George Pickens receives franchise tag, Lakers lose to Suns, Alex Palou joins, Brou’s MVP Ballot

Live from New York. He's gonna fit it in. It's the show that learned a valuable lesson. Be careful what you wish for. How? We've got title pie coming up. Oh. And I'm like, last episode with a pie. The pie slows the segment down. And I said, Dusty, what type of pie do we get? He said, well, we didn't get one this time. I said, why not? I said, this is the last one. He's like, you said you didn't want it. So pies are gone. Wow. That's good for bro. brew. It is good. I'm trying to eat better. Watch my way and the mud pie is tough to resist. Brew's got a, you know, got a wedding to attend. Oh yeah. You can lose weight at the wedding. So many activities. I mean the dancing. It's gonna be great. Really fun. Yeah. First hour, first things first. Today, short handed. We've asked this every day since I've been back. Every day. They just kept the same way from yesterday. It's eco-friendly topping bars. You just recycle them. Is it panic time now or is it even more panic time? Meanwhile, IndyCar champ, Indy 500 champ, and friend of the show, Alex Pillow, joins us. Nick's guy. My guy. I mean, undeniably my guy. And maybe the future GOAT. Yes. That is on the board. Yeah. Yeah. A.J. Foyt, you know, has something to say about it, but maybe the future go. Scott Dixon and his team made us something to say about it. So if he's A.J. Foyt, that's a disappointment? Is that what you're saying? No. That's exactly right. That's what you're saying. Mario Andretti, I think, is. Mario Andretti has something to say about it? Yeah. Yeah, I know. Al Unser. I think he might have already passed him and his son. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Bold. The guy's got four championships in six years. Yeah, he just keeps racking them up. Four in his six years in the sport. And finally, bruise ballot for MVP and a special no pie edition of title pie. I'm excited for it. Title pie has some really small little slivers. Yeah, little. Yeah, exactly. I wanted those out. Yeah, I was a little surprised. Can I make the argument for it an hour ahead of time? This far out from the finals, I feel like the pie should be the most inclusive. So I included every team that I thought had even at all a chance. So it's kind of an insult if you're not on the line. Does that – The Pacers – How big was the Pacers slice now last year? No, he's talking about this point last year. That's a great point. Probably. Right. That if I had only included the top six teams at this time last year, Pacers wouldn't have been on it. There you go. So now we live and learn. That's what they say. We've got how many? We'll do it at 4 o'clock. 11, 12 teams on the pot. The Lakers shouldn't be on there. We're going to start with the Lakers. For goodness sakes, it's panic time. Three for Royce O'Neal. Fell with a second to go to give the Suns the win, give the Lakers their third straight loss. J.J. Redick on the other end designs up a cool play. Yeah, great play to get a three for Austin, but he misses it. It's a good try, though. For .9 down three, that's about as good as you can hope. Lakers now in sixth, only a game ahead of the Suns, who won last night without Dylan Brooks or Devin Booker. Here's J.J. Redick. We talk about this as a staff. Like, our losses are louder than other teams because we're the Lakers and because of the way we lose. You know, you get this deep in the season. And, again, tonight was a one-possession clutch game, which, you know, now we've lost a few of those. But we've been great for the most part in the clutch all year. Our losses are louder. I would say so we had some adversity tonight. Did we not respond? We made mistakes just like I make mistakes. I don't think Jordan not coached a perfect game. I don't think their players, you know, Grayson Allen kicked our butt. He was 9 for 24. Like it's, that's the game. And so I think our guys responded tonight. Did they win? No, listen. I think he's talking about within the game. Yeah, I mean, listen, J.J. Reddick, they were down. Yeah, they were down. I've got breaking news. J.J. Reddick continues to be J.J. Reddick. It's just like for J.J. Reddick, if you're a sports fan, J.J. Reddick's been in your life for 20-some years. I like him. No, this is not an insult. Yeah, 20-some years. It's just an observation. From Duke? Right, he was a super famous college player. He was probably at his lowest level of fame early in his NBA career, and then he just – He had a solid career. Yeah, solid career, and then right into the media where he was – and now, listen, he's smug, and he's always been smug, and I think he'd tell you he's smug. And so he is – it is not surprising that he is not necessarily the best at the podium when things aren't going well. That doesn't shock me. I do think the two Laker games we've talked about at the end of the games, he's drawn up two awesome either game-tying or game-winning shots. One Luka didn't take, one Austin took and just didn't make. But I am going to go, I guess, little picture for a moment and pick at one thing about J.J. Reddick outside of the press conference stuff. I think he needs to have the strength in his convictions to give Luca the Steph Curry treatment at the end of games, which is there was a timeout with the Suns having the ball tie game, final possession. And there aren't a lot of MVP caliber in their prime guys who get sat on the bench for those spots, offense, defense, substitutions. But one of them is playing right now and is a universally regarded all-time legend in Steph. There was no reason for Luka to be on the court if there's a timeout before that possession. None whatsoever. especially because the Lakers had a timeout of their own where if they were to have scored early, you can just call timeout yourself and get them back on there. That does not fix all of the Lakers' problems. It's not all of it. But I agree. But I'm just going to admit to the audience, I fell asleep last night before this game ended. So did Luca. Oh, okay. Now you're harmed. So I didn't see the very end. So I woke up this morning. first thing I saw was the final possession. And I assumed it had happened in the flow. Like the Lakers missed, the Suns went down, and you didn't get a stoppage. And then when I went back and re-watched the second half of the game and I saw what happened, I'm like, that's just a mistake. That's just a mistake. There are bigger issues. Right, that you've got to go offense defense because Luka getting beat off the dribble at the point of attack is not that surprising, which led to the breakdown, which led to the open three. Yes, you are absolutely right. There it is right there. LeBron has to come over and help. So he's out of now. The rotation is all jacked up and you see what happened. The question is, am I surprised that they lost to the shorthanded sons? Considering the fact. What do you think? No, I like this. Considering the fact that the Lakers had lost their previous two games and the noise was starting to get a little loud to use Reddick's term. All right. Considering the fact that Phoenix is a team you are battling for that six to stay on the final. Yeah. Playoff spot, at least before the play in. Considering the fact that Phoenix had their two best players and two leading scorers, Dylan Brooks and Devin Booker out. And considering the fact that Phoenix had lost seven of its last 11 games. And considering the fact that Phoenix, without those two guys I mentioned, has averaged, Nick, 87 points a game in regulation in their previous four games. And they put 113 on you? I mean, we know the defense is bad. But considering all of those factors, yes, I'm surprised that the Lakers lost this game. And here's the deal. I thought we were getting it too, KW. I thought that whole thing was a setup for a missed game. What in the world? KW and I are looking at each other. We're all excited. We're all trying not to laugh. Are you joking? You're just doing regular analysis? You don't get it. What? That was a misdirection. Oh! I got you looking. Oh, I got Morg. I got you looking for the misdirection. Oh, I got Morg. Good time. Right? Both of y'all. It's been a while since I got Nick. Oh, whack. I got Nick. Go ahead. Sorry. But no. So I'm. You don't know where I'm. No, we don't. We don't. I'm throwing off. I will say this, though. Look, I have been critical of Luka Doncic, who last night, by the way, had 41-8-8. Yeah, pretty good. Should be enough. Right? Okay, he puts up his numbers. Bob, critical of him for his just incessant complaining with the referees, his ball dominance and, you know, one-way style of playing heliocentric, whatever you want to call it, and his lack of defense. I've pointed out even how they've been, the numbers with LeBron on the court don't look that good. They're negative. All right. Now, I got to look at J.J. Redick. J.J. Redick, I get it that your team, I've said the pieces don't fit together. But your job as a head coach is to figure out the best way for the players you have to play. All right? And any time, Nick, if you're coaching against me and you have the worst players and I have the best players and you beat me, you out-coached me. Period. You got two all-stars. You got one super-duper all-time great player. And I mean Luka. Yes. In his prime. And then in LeBron, who's still playing great. And Austin's better than anyone the Suns had last night. You got two all-stars and another all-star caliber player in Donchich. Or in Reeves. So you have to figure it out. And look, I'm not saying it's easy, but they're paying you millions of dollars because it's not supposed to be easy. Can you start to talk to Luka Doncic? And they couldn't do it in Dallas. So, again, not easy. But can you start to talk to Luka Doncic about we got to play a little differently? Well, so what do you make of this graphic, Brew? Can I show you something real quick? What the usage rates? So last year, Luka's at 34, Reeves at 24, Bron's at 30. This year, Reeves went up, Luka's career high, and Bron's career low. So, like, Luka this year, LeBron is, you know, people can say he should have the ball even less than he does. I don't agree, but fine. It's the lowest he's ever had it in his career. This is just Luka with the Lakers, right? No, this is, no. Yeah, this season and last. But last year, it's his number for the full year. Oh, okay. For the full year. Oh, just the Lakers. Just the Lakers. Thank you. Sorry. I did not expect, and again, I agree with you, Brew. I think criticism of Luka is fair. I think in some quarters it has gone too far. I don't know if you remember, KW, but I predicted last year at the end that Luka was going to fall out of people's top fives or top tens. And now, like, well, I mean, right. Definitely not out of top ten. Well, no, but Simmons and Kellerman did a whole thing today about how Jalen Brown's just better than Luka Doncic. Like, that is where kind of like right now he is at his lowest in the public consciousness. Yeah. And I think some of that is overstated. I also did not expect, Brew, his usage this year to go up from any year it was in Dallas. I didn't expect that. Look, I don't necessarily think that's by design. But I do think that is the head coach just letting him do whatever he wants to do. And LeBron's going along with it. And Reeves is going along with it. And so, again, and when you're a bad defensive team, that's on coaching too. Now, you don't have the greatest defenders, obviously, and the greatest athletes, but still, you can create a mindset where they have to defend. And I agree with you. I had that on. You see my sheet? I'm going to take the net. I can't read it. I had. He should have had Jared Vanderbilt in the game. Whether you want to take Luka out or you could take Austin Reeves out, they're both horrible defenders. At that last play where Phoenix scored, one of them should have been out and Jared Vanderbilt should have been in. That's what he's there for. Correct. 6'8", long defender. So Reddick needs to look in the mirror because the last two coaches they had, the last one got – and I'm not saying he should be on the hot seat, but the last coach got fired for getting him to the Western Conference Finals, Darvin Hamm. The coach for him won a championship and got fired. J.J. Reddick got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs last year in five games. So, again, I'm not saying he's on the hot seat or should be right and had some unprecedented playing rotation. But J.J. has to look in the mirror. I almost feel like, and I don't want to keep going, like they're looking toward next year. Yes. Maybe not consciously, but certainly subconsciously. But that to me is unacceptable. Well, I just mean, I don't think they're – Right. Yeah. I don't feel like they're like, we don't care about this year. But because they are so focused on next season, it is bleeding into this year. Just quickly, I wanted to give people an update on Clint Capella-gate. I love this. Clint Capella. Wise words from him. Yes. It felt like, you know, Aiton took a shot at him. And I thought this was kind of gracious. You've got two of the best floor generals in the game, my dog. Lock in. Yeah. That's great. He's right. That's great advice. Also, Josh made this graphic on how they did last night. Aiton, who does not want to be Clint Capella, and the real Clint Capella, who is Clint Capella, had 4.63 rebounds and 4 blocks. The Lakers would love that line. And Clint Capella, by the way, is not, again, this is, Hubs is going to kill me. We don't want to spend more time on Clint Capella. But Clint Capella is old now and at a different phase of his career. Yes. Young Clint Capella was very valuable and knew his role great and made himself $100 million in this league. knowing how to do his role. Lakers in Golden State next up. Meanwhile, back to Houston where Clint Capella plays. Rockets win and Durant hits a milestone. He becomes the sixth player in league history to get to 32,000 points. Also became the sixth player all-time to get to 32,006 points. He scored 40. That's just how the math worked out. After the game, Reed Shepard said, 32,000 is wild. Thank you, Reed. That's it? That was the quote. most 25 points per game seasons. LeBron's at 20. KD's at 17. Jordan at 12. Kobe at 12. And then Karl Malone also at 12. So is KD the best scorer of this generation? I have what I think is a very controversial opinion, even though to me it's very obvious. No, he's second because LeBron is in his generation. And here's the, I will just kind of machine gun at you numbers. KD for his career is at 27.2. Bron for his career is at 26.9. So, KD has him there. LeBron is at 50.5% field goals. KD's at 50.2. So, Bron has him. However we want to do the age piece of it, at this point in Bron's career, he was also at 27.2. And so, the last few years has dipped down. And Durant might play forever. But this is what I think. And, by the way, Durant got to 32,000 in his 1,178th game. LeBron got there in his 1,179th game. Wow. Which is really – that's crazy. Which also means if Durant just had a regular scoring night last night instead of going off the way he did, they would have done it in the exact same. Holy cow, that's amazing. But this is the thing that I think people will be surprised by. Seasons averaging 30. Durant 2. Bron 3. Playoff runs averaging 30. Durant, three. Bron, six. LeBron has more. Has 575 career 30-point games. Durant has 430. Now, he's played more, obviously, but I don't think percentage-wise that much more. Playoff games scoring 30. LeBron, 123. Durant, 77. LeBron has more 40-point games. LeBron in the playoffs has scored 40 29 times. Durant 14 times. Again, LeBron's played more, but he hasn't had a twice as long career. LeBron has scored 50 14 times. Durant nine times. LeBron has scored 60. Durant hasn't. And so I think these are, you know, obviously two of the greatest scorers ever. I think because LeBron does it differently and because he doesn't have a silky jump shot, people don't look at him as a scorer. But I think the all-time leading scorer is the greatest scorer, certainly, of this generation. Probably that is a hot take. But it is a hot take. It's like a wildly hot take. The guy with the most home runs is the best home run. I disagree. No, because best scorer ever is so subjective. What is your criteria? It's like bag. What's your bag? Is it just handles? Is it your moves around the rim? Is it scoring in trap? Whatever. But I think people, because this is a common view that Durant is the best scorer of his generation. Some say the best scorer ever. And I think they're just focusing on that he does have a phenomenal jump shot, especially for a seven-footer. And he's got the handles. I used to say he was, before he went to Golden State, I used to say he's like a seven-foot version of Steph. Because he can take you off the dribble. He can finish at the rim. He's got the incredible jump shot that you can't even disrupt because of his height. I hear you on LeBron, and I've made similar comments as far as Shaq was a great scorer. I don't care that all he did was dunk and little jump hooks. You couldn't stop it, right? I think the argument against LeBron is in terms of score, people would say he didn't have the greatest jump shot, particularly for a good stretch of his career. His jump shot wasn't good. And earlier in his career, even parts of his prime, you could play off him. Yeah, that's what San Antonio did in the finals a few times, and it gave him trouble. I have two issues, and I'll say this too. If LeBron or Jokic, because how is Jokic not a great scorer? Like, Jokic can hit the three, can post you up, can shoot the midrange. Like, he can do whatever he wants. If they only scored, if LeBron and Jokic only scored. If they were worse passers. Yeah, worse passes, worse playmakers. And then maybe they would be viewed more as just scores, you know. LeBron, again, the lack of that jumper early in his career notwithstanding. But I'm fine with saying Durant, if you want to say he's the best scorer, if you have your definitions, just jump shot and things like that. I've got two issues, though, with Durant. Like, I think Jordan's clearly the best scorer of all time. Like, I don't even think it's debatable. But Durant, my two issues with Durant as a score, one, and we've talked about this, he should shoot more threes in this day and age. Now, I get it earlier in his career when it wasn't as big of a part of the game. He is a – the last three years he shot 40% plus from three. His career he's 39% from three. He's shooting – the last three years he shot less than six three-pointers a game. All right? He should be at eight or nine. And I get it, and I've said it before, I get it. You and your rhythm your whole life coming up early in your NBA career, you were shooting the mid-range. So your rhythm is in there. But you know what? You got a bunch of off seasons when you saw the game is going to the three-point line. He should have worked on that to the point where he was now in rhythm for eight, nine, ten three-point shots a game. Like Nets all-time leading scorer, Brooke Lopez did. He adjusted it. The second thing with Durant is, and this is why, like, I don't think he's the best scorer ever. Physical play, I've watched physical play bother him. And I particularly point back there could be other instances but when he was with the nets and the celtics swept them and they played physical defense with him kind of 90s style and he had trouble he shot 38 percent from the floor was turning the ball over physical play could bother him so when people say you can't defend him you can you can slow him down and make him inefficient if you really get into him, which they would have been doing in the 90s. So, all-time great scorer, phenomenal player, top 20 player of all time, but I wouldn't say the best scorer ever. Because I think a lot of people watching right now are like, when I said Bron, they're like, Carmelo was a better scorer than LeBron. Like, you know what I mean? Like, people have... I hate to say it, I agree with you. Yeah, I know, I knew you were going to say that. KD is 292 points behind Jordan, so we'll revisit this at the end of the month. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, March 23rd if everything goes to plan. News out of Dallas. Franchise tag for George Pickens. He'll make $27.3 million next year. Maybe for the Cowboys, maybe for someone else. Only one tag to go around, so that means your guy, Brandon Aubry, Nick, won't get tagged. Here's Pickens stats. Last year, 9th in targets, 8th in receptions, 3rd in yards, 3rd in yards per reception, and had 9 touchdowns. So, do you like this move? Yeah, I like it. In the end, Interim, just one clarification. He will only make this money for Dallas because if he gets traded, the team's got to give him a new deal. Immediately? Well, you can't trade him. That's part of it. Okay, I didn't realize that. But he also can negotiate with other teams. Correct. He can negotiate with other teams and then see if the – a team can flat take him from Dallas for two first-round picks. That will absolutely not happen. What are the years on those picks? It's this year or next year. But that's – Or the next two years. No, it hasn't. That's never happened for certainly a non-quarterback, and I don't know who it's happened for. But what can happen, Brew, is he can negotiate with the team, and then that team can go to Dallas and be like, what do you want for him? And that's what should happen. Right. Listen, Jerry Jones, you won the George Pickens trade. You got George Pickens for essentially a third-round pick. You got a super productive year at $3 million, bucks and now you are able to trade him for assuredly a second round pick what a great trade did it you you turned a third round pick into a second round pick and a super productive season from a player perfect that's what you should do because what bruce said the other day is correct like you have other glaring needs you you don't actually have this huge surplus of draft capital post the mica trade anymore because you then made the quinn and williams trade you also already have a very expensive wide receiver who, even though he wasn't last year, better than George Pickens, I believe CeeDee Lamb's a better, more reliable player than George Pickens. And so I like this move as a placeholder to a trade. I will not like this move at all if they don't entertain trades and this turns into a four-month offseason saga because George Pickens is not going to report under the franchise tent. Yeah, I was going to ask you what if Pickens just – Somebody gets in his ear and makes sense to him. Like, look, the last few games where you kind of got lackadaisical, that hurts you. Why don't you go out and have another great year? You're going to make $30 million this year. And then next year you play well. Then it's fine. You would be fine with them just keeping Pickens. If George Pickens was like, I am thrilled to be a Dallas Cowboy and play for this one-year deal and I'm going to be here for the offseason and I'm happy. If George Pickens were happy about this, then yeah, I'd be fine with it. But I just don't think that's a realistic scenario. Well, I would love it if you said it's not going to happen. But if another team negotiated with Pickens during this time and made him an offer and then the Cowboys declined it and got the two first round picks, I think that'd be great. Because my whole thing, and Pickens is, I think Pickens is more talented than CeeDee Lamb. Like, he's not more reliable, but last year he was better than CeeDee Lamb. I just, if I could get that George Pickens every year, like you do with every other great receiver, right? Yeah. Yeah, I would be fine with. But I just, if I'm the Cowboys, I've got too many holes elsewhere. You're going to have two really highly paid receivers. Your quarterback's the highest paid in the history of the game. You got a few other, Brandon Aubrey's going to be making some money. like how you going to build out that defense? You're going to be Bengals South. And so I agree that if Pickens is happy, okay, I'll take it. But the team's not going to be very good. Offense is going to be a light show. But your defense is going to be a light show too for the other team. And so I would trade him and try to get some defensive players. Who should call? Who should call for George Pickens? I think the 49ers should call. 49ers, correct. They're on your list? Oh, wow. Yes. I think Baltimore should call. Baltimore. So, not Buffalo? I think Buffalo is one spitting twice shy on that kind of. Mercurial. Yeah, the personality. New England? I don't think that's a fit. I'm trying to. Because of the personality? I mean, Diggs is a fit. I like Diggs was locked in. I mean, look, Pickens, there's a reason he's not signed. I mean, we get it. The Mike Tomlin goodbye weighs heavy on my mind. Mike Tomlin says, actually, I'm good, better off without you. That's a long shot. Maybe them. Maybe them. They should call. That's a good one. They should call. They're the Chargers. There's people listening on the podcast. The Chargers should call. Check out the podcast if you get a chance. And our YouTube channel. I think we've got 1,011,000,000 views. No, got to be more than that. I don't think so. I looked at it the other day because I wanted to say we're on the road. Giannis is more than 11. It's not. A fresh round of over-unders, 49ers, Chargers, and the Raiders, which, you know, maybe. Some people believe in them. Start with Brock Purdy's often-injured squad, bro. 12-5 last year. You know, before the year, they did have the easiest schedule in the whole league. It ended up being tough. Well, over-under is 10.5, non-division opponents, Broncos, Raiders, Eagles, Commanders, Dolphins, and Vikings at home. Then on the road in Dallas, Kansas City, the Chargers, the New York Giants, and the Atlanta. And four against Seahawks and Rams. Yeah. Which I'm not on there because we don't show the division, but that's a tough spot. We're going to see the Cardinals. Over-under 10.5, bro. This is your team kind of. It's tough because with them, health is always an issue. Always, all right? But they're like the team version of Anthony Davis. Great take. You got to throw it out there. Great take. I won't even sit on that. It just came to my head. The team version of Anthony Davis. It popped into my mind. But I'm going to give them, yeah. When they're healthy, Kyle Shanahan wins three of the last four years, they've been healthy. He's won 12-plus games, 12 or more games. Two years ago, they weren't. They won six. I'm going to say they're going to be healthy. Fred Warner, Nick Bosa will be back. Ricky Pierce will play 14 games. Were they even healthy last year? No. I was going to say they weren't and they still won. Right. So I'm going to say over. Now, look, I hate losing Robert Sala. Good for him. He's got the head job in Tennessee. But he was a huge part of that. Yeah. And now they'll get the starters back or some of their best players back. But still, you know, you've got to have the right scheme. But I'm going to go over because I think they'll be healthy. And when they're healthy, they win games. Under, under, under. Really? I hate losing Salah. I would hate even more losing Trent Williams. So when is Trent Williams going to fall off the cliff? But he hasn't yet. And, you know, Trent Williams is a future first ballot Hall of Famer on the field and a future first ballot Hall of Famer at the bank. He is very good at making sure he's going to get paid. He's going to be 37? And I also think that's the salary. I think that's his age and salary. They need him. And so that concerns me greatly. I don't love the wide receiver room as much as others. Does somebody love it? Without IU? They got to upgrade it. It's good, but they got to upgrade it. And I don't even know that I think it's good is, I guess, what I'm saying. And I am terrified for Christian McCaffrey next year. They used him like a mule all year. That was every full screen we showed. It's like, well, on a per-touch basis, not that good, but he sure gets a lot of touches, so maybe he's the MVP of the league. So all of those things, plus the brutal division, it felt like the defense overachieved its talent because of Salah. Now, you're right, they should get those guys back from injury, But I just – I love Shanahan, but that's an under to me. Trent Williams will be 38 in July. Okay, yeah. You think he's – the 49ers are going to sign up and give him 30? No, he's already under contract. Oh, he's already under. No, he – I thought he was – No, he is under contract for, I think, the cap hits, like, 39 million next year. Got you. They want him to take a pay cut, and he's like, I'm still your best player. Right. Yeah, no, he shouldn't. And so, like, that's – so that's the – But he's definitely – he said last year he was playing, late last season. Oh, he's going to play. The question is whether or not he's going to all of a sudden hit free agency. It's this weird mix of like the Patriots, for example, obviously need to fortify their line. Do you want to give 38-year-old Trent Williams? For one year, maybe. But do you have Will Campbell play his natural position left guard? No, Will Campbell's not moving. Well, then they're not in the Trent Williams sweepstakes because he's a left tackle. Maybe for Trent Williams. I'm taking the over. Okay. You took the over last year based on schedule alone, and you were right. I feel like doubting Kyle Shanahan and your guy Brock Purdy is just a bad decision. Next up, depending on what block of the show you're catching, either Justin Herbert is God's gift to football or maybe the 12th best quarterback in the league. Here are his opponents next year. Cardinals, Texans, Patriots, Jets, 49ers at home, and then on the road in Baltimore, Buffalo, the Rams, Miami, Seattle, and Tampa Bay. Look at those road games. Look at those road games, plus in Kansas City and Denver. I hate that. Yeah. I hate that with a passion. And those home games aren't no treat either. Some of them are, but you have home games against Kansas City and Denver. Patriots, greatest defense of all time, the Texans. I got to be honest. It feels like every schedule we've thrown up over the last three or four days. I hate to say it. We're like, wow, that's a tough schedule. Because here's the thing. We only – Doing a good team. Yeah, and the way the divisions broke as far as which division plays which division, a lot of the teams we don't talk about a ton have like, oh, my God, they have the Patriots schedule from last year. Easier schedules. And then, yeah. And so I'm, if I may, I'm the under. I don't like them losing Jesse Minter. I don't like that schedule at all. And I don't – 10 wins is – the Chargers typically, last year they won 11, typically are a 9 or a 10 win team. Both of those would be the under. And, you know, the coordinator lost the tough division, the tough schedule, to me is an under. Look, at the risk of sounding like Danny Parkins, I am a strong over. I'm high on the Chargers. I was high on them last year when Slater went down. I cooled a little bit, but I think they're the best team in that division. All right. And assuming they have both of their tackles back, Slater and Joe Alt, Harbaugh is just a great coach. I mean, he's a great coach. And I hear you about Mentor, who was great for their defense, but Harbaugh doesn't have bad defenses. In San Francisco and with the Chargers, he always has a top 10-ish defense or better. Now Mike McDaniel is going to team up with Justin Herbert. Unless Herbert just is not that guy. And I think he'll be that guy in the regular season. Now, we'll see about the playoffs. In the regular season, I think he'll be great. And he'll have a phenomenal season. And I'm going over with him. Don't pop my answer because what I wrote and I've reconsidered. Are they going to sweep the Chiefs? No. Are they going to sweep the Broncos? They could sweep the Chiefs. They swept them last year. One game without, I don't know, was Patrick Mahomes there for both games? Yes. Yes, he was. It was week one of the season. The game he got hurt. And it was the game he got hurt. Which, again, we don't know how that was. He played most of them. They're down three ball in Mahomes' hands, still alive for the playoffs, everything. You lose to the Texans. You scored three points against the Patriots. You lose to them. The Ravens, Bills, Rams are losses. And the Seahawks are the world champs. You lose to them. That's eight losses. Lose once to Denver. Lose once to Kansas City. Under. Do it. Okay. You're going to be wrong. Why didn't you want to pop your answer? I'm telling you. Because I originally had written over in my document. I didn't realize it was a moderate easy change. Oh, okay. Just on the schedule. I got bad news if you're a Raiders fan like our friend Hubs. The Port Raiders have the seventh toughest schedule. Because who they play, yeah, the division. Yep, it's because of who they play. No, I mean, because of who they play in the division. New coach, new QB, new win total. They only won three games last year, but they're at five and a half this year. Home against the Bills, Rams, Dolphins, Seahawks, and Titans. Uh-oh. On the road against the Cardinals, Browns, Patriots, Saints. That's not a bad team. Cardinals, Browns, Saints, Jets is not a rough road slate. No. Saints are my sleeper squad. Dolphins. Jets also my sleeper squad. It's just that they're a bad team, so any schedule looks tough. Under. All right. And I get it. Five and a half is a tiny number. I know. But but the division is tough. They could go. They'll probably win one division game against two. I mean, they'll upset somebody, you know, I mean, it's rare. It's up to six in the division. I don't chiefs. It could be. It depends on what the chiefs are. Don't let the Raiders beat the chiefs. Yeah, go ahead. But no, I'm I'm I'm in under. I think you got a new coach. You've got a rookie quarterback We'll see if they have Max Crosby One of their, you know, corner posts So I think it's just tough sledding in Vegas for now Totally agree And that division Don't do it, we're going to make fun of you all year I am particularly annoyed because me saying That I think the Raiders can go 6-11 Is just going to make you guys be like Nick's the Raiders guy for next year. This past year, I was and I was wrong. Don't do it. I'm going over. It's five and a half. It's five. What a gift. It's five and a half. I do not think that Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly did a bang-up job last year, so I think they'll be better there. They will either. I think Gino could be there for the beginning of the year and then they go to Mendoza. I think, listen, Gino had a bad year. I don't think Gino's a bad player. I don't. But he's 35. Like, he may have had his little run. No, that's possible. But, again, really bad teams. The Vikings won eight games last year. Like, you just talked about the Saints. They won eight games last year. Winning six games is not that hard. Saints were in a bad division. I hate to say it. The Raiders won three last year. I know. They were terrible. And one of them was against the Patriots who went to the Super Bowl. Yeah, which is to the point that you can even just steal a win. I just knew coach. I didn't think that schedule was overwhelming. And if Mendoza's ready immediately, that's good. If not, you have Geno. I still like Gente. I think it'll be an improvement. I'm not going to pick him to go to the playoffs again. But again, six wins is what we're talking about here. Six wins. But in that division, six wins is a nice little number. The Hubs, can you throw their schedule up there again? The Chiefs had six wins last year. I understand. So do you think the Raiders are going to be as good as the Chiefs? No, again, that's not. But just six wins. With respect, that's such a ridiculous way to phrase it. Well, two six and 11 teams. So here's what I think. Let's say we're right that they win one divisional game. Okay. One divisional game. And these are not all wins. I'm just listing games. Dolphins, Titans, Cardinals, Browns, Saints, Jets. That's six games. Can you go against those six teams four and two? Again, Cardinals, Browns, Jets, Titans. Dolphins and then you get to five. And then one surprise like the Patriots. I'm going to use your own thing against you. Not bad. I don't hate that. You know what the Cardinals Browns type is. They're all excited. They're saying the same thing. Look at the Raiders. I agree. But I'm just telling you as a lifelong gambler, you know what people do? They look at the projected win totals and the good teams, they just bet the over and the bad teams, they bet the under as if those win totals are not set, you know, with some forethought. It's five and a half. It's got to be the lowest number in the league or second lowest number in the league. I'll take the over. The Titans didn't get there. I mean, why are they different than the Titans are with Cam Ward? Has Cam Ward showed you something at the end of the season? No, I'm saying, but Cam Ward didn't get to five wins last year. No, of course they – yes, and a lot of bad teams got to seven. is my point. Teams that we think are awful found their way to seven wins. I'm talking about six wins. He loves him some more. I knew they were going to do this to me. This is your squad, dude. I owe the audience honesty. We're just going to rip you all I know that. That's why it annoys me. I felt bad about it. 2025's MVP is back in action tonight to face the 2024, 2022, 2021 MVP. So who's going to win the 2026 MVP? Well, let's find out in Brew's ballot. Well, look. Oh, I like that. Obviously, we've got the 65-game rule where you have to play at least 65 games to be eligible for these awards. I'm not taking – so far, everybody's put, you know, on – they still got enough games. None of those – these guys have missed 18 to where they're at. So I'm not projecting like, oh, they're not going to make it. So I'm going with guys that once you missed it, you're off the ballot. All right, at number five, Jalen Brown. Nice. I don't know if people thought he'd be higher. He's having a phenomenal year. Career high in points, rebounds, assists, second seeded in the East, fourth seed overall as far as fourth best record in the league. Great season. Great two-way player. could be maybe first. It has a shot, I guess, at first team All-NBA. And so, congrats to Jalen. And he can move up, again, if some guys are eliminated because of the games. All right, at number four, and this was the battle. Which one? Do I take Cade? Do I take Jalen? I went with Cade ahead of Jalen because when you watch them, obviously Jalen is the superstar for the Celtics, but you watch Detroit, everything runs through Cade because he's their only guy that can consistently create his own office. They don't even have like a Peyton Pritchard type guy that can create some stuff. So Cade is doing it all. He's a phenomenal defender. I was talking to a Hall of Famer this week who said Cade Cunningham reminds him, whether you agree with this or not, of a run or test with point guard skills. So he's talking about his toughness, his strength, his defense, all that. He's not as good a defender as Artest, but he's big and strong, yeah. So the Hall of Famer that you're talking to, basketball Hall of Famer? Yes. But famous enough that you don't want to mention who it is. Yes. Very famous. What? Heck yeah. You think you know who it is? I don't know who it is, but you wouldn't just be like, you know what? I actually talked to somebody. No, no, no. Somebody. Oh, wow, you talked to him. He's a big name. He also doesn't want to air out what might have been the most confusing player comp I've ever heard. Hey. So he like if Artest played differently and if Cade were better at defense All right number three Number three was a battle I thought about making him number two I knew you would. You thought I was going to. No, I predicted this. Okay, Wimby at three, you know, it speaks for itself. He's going to be defensive player of the year if he makes the 65 games, leading the league in blocks for the third straight year. Obviously got it offensively as well. So, Wimby at number three. For them to jump from 34 wins to right now the number two. See what, one loss behind OKC. If OKC loses tonight against Denver. Right. Then Spurs would be technically number one because they have the tiebreaker with OKC. All right. At number two, this is it. I got Shea. I knew it. I got Shea. All right. Now, Shea, a lot of people have him number one, have him as the front runner to win the MVP. He is, Nick, right now on pace to become just the fifth player ever to average 30 or more points in four straight years. Can you name the other four? What a question. Thank you for asking me. Michael Jordan, obviously. Wilt. Yeah. I do not believe Kareem did it. Nope. I do not believe Iverson did it. Nope. Durant didn't do it. Oh, man. This is unfair, Brew, but I like it so much. I'm going to say the three years without Shaq and the next year, Kobe. Nope. Oh, I lost. I lost. Oscar. Okay, yeah. And this one you probably wouldn't have gotten. Adrian Dantley. Oh. Adrian Dantley. Big score in Utah. I was going to say him next. All right. So, look, SGA. Right now, SGA is the odds on favorite right now. But I got Yogi. Who's won? I mean, here's the deal. First of all, he's on pace to become the only player ever to lead the league in assists per game and rebounds per game. That's a historical – I mean, that's a phenomenal, like, accomplishment. You just don't see that combination ever. And, oh, and he's also averaging 29 points. on 58% shooting, 41%, I believe, from three, and 83% from the free throw line. I would have to imagine the only guy who's ever led the league in assists and led the league in rebounds in their career is Wilt. Well, Wilt, yes. Wilt, actually, the year he led the league one year in total assists, but Oscar Robertson was assists per game. Okay, so then he didn't do it. Like, Wilt was at 8.6, I think. Oscar was 9.7. So he didn't do it. And, yeah. But he led the league and rebounded that year. Okay. How do you know that? I'm just an encyclopedia when it comes to boots. Nothing to do with it. Here's the other thing, though. 8.6. And this is the thing. Look, I threw out the rebounds and assists. That's his story. But check this graphic out. Oh. He is on pace, Jokic, to have the highest PER player efficiency rating ever for a single season. And that's the top five. So nobody's ever hit 33. He's at 34 plus right now. Now, look, big men get the advantage because of the rebounds. But because he gets so many assists, that's why he's always high. Jordan has the eighth highest ever. He's the only guard in the top ten. LeBron has the ninth highest ever. He's the only forward in the top ten. So, again, center's getting advantage. But that's incredible. Like, so I just think, Nick, it's hard to deny those historic numbers for him. And that's why I got him ahead of the show. That being said, if SGA wins tonight, he's the MVP favorite, right? Well, he's the favorite anyway. Not on bruise ballot, but he's a favorite overall. Did it switch on bruise ballot? Live from New York, it's a show that never forgets about Adrian Dantley. What a score. He was a big-time scorer. 30 points, four straight years. I don't know, many points a day. We don't talk about Adrian Dantley enough. I mean, we do. Part of a big trade. Well, he went to Detroit. Went to Detroit, Mark Aguirre. Then they traded him for Mark Brown. And all of a sudden they win titles. Second hour of First Things First today. But Aaron Rodgers end up with Minnesota. A story we have tried to get into the show for three days. We keep on keeping. Because we're talking about Adrian Dantley. Even then I want to talk about Anthony Richards. We'll upload it again. Meanwhile, Alex Pillow joins the show. So, IndyCar season starts this weekend. He's going for yet another championship and then another Indy 500 in a few weeks. But right now, well, it's time for the inaugural edition of Title Pie, and it's a little bittersweet. No pun intended, unfortunately. Yesterday, I said, I don't want to have the pie anymore because it slows down the segment. And Dusty said, fine, no pie. So, I don't even know how to introduce the segment, so I apologize. You really blew it, if I'm going to be honest with you. You thought this was just a funny comment, and it came back to bite you. No pun intended. Yeah, a lot of it. So there we go. Title pie. Maybe we'll see. Maybe we'll find out that we do need it. So, if we do. KW, and I don't even need it. KW took issue with how liberal I was with teams making the play. It's like half the league. Twelve. Twelve teams made it because we're not yet to march. Yeah. And hope springs eternal. And I am, if we can, you know, bring up other teams of yesteryear, I'm old enough to remember a six seed going on and winning a championship in a year people thought they didn't have it, the 95 Houston Rockets. I'm old enough to remember seven seed Lakers making it all the way to the conference finals recently. we have seen teams that seem to be left for dead go on runs, and it's early. So, with half a percent, a 1 in 200 shot, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers, both based purely on, I don't know, maybe Kawhi can just, we've seen him go on a playoff heater before, And I don't know, maybe Luka, we've seen him go on a playoff heater before. No Harden? Right, no Harden is a positive. And so I think both of these, for very different reasons, are very flawed teams. I obviously don't really believe in them. However, if you were to be like, hey, Nick, I'll give you 200 to 1, which is what a half percent chance is, you'd be like, okay, 200 to 1. I took that in my office. Well, you did the opposite. I gave KW $1 because he's like, Lakers don't have half a percent. I was like, fine. Put your money where your mouth is, handsome man. I gave him $1. If the Lakers win the title, he owes me $200. I basically got a free dollar. I tried to get him to take $1,000. That way he had to really be nervous. $200,000 to take out a mortgage. 2% chance. I'm higher on the Sixers than Brooke. You sure are. Maxie is awesome. Embiid's been fantastic. The East is in flux to a degree. The Pistons have been great. They right now have the best record in the whole league. I'm not trying to take anything away from them. But we haven't seen them on a deep playoff run, and they only have one definitive star. And again, that was the profile of the Thunder last year, and they won the title. So I'm not saying they can't do it. The Sixers, though, when you watch them and Embiid looks like Embiid, at least on the offensive end, you like Edgecombe, you love Maxie, 2% chance. I get a very different feeling watching this team. 3% chance. Cleveland Cavaliers. Wow. I don't – listen, Donovan Mitchell's unbelievable. And Donovan Mitchell, he has had some playoff letdowns, letdowns, but he also has had a bunch of very high-level playoff moments. But he's the only guy on that team that can say that. Evan Mobley hasn't had a ton of good playoff moments. Jared Allen, obviously James Harden, and there is a little bit of scar tissue of this team winning 60 games last year and then falling so flat in the playoffs. Now, they want to blame it on Darius Garland and the toe and all that. Fine. I am not as much of a believer in the Cavs as some others. 4% chance. Rockets. Team vibes don't seem great. Well, that's fair. The injuries might be too much. No Van Vliet, no Steven Adams. Van Vliet would help them a lot. A lot, especially because Udoka does not seem to just want to lean into Reed Shepard. And Reed Shepard's a flawed player. But you took him in the top four. He gives you some offense. You got to play him. Yeah, I agree. You've got to create more space on the court. With that said, they were a frisky two seed last year that lost in a battle. They still are a very deep team. Durant is way better than Jalen Green. And we'll see if KW is right that I underrated Chingun. 5% and rising the Minnesota Timberwolves. Like it. Rich Paul came out and said Anthony Edwards is the best player in the league. I disagree with Rich. However, who's Anthony Edwards represented by? I'd have to check. Is he a clutch client? I didn't even know. Here is the thing, though. Last night, he looked like it. On any given night, he can look like the best player in the league. That part's true. He is not night to night over the course of the season, the best player in the sport. But he can go, if they play the Thunder in a playoff series, I think it's absolutely on the board that for those two weeks, he's better than Shea. I think that he has that ability. I think that's reasonable. He's in that class. And he's been in the back-to-back conference finals. I think Finch is an excellent coach. Give him 5% chance. Now the slices get bigger. The Knicks, 8%. I'm not as down on them as Brew. They are healthy. They have been building towards this. Everyone knows their role on that team. And Jalen Brunson's a playoff killer. Now, we'll see if come the playoffs, the Thibodeau out, Mike Brown in move was worthwhile. They obviously thought that's what they needed to get over the hump and to be a better playoff team. We'll find out. But I am giving the Knicks more than a puncher's chance to, for the first time this century, win the Eastern Conference. And then you see. 10% chance. Detroit basketball. It is a perfect team for that city's basketball history. A tough, hard-nosed team with, you know, one star who always has the ball in his hands and then guys who know their role. They are overflowing with confidence and toughness. And Cade checks all the boxes of super-duper star. You know, the number one pick, the great pedigree, all of it, and having an MVP caliber season. 12% Boston. This will jump. This is including, oh, so this isn't including Cade. Here's, this is, if it were announced today Tatum was out and not coming back, I'd put them around where Philly is. If it were announced today Tatum is coming back next week, I'd put them at like 20. So I split the difference. You know, and so this is, it's higher than they deserve this moment. It's lower than I would have them with Tatum. But I think with Tatum they can win the championship. And I don't think they need Tatum to be first-team All-NBA Tatum. I just think they need to be better than Baylor Shireman Tatum and they're a better team. Just above Boston, Bruce San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wimbanyama. We haven't seen it since Bill Walton in 77 where your best player has never been to the playoffs and it's just like, well, I'll just win the championship my first year. Walton had similar hype, by the way, as Wimby. Different, but Walton's the greatest college player of all time. And they seem better than most at being able to withstand the inevitable playoff injury. Not to Wimby, but because of the depth and because they have enough quality role players, they could have their second or third best guy miss a couple weeks and maybe be okay. And then up at 20%, the Denver Nuggets, who, listen, they're just 17-16 in their last 33, which is not great after the awesome start they had, I think 21-6. But they have withstood the Aaron Gordon injury. I think come the playoffs, Michael Porter Jr. out, Cam Johnson in will be good, and Jokers as good as ever, which is why they are just barely behind the Oklahoma City Thunder who we will find out, bro, if this Thunder team is different than all of our last half-dozen defending champs because, and I've said it before, but I'll say it again just quickly, it's not just that no one since the Steph Durant Warriors in 17-18 has repeated. No defending champion since the Steph Durant Warriors has made the finals. No defending champion since the Steph Durant Warriors has made the conference finals. Every single defending champion has lost by round two or earlier. We will see if Oklahoma City can. That's interesting. Yeah, they have all lost. The Warriors missed the playoffs outright. The Lakers lost in round one. The Bucs lost a heartbreaker in seven games when Middleton went down to your Celtics. The Raptors post-Kawhi were not a contender. The Nuggets lost in round two to the Timberwolves and Rudy Gobert. And the Celtics lost in round two to the Knicks. No one's even come close to defending their title. That's interesting. It's not bad. I got some bonus takes. Oh, yeah. He wrote bonus takes incoming. Wait, he even put it in the gun. Before I get to my main issue, I've got some bonus. Yeah. All right, first bonus take. Get the Clippers and the Sixers out of there. Zero chance. Yeah. I'm sorry. I would love nothing more than Joel Embiid to fulfill his potential. I got to see it to believe it. All right. So, no. Zero chance. They're 12 and 14. I said it yesterday when he doesn't play. Maxie's great, but by himself, he's not leading you anywhere. All right. So, they're out. Lakers, I'm just going to drop from 0.5 to 0.00001. All right, that's how much chance they have. That's just respect for LeBron, just throwing them on there for that. And Luka, and Luka. Minnesota, I'd switch them into Knicks. Just switch them into Knicks, okay? This is a lot of money. And Boston, you know, I hear you. If you're not, I was thinking, okay, you're including Tatum, giving him 12%. I wouldn't go as high as 20, even though I think they'd have a good chance with him. But I'll let that slide. But my real take is San Antonio. I'm just going to, I think the order is fine. I might in a few weeks move San Antonio ahead of Denver. But I'm going to move San Antonio's piece to 18%. So 22, 20, 18. and I think with some of the pieces I've taken out, you know, it fits. So, look, that Portland team, you mentioned Bill Walton, similar in that he was a great defensive player, led the league in blocks that year like Wimby, great passer. Some people would say he's the best passing big men of all time. Some might still say that. I think it's clearly Jokic. And he was not a huge scorer. I mean, Wimby's at 24. Both played chess. Walton was like 18. Yeah, very smart. Both of them very smart. So so yeah, similar to and that team had never been to the playoffs. Correct. Not just Walton the team. Portland, so I'll be honest with you. The bonus takes just in the regular take very similar. Bonus. So I so I had a feeling you were going to have. I was curious what you're going to say, because I thought you were going to say the Spurs deserve a bigger piece. I was interested if you were going to say they deserve to be ahead of either of those two teams. But I think the point you made yesterday does give the end of this regular season real juice in the Western Conference, which is the one seed really matters. Not just for home court. No, yeah, I'm not even talking. It wouldn't matter if it were the bubble. I'm not talking about home court. I'm talking about that if you are, if we think Thunder Nuggets Spurs are cut above, the one seed is only going to have to beat one of them. And the other two are going to have to, you know. And they might be worn down by the time they get to the finals. Also, Nick is officially now the Clippers guy. He put the Clippers on there. The Clippers. I would never be the Clippers guy. KW. Nine. You're the Clippers guy, dude. If anything. That's right. If anything is proven. How are you putting them in there? By this, by the, all of my takes post, really, Mahomes' injury. Yeah. I am just ensconced, cloaked in nothing but fairness. That's right. There's nothing. There's a 10th seed, but they got a chance to win it all. I'm out here advocating for the Celtics. I'm defending Josh Allen. I'm saying the Clippers have a half percent chance. I just have to be fair. I think you're totally fair. If you watch this show, I feel like you can tell when we're passionate about something, and you can tell when we're a little bit at odds with ourselves. So, for example, Brew, as a student of NBA history, knows that an injury-plagued superstar is basically drawing dead for the championship, and that's why you say things like, Philadelphia, zero, passionately. Brew also is the show's Wemby guy. But he also knows and is a huge fan of experience. You're holding on to that Bill Walton comp. But you know, outside of that, the rest of the 75-some-odd years, it hasn't happened. Because you're a fan of experience, I'm actually glad you did not take this team, although it was part of your bonus takes. Minnesota. I'll pop them up around 10%. You do the math on what you want to do. So they're ahead of the Knicks. Maybe, yeah, I'll put them at 10% or more. Most playoff wins in the last two years, pretty good. OKC won the championship. The Celtics won the championship. Pacers got, you know, 23. And the Wolves are right there with, how many? They have 18. Now, the challenge is, Brew, as you know, historically, it's hard to go to the finals after losing back-to-back times in the conference finals. It only happened a handful of times. The Pacers in 2000, the Bulls won the title, and the 1974 Celtic. I thought it was a good thing. I did not know that. I didn't know either. I mean, I don't know how many teams that actually are in the running for it, but I thought I believe in Anthony Edwards. I believe in Chris Finch. I do think that team somehow gets better as the playoffs approach. The weird thing about this team and why their seat is not so high, they will fall asleep at times. They have lost to New Orleans. They've lost to Memphis twice. They lost to Chicago, Utah, Brooklyn, Sacramento. I like that. You like that they fall asleep? I like that because I didn't know this either. That they have dumb losses? Yeah, because now I feel like that means, by definition, their record against the best teams is better than their overall record would suggest. They beat OKC twice. Right, it means that when they're playing, when they're up for a game, their game competition. Even in the playoffs they'll have those games. It's like, ah, we lost by 30. Like, we'll get them next time, and it works. So I'm moving Minnesota up until 10 or 12. I like that. I don't dislike that at all. I think that Minnesota's – the issue is going to be – this is going to sound obvious. But if we think that with what the Lakers are looking like, that it's not like there are six viable Western Conference teams, there's five. Obviously making sure that you can just get Houston I guess is the team you want in round one if you Minnesota You certainly don want any of the three teams above you and you not going to catch the three teams above you And then, I don't know, I just would feel, I guess we've seen Minnesota beat Denver. I'd be scared to draw. If I was Denver, I'd be terrified to draw Minnesota. Yeah, so maybe that's the team they would want. I don't want to play Luka either. I respect – well, they trounced the Lakers last year. I just don't – I still. But that wouldn't be – the only way I think Minnesota could play the Lakers realistically is if both won in round one, and I think that's unlikely. Vikings, Aaron Rodgers, maybe. Huge top ten showdown, Fox College Hoops, number three, Michigan. Number ten, Illinois, who I have going to the final four. I'm calling an Illinois upset tonight. I gotta go over to my father-in-law's house and watch this one tonight, 8 o'clock. He's at Illinois. Oh, yeah, graduated from Illinois. Oh, wow. My mother-in-law and father-in-law. We're big Illini guys. If you came to my house, you'd see we have an Illini helmet. But that's basketball. Vikings just watched the QB. They let walk, win the Super Bowl. Sam Darlene, 14 wins, 4,300 yards. Nothing to shake a stick at. Next thing you know, guys, covered in confetti. So, meanwhile, they're trying to still address their QB situations. Here's what Kevin Seifert wrote. Vikings EVP Rob Brzezinski today on their QB options. I don't know that we're ruling anything out. We have not a ton of time, but we have a couple of weeks, so we're exploring every option that could be out there. It's casting a wide net, I guess I would say. Do you think that wide net includes Aaron Rodgers? I don't know that it does, but it should. Wow. They are the one team in the NFL that I think should go after Aaron Rodgers. Oh, that's it. They're the only one. I can't think of another place that fits. Like Pittsburgh, it's time to move on, you know. I can think of one when you're done. I want to hear because I looked at it. This is the one I think fits because of this reason. They're built to win now. Everywhere else on that roster, they're built to win now. You got Brian Flores and a good defense that I think would be even better than it was last year if they were competitive, you know what I mean, if they felt good about their offense and so on and so forth. Obviously, you got great receivers. Addison's a good number two, not to mention Justin Jefferson at number one. T.J. Hawkins in tight end. Like, they are ready to win. Now, the fact that they won nine games last year with abysmal, in that division, with abysmal quarterback play. Correct. And J.J. McCarthy, look, some will say it was stunt. It would not hurt him to sit under the feet of, at the feet of Aaron Rodgers and learn for another year. Rodgers sat three years. This would be the third year for J.J. McCarthy. Now, it would probably kill him getting this huge contract initially, but that's not the focus for him right now. The focus is just proving you're a starting caliber quarterback. Yeah, the focus is staying in the league. Yeah, so you sit behind, you learn under Rodgers, you sit for a year, and then maybe a year from now you can be the guy. And, look, I don't – you guys know how I've talked about Rodgers' struggles in the NFC title games, and I kind of feel like there's a cap. Obviously, he won the Super Bowl early in his career. I don't think they'd get to the Super Bowl, but I think they could get to the playoffs and have a good year. And I think the owner is looking for – look, we need some W's. And Kevin O'Connell is a great coach, shouldn't be on the hot seat or anything, but he needs to have some W's too. So I just think this would be – they're a team that if you just, Nick, make the playoffs, win or lose a playoff game, that's a good season. And you also want Justin Jefferson the delight to return it to his eyes. Yes. Because he's a good guy. At some point he may say something and he'd be within his rights. But you want to keep him happy and help him put up some numbers. So I agree with a lot of what you said. And in part, before I get to my surprise Rodgers team, I just, here's the full list of quarterbacks who either are available or could be available. And what you're going to see is, man, it is slim pickings. Yes. So Daniel Jones, we believe, is just going to stay with the Colts. But he is a free agent. And he's got an open Achilles. Right. Malik Willis is going to be expensive. And then you're down, after that, it's a lot of, oof. The old guys post Achilles, Rodgers and Cousins. Kyler, who you're going to have to trade for, and he has a real contract. Well, he's going to get cut eventually. I think Kyler might actually have just enough trade value where he doesn't get cut. They get like a fifth-round pick for him. Mac Jones, you'd have to give up a – They don't want to trade him. No, but if somebody offered the 35th pick. Oh, yeah. Yeah, because Mac has the opposite situation of Kyler, which is it's such a good contract. You know what I mean? People might want to. And then your Geno Tua, Anthony Richardson, we're going to talk about in a minute, and then guys who I think are just backups in Jimmy G and Fields. So if you don't have a starting quarterback and you don't get Malik Willis and you're not drafting Fernando Mendoza, Aaron Rodgers might be just your best option. So you might have a lot of options. With that said, what have I said Patrick Mahomes is going to be doing this offseason? Oh, he's going to be dancing at Travis Kelsey's wedding. And then what is he going to be doing in week one? Starting week one. Okay. I didn't know. I thought you were talking about the weddings. No, no, no. Maybe cornhole. They have like a fun stuff. I have said that repeatedly. I have not reported that. It's just what I believe is going to happen. I think there are worse options for Aaron than if we find out in the offseason. Listen, the Chiefs are targeting week four. What a take. What a take. For him. I love this. For him to be like, hey, this is a really kind of cool end note where you can't end on a down note. You're there with a team that can win the Super Bowl. You are the stabilizing force the first few weeks of the year, and then you're in the background. I think there's – because I think – I love that. I mean, you love it because he's Mr. Chief and he's saying the Chiefs, But I don't think that makes sense. Like, if I'm Rodgers, why do I want to be a backup? Well, the thing is, I totally agree you don't want to be just a backup. But if it's like, what's the good comp for this? It's like Alec Baldwin and Glengarry Glen Ross. I have like a very small, defined role where I am the star for 15 minutes. I am, you know, I'm the. But remember, that team wasn't strong last year. So those first four games, he could go 1-3, 0-4, whatever. So listen, you would have to – I believe last year for the Chiefs was an aberration. If you think, no, they're just now not going to be a good team, then that's an awful job. You know what I mean? Well, now without Mahomes, I don't – like you think he would play well enough. He's not mobile. He's going to be getting rid of that ball quickly. I think that being the starting – again, I think Patrick's going to start week one, to be clear. But if Rodgers is still unsigned and we're into the offseason, it's like, okay, Patrick's target date is October 1st or whatever. I think that a really cool potential – I think it is potentially a better story for the end of his career than going 9-8 in Pittsburgh again. I think that's – I love it. If it's a Viking story, I feel like from the list of quarterbacks you put up, it's Kirk Cousins. Yes. If it's an Aaron Rodgers. Yes. I just think – He's like, I have the jersey. A lot of it's just – But what are you going to do with – Now, you're right. You will put up numbers and Justin Jefferson will. You're not – I don't know that Rodgers is much better than Cousins right now. No, I agree with that. I'm just saying the feeling around that team, if Kirk Cousins is there, I don't think the feeling is he's going to lead us to the Super Bowl. With Rodgers, even though I don't think he'll lead him to the Super Bowl, I think they would look at it like, oh, this is Aaron Rodgers. If I'm Justin Jefferson, like, well, let me pull up my stat sheet. Your stats, but what about playoff wins? I love your theory on Rodgers, but the reverse, obviously. Well, that's the other thing. End of the season, Phillip River style. Where if you're Rodgers, you could wait until August. Yeah. And see, like, if the Chiefs thing happens. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Wait until and see if somebody goes down. The risk there is. Nobody. The risk is unintentional retirement. Right. Meaning, like, the teams that are viable contenders, their quarterbacks stay healthy. And then it's like, oh, man. I was ready to step in for a Colts Daniel Jones situation. It didn't happen. And now what do I do? Bo Nix goes down. Say it again? Bo Nix goes down. But you can't bank on it. No, AFC championship game. You signed Aaron Rodgers? Right. The Phillip Rivers situation. What in the world? I'd be very nervous. No, it would have been Aaron Rodgers. Alex Pillow, friend of the show and four-time IndyCar champ. He's probably going to win on Sunday. I would imagine. I'll be rooting for him. Although I also root for New York. Pillow will win for validation, vindication for Alex Pillow. He has won the Indianapolis 500. It is Indy 500 champion. Alex Pillow who has brought his wreath. Good to see you, champ. Good to see you, too. No, I don't want to try your gross milk. Watch this. It's not coming out because there's a lot of... I just said it! Your champion, Alex Pillow, his 10 Honda and Ganassi Racing. Alex Pillow celebrated with the Astor Cup for winning the season. He did come in second to Joseph Newgard. This guy is unbelievable! I say once! Thank you so much. I don't like that introduction, but thank you. Alex Blo, always a pleasure. We'll see you when the season starts. Joining us now is friend of the show, IndyCar champ, Indy 500 champ, Alex Blo. Alex is preparing for the start of the new season in St. Petersburg. Thank you, as always, Alex, for making time out of your busy day to join us. Absolutely. I can never say no, guys. It's great to be back here. It's also great to get the season started finally. And, yeah, we're ready to go. So, Alex, last year we talked about how there was one only thing to check off your list, winning the Indy 500. You were already a three-time champ, back-to-back champ. You then won the Indy 500. You won your third straight championship. You won half of the races on the season. how is it realistic if at all possible to duplicate much less to excel past that this season it's tough to to replicate man i think 2025 for us was magical was one of those seasons where i had the best car i had the best team i had a lot of confidence on myself with the car we got lucky when we had to get lucky and we're able to execute perfectly. So although I would love to repeat and I would love to get another 500 and another championship and eight wins, I know that it's pretty tough to do. So we're working towards that. We prepared this offseason as if we had a terrible year in 2025. We just know that everybody's working hard to catch us. So yeah, we're excited. We're excited to get started again. And I'm excited to try and see what we can bring in 2026. But at the same time, I know matching 2025 will be tough. When you've accomplished so much, Alex, like, do you draw on anything for motivation? Michael Jordan used to famously kind of make up slights, you know, that would get him motivated. Do you do anything like that? Or is it just in you like, I want to be the GOAT, I want to win every race? Or do you have to look for something else? look what i really like about the racing and motorsport it's just spending time on track working with my mechanics my engineers my team and trying to be the best that day for me today was i was super motivated not for the end goal of winning the championship or on sunday was about today and just trying to be the fastest we could so i don't really have like a an end goal honestly I think we need to give 100% every day to try and win as many races as possible. And I just love working with cars. So, yeah, I don't know. I just hope that I can continue to do this for a long time and keep on fighting for wins, championships, and 500s. But I don't really have something that motivates me. It's just the love or the passion for this sport. Alex, if you were looking for something, and I do like that you're so locked in, And I'm surprised you didn't mention it, bro. But we had Paddle Award on the show. And Brew declared, I'm a Paddle guy from now on. Now, we didn't know you were going to be on. We thought maybe Paddle would win some races before India. And all of a sudden, we got Alex Palau on. So I'm surprised you didn't pass yourself in that role. Alex, here's the deal. Nick has hogged you. No, no, let me, please. Let me speak. This is my turn now. I didn't want to bring it up, but you said it. I know Nick is my guy. I know that we're brothers. We're more than that. I skipped the Pato interview out of loyalty to you. I wasn't even there. I was like, we're talking to another Indy racer. I'm leaving. That's okay. He has to do that. That's part of his job. But I know he's pushing for me. I needed somebody. Wild's got Newgarden. I needed somebody. Alex, this is from Bob Pachras on FoxSports.com. Top 10 Indy car drivers of all time. You know, we got Mario. You have some legendary names, not just in Indy, but in overall sport. Mario Andretti, Al Unser, AJ Foy, Michael Andretti. And then there you are at 10. Do you think about your place in racing history, or is that just a distraction to you? I don't think about it, but I saw this graphic today, and I just cannot believe it. I feel like I'm still that five-year-old guy that has an amazing life and an amazing opportunity to drive fast cars for a living. and for me to be surrounded by those names and those great drivers, it's insane. But now that we have the opportunity to try and go up that grid and we're P10 now, hopefully in a couple of years we can be up in the top five or top three. But honestly, that just fuels me. It gives me amazing energy to try and continue to work harder and improve just my game. Yeah, and also, I mean, I'll say it, Alex doesn't have to, with respect to Bob Pachris, who does great work. I mean, a little low. I mean, the guys had five seasons on the Indy, six seasons on Indy, won four championships, won three in a row. I mean, I think it's top six at least, but it doesn't matter. I got a question for you. Utah, I want to ask you two questions about your offseason. One is offseason work and one is non-work. I totally just intuitively know, like when a basketball player is like, yeah, I was working on my game in the offseason. what that looks like. When you say, you know, in the off-season, working to get better, how much of that is physical fitness? How much of that is, this is going to sound ridiculous, driving practice? And how much of that is working on the car and making sure the car is to your liking? Like, what does your off-season training really entail? I would say 50% is physical because that's really the only training we can do. For people that don't know, we are not allowed to go test. It's not like other sports where you just start practicing your own sport, like basketball or football. We can only do simulators, and we have a couple days of testing on preseason, which we've done this past month. But we only get, like, three days of testing with our car and, like, all other competitors during the year. That's it. We don't practice anymore. So, for me, it was 50% physical. But the other 50%, it's all about like watching video, watching onboard cameras, watching the TV feeds and seeing like what we can do. And a lot of data with my engineers to see how can I improve, like checking how can I brake a little bit later, a little bit deeper. How can I manage the tires better? Like there's so much stuff that we can do as drivers to prepare and to improve year to year that, yeah, there's a lot of work that we can do behind the scenes. Okay, and when you actually do have downtime, I'm always interested in this with drivers, because our show is very distinct kind of driving personality, if you will. Brew drives a literal race car, like a literal fast race car sports car. KW doesn't even drive. That's not true. His wife's not. She prefers to drive. He drives shotgun. She likes to drive. His wife drives him because, and I quote, you drive like an old lady. And so she doesn't let him drive. I drive. I could see you feeling like anyone else driving is maddening or you're like, man, finally, I don't have to drive. So when you're back home in Spain or you're actually taking time off, are you driving? Are you a pretty aggressive, insane driver? Like, how does that work? I'm not aggressive. Well, I think I'm not aggressive. I there's some people on the road that irritates me like when you're going on traffic like I guess like for everybody but honestly I'm a very safe driver I think I'm very lucky that I get to go fast on track so I go only at the speed limits on the road here in the US and also in Spain but yeah I like to drive I don't like to do like huge road trips But I like to drive. If it's less than three hours, I love it. I've got an interesting question for you. So Phoenix, the Desert Double, they're going to have the IndyCar and the NASCARs on the same track, same weekend. I think IndyCar March 7th, the next day NASCAR. Any thought about doing both? Have you ever thought about that? I love watching NASCAR. I would love one day to try one of those cars, but I feel like our way of driving is very different. I think I could maybe be quick on a one lap, but I know I would get destroyed on races just because of how those cars are and also how they race. They race very aggressively, and I think I would get destroyed there. So maybe one day in the very future, but yeah, not now. I'll just be a fan for now. Is there any other style, and I apologize, you maybe have done this and my research is bad, but like 24 Hours of Le Mans, the different things like that, like do you as, I know you have a long indie career in front of you and you talked about wanting to run down those guys on that list, but on like the ultimate racing career bucket list, are there certain little check marks that you're like, hey, one day I want to win that, I want to compete in that type of thing? yeah i'm i'm doing actually this year with uh acry i'm doing uh daytona and i'm doing some endurance races uh i did uh le mans two years ago i believe in 2024 2023 with our schedule is tough though like that's in the middle of our summer schedule like we're super busy uh this year i won't be able to do it but uh it's it's one of those races that As you said, it's on my mind to try and fit it on my calendar and try and win one day. It's a very different style of racing to what we do. It's like 24 hours, as you said. But I love it. I think it's one of those events that if I have the opportunity to be on a good car, I need to take it. Well, Alex, thank you again for your time. Best of luck on Sunday. IndyCar season kicks off. We will see you probably in the winner's circle and also in Indianapolis. So have a great season. We'll see you in Indy. Thank you so much, guys.