NBA Playoffs Storylines And Sports Media Rants

The NBA playoffs are supposed to be about matchups, adjustments, and who can survive four brutal rounds. Somehow, we’ve also turned them into a nonstop trial about legacy and who the court of public opinion crowns as the GOAT. I go solo today and start with a first-round NBA playoffs recap, beginning with why the Oklahoma City Thunder look like the league’s cleanest blueprint for the new CBA era: young stars, smart drafting, and enough picks to keep reloading without getting crushed by the second apron.

From there, I get into Lakers vs Rockets and the way a series can immediately become LeBron James discourse. One bad game, one closeout, one “what if” headline, and suddenly we’re back to Michael Jordan vs LeBron like nothing else matters. I’m not here to litigate the same argument forever. I’m here to ask why we can’t just watch late-career greatness without making every possession evidence for or against someone’s entire life’s work. That leads into a bigger thought about how Jordan and LeBron can’t settle anything on the court, so public opinion, documentaries, and narrative control become the real battleground.

We also hit the rest of the playoff chaos, including the Nuggets losing to the Timberwolves, the Pistons grinding out a comeback, and the Celtics falling apart against the Sixers with a three-heavy identity and no Plan B. Then I talk about Jalen Brown’s post-loss stream and why “having your own platform” doesn’t protect you from clipping culture or backlash.

To close, we pivot to football: the Brendan Sorsby college football gambling scandal and NCAA eligibility rules, George Pickens signing his franchise tag and what it says about leverage and professionalism, and why the Rams taking Ty Simpson at 13 raises major questions about timeline, development, and rookie contract value. If you like sharp sports takes that don’t dodge the messy parts, subscribe, share the show, and leave a five-star review so more fans can find us.

Transcript

Solo Intro And Loose Agenda

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Welcome back to the JB Sports Podcast. Today is Monday, May 5th, and we are back for another pod. So if you've been listening for a while, you probably understand that Jace isn't here because he's he always does the intros. It's just gonna be me today, kind of sitting here chatting about, kind of like rambling on about some things. Honestly, there isn't like a specific thing that I'm here to really want to talk about. Honestly, I for what I look at it is I think it's just a bunch of little a few storyline things that I think I really wanted to just say say my piece on because I've really been thinking about it. Like I I think this is the first time in a minute where I've like really been in deep thought about some things happening in sports right now. And again, it's not even in the sports that I'm really like all that like like all the way no say interested, because I'm still interested in basketball, but it's like I'm not as like all in emotionally, like really like diving in, right? But it's just some of those things that like some concepts I've been thinking about that I want to come on the pod and and kind of ramble on about. Whether people like it or not, I'm not totally sure. To the people that do, awesome, stay or stick around, listen, listen about, and it is what it is. But if not, it's fine because at the end of the day, the whole thing about this podcast, keep it growing, is and to keep having podcasts come out. Because again, I think we have one early on last week that was a total reaction to the draft that happened last not this past week, week before. So again, getting another podcast out this week is definitely a big deal, and just I think creatively, I think I have a few things in my mind that I really wanted to talk about. So without further ado, let's go ahead and get into it. I think for the most part, the plan is today is the NBA playoffs. I kind of want to do like kind of like a recap of like the first round and kind of give some general thoughts as to how the how the series is gone, and then some some little some little storyline things that I've kind of mentioned before that I kind of want to get into. It's not I don't necessarily want to go too deep on the on the actual matches in the first round, because again, the first the second round's already started. There's a couple games that happened yesterday. I think there's a couple games happening today as well. So I don't want to necessarily go too deep, but again, if I if I have a thought that'll that'll come to me, I'll go ahead and go with it. And then from there, I want to jump to um the college football Brendan Soresby thing, because I really want to talk about that because that's kind of like a we a very because honestly, this time of year of college football is not the biggest thing happening right now because you're getting into just getting out of spring practice and like college football's not happening for another three months or so. Well, sorry, no, June, July, August, like kind of three, four months now. So like it's not like this is like a prime time for college football news to be coming out, but this Brendan Soresby story has been a huge deal and it's kind of been taking over kind of all of all the sports for the most part. So I want to talk about that. And then I have do have a couple of NFL things that I wanted to get to as well. So again, nothing too major that brought me in today. It's just I just have some things in my mind that I really want to talk about. So that's all the preamble that I have for now. So let's get into what I'm here for. So start with starting with the NBA playoffs. I just want to go through these series and kind of give some if there's a couple like kind of thoughts that I have on the series or like storylines coming out of those series I want to talk about. So I just want to go through these series and kind of go that go as I go here. So stick with me here. I again it might sound like rambling, but I think there is a couple points I do want to get to here. So the first series, Thunder Suns. I'm going from west to east, so I'm gonna just start do it that way. First one, Thunder Suns, Thunder wins that one and four for nothing. Very quick series, nothing really crazy about it. OKC takes takes care of business, and the way things have gone, it looks like Thunder are like like the general favorite to win the whole thing once again for a second straight season, which hasn't happened a little bit now. I think it's the last seven or eight years that we haven't had a repeat champion. And for I think I think generally when you like basketball people basketball people talk about what this new era of the NBA is going to be now with the second apron and all these other different rules, is that they kind of view it as the death of the super teams and the death of the dynasties, and the one thing that could be the monkey wrench and all those thoughts is the Thunder. Because they were built so per so perfectly by a very well-run organization that had the perfect opportunity three, four, five years ago, where they were able to suck for so many years coming off of all the trades that they had, kind of superpowered by the the biggest trade that they had was the Paul George trade, which got them SG and then got them so many picks that they have now turned into so many more picks. And the way they they're set up right now is that not only are they a team that's very young and not paying a bunch of players a bunch of money, but they just will they'll be able to keep replacing different pieces on their roster once before they get expensive for new pieces that are going to be very really good draft picks because they just have such a war chest um of draft picks that they've acquired over the years. So it's just the Thunders, it's one of those teams that is just so perfectly built for how the NBA is built right now. To where yes, they have their superstar players, they have their SGAs, they have their chets, but like when it comes to outside of those kind of like main ones, they have the um what am I forgetting the other guy's name? Um Jay, nope, no, it's Williams. I'm not crazy. Okay, see roster, it's Jalen Williams, and then outside of those three pieces, they have a bunch of kind of like secondary pieces that they can, you know, they trade off if they get too expensive, they want to get paid, and then they'll be able to, as long as they keep drafting well and know what they're looking for when they draft these new players, they can just keep replacing pieces and just keep uh revitalizing the team over time. So, um, but yeah, OKC really does have a chance to be a th be a dynasty in a time where they are built in a way that no other NBA team really even th thought of building their team, to where I just think they are in a really, really advantageous position position to just keep refilling their roster with cheap young talent over the years, as long as they keep drafting well, and it's just you know, there's nothing that tells me that they're not gonna be able to keep doing so because they've done it up to this point and built their team so well. So long as SGA and um the nope Jalen Williams and Cheddar's all doing good, and then they just keep replacing the other pieces. I think they'll just keep having a team that'll be a year-in-year-out contender, let alone maybe like a championship potential team, because every other team in the NBA is going to be trying to kind of just trying to make up ground to try to stop them. So it is what it is on that. Next series, Lakers Rockets, and the Lakers won that series um in six games, four to two. And this series had gotten to a point where it was like 3-1. It was 3-0, right? 3-0, the Lakers had the huge um kind of vice grip on the series after three games, especially with KD not playing game one and then coming out in game two and trying to play through an injury. I think he they said he he banged knees with somebody in practice a couple days before game one, couldn't play in game one, and then tries to come out in game two, plays through the injury, and then messes, tweaks his ankle or something like that. And then all those things kind of put together. KD isn't able to play the whole series, and because of that, the Rockets are a bunch of very young players, and they don't really have much of a direction offensively, they don't have a real point guard on that team, they don't have a veteran scorer like KD was was really throughout the season for them. He was the guy that's able to be the engine to kind of like allow the other young guys to kind of figure their way out, as long as you have a person to kind of like draw the eye of the defense to be able to have to worry about makes it a lot easier for all the young players that don't really have a set offensive game as of yet. And now without Kevin Durant and without a real point guard, that point guard thing's been an issue for them all year, which is why they've been such a bad fourth quarter team because they don't have somebody to kind of keep the offense moving in a good way and not turn over the basketball in critical moments. And then now without KD as well, on top of that, they were just like fish out of water to a certain extent. So they got into the three three-o deficit to where they could not like honestly, everybody's looking at that series like it's over, there's no way the Rockets come back, and then the Rockets were able to get games four and games five, two games in a row where they were able to lock down the defense um for themselves and like really make it hard on the Lakers in the half-court offense, and then out of that, it just kind of like every game that they won, it gave a little bit of a um of a segment of NBA fans of like, oh, could this happen? Because again, one of the biggest like stat lines that have like not stat lines, like big facts when it comes to the playoffs is that nobody has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series, right? And every game the Rockets won with those first two games, those games four and games five, nope, yeah, go four and five, it gave fans not NBA, kind of like the NBA world, like, oh, what if? What if that what if LeBron at 41 years old is like the first guy to let it happen, and it's it's LeBron, it's the guy that everybody considers a lot of people consider their GOAT, and maybe the second GOAT, second of all, the second greatest player of all time, and all that. It started to become a storyline as it was going. And then in that sixth game, Lakers come out on the Rockets home floor, and they just kind of choke the life out of the Rockets. They the the Rockets just could not do anything out anything offensively whatsoever. They only scored 78 points in that game. Lakers kind of cruise control, LeBron just takes control, and they were able to choke the life out of the Rockets in that game six, and the Lakers kind of finish off the series. So, this is one of those series that I kind of like had like a storyline coming out of it that I wanted to talk about. So I'll separate this into the LeBron fans of all of this, and then the non-Lebron fans of all of this. That's really what it was turning out to be. I don't think there was a bunch of Rocket fans out there that were like really thought they had a chance to really come back in this series. But this was a storyline that was being created by the segmented fans, uh, not segmented, but as of right now, it's like one of the biggest like turf wars going on in sports, and it's about who's the GOAT and is it LeBron, is it Jordan, and all of that. So I think when it comes to LeBron and everything he's doing right now, and every time that LeBron does everything great or does anything bad, you're gonna have two different sides of an argument come out and make their case as to why this should this should impact his longstanding career in the eyes of who was the GOAT debate between him and Jordan. And coming out of this series, dude throughout this series, as it was kind of like the Rockets were coming back and they were winning these two games in a row, and kind of like this, so there were sides for LeBron that were like kind of sitting on the side of LeBron's not gonna let this happen. And again, they had basketball on their side here. If the Rockets were playing well above their skis in those two games, they were down 3-0, and they like the fact that the Rockets would have to play four games perfectly to get to win this series was it wasn't gonna happen, especially with the Rockets being as inept offensively as they were. So like the Lakers really didn't have that, and on top of the fact they were they just had like the LeBron's not gonna let it happen. And again, it's a blind faith. Again, cool, fine. I'm I'm not the biggest LeBron guy. I I respect LeBron, I admire LeBron, and honestly, I'm not even I I'll get to the Jordan stuff here, Jordan versus LeBron here in a second. So for the Lakers fans, for LeBron fans, they were coming out and trying to make this as like the LeBron won't let it happen, and it is what it is on that, and that's where they felt, and that's how it ended up being. And then there's the people on the other side of the LeBron debate that don't want him to be the goat, and there's all of that, and they were like, What if LeBron lets us happen? Would this be one of those things that ends the argument as to whether he's the goat or not? When it comes to negatively, right? And people were getting really excited. There were some people getting really excited on the internet by the idea of LeBron being the first one to let up a 3-0 lead in a way that nobody else has in the history of basketball. Okay. And this is where one thing I was like looking at this and I'm like, this is so stupid. Because at the end of the day, let me just give my kind of like outlook on this from the outset before I kind of get into the details of this. I am not a LeBron Goat guy. I'm on the Michael, Michael Jordan side of this thing. And here's the thing, I kind of sit in the middle on this because I'm not an old again. I was born in 1996. So when it comes to me, I never watched Jordan play it at all. I did not watch Jordan live play any basketball. And I think my earliest uh what is it, exposure to him was a Space Jamie movie, which again was of my one of my favorite movies as a child, and I love that movie a lot, and I I still love that movie to a certain extent. Not to a certain extent, I love that movie. I could watch it anytime and really like it still. Um But that's like my ear that's that's my exposure to him. And obviously, over time you used to watch clips and you kind of get the idea you watch the last stance again, something that's very controversial in general, but I've watched that too, and I'm like, it just gave me a feeling, and I I've from what I've seen with Jordan and things I've gone back and looked at, and like again, it's just how I feel about it. I'm not I'm not necessarily sitting here saying I'm gonna like I'm not a rabid, like argumentative like actor in this situation. I'm not gonna be the guy to go out there and f fight tooth and claw, like fight tooth and nail to try to like make my case as to why Jordan's the goat and LeBron isn't. That's just how I feel about it. And I'm not gonna sit here and go down the road of trying to convince somebody that it's that's on the LeBron side of it that they shouldn't feel the way that they feel, because everybody's entrenched to where to where they're at on this situation. I don't think you're gonna you're gonna find any LeBron or Jordan fan that feels one certain way about this whole thing, and you're gonna be able to change their mind. It's just not gonna happen. So I'm not gonna be the guy to I'm not even close to a guy that's gonna be able to be one of those soldiers try to fight this out for my considered go, okay? But I think for the last two years, I've looked at the LeBron thing and and I've kind of looked at this as like his gravy years, like anything that he does from here on out, and this is for like the last three years or so, is that LeBron's in his like latter years of his career. I'm sitting here, I'm going to I'm going to appreciate it. I'm I'm recognizing that there's going to be a point where LeBron's not going to be playing in the NBA anymore. And I think for me, and I think this is a similar feeling I'm going to have to when Brady retired. Brady and Ben um retired from the NFL. That as long as I can remember basketball, I remembered LeBron playing in that NBA, right? Same way for Brady and long I as long as I remember NFL football. Brady and Big Ben were too, and Big Ben was a little bit more in my heart because I'm a Steelers fan. But like those were guys that I'm like, I don't know an NBA or NFL without these players, right? They're faces of this league, right? And that's why I've been sitting here like I every time I see LeBron, I'm like, I'm in awe of him. And the fact that he's been able to do this as long as he has and and and still playing great basketball. Like he's not like he's had moments where he's like, look like an old man and kind of like done that, but like for the most part, he is still a very good, if not great, player in the NBA at 42 years old. And that's something to be celebrated. But I've also not had this like thing in my brain to be like any of this that happens is supposed to be something that'll that'll like impact his standing in the GOAT debate whatsoever. Like all of this is kind of like akin to Jordan when he was with the Wizards. And again, everybody talks about Jordan's Wizards years as like all of it was terrible and he was ass throughout all of it. That's not necessarily the case. Like there were like Jordan had some good years on the Wizards. Again, it didn't end up perfectly. And when it comes to his grandstanding over his NBA career, nobody's gonna look at those Wizards years and like think of that as like a very important or impactful part of it. But he had good years on the Wizards where he was the the old guy still going out there, like getting the work in, and like really a good still a good NBA player. But I think the same thing for LeBron, like all these last two, three years, especially since they got Luca during this season last year. I'm like, this is this is LeBron's last few years here. Do I think he's gonna win another championship? Probably not. And I think that outside of winning that championship, I don't think there's gonna be anything in my brain that he can do throughout the rest of his career that's going to impact the way I see it. And again, let's be honest, the where I'm sitting, I don't think another championship's gonna change my mind on that either. But again, it's more it's a it's a big fact that I'm gonna have to take into account if that does happen, which again, I don't think it will. And heck, in this series, this season, this playoffs, like even if they get Luka back, I don't think they're gonna beat the Thunder in this next round. They're gonna have to deal with them. But if LeBron does pull off that championship, like that is something I'm gonna have to consider and like really kind of think about and like have to reassess as to where I feel about this whole scenario about who's the go. Because again, a championship at 42, 43 years old in his 40s is definitely something that should be accounted for as to like that should be something that could move the needle in that debate. But I'm also not gonna sit here and outside of that, I'm not gonna use any of this that happens for LeBron and look at it as either a downside to what he's been throughout his career or an upside outside of the championship. And I think this series and how LeBron has played, everybody's looking at this and trying to parse this out as to how it impacts the GOAT debate and all that. I'm just like, I'm just not there for I'm not there for it. Why can't we just enjoy LeBron for what he is right now? Why does everything have to go back to the GOAT debate? I don't understand. I don't. And I don't understand how people how NBA fans in general have like realized like if you no matter what side of that argument you're on, you're not gonna be your mind's not gonna be changed by what LeBron's gonna be doing these last few years of his career. So why sit here and argue throughout it? Why can't we just enjoy what LeBron has been like what LeBron has been, what he will be these next couple years, however long he's he has left to play in the NBA, and why can't we do that? Why why does everything have to become a referendum on what the GOAT debate is and all that? I just don't understand. And this is where. And do I have anything else to talk about in that series? I don't like Lakers do what they were supposed to do. They're gonna go play the Thunder, and LeBron played great, and he um he had the one game where he looked very bad, like one of his worst playoff games throughout his career. But other than that, he was great. He was a leader of that offense, he kind of took control. It's the first time he has done that since kind of Luca, like ever since Luca came, like LeBron has been the second fiddle offensively and like on the team. So the idea that they LeBron was able to get this the control sticks back and kind of jump in and have this team of misfits for the most part go out there and kind of make something out of nothing and win that. Because again, when it comes to the how talented the Lakers are compared to the Rockets, like it's LeBron, it's Austin Reeves who came back later on in the series, the last two games in games five and game six, but then everybody else, not a lot of those players on the Lakers side would make the team for the Rockets side when it comes to like starting, right? The Rockets have talented young players that are like gonna be something in the NBA at some point, but it's just the LeBron being the best player on the court was definitely the biggest deal, and then adding Austin Reeves to the mix, and it wasn't like he was great, but again, it was a it made it a little bit harder for the Lakers for the Rockets to have to deal with defensively. So the Lakers aren't as talented of a team as the Rockets on paper outside of LeBron. And the fact that LeBron was able to get in his get in his bag at even at a year of 42 years old and be able to get that team to play above their weight class and like beat this Rockets team. Again, a Rockets team that's not all that great offensively and has their issues and they get. Gave up game three like crazy. Again, having a six-point lead with 30 seconds left, and you give up the game and lose in overtime. Like, is with the ball with 30 seconds left, all you have to do is dribble get to the other side, get fouled, dribble the dribble timeout, you're the game's over. And the Rockets gave up that game. Again, with LeBron doing great things, hitting the game, tying three, and everything, all that. But the Lakers, LeBron did that. In LeBron, it was a very cool moment for LeBron, and he threw an alley up to his own son in a playoff game, which is crazy. LeBron DeBronny, and all those things are cool things to look at and not necessarily have to make everything a referendum on the on the on the GOAT debate. So where's my whole point on this? This is why I wanted to talk about this. Was that I was thinking so one of the biggest sports, not columnist, it's um what is it? Sports, not broadcasters, it's like um sports pundits in when it comes to NBA, NFL, um, is Nick Wright, who I am a very big fan of. I watch his podcast, uh, What's Right with Nick Wright, and then I watch the TV show he's on on FS1. Um, what is it? No, no, no, no, no. First things first. And he is a big LeBron guy, and I think he's one of the foremost LeBron. Um LeBron is my GOAT guys in all of sports media, okay? And he kind of had the the reaction pod to, I think LeBron did like a 30-minute sit-down with um David McInaman, or somebody that he does like a lot of the a lot of his latest interviews with, and he had his takes about about the Jordan and all of that, and then like so this has caused, and again, Nick Wright has always been a guy that's like been at the forefront of the of the GOAT conversation, and him he's one of the guys that really wants to fight as to why Joe LeBron is the GOAT, and while he he is very definitive, there is no conversation. LeBron is the GOAT of the NBA. Okay. Again, I'm not I don't want to go down that route. I don't even want to have that conversation. But one thing he has kind of talked about as being a kind of like a a seeing as to why there is some credence to his argument was he talked about how Jordan decided to to green light the what is it, what is it called? Uh the last dance documentary that came out Netflix during COVID. He grinlit greenlit that project as on the day, apparently the story is, on the day that LeBron had the parade after winning the finals in 2016 with the Cavs against the Warriors coming back from down from down 3-1. Okay and he kind of looks at that and says that Jordan at that moment felt threatened, and that's when he greenlit that project. Again, a project that was ready to go for a long time before that. All the footage that they had for that documentary was had well before well before that point. So they had it for a long time. All that insider footage and all of that, like all that stuff, again, all the interviews and stuff afterwards still had to be done, but he greenlit the project as soon as that day happened. And Nick Wright uses this as like a feather in the cap that if Jordan didn't feel threatened by LeBron, why would he green light that project that would kind of bring his name back up in the Pantheon as to it shows why um Jordan is the GOAT? Why would he green light that project if he didn't feel threatened by what LeBron was doing at the time? And this is where I had an epiphany about that scenario, okay? Because these two men that have become pantheons in the game of basketball are never, have never, have never, and will never meet each other on the basketball court. Again, this is a game and this is sports where at the end of the day, if you want to look at who's better for between two individuals, how do you go do it either when it comes to on the basketball court in a neighborhood or to the NBA? The main way to do it is to go out on the on the court or on the field to go out there and play and figure it out. Like that's how you do it to head-on type of thing, okay? But because of how Father Time works, LeBron and Jordan were never gonna have that opportunity to go out there on the basketball court, mano emo, team versus team, at their best to go figure that out on the basketball court. The the best way it's gonna be decided how to do so, right? That's never gonna happen, and it has never happened, and it never will. So the only way that these two are gonna fight this out, and I think for the most part, I don't think either of these play of these humans have ever said anything negative about the other. Jordan has ever said nothing negative about LeBron. LeBron has never said anything negative about Jordan. They've only ever LeBron has kind of like done things on his own behalf. He's talked about himself as to why he feels like he's the best player of all time, but he's never been the guy to go and try to bash Jordan and try to take away what his accomplishments or anything like that. And Jordan is like famously a guy that is just says nothing to the media, and he's never gonna give anybody quotes. He's gonna stay quiet, and he's gonna let everybody else fight that battle for him because he feels like he is secure in what at least when it comes to saying anything in public about it. He's not gonna be the guy to come out in public and say give any quotes as to how what he feels about the debate. And and when I hear Nick Wright give that that thought about how that's a referendum on how Jordan feels about the right about what LeBron was at the time, and how like all that should be a reason to think as to why if Jordan was threatened, what if LeBron was actually doing something for Jordan to be threatened by? And here's my thing: the only thing that these two men are ever gonna have against each other is the court of public of public opinion. That's it, that's the only battlefield that these two will ever be able to face each other on and have some actual um input as to how it goes. And I think that because of the fact that these two pantheons, and again, the idea that Jordan has lasted so long and has been in the pantheon of people's minds about greatest of all time and all that, I think is impacted by the fact that he had such a cultural impact when he was playing that has lasted long after he has played any type of basketball on the hardwood in the NBA, because of the shoes, because of everything he did on the court, that is like outlasted what he has done in his own time. But now, because of that fact, and now because there is another great player, great human being that has made his mark on the NBA and on culture and everything like that, that now those two things get to clash, but that at the end of the day, in the one thing in sports that's supposed to be the what why the why am I forgetting the what the word for what they use about sports? Like, it's the biggest like go figure it out on the basketball court, go go fight that out. Like, there is a real way, if everything is equal to go out there and figure it out. You get to go fight it out on the basket on the sport that you're playing, you get to go decide. But because of how Father Time works and everything, like that's never gonna be the case. And now the only thing that these two humans can control when it comes to how they because again, I think it's very reasonable for both of these men to look at what they did for the NBA and have the feeling that they are the best of all time. I really do. Like, in my heart of hearts, I don't harbor any type of hatred for either side of this whole thing, saying that like LeBron feels like he's the best of all time, which he should. Again, if nobody's gonna fight, if you're not gonna fight for yourself, how do you expect others to fight to fight for you? And I totally believe that Jordan finds himself to be the best player of all time without any sort of question. Again, that's what I kind of decide I sit on on this, but I I totally believe he feels that too. So why is it look because again, if it this rules were reversed, I think LeBron would do the exact same thing. Both of those humans have made it their like throughout their career be great at basketball and be able to to um be able to control the public narrative as much as possible as well. And again, it's a lot easier now to do that. Well, I guess a lot more difficult now to do that with social media and all that, but I think LeBron has done a great job of doing that throughout his career as to controlling the public narrative and not really doing anything to upset the avocado unless he absolutely wants to. Like, LeBron has done a great job of that. And I think during Jordan's time, he was sure to not do anything outside of what he did on the basketball court, and he stayed quiet. He didn't want to be out in the public eye for the most part when it comes to like anything bad or anything like that. He obviously he gambled and he had other things that he liked doing, he was a pretty flashy guy, but when it comes to like he kept it pretty clean for the most part, his one of those most famous quotes is like why doesn't get political or anything, is like white guys say like is it Republicans like shoes too? Republicans like Jordans too. Like again, he's made it very clear that he wants to be right down the middle and not necessarily up upset the apple cart and be liked by everybody. So the idea that both of these guys like to control the public narrative and that would have an opportunity to get their names back out there and kind of help make their case as to why they're the goat, I think both of these men will have like have the opportunity to do so, and why wouldn't they? And I just think when it comes to that move and how it's looked at as like a bad thing and all of that, I just like I just don't understand. And and I and here's my whole point on that as to why I went on that kind of rant is why are we as fans fighting a battle that those two are not fighting themselves? And again, they are fighting it to a certain extent, but they're not going as far as we are, right? Neither of them are bashing each other, so why are we? Why are we as fans as the as the peons that got to witness the greatness of these two humans, these two greats at that sport, why are we trying to bash the other to kind of build up the one that we think is the goat? I just don't think that all any of that is necessary, like especially when the on the outside I kind of talked about this cut this concept that nobody's gonna be convinced either way. So if it's very well known that neither side of this argument's gonna be convinced, and that these two men aren't necessarily trying to bash each other's like they're um bash each other over the head with like insults or anything like that to tear down the other's career, why in the hell are we doing it? I I just I just I don't understand all of it. I I just think it's like way overpowering and I think that making everything in a referendum on the go debate is just it's tiring and it's it sucks. And I'm just like and I get it at some points when you ha get to have the argument at the bar or like when it c amongst your friends, like I get it it can be fun, but I just think that on the basis that if nobody's minds can be changed, then why in the hell are we having the debate? I I don't know. I I I just think that it's just kind of I I just thought about it and I'm sitting here like both and this is like the main thing both of these men feel like the main both of these men are the main characters in their own story. Right? They're the main character characters in their own story, and unfortunately, because of how this whole time thing has worked out, Jordan is still a main character in his own story, he's still alive. He gets to still kind of have his say as to how he how public perception is of him, and he used the card that he had in the the last dance to make that case when LeBron was at his highest. And I don't necessarily look at that as a bad thing. And guess what? I think LeBron's gonna do something very similar when he's done it in his in his NBA career, and he's gonna end up having his own last dance sort of documentary that'll do the exact same thing, and he'll release that too to try to help try to sway popular opinion. They'll both do the exact same thing, and they're allowed to do so, and they're both the main characters in their own story. So just because these two guys are doing things that they think are the best for their own story doesn't make the other the bad guy. I think that was my main my whole point of this, and again, I do I don't know that I've done this in the longest of ways, but I think that's my main point is that both of these men are still alive and still kicking and still have a way at as of right now because of how things have gone, they still have ways they can write their story out to how they want to be remembered in this game of basketball. And Jordan used his his trump card in that in the last dance, and it worked very well, and people loved it, and it was great. But I'm not gonna use I'm not gonna be go and I just don't understand why a guy like Nick Wright would use that as a why does Jordan have to be LeBron's boogeyman? Like that that that's the part that sucks. Like, why can't both of these people be individual main characters in their own story without being the other's bad guy? And again, they're not doing it to each other, it's the fans doing it to them. We are creating these, we are making these people bad guys in the other one's story. And that's the part that sucks. Because again, at the end of the day, everybody is the main character of their own story, right? So what do you what do you want? You want Jordan to kind of just sit here and bow out and not do anything, like not do anything that he thinks would help his own narrative and kind of how he wants to be remembered? Hell no, because guess what? If you were in that same situation, you'd do the exact same thing. And LeBron would do the exact same thing. Like, neither of these people have to be the bad guys in each other's stories, and especially when at the end of the day, the main way to figure this stuff out is to go battle it out in the court, and that's never gonna happen between these two. I don't know, man. I don't know. I that's that was my main point. Again, I know I probably did it in the longest way possible, but it's just I just I just don't understand why we why these two can't just be their own separate stories that I mean again, I don't I get why they're have to be intertwined, but they don't have to be the bad guys in each other's stories either. They could be intertwined, because again, they're so close. Like the of all of the all the pet men that have played in the NBA, these two ones are considered the two that are the best options to be the best who have ever done it. So I get their stories being intertwined that way. I just don't think you necessarily have to make each each either either of them the bad guy in the other story. I just think that's my main thing, and I think that's the part that makes me a little sick of the whole conversation. Alright, other series that I want to talk about here. The honestly all of them, but then kind of have my thoughts on them. Um, Nuggets, Timberwolves, uh Timberwolves won that series 4 2. This was a like this is a weird one, man. Um, Nuggets did not play well whatsoever. Jokic had its moments where he looked great. Other times, he I think overall in this series he looked very hurt. Um, he did not look right, he was not all the way 100%. Well, again, no player really is at this point, but I think it was obvious that Jokic wasn't at his best. And the Timberwolves, they they didn't even have um Anthony Edwards for a good portion of this series either. And they didn't have him, but they were still able to go out and win these, win these, win the series. And everybody looked at this series like after the Nuggets lost, again, it is what it is, and I think it's been four or five years now since the Nuggets won the um the their championship. And then everybody wants to look at how this impacts Jokic's long-term standing in the best player of all time. Well, being amongst the best players of all time, because he has the back the three-time MVPs and he has a championship. Like people were looking at, especially now, Jokic is was looked at as like the best player in the NBA over the last few years. And when you lose a series like this against Timberwolves, who did not have their best player, especially in that last game, they didn't have Anthony Edwards, they didn't have Disunmu, who was the guy that was like a like a real hero in the series, that he wasn't playing in that last game, and the Nuggets still lost, found a way to lose it. And and everybody's looking at like, is their window closed? Will Jokic ever get back to winning another championship again with how great that he is? And I don't know. I again, and I think this argument too is like there's people that are big Jokic guys who was like a big fan of him from the get-go, and that were because again, Jokic for so long before he won his championship was was still putting up crazy numbers that made people believe like he is one of like the next greats to ever play the game, but he wasn't getting the the uh the accolades to match what the type of player that a lot of people thought he was based on the numbers and all that. Because again, it was mostly a numbers thing when he was kind of early on and he was playing great. But then he won his championship. Well, he won the back to like the two three-time MVPs, and then he won his championship that kind of validated himself as one of the best, and then now you're looking for him to kind of win multiple championships and to kind of match the three-time MVP that he is. Because again, there's not many players that have won the MVP three times in the NBA. He's on a very elite list in that way, and if he doesn't win, if he doesn't win more than one championship, it so there's some people look at it as like, hey, he underachieved if he only wins one championship in if he's a three-time MVP type of guy. And now with Jokic not playing well and them losing this series against a underhanded, um a underhanded? Yeah, that's the probably word I could use. Underhanded Timberwolves team, everybody's like, oh, Jokic is over the hill, he's not playing great, like, and everybody wants to make this referendum on hit on his career and everything. But I'm like, well, maybe the Nuggets just need to rebuild that team and kind of need to fix some things and kind of get back to it. And I just like again, Jokic did not look great, he didn't play well, he was complaining everywhere, he was flopping, like all that I get it, but I think all that lead is from frustration in a way that things weren't going the way for the for the Nuggets and he wasn't playing well, he was hurt, and I don't know. I'm I'm gonna give him a chance to try to come back and re-like the team to reinvent themselves and try to hit him to make another run at this thing. Because again, sometimes it like when your window closes is out of your control as a player. And some of those players on that team have gotten a little older, they don't play as good defense as they have before at one at some points. Aaron Gordon is like consistently hurt, he's their best defensive player, and without him on the court, they're a much different basketball team, and they really can't do anything defensively. And Jokic was never necessarily the best defender, but like he's even worse now because he has so much of the offensive uh um, so much of the offense on his plate, like you can't necessarily be 100% on both sides of the court. Um, Murray is kind of up and down at this point, not necessarily being as great as he needs to be on a night-in-night out basis. So, like, maybe they need to retool that team a bit and try to rebuild and try to get to back to where they need to be being a real contender for a championship. And I think the Timberwolves, I think doing all that to the Nuggets is underselling what the Timberwolves did in this series. The Timberwolves have kind of built themselves up as Giants killers over the years. Like, there was a point where they got to two, then they would get to the conference finals last year. Or am I crazy? Or was that last or was that two years ago?

SPEAKER_00 42:41

Um last time uh we're in the Western conference.

East Round One Recap

SPEAKER_01 42:54

So two years ago, so they were in back-to-back Western Conference Finals from um with a lot with the last time that being in the 2023-2024 season. So like they've kind of built themselves up as giant killers over the years, and like they can, because of Anthony Edwards being as good of a player as he is, and that team being as physical as they are, and being able to not only play great defense against whatever team they play, but also being athletic enough to put the other teams in binds, is like they have really built themselves up over the years as a team that can kind of do these things, especially when now this year they have Disunmu as like a as a off-the-bench absolute nuke of a scorer. Um, obviously him playing with the Bulls, I I've it sucks we gave him away for nothing. Um, but like the Timberwolves are a real threat. And by making this all about the Nuggets and how they they underperformed, I think takes away a little bit of uh credit from the Timberwolves to a certain extent. And heck, the Timberwolves last night they went and beat the Spurs in the first game of the in that of that series. So again, I'm not sitting here saying that I am going to like for sure say the Timberwolves are going to win that series against the Spurs because I do think the Spurs have been kind of sitting for a while. I think Wemby, they still have to get the rust off a little bit because they've been sitting for so long. Because again, they got they've won their series in five games. So I'm not sitting here saying the Timberwolves are going to make it to the Western Conference Finals or anything, but I think they're going to be a real challenge for the Spurs. And if the Spurs don't kind of shape up and kind of play the way they need to play, the Timberwolves might win that series too. But again, I'm not necessarily going to make a any prediction when it comes to that. I just think that Timberwolves did their thing against the Nuggets. I think it'd give them a lot of credit, not necessarily make it all about how the Nuggets suck. In the Spurs in that game last night, I think Wemby had like 11 blocks. I think he had the had the has the record for most blocks in a NBA playoff game. Absolutely insane the way he can hunt blocks and kind of like play the middle of the defense and be able to kind of kind of just shadow everybody. And he just he covers so much space, and as soon as you think you're past him, he can sh he can hawk you down so quickly because he just eats up so much space because of his length. Um and he wasn't really scoring all that well last night, wasn't playing all that well, but I think on the defensive side he can still make such an impact. I think last night I think he he's only scored like eight points or something like that. He scored less than ten. So like the fact that he was so bad offensively and he was able to come back on the defensive side and still make an impact and made that game relatively close. Like they made that game real like Timberwolves won the game 104 to 102. So as soon as Wemby's able to get back into it offensively and kind of give a little bit more on that side of the ball, I think it'll change the series a little bit. But the Timberwolves are a real challenge, and I think their athleticism is gonna be a real problem for the Spurs. And if Wemby can't kind of be that all-around player that he has been throughout this year, both offensively and defensively, it's gonna be a problem against the Timberwolves because they're just so athletic. And Anthony Edwards is coming back from an injury, so he's not necessarily playing at 100% as of yet, but he's only gonna get more and more comfortable throughout this series. So I just think that the Spurs can't figure it out. The Timberwolves can kind of be a giant killer for them and knock them out too. And then let me get to the Eastern Conference here. Pistons Magic. That was a seven-game series, back and forth. Pistons managed to come back and win that series. I think they were down. Weren't they down? Let's see, one they were it was one-one tied at one point. So the Orlando was up 3-1 at one point in this series as well. And Detroit won the last three games to come back and win that series. And honestly, I thought uh for a certain degree, after they were um down 3-1, I thought they were dead in the water, and I think a lot of people did too, because of how Detroit at some points looks so inept offensively against Orlando, because I think Orlando and Detroit play very similarly in a way that they both play with a lot of length, and they don't really have a lot of scores for the most part between these two teams. It's really just cade for Detroit and their Orlando. As much as I I think the world of um of Palo Bancaro, he is so up and down offensively, and then if they don't have him, they they still have um what's his what's his name?

SPEAKER_00 47:43

Oh no. Uh why am I freaking the guy's name?

Celtics Collapse And No Plan B

Jalen Brown Stream Backfires

College QB Gambling Scandal Fallout

George Pickens Signs The Franchise Tag

Rams Ty Simpson Pick Makes No Sense

SPEAKER_01 47:46

Desmond Bain is a secondary scorer in a way that I don't think Detroit really has a secondary guy. But I think the problem though, in those, when they were up, when the Orlando was up 3-1 and they lost those last three games straight, I think the difference was for a lot of it is that Detroit was just wearing them out defensively. And the Orlando Magic, especially in that in that sixth game, I think there was like a point where they went 10 minutes without hitting a basket. And and it was like a such a no, so was it five or ten minutes? It was ten minutes, I think. So like Orlando went super cold hitting shots from from outside, and like they couldn't really get buckets at all. And Detroit's defense only made that worse. And then as soon as they do that, all they have to do is keep spamming uh Cade Cunningham. Again, they don't really have a secondary score outside of him, but as long as their defense is doing their jobs and they're just making the other team have to play so terribly offensively, it just makes it that much easier for them to, even though Detroit is not necessarily the most advanced when it comes to their scoring. It's just as long as their defense is doing their thing, and it was doing something against that Orlando team, making them struggle. I just think it gave Detroit a lot of the room to be able to come back and win that series, even down three-one. And it was a it was a good it was a good series. I think it was a very um tense one. I think it was one of the better series throughout that first round. But the Pistons managed to come back from down three-one and win that series, so it was very impressive for them to do so because there was a point where people were like, hey, the Pistons, like they lose this series. When are we gonna have to start really asking real questions about that team and like when are they gonna take that next step? And they decided, you know what, we're gonna go ahead and win this one now and try to get to the next round and see where it goes. And I think the magic to a certain extent, people thought the matchup were going to be one of the better teams in the East coming into the season, and it didn't work out that way. Injury bug kind of hit them in a bad way throughout the regular season that kind of held them up to where they had to be a team that kind of had to play in the play-in to get even to get into the playoffs. So the Magic Solve that's some things they have to fix, kind of make themselves better. But the Pistons really did come out and show out in those last three games that kind of come back, win that series, claw, fight in, and um credit to them for that. The next series, Cleveland and the Raptors. Cleveland won that series at N7. Um it was a back and forth series, it wasn't it wasn't necessarily all the best basketball being played at all times, but Cleveland in that last game found a way to figure it out. I think they kind of clowned the Raptors there, and uh not clowned, that's probably a harsh word, but they managed to come out there and kind of assert their dominance in that last game, and they kind of won that game running away. And the Cavs were looked at as the better team coming into that matchup, so if they were to lose, that would only be on the Cleveland Cavs. They that they were kind of let themselves be beat by the Raptors. Again, the Raptors are very they have they have a lot of length, but they're not necessarily the most like offensively dominant team. So like anything the Raptors got, it was gonna be like I think for the most part, Scotty Barnes, their point guard is like their only real no, I can't say him him only, because they still had um RJ Barrett playing pretty well as well. He did hit the game winner in game six to win that game, and they say have a chance to still play in game seven to kind of fight that out. But it's just the rap Raptors are not consistent enough offensively to be able to beat the Cavaliers and they made it made it work. Um the Cavs made it work at least. And Harden didn't necessarily play terribly throughout the series. I do think that uh Donovan Mitchell played awfully for the most part throughout the series, and if he's not able to kind of step his game up and just play normally in this next series against the Pistons, I just don't think the Cavs really have a real chance to win it. And speaking of that's that series, currently the Pistons are beating the Cavs 78 to 79, 74 in getting to the end of the third quarter here. So that one is still going on, and kind of we'll see how that one goes. I do probably give the Pistons a little bit of an edge because they just play so well defensively. And again, harden in a in a big game in the playoffs. I just can't rely on it, man. I just can't. Um, next series, Knicks Hawks. Knicks won that series um four to two. In that last game, the Knicks clowned, clowned, I mean that word this time, clown the Hawks. The Knicks won it 140 to 89. I think the Knicks had almost 100 points at the end of the first half. I think they was 83 points. They're winning 83 to 36 at halftime. And the Hawks at certain points looked okay in this series and looked like they could like, you know, play above their weight class and play better. But it's just Atlanta was not consistent enough offensively. They don't have the firepower that was going to be able to um keep up with the Knicks again. How kind of how it worked out in this series. But the Knicks were definitely the better team, they deserved to win it, and um, they did what they had to do in that game six to close them out, and it wasn't a really a close series for the most part. And then last but not least, the Celtics and Sixers. Um, that series went seven. The Celtics were up three-one in this series, and the 76ers were able to come back and win it. They're up 3-1, right? Let me let me check. Hold on. Um, one game one, lost game two, one game three and four. Okay, yeah. The Celtics were up three to one after four games, and they kind of fumbled the series. And this was on the backs of Joel and B coming back. I think that was in game three. He came back and played for the first game, didn't play all that well. And then in those final four, hold on, let me make sure I'm not nuts here. Did he play in game four? Hold on. Did he play game three? So yeah, um, Embiid came back in game four, did not play all that well, and they were down three-one, and then those next three games, Joel Embiid kind of took over, and the Sixers were able to pull out this series and kind of come back, claw and fight their way back in it, and won the series four to three um in that last game. It was a very the Sixers kind of c jumped off too early lead, and then kind of the Celtics came back and they were able to kind of make it close in the fourth quarter, but the Sixers managed to pull away again. And again, I think the 76, I think the Celtics in that series, when things started going badly and they were losing all those games, again, they they fumbled the series like crazy, and it turned out to where like they went super cold shooting-wise in those last three games. Like they could not shoot whatsoever. Um, especially when they because again, when the Celtics have made it their identity to shoot threes and just keep shooting them and keep shooting them and keep shooting them, and you go incredibly cold, it makes it a lot harder for your offense to go and and stay consistent, right? And again, I'm not really a big nerd when it comes to all this, like not nerd, but like a savant when it comes to basketball stats and anything. So that's why I'm not gonna try to go down that rabbit hole and try to get stats and all that. But I just think generally, when it comes to the vibe of the series, like the Celtics just went incredibly cold, and when they couldn't hit their threes, they didn't have their so Joe Mazzulla, their coach, when he was seeing their his team not be able to hit the threes they need to hit that they usually hit throughout the whole season, his answer to that was just keep shooting threes. There was no curveball, there was no other thing that they went to to kind of like quell that when they weren't hitting the threes they normally hit. And that was my biggest problem with the Celtics team, especially when they got down in that game seven. Jason Tatum wasn't able to play because his knee, I think it was not his knee that he was coming back from the um torn Achilles on, it was his opposite knee that got sore and he wasn't able to play because, again, let's be honest, the fact that Jason Tatum was able to come back from that injury so quickly and play so well for the most part, there had to be a downside to it to where maybe his body was gonna break down a bit as he kept playing minutes because again, they didn't bring him back and play him slow. They gave he came back and they were giving him full-time minutes from the get-go. And I think it was only it's only fair that if he kind of like pushed his body so far past its limit to come back from that injury so quickly, that there's there's gonna be a downside to it, and it finally hit and he wasn't able to play in that game seven. But it's just when that happens, the Celtics had to change their game plan a bit, and Joe Mazzula did not do anything of the sort. And he played a lineup that never had played started together in that game seven, like he was like just trying things out, and it didn't make any sense to me. And his whole philosophy of just keep shooting threes, it doesn't make any sense. Like when you're a team as good as the Boston Celtics are, even without Jason Tatum, you need to have a curveball to kind of like to go to if you can't if your fastball isn't working. And I think that's just sports, right? When you when you're playing any sport, like you can have your your your your fastball, you can have that pitch you can go to that you think is gonna get you a win most of the time, but when that pitch isn't working, again, I hate to go to a baseball reference when it comes to basketball, but you probably understand what I mean. But if that pitch isn't working, you have to have something you can kind of switch off to to kind of help yourself out. And as good as the Celtics are and as good as a coach that Joe Mazzula is, it just sucks to see that that moment arose where it's his job to have that curveball ready when this moment arises. Because again, the three ball is not guaranteed, and again, I get it. The math of the NBA now is to shoot more three threes are worth more than twos, and as long as you hit more than you miss, sorry, if as long as you hit enough of them, it doesn't matter how much you miss, it just like you'll the numbers work out for you more often than not, you'll win, right? But the thing is, is that it's so there's so many things outside of the player shooting the ball that have to come into play in that. There's so many outside factors that like sometimes it just doesn't this the ball isn't going through the hoop. And if that's the case and you're making all these difficult trying to make all these difficult shots from three, maybe you should just take a couple steps in and either try to go to the go to the rim or maybe hit a short two. But the Celtics didn't have that in their offense whatsoever, they didn't even try to do so. And on top of that, they took all their big men out because like why would you like you need more shooting, right? So they didn't have a lot of another big man they really believed in to shoot threes consistently enough, so they took all their big men out that could play some better defense against Joel Embiid and took them out too, and now Joel Embiid's just hit eating on the inside without much of an issue to try to sit here and like die by this only three mentality, and it just kind of sucks. So it's just kind of disappointing as good as a coach that Joe Mazzula is, and as good as that team is, to where like you had no outside plan, you didn't have another thing you can go to to kind of help yourselves out when that three ball wasn't hitting. Like, that's the part that's so disappointing to me. Not the fact they lost a series. Again, it is it does suck, and it is kind of embarrassing that you had such a commanding lead and you lost it the way you were, with how good of a team the Celtics team actually is. But it's just the fact that they just didn't have any sort of maneuverability to get around that, like they just couldn't the ball wasn't going through the hoop. Sometimes that's just the case in basketball. Like, there is no like, oh, just kind of keep powering through. Sometimes just not hitting. And they went on a very cold run and they just didn't have any answers once that happened, and that's the part that sucks. But all in all, fantastic for the six day managed to come back, and again, uh the NBA world has wanted Joel MB to be playing in in legit basketball down the stretch in the playoffs for so long, and as long as he can stay healthy and keep playing, I do think that they will be able to have maybe have that opportunity. They lost their game last night to the Knicks. Um, the Knicks kind of um blew them out very early on in that game. So that game was not really very competitive, but I as long as they can kind of get back into that series and kind of hopefully that'll go seven, and it'll be a very fun series to watch. But this is another one where I wanted to talk about one of the storylines coming out of that series between the Celtics and the Sixers. They lost that game on Saturday night, I think. Am I crazy? Yeah, the second. They lost that game Saturday, and one of the main storylines on Sunday was Jalen Brown came out on a stream on Sunday and pretty much went on and on about the series and why why they lost it and his frustrations over how things went in that series and like how we thought the so in that stream, he kind of goes through it all. Like he kind of looks at it as like his um, he kind of treats it as like a um like an exit meeting or like a like we like meeting with the media where he's just kind of going on on the stream talking to chat, answering questions, and kind of giving his thoughts on the series and why why they didn't win and all of that. And he goes crazy when it comes to talking about his frustrations over the officiating. He thought that they kind of had a little bit of an agenda against him because he's like been very um because he's been very critical of the officials in the past. We felt like they had an agenda against him in that series, and he said that they because also with that, Joel Embiid is a flopper, and like flopping is like destroying the game of basketball. And again, that is the one thing I can give him that maybe I'm not gonna get too much on him about because again, people have different opinions on flopping. Again, I have my opinion on a flopping, but I don't think it's ruining basketball, and if like the fact that he was kind of using all this as a way to vent his frustrations in this way, it makes him come off as a little bit of a um a sore loser to a certain extent. And this is and also another thing he talked about in the stream that I was like very like bewildered about was he also mentioned how this was his favorite season of his NBA career so far. Which is a weird thing to say after you just lost in the first round against a team that nobody thought you should have lost to when you had a 3-1 commanding lead. And again, when you look and you think about it, like obviously, a guy that has been looked at as a number two on his own team for so long, and this is a guy that's won a finals MVP in an NBA championship, and the idea that he got a chance to be the number one on his team this past season without Jason Tatum for the most part, and he went out there and put out put up a great season. He was an MVP candidate, like he played awesome, he was great, he was the man, and he kind of showed up and he played very well throughout the regular season. So I understand the competitive side of him like liking the idea of when I've been questioned for so long as to whether I can be the leader of this team, and I got my opportunity, I went out there and balled out, and like and I played very well, and I and here's the thing I understand him feeling that way, but why would you say it on a stream that is gonna go out to everybody? And on on top of that, the other things too about the officiating and the flopping, like I don't understand what he thought he was going to gain by coming out in this stream and talking about this stuff. And this is the thought I came to when it came when it came to this whole thing, right? And I get it, the idea that these players, the Draymonds, can come out and have their own podcast and have their own way, their own outlet to go and talk about the things that they want to talk about and have control over how things kind of get disseminated, is I understand that idea that they would like to have their own control and not necessarily have to give up um because again, in the past, these these players and these these superstar players and are talking, they talk to the media, and the media kind of takes their words and do and does what they want with them, and they feel like they don't necessarily the players feel like they don't have control over how they're perceived after the people they talk to that had that it's their job to kind of like disseminate what they say in these interviews, they feel like they don't have control of it on the back end because the they do what they want with them, the media people do, right? So now that's why the player-led podcasts are such a big deal right now, the Draymonds and all of that. In the streaming for Jalen Brown is just this a very similar thing, right? But my thought on this is that if you wouldn't say all those things in an in the post-game interview with the media, then why would you say it on a stream the day after? That's my main point on this. This is what made me so frustrated by it, because at the end of the day, if you're gonna go and because these are things he shouldn't have said, because not only does it make him look like a sore loser, but then when it comes to the this is my favorite season, it makes you look very weird when you have a fan base that's very disappointed by how you gave up a 3-1 lead in the first round of the playoffs against a heated rival in this in the Philadelphia 76ers. So there's no way the fan base is going to take you saying that very well either. And again, that's something you can feel in your heart, but it's just not something you probably should say out loud that so everybody can take that and run with it. On top of the fact that they've already questioned like who like is there total like synergy between him and Jason Tatum and who's number one, and all those things were already being talked about, and you kind of threw gasoline on the whole situation by saying that. It just kind of sucks. That like the season you think you played at your best and you're your favorite is when Jason Tatum was out for most of the year with an injury and you got to be the number one guy and he wasn't in the way. And my main thought was was what would Jason when Jalen Brown talk about this with the media, would he say this exact same thing? I don't think so. Because Jalen Brown has a mistrust of the media and he feels like his words will be kind of misused and misplaced and like will be twisted into saying something he didn't actually say, right? But my problem is that when you go on a stream and you say these things, guess what's gonna happen? You're gonna be clipped up by some people that it isn't their job. Well, whether there's some people that's media that like is all on social media and doing that thing, but then there's people that aren't trained in the media either, they get to clip you out as well and make you say whatever they want, like they can clip it out and make it look as bad or as good as they would like it to. You're doing the exact same thing when you go out in these streams and talk about it too. And I think here's the thing if you're a guy like Draymond, I can understand him doing it and him having his frustration with the media because guess what? Draymond's gonna say what he wants to say, whether it's the media or on his podcast. He don't care. But I don't think Jalen Brown's one of those guys that doesn't care, and I feel like that he's gonna be one that's gonna take this and be mad about it and be like, oh, everybody clipped me out and kind of made me like made me look look out to say things I didn't actually say. But you gave him the ammo. Like you made you put yourself in a situation now, and now you there's nobody to blame but yourself now because the media didn't do it this time. You put out this this big piece of media for people to kind of chew on, and now they're gonna take that and do whatever they want with it. So I just I just feel like there's just because you make your own platform doesn't mean you get to say whatever you want. Like you still have to kind of follow the same rules that you would if you were talking to the media with them all the cameras in your face right after a basketball game. And that's the part where I'm like, maybe like come on, you gotta think about it a little harder, guy. This is gonna be the exact same thing. The exact same thing's gonna happen either way. And I think you have to have a better, a good, a good handle on the idea that this might be your own platform, but guess what? Everybody has access to it now and they can do what they want with it after you release it. So I don't know, man. It's just a weird one. And the fact that he thought that that stream on the day after was gonna be anything positive that was gonna come out of that. I just don't understand that whatsoever. Like, nothing, there was no way. Like, if I wish there was somebody around him that looked at him and be like, hey dude, you probably don't need want to do this. There needed to be somebody in that mode to be like, hey, probably need to take a few days before you kind of do this because nothing good's gonna come of it if you kind of go with it. And unfortunately, it didn't look like they had a guy that's kind of stopping from doing so. And now people are gonna keep talking about the fact that he's a sore loser and that um he's only in it for himself because his favorite season when he is when he got to be the number one guy, and Jason Table was out with injury. I don't know, man. It's it's a it's a weird one, man. I just don't know why he would have opened himself up to this. It doesn't make any sense to me. But um it's a weird one. I don't know. Um but that's it for all the NBA stuff. I went through all the series and the the what is it, this conference semifinals that are going. I I kind of mentioned them as I went, but I'll kind of give my last little um saying of what they are right now. So Thunder Lakers um are going against each other in the they haven't played their first game yet. I think they played tonight at 8.30. So sorry, their game's already started, hasn't it? So their game's already started in game one. I think the Thunder are probably gonna win that one. Timberwolves Spurs are playing each other in the other side of the Western Conference uh semifinals. Um Timberwolves are already up by a game from the game yesterday. I still think the Spurs are probably gonna win the series, but I do think that's gonna be a knockdown drag out fight. And then on the eastern side, you have the Pistons Cavs playing each other. They're playing in their first game right now. Pistons are up 93 to 84 with about seven minutes left. I probably lean the Detroit Pistons to win that series. And then you have on the other side of the Eastern Conference semis, you have the Knicks and Sixers playing each other. Knicks are already up by a game from that game yesterday, like I said before. Um, I think I probably lean the Knicks to be totally honest with you, but I do I respect Joel Embiid and if he can play healthy and they can get that offense together, I think they have a chance, but I probably will lean the Knicks to win that series for sure. Um and that's it for the basketball stuff. I know I went super long on that, again, over an hour on all just NBA. Again, this is not a podcast that's usually an NBA-based one. So if you you kind of came into this podcast thinking you're gonna get a lot of NFL, that's not the case today. It's just uh NBA has been on my mind. There hasn't been as many NFL stuff happening. So um, but no, those are still the things on my mind on the NBA. Um, it's still going. I'm having a lot of fun watching those games. But I wanted to make sure to kind of talk about those things again. That was my main thing to want to come on because I think there was a lot of like um different storyline stuff that I really wanted to get into. Um, but from here on, I do have football things to talk about. So we can, if you're not a basketball person, you do get a little bit of football on the side here. Um first thing I want to talk about was the Brennan Brendan Soresby situation. Um, he is a quarterback that was going, I think he played for Cincinnati last year. He transferred and he was gonna be playing for Texas Tech in this upcoming season. It comes out, I think, in the middle of last week, that he had gotten caught making bets. I think he they said upwards of like 10,000 bets. And not only did he make a bunch of bets on balls and strikes at Cincinnati Reds games, apparently, which is kind of like a very degenerate thing to do. Um, again, me coming from a gambler myself, but the fact you're betting on balls and strikes in baseball games is crazy. Um, but he also the bigger problem is that he bet on Indiana while he was there for his freshman year. Um, because I think he started at Indiana, transferred to Cincinnati and played there, and now he's transferring to Texas Tech and was going to play there this upcoming season for like six million dollars, and they're giving him an NIL. But that is now in jeopardy, of course. So the whole story is that this is a big problem, obviously, because for college athletes, they are not allowed to bet on sports at all. It is a big old no-no, it's not a good thing. They they pretty much outlaw any sort of sports betting for all college athletes, okay? And not only did he violate that, but he also bet on the team he was playing on. Again, he wasn't really playing at the time. He was a freshman, he was sitting, he wasn't even traveling with the team for the most part. And apparently, based on the story, he never made a bet on a game he ended up playing in. But he did make bets on the team that again he wasn't playing on, but he did make bets on the team he was on at the time, right, in Indiana. And that's a big old no-no. On top of the fact, you can't bet on any of their sports either, and now they have suspended him and said that he's probably going to he doesn't he's not gonna have eligibility for this upcoming season, and he's gonna be fighting that. I think he got one of the biggest like lawyers in college sports to fight for him because he is trying to come back and regain that college eligibility. Because if he doesn't get it, then that five, six million dollars he was supposed to get in IL from Texas Tech is now kapoof. He doesn't get access to that, and that is a big chunk of money that he would have for one season that a lot of players would love to have, and now he wouldn't have access to it because of the issues that he had years ago. And apparently he's gonna make that case that I think he went to rehab and he's they're saying he's gonna take it, um, try to get help. It's a mental health issue, and that he was he was addicted to gambling, and that his whole deal is when this stuff goes to court, is that he it was a problem then, he's not doing it anymore, he's fixed it, and that he is trying to find a way to get his some eligibility back so he can go back and play with Texas Tech for this upcoming season. Because if he's not able to, his only recourse would have to be going in into the supplemental draft, which is if you don't know about the supplemental draft, it's kind of like a post-draft draft for like any player that is like deemed ineligible and not able to play the next season in college sports, so it kind of gives the M NFL another chance to then get that player in the supplemental draft. But the only problem is that it's kind of like from what I've read, it's kind of like a fantasy league waiver wire type of thing, but but it's still using like the draft in like the draft ways that like every team gets, I don't know how many rounds there is, but it's it's like a first, second, third round or something like that. I'm not sure how many rounds, but if an NFL team decides to use their first round supplemental draft pick on a player, again, like Sorsby, that team then loses their first round pick in the next draft. So it's a little bit of a risky thing. So if a player, if a team says, Hey, I'm willing to use my first my first my second round pick, but another team get uses their first, they have the higher priority and they manage to get the player in the draft, right? So it makes it a little bit of a game of chicken when it comes to the supplemental draft that Sorsby would have to go into. And apparently, from what I've read, is that if Sorsby would have come out in this past draft, he would have been looked at as like one of the better quarterback prospects out there, and people say that he has real ability and can potentially be a first-round quarterback. So, like, this is a guy that teams would definitely be interested in in drafting, right? But for a guy like Sorsby, like the$5 million, five, six million dollars he was he's playing he was planning to get from Texas Tech this upcoming season would be a big payday that he'd he would not have had otherwise. And I don't think he would have once he got drafted in the supplemental draft by whatever NLFL team would take him, because he just you just don't get the same amount of money that you would get if you go into a regular draft and the money slotted and everything like that. So my question is I'm not sure as to why he is fighting this. I really don't know. I feel like this one this is one of those things that's like a like a open and shut type of case for the most part. It is very clear in the in the NCAA guidelines that no it no player is allowed to bet on college sports on bet on sports in general, and cut if you're a a college athlete. And he did that, not only over 10,000 bets, but he also bet on the team that he was on. Again, not any game he's played in, but he still bet on it on it on the team that he was on at the sum at the time. And I think for the most part, because because this is such an open-shut case, I think his only plan of recourse is that he's hoping that the NCAA gets cold feet and he'll say, like, hey, if you if we can just work out a three, four game suspension, and then you know, you let me come back and play this season, then I won't fight this out, and this won't be something that is like taking super long and it'll make the NCAA look bad. I think that's his only recourse, to be honest. Because I think for the first time in a while, the NCAA has a real leg to stand on, like this is just a rule that's been there, and there is, I think most people would agree with the fact that this is like an open and shut thing. And again, I just I get why he's doing it, I get why Texas Tech is probably telling him you should do it. Because when if you're Texas Tech and you go out into the into the portal and you go try to go get the best quarterback you can, heck, you felt like you're a quarterback away last year, and you go and get the best quarterback you can up with six million dollars in NIO money, and then now you potentially won't have him this upcoming season, you're gonna have to look at it using one of your backups because again, there's no spring portal to go into and go get a different quarterback. So now you're stuck with what you have when you went and got the quarterback you thought was gonna be your guy for this upcoming season. So I just don't know, man. It's just on one hand, I understand that he got addicted and all that, but the rule was he wasn't you're not supposed to bet at all in the first place. So if you didn't put your hand on the fire to kind of get addicted to, then you wouldn't be in this scenario. But guess what? You've he made that initial choice to start betting on games, and that got him addicted. But again, the rule was to make no bets at all if you're a college athlete, and he did. And again, I have I have some real like I understand the idea that gambling is such a normal thing now, and it's all over commercials, and heck, I gamble. So like I'm not I can't sit here and be like the whole year and now, like, you know, you know, you're not allowed to gamble. But it's just the rule that you had for the tech for the for the league that you're in, and you're and you're a college athlete, the rule is not to gamble and don't gamble, and or you're gonna take a chance on impacting your eligibility and impacting your chance to go out there and play on Saturdays. It's that simple to me. It really is. Like, it's just a rule, it is what it is. So I don't know, man. It's a very weird one, and everybody will be very ex like very because again, I think the the dead, I think the supplemental draft is in like June. So if he doesn't have figured out before then, he's just gonna have to say, hey, I'll go in the supplemental draft. And now that'll give a lot of teams that didn't draft quarterbacks in this last year's draft, maybe somebody will be willing to use a second round supplemental draft pick or a third round pick on him and potentially have him be their guy for the future. Because again, I think the last guy I can think of that I was really caring about being taken in the supplemental draft was Terrell Pryor, when he was deemed ineligible for the tattoo gate at Ohio State and he had to go into the supplemental draft, and he got drafted by the Raiders, I think. Um that was the last guy I I cared about that was taken in the supplemental draft. So it's very interesting. And again, as a guy that has a team in the Pittsburgh Steelers that didn't draft quarter, sorry, we did draft a quarterback, but not a quarterback I ever want to see the field for my team in Drew Aller. The idea of potentially using a second round pick on a guy that has some real abil some first round pick ability, it is a very interesting thought. But again, it's probably an interesting thought for other teams as well, and they're probably gonna do it, and the Steelers won't, but you know, we have to get there first. Who knows if he actually ends up doing it at all anyway? But we'll see what it is once we get there. Um but yeah, it was a very very weird story, and again, it's not like a lot of players are getting hit in college football of betting on games. I think that's been a very like not much of an issue whatsoever. So I do think the NCAA is gonna make this a very, like, very open and shut, like, hey, we're gonna use this as the test case to let everybody know that there is no moving or budging on this. Like, this is a rule that we're gonna stick to. And as long as there's no judge that's really gonna like rule in favor of him when it's like there's really no reason to, I think this is one of those things that will be looked at as like the main thing to tell all college athletes that there is no budging on this one. If you make bets, you're out. And I think that's a very cool, that's a very um a good stance to have for college athletics. Again, you're because again, you open yourself up for these young people to have potentially addictions, and again, you just don't want to open yourself up to having players bet on games that are actually playing in and opening up that Pendors box. And their it their answer to it is to not let players bet at all, and I think that's an okay answer to have at this point. And again, it's it is what it is on that, but I think it's a very interesting story, and I think uh I'll be more than happy to talk about it more as stuff comes out about it. Alright. Um, other stories I wanted to talk about in the NFL here. Oh, um, I wanted to talk about the let's see here. Umpe oh George Pickens. George Pickens. This was news last week that he had signed his franchise tag for this upcoming season for like$27 million fully guaranteed. And this was one of those weird ones where I not let not weird, but like I was stories I was like looking at because again, with being a guy that rooted for a team that had George Pickens on their team because again, Steelers drafted him in the second round and had him for three years before they traded him to the Cowboys. And George Pickens looked at to try to get a big time contract, and with how he played last year, I totally understand him kind of looking at it and be like, hey, I played better than CeeDee Lamb, and CeeDee Lamb's getting paid like$28 million. Um CD Lamb. CeeDee Lamb's getting paid. Let's see how much here. Four years,$136. So he's getting paid around$34 million a year. So in George Pickens after last year, where I think he thoroughly outplayed him, I totally understand the idea that he'd be like, hey, on this same team as CD Lamb, I outplayed him. I think I should be getting paid more than him, let alone I'm not sure if he ever has a real leg to stand on when it comes to trying to reset the market and like be the top paid receiver in the NFL. I just don't think he's that type of receiver as of yet. But he's still one of the more talented guys in the NFL. And I think he's more than more than um deserving of getting a big contract with how he played last year for the Cowboys. And the news lat like the news last couple weeks was that the Cowboys were like, hey, we're not signing you to a long-term deal. You're either you're gonna play under the franchise tag or you're gonna sit out and then not do it at all, but you potentially lose your um your year of like I think you have to like gain an actual year of eligibility to be able to be eligible to be a free agent. So you have to play at least halfway. I think it's like 10 weeks. Sorry, you have to play at least sit 10 weeks of the season in order to No, it's six weeks. You have to play some way halfway through the year in order to get the year as credit towards being a free agent, right? So those were his options either sign the free the franchise tag for the$27 million guaranteed, or sit out, make this a long-term deal, and then like hopefully the Cowboys will crumble and they'll pay you on the outset. So like that, those were his two options. And it was news last week that came out that uh George Pickens had said, Hey, I'm gonna sign this, I'm gonna sign the um the franchise tag, and I'm gonna come out, be at everything, be at all the offseason stuff. Because again, once you sign that that tender, um, that tag, you have to show up to everything. There is no skipping anything like for free of charge or anything, you'll start to get ta um fined and all of that. And it was a big surprise because with what George Pickens has been throughout his NFL career so far, is that if he's not getting his way, he's a powder and he's not gonna do he's not gonna work hard and he's not gonna like no sorry, not work hard. It's probably probably going too far. But he is a guy that shows his emotions on his sleeves, his sleeve, and if he feels disrespected or he feels like things aren't going his way, he's not gonna necessarily have the best, um, the best professionalism, um, to a certain extent, right? And again, not necessarily bad things off the field, but it's just like he's just gonna do things that you know you would like for a leader of your team not to do, okay? But in this scenario, he decided, hey, my um, I think, at least what I think, right? He probably looked at the had people in his corner that was like, hey, you don't necessarily have the best um the best reputation in the NFL right now for how he played with the Steelers and not really trying hard on the football field. And he did have moments during the season last year for the Cowboys where he kind of like fell back into doing those same things when he wasn't getting the football and it kind of like flared up again. So I think people around him and his on his team were like, you know what, maybe you should just go sign this contract, help out your own reputation, and hopefully, if the Cowboys will let you go and be a free agent after this season, you can go get the big paycheck you're looking for if it's with the team that's willing to um to make that investment in you, thinking that you have made a real change to being a more professional player in the NFL. And I'm surprised by that, to be totally honest with you. And to a certain extent, I'm surprised the Cowboys made this move to not give him a long-term deal because when you traded for him, again, they gave up a second round, a second and a third round pick for him. I was surprised because if you're not gonna sign the guy to a long-term deal after you give up those assets, like what was the point of getting him in the first place? Again, I get it helps your offense in the short term, but if you're just gonna let him walk after a year or two, I just don't know what how you thought this was gonna be worth it in general. And on top of that, with how he acted in Pittsburgh, I'm just like the more that he plays on the field and he feels like he deserves the money again after last year, he probably deserves to have a big payday. And I just think you're playing with fire to a certain extent to expect him to play throughout this whole year without falling into that lull again of not really doing all the th all the little things that you need to to be a professional NFL receiver. And again, he signed he signed the franchise tag, which is something I never thought he'd do in the first place. So I think that's a real step in the right direction for him. But I just feel like it's a long season, man. And if he's not getting the football or he feels like he's getting slighted, and he already isn't getting paid the money he thinks he should be getting paid, so it only opens him up more and More to try to make those bad decisions and not necessarily do the things he needs to do on the football field. So I think the Cowboys are really playing with fire here, to be totally honest with you. I really do. Because I just think it's cool that the that Pickens is trying to do the right thing right now. But the more time you give, the more things happen. He might make a different decision, and it'll only be an issue for your football team throughout the season if he decides to go that route. So I don't know. Cowboys are playing with fire, but I do think you have to give Pickens a little bit of credit for signing the tech signing the tag in the first place. Because I feel like I never thought he was going to do that. So I give him his credit for that, but I still like feel like this will be a storyline throughout the NFL season that could become a bigger one if things start going badly again this year like they did last year. At least again, it didn't go bad. Like the whole season wasn't bad, but it was just like a little lull in the middle of the season that Pickens kind of fell off the wagon and stopped doing little things, and it made it very apparent on the football field that that was happening. So if that happens again this year, it'll only be a bigger problem because everybody knows he's playing on a franchise tag. So it's only gonna make it a bigger story if it happens this time around this season. Next thing I want to talk about. Oh, the Sean McVay thing. And I think this might be my last thing before I get out of here. Um Sean McVay. Last time we podcasted, we were doing the post-draft kind of like talk when it me and Jason talked about all the drafts and all that. We questioned the whole Ty Simpson being drafted to the Rams thing, right? We made our cases as to why we thought it was stupid. He's not gonna be a guy that's gonna be able to help you for this in the upcoming season. He's gonna be a future guy and all that. And I don't think I mentioned this on the pod, but it was something that was happening at the time was that there was a post-draft press conference that it was apparent that Sean McVay did not look all that happy when they were talking about drafting Ty Simpson and all that. And I I was one of those that did get tricked by it, and I was like thinking, like, oh, this shows that that that Sean McVeigh isn't all the way in on this and all of that, and why wouldn't you get the okay from Sean McVeigh if he's supposed to be the coach of your long term long term for your team and the quarterback guy? And if he wasn't confident about it, why would you take that player even if he wasn't all the way in on it? But the news coming out of last, like going at the end of last week and all that, was that that was more of an act, and that he was like Sean McVeigh was just trying to make sure that he acted like to um Matthew Stafford that he wanted to make sure Matthew felt like it's still Matthew's team and he didn't want to kind of make that natural divide and make Matthew Stafford feel again, a guy that isn't signed for this upcoming season, they still have to figure out a contract for him. And again, he did he did um Matthew Stafford did make an announcement during his acceptance speech for the MVP award is that he's coming back for this upcoming season. So he's expected to be back, and they're expected to try to go for another Super Bowl, and like they still have to sign him and all of that. So I get the idea that Sean McVay would want to make sure that that Matthew Stafford feels comfortable and he's still Matthew Stafford is still like it's still his team, right? But here's my thing about that, and and I felt at the time I felt like oh McVeigh's not all in, and I I believed his act, right? But the news came out later that week that um Ty Simpson let it slip that he are he did have a um he did have a meeting with McVeigh and he was all in, and I think it kind of came out that McVeigh was more with the move than we ever thought it was he was at the time, okay? And that it was all an act. But here's my thing with McVeigh trying to put on that act for for Matthew Stafford. Does he think Matthew Stafford's stupid? And again, I don't think McVeigh ever thought that Ty Simpsons Ty Simpson would let it slip, that there was a secret meeting with the GM and with McVeigh very early on in the process, that they wanted to keep it hush-hush, that the Rams were interested in drafting him at 13. So like there's no way McVeigh thought he like that Ty Simpson was going to let that slip. But I just don't I think even without that information coming out, I just don't think Matt like he should expect Matthew Stafford to be stupid enough to believe that. If because again, Matthew Stafford knows the business in the NFL a lot better than any of us normal humans that just have everyday jobs. And I feel like he knows McVeigh enough to probably know if he was lying or not. And that part I just don't understand how McVeigh thought that was going to work. And I just don't know how whether he thought that was going to be a good enough performance for Matthew Stafford, but I think Matthew Stafford probably know him enough to wear it to know that that would not be a move that is made without Matt without McVeigh's blessing. And obviously, when you think about it critically, there was no way McVeigh being the the coach and the offensive coordinator for that team, that there was no way there's a group there was going to be a quarterback was going to be drafted without the the okay from him because he's supposed to be the guy coaching him. So like coming off of that, and you get the news of that from from um from Ty Simpson about the secret meeting and all of that, about how the Rams are really into him. They were gonna draft him with that 13th overall pick, and they were really into the idea of doing it for the future. And okay, fine, cool, great. Um, not cool, not great, because I still don't believe, still don't understand the move at all. And this is where I have my issue was that coming off of that, there were a lot of people in NFL media that were that are quarter that are quarterback people and that are like scouts, and they think they were trying to make every excuse in the book as to why this was a good move for the Rams, that they made this move for their future, and even if it comes at the expense of what next year's team would be. And I was dumbfounded by the the argument, right? If if any other team would have made that move, there is no way the there was a sport, no way there's gonna be people in the sporting world that would that would uh call that move anything but stupid. But guess what? The Rams are one of the pretty the pretty board teams in the NFL. They're one of the McVeigh is this is the wonder kid. Now he's not a kid anymore, he's one of the he's been a coach for a while, but he's still one of like the more popular people in the coaching profession in the NFL right now. And everybody was caping up for the Rams to talk about how good a move this was and how Ty Sampson will be the quarterback of the future, and and this is a great move. This is a this is an extra pick they never would have had if they didn't make the trade last year with the Falcons. And I didn't they didn't make any sense to me whatsoever. And let me just start let me just kind of talk about this one by one as to why I don't agree with this. First off, that pick was not an extra pick. You know why? Because you traded away your first round pick last year to do so. This wasn't a trade if you had a player that you didn't like in the first place, and you trade them away and you got a first round pick you never thought you would have had, right? You traded out of your first round pick last year, and then you got that pick this year from the Falcons to make for to have, right? Not only that, the first round pick they actually earned on their own merits for being one of the best teams in the NFL, so they had a late first round pick. They traded that pick to the Kansas City Chiefs to get Trent McDuffie. So you gave up that first round pick to get McDuffie again, a great player that'll help out your team again. That's kind of like drafting a player that you already know has proven the NFL, so fine. But but this pick is not an extra pick. This is just a first-round pick that you now that you could have used on anything else, on any other player that would have been able to help your team next season. You could have got an offensive lineman, you could have got another pass rusher, you could have got another receiver. Like there was other things you could have had that would be a piece to help you out this season on your run to go and try to win a Super Bowl with Matthew Stafford as your quarterback. But they decided not to. So now, if the best case scenario, Ty Simpson will not be a player that'll do anything for the Rams this season, uh this upcoming season, or even the season after if Matthew Stafford still wants to play. So let's just say for the next one to three years, Matthew Stafford's still gonna be your quarterback for the foreseeable future. So your whole plan is after Matthew Stafford's done, then you get to have a quarterback, and Ty Simpson will be ready to go and he'll be your future quarterback. But here's my issue with that. Ty Simpson had a total of 13 starts on the college level. He was a quarterback that went to Alabama, sat on the bench behind Jalen Milrell, which is hilarious in of itself, because again, Jalen Millro wasn't a great quarterback in general, doesn't play for two or three years, gets this season of starting, plays, doesn't he is up and down, kind of like injury marred and all of that, and then now you expect him to sit for another two to three years and then be ready to go by the time Matthew Stafford's done. That's a lot of faith in a guy that's gonna have 13 starts in a matter of seven years. How does a quarterback get better if they're not out there playing the actual game of football? You can only learn so much in practice. When the Packers did it with um with Jordan Love, he was playing football. He was playing real football in North Kakota State. He wasn't playing no, sorry, Nevada. It was Nevada he played at, I think.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:04

Um where did Jordan love going to college?

SPEAKER_01 1:38:11

It was Utah State, my bad. He played for three years at Utah State. And how many starts did he have?

SPEAKER_00 1:38:19

Um many starts. Jordan love having college.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:30

He played 32 games over three years in college. He had 32 games of starting experience. Again, not at the FBI at Division I level, but he played 32 games as a starting quarterback in college football. Ty Simpson has 13. So now you're gonna expect Ty Simpson to sit, play 13 games of 13 games of consequence in a matter of seven years, and you're gonna be able to like for sure know that he's gonna be your quarterback of the future. That doesn't make any sense to me. He's not gonna get better sitting on the bench for three years. And here's my other issue with this, right? Is that when you get draft a quarterback and you do that, the one of the main things you want to do when you draft your quarterback of the future is to try to strike it, stri hit gold within his rookie contract to try to make your team very good before you have to pay such a quarterback. But the problem is, is that you're gonna have you're gonna have Ty Simpson sit for two to three years, and that's most of his rookie contract. So you're gonna get one or two seasons max of where you can figure out whether he's gonna be your guy or not, and then you're gonna have to pay him real money in the in the NFL. And let's be honest, being a starting quarterback in the NFL, if you're the next guy up, you're getting paid over fifty-five million dollars now. Who knows what that number will be two to three years from now? Well, over sixty million dollars. So now you've taken away any chance of striking it, striking it early with a quarterback that'll be good on a rookie contract, to where you're not even gonna have that window of opportunity either. So that's another reason I don't like it, right? I don't I don't understand this move whatsoever. And then on top of all that, Sean McVay is a quarterback coach, slash, a coach slash offensive coordinator. When he first went to the Rams, who did he have as as his starting quarterback? It was Jared Goff. He had Jared Goff, he took Jared Goff all the way to a Super Bowl. And it didn't work out. He didn't like he didn't he didn't think Jordan uh Jared Goff would be a guy they needed to take that next step and win a Super Bowl. They traded him to the to the Detroit lines at the time and traded for Matthew Stafford, who I think Jordan Love, let's just for real quick, Jordan Love is a six, how hold on. Jared Goff, I think he's like six five.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:09

Let's see here.

Wrap Up And How To Support

SPEAKER_01 1:41:16

Jared Goff is 6'4, 217 pounds, a big body, tall quarterback that has a cannon of an arm, at least yeah, relative canon for an arm. He's not necessarily like a howitzer, but I think he has a pretty good arm, right? And but doesn't have a lot of movement, but that wasn't enough for Sean McVeigh. He needed a more talented quarterback to be the guy to lead them to a Super Bowl. And they traded Jared Goff away, Jared Goff and picks away for Matthew Stafford, who, all intents and purposes, is just a more polished, a better version of Jared Goff, who is a tall, big-body quarterback with a howitzer of an arm. That is very much proven, who is just a next level type of quarterback and has otherworldly physical traits that allows him to be the quarterback he is in the NFL. So that is the guy that Sean McVay needed to be his guy in order to make that team what it is and what it's been very competitive over the last three, three, four years now, right? Five years. I think he's been there five years now. Yeah, because they won their Super Bowl in 2021. So like five years. So now you're gonna go from that to now going to Ty Simpson, who it doesn't have nearly the physical tools that a guy like like Jared Goff, like that Matthew Savers, let alone Jared Goff. He's 6'1, very thin, gonna be injury marred because he's not gonna be able to put on a lot of weight in his like he doesn't have the frame to put on weight to make himself more durable in the NFL. He doesn't have a great arm, he's okay, he's an okay arm, but not great. So like now you're gonna go from this all-time talented quarterback named Matthew Stafford, and Mick Vay is gonna be able to make it work with a guy with no real physical traits that'll help him survive in the NFL. You're gonna hope for him to be either be Drew Brees, because again, that's that's the comp. Like, you if you're gonna draft a guy like him that's short, not very not very thick, doesn't have a great, doesn't, isn't very fast, doesn't have like a very big physical trait, you're expecting Ty Simpson to be the next Drew Brees. And guess what? There's only one Drew Brees for a reason. So expecting Ty Simpson to be that is kind of crazy, right? So the idea that you're gonna draft this guy and Ty Simpson, and you're gonna like again, I know Sean McVay is one of the foremost offensive minds in the NFL, and he is of this like him, it's him, it's um Shanahan, it's uh KOC, I think his name is. Vikings, it's the Vikings head coach. It's Kevin O'Connell, KOC, I don't right. So KOC, it's like the that brand of offensive coordinator where they get to say, hey, as long as you get to give me a quarterback that'll do what I tell them to do, I will be able to have this offense doing well. I don't necessarily need the quarterback that has the all-time physical traits to make it happen. But the problem is that McVay has been with a quarterback with all-time physical traits, and that's when he's been at his best. And again, maybe you can go back to his time when he was with the um Washington and they had Kirk Cousins as their quarterback and they did very well. So like maybe McVeigh looks at this situation as like, hey, he can be Ty Simpson can be my Kirk Cousins, and I can just joystick my way into having a great offense still. But it's just you're asking a lot, and I feel like that's not necessarily a guarantee. Again, think about it this way what quarterback of that ilk has anybody taken to a championship? To a Super Bowl. You can compare Gary Thomas to a guy like Kirk Cousins who hasn't been anywhere close to a Super Bowl. Um, you can compare him to uh who else would I think of of that ilk? Um a uh uh uh what is his name? Oh no, Jimmy Garoppolo. You can think of another guy. Who was another guy that's like kind of like that type of quarterback, doesn't have a lot of physical traits. Um a Mac Jones, like those quarterbacks are not quarterbacks that can win you football games in the NFL. Heck, think about it this way. Even a guy like Shanahan, who is the ultimate, oh just give me somebody that'll do what I need him to do, and we can have a good offense. Again, they did it with Jimmy Garoppolo, but even he took a chance at going to get the quarterback with the crazy physical traits in Trey Lance, and it didn't work out because again, he just wasn't a good enough quarterback for um he did they he didn't really have a chance to be because they didn't really give him an opportunity, but he just wasn't good enough for what Shanahan wanted. But like, like even that, like I just feel like that is not having a quarterback like that is not enough to win in the NFL. It's just not. You can win a lot of games, but when it comes to playing against teams that are of similar caliber to you, you need a quarterback that can elevate the team above that. And quarterbacks like that are not gonna be the case. Heck, think about this way the closest thing to that was last year in Sam Darnold, right? But Sam Darnold, even being a quarterback that nobody thinks is like a superstar quarterback, he still has otherworldly physical traits that allowed him to elevate in times of need. And again, he wasn't that in the Super Bowl, he wasn't all that good, but there was times throughout the season where he did make crazy, crazy um throws and make otherworldly plays because he has crazy physical talent in a way. Again, he didn't really turn that into being an elite NFL quarterback, but guess what? He still has elite traits. He still has a crazy arm, he still can run, he still can do a lot of those things, and Ty Simpson can't do those things. So the idea that that McVeigh is gonna take this guy and Ty Simpson doesn't have any of those physical traits and let him sit for the next two to three years after he already only has 13 starts in his NFL career, and he's just gonna be ready to go by the time Matthew Stafford's done is just doesn't make any sense to me. And let alone even if he's ready to go by the time that happens, do I think he's that's gonna be a quarterback that's gonna be able to rise to the occasion and like pull your team up to go win the biggest games and go win a Super Bowl? I just don't think that's the case. So I just think all in all this move was absolutely stupid to me. I really it really is. I just don't if you were gonna make this move, at least go get a like a physical talent that you think that you can like turn into like the next Josh Allen. But when this guy's best case scenario is Drew Brees, and again, those there's very few of those for a reason, but like that's not a guy that you can just rely on and think I'm just gonna it's gonna make it happen. It's just not the case. At least if you have some raw talent, there's some clay there that you can kind of mold and kind of make into the guy that you want, and that's just not Ty Simpson whatsoever. I just think that it was not only a waste of a pick for this year when it comes to he's not gonna be able to help you at all, best case scenario. He's not gonna help you at all for trying to go to win a Super Bowl now, but then he's just gonna sit for the next few years and hope that you can turn him into a guy that isn't playing a lot of football and he could just he'll be ready to go by the time Matthew Stafford's done, makes absolutely zero sense to me. So I don't know. Um, all the people that believe the bullshit that they the Rams are putting about how they're ready to go and they'll be able to make that move and it's gonna be great. I don't I don't subscribe to that whatsoever. And I don't think anybody that has a brain that has watched Ty Simpson play throughout this last season is gonna agree with that either. Again, if you would have drafted him in the second or third round, I totally get it. And you still would have used that first round pick on somebody to help you out this season. I totally understand that fact. But you used the 13th pick overall on him. So, like, the these these this thing is not adding up. One plus one is not equaling two on this one, and uh, I just don't understand it whatsoever. All right, that's it on the Ty Simpson stuff. Um, is there anything else I wanted to get into before we got out of here? Let's see here. No, no, no, no, no, no. Richardson made it reports the Colts workouts, even though he's asked for a trade. Fine, cool. Again, Richardson. Again, he's not an NFL quarterback. He was never a quarterback. I saw him in college, he was awful like Florida. I never thought he was going to be a guy to be good in the NFL, let alone when they picked him, the Colts picked him fourth overall. Insane the fact they picked him so high. Insane. Um, that's a guy when you take a quarterback with with too much hope on the physical traits, with not any, without any sort of real um. Production at the college level. So he was he's totally the other way. Is that he not only has all the physical tools in the world coming out of Florida, but then we even with those physical tools did nothing while he was there and he was awful there. So again, two very the similar decisions, but uh for very different types of quarterbacks. Like I would understand the Rams at least making a move for a guy like that who's like, hey, he's oozing such talent that I just don't think I can get anywhere else. Ty Simpson isn't that. Um, so that's so that's about it. That's all I got today. Um, I've gone for almost two hours now. So again, for for a pod that didn't really have a real plan over what I wanted to talk about, I went for a pretty good amount of time here. So, and that's about it here. So I think that's all I got. I don't know, I can't think of anything else. So let's go. Let's get out of here. So if you've been listening for a while, we appreciate you. If you're just not joining on, hopefully you like us and enjoy us enough to join us on this ride to talk about sports in the dumbest way possible. And then if you this is your first podcast listening to, make sure you go listen to a different pod with both me and Jason so you get a better idea of what we are at our best. Um, so just make sure you do that to get it get a better idea of what we are. So make sure you do that for us. And then if you do like us, we'd appreciate if you do a couple things for us. If you could like our podcast, subscribe to the podcast, rate the podcast five stars wherever you listen to us. We're pretty much available on all audio platforms out there. We're also available on YouTube. Um we that is a recent thing. So if you have if you're a YouTube uh premium guy like me and you can listen to things off offline and like have the screen turned off, we are also available on there too. So make sure you go find us on YouTube, give us a like, give us a comment, give it and subscribe as well. And then uh make sure you guys share us with friends, family, anybody, enemies, anybody feel like you can enjoy the podcast on a weekly basis that we put out, we'd appreciate you if you can do that. And then last but not least, make sure you follow us on Twitter and or X, whatever you'd like to call it, at JB Sports Podcast, at JB Sports Pod is the podcast handle, at Javante Boozer is my handle, and at Jace Boozer1 is Jace's handle. And uh that's about it there. So let me go ahead and end it here. So thank you guys. Have a great day, have a great night, and we will see you guys next week. Goodbye, y'all.