Knicks Finish Magical Run and Major CFB Storyline Comes to a Conclusion

The Spurs had double-digit leads in basically every game and still couldn’t finish the job, and that’s where we start. We break down how the New York Knicks win the NBA Finals in five, why their run felt like a team of destiny without being a fluke, and how their physical style turned every comeback into a pressure test San Antonio failed. If you want an NBA Finals recap with real takeaways, we go player by player and moment by moment.

On the Spurs side, we talk Victor Wembanyama’s obvious greatness and the parts of his game that still need work: a true go-to offensive package, handling nonstop playoff physicality, and keeping frustration from turning into reckless decisions. We also hit the late-game mistakes that changed the series, from crunch-time turnovers to Stephon Castle’s offense disappearing, and we give Dylan Harper his respect as a scorer who’s forcing future roster decisions.

Then we zoom out to the rest of the sports summer. We run through NBA offseason and NBA free agency storylines like Giannis trade rumors, LeBron James and the Lakers timeline, and OKC’s coming cap squeeze. The biggest headline, though, is college football: the Brendan Sorsby gambling scandal, the court ruling that set everyone off, the Big 12 response, and why his move toward the NFL supplemental draft might be the cleanest ending for everyone involved. We close with quick NFL notes on George Pickens reporting, the Falcons’ James Pearce Jr. situation, and our blunt take on Kyler Murray vs J.J. McCarthy in Minnesota.

Subscribe, share the show, and leave a five-star review if you want more weekly sports pods and more arguments to have with your group chat.

Transcript

Apology And Game Plan

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome back to the JB Sports Podcast. Today is Tuesday, June 16th, and we are back for another pod. So I have to start this off with an apology because I did not record last week whatsoever. That's kind of on me. Uh so I was working last week and then the final I think I re I did a pod right before the pot the final started, which I think was late in the week the week before. So I th I thought that covered me because I think it was like the day before this last pod. Day before the uh final started was when I last did a pod. And I was like, oh, that saves me for a little bit. And then the later we got on in the last week, and then it was just like, oh, let's wait for the third game to go, the fourth game to go in the finals, and then I'll just kind of jump on. So and then it got to a point where I was like, man, this the finals, the way it was gonna work out. It looked like the Knicks kind of had it in hand after that game four. So I'm just like, you know what? Let's just go ahead and just kind of let this kind of die go through and then just have kind of like a finals overview to a certain extent or finals review. So I can talk about just the entirety of the series. Again, that would have really screwed me over if like the Spurs had found a way to try to like you know extend the series even more than what it was, being just five games. But again, I don't know. It is what it is, that's that's on me. Um plus later got on in the week. I was starting my vacation. My birthday was later was uh this past weekend as well. Um, so a lot of things kind of came into brain. Even the no excuse, I should have podted anyway, but uh I'm here now, so so I'm here. Sorry, that's where my probably my it's crazy because in the offseason it becomes so much easier to find reasons not to pod, even though there's stunt there's things that happen that do kind of like spur, spur me, make me want to get on and do this. But then it's not having Jace and all of that, but again, all that all of those just excuses, that's all totally on me. But I am here now, so let's just go ahead and kind of get into things. I think the plan for me today is to do the finals recap review um of the Knicks winning the championship for the first time in like 52, 53 or something like that. Um, and then kind of give my takeaways for both the Knicks and the Spurs after watching them in that series, and then do a few little like little like um stories I'm looking out for going into the summer. Um, free agency and all that in the NBA is still pretty uh banging time of the year. So there's gonna be a few storylines I want to talk about that, just give some a few thoughts on, and then move from that to the this is like the big thing that really made me want to pod today was the Brennan Soresby news announcement stuff. That stuff came out yesterday. I want to talk about that. I don't want to get too far into detail on that now. And then from there, just kind of talk about some of like the NFL's just like little news and nuggets that have been out as of recently. I don't think there's been a lot, but again, whatever there is left, I'll make sure to kind of jump in on and kind of give thoughts on um from what we missed last week. So that is pretty much the plan as of right now. I don't think I have too many other like big ideas really forming in my brain at the moment when it comes to like big topics to really have to jump into. But if it comes to me, it comes to me. If not, we'll just keep going with the plan we have as right

Finals Recap Begins

SPEAKER_00 3:41

now. So without further ado, let's go ahead and talk about the finals. Um Knicks, like I s like I kinda already mentioned, we'll have uh won that series in five um against the San Antonio Spurs. They had finished off the sea finished off a really a magical run in the postseason. Uh I think in general, how many games they lose in that whole hold on, let me see here. Um NBA, playoffs bracket. I think throughout the whole the whole finals run, I think 4-0, 4-0 they've only lost three games throughout this whole finals run. Um they really had it, it was really magical to a certain extent. I think I think magical is really the word for this Knicks team and what they have been been able to do. And it's this is not to call it fluky or anything like that. Um, because let's be honest, I really wasn't a big Knicks believer to begin with, even before this this not only this series started, but I didn't really think of too much of them coming into the playoffs in general. And I think this was a playoff run to really silence a lot of doubters, including me. Um, and that's exactly what they did, man. They had a little bit of uh trouble in that first series against the Hawks in the first round, but ever since then, the Knicks have been on an absolute run uh magical run um that includes beating the 76ers 4-0, um, destroying the Cavaliers 4-0. And again, those two series weren't even close whatsoever. And then getting into the finals, I again, another kind of chance for me to kind of jump on the band, not jump on the bandwagon because I'm not a Knicks fan or anything, but I could have like started to believe in them and like really giving them like some real props. And I really wasn't a believer going into the series against San Antonio either. And I think my sentiment was pretty similar to a lot of people's sentiment throughout like the basketball fandom was hey, we just saw what San Antonio did to the Thunder and the teams they had to face coming up to this, and it just felt like oh, San Antonio is much more battle-tested coming into this series, and what are the Knicks going to be able to do with Wemby? And those guards for San Antonio are such a problem, and like how is the Knicks gonna be able to play good enough defense to stop what San Antonio is bringing as of right now? And all that got turned on its head in this series, to be honest with you, and it's crazy because the things that we saw out of San Antonio to make us believe that they were gonna win this series, we saw that in all four all five of the games that they played in this series.

Spurs Collapse And Wemby Lessons

SPEAKER_00 6:22

We saw that, and this is where I'll kind of talk about the San Antonio side and then I'll get to the Knicks side, kind of get finishing it off. Like for San Antonio, the things that we saw that made us so confident, or at least made me confident, in the fact that, like, oh, Wemby something different, and this team is like a really young and hungry team. We saw the things that made us made me want to believe in them in the first place. In every single one of these games, they were able to maintain huge leads, double-digit leads. Heck, in the fourth game, they were up by 30 at one point. But I think the one thing that maybe I and a lot of other people didn't give enough credit to was the lack of let's see, what's what's what's the words I'm looking for? Lack of like maturity to a certain extent. I think you have to kind of give the San like you have to put that on San Antonio for the lack of maturity to a certain extent because you've were able to build all these leads and didn't really have the mental and not just mentally mentally a mental maturity, but physical maturity to be able to withstand the runs that the Knicks were gonna were gonna go on to try to get back into these games, and the San Antonio couldn't survive them whatsoever. And I think it also proved a lack of just polish in all of these players' game. Like for for Wemby, for as much as he played well in a good portion of these games, there are things for him that became very obvious as to things he really needs to work on and get better at in order for him to really take the the big metam make make that big metamorphosis into the player we all think that he can be. As good as he is right now, he doesn't have a refined offensive game. He doesn't have a hey, I have this go-to move to go to to be able to get myself some easy baskets and not necessarily have to be set up. Like again, as effective and as cool as him being able to get into the lane, get into the get into the paint, and just be able to get lobs from his teammates and then or not only get lobs, be able to tip it to himself and do all that, that's very cool. But that is something that kind of relies on, again, as much as he makes it look like something that's controllable, there's a lot of like there's a lot of like different factors that he can't control in that. Again, you're worried about defenders and all of that. So like he kind of lacks some offensive polish when it comes to go-to moves to help himself out to be able to get some easy buckets on his own without having on his own without having to be set up by a different teammate, getting a good lob in or something like that. And then I think it's on top of that, it's just the physical maturity when it comes for him, is being able to withstand the beating that again. I think the Knicks really did show a blueprint for all the other teams in the NBA that feel like they're gonna have to deal with Wemby at some point. Is you're gonna have to beat him up, you're gonna have to make everything super hard on him to be able to get into the paint because again, Wemby is a much better player when he gets to play inside out rather than try to play outside in again, unless the three-point shots hitting and then he can play outside in and it's not much of an issue. But he's a much better player when he starts from the inside and kind of works his way out when it comes to how he starts a basketball game and just kind of progressively gets farther and farther out and be able to hit shots and everything, and that becomes much harder for him because if you beat him up, I I think um cat and um who am I forgetting his name now? Um wow, the other player. Oh no, this is a bad time to forget names, huh? Kat and let's see here. Hold on, give me a second. Um Mitchell Robinson. Um cat and Mitchell Robinson made it their duties to get on him as much as possible, and they were super physical. And again, that I think that was a big thing throughout this whole series was that the amount of physicality that was going on between both of these teams going back and forth. That was like the that was like one of the biggest attributes of this whole series is how physical it was, and there was holding on a lot of stuff. Again, I'm not saying you're saying that this was I'm not gonna make that excuse for anybody because I think both teams really battled through a lot of physicality in this series. But like all that stuff you could tell just gets on gets under Wemby's skin to a certain extent. Because you can tell as the series went farther and farther along, you can tell his frustration was getting higher and he was making some kind of borderline dirty plays throughout it, um, doing some things you're like, okay, it went from being something that can be admirable, like thinking like, oh, that's cool, he's fighting for himself and all of that. But like getting into that last game where he was doing some questionable things, well, questionable things out of his own, let's see, frustration, um, and probably with having to be his own enforcer to it to a certain extent because there's really nobody else on his team that really does that. And so he feels like he has to protect himself and he's getting frustrated, and so and he's doing some things that started off being a little bit like admirable and like, okay, that's cool. He's make he's kind of fighting for himself to be like, uh, he's placing his foot right under Jalen Brunson as he's trying to land on purpose. Like, and he's pushing people down. Again, I didn't really think the push from Jalen Brunson um from Wemby on Jalen Brunson was that big of a deal, but it was something that he put himself in danger of getting a flagrant foul and really setting himself up in a bad way for the rest of that series. And I do have to say the NBA really did protect Wemby to a certain extent because there were a lot of things that he could have gotten flagrance for and technicals for throughout literally throughout this whole playoff run. Think about the Nas Reed thing. He didn't get fined for the Nas replay where he elbowed him in the face on purpose, didn't get the flagrant foul um assessed later on, he didn't get fined for that, and then there was plenty of things throughout this the series with the Knicks that you could easily that push on Jalen Brunson and a lot of the plays throughout, like he didn't get assessed a lot of foul fouls and stuff. Like he really was protected to a certain extent by not only the the officials in the game that were there, but the NBA in general because they didn't want to because again, the things that he was doing, he would have easily got himself if he was Draymond Green or if he was another player, he would have gotten himself taken out of like taken out and like uh suspended for a game because he would have so had so many flagrants. So like the NBA really did did they really did their job to try to keep him in the in the finals as much as possible, and he just kind of kept lashing out to a certain extent, and that might I think that is one part that was a little bit disappointing to see because as much as he claims that he has a lot of he has a lot of maturity and he does the stuff with the monks to try to control what he can control, and it just felt like throughout this whole series, again, the more things kind of got out of their hands, he just lashed, he just lashed out more and more and did things that you thought like you thought he was going to be past. But again, words are words, actions are actions, and they mean a lot more. And you could just tell throughout this series that he was definitely immature mentally, to a certain like pretty immature mentally, and he was doing things that you wouldn't you wouldn't like him to do. But again, he's 22 years old, and you can you can think, at least I think, that there are a lot of that stuff he's gonna be able to grow out of as he gets as he plays more and more and as he gets farther along into his career, not only as a player, but as a person. And I think he will get older and he'll get more mature, and the he'll start to grow out, hopefully grow out of some of those things, or he's just one of those guys that's gonna be closer to a Draymond Green type than a Tim Duncan type to a certain extent. Which again, if you if you can find a good middle ground, that'll you'll you're good. But you but throughout this series, too often he was he was borderline on the Draymond Green side, and that was a little bit disappointing to see, especially when he knows how important he is to his basketball team and he was still making some questionable decisions, and that that was the part I'd like to see him grow out of. Um, and outside of Wemby, because again, there was times where Wemby was wasn't all that effective and he wasn't like totally dominating. I think it was game five where he came out and had a really good game, especially after that game four where they kind of where he kind of uh imploded there at the end, um, with having that turnover by throwing that ball at Castle's back and then Brunson getting the ball and that effectively um finishing the comeback for the Knicks in that game four when they were down 30 at one point. And um was that was that the game? Yeah, it was that was that that was the game. Um so outside of him, you have let's you have a bunch of other young players like De'Aaron Fox in that end of that game four, I think that was game four, um, when they were up all the when they were up by thirty and like the next kind of let the Knicks come back, and they were kind of in and the San Antonio was imploding there at the end of that game. There was a turnover that happened late in that game where De'Aaron Fox kind of caused a turnover, getting the ball in the backcourt, and all he had to do was take get the ball and dribble it out and try to take as well, take as much time off the clock as he possibly could. Instead, he goes for the shot, gets blocked, and then it gives the Knicks the ball right back to in order for to give the Knicks a chance to tie that game up, and then the Knicks do that and eventually end up winning that game. So, like, even the vet on their team being De'Aaron Fox, being 27, I think he's 27 years old, even he made mistakes that it's like, oh, like if they had a more veteran guy that can make some better decisions in crunch time, that could lead to some of these games changing. Because again, like I said before, in all of these games, San Antonio had was able to build double-digit leads in these games, like every single one of these games, and they just crumbled the closer they got to the end of these games, and the Knicks took advantage of that and they came back in all of them. And that was like one of the bigger things is that it was just a lack of image lack of maturity from San Antonio, not only when it comes to their skills, but when it comes to their physicality and all that. Um, like I said about uh that was De'Aaron Fox, had his moments um of not playing all that well and not and doing not be able to do enough to win win these games. Um Stefan Castle, he had a total like flop of a of literally a total flop of a finals run. Like he literally did nothing for the most part for those last two or three games, um, especially this last game in game five, um, Stefan Castle had a total of six points. He went one for ten from the field, oh for three from three-point range, hit four of six free throws, so I guess that's something. But when Stefan Castle is as big of a um proponent on their team as he is, and he holds and he has the basketball in his hands the most outside of like probably Dylan Harper and no, sorry, probably Darren Fox, Dylan Harper, and Wemby. But like for the most part, Stefan Castle's the guy with the basketball in his hands coming up the court, and when he is that bad of an offensive product, he's putting that bad of a uh of a performance out there offensively, it messes with the rest of their team because if Stefan Castle's not gonna make shots, it makes it to where the the Knicks were just able to be like, hey, this dude's not making anything. We're just gonna make sure we play defense on everybody else, and like either make him have to throw pass at someone else and they're and we're playing good defense, or he's gonna have to prove to us that he can make some shots, and it's something he was very bad at bad in the series for, especially as the series wore on. I think in the first one or two games he was pretty effective, but it got to a point where he was just borderline, like unplayable offensively, and that's the part that sucks. Again, he's again another young player, he's 21 years old, and there's some growing that he's gonna be able to do, but like if he can't take that next step offensively, there's gonna be a huge issue. Um and let me think of the other players. Um, Julian Champagny, he had a very good series, he played very well, was but he's a three-point shooter. His job is to go out there and make the three-point shots that are in front of him, and for the most part, he did that. Um Vassell, um, the other, he's like 25 or something like that. He's a little he's still a younger player. He went out there and did his job. Go out there and make some buckets whenever you're able to and play some very hard defense, was able to do that. Um, and then the other only other player I really want to get into farther along is Dylan Harper, man. He is a guy off the bench that I think that eventually is gonna have to make San Antonio make some hard decisions as to how they have their basketball team. Because as crazy good as Dylan Harper is, you cannot keep him on the bench for long. He's too good. He's too good of a ball handler, he's too much of he's really a really good scorer as well. He may not be the same type of distributor passing-wise as a guy like Stephon Castle or De'Aaron Fox. He may not be the athlete that De'Aaron Fox is um when it comes to like speed and like being able to have electric being an electric athlete. But what Dylan Harper knows how to do, he knows how to get the ball in the basket, and he knows how to get into the paint, he knows how to contort his body, he knows how to control everything, and he just has a very um mature game when it comes to how he tries to score, and he's only gonna get better and better, and it's gonna make it much harder for San Antonio to keep him on the bench because he's that good, like he's awesome. I think in this whole series, I think it was Wemby being their best player, and then Dylan Harper being right behind him. And I think at certain points, Dylan Harper was playing even better than Wemby. Again, Dylan Harper doesn't have as much like he's a and I think all these players are very dogged defenders. I don't think they really have a weak defender on this team, to be honest with you. I really don't. I think the San Antonio team overall has a very good team, but I just think they really need a I think they're gonna have to make some real decisions on whether De'Aaron Fox is gonna be like their like a a big part of their team going forward. Do they want to make a deal to go get a different type of player to like be a different player that can make his own shot outside of Wemby to make things easier on Wemby offensively? Or are they gonna stick with De'Aaron Fox and kind of do that? Because again, De'Aaron Fox is getting paid the most money on their roster right now, and but if you don't think that he's gonna be a guy that you can rely on in these big moments, is again I think most people can probably agree that the the San Antonio is too good to fall off the face of the earth and not get back to the finals again. So if once that point happens, you're gonna play another team like the Knicks that are like very good and be able to be like you know, kind of put that pressure on you, you're gonna have to have a player that can kind of help run your offense and kind of be able to get his own shot. And I'm not sure if I I know Darren Fox was hurt throughout this series, so it did definitely impact him in his in his um in how he was able to create offensively, but I don't know. Like this is that's a decision that San Antonio's gonna have to make as to whether they want to want to have him be the like a long term answer for them and be a part of that team. Because again, they their team is so young, and again, they're kind of on the OKC track to a certain extent, where they're it's like, hey, this is a very young squad, and we can really have these pillars for long term be like BR. Our dudes, and the question is whether you want Darren Fox to be a part of that or not, or what are you gonna do with Stephon Castle? Is he gonna make the necessary changes to his game and be to be more consistent offensively? Wemby he has his own things he has to fix as well. I'm not saying he's perfect by any means. So, like they're gonna think there's gonna be a lot of things San Antonio's gonna have to fix and trying to address for their team if they want to be a team that's gonna be like every year in this discussion to get into get back to the Western Conference Finals and let alone the finals again and have a chance to go win a championship. And um, but again, I think San Antonio's a very good team. I think that they just kind of ran up ran against a buzzsaw on the Knicks, not only when it comes to how good of a team that they are, but I think they ran into a team that was kind of had the sense of a team of destiny to a certain extent, because it just felt like every time you wanted to count the Knicks out, they were able to battle back, and their team just really fought through. And I feel like that's something to be to be admired. And I don't feel like it's kind of and again, I get it. San Antonio really like fumbled the bag in certain points in the series. Again, that game four was absolutely insane. The fact they were up like game four, game three was super bad as well. Like they were heck, every one of these games, San Antonio had a spot where they had a chance to finish off these games and have a chance to win the series, but they didn't do so, and the Knicks just kept battling back over and over and over again, and San Antonio couldn't couldn't outlast the onslaughts, and that's exactly how um the Knicks were able to come back and win, like be able to honestly win all these games and be able to control the series the way they did.

Knicks Identity And Brunson Clutch

SPEAKER_00 23:42

And to get to the Knicks, man, and I again, like I said before, I have I think I have to come away from this whole thing being a lot more Um complimentary of the Knicks than I ever thought I would be. And I and again I've talked about this before on Pod, is where uh I my stepdad's a Knicks fan, and like every time he talks about the Knicks throughout this whole series and made me like cringe a little bit. Again, he's just an excited Knicks fan that deserves to have this moment as a fan that he said he's been a fan ever since he was a kid, and again, him being an old man and everything. He hasn't seen a championship in a very long time, and I feel like when you see teams like that, like those are teams like you're oh you they do deserve one championship, but then I hear guys like him talking, it makes me cringe, and then um you see the Knicks fans after like destroying their own city after the thing, so it just kind of like uh makes you feel a little bit grosser about it. But I that doesn't that doesn't take away from the team, and that's where I want to stick to is the team itself because they deserve a lot of credit top to bottom, they really do because I feel like everybody again starting with Jalen Brunson, he is the offensive engine for that team, he is the emotional engine for that team, and it when everything seemed like it was down and out in multiple points in this series, and they were down 30 in game four, and they were down double digits multiple times over, it just felt like every single time Jalen Brunson was the one that that looked like he still he it he felt like there was a chance for them to get back into the game and win these games, and because he felt that way, he was able to force the rest of the team to feel that way too. And every time that sort of um obstacle was in front of them, he led them and it like really all of them played above their like above what they ever could because of their belief in each other and their belief in their best player in Jalen Brunson and Jalen Brunson's belief in the rest of his team. And you have to think this all goes back to Jalen Brunson when he had a chance to sign the super supermax extension and he took less money. I think he took like a hundred million dollars less than what he probably could have taken from the Knicks when he negotiated his last deal. And guess what? He he took less money. And again, I'm not sitting here saying that all teams should do it. Again, it'd be nice if a player did, but I think in general, asking these players to take less when this is their family and this is their livelihood is kind of crazy to do. So I'm never gonna be a guy to kind of say to take that, make that argument that all players should be taking less to make better teams around them because that it's very easy to say when it's not our money that we're that we're sacrificing, right? But this all started with Jalen Brunson taking less money to kind of bet on himself and bet on his team that he takes a little bit less, it allows for them to build a better team around him and they can have a better team long term, and now that by like um taking your taking your own shot and like betting on yourself and your team works out because now that he has been he has been the lead the leading team for that for that Knicks team to win a championship, he will be set up for the rest of his life. He will be known as the best player on a championship-winning team for the Knicks that broke the 50-something year championship winning drought. He is that player, and he will be able to I don't I don't think he'll ever have to pay for a meal again in that city. I think that he will be a king of that city forever. And he will be a guy with a lasting legacy there that I don't think a lot of players have an opportunity to have. And Jalen Brunson was a heck in this game five, he 45 points to lead that, lead the Knicks to a championship winning uh to steal that game five to win it. Like when it was time for him to show up in big moments and scores and score buckets, he was there every single time, man. You could say maybe he struggled in that game, what was that, game five um against San Antonio, but like other than that, he answered the call every single sorry, not game five, game four. No 4-1. So it was game four that they were up by 30. Sorry, game three, that's what it was. Um sorry, I've been messing up the whole thing this whole time. It was game three that San Antonio won. Um other than that game, Jalen Brunson answered the call every single time offensively, and I get it he's not a great defender, and that's really not something that's not gonna change for him. But outside of that, he answers the call on offense every single time. He's gonna get into the paint, he's gonna get some hard points, he's gonna shoot from the outside, he's gonna distribute to his teammates when he needs to. He just plays a very good and polished offensive game. And when it comes to crunch time, man, when it when the when the times are the most tense, is when he kind of elevates his game and plays a lot better than everybody else. And that is a tr that is a an attribute that is given to some of the best players that the game has ever seen. The Michael Jordans, the Kobe Bryants, the like some of the best players ever. One of the main things when it comes to them in crunch time is when when when the going it's gets tough, they're the ones that kind of stand above the rest. And I think that Jalen Brunson has earned his way into him, his name being in that conversation as well. Because every time the Knicks were in a bad spot and it felt like they needed somebody to kind of get them back right in big moments, Jalen Brunson was there. You need a bucket, he can get you one. Does it lean to him maybe over-dribbling a little bit at times? Maybe. But I think all in all, the positive him kind of going out there and and doing what he does is much better than any negative is ever gonna happen. And he proved that in this series. And um, I have to give all the all the love to Jalen Brunson because heck, all the stuff that was coming out about him is like the Becky Hammond stuff and different other players talking about how having Jalen Brunson, and heck, even me, I've said this at times, Jalen Brunson is your best player, I don't think, is a championship-winning squad, and he made us all eat it, man, and he did exactly that. He and this Knicks team did exactly that, and they proved us all wrong. So I have to give Jalen Brunson a lot of credit because he did exactly what nobody thought he could do, and this Knicks team did exactly what we thought they couldn't do, and he he was the leader of that, and he was the main. I think literally without him, I don't think the Knicks get even close to where they're at right now, and uh that that is a big credit to him. Other players on this team, um Carl Anthony Towns, he also deserves a lot of credit for me. Um he was a player that I thought but coming into this series, I'm like, hey, what is what is Kat going to do with Wempey? And that was one of my biggest things. I'm sitting here like, okay, like I because again, Kat was playing very good. He was being more of the point forward type, kind of sitting out there being able to be at the top of the key, distributing the basketball, making good plays in that way. And I feel like that was a pretty new thing by comparison, and he was and we were like, hey, how is he gonna be able to do play defense against Wemby? And is he gonna be able to do anything offensively against him? And I feel like he did all of that and more throughout this series, even though there was times where Carl Anthony Towns kind of reverted back to being in the Carl that made us all worry about him in the first place. But all in all, whenever whatever this team needed, he was able to, for the most part, to be able to rise to the occasion and do. If they needed him to be a rebound monster, he was doing that. I think he was averaging over 10 rebounds throughout this series. Like he did exactly what he needed to do on that end. Um, if they needed him to be the guy at the top of the key, distributing the basketball, he did that. I think he averaged like four or four assists in this series. Um, for for him, that's pretty high by comparison to what he usually does. Um, when they needed him to score a little bit, he did again, it's his offensive game is not always as consistent, but especially like early on in the series, like he was still getting after when he does is getting the basketball, you know what he decided to do? He decided to get downhill, make Wemby have to worry about him, and I feel like that opened up the floor for the rest of his teammates because Wemby wasn't able to just be like kind of like the middle of that defense and just be the enigma kind of the way they have their defense set up and just kind of be the middle of it. So with Carl Anthony Towns just kind of going out there and being aggressive offensively, it made Wemby have to worry about him and then hence that opened the opened the door for everybody else in that team to be able to score a little bit more easily because when Wemby was just able to sit out there in the middle of the defense and just kind of survey the whole court, it was very hard for anybody to get to the into the paint and get some easier buckets. Everybody was gonna have to shoot over him, and that made it a lot harder on the Knicks. So Carl being a guy that was being aggressive offensively, again, for the most part, there were times where he kind of fell off the face of the earth. Um, but when he was playing at his best, he made it super hard on Wemby, and he really did show some some real flaws in Wemby's game that he's gonna have to get through if he wants to be the player that everybody thinks he can be when it comes to Wemby. But Carl did that. Carl earns my respect. And again, I there's been times where I have like really I remember the time where his mom died during COVID, and I really got into like his story and like really felt bad for him and and all of that, and I like I really felt for him and his story, and I I feel like I did lose that over some of these years, these past few years, where it's like it gets back into being just basketball and Carl having his moments where he is not playing the way he needs to. And you you kind of jump on the bandwagon of talking about Carl and him not playing all that well, and being a big man doesn't play like a big man, and if like he I feel like him, like literally right behind Brunson, proved a lot of people wrong throughout this whole playoff series. Um, not just this series, but the whole playoff run. Like he was a huge part of this whole thing. I think for the most part, throughout most of these um series that the Knicks played, Carl Anthony Towns is their best player. Again, he wasn't their finisher, Jalen Brunson was. But what but like this team, it was very obvious that if this team was going to be at its best, it was when Carl Anthony Towns was being an aggressive offensive playmaker and trying to be, you know, just doing well okay defensively. So I just have to give a lot of credit to Carlton Townsend for again in this game five, didn't do all that much.

Supporting Cast And The Blueprint

SPEAKER_00 34:07

He had two points, ten rebounds, and one assist. But I think for the most part, by him being aggressive and getting rebounds when he needed to, and like putting his foot in the in the ground and getting after the basket, making Wemby having to play harder on defense, that just makes things a lot easier on everybody else on his team. That's exactly what Carl Anthony Towns did for the most part, even if he wasn't all like finishing all the time offensively. Um, OG Anobi, he was a model of consistency for that team all both offensively and defensively. They needed him to shoot. He was going out there and shoot, and he was shooting relatively well throughout this series. Um, they needed to go attack the basket. He was doing that. He was when he was needed to play defense on Wemby, he was doing so and being very stout and not just letting Wemby get whatever he wants offensively. Like OG was a model of consistency throughout this whole playoff run, and I feel like he played very well, and for the most part, he was like the most game-to-game off by consistent player. Like, you know what you're gonna get from OG and Anobi, and I feel like that made it a lot easier for everybody else in their squad, just knowing that they they they know what they're gonna get from OG. He made it very easy for everybody else because of what he brought to that team on a night-in-night out basis throughout this playoff run. Josh Hart as well, man. Again, if the only question about him is if he's gonna have a good shooting night or a bad shooting night, but outside of that, you know what he's gonna give you. He's gonna give you the hard plays, hard nosed plays, he's gonna get you rebounds, he's going to get he's gonna play very good defense and get after whatever player you want to offensively. And if he's shooting well, he's gonna have an awesome night. If not, he's gonna make sure he worked, he's gonna make sure he works a lot harder on everything else to make sure he has an impact. And that's what Josh Hart did throughout this whole series, man. Again, the shooting wasn't always there. I think in a couple of those games, I think I think it was like game three or game four, he had a in-I think it was game three because they ended up losing, but he had like five threes in that game. Like there was a there was times where he was shooting the lights out. But even when he wasn't, he was out there doing everything he could uh uh defensively, getting after rebounds, um, getting assists. Like he was doing everything for that team, and he was making sure he was having an impact no matter what it was, um, whether the scoring was there or not. So a lot of credit to Josh Hart from going out there and just being the guy that was making all doing all the dirty stuff that not a lot of players want to do. Um, Mikhail Bridges, he's an up and down type of player. He's not as consistent as OG Nanobi, but when he's playing very well, like he can he can shoot, he could do everything he needs to. He's he's very long defensively, but even when he wasn't doing everything offensively, he needed to, not scoring a lot, but he was out there playing very good defense, and he was shooting the threes that he was giving to him, and he was making them for the most part, wasn't doing wasn't like crazy hot or anything, but he was enough to make the San Antonio have to worry, and he was doing some very good things. Um but credits Mikhail Bridges, like there was times where it looked like he was a borderline unplayable offensively. I think it was like I think one of those games where he just didn't do anything. I think he didn't score, I think it was game three where they lost, so he didn't score a bucket into like the fourth quarter. So like there was points where Mikhail Bridges really did struggle, but I think he came out of this series, especially in that last game, playing better and like just you know getting the last effort in to finish finish this thing out. He played relatively well throughout this series, and then other players you need to think about. Landry Shamit, he played a lot of minutes and played hard defense and shot the three ball uh fairly well. Um, you had Jose Alvarado had his moments where he was coming out there making plays. Miles McBride hit shot a couple big threes throughout this series. Um, Jordan Clarkson as well. Mitchell Robinson, he goes out there and plays hard minutes, man. And uh as much as me and my stepdad had plenty of arguments about him because of the hack of Mitch strategy that was happening throughout this playoff run for them, he was so bad shooting free throws throughout this playoff run, and he was a huge liability in that way when it came to that. But when it but they didn't matter because he was out there, his job was to go out there and get hard rebounds and play some very good defense and be a force in the paint, and that's exactly what he did. And that he was so good at it, it made the Knicks have to push past the Hackamich scenario that all these teams are taking advantage of because he was that good at doing everything else. And me and my stepdad was like, hey, we should make make change the rules where you can't do that anymore. And I'm like, you know what? If a player's not gonna hit their free throws, like you don't change the rules for a certain few players that can't get their free throws right. But even with that happening and like certain at certain points, Mitchell Robinson stayed in the game, and I think he broke his pinky on his on his shooting hand before this series even started, so we were wondering how good he was gonna be. And throughout every game, he only got better and better and was getting some he had a big rebound at the end of that game five to seal it to make sure the Knicks were gonna win that win that game and and finish off the series. But like Mitchell Robinson's out there being a dog man, and he was doing his job to the best of his ability, and I feel like that was a model of cons that was the literally the motto of this team. Everybody go out there and do their jobs, Jalen Brunson be a closer for them, Carl Anthony Towns try to fill in the rest of the gaps, OG just be consistent. And they went went out there and did the like what a lot of people thought was the impossible, and they made the magic happen throughout this whole playoff run. You have to I give them a lot of credit for that. I really do. And they are deserved champions, and I think that I think this is one of those, I think there's been like in the last like eight or nine championship winning years, it has been a different team every single year. No team has gone back to back or anything like that. I don't think I think this is gonna stay the same. I don't think the Knicks are gonna come back and win another championship next year. I just don't think so. I feel like this is a magical run to a certain extent. Again, I'm not saying this is a fluke. I'm just saying that there's so many other teams out there that are gonna get better from here. It's gonna make the job a lot harder for the Knicks to make this happen again next year. But especially with like maybe Giannis switching teams and like going to a different Eastern Conference team, that's gonna make the job a lot harder. Boston's gonna be back next year, whether that's with Giannis or just with their full squad, I feel like they can get better from here. Um, I just feel like there's gonna be a lot of lot more roadblocks in the Knicks' way to kind of come back and make a repeat type of effort next year. But I just feel like we I think we have to give the Knicks all the respect in the world for what they did and the magic that they produced. Um I'm gonna say they produce magic, man, because I feel like if you have to put yourself in what is the word what is the what how am I trying to say this? It's some kind of crazy quote that I saw, but luck doesn't happen to you. You have to kind of have to create your own luck to a certain extent. And I feel like the Knicks set themselves up where luck was able to happen for them, and you have to put yourself in positions to receive luck to a certain extent, especially in sports, and I feel like more times than not the Knicks put themselves in positions to be ready to receive the luck, and they took advantage of it every single time. They really did, and they did that with the talent of their own squad, they did that with their sacrifice, not only on the basketball court, but off the basketball court, as I've talked about with Brunson and the money and all of that. And I feel like you could tell this team really cares about each other and loves each other, and I feel like that's a very overlooked aspect of sports now because of money and all of the other things that people want to want to type of uh kind of uh focus on. But I think to a certain extent, teams like this, like they become special when you can tell that they want to be together and they want to do this together, and I feel like that was a that was a very big aspect of this team is they all loved each other and they wanted to do it for each other. And um that's a lot of credit to the Knicks, man. They did it, they did it, and they uh they proved us all wrong, and uh they're gonna have they're gonna be able to gloat in this and kind of you know have their offseason of like just dream like sunshine and rainbows, man, because there's only one team that gets to have an off-season like that at the end of the NBA season, and the Knicks are the team that gets to have it. So and then coming out of this, man, I'm not sure who knows what they're gonna be able to do to fix their like to help even make their team even better coming after this. I think a lot of their players are paid for the most part. It's not like they're gonna be losing their teams are really gonna change a lot going into next season. I feel like they're gonna be kicked the Knicks are gonna have to realize they're gonna be the hunted team rather than being the hunter for the first time in a long time. So who knows how they're gonna be able to manage that and deal with it for as other teams are trying to nip at their heels on the Eastern Conference side. So again, but I have to give them all the credit in the world because Jalen Brunson's not going away. Like a lot of those players are only gonna get they're not a young team by any means, and I feel like they really did take advantage of a young San Antonio Spurs team that has some real growing to do. So I don't think they're the Knicks are gonna be able to like to say, oh, we're just a young team, it's only gonna get better from here. That's really not the case. They're just gonna have to find ways to kind of keep the chip on their shoulder to be able to come back better and ever next year, and uh hope that being the hunted now is not gonna be the thing that kind of takes them out. So but yeah, um, all credit to the Knicks um deserve a champions, um, finals champions, and uh as long as their fans aren't destroying their own city, I I'm happy for all of them. I think that was a pretty nice way to end it, right? That's all they got. Okay,

Summer NBA Storylines To Watch

SPEAKER_00 43:43

so now coming off the finals, now you're gonna the what is it, the off season for the NBA kind of gets heated up from here. You have I think the draft, the NBA draft is next week, so you're gonna have to go into that. Um Fourth pick overall. Very excited for that. Hopefully, we'll get a player that can be the next B be our player that'll help lead our franchise to being, you know, a much better basketball team than they've been in the past. The Bulls did hire a coach, though. Um Tiago Splitter. He was the interim head coach for uh the the Trailblazers last year, that where they met they got into the playoffs and actually put up a decent fight against San Antonio. So I think he's a pretty good head coach. Um, especially when he was kind of thrusted into that spot after all of the gambling issues with why am I forgetting the guy's name?

SPEAKER_01 44:39

Hold on.

SPEAKER_00 44:45

Former why am I forgetting the guy's name?

SPEAKER_01 44:55

Nope.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

Chauncey Bill ups and the gambling stuff. So he he managed to get taken out of that spot real quickly with all that madness going on, and Tiago Splitter had to take over to start the year, and he did a real he did a really good job with that team. So now that the Bulls have him as a head coach, maybe he'll be able to kind of like, you know, coach up our players and we'll we'll be better, especially with having a new talent and fusion, having a top four pick overall. Um, we'll see how that goes. But there's I mean other NBA storylines coming out like throughout this offseason going into NBA free agency that we're gonna have to kind of keep an eye on. I just want to give some thoughts on a few of them. And the first one I you could think of is the Giannis trade. Like, when is this gonna happen? There's been reports that the the Bucks want to make this happen before the before the draft next week to make sure they can whatever player, whatever uh draft picks they get, they can use to help build their team now. So the Giannis trade, where is he gonna go? Apparently the teams that he is that are on his wish list is the Boston Celtics, which kind of makes sense. The only problem with that is that I think he is a much different player than what the Boston Celtics usually like when it comes to how they want their team, they want a bunch of shooters uh on that team. Again, as awesome as Giannis is a shooter is not one of the skills that you can really apply to him. Um and who knows what they're gonna have to give up to a get a guy like him, especially with the fact that the Celtics already are one of like the higher paid teams in all in all of the NBA. And who knows whether they're gonna be able to keep both Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum and get Giannis on that team. I'm not I I highly doubt that they're gonna be able to make that happen with what else they have on their roster, like trade asset-wise. So, who are they gonna have to give up of one of those superstars? Well, I'll I'll say superstar for Jalen Brown as well. So, are they gonna have to give up Jalen Brown to get a guy like Giannis? Or like what who knows what they're gonna have to give up to get a guy like him, and then the other team that is a option is apparently the Miami Heat, which is hilarious because the Heat really didn't again, they had that really cool game against Charlotte um in the play-in tournament, but it's just like the Heat are not known as a team that's like a Giannis away from going out there being on the championship ru road, I think, right? I the Heat are always a very good fundamental team, but I'm they're I think they're more than just a Giannis away from being a real contender in the East. But again, maybe it's the fact that Giannis likes this. I think this maybe it's more of a city thing, maybe it's more of an outside of basketball decision, but again, the Miami's still gonna give you the basketball. They still have one of the better coaches in all the NBA. And um, why am I forgetting that coach's name? That sucks for me. Um Eric Spolstra. He's one of the better head coaches in all the NBA, and they have one of the better organizations when it comes to maybe not how they pick players, but when it comes to the culture and all of that, that stuff that they have in spades. So maybe that is what Giannis would find, because again, basketball-wise, it doesn't necessarily make sense for me, at least the way I'm thinking about it right now. And especially with like, it's not like the Heat have a bunch of like crazy good assets to trade when it comes to on their basketball team. So they're gonna have to give up a lot of trade out, a lot of uh picks and stuff in order to get him, and then what they do have left on their team, like they're gonna have to get rid of that too. So that team's gonna get gutted just to get a guy like Giannis. So the basketball part doesn't really make a lot of sense to me for why Giannis would want to go to Miami. I think also makes a lot more sense basketball-wise, but who knows? So where Giannis is gonna go is gonna be a big deal throughout this NBA offseason. Where he's gonna go, when it's gonna happen, and is he gonna be able to elevate whatever team he goes to into being a championship contending team? Again, he's a good enough player to get you there, but whether he can kind of put you over the hump is just depends on what else you have on your roster. Um, the Lakers, man, what what's LeBron gonna do? That's another big question throughout this NBA offseason. Is LeBron gonna stay? If he does stay, are the Lakers gonna ask him to take a pay cut? Um are they gonna Austin Reeves, he's gonna be up for a big extension? Is he gonna want all the money that he can possibly get? Or is he gonna be able or he's gonna want to take a little bit less to stay with the Lakers and kind of keep everybody on that on that team together? Those are big questions because Luca's already locked in. He's gonna be there for a while, he's gonna be their main player, and that's gonna be their guy. So the question is, are you gonna try to keep LeBron on the on the docket for trying to ask him to take a pay cut to stay there? Or is Austin Reeves gonna take a little bit less to try to make up for LeBron to be able to get a bigger payday from from the Lakers, even though I don't think LeBron is a player that can necessarily just least basketball player, like no, I can't say that because when LeBron's playing at his best, he still is a top 15, top 20 player when he's playing at his best. Again, the question is at his age, how often can he sustain that level of play? Um, so I'm not gonna sit here and say he's not worth the big money because he's LeBron's been getting paid like 50 something million over the last few years, 50 million a year. So who knows whether he's gonna be like able to command that type of money from the Lakers again, or whether the Lakers even want to pay him that type of money again. Who knows how that's gonna work out? The Austin Reeve stuff, like I already mentioned, are they gonna want to give him all the money he wants, or is he gonna have to take a pay cut to save the Lakers? Or does he he's an unrestricted free agent? So he does have an opportunity to take a um go talk to other teams and see what he can get from somebody else if they wanted to get him. So that's gonna be a big question for the Lakers. So this is like one of those type of uh moments where are the Lakers going to what timeline are the Lakers going to choose? Are they gonna stick to what is what they've been doing as of right now? Is trying to keep LeBron at his older age and along with Luca and Austin Reeves and trying to build the team like with that, or or are they gonna go sp like go all in on the Luca train and being their best player and telling LeBron like, hey, either you're gonna take a huge pay cut to stay here, or you can go to a different team, and that this is where you're gonna this is the Luca train now. And is LeBron gonna be okay with that? Is he gonna want to go somewhere else? Like, who knows how that's all gonna work? And then for LeBron specifically, staying with the Lakers, is he gonna want to do deal with all of that, or does he go back home to Cleveland and try to get them to another championship again? Um, again, Cleveland has plenty of aspects that I think they could, you know, really they can get a lot better by having even LeBron in his older age on that team. Um, so I think he could be a huge addition to the uh to the Cavs. Is would LeBron go to another, like, would he go play with a um a Jokic or could he go do like who knows? LeBron has, especially if he's willing to take a little bit less than the than what he's been taking over the last few years, money-wise, he's a he's gonna be a true free agent, so he's gonna have all his all of his options open as long as he's a little bit more flexible with the money he's willing to take. So who knows what LeBron's gonna do, and that's gonna be like one of the main head storylines uh throughout this offseason. And then OKC as well. Like they're like OKC coming off of this this uh playoffs, they they just lost to San Antonio. Chet, what are they gonna do with Chet? Are they gonna is Chet gonna be able to take the necessary steps to become the to be the player against Wemby that he is against everybody else? Because again, Chet was second on the all defense. Um the second, sorry, he was the second place finisher for defensive player of the year. I don't know why that's so hard for me to say, but it was. Uh it what are they gonna do with Chet? Are they gonna take make some big changes? Like everybody starts getting paid next year, so huge contract extensions for Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams start next season. So now the OKC goes from being one of the cheapest teams in the NBA to they're gonna be up above up into the second second apron because of how many players like start their big contract extensions. That really does kind of set them up. So, what are they gonna do? Is OKC gonna do what they did before when they had Kevin Durant and um Russell Westbrook and oh I'm forgetting his name now, and James Harden? And like they had a chance to try to keep that team together and they decided to try to save on tax money rather than keep that team together. Are they gonna do that or are they gonna try to keep this team together and like all that young talent they have and just kind of be willing to eat that money that they're gonna have to pay out in order to keep all these players together? Are they gonna do that, or are they gonna try to make some sweeping changes to make themselves a little bit better matchup for the for the Spurs, maybe? Like OKC's in a spot where they just did just win a championship last year, but what are are they gonna sit on their laurels or are they gonna try to make some big changes to deal with a real Wemby problem? Because Wemby was a big matchup issue for OKC in general. So what are they gonna do? Are they gonna sit and just hope that Chet kind of takes that next step and is gonna be a real obstacle for Wemby, or are they gonna try to make some bigger changes to to make it happen right uh outside of Chet? So that's gonna be a huge deal for the OKC to figure out what they decide to do. I hope they keep that team together because I do think having OKC and San Antonio be a real rivalry for years to come, I think is a very good thing for the NBA. And I feel like if the Thunder kind of go the cheap route or if they decide to make some huge sweeping changes to that team and take away from that, I feel like would be a you know not so fun for the health of the league, for at least for fans at least. Um, so that's gonna be another big storyline coming through uh going in the NBA this offseason. And then is there anything else I could think of? I don't think so. Not anything I really again as we get closer to July, I think the first weekend of July is when the NBA free agency starts. So as we get closer to that, we'll kind of get into more of like the free agency stuff for the NBA and who's on gonna be on the move and all of that. But that's all about all I have for the NBA as of right now.

Brennan Sorsby Gambling Timeline

SPEAKER_00 55:59

So without further ado, let's get off of that and let's go to the Brennan Soresby stuff, because that is a huge thing for me. So I think we've kind of had a relative. So for those who don't know, or that this is maybe your first pod you've listened to, and you have listened to the other pods I've talked about before, or maybe you've been living under a rock as a sports fan and haven't heard anything about the Brennan Soresby stuff. I'll give a quick overview and then kind of give uh like kind of say where we're at right now and why I wanted to talk about it today. So Brennan Soresby, a now Texas Tech quarterback coming into like over a few months ago, transfers, he played at Cincinnati last year, um, and then announced his intention to transfer to Texas Tech. A few months ago, the news comes out that Brennan Sorsby was in you know big trouble when it came to gambling. He was not only gambling on his own team that he was on in Indiana when he was there, because he started out in Indiana, then transferred to Cincinnati, and then went from Cincinnati to Texas Tech. He was supposed to play there this upcoming season. Um comes out that he was betting on games that again he wasn't starting, but he was a backup quarterback. He's not only betting on Indiana to on overs and he was doing prop bets for Indiana. Um he was also he made bets on the team that he was on. He made, I think it was over like 30,000 bets, and it was like $90,000 in general. Um again, the numbers might be off on that, but I'm not gonna, I don't care enough to really go back and really make sure I'm right on that. Um, but there was a lot of bets, a lot of money. And again, for a college athlete, the rule is as of right now, that you don't make any bets at all. Um, especially the being like the big rule is not betting on the team that you're on. I think that feel like that's a universal rule for all of sports, not just college football, right? So he broke that rule, it came out, and as soon as he got kind of got caught doing it, he went straight to rehab and claimed that he had a gambling addiction. And he said he did like three weeks in a um three weeks of rehab, and he came out and he feels like he's a lot better, and he wants to get back to playing. Um, the NCAA initially rules that he is going to be suspended for the year and he's not gonna be able to play for Texas Tech. He goes and tries to sue the NCAA, stating that he should still be able to play, even with because he has kind of got over his addiction and he just won a little bit of like um, what's the word I'm looking for? He wanted a resolution that would end in him being able to play this season for Texas Tech, because one of the overarching storylines is that when he transferred to Texas Tech, the money he was gonna get like six and a half million dollars this season. Five to six and a half, I think it was five anywhere between five and six million dollars this season from Texas Tech to play for them, which is gonna be a lot more than what he was gonna make, unless he was gonna be a first-round pick. Because again, he might have been if he would have gone out into this last year's draft. But it's gonna be a lot of money to make from one team for one season in college football. So obviously it makes sense why he would want to try to play as much as he possibly could. Um so he files for an injunction to try to get a I forget what they call it, but pretty much make a judge be able to say, hey, he should be able to play and like he would um and kind of like take away the the verdict from the NCAA. As of last Monday, Brendan Sorsby got a judge in Texas to be able to give him that injunction to be able to tell the NCAA, hey, he should be able to play. And I feel like that that injunction did come with a caveat that he would have to not play the first two games. So as of last Monday, it was everybody freaked out. I was a part of the freak out moment because I'm sitting there like, why would any judge rule with him that he should be able to play? And I feel like the the the rule the the during the ruling the judge gave, he gave a reason that because Brennan Soresby because the injunction is given with a with a thought that if he were to go to court and actually sue the NCAA that he would have a chance to win. And because of that, the judge ruled that because Soresby would miss out on the team aspect and that the money that he would miss out on, that he would be giving up too much if that trial were to happen and he wouldn't be able to play. So he's like, hey, he should be able to play and all that. So making everybody freak out, but I think like the whole college football world, well, not only fans when it comes to the people in it, like the coaches and um coaches, ADs, team presidents, sorry, tea uh school presidents and all that, everybody was against this whole thing. Because again, that's the one rule everybody understands is it like I don't think anybody can really argue the fact that betting on your own team is a real issue, and the amount of bets and all that, and the idea that he was going to be able to have such a problem, his addiction is so bad that he would break the one cardinal rule for all of sport, and that three weeks worth of being in being in therapy, I'm sorry, not being in therapy, but being in rehab was gonna be enough to make sure he would never do it again. Just the idea that was an absolute huge farce on Texas Tech's part and on Brendan Sorzby's part, they ever thought that that was gonna fly. Right? And that ruling came out, and apparently for whatever reason that judge fell for it or believed in it again. It was it did come out that the what that judge is a guy that was given a lot of money by the big booster that is also behind Texas Tech. So obviously there could be some like you know foul play um in this whole situation, but again, that it is what it is. But let's just say that the judge actually believes Soresby and all that. So that in that's insane, right? How could he believe that three weeks worth of rehab is gonna be enough to take away from the if because again, I don't I question whether it was a true addiction from Soresby or he just got caught, and as soon as that happens, just saying, hey, I have an addiction is gonna be enough to get him out of having to pay the penalty of not being able to play for college football this year, right? And even if it is as a bad of addiction as he says it was, only being three weeks in rehab and coming out, there's no way you're gonna be totally fixed and be able to not go back to doing it again if the if the addiction was as bad as he thought it was, right? As as much as as bad as he says it was. So that was the news this past Monday was that it was ruled that he was gonna be able to play, be and then be um suspended the first two games in non-conference play. But outside of that, he was gonna play the rest of the season. Everybody was freaking out about it. And then the news from there was that the Big 12 was gonna start to make a big fuss about it, and that teams, I think it was started with Georgia, but there was a bunch of teams saying, hey, we're not gonna be won't we're not gonna be willing to play Texas Tech in not only football, but other sports because of how mad we are about this situation in particular. And then the news comes out over the weekend that the Big 12 was going to try and sue Texas Tech. Instead of trying to sue Brendan Soresby, um, the news comes out that big the Big 12 was going to try to sue Texas Tech and be able to prove that the Big 12 should be able to enforce their own bylaws onto the school itself rather than trying to deal with Soresby specifically. Because of that, the burden of proof, not burden of proof, but like the burden that the thing that the Texas Tech is gonna be out to prove is that because um sorry, the what the Big Twelve's gonna have to prove is that because the Big 12 is a part of the um Texas Tech, since Texas Tech is a part of the Big 12, they have said yes to being a part of the of all the rules and regulations that comes with being the b in the Big 12. And with that, the Big 12 is going to try to prove that because of that, they would have an opportunity because that they were doing something that the rest of the members of the Big Twelve felt was unjust, and that they would be able to have their own ruling on bit the the on Texas Tech and Texas Tech not be able to challenge it. So that was the news over the weekend. And then the news that came out yesterday was that because of all this, and Brennan Sorsby kind of realizing that because of all, like if they if he ends up not being able to play this season because of this newest stuff, and it it I think after he got his ruling last week, I feel like Brennan Soresby felt like the Big 12 would give up and that they like everybody would just kind of get off his case and he'd be able to play this season without an issue. But since the Big 12 kind of made a big fuss about it and the rest of the college football world put up a big fuss about it, the news came out yesterday was that Brennan Soresby and Texas Tech have kind of come to an agreement that he was just gonna walk away and stop his pursuit of trying to play college football this year, and he's gonna go into the supplemental draft. And I feel like that was a part of it too, was because the supplemental draft is like a secondary draft for the NFL for players that are ruled ineligible or whatever have or weren't able to get in on the original draft, are able to kind of get into another draft called the supplemental draft. And the the day that the paperwork was due for him to join the supplemental draft and be able to go on to the um NFL, I think was due next Monday. And I feel like with all this, all these issues and all of This is that he didn't want to take a chance on not being able to play at all. So it could be because again, if he doesn't put in his paperwork for the supplemental draft and then it comes out that he's not able to play at all, then he's now missing out on a year, not getting paid the money he was supposed to get from Texas Tech, and then it's gonna mess up his draft stock for the next draft because again, he wouldn't be playing for a full year, right? So he decided to end all this madness, whether it was for himself or he did it for the university or all of that, maybe he felt bad for all the madness that he calls with all this because he did the wrong thing in the first place. I'm gonna maybe give him credit. Maybe he just realized that it was best for everybody for him just to kind of walk away and kind of stop this madness. He's now gonna go into the supplemental draft, and if you don't know what the supplemental draft is, a secondary draft for the NFL. And instead of it being like a the rule is for the supplemental draft, if a team's because again, it gives it there's like multiple rounds, the supplemental draft, right? But it's not like the same type of uh pageantry as the regular NFL draft. It's more of like a think of it like if you play like fantasy football, it's like a waiver wire type of thing. So if a team decides, hey, I want to use a first round pick on a supplemental draft player, you then lose your first round pick for the draft following that. So then it becomes kind of like a game of chicken to a certain extent, on top of it, because if you you again, if you use your first round pick in the supplemental draft, you lose your first round pick for the next draft. So that so there's gonna be a lot of teams that now that Sorsby's going into the supplemental draft, that there's gonna be some real teams that are gonna have to make a decision as to like, hey, we didn't go get a quarterback in this past draft, and I'm not sure who knows because the quarterback class is supposed to be very good going into the next draft next season. But if there's a team that feels like Brendan Sorsby is good enough and they can use a second or third round pick in the supplemental draft, and then it not be that high high of a pick, why wouldn't you take a chance on a guy like that? Because from all accounts, like a lot of people are thinking that Brendan Soresby would be a first round type of player. Like he's a very good quarterback. He can he has a big arm, he can run a little bit too, and he's not necessarily a small quarterback by any means. Like he's a pretty decent size, he's not like a super tall guy, but he has a good enough side. I think he's kind of like a Baker Mayfield. I think he's a little bit taller. Um, let me see here. Um let's see here. Apparently, he is 6'3, so he's a bigger quarterback. Um, big, he can run, he has a big arm. So, and people were saying, like draft people were saying he'd be a first round type of talent at the quarterback position. So, but still, you're still taking a player that has his issues gambling and all that. But here's the thing in the NFL, you can gamble on anything not in the NFL, right? As long as you're not betting on the NFL and you're not doing it in like in any NFL facilities or on the road or anything like that, then you can make whatever bet you want as long as it's not on NFL games. Okay. Again, he was willing to break that one rule in college, so you're gonna have to get some real do some real soul searching on him and see if he actually is gonna be able to like to get over that aspect and not do that again. But if you get that, but if you get a yes on that, then you're taking a very talented player that could be your starter for the future if everything works out well, right? So, my question is for Brendan Sorsby. No, should I get to that? Should I talk about the Calgewall world first? I'll get to Soresby and then I'll go back to the Calwell World. So, Soresby, let's think about the teams that really didn't do anything in this past year in the draft when it comes to quarterback. Um, is the Browns. It's the Cardinals, it's the Steelers. I guess the Steelers did draft a quarterback, but you know, Drew Aller, uh I've already made my thoughts on him very clear as to what I think his actual prospects are of being in the pros. Um but yeah, the Cardinals, the Browns, the Steelers. Let's see here, who else? Um the Jets

Supplemental Draft And NFL Fits

SPEAKER_00 1:10:13

didn't make any big quarterback changes, so the Jets are also an option. Um let's see, who else am I thinking of? The Dolphins. So the Dolphins didn't do anything at quarterback. He would also that they that would be a team that's also an option. Let's see here. The Falcons potentially. Whether the Michael Penix Jr. and Tua thing works out, maybe they want to add a different guy to the mix. Um and then maybe Minnesota. Depending on how the Kyler Murray stuff works out, maybe you might decide to like give a do a late draft like supplemental draft draft pick on him. Maybe he can be your guy for the future, because obviously J.J. McCarthy isn't. Um so like those are the teams I would think of that would have a real like like should really quite like the Steelers as well. Um again, they just use a third-round pick, so I hope they don't waste another third-round pick on a quarterback, but I think Sorseby's probably better than what Drew Aller is. Um but yeah, I feel like there's gonna be a lot of teams that have an opportunity to say, hey, we want to go, we have a chance to go get a quarterback that we never thought would be available. And as long as you're I don't think anybody's gonna use a first round supplemental draft pick on him because of some of the baggage that he does have, but a second or third man isn't all that crazy. And losing a second or third round pick in the next year's draft isn't necessarily the craziest thing you could possibly do. Um, so I feel like there are some teams that can really take a quarterback like that, and maybe he can be again, as long as the baggage isn't necessarily going to be a long-term deal, he can get over it and not make those bad decisions again. I feel like there's a real chance that he can be like a real quarterback to be somebody a team's long-term answer. And I think the team that obviously the Browns would be the one that I would be the most like uh I'll be the most like like the doll like Browns and Dolphins would be the like the main two, right? But my only thing with that is that it looked like that Miami was going to be trying to be as bad as possible for the quarterbacks next year, and I think the Browns were in the same boat. So, like, why would you if you've already kind of set your up yourselves up to be as bad as possible going into next season, especially with the Browns trading away Miles Garrett, why would you give up any draft pick on a guy that you don't know would even work out in the NFL just to give up, like why would you kind of kind of pivot now for a guy like Brendan Sorsby if you had all your chips in the going after Arch Manning or Dante Moore basket? I don't I think they're those two are still better quarterbacks than Brennan Sorsby would be. So I'm not sure. But again, it's something it's a bird in the hand, too, and the like bird in the hand rather than two in the bush. I feel like they, you know, he at least is it he has it he has a chance to be a quarterback that can be a long-term answer for somebody. And I think Browns and the Dolphins are probably the best two options for potentially getting a guy like him and him being their actual long-term answer at quarterback. So now getting past that, and again, let me say this last thing about Sorby before I get to all the cosplay world and how I think this is better for everybody. If this was really Brennan Sorzby making this decision on his own to kind of stop the madness, I have a lot of respect for him to do that because I do think, even though he has kind of taken us on all this, this, all of us on this ride in the first place, when he made a bad decision that he knows was wrong and that there's is no if, ands, or buts about it. If you bet on your own team, that is an instant death penalty for anybody in sports, okay? That is an instant not death penalty as in like you die, but like instant no-no, like there is no if, ands, or buts about it, okay. But he still tried to fight again, it's five, six million dollars for one season of playing in college football. So I get the idea that's a lot of money to miss out on and all of that. But I feel like that's like you should have some self-awareness to be like, hey, I've I I I fucked up here, like this is on me, right? And I feel like if if the story comes out that he really did come to this conclusion on his own that, hey, it's just better for everybody that I make a decision and kind of end the madness now, I give him all the credit in the world because Texas Tech was more than willing to go for go to battle for him. Even if it wasn't actually for him, I think Texas Tech was more all in on this for themselves because without him, they now have no quarterbacks on their roster they really believe in. I think the only other guy they really saw even saw play for them last year is coming off of a uh knee injury. So he who knows when he's gonna be able to play. I think they said earliest that guy would be able to go is like week three. So like I think Texas Tech was more of a self-serving, I think maybe they were trying to protect Soresby to a certain extent, but I think even Texas Tech in their heart of hearts, if this was happening to Texas, Texas Tech would be all on everybody else's side in trying to make sure Soresby wouldn't play, right? But Soresby was their player and they decided to try to keep to get him in the portal. So they were gonna fight to all hell to make sure he was gonna be able to play if he wanted to play. So if this was Soresby being willing to be like, hey, I want to stop the madness here, I give him all the credit in the world for that. Because I do think Texas Tech was gonna take this thing down to the wire and do everything they possibly could to make sure he can play because this only helps them out because of their bad schedule this year, because the fact that they're in the Big 12, it isn't necessarily the hardest conference to win in the first place. I feel like Texas Tech thought that if they were able to get Soresby to be their starter this upcoming season, that they not only would win the divis win their win the Big 12, but have a real chance of making a real run in the College Bowl playoff. And then without him, I think they're still probably gonna be able to run through the schedule without much of an issue. But being able to make any real noise in the playoff is gonna be a big, big uh question mark without a guy like Brendan Soresby at the helm at the quarterback position for them. And then so yeah, Texas Tech is gonna be able to do everything they possibly could. They were making all these crazy videos and like their boosters coming out and like talking out of both sides of his mouth because their big booster not only is a guy that you know is willing to spend any money possible to make it happen, but that same booster is also part of like the um I think they call it the Score Act or something like that, that's trying to help change college sports and like changing all the NIL stuff and making more actual rules. That pretty much he was the one guy that was trying to help the government put their hands in trying to give the college ball a waiver to be able to try to have more rules on college football players in general. And I feel like he was talking out of both sides of his mouth because he says that all this stuff is bad for college football and this there's things that need to change about it, but he's also willing to let the whole thing burn if it if it were to help Texas Tech. So he was talking out of both sides of his mouth, like there's a whole lot of different things going on, and honestly, the whole college football world in general is willing to fight them on this and make Texas Tech really truly enemy number one to everybody because of how insane the the prospect of a player that bet on his own team being able to play college football was was going to be. So um, college football world in general. I feel like in I think I saw somebody tweet this on X last night. It was, I think it was like Taylor Juan for Bustin with the Boys, he comes out and says that college football, because of this ruling, the college football landscape is broken and it's a real issue, right? And I got the I got the quite the opposite reaction to this whole thing. I think for the first time in a long time, for the last few years or so, this has been the first thing, first thing that has happened in general that has shown me any sort of hope or or prospect that this whole college football landscape is even worth fixing in the first place. I feel like the fact that everybody, this might have been the first thing in a long time in college football that fans and teams and everybody together kind of had they were all able to come together on one common goal, and that was to make sure that Brendan Soresby was not able to play because he bet on his own team in in college football. That has been the first thing in a long time that pretty much universally everybody was on the same side on. And I feel like the fact that this finally came to a head to where like Soresby's not gonna play, and I feel like this is probably the first win for the forward college football landscape to make it even worth fixing. Because all this stuff in general, all everything going crazy, the wild, wild west of NIL and the transfer portal and all this. Honestly, if you focus too much on it, it can take away a little bit of your love for the for the whole process and for the game and for the for the sport in general, because a lot of the things that would make you fall in love with it beforehand are now gone. And the fact there's no real rules for anybody to rely on, and like for players moving all over the place, like you kind of are missing some of the elements that, like I said before, that made you fall in love with the game in the first place. And I feel like this is uh this is a huge issue as of right now, and things really do need to change, and there need to there needs to be some guardrails to help kind of keep this game going to where it won't necessarily be, you know, be going all the way into the crapper. And I feel like this this whole this whole ordeal is the first time in a long time that I felt like the Coswell world really came together, and I feel like it really did give me some hope that this whole landscape is actually worth saving. I really do think so, because I feel like there's it shows at least there's one thing that everybody can agree upon, and that it's it's a rule that everybody sees as like a that's a real issue, right? So if we can get to this point on some other things, I feel like we can make this college football game better, at least get a little bit more of the love back into it, rather than just just being about money and like all the other things. Again, I'm not saying anything against players trying to get money and all of that, but I just feel like I there needs to be some more guardrails to help protect everybody, not only the players but the but the teams and all that too. And because of this, it makes me a lot more confident that this whole thing is worth saving in the first place. I really do think so. Because I again, like just of all the things that all of college football can't agree on, but this is the thing that got it that brought us all together. If we could just find this for some other aspects of college football, I feel like we can get to a really good space. And um that's one thing I can be a little bit proud of based off of how this whole thing kind of played out. Okay. I think that's it for the Brendan Swordsby thing. Again, I think this is like a big story that I think if you're as long as you're not living under a rock and if you college follow college football at all, this has been a big story for months now. So the fact that this has now come to a conclusion and I feel like this will I think this can lead to some real healing for the college the college football world in general. I really do think so. Um let's see here. Let me see if there's any other c any other NFL football stuff that I wanted to talk about here before we before we get out of here. Let's see here. Cause I don't know if you know this, but I'm not gonna be talking about the World Cup or anything. Again, I'm happy it's in the United States. I'm happy that we get um all these teams playing here and getting some like some real fun, um, a real different type of summer than we've gotten in the last few years. So that's a very cool thing. But uh this is not a show if you're coming coming looking for soccer type of developments. I'm not gonna talk soccer or football, depending on what you want to call it. Um, so that is not me whatsoever. So I'll be looking for a few football things that I want to talk about, if anything, and then if not that, we'll be getting out of here. So let's see here.

NFL Nuggets Pickens And Pierce

SPEAKER_00 1:22:08

Pickens, um, George Pickens, he is gonna report. I think this this came out yesterday, that he is going to show up, he's gonna um show up to the Dallas Cowboys minicamp, and he's gonna be going doing what he has to do. And this is a real development because of him signing the franchise tag and all of that. And I think this offseason he's done a lot of things that me, especially as a guy that's followed him ever since he came to the NFL, with him going to my favorite team, the Steelers. I am very surprised that he has made as many good decisions as he has had this offseason. After playing last year with the Cowboys, I was not surprised by the fact by the fact that he was able to play nice for a season and play, even though he did have a little bit of a kind of a um a few-week stretch there where he kind of went back into his old ways. But he had a really good year last year. He made nice, he was good with Dak, he was good with CeeDee Lamb, and he balled out last year. He outplayed, he was the best offensive player they had on that team last year. Um he played very well, but going into this offseason, I really thought he was gonna be a real issue. He was gonna try to really push the envelope to get his money and like either get his money or have them trade him and all that. But I think he has played very nice throughout this offseason. He's take taken the franchise tag, he hasn't said anything crazy on social media, and now he's showing up to uh get his physical prior to minicamp, and he's gonna show up to minicamp and everything. And he's he has not uttered a word or made any type of big issue this offseason. I have to give him a lot of credit for that because I didn't think he had it in him. To be honest with you, and I'm not sitting here saying that he sh that like I feel like this was the one moment where he would have a real reason to start of ruckus and to start really like making being loud about the situation because again, if you're not going to get paid, you're taking all the risk for a season. Again, they're paying you one big lump sum for this year, but you are playing at the risk of your own long-term security. So this is the one aspect where I think causing a big ruckus and being loud is actually a really effective thing for a player and what he should do for himself, right? But because of the things that he has done in the past to make himself a little bit more radioactive when it comes to how he dealt with the Steelers' situation and all the issues that he had there, this was a chance for him that if he were to do the like, I'm not gonna say the right thing, so I'm not saying what he's doing is right, but I think that these the things he's doing now are things that can help build up his own image based off how many cracks his image has taken over the last few years of with him with the Steelers and all of that, and like not playing hard on the field and everything. But if he plays this out well this year and plays on the franchise stack and does what he needs to do and plays good on the field and has another really good season, I think he could be setting himself up for other teams to be willing to go and get him rather than what he's been before, which is a little bit of a problem child on the football field. And I think that because he's making these decisions now, I think will help himself for the long term. And again, whether the Cowboys make this even more difficult by giving him another franchise tag and all that, again, they'd be doing a very stupid thing if they do another franchise tag after this year, because I think it goes up two times what they'd be paying him. I think he's getting paid like 27 and a half 27 and a half million dollars this year season under the franchise tag. And I think if it happens again, he'd be getting paid like 40. Hold on, let me see.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:40

What a second. Franchise tag.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:56

Let's see. So it'd be so it'd be around 33 million next not this upcoming season, but next season, if they try to throw another franchise tag on them for a second year in a row. So I doubt that they'd be that stupid to do it. But again, the Cowboys have done stupid stuff before. But I just have to get picking some credit credit that he is playing nice as as um as far as he is right now. And I feel like if he does this the right way and he kind of does what he needs to do, and if he is able to become a free agent, I feel like this will only help his image for whatever next team would have a chance to get him. And it would make another the next team a little bit more confident and being able to be like, hey, he can control himself, he could do the do the right things and not really cause a big fight with this. I feel like we'll make the next team a lot more confident that they can give him big money and him not be a long-term issue. So I have to give him a lot of credit for kind of doing all the right things right now and not necessarily, you know, I don't I know it kind of seems like I'm trying to like dog him and everything, but this is like the when it comes to getting your money, this is the one time where a player should be as me, me, me first as possible. Because as much as like the NFL is a great game and all of that, but like you only have one opportunity to get the money that you need for yourself and your family to get yourself some generational wealth, and this is the time to do so is when you have to get your big first payday, right? So I'm never gonna look at a player and like bash him for trying to do everything he can to get his big payday that he's been waiting so long for. But it's just the issue with Pickens is that he's already taken so many hits when it comes to his own reputation because of how he has handled different avenues of his career so far. So now with him making some different decisions now and deciding to be a little more of a team player, I think will only add to his opportunities later on with other teams. I'm not sure if I made that more complicated than what it needed to be, with me just kind of rambling on. But I thought he did a relatively good job, right? Who knows? Um next thing I want to talk about here. James Pierce is so if you haven't heard of James Pierce, he got drafted by the Falcons last year out of Tex, out of Tennessee. This past offseason had some issues with I think domestic violence or something like that. Not domestic violence, or let's see here. He had he had he was arrested in February on charges that included aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after he allegedly rammed his vehicle into a car driven by his ex-girlfriend. And then he got out of take getting any serious jail time, in that he all only all he has to do is do a one-year diversion program avoiding any type of trial. So he is he's not gonna be getting any sort of jail time for his issues when it comes to with his girlfriend and all that. Even though at one point it looked like he might, and it was like it's gonna be a very serious issue. But again, if you're a if you're an important player in the state where you're at in uh in Georgia, being a Falcons player, there's gonna be strings that people can pull to try to help him out to make sure he doesn't get necessarily the as bad of a penalty as he could possibly get punishment-wise. So he is now um he's gonna attend mini camp and he's gonna do everything he can with the Falcons because he doesn't have to go any jail time or anything. And now it's gonna be up to the NFL to decide what they want to do when it comes to domestic violence policy. Are they gonna suspend him, this, that, and the other? Again, he's a very talented player for the for the Falcons. He really was. He was a very good player for them. They drafted two defensive ends in the not this past draft, but this draft before to try to make sure they were going to fix their their pass rush issue, and that that was including uh getting James Pierce Jr. And I feel like who was the other player that they drafted in that first round? Let's see here. Who was who was the other player they drafted in the draft?

SPEAKER_01 1:30:10

Uh the two first by the Falcons and 2025, right? That was 2025 draft.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:27

Jalen Walker and James Pierce. So they got they drafted both of those players in the second round, in the first round last year, um, to try to make sure they fix their pass rush issue. And I feel like being able to rely on James Pierce, again, he's gonna get suspended by the NFL to some degree. Who knows how long it's gonna be? But once if he gets through that and doesn't have to serve any real jail time and he gets past this, he'll be uh again another a very second year going into it of the NFL. I feel like it'd take a huge jump into what the production could be for him for the Falcons. So it's gonna be a huge deal for the Falcons to be able to get him back for this upcoming season, especially with them dealing with the Tua versus Michael Penix Jr. situation, who's gonna take the quarterback job, and if like they're gonna be able to new coach, Kevin Stefanski coming in, so they're gonna there's gonna be a brand new offense they're dealing with as well. So having a real pass rush to help out, I think the defense is actually very good last year for the Falcons. It was more the offense that was a big issue with trying to like be able to be consistent from game to game. So if they could find some consistency consistency offensively and then have that defense for another year get even better with those young players on the defensive line, could be a huge deal for the Falcons as long as they get the quarterback position right between Tua and Michael Penix, who decide who's the better player, and actually have them go out and play good football, is gonna be a huge deal for that Falcons team. So I want to make sure I mention that. Let's see here.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:56

Any other NFL stuff I wanted to talk about here? Let's see here. No, no. No.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:08

Is there anything else I wanted to talk about? Sorry guys, I just didn't have all the usually I have my stuff written down, but I didn't today. So I just kind of want to jump into it to make sure I did the pod today, so I didn't want to do much too much thinking, because if you think too much, then you something you made us not want to do it at all.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:26

Let's see here. Was that it? Anything else that I want to do? Let's see here. I talked about everything else. No. No.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:57

I don't think I had anything else I really wanted to jump in on, I don't think. No. Okay. I don't think I had anything else I really want to talk about. Oh, one last thing.

Vikings Quarterback Battle Questioned

SPEAKER_00 1:33:08

I because I don't think I've talked about this on pod yet, but the whole so the Vikings, right? I talked about Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy going into this offseason. Um, I'm not sure I've talked about this yet, but Kyler Murray and JJ McCarthy are battling out for the quarterback one position for the Minnesota Vikings, right? And I think it came out like it not last week, but the week before, but it was like Kyler talking about how he's not getting the same amount of reps he usually gets, and he's like, because he's like, I'm trying to learn a new offense, I'm not really getting the same reps. And because this is a full-blown, full-blown battle, and this all started with Jason McCarthy talked about Kyler Murray, how they're not really good friends, and he's like, he I think Jason McCarthy was like bluntly honest about what their situation was with them both going after the quarterback one job, and a lot of people kind of took it the wrong way because it looked like he was being a little bit immature and like not noticing the fact, not being very self-aware because he because he thinks he can still be the quarterback, while everybody else in the core in the NFL world is thinking, like, hey dude, um, I'm not sure if you saw the way you played last year, but there's no way you're gonna start over Kyler Murray unless Kyler Murray turns into a player we have never seen before when it comes to being god-awful. So I feel like the the NFL world in general kind of saw that as being a little bit um with a lack of self-awareness from J.J. McCarthy, from being as you know, not friendly as he was about the whole situation with Kyler Murray, especially with Kyler Murray having talked to the media before that, pretty much being very complimentary of J.J. McCarthy and being real nice about the whole situation, and kind of like you know, doing the vet thing and kind of like make not making the situation any worse. J.J. McCarthy chose a different route, but so all of that kind of started, and then next thing you know, Kyler Murray is talking about how he doesn't he's not getting the same reps he usually gets, and it's an issue because he's trying to learn a new offense and everything. But here's my thing. My only question is should this be a quarterback battle at all? I like like we've all seen J.J. McCarthy start in the NFL, right? Like this is off, like we're not talking about J.J. McCarthy from Michigan anymore. We're talking about the J.J. McCarthy that has been an NFL pro over the last two seasons and has shown you nothing. Not only has he been injury riddled, every time he's got on the field, he's gotten injured in a certain way where he can't play for a long since. And when he is on the field, he's inconsistent as a passer, can't make any real, like real life layered NFL throws whatsoever. And if he can't rifle a ball in there, he's not gonna be able to do it at all because he like some of the nuances at playing in the position, he's not really good at. And from certain extents, it seems like he's not really all that coachable either because he's not trying to change the way he plays to a certain extent, or rather, he can't, and the Vikings now know that, which is why they brought Kyler in in the first place. And what so my question is, is it is it serving the Vikings to even make this an open competition at all? Because I don't think anybody really sees this as a world where J.J. McCarthy can actually play better than Kyler Murray. Like, what made the whole issue with Kyler Murray and the Cardinals go as bad as it was was not necessarily because Kyler Murray is a bad quarterback. It was just because with the money that they paid him, he wasn't kind of living up to that standard. But Kyler Murray is still a like a good starting quarterback in the NFL. And there is not there has been nothing that um J.J. McCarthy has shown throughout his time as a pro that would make me think he is gonna be a guy that's like, you know, that's like good enough to be a starting NFL caliber quarterback. So is the Vikings kind of screening themselves over by making this a quarterback battle in the first place? Because I just don't think anybody truly believes that J.J. McCarthy is going to be able to beat out Kyler Murray if everything's equal. So why even go through that madness if you can again? I think the only the only answer to that question is the fact that the Vikings don't want to truly believe that they wasted a I think they picked him at pick 11. I think he was pick 11 or pick 10. Pick 10 in the 2024 NFL draft. So I think the only thing that the only answer that makes sense is the fact that the Vikings are holding out a little bit of hope that he is not a total bust of a top 10 pick that he has looked like over the last couple years. That's I think that's their only hope, right? Because nobody wants to admit that they use a top 10 pick on a quarterback, and that quarterback is absolute ass cheeks, right? So I think that I think that's the only reason why he's still even getting a chance to kind of even battle out with Kyler Murray, because I think everything else shows you that Kyler Murray is a much better quarterback as of right now. And I feel like he will give them a better chance to win from day one starting off this season, and you're only kind of making that worse off by not giving Kyler Murray all the chances in the world to take all the snaps and learn the offense as much as he possibly can. So if Kyler is a little bit worried about not getting enough snaps to learn the offense and everything, again, maybe that's a little bit of lack of self-awareness from Kyler Murray as well, being not realizing the fact that he's now playing for the vet minimum with the Vikings because of how badly things went with the Cardinals, where they just dropped you. They didn't trade you, they just dropped you. They just they released you, like they were done with the whole situation, they didn't even try to trade you. So, or even if they did, nobody was willing to give them enough to make it worth it. So, like, I think it maybe it takes a little bit of self-awareness from Kyler Murray as well to realize, like, hey, dude, you're you're not gonna be afforded all the opportunities you were before when you were the no questions asked number one quarterback for your team. But my question is, should he just be the number one quarterback for the Vikings as well? I just I just don't think J.J. McCarthy has any real standing to be in a quarterback battle with anybody, let alone Kyler Murray, and what he's done in the NFL. Again, people have questioned, again, my co my podcast co-host is one of the biggest haters on Kyler Murray. But I feel like from what he's done in the NFL, like there's no like again, he is has he underachieved to a certain extent with the talent that he has, yeah, for sure. Has he played a little bit a little bit too much Call of Duty at certain times when he shouldn't? Probably. But with what he has done on the football field, him and J.J. McCarthy are on totally different planets, stratospheres, universes. Kyler Murray is a much better quarterback, no questions asked than what J.J. McCarthy could ever dream of being. So, and again, I think the it'll end with Kyler Murray being the quarterback anyway. So, why would you stunt any of Kyler's development in the offense by giving Jajan McCarthy the time of day when he doesn't deserve it? At least not as a person, but as a football player, does not deserve it. I'm not trying to attack the guy's character. I'm trying to attack the fact that he's not a good football player as a quarterback in the NFL. So that that's so that was like a that was a weird thing for me too when I was watching and I'm sitting here like, man, like why are they even like fucking around with this whole situation? It doesn't make any sense to me. But uh, but but yeah, that's that's all I got on that. Uh so for anybody that's been that's a Minnesota fan that's listening to the podcast at all, um that's my whole that's my thought process on that. Because again, he even even Justin Jefferson has been like kind of walking on end eggshells around the fact like Kyler is the better quarterback too. So and he has already made it abundantly clear with things he had said to the media before about how much JJ McCarthy is not it at the quarterback position. So so even even if even the players can realize the fact that Kyler Murray is a much better quarterback, I'm not much I'm not sure why you're even keeping this whole charade going that's saying that they these guys are in a quarterback battle when a quarterback battle is not necessary. We all know who the who's the better quarterback of these two. But who knows? It is it is what it is on that. So, all right, that's about all I

Next Week Plans And Closing

SPEAKER_00 1:40:57

have. Um, I don't think I have anything else I really want to jump into as of right now. So rather than sit here and just kind of ramble on, let's go ahead and get out of here. So I think we will I will for sure do a another pod next week. I'm not gonna do any more weeks off, and hopefully I'll be able to get Jace on for the next one. Um, I know it's been a minute since I had Jace on doing the pod as well. So I'll make sure I have him on. We'll do some more NFL stuff, kind of like we'll just doing the previewing of the season because we have a couple months left before we're back into football again. So we'll start to do a little bit more of our pre our pre-season type of like not because it's not preseason football yet, but like making our predictions for how the division is going to go, records and all of that. So I think we'll start doing all of that here on the next pod or so. So we'll make sure we're back next week. I'll try to get Jace on. If not, you'll just you'll still be hearing me ramble on. I have no problem with doing that. So um that's about it for me. So hopefully we'll be back next week. And I'll end the podcast here. So if you guys have 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 of talking about sports in the dumbest way possible. Uh like us and enjoy us. We if you do a couple things for us, we'd appreciate if you could like our podcast, subscribe to the podcast, rate the podcast five stars wherever you listen to your podcasts. We're pretty much available on all audio platforms. We're also available on YouTube as well. So if you have YouTube, we don't have like a video out video at all yet. But if you um if you listen to YouTube premium and like you just like to put on a podcast and just kind of shut down your phone, just listen to the audio, we're available that way as well. Um, and then also this is the first podcast you listen to, and it's just me. Go ahead and listen to a different pod with both me and Jason so you get a better idea of what we are at our best when you have both of us on here, brothers podcast co-host, talking crap, talking sports, and all that. That's what we are at our best. And then if you do like us and enjoy us, you could do a couple of like another thing for us if you could like us, um, share us with friends, family, enemies. Anybody feel like can enjoy the podcast we put out on a weekly basis, once a week during the offseason for the most part, unless I'm stupid and don't put out one, or during the during the football season when we'll do twice a week as well. So, and then last but not least, um follow us on Twitter and or X, whatever you like to call it, at JB Sports Pod is the podcast handle, at Javante Boozer is my handle, and then at Jace Boozer1 is Jace's handle, and that is about it here. So we'll finish it off. Uh, thank you guys for listening. Thank you guys for always listening. Have a great day, have a great night, and we will see you next week. Goodbye, y'all.