Chris Gasper of The Boston Globe // Patriots Offseason Needs // Jayson Tatum’s Potential Return to the Lineup - 2/27 (Hour 3)

These guys won't stop touching. And you can pretty much do it. So you're in Maz. In perpetuity. Yep. The Sports Hub. I've never really tried to get focused. You know, I mean, if I shop at Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom or something, I've gotten to the point now in my life where if I want something, I can usually buy it. I don't, you know, I'm sure Richard Miller and Elliott and Matt Groh will work and do everything that they can to help us sign the players with certain exceptions. I just haven't even gotten that far. If you like something, you just try to buy it. At hour number three, Mike Rabel says he shops at Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. You know who he runs into when he's there? Gasper! Elbowing each other trying to get to the rack first. Cashmere calling this himself. Chris Gasper joins us now, brought to you by Premier Basement Waterproofing. More snow is sitting on the ground than we've had in years and as it melts you know what that means it's obvious what it means it's heading right for your foundation so you got to call our guys at premier before the snow melts and rainy season comes they'll never sell you anything you don't need and you can also get advantage of zero percent financing so to schedule with grace call 844 live dry or visit premier basement.net because with premier maz it's what game over for water gasper how you doing i'm i'm good cashmere calm I kind of like that. That is good. That is good. I might have to, I might have to adopt that one. I kind of like that. By all means. I told you we should play Zeppelin every time you come on the show. You know, it is, it is a little sad for, I don't know if you guys know, but you know, the Neiman Marcus in Boston is closing. They're a horror. Well, aren't they in background? So you did it. Neiman devastating. Didn't Saks go out of business and Neiman's buy them. And then now they're both. No Saks, Saks bought Saks global bought Neiman. See, I'm, I'm asking the right guy. So what happened? So, Sax Global bought Neiman Marcus, but now isn't Sax in trouble too? Yeah, Sax is in bankruptcy. They filed for bankruptcy, so they're closing certain stores. They're closing a lot of Sax off fifth, but they're not closing a lot of Neiman Marcus, but they are closing the one at the Copley Mall, so that's closing. But you know what that means, Chris? Deals. Deals at the store for you. Have you shopping at Marshall's in no time, friend. I will say I did happen to go over there the other day, And unfortunately, I was told by one of the sales associates that they've shipped most of the full price. Most of the men's merchandise got shipped out to other stores. So this is sad times for Gaspar. No, no, no. I can see the track of the tear on his cheek. Anyway, the matter at hand, Chris, what kind of offseason do you think we're headed here for for the Patriots? And what are you looking for when it comes to that? Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing for them when you look at the Super Bowl and the way that game went down and compare and contrast it to what the Rams did. Granted, the Rams lost two games in Seattle, including the NFC Championship game. But their guy Stafford lit up that defense and you struggled after three quarters. You had eight punts and five first downs. You need game changers. I think you need them on both sides of the ball, frankly. But you need some game changers, particularly in the offensive side of the ball. And that should be the chief thing that you're trying to get this offseason, whether you're doing it. I don't think necessarily through free agency. I think it's more likely it's going to happen through a trade. But that is where the high price shopping comes in, because you're looking at guys who are either already in lucrative deals or who are getting traded in part because they want lucrative deals that their teams don't want to give them or aren't in a position to give them. so who are your targets if you're the gm what are you doing yeah so i look at wide receiver i would look at aj brown i would look at jordan addison who they got a really good look at in minnesota with those joint practices with justin jefferson out and he really tore up their their defense and those joint practices what's addison's contract situation yeah he's looking for a new deal i mean he's looking to get paid he's looking to get off that rookie deal and and get paid and i think he wants to prove he's a number one you're going to have to give him a big you know new contract uh brian thomas from the the jaguars if he's maybe the odd man out down there after they gave jacoby myers that deal parker washington's emergence down there you look at what they have with travis hunter so maybe that's a guy who's available so i thought about this today a little bit for me with that 31st pick i would lean more towards dealing it at this point either way even if they use it, you need to get an impact guy at an impact position. So whether that's wide receiver or that's an edge rusher, who's a difference maker, which this is a pretty good draft. If you decide to keep the pick, that's maybe the direction you go in or some sort of sideline to sideline linebacker that people have to account for. What do you think their appetite is to do something like that? You think it's realistic? It certainly sounds like Vrabel's appetite for that is immense, you know, voracious. He wants to do something. I mean, the fact that he's basically saying, like, I just, he basically said, I don't worry about prices. You know, I just say if I want it, if that's the way the organization's being run, and that's what you guys have said, really, especially you, Felger, from the jump, that this is a Mike Vrabel production and he gets what he wants. No, no, I didn't say, I said he should get what he wants in terms of all the cost being the same. He gets to pick this guy or that guy. He doesn't get to spend the owner's money. I never said that. No one gets to spend the owner's money. I understand what you're saying. I'm just saying that if he's truly leading the way and it's in his nature, as we know, to be aggressive, then I don't necessarily look at it and think that some of these price tags are too high for them. Also, let's factor in what you guys have been talking about for weeks, the idea that if you do bring in another high-priced guy, there's probably high-priced guys, plural, going out the door. One would be Steph Diggs, and another possibility would be Christian Barmore. Chris, do you believe that AJ Brown's an upgrade over Diggs? I do. I do believe that because he's more in the prime of his career. And I think that at this stage of his career, he's still somebody who can make big plays down the field and big plays after the catch. I think Steph Diggs had a tremendous season for the Patriots. He exceeded my expectations. I think he exceeded their expectations. But when you look at the playoffs and averaging 7.9 yards of reception and the fact that the style of offense they run with Josh McDaniels can boost some numbers for a guy who's very good operating out of the slot I think he was a really good possession receiver for that for them this year but they need something more than that or something in addition to that I think AJ Brown still is that guy is he is he on the downside probably he probably is has already reached the zine of his ability and is on the downside but i don't think he's like on the you know final holes of his career to use the golf analogy i still think there's a lot of good football left in that guy he would completely buy into rabel you guys know the history with the relationship and he's physical i just think he has a more diversified skill set and sort of tool box to be able to use to generate big plays for them than steph digs does at this point in their careers so you think the Patriots should be aggressive. Do you think they will? I mean, do you think that, you know... Tough to gauge. Yeah, exactly. They are hard to gauge. I feel, Chris, I'd be surprised if they were... If they traded their first-round pick for Jordan Addison and then signed him to a four-year, $100 million deal with, you know, whatever, that would really surprise me. Pleasantly. It would pleasantly surprise me. I just feel that their success last year doesn't create urgency. It sort of gives them the leeway, the room to sort of throttle back and say, this is a long-term thing we've already achieved at a high level. And now we have more room to take this slow and do it the quote-unquote right way. You know what I mean? And I feel they're going to defer to that. But it's really just a feeling. No, I think it's tough to get a gauge on them at this point. in terms of which direction they're going to go in. I think Vrabel's nature is to be aggressive. And, you know, coaches always want the sort of, I don't want to say quick fix, but the more exigent, more urgent fix instead of having to wait. And you also have to ask yourself, when you look at this draft, I think this draft is good in terms of the depth at certain positions, but the game changers, you know, are there enough game changers in this draft and will they fall to you at 31? And when you're picking at 31, can you talk yourself into saying, well, it's not really trading a first round pick. You know, it's like when they drafted Garoppolo and they tried to downplay the fact that they had drafted a quarterback that high. And they're like, well, you know, it wasn't really a second round pick we used on Garoppolo. It's basically like a third round pick because it's like the end of the second round. Well, you could do the same thing with this first round pick and be like, well, we didn't really trade a first round pick. You know, we don't expect to be picking, you know, 31. And if we are picking 31, 32, that's great moving forward, but that's not really where we expected to pick. So we can offload this pick for something that is more of a sure thing than a draft pick. Chris, when you say it's difficult to know what they're going to do, are you saying that because Vrabel is still relatively new? You understand? Like we don't know. Cause it's not about, I'm sorry. I don't think it's about him. I know, but that's what, yeah. Yeah. That's kind of what Felger said. Like, I don't, I'm trying to get a gauge and I don't have it yet, to be honest, of where, how much influence at the end of the day, you know, can he have over finances? You know, last year, obviously, back-to-back four and 13 seasons and with a new coach and they desperately needed respectability to win the fans back and the roster really needed urgent upgrades. And again, I think that the roster, I think they exceeded the roster that they have in terms of what they accomplished. So they still need to work on the roster. But I don't have a gauge of like how much money they're really going to give them to play. Yeah. And how aggressive. So do you think this offseason will give us our answer? That's a good point. I think it will. I think it. Yes, Maz. I think it will in part because coming off of that season, while I, I know that Vrabel said several times during the year, we're in year one of a program. We have to build this thing the right way. I also think when you get that close and you have a quarterback like Drake, man, I mean, he's kind of downplayed a little bit, the whole rookie contract thing And Elliot Wolf did too but that is a factor while you still have the guy in the rookie contract not for much longer But Maz what answer are you looking for How much juice Rabel has to change his spending. Okay. That's what I'm looking for. Very little, I guess. So, and mine too, I'm not telling you I believe that, but that Bedard story last week, and he's not the only one to have written it, that, you know, they spend in those three-year increments. And the pattern is that if they spend in years one and two, the third year comes down. Right. Right. And so everything screams that the numbers should come down. So if it goes the other way. OK, gotcha. Then don't we look at it and say Vrabel had some input there. You bet. So like that is to me, I'm like I'm eager to see that. Yeah. And I'm not telling you, I think that it's going to break the way we want it to break. but it'll be further evidence that he's handcuffed just like everybody else was before him. So I think there's a lot to glean from it, or at least something to glean from it, if it's the same old, same old, and they back off now to stay in their comfortable three-year zone. Along these lines, Chris, what's your sense on what's going to happen or go down with Chris Gonzalez? My sense, and this is not necessarily based off of input from anybody over there, But my sense is that Vrabel really likes him, which means that it's a likelihood they'll pay him. You look at him and say he's their best player outside of Drake May. He's young. He took strides this year. When you're talking about trying to help the guy become a captain there, I think he checked enough boxes for the Vrabel regime this year that they'll pay him. And that goes back to something that I feel compelled to mention, which is, look, this first year was great. And I saw the report card and Vrabel got an A and these guys saying his praises and you build the culture. That's great. But when you do that and then all of a sudden you start getting into contract disputes with guys and guys aren't getting paid. All that stuff's out the window. All that culture stuff. If guys don't get rewarded in their paychecks. So that's something that they have to keep an eye on, too. So you can have the culture and everybody buys in and it's great. But if all of a sudden you're nickel and diming or fighting over nickels and dimes with Christian Gonzalez, then that stuff reverberates in the locker room too. And it's like, oh, oh, this isn't really that different than any other coach or any other culture or any other team. So you're going to back it up with the paychecks. And Rabel mentions it all the time about what his job is and how he reaches players. And we're here to support our families. And we're here to earn our contract and the business part of it from the player end too. He talks about it a lot. Yeah, it'd be pretty hollow if after all that, all of a sudden it's time to pay someone who wouldn't pay him. No, hey, listen, I have no questions about Vrabel. He wants to pay these guys. He wants to do right by them. He's been on both sides of it. He knows it's not his money. So we're back to that old thing. Absolutely. And it's interesting. You're right, Matt. If it's different this year, that might inform us on something. But the Gonzalez one's a good test case, too. It's an important one to look at. Because they don't have to do it. Right. If they didn't dink around with him, I think that's a bad sign. All right, let's take some calls with Gaspar coming up right after this. Hey, it's Owen. Shaking things up a bit. No formal intro. Let's see what Carlo from Auburn has to say. The biggest thing that I received out of this Awaken 180 program was that I was able to get a best friend. And when I say that, I mean the person that I look to in the mirror every morning. I would walk by the mirror and not look. Now, the Awaken 180 program has given me the ability to look in the mirror, smile, and actually enjoy and appreciate the person I am. I went from, you know, 301 down to 213. I've lost 84 pounds with Awaken 180. 84 pounds of Carlo did it in just under four months. And those results, buddy, are the results you'll get with Awaken 180. Do what Carlo did, what I did, Greg Bedard, Dr. Laura Carman, and everybody else that's done it. Get back to liking the person you see in the mirror and choose Awaken 180 Weight Loss online at awaken180weightloss.com. Swole. And looks like one of the toenail clippings. Oh, usually leaves in the studio. Debonair. Welcome to blah, blah, blah, everybody. Telger and Mads. 98.5. The Sports Hub. I mean, the fun part with the Patriots, they do have a lot of cap space. You've got a star quarterback on a rookie contract, and you're ahead of schedule when it comes to what your roster was supposed to do. Nobody expected the Patriots, obviously, to make the Super Bowl. So now, to me, it's about, in general, finding the holes on this team where you can raise the ceiling and you can get over that hump of getting back and winning a Super Bowl next year. The one that stands out to me, honestly, is their edge rushers. And honestly, all across their defensive line, there's needs. I think they could use a run stuffer on the inside to complement Milton Williams and Christian Barmore. But off the edge, Patriots' edge defenders had the lowest pass rush win rate in the NFL, and I believe it was the fourth lowest pass rush grade. This is the number one team. if he hits the open market, that if I'm them, I'm going to get Trey Hendrickson. I think that's the exact guy, the blindside edge rusher, that they need to jumpstart their pass rush on the outside. Because, look, interior pass rush is obviously great. They have arguably the best in football. But to add that edge complement to it, to get a superstar rusher like Trey Hendrickson and then fill all those other holes in the draft, I think would be a really good move. That's the name that I'd be looking out for if I'm New England. If he doesn't get franchise tagged again in Cincinnati, that's where I'm going. All right, Gasper. a lot of people talking about, well, the word out of Indy that feels like it's, you know, filtering through the team that they've, you know, let people know that they deem their number one need to be edge rush. And so one, how do you feel about Hendrickson? And how do you feel about that spot at the draft? So I think it's a deep spot in the draft. I'll start there. I mean, if I had to choose between Hendrickson and Max Crosby, I would go with Crosby. Crosby's 28. He'll turn 29 in August. Hendrickson's 31. We'll turn 32 during the season. I do think that makes a little bit of a difference when you're trying to build something and you're looking at runway. I just feel like that position is so expensive and I have more confidence in them being able to find somebody like that in the draft than I do the wide receiver position. So for me, I would rather they spend that money on a wide receiver and use the depth of this draft, which is it has a lot of pass rushers and it has a lot of edge guys in it. And some of those edge guys, like you look at yesterday with the measurements, right? So Reuben Bain, that some people were projecting out of Miami is like a top 10 type of pick. His arms measured. What was he saying? Short arms? Short arms. It was below 31. Didn't he have like the smallest arms ever at the car by or something? Oh my gosh. No, no, no, no. Ridiculous. Yeah, like can't tie his shoes. How's he grab his fork? Well, against Will Campbell. Like he and Will Campbell would have like a T-Rex. Be like a couple of ducks. Here, grab this cup. And then. What did Murray say? Hold on. Tuck him in. More for the TV. Go ahead, Chris. No, that was great. That was great. And then also Cassius Howell was a guy. His were even shorter. I believe he measured at 30 and one fourth, which is almost like unprecedented. The Texas A&M edge guy. So maybe those guys drop and they drop to the Patriots. It also could be a position where you do what you did the year you drafted Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, where you double up at it and try and attack it that way. So wait, more short arm guys. We had dropped now. Those measurements. I thought those measurements could work in the Patriots favor. Let me ask you this guys. Would you. So I heard the cut from my colleague, Chris Price, you know, in terms of where they're at with the draft picks. But also I would look at it and say, OK, if you're not going to trade the draft pick for a proven player, then are you going to try and move up in the first round? Because if I were them, that's what I would try and do. I just don't love sitting at 31. I don't. I, I, I, they could work it from a pass rush standpoint, but if let's say somebody like Bain has a fall and drops into the early twenties, I would be active and, and trying to, I know the roster needs upgrades, but do you need like an 11 or 12 person draft? Do you need all four of your six round picks, your six round pick, excuse me? Like, do you need all four of those picks? Do you need your two fourth round picks? I think this should still be quality over quantity for them in the draft. See, I'm a gasper on this. Someone earlier in the week said they have 11 picks in this draft. And I went, yeah, four of them are in the sixth round, and the other two extras are in the fourth, or the other extras in the fourth. What's that going to do? Might as well use and try to move up a little and get some real play. That's part of the reason I asked you yesterday. Of course, I didn't articulate it that way. But anyway, sorry. So other draft thoughts, Chris. Is this a good draft, a weak draft, top heavy? How do you assess it overall? I think it has good depth. I don't think it's great at the top in terms of, oh, you know, that guy's definitely going to be a franchise this or that. I know people are really impressed with what Sonny Stiles did yesterday, the linebacker out of Ohio State. People are comparing him to Fred Warner. If he's that type of guy, then absolutely, that's a great pick. But when you look at it, I think there's more questions about the quarterbacks. There's questions about the guys at the top of this draft. I'd say the surest thing at the top of this draft, and this is how you know, it's a little bit of an unusual draft as a safety. I think Caleb Downs is a, you know, you put him on the field. That's a pro bowl safety out of Ohio state. I do think though, there's depth in certain areas. And when I look at the Patriots defensively, this draft could play into some stuff that they need in terms of, you know, edge guys, they need edge guys. There is some depth in terms of edge guys in this draft linebacker. I think linebacker was a need for them. I thought it was a need for them last year after the preseason ended as you went into the season, really outside of Spillane. Like, I heard you guys the other day. I have to disagree. I heard you guys the other day talking up Christian Ellis. I don't see it. I mean, I think you can upgrade from that. I know he had the big hit on Jackson Dart, and he has some big hits from time to time, and he's athletic. And I like having him on the team as a special teams guy and a spot starter. but do I feel like I'm good at linebacker because I have Christian Ellis? No. Well, I, I, I'm not doing that. I can't remember what I said about Ellis specifically. I think they got more out of their linebackers than I was expecting. I think that's what we were saying. But if it came off that way, I take it back. Whether it was Gibbons or even explain Gibbons, Ellis, like lanes legit. Is he legit? I think he is. Yeah, absolutely. I think he's legit, but I think you could upgrade at the other two spots. And so you look at this draft. You have CJ Allen from Georgia Anthony Hill from Texas Jake Galdi from Cincinnati Jacob Rodriguez who played at Texas Tech This is a and those are guys that will be around Sonny Stiles is going to go earlier than that Arville Reese is going to go earlier than that. But there's some depth with the linebackers. And then I would say safety. You got they want to bring back Jalen Hawkins. They hit a home run with Craig Woodson. And I'll may a culp of that. I questioned that pick a little bit, but he was great for what they did last year. But I still think they're a little thin there, especially for the style of defense. they want to play. So someone like a Dylan Thienemann from Oregon, you could look at Emmanuel McNeil Warren from Toledo. There's some depth in this draft class, Bud Clark, TCU. There's some depth in this draft class at those positions. So maybe not like superstar guys in this draft, but starters, guys who could be good starting players. I promise we will be getting to you. Yes, ma'am. So Reuben Bain, just to give you the official thing, 30 and 7 8s and only two edge rushers since 1999 have measured with shorter arms at the combine than band we're doing this again 30 this is the exact same thing we did last 30 and here's the amazing thing he's six foot three how is a six foot three guy that's t-rex a giant with little arms he's got twigs for arms i'd love to see him on the page though he's he's he's a game wrecker I will say there's a stat. I can try and look it up in the break, but there is like some stat that I saw out there that no pass rusher who measured with sub 31 inch arms has had like a double digit sack season since 1999 or something like that. You can't get past the old lineman. I can't believe we're going to do this again. You know what? He and Campbell could work together. That's what I'm going to say. Like quite literally two T-Rexes going against each other. I can't wait for training camp. That'd be great. alligator fight. I don't have time to break that down. Seriously? What are we doing? We're going to do that again? I mean, I loved it. Don't tempt me. The more I get into this, the more I want this guy. I promise we are going to get to your phones. Gasser's going to weigh in on a big topic here this week, the return of Jason Tatum. First, the update here from Big Jim Murray. Hey, it's shaking things up a bit. No formal intro. Let's see what Carlo from Auburn has to say. The biggest thing that I received out of this Awaken 180 program was that I was able to get a best friend and when i say that i mean the person that i look to in the mirror every morning i would walk by the mirror and not look now the awaken 180 program has given me the ability to look in the mirror smile and actually enjoy and appreciate the person i am i went from you know 301 down to 213 i've lost 84 pounds with awaken 180 84 pounds and carlo did it in just under four months and those results buddy are the results you'll get with awaken 180 do what carlo did what i did greg bedard dr laura carmen and everybody else that's done it get back to liking the person you see in the mirror and choose awaken 180 weight loss online at awaken180weightloss.com belger and maz continues on the sports hub is it unfair to jaylen brown too because he has emerged as an mvp candidate and he has emerged as the bona fide leader of this team he comes in there's this sense of deferral. There's a sense of how do I work him in? For me, I understand what Tatum's doing, and I understand the Celtics for wanting to give him a why right now. Good for his mental to keep working and have something to achieve, but I don't know if it's the best thing for the team right now. This is Jay Williams and Alan Hahn on ESPN the other day, a conversation that just blew me away with just so many things I disagree with. But Chris, your thoughts on the return of Jason Tatum? Is it unfair to Jalen Brown for Jason Tatum to return? No, I don't think it's unfair to Jalen Brown at all for Jason Tatum to return. And the Celtics are undeniably, unequivocally better with Jason Tatum, even if he's not the full Jason Tatum, even if he's 70 to 75% of what the full Jason Tatum is. My question remains, though, how does Jason Tatum feel about that? How does he feel about coming back and being 70 to 75 percent of what he was, which would by definition mean that Jalen Brown would be the one and he would sort of be the one A. And is he OK with that, even if it leads to a winning team? I just get the sense that with Tatum wanting to come back, he wants to come back as close to what he was before the injury as possible. and that's definitely going to be challenging on a team that has a chance to do some damage in the playoffs and is trying to make sure it holds on to the number two seed in the Eastern Conference because if there are games, which are really just elements of games, spans of games, where Tatum is a little rusty or struggling or not in rhythm, then what do you do if you're Joe Missoula? Do you prioritize Tatum's comeback or the success of the team? And I think that's something that maybe weighs on Tatum a little bit. How do you think Missoula would handle it? I think he'd make it about Tatum. So this is what, you know, kills me. It's like Tatum's worried about his reputation or how it would look. Missoula would defer to the star player versus what's best for the team. Like this whole bucket of things that we're talking about is just so off-putting to me. And I think I want to believe, Chris, as I've been saying all week, that both Tatum and Brown are above that, and the Celtics are better than that. That they're not going to fall into that. At the end of the day, they'll all just do what's best for the team because they want to win. Am I just being ridiculously idealistic? I don't think you're being ridiculously idealistic, and I don't think there would be a problem between Tatum and Brown. I didn't say it was between them. No, no, no, I know. I know. I'm not saying you did. I'm just saying I don't think like that's the issue. I think it's more about when Tatum was starting this whole thing, it was reasonable for him to expect that when he came back, the team was not going to be in this position and the team would be in a position to really sort of prioritize him and prioritize his return to form. That's not the case. Now the priority is winning and competing for a championship. And you don't think he could pay with that. So that feels disrespectful to Jason Tatum. Like he's, again, David Pasternak stat humping an empty net goal and putting his team in a position where they could lose. Like, and I do, I disrespect David Pasternak on that level. But that Jason Tatum would prioritize his thing versus winning as a team? Like, I mean, to that level? I think it's about comfort. It's a comfort thing. I don't, Tatum's not a selfish player. So it's not like something he would do maliciously, I think, or something that he would do selfishly. But I think mentally, it's part of the calculus for him is this idea of, you know, what am I coming back to and how equipped is it to be able to accommodate what I might need? The other thing I'll say on this that's getting interesting, though, is they have 24 games left in the season. starting with tonight. And if you want Tatum to be a factor in the playoffs, how many games do you think he needs to play in the regular season to get there, to get to say 90, 95% of Tatum? For me, I think that's 18 to 20 games. So now we're looking at his team. Like he has to come back soon. Very soon. Yeah. To get that many games in. So I would agree, Chris. Although I, you know, I said last week, I didn't think, I wasn't convinced that he was going to play. now that he's scrimmaging five on five in practice, at least according to Shams of ESPN, Shams Sharania. To me, that was a big step towards getting closer to that. But do you believe that he should come off the bench? If you're reintroducing him to the lineup, isn't the best way to do that by bringing him off the bench? Do you feel that way? No, because it's not something he's done a ton in his career. I mean, I'm trying to remember if he did it his rookie season. He's never done it. 585 for 585. Yeah, no. Okay. You know, it's funny. Yeah. I mean, it's, of course that didn't stop them from bringing Malcolm Brogdon off the bench, but still that worked out. He was six men of the year, but no, I wouldn't because he's not used to that. And I think that I don't think he would particularly enjoy that. Also, I see the tea leaves. They're not planning to do that based on the fact that they've already moved Peyton Pritchard to the bench. It seems like that's the setup for Tatum to come back and be in the starting lineup. Tatum comes back. Who does the ball go through? How does the offense run? Because it's been a little different with Jalen Brown in this year versus what it's been in the past. Does Tatum have to defer? Does Tatum have to sort of stand back? And it's still, quote-unquote, Jalen Brown's team, that whole thing? How do you think that all plays out? What should they do? Yeah, I mean, I think you have to sort of figure that out. They've done a really good job the last couple years, I think, of not making it feel like dueling pianos, which a little bit in the beginning, it sort of did feel like, you know, you go to one of those awful piano bars and it's like dueling pianos instead of them playing together. So that will take a little bit of work. I think the big question for me is something that Jimmy Stewart's brought up, which would be style of play. You know, how does it work for Tatum coming off the Achilles style of play? How does it work with pace? Is he willing to get out and run? Is he willing to push it? Or is he going to feel like he needs to sort of get back in his bag, but also, you know, take it easy a little bit and not necessarily push at the pace that this year's team has been playing? When do you think we see him? Yeah, I thought about that. And before I was leaning more towards that like week, the week of 322 where they played the Timberwolves. But now if you wait until then, And it's like something like 14 games left in the season. I think it has to be more games than that. So I feel like it's coming up. It should be coming up soon. I would say not this week, but maybe the following week. That's just a guess. I have no information on that. This Sunday was the game they flexed to the NBC. The 76ers game. Yeah. Philly. So would it surprise you if it's Sunday? A little bit. I mean, not completely. It would only surprise me because, and I guess you can do two things at one time, But I know that like Brad Stevens is doing this speaking thing around the movie Hoosiers with Dan Shaughnessy and Newton. And that's the day like Jason Tatum's coming back. I mean, I know it's in the afternoon and then the games at night, but it's just I don't know. I mean, that feels a little strange to me. If I had to guess right now and I not looking at the schedule but I looked at it during the break I would say there a game against the Mavericks Yeah next Friday It a week from tonight The 6th Yeah Because I think if you play in that game you can get in 20 games before the end of the regular season. I think that would be, from that period out, is 20 games. So somewhere in that week where you're getting 18 to 20 games. And more broadly, it's a home game, so you get the home crowd so the cameras can get all that. I just, I just, I mean, I do. And I want to think so much more of Jason Tatum than these things that we're discussing. Because if Tatum is just about what he should be about winning and his legacy is going to be defined by the rings on his finger, they are. I mean, he could use an MVP. I get it, but he's not getting an MVP this year. So his legacy is in. He's already all NBA, most endorsed guy in the league. Just about, you know, all of he's got everything. It's going to be championships. That's how you're going to be defined. You can just be one of these one and done guys or Celtics, true Celtics, you know, legacy teams have multiples. They don't just have one. And so is he going to act accordingly and do what's best for the team and put all this nonsense to the side? No, you don't think so either. Jimmy Murray. Oh, no, I don't know because it's about the brand that these players are. And again, he's got all these endorsement deals and whatnot. But if you look just at NBA Twitter for a half a second, Jason Tatum's not cool. So he needs to still win, you know, the real hoop heads that don't think he's all that cool. So this is, I think, what he's striving for, too. So how do you get cool? More brand equity, putting out a promotional big video like this, the big documentary, five episodes. Maybe that gets him a little bit more clout. He's won. I'm sure he'd like to win again, but I don't think it's the most important thing once you get over that hump of actually winning a title in the NBA these days. It's about brand deals, shoe deals, things like that. What would just elevate him in my eyes is if he did things like, I'm about to, this. Things like coming off the bench, deferring to Jalen Brown, playing a role, doing those things. You know, prioritizing the team and what they're doing versus his recovery, but still being a part of it and doing that. To me, I would look at him so much more favorably than I would if he did the other thing. I mean, the bench thing would be tremendous, but it's just, it's not. there's no way that would ever happen. I think I told you a week ago that I'm still not convinced because I thought the Celtics were going to push back on it. You still think he might not come back? No, no, no. I was just going to say, I said to you a week ago that that's what I said. I now think it's happening sooner rather than later. Yeah, me too. Once you start scrimmaging five-on-five in practice, I mean, you're basically knocking on the door. It's not game speed, but it's pretty close. Yeah, I understand. But you're not going to get game speed in that. No, I know. I'm with you in that. You're scrimmaging five on five with the real team. It's all a matter of time. Yeah, and I'm not telling you that two practices or whatever it is is enough. But five might be. I mean, like, you know, he's getting closer. It's annoying as it is because he's obviously coming back. You don't practice five on five if you're not coming back. And every time he's asked, it's, oh, I don't know. You know, because, again, he's just setting up the stupid show, which is aggravating. I want to think better of him than this. and I'm trying to get you love ratings you know how to generate ratings the guy's just generating ratings you should respect that not over winning a game or winning you know what's best for the team there's soft landing spots coming up Bucs in Milwaukee the stupid Hornets next Wednesday those would be the games to come back but he wants the shot for the home crowd it would be kind of cool if he came back against the Bucs though I mean just to put it in their face like he did a couple of years ago in the playoffs that would be cool you mean the Bucs team that was coming off their championship that game yeah when they had won won their title i'm just still stings huh no no i'm just i just want to make sure we got the year right the year of the box what do you have what do you have in that game like 46 you but but you're talking about this the bucks team that had won the champ that were the defending champion team that somehow won a championship in spite of yannis in your mind yeah the defending champion bucks the team that he beat yeah yeah it was that one in spite of yannis that terrible it wasn't the one a couple years before that beat you in five games. That wasn't the same. Oh, that was a different year. The Kyrie. No, I'm talking about the year where Grant Williams took out his junk and put it on the Bucs. The defending champion Bucs. Again, I'm just trying to get my years right on this. Long commercial-free segment comes your way next. Hey, it's Owen shaking things up a bit. No formal intro. Let's see what Carlo from Auburn has to say. The biggest thing that I received out of this Awaken 180 program was that I was able to get a best friend. And when I say that, I mean the person that I look to in the mirror every morning. I would walk by the mirror and not look. Now, the Awaken 180 program has given me the ability to look in the mirror, smile, and actually enjoy and appreciate the person I am. I went from, you know, 301 down to 213. I've lost 84 pounds with Awaken 180. 84 pounds of carlo did it in just under four months and those results buddy are the results you'll get with awaken 180 do what carlo did what i did greg bedard dr laura carmen and everybody else that's done it get back to liking the person you see in the mirror and choose awaken 180 weight loss online at awaken180weightloss.com we're back with more selger and mads all right wrapping up here with gasper we have over an hour to go so we get right back to your phones off the top of the hour. Any final thoughts, Casper, anything on your long list that we haven't gotten to? Yeah, I did. I did want to get to the Marcelo Meyer thing. And I know you've talked about it today, but I thought it was, you know, it is interesting to me. And I think it ties back to Christian Campbell last year for Cora and what happened where they basically organizationally handed somebody a job who was a big time prospect, even though he didn't really earn it with his performance in spring training. And it blew up in everybody's face after a hot start for Campbell I think he doesn't want to do that today obviously I saw the home run that Meyer hit what was it off the bat 105.3 or something like that yep so that was good um but I would feel did what did he finish Maz was he one for three with just that yeah one for three and he struck out against the lefty in his final about so yeah so that's why I was going to say I'm not taking the home run away from him it's great coming off the wrist that he could flip the bat like that and generate that velocity but honestly based on the way he was used last year and the fact that core almost immediately identified he was going to sit against lefties. I honestly would have felt better if he went one for three with a double against Chris sale, then one for three with a Homer off of glaciers. Okay. You don't think it's worth giving the potential there to put him in there and get them to learn how to hit lefties. Uh, I do think it's worth that. I just don't know if Cora wants to do that. I also think, and I said this last night with you and Holly on BST, I think he's riding a little high off the mix and match job, which was tremendous, that he did last year. And again, we've talked about this. He talks about that 2018 team like they platooned at every position. I mean, they had nine guys who played more than 100 games that year. Last year's team had six guys who played more than 100 games, and Alex Bregman was one of them. So I think he's feeling really good about his ability to generate matchups. And in his mind, Meyer hasn't earned the right or hasn't displayed that he's better than some matchup that Cora feels like he can create, probably with Andrew Monasterio or somebody else over there that he feels like it's better to just have the righty than Meyer at this point. What did he see in Christian Campbell out of camp last year that led him to believe he should be playing every day versus mixing and matching him? I don't think that was his call. I was going to say it might have been forced on him, but good question. So why is that his call but this not? I mean, if that wasn't his call, how is this his call? Because he now has the gravitas after what he did last year after they traded Devers and how he made it work. I mean, did you hear Breslow? I'll give you the answer. Go ahead. Because Christian Campbell was Craig Breslow's guy and Marcelo Meyer is not. So this is what I'm saying, that it's all out of his hands. And also, Christian Campbell signed the contract and Marcelo Meyer hasn't, so they don't have to worry about service time. with Christian Campbell. They have to worry about service time with Marcelo Meyer. Again, I'm not going to let that go. I don't trust them. Yeah, but what I'm saying is it's more personal than that. In other words. Well, but it makes it easier also to bury a guy when he's not your guy. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, he can just throw it on Cora and say, you take this one. I don't care about this guy. See you later. Because as you pointed out, you know, as you're pointing out, because you're right, you're right. When Breslow, when they had the whole contract for Campbell, and what's the thing? Like, this is what happens. but like, you know, great player development. Oh, yeah. It was one big circle session. One big circle Johnson. How many guys? Oh, my God. How many guys did he mention? How about the driveline people? How about our scouting? How about the geeks upstairs? How about those geeks over there? Oh, good job, everybody. So you can take credit for Christian Campbell, who was – what round did he go in, Maz? Fourth, I believe. I believe it was fourth round. Marcelo Meyer was a top-ten pick. Number four overall. And his big-time guy coming out. Yeah, so you can't really take as much development credit for that guy. Bingo. Yep. That was going back to the days when they used to play porn in the clubhouse. These are the forces. I think these are the forces that are at play versus Cora wanting to left, right, or mix match on the lineup kind of thing. Yeah, something. And like, but I'm with Chris on that one, too. Like, that's Mickey Mouse, small market, mid-market bull crap. You start doing that. You know what it means? It means you don't have enough good players because then all of a sudden you put some jackass up there to hit against a lefty or righty late in the game. And then the other team doesn't have to change pictures every three batters because they got guys who are good. And those are the teams that win. And you got to play this stupid musical chairs game. And it ends up porking you right there on national TV. And I'll just point out before I go. Remember now, and I know Roman Anthony was hurt. But remember now, in two of those three playoff games against the Yankees, the cleanup hitter was Romy Gonzalez in their lineup. And they're right back to where they started from. Yeah, totally. All right, Gaspar, we have Gaspar Murray to go? We do, and hopefully we'll crap on the Red Sox a little bit more tomorrow, too, starting at 11. Okay, you'll have three hours to do so, yes? Three and a half. Oh, no. Chris, you in for that extra half hour? I didn't know that. Is he in for the extra half hour? Don't look at me, man. The Bruins play at three, so you know how that goes. He's got a sale to get to it, Sax. This is the first I'm here. I'm going to have to ruminate on this one. Answer is no, Zobie. Ruminate's fancy for how do I F Jim for that 30 minutes. He said ruminate. He meant evacuate. Chris, thank you. Talk to you soon. See you, Chris. Hour to go, folks. I promise. Write to your phones. 90 seconds. No commercials. Just an update.