defense on them. It is, the Celtics are just getting a lot, putting up a lot of shots, a lot of them being open, have are, and a lot of them are good shots and they're just not hitting them. And especially if playing this way, you're able to build up these 20 point leads. But once you have them, shouldn't you be taking the easier shots and just trying to? You have a cushion, just keep the cushion and try to be able to win these games. And heck, both games came down to the Celtics having the ball at the end of the game to try to hit a shot to win it. And it hasn't gone well for them in both times, especially in game two, with Tatum having the ball in his hand to try to go ahead and hit the game-winning shot and it just didn't happen. He get the ball, he didn't get a shot up with how that went.
Speaker 1:So there's a two-sided argument here. Is this about what the Celtics are not doing or is this about what the Knicks are doing? And I think if you look at both these teams from top to bottom, you could say the Celtics are the better team, and I heard this way somebody. The way somebody put it is that when you are shooting this many threes, it almost seems like a gimmick. And if you're having this as a plan, like when the Rockets did it against uh, this was many years ago when the James Harden led Rockets was doing it against the Warriors with KD and all them, and they were doing all this with against the Steph Warriors and they were missing all these threes if you're a team that is not as good as the other team, you have to do something. That, like, maybe has a lot of variance.
Speaker 1:And again, three shots, because of how far those shots are away, there's a lot of variance to them. Even if you try to hit them perfectly, things can go wrong. There's just a lot more things that can happen when you're not as close to the basket shooting a shot. If you are the better team. Why do you have to go this far to try to shoot these many shots that have so much more variance? To try to shoot these many shots that have so much more variance?
Speaker 1:And I think that made sense to me when I heard it, and I'm not sure if I'm putting it in a way that makes sense to anybody that might be listening to this. But like, why, if you're building these 20-point leads, if you're Jason Tatum, or if you're not the coach for Missoula, for the Celtics, are you like, hey, let's just try to get buckets the best way we can and not necessarily keep shooting three point shots for the hell of it or because that's been our way? Like there's this difference in between having a philosophy and just doing and just dying on your own sword on something that doesn't make any sense. And I think they have well gone, especially in these first two games, have well gone past just sticking to a philosophy. They're dying on a sword they don't need to die on, especially when you have a guy like Jason Tatum that can go and get those two-point shots for you. He can be the guy to initiate offense. That'll be able to get you easier shots and they don't have to always be threes and I don't know.
Speaker 1:I just think when and I have to give the Knicks a little bit of credit here because even if the Celtics are not playing their best ball and they're opening themselves up for all these comebacks to happen in these first two games, the Knicks have to be ready to take those opportunities and take advantage of them when they happen. And when they have been with Jalen Brunson at the helm, he has been their offensive guy. He's been like, he's been the best player on the court for the most part, but in these first two games because when it's time to go out there and get buckets and win games, he does what he has to do and I think for a lot of his career I think he has been the guy that everybody has looked at as being the overach, think he has been the guy that everybody has looked at as being the overachiever, like, being the size that he is, he's an undersized guard, he's he's the one that goes out there and like and I think I heard this somewhere else like list to a podcast that, like Jalen Brunson is playing like in he's coming up by his bootstraps and like Jason Tatum is playing with like some French loafers on, and it seems like just Brunson, when the time comes, is able to go out there and play his best ball, and it's just Tatum is not necessarily doing that right now and Brunson, in, when it's time to go and hit buckets late on the game to go ahead and win, he's doing that and Tatum isn't. And again, it's like this has gone into Brunson being like probably one of the more clutch players this season when it comes to when it's time to go and get points to win a game. He's definitely been a lot better throughout this year, and especially throughout this series, than anybody else on the court.
Speaker 1:So I just I don't necessarily want to like, take away any credit from the Knicks, but I just think that the Celtics there's a reason these 20-point leads keep happening and these 20-point leads keep getting erased. And I'm like, if the Knicks are the better team and I asked my stepdad this when we talked about it do you think your Knicks are the better team? And I think at first he's like no, we're outworking them, we're doing the things they're not willing to do, and I'm like, but at the same time, I'm like if the Celtics played how they needed to play like you guys wouldn't have won those games. I don't know, I don't necessarily want to take all the credit away, but I'm like you can't help but be like. The Celtics are really choking in these first two games.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I'm not the most eloquent basketball talker of all time, but I just have a lot of doubt. I doubt the Celtics for kind of being the better team but kind of playing like they're not and like shooting all these unnecessary threes when they don't necessarily have to. And I doubt the Knicks for, even with them building up and like coming back from these deficits, they keep digging them. So they keep putting themselves in these deficits and not necessarily putting themselves there. The Celtics are putting them in these deficits and then the Celtics keep letting them out. And I'm like again, I don't know, I don't know how to parse. If I had to put a percentage on it I would say I'd probably say 60-40. It's more on the Celtics than it is on the Knicks. The Knicks are winning these games. The Celtics are doing more bad than the Knicks are good.
Speaker 1:I don't know, maybe it's me being too negative about the whole situation, but it's just the way I feel about it. I don't know, it's just. I guess Game 3 will tell you that's going to be happening today. But it's just. The Celtics have to adjust at some point, right, or they're just going to keep going and the next thing, you know, the three-point shots that they have open are just start hitting and then everything changes in the series. But it just hasn't happened.
Speaker 1:At this point I think the Celtics have to be willing to open themselves up to maybe changing their mind on some of this stuff to try to get some better output. But I'm just like I don't know it output, but I'm just like I don't know it's. It's hard to tell them what they're doing is wrong when it won them a championship last year. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. But let's just be honest if this series ends up going how it's been going and the Knicks end up winning it, the Celtics might be a team that might be just pieced apart because they already under a new ownership, because prior ownership didn't want to start paying the salaries they had to pay in order to kind of keep, put this, keep the scene together, and that I'm guessing new ownership will probably want to not pay as much in salaries to try to know make more money, because that's kind of how the business works. So, especially if they're coming off of like when they're losing the second round, I don't think any just any basketball fan or Celtics fan ever thought that the Celtics would be taken out in the second round by the Knicks from how the season went. I'm just like you know a lot of things can change if things don't go how they need to for Boston in this series. Who knows, we'll see with Game 3. If anything changes I'm guessing probably not, but you know it thinks and go perfectly well and then the Celtics kind of start hitting their threes and win this game and they end up winning the series. But uh, we'll talk about it as we need to, uh, probably be talking about more about these NBA games going on the next pod.
Speaker 1:So that's it on my NBA talk. I don't get. I don't get to talk about the NBA like this with Jace here, because with Jace sitting across me and I start talking NBA, his eyes start glazing over. He might actually fall asleep because he doesn't care about basketball whatsoever, especially NBA ball. And I care about it a little bit more, but not so much more that I'm mad at him about it because I can totally understand why he's not necessarily the biggest fan of it. But I'm also like I care about it enough to talk about it because I it does. I bet on the game, so I kind of keep keeps my interest and I'm like sitting there watching him. So I feel at least an obligation to try to talk about the games as much as I can. You know I I can be totally honest and say I'm not the most eloquent when talking about NBA basketball, but at least I try. I at least want to, because I care about it enough to go ahead and talk about in the pod With the NBA talkover. I did have other things I wanted to talk about. I guess this is the time to talk about the NCAA, and not really necessarily the NCAA in general, because there's not much to talk about when it comes to it. Spring practice is over. I think in the next month or so we'll start getting into summer ball for college football teams and all that.
Speaker 1:But the biggest news of this week was Michigan. Once again and let me start off before I go into what the news was and all of that, let me kind of obviously I'm an Ohio State fan. If you listen to the pod for a while, you know that already. If not, this is your first time listening. I guess it's a good way to start.
Speaker 1:I'm an Ohio State fan and obviously I hate Michigan to my core and me being the age I was, is for a lot of my early years. Being an Ohio State fan, I experienced a lot of prosperity. I could say I didn't really start caring about Ohio State football until like 2000 and let's say, 2005, 2006, something like that. Everything before that I was kind of either too young for I just didn't care. But like by the time I started caring about Ohio State and for most of my fandom, ohio State really dominated Michigan in general won a few national titles, including this year, and they were on like a 15-2 run, I think, since 2000.
Speaker 1:Until these last four years have happened and Michigan cheated and that's been a whole thing. That's been talked about plenty, if not on this pod but in sports in general. I don't think anybody can really deny that Michigan had their sign-stealing scandal and it was a big operation led by Connor Stallions and everybody can, like you can, question whether how much it helped, but I think I don't know if you even question that, because if you know what plays are coming, it's a huge deal. And I think them cheating, robbed, see, like Ohio State of two years worth of playing for, like they robbed two years from Ohio State. They robbed two years worth of CJ Stroud winning two Heismans that he potentially could have had because he had the Heisman League going into both the Michigan games and because they lost, cj Stroud didn't get the chance to win a Heisman, like he probably should have.
Speaker 1:Big Ten championships for Ohio State not, and they were just cheating us Ohio State. They were cheating it's everybody on their schedule and they finally ended up winning their championship in that last year where they, jim Harbaugh, took a two-game suspension, was it? Yeah, it was a two-game suspension from the Big Ten and then by the end of that season they ended up winning the national championship. This was two seasons ago. They still end up winning the national championship, which I guess in those later games, especially after the penn state and ohio state game to end their season, they were playing clean because they couldn't cheat anymore, because they were already getting punished, and they ended up winning the championship. But I've always contested that they're cheating is what got them to the point where they could keep their players around to build the team that was very veteran and was able to go out and be the best team out there.
Speaker 1:But again, I'm not going to rehash that because if you want to go back and listen to me talk about Michigan cheating, it's Ohio State and everybody else you can probably go find a podcast and be talking about it. What I wanted to talk about was of recently. Everybody's gone. Hardball's gone, the defense coordinator's gone, like a lot of the guys apart, at least coaching wise, a part of that regime that was doing all the cheating. They're all gone. Sharon Moore is the only one that's left standing. All those players that benefited from the cheating are gone.
Speaker 1:And I'm not going to sit here and talk about whether the players deserve to get punished when they were, when they were cheating, because I'm not sure whether they knew or not and I think to a certain degree they did. But again, I can't necessarily prove that, but I know the coaching staff knew about it and I think that when people were like you can't punish the kids because they didn't know, or you can't punish the kids that are there now because they didn't know that the they weren't a part of any of that and they didn't benefit from the cheating. But I think, to a certain point, I think the people that were at the helm that allowed the cheating to happen and co-signed it because, again, when they were doing all the sign stealing stuff, somebody was paying for these people to be going to these games and going to seal signs, including connor stallions. The team was paying for that, like it was the university paying for that. He was connor signs was not paying off his own dime to do that. It wasn't at, he wasn't making enough money to do that and he was getting help from the university. So I think any punishment that comes down from the ncaa or anything like that now is because the university should take a punishment for that and if something that happens, if they get a punishment, the players that are there have an opportunity to leave. That is a stipulation in college football right now, that if your team gets hit with any type of sanctions or anything like that from not being able to play in bowls and stuff the players have an opportunity to leave and I think these players are smart enough to read news headlines and understand that some a cloud like this is over that university, and I think they have, and they know what they're getting themselves into when they go inside to go play there and they'll have their opportunity to leave if something does come down.
Speaker 1:So, getting to the news of this past week, michigan, with a looming hearing coming, I think, in early June, michigan has decided to give themselves like to give Sharon Moore a two-game suspension. And if you're giving the two-game suspension, cool, fine, you're going to start the season off with a two-game suspension. And if you're giving the two-game suspension, cool, fine, you're going to start the season off with a two-game suspension. And okay, so it should be game one and two. Right To start the year, you get a two-game suspension. That'd be good. He won't be able to coach, won't be able to coach in the games, won't be able to coach at practice Okay, fine. But that is not the case. What actually happens is they suspended Sharon Moore for game three and four.
Speaker 1:And if you don't know about the situation, why would you do that? And the reason is let me make sure I have get the schedule here. So I don't want to. So I want to be super dumb. Uh, big 10, super dumb, big 10 schedule. Why would they go for weeks three and four. So those weeks? So let's just why not weeks one and two to start the year?
Speaker 1:Week one is against New Mexico at home. Cool, fine, that is a game where Michigan should be able to roll without much of an issue. But the problem is game two against going to Oklahoma, where Michigan plays in week two. Why does that matter? Is because Sharon Moore, apparently that is his alma mater, that was the place where he played his college football. And I have a feeling that Michigan decided to give them their coach, a two game suspension. They were talking about it, but Sharon Moore put up a fit and he said, no, I don't want to not be able to coach in that game against Oklahoma. That's my own water and that's. And he put up a fit about it. But so Michigan's like okay, fine, sharon Moore doesn't want to miss that game. How about we dismiss three and four? Because, again, this is a self-imposed suspension. This is like slapping yourself on the wrist and hoping that that'll appease the NCAA and say, hey, we're, we're punishing our own guys, so hopefully you won't go as hard on us.
Speaker 1:And those weeks three and four that Sherone Moore should would potentially be missing is against Central Michigan and against Nebraska. Again, the Central Michigan game really doesn't matter, but the only other downside is that they're playing at Nebraska and I think they Sherone Moore and the University of Michigan decided that if they had to miss two games, not missing the Oklahoma game would probably be the bigger deal, because the Oklahoma game will be the bigger game in general. And that's where my bullshit meter goes off. And this is where I fell as an Ohio State fan okay, because I've been on the Michigan train, where they're cheaters, they deserve to get punished and why they get to win a national championship without any repercussions, for when we know they cheated and the longer we got away from it.
Speaker 1:And Ohio State managed to win their national championship championship this year and I, I'm not gonna lie, I started forgetting about Michigan altogether because I kind of sit like I think Jack Sawyer he was on the podcast with Big Ben, big Ben's podcast, uh, because he plays for the Steelers. Now Big Ben asked him would you rather win against Michigan and lose the national championship or lose against Michigan and win the national championship? And I think Jack Sawyer said he'd rather win a national championship because that's the goal that you go out to win is go out and win championships, and for all the Ohio State fans that are absolutely, insanely mad about that idea I am not one of them, I think because of my initial fandom, like when my fandom really started for Ohio State, it was during those 2005, 2006, 2007 years where Ohio State lost back-to-back national championships against the SEC one against Florida and the other against LSU and I think that kind of indoctrinated me into feeling that national championships were the most important thing, which they should be right. That is the goal that every team in FBS football, in Division I football, especially if you're part of the Power Four they go into every year. That's the goal. That's the goal is to go win a national championship. Only one team gets to end the season being happy, at least when it comes to winning a title, like being the best, the last team standing, and I think that's the bigger goal.
Speaker 1:And at least for me and I'm not saying michigan's mission, winning against michigan is not as big I it's very important to me to beat Michigan, and these last four years have told me anything is that I want to beat Michigan very badly, but I'm not going to be crazy enough to say that it's more important than winning a championship. That's just me, and I'm not gonna. You know I've passed the point of trying to change fans minds that feel differently. If your main one-on-one goal is beating Michigan, you don't care about anything else. I'm not gonna sit here and try to debate that, but for me, winning a national championship is going to be a lot more. It's not. It's going to be. It's going to be. I'm going to remember this national championship in 20 years more than I'm going to remember beating Michigan. And that's just the truth. It is National championships is the highest achievement you could possibly get in college football, and that's just how I feel about it.
Speaker 1:So, coming in, I forgot about it altogether. I honestly just lost hope that there was going to be any type of punishment coming from Michigan whatsoever. And they self-imposed a suspension. And this pulls me right back in as soon as I thought I was out. I'm back in because not only do you give yourself a suspension, you slap yourself on the wrist to try to avoid any type of punishment from the NCAA, but you're going to like oh, but we're the stipulations on it. We're not going to miss the Oklahoma game, because this is our coach's most important game that's his alma mater. Like even I can't even take their own suspension of their own coach seriously because the coach doesn't want to miss his game against his alma mater. I don't know.
Speaker 1:I told myself before this I didn't want to go too far into this crazy thing, but I ended up falling into the rabbit hole while even thinking about it, because it just makes me so upset that it's just like there's a lack of self-awareness from these Michigan fans, from the University of Michigan and that for so long they denied, denied, denied, denied, denied that they did nothing wrong, nothing, no cheating was happening. But at every step, when it finally something finally is going to happen to them, they're like, oh, but we'll give in a little bit, but they're still going to claim nothing happened or no cheating happened at all. And these fans deny, deny, deny, deny, deny. Everything only up and up. And then, next thing, you know, they get hit with something like, oh, it wasn't that bad, the cheating wasn't that bad, everybody's doing it. And then they're going to get to a point where they're going to be like, oh, the cheating was worth it. That's where, ultimately, this is going to happen.
Speaker 1:At some point the Michigan fans and the universities are going to be put into a corner where they're not going to be able to deny it anymore and they're just going to say you know what, it didn't matter, the cheating happened, it was worth it, we won a national title and they're going to be cool. And that's what annoys me, because if this is Ohio State, this is, on the other hand, the shoe was on the other foot and Ohio State was caught with this. They'd be just as hard on our ass as we are on theirs and it's just, it's the most annoying thing of all time to be a part of. And, like I said, I was away from that. I didn't even I wasn't thinking about Michigan, I was still basking in my national championship that Ohio State won from the ground up and I got pulled back into this fucking madness again and I just don't know how to feel. And I know I'm coming off as being an insane Ohio State fan right now and I'm probably not making a lot of sense, but this is where my brain is. I I am all over the place because this michigan team, that university, their fan base, they just lack any sort of self-awareness about this whole situation and it makes me I go into a freaking tailspin. Every time I go into this thought, this headspace man, I'm like I just don't know.
Speaker 1:They were cheating. They deserve to be punished. What level they can be punished at and what the NCAA can do is a totally separate issue. I don't really think the NCAA can do all that much. Do I think vacating wins really helps? No, because we all saw those games happen. The championship actually happens. Vacating it is only really like like it's putting something in pencil, but everybody knew, everybody saw what happens. I don't really think it really changes anything. I don't know. They cheated, they deserve to get punished, but it's just. How much they're going to get punished is a whole different thing. And it's just when all these things keep happening and Michigan just keeps having these weird moments where, like, we plainly did nothing wrong, but when it's time to something to happen, they're they're punishing themselves. They're like, oh, something did happen, but they're not willing. I don't know, I'm done, I don't want to talk about this anymore. Oh my gosh, this sucks, this sucks, I'm done, I don't want to talk about that anymore, but I had to cause. It's just, it's annoying, all right, next thing Is there anything else in college I want to talk about Now I gotta think Um, bill Belichick thing thing.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to go too far deep into this, but if you want to hear one of the more interesting stories to ever happen ever, maybe possibly dive into this. Bill belichick with his 24 year old girlfriend, um, jordan jordan hudson, dive into that story. It is probably one of the most. Again, this is probably not for kids, they're probably not going to care as much, but this is a very salacious. This has everything you could possibly want in a weird storyline. You have a lot of weird spots. You have some salacious things.
Speaker 1:This story is absolutely one of the more fascinating things to ever happen and what I think what makes it the most fascinating is that it's happening to Bill Belichick, who is widely looked at as probably one of the best coaches, if not the best coach of all time in the NFL or of all of football coaching history, and he lived most of his life as a curmudgeon that only cared about football. And now everything is changing now since he got this 24 year old girlfriend and I'm not going to go too deep into like trying to condemn him for being the 70 something year old man being like having a 24 year old girlfriend. But again, all the light, live, getting the life to you. Live your best life right, you only have one, as far as we know. Go do it how you want to, I guess.
Speaker 1:But the fact that he has let this woman kind of infiltrate everything that he is a part of and really start taking control things, when she has no type of training for any of this stuff, where she's trying to be his head, head of his, his, uh, his, uh, bill Belichick what is it? Bill Belichick media or anything like his treating Bill Belichick as a business and everything he's a part of. She tried to be the head of that and I don't know, man, when she really doesn't have any training. She used to be a pageant girl and all of this is. This is a very weird story and a lot of like.
Speaker 1:It seems like news comes out about this girl in that situation like every week and it's just very fascinating if you want to look at it and it's just the more it goes down, the more it seems like bill belichick's getting taken advantage of by a woman because you know she's young and she can do things that a lot of women probably bill belichick's age is not willing or able to do. I'm not going to go into what that exactly could be, but if you're listening you, you understand what I'm possibly talking about. And he's just letting her have total control and I just think, think things are going all like haywire and if you're going to look into it, that is like the most fascinating funny story I possibly have heard, potentially a little scary, because they's just something like man, she's really like getting over on this dude and it's it's not the first time a young woman has taken advantage of an older man, but you know, it's starting to seem that way, uh, based on everything that has happened in that whole situation. But I'm done with that. But again, go do your own research. It's a very funny story if you're willing to take about an hour to listen to all the crazy tentacles that comes out of that one. And there's nothing else for college football really wanted to talk about.
Speaker 1:I think nick saban's trying to be the head of a committee to try to like take college football in a different direction, in a better direction. I kind of threw all this nil stuff and uh, transfer portal and all which. I guess he could be a good person to try to help college football get better, but I also think he's kind of dead set in his old ways as well. I don't think he's necessarily not malleable, but fluid enough to really take on everything that college football is right now. But you know, something's better than nothing, because the way college football is going right now it really you know something's better than nothing because the way Couch Bowl is going right now it really has no leadership at all. So getting somebody with some leadership that is actually willing to do something to help all the issues that is going on at the Couch Bowl right now was definitely a good start. But you know, there's so much like no rules going on right now if they can help hurting the game, even though things are as good as it ever has been. The teams are better, the games are better, everything's going on. But I just feel like there's some things that if you get some things on the right track when it comes to NIL, transfer portal and all that other stuff, I feel like you can really make it even better. And that's it for College Football.
Speaker 1:So there is a couple NFL things I wanted to talk about today before we ended the pod. Let's start with Derek Carr. I think the news, literally today it's fresh Derek Carr is retiring medically from a shoulder injury that he sustained last year. That he says, due to the nature of the injury, it was on a storing shoulder, of course, and if he got a, I think it was a labral tear and degenerative rotator cuff injury in his right shoulder and according to his statement that was released by the Saints, based on him talking to Derek Carr, talking to his doctors and all that is that he can get a surgery. But even if he gets that surgery, there's no guarantee that he's going to be able to get the strength back and the shoulder to be able to be the quarterback he once was when it comes to physically, and that he has made the decision to go ahead and medically retire after an 11-year career in the NFL.
Speaker 1:First off, I think this lets the Saints off the hook. For the Saints side of this, I'll talk about that first. This lets the Saints off the hook because I honestly don't think they really wanted him to be their starter going forward and they did draft Tyler Shuck in the second round to be their next starting quarterback. The 25-year-old from, I believe, louisville, that has played a lot of football can play and has a lot of physical skills necessary. He's a little bit older than what you would like to be your rookie quarterback, but again, it's something better than nothing. So, derek Carr, for I'm not sure how that helps them when it comes to their, their, uh, their cap, their uh, salary cap or anything like that, but I just feel like having him medically retire helps the Saints, kind of like have some.
Speaker 1:Hey, this is over, it's time to go on with a new quarterback. Let's go ahead and start anew. Maybe kind of blow this thing up, really blow it up, and try to, you know, get their cap situation under control and then maybe try to start again with new, younger players, to try to really build this thing up from the ground up, to do a little more healthy in the way then, in the way they were doing it before when they were extending all these players and doing all this, and like really trying to get the last few years of drew breeze up and running, like trying to do as much as you can with their last legendary quarterback that they had at the helm. That kind of put them in this cap situation that they're in right now, which is truly cap hell, like if you go on Madden. You try to like go and play as the Saints like franchise mode and try to deal with the cap that you have to deal with with them. It's absolutely insane how much dead cap they have and how much money they have into players they don't even have in their roster right now because they've released and got rid of so many. So I think this kind of helps the Saints out in general.
Speaker 1:But for let me go to the Derek Carr side here. I don't know man, like he started out, he got drafted to the Raiders and he had years where he looked like he was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. But then I think a lot of more often than not he was having years that are like, oh, he's a top 12 to 17 quarterback and that's all he's going to be. But it's just with those few moments that he has had where he had a huge arm, he was able to make a lot of passes. He didn't necessarily need to go ahead and win football games, but it's just he wasn't a very clutch player and, honestly, the longer he got into his career he wasn't necessarily like team-wise. He wasn't a very clutch player and honestly, the longer he got into his career he wasn't necessarily like team wise, he wasn't very well liked by everybody he had. He like was coming across and if your team doesn't like you and you're not the best player on the field at the quarterback position, it makes things a lot harder to do. And especially as he got to the Saints, like he was like acting as if he was going to be the Tom Brady to the Bucks type of thing where, like he was like the missing piece to the Saints really starting to win. And he wasn't that like Derek Carr was, never that.
Speaker 1:I feel like Derek Carr maybe lacked a self-awareness as to what type of quarterback he truly was. He wasn't that dude. He was a guy that can, if he had enough help, can do some good things. But he wasn't necessarily the star of your team and I feel like Derek Carr more often than not felt like he was the. He was the straw that stirred the drink and he wasn't really never was that to a, you know, an underwhelming 11 year career. And again, it was better than his brothers went. That's not saying much, but like he had it was better than his brother's went. That's not saying much, but like he had a better career than his brother did in the NFL, but it just didn't amount to much. And again there's for all the Tom Brady stories, the big Ben's, the Eli Manning's there's a guy like this that had a nice career but didn't really do as much as anybody ever thought he would.
Speaker 1:I think that it's stories like this that make the ones that are like the all time winningest careers that much more great is because there's so many more like this. There's Derek Hark, where they had all the talent. It seemed like everything was going well and it just didn't Either by the player's hand or by injuries or because the team he was on. Like. There's so many different reasons that players don't succeed in the NFL and there's a reason why the players that do succeed it is so much of a better story because it's so much harder to have that happen throughout a player's career.
Speaker 1:And I think Derek Carr, if you were a Raiders fan, he was the guy that gave you some hope you can do something in the NFL, like really go out there and win football games and win in the playoffs, and he never really was that throughout his NFL career and even with the Saints it definitely wasn't that. So I don't know, there's not a lot to say about him, man, he had an 11-year career. That's kind of I'm not going to say forgettable, but like kind of forgettable. I don't know man, I don't know man, I don't know. I feel like this whole conversation came off as being very disrespectful. I wasn't trying to be, but it just is. Man, I'm just like there was years I really believed Derek Carr can really be something and it's just never happened. Dude, I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I was excited for the Saints when they signed him. I thought he was really going to help them out and it just never happened. I don't know, thought he was really gonna help them out and it just never happened. I don't know, I, I, it dawns on me how much I feel I, I look like a hater in this whole situation. Oh man, oh man, this sucks. Ah, I'm such a hater, oh man, all right, let me get off of that.
Speaker 1:Let's go on to the last thing I want to talk about before I end the pod, and it's gonna be probably gonna be a shorter pod than usual, um, this time around, but you know, probably good things, it's just me kind be a shorter pod than usual this time around, but you know, probably good things. It's just me kind of sitting here rambling at a wall Well, not just at a wall, but you guys, whoever's listening, I definitely appreciate it. But last thing, pickens, george Pickens. The trade has happened. The Steelers traded George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1:Let me go ahead and get the. Let me see. Here I want to get the trade right. I think they trade him away for, let me see. It would be nice if I had this up already, which I probably should have. I think I did. I just think I probably X out of the tab here. Okay, so they traded, they gave him and a seventh round pick to the Cowboys in exchange for a third round pick in this in the next draft and then a sixth round pick in the 2020, I guess the next draft will be a 2026 draft. So they got a third round pick in the 26 draft and then a sixth round picked pick in the 27 draft.
Speaker 1:So I'll start from the Steelers side as to my reaction to this, and again, the Steelers side is the most important because I'm a Steelers fan. That's honestly all I care about for the most part. So how do I feel about this for the Steelers. Okay, do I think the trade needed to happen? Yes, I do, because there was no way that the Steelers were going to keep George Pickens past this upcoming season because he's going into the last year of his rookie deal. There's no fifth year option because they picked him up in the second round, so this was the last year that the Pickens was going to be a Steeler. Okay, and I'm even more emboldened by saying that because they traded a second round pick for, so this was the last year that Pickens was going to be a stealer. Okay, I'm even more emboldened by saying that because they traded a second round pick for DK Metcalf and paid him $30 to $35 million a year for the next three to four years. So that, with trading for DK, paying him big money, and then with Pickens being on the last year of his rookie deal, and then with Pickens being on the last year of his rookie deal, I'm very confident in saying that there was no chance Pickens was going to be a Steeler's pass this upcoming year if they did not trade him.
Speaker 1:Okay, and why is that important? Because the way I see it is that if he is going to walk anyway after this season, even if you get a little bit worse for this upcoming season. Why let him walk for nothing? Okay, my best case scenario was for him to get traded before this past draft. Get something for him, maybe draft a wide receiver.
Speaker 1:And that's what made me probably makes me the most upset about this whole thing is because if they were trying to trade him, if they were ultimately going to listen to somebody's offer and get rid of him, why in the hell wouldn't you trade for a like, go ahead and take a wide receiver in the draft at some point? Again, I'm not acting like this draft. What is? This past draft was an amazing wide receiver draft, but there were some wide receivers you could take that can become your number two, that can play on the other side of DK Metcalf and be effective. Because what we have on our roster now I can't say I feel very confident in having a good number two on the other side of DK Metcalf right now without George Pickens on the Steelers. So that's the part that makes me upset is that I'm not sure why they couldn't have traded him before this past draft, before the draft, so they can, you know, plan for it, maybe take a wide receiver somewhere in the draft and really help themselves out for not only this upcoming year but for years going forward. But either way, they're going to have to trade him either way, because you just can't let him walk for nothing.
Speaker 1:And I just feel like, especially with DK coming in, there was no way that Pickens was going to be able to keep, because Pickens, coming into the season, obviously this is a contract year. You want to have your best year. You want to be able to go out and ball out and then go ahead and get the big contract you are trying to get in the next offseason With DK Metcalf on your roster. That was never going to happen with the Steelers. So obviously getting rid of him was the best way to go. I just feel like it was a little bit late and I wish they would have, like, maybe planned for this a little bit better and maybe taken a wide receiver in the draft somewhere to try to help themselves out for this upcoming, this upcoming season, in the few this the years going forward. So, getting past the Steelers part you trade him, cool, you're done. This is a clean break. The Steelers part you trade him Cool, you're done. This is a clean break.
Speaker 1:The Steelers were trying to be very complimentary of Pickens, saying that he is a. He wasn't necessarily that big of an issue off. He wasn't a big issue off the field whatsoever. I feel like the issue for Pickens was on the field. And I go back to this is my, my, my. Every time I think about Pickens I go back to the game, the first game I ever went to as a Steelers fan, in the Steelers at Heinz Field, accrisher Stadium, as it's called now In December, in the cold against Cincinnati.
Speaker 1:I kept being fixated on watching George Pickens play when he was on offense and he was out there on the field. I'm fixated on watching George Pickens play. When he is on offense he's out there on the field. I could tell as a spectator in the stands every time Pickens felt like he was a part of the play or not a part of the play. Every time he was a part of the play, he was playing his hardest and going out there and trying to go out there because he knew he was going to get the ball and then when he wasn't, he was trotting Like trotting. He was trotting like trotting. It's, I guess, trotting worse than jogging right. So like he was at best trotting, because he felt like he wasn't in the play and he wasn't gonna get the ball and he wasn't playing his hardest. And I feel like any defensive player that's out there can understand that. And as soon as you see George Pickens not playing his hardest and not trying to do anything, it like he's not even a decoy anymore.
Speaker 1:Because of the talent that George Pickens is, even if he's not getting the ball, he should be getting so much gravity because the defense should be scared about whether he's going to get the ball or not. And because of the way Pickens played, he took that away because his head wasn't all the way in the game and I think he, even though he wasn't the off-field troublemaker that Antonio Brown was, at least Antonio Brown was the hardest worker when he was out there on the field and he put up a few good years, like four or five great years of like being one of the best players in the NFL. Pickens has a talent to be the A1 number one receiver out there on the football field, but his mind was never right. He can never get out of his own way mentally to be able to do that because he has all the physical talent in the world, but it's just mentally he just couldn't get out of his own way. So trading him was the best option. We already have DK Metcalf, we have our new number one, and there was no way they can go into this season with two crash outs of that level and again, I think DK isn't as much of a crash out as Pickens is but I just feel like you weren't going to be able to sustain them both with having the potential quarterback issues we may have Aaron Rodgers or not going into this season so you had to trade him. Aaron Rodgers or not going into this season, so you had to trade him.
Speaker 1:So let me get to the Cowboys part and how I feel about the Cowboys side of this thing. I think for what they gave up, it's not a lot. I really don't think they gave up. I really thought for Pickens that the Steelers could probably get a second round pick for him, and the fact that the Cowboys didn't have to give up a second round pick it's only a third and a sixth, and they're getting a seventh back as well I feel like they did not give as much as they probably could have if Pickens was more of a valuable asset and I feel like the fact that he's only probably a one-year rental and that they're going to have to sign him, I feel like all all those things kind of went into why they didn't have to give up more for him when it comes to draft capital.
Speaker 1:But this is what Pickens is coming in to be. Pickens is going to come in. He's going to be the number two, number two receiver on the opposite side of CeeDee Lamb. You're going to have Dak come back this upcoming season off, coming off the knee injury and I think it was knee injury right or calf or something like that, I forget what it is but Pickens is going to be your number two and I feel like the news has already come out that he's not looking for a contractor right away. Like I feel like you Pickens coming in with the problems that he has, I feel like you have to have some type of a good, good faith argument coming in. So I do feel like that was an effort by Pickens to try to help out the whole kind of massage situation by hey, I know I have something to prove, let me come in. I'm not looking for the contract right away. I'll come in and be the good soldier and come in and play right away, even without a long-term deal.
Speaker 1:But here's the potential risk that the Cowboys took on by trading for Pickens. First off, he's a one-year rental. There's no guarantee you keep him past this year. Number two Pickens is still looking for, even if he's not looking for the money from you right away, he's going to want to have a season that will justify him getting a big payday at the end of this year and with that I'm not sure they're ever they're going to get him the ball enough to satisfy him and for him to play like the player the Cowboys probably want him to be in, like the Steelers wanted him to be. So, and Pickens has already made it very clear that when he's not happy on the field, he will make it very, very aware. He'll make everybody aware of that being the case. He'll either crash out on the sideline or he'll be fighting players on the field. He'll be getting personal foul penalties. He'll be doing everything possible when he's not happy, when he's not locked in.
Speaker 1:And I feel like the Cowboys are definitely taking a risk at that in that fact by taking on this guy to be the number two receiver when he hasn't shown, even as a number one receiver, to be the most mentally stable. And I hate to say mentally stable, but I'm like on the field and I'm saying not in life but on the field. He's not necessarily mature, probably mature, he's not mature enough to handle his frustration in a good way. That's probably the better way to say it, because he's not a bad person off the field. He hasn't done anything off the field, hasn't been like the Antonio Brown situation. But I think on the field he can be a little bit childish and it was said many times by Mike Tomlin that he needs to grow up and it hasn't happened as of yet.
Speaker 1:And I feel like if he was a more developed mentally player, emotionally, I don't think the Steelers make this move, but they did because they felt like this was never going to be a long-term relationship. So now the Cowboys have to take on this risk and they're going to try to make him. They're going to try to hopefully get the best year they can out of him. And if and they're going to try to make him, they're going to try to hopefully get the best year they can out of him and if they decide to keep him long-term. They'll keep him long-term, but I just don't think they'll want to pay him the money that, even if even if everything goes perfect and George Pickens comes out and he plays well and he has a good first three, four, five weeks and he starts playing great will that last a whole season?
Speaker 1:I just don't think so, because they already have CeeDee Lamb on their team. Ceedee Lamb's the number one guy. Pickens will never be the number one on that team. So with that being the case, either the targets won't be as good as Pickens likes and he'll start to freak out, or he'll start to think, oh, I'm not getting enough targets and I'm never going to be the number one guy here, then I'm not going to play as hard as I want to, and that's going to be just as bad, because the Cowboys traded for him to be the guy to help out their offense be as best as it can be. And if Pickens doesn't have his all and he's not playing as hard as, it's not necessarily going to be the same as what they want him to be. So I just think the Cowboys are just taking a lot of risk here for maybe not a lot of reward, but I just think that he is such a great talent that I don't I don't necessarily blame them. He's so talented he really is, but it's just. Can this be the moment for him that he probably takes a chill pill and maybe grows up emotionally? Maybe possibly Would I put money on it?
Speaker 1:Probably not because of what I've seen the last three, four years, three years with him in a Steelers uniform. I wouldn't put money on it. Probably not because of what I've seen the last three, four years, three years with him in a Steelers uniform. I wouldn't put money on it. But if he does, all the power to him and he'll make the Cowboys better and I feel like if he does everything does work out, the Cowboys will be a lot better offense and Dak will have a lot better time offensively, not only having to throw to one guy.
Speaker 1:And having a guy like George Pickens on the other side of that field, including their tight end, I feel like what is his name? Uh, not uh. Why am I feeling the tight end's name? Is it Fain again? No, who was the tight end? Is it? Uh, cowboys tight end Jake, jake Ferguson. So that is. He's a very good tight end. When he's healthy and playing, he's a very good tight end for them. So being able to have those two wide receivers on the outside and having a tight end like that like Jake Ferguson, would definitely be a huge deal, because they still don't have a running game, like they don't have a running back they really can believe in and really kind of put the ball in his hand is like really control, have a very good running game. So if you're not going to have a running game, you have to have a lot of guys out there to catch the football from deck, and they do now.
Speaker 1:It's just can they massage this thing with pickings and make him play as best as he possibly can in the number two role, a role that he may not even be well like accustomed to be able to play. With the mentality that he has, he's very competitive. I'm not saying this comes from him being a terrible person or anything. He's a very competitive player on the field. I just feel like he's not emotionally developed enough to not let that competitiveness impact him negatively and maybe he takes a chill pill and changes for this upcoming season. But I'm not going to bet on it and I just think that you know the Steelers made the best decision for them and got rid of him early. I wish they would have got rid of him earlier, but they got rid of him and got something for him before. He would just walk at the end of the season, because I just don't think he was ever going to be a Steeler long term anyway, especially with DK now being on the on the roster. So I don't know, it's a. It's a very weird situation. Um does this, and I'm going back to the Steelers here.
Speaker 1:I think this makes the Steelers worse for this upcoming season and honestly, at this point I'm kind of hoping the Rodgers doesn't even come to the Steelers and they just kind of go out there and like just try to suck for the year. Not suck for the year, but like try to go. They'll play Will Howard. If he ends up playing well, they'll play he'll. He'll be the guy for the future and they got to steal out of him. If not, they'll go into next draft, where they'll have 12 draft picks as of right now, and in the 2026 draft and they'll be able to move up, move down. If they want to go, try to trade up and get a quarterback, they'll have plenty of draft capital to do so. That's what I really want them to do. I don't want them to get Rodgers.
Speaker 1:I don't think Rodgers is really the difference between the Steelers winning a Super Bowl or not this season. He's just not. And I hate to say that because I love TJ, I love Cam Hayward, I love Minka, I love, I love a lot of these players on this team and it would suck for them to not have an opportunity to go win a championship this year. But like I'm just being realistic here, I don't know, man, I'm, I'm feeling very, um, I don't know, like my hat, I don't know, my heart is just not all in on the Steelers right now. And again, by the time the season starts, they'll play a few good games, win a couple games. Then I'll be all back in again, because I'm a sucker for the Steelers and winning football games. But as of right now, I'm just not feeling great about them. Right now I just don't see a long-term future and I'm starting to see it a little bit, but I'm just like they keep trying to play this half-in half-out game, with trying to win as much as you can now and trying to do something for the future. I'm just like it doesn't work that way.
Speaker 1:You ask the Warriors how that played out when they were trying to do that a few years ago with Steph and Klay and Draymond, I just, I don't know, I don't know. Uh, that's about all I all I got for the Steelers man. Uh, it was a good trade, but, you know, little late, not as much as I thought they'd get, and it's just a. I don't know how many times can I say I don't know, I don't know, but all right, man, that's, that's about all I got. I talked about basketball, I talked about the Michigan thing. I've talked about a few of the NFL stuff I wanted to get into. Is there anything else? No, carter, no, I don't really care.
Speaker 1:The Abdul Carter thing he asked for the two players to un-retire their jerseys for him. He started with 56 from Lawrence Taylor. Lawrence Taylor said no, I totally agree with that, because he's like, come on, that's crazy. And then he also asked for Phil Simms' number number 11, to be un-retired for him. And he also said no because his family was more against it than he was. So he decided to say no and now he's going to be picking jersey 51 again. I, on one hand I'm like carter pretty much came out and said, hey, the worst they can say is no, and I guess that is, which is true.
Speaker 1:But I also think that if you're going to retire a person's jersey that played for your squad, you have to be pretty stringent on that, right. You can't just unretire it because you feel like a new draft pick or a new guy coming in deserves it. Like I feel like once you retire a jersey for a team, it should be, that should be permanent. Like you should be very hard and fast about that. But it's just. It seems like these teams are willing to, you know, be acquiesced to players that want those jersey numbers and try to make it happen, but I just feel like you shouldn't. There's something about if you're going to be the team like either you're going to retire jerseys and stick to it or just don't retire anybody's jersey. I think that's how that should go. Just make it hard and fast. You're going to do it. If you're not, then don't retire the jerseys at all. Because if you're not, then don't retire the jerseys at all. Because if you're just going to unretire them when a player asks for them, it doesn't make sense. I don't know. All right, that's all I got. That's. That's everything I talked about, everything I wanted to talk about, uh, I already said everything. That's all I got. Man, this it's.
Speaker 1:It's much harder to end a podcast with it's just me, because I'm sitting here like, oh it just, it's on me to end the podcast, rather than having jay sitting here in my face saying, hey, it's time to go, so let I'll end it here. If you've been listening for a while, we appreciate you. If you're just joining on, hopefully you like us and enjoy us enough, uh, to join us on the ride of talking about sports in the dumbest way possible. And if you don't like this pod, who just me? Hopefully you can go listen to a prior podcast with both me and jason. You get a better idea of what me and him kind of bring. We're both at it, doing our thing, talk about sports, making jokes and all that with the, with the back and forth banter that only brothers can have.
Speaker 1:So if you do like us and enjoy us, hopefully you can like our podcast, subscribe to the podcast, rate the podcast five stars wherever you listen to us. We're pretty much available anywhere you listen to your podcasts. And if you also can like us and share us with friends, family, enemies. Anybody you feel like can enjoy the podcast we put out on a weekly basis. We definitely love if you can do that. And then, last but not least, if you can follow us on Twitter and our X whatever you'd like to call it. At JB sports pod is the podcast handle. At Javante boozer is my handle. At jace boozer, one is jace's handle and there's nobody handing the podcast over. So that is about it. So thank you guys for listening. Thank you guys for always listening. Have a great day, have a great night and we'll see y'all next week. Bye y'all, we'll see you next time.