Victor Wembanyama scores 41 back-to-back, Raiders sign Kirk Cousins, Lakers vs. Thunder, BUD List

Hey Sainsbury's, have you got anything to help me save on my lot's dinners this week? Well, we're always matching and lowering prices. So hundreds of Sainsbury's fresh fruit, veg and everyday products are price matched to Aldi. And every week with Nectar you can save money on thousands of the products your family loves. So we can help you plan your dinner and your budget. Sainsbury's good food for all of us. Selected products, Aldi price match not in Ni. Nectar prices require Nectar account. Terms at Sainsbury's.co.uk slash Aldi price match and Nectar.com slash prices terms. Live from New York it's a show that doesn't understand Kirk Cousins contract at all. Oh well, five years. No it's not though. They're like no it's one. It's you know what? And they're ready to pay in half. I'm like where the five come from? Well this is where the sports media on Budsman comes in and about now. Is that where you're doing this? Oh I love it. I get it. Yeah because it should be. It's it's depending on who you want to. A five? Props. But a five. But it is but it will get to that later. Wow the sports media on Budsman. Five years 20 million guaranteed. How about that? There you go. That's what it is. The fountain's a thing. Oh I can explain that to you as well later. That's that's it's to screw the Falcons because of the offset language stuff. I guarantee you Tua's agent and Kyler's agent little annoyed that they didn't see this little wrinkle available to them before they agreed to play for the minimum. I like that. Stay tuned for the sports. I hope you go hard at this. No I will not just an explainer you know. We'll see. Today Viva Las Vegas. Mendoza's proteic cousin science could the Raiders be playoff bound. The stat that says maybe. No Nick doesn't think so. No they got better. They were his big pick. Luke and I was wrong. And they got better. Last year. They got better. They got better. They got way better. But it turns out they were not as close as I thought. Beat the team that went to the Super Bowl. Meanwhile Lakers Thunder tonight is one of these teams facing the elusive in the debut of an NBA must win. Have we done a must win yet? For NBA we tend not to. Maybe they should reset. Although Nick's had one last night. A must win? Yeah. Then they did. Well I don't think it's a must win. They called it a must win themselves. Josh Hart said it is a must win. Josh Hart said you have to. He said a Wednesday night game against Memphis was a must win. Wow. Yes. That's not bad. Like we. It's the most motivational segment in all of sports. The Bud List. And we're debuting a new character. On the Bud List? KW. He's a gotten rid of Cowboy Bruce. He's trying to get rid of Jackson Blade. The Jackson Blade has become bigger than the show. That's the issue. The guy took over. In a theater near you. We're starting in Golden State. Wemby has been pouring in the points recently. He had 25 and 10 at half. And back to back games with 41. When he made his MVP case remember. He said offense is more than just scoring. And everybody's like well. He's like yeah what about roll gravity. Nick kept on making fun of him. He said fine. I'll start scoring more. Exactly. That's right. So here's Wemby with Scott Van Pelt on the importance of the MVP. I do care deeply about it. And I think that all the greats you know. That are in the Hall of Fame or that are in our mind the best of all time. They have fought and grabbed everything. They could grab early on in their career you know. And if I want to make my spot among the greats. I got to try to not miss any occasion to have. To put my name up there. Okay. Bru is more scoring the key to Wemby winning the MVP. First of all. I'm smitten. You gotta love that man. Even Nick Wright has got to love that mentality. I mean now Wilk Chamberlain obviously was incredibly dominant. But those that played in that time and historians of that time. Would say he lacked that killer instinct. He won two championships. It was nice. But you know he wasn't out to just destroy. Steve Kerr once told me this is during Shaq's prime. He told me if Shaq had the killer instinct. He probably have eight titles by now. All right. There's this thing we've all known called kind of gentle. The gentle John. Basically that you kind of let up a little bit. Just your whole life. This dude don't have that. Like he's not that big. He's he's he's obviously tall. All right. But whatever it is he to me he has the mentality of a Kobe Bryant. A Michael Jordan like he wants it all. And I love it. All right. So I had to say that first. But to me the scoring thing no. Like 24 points a game. Is absolutely enough to win MVP. I said Friday 22 times guys averaging fewer than 20 points. 24 points a game had one MVP's. Magic Johnson won three. Never averaged 24 points for a season in his career. Steph's first MVP was 23 points a game. And this is a guy that does all he does rebounded defense block shots on and so forth. So no that he's scoring enough. This will help obviously. But I think the key to him winning MVP is the number one seed. I like look I'm he's gaining to me and obviously Shay is still playing great. I've had Shay number one. But if Winby and the Spurs get the number one seed. I do think he'll win it. And he might win it anyway. But I think he's I think Shay is clearly the favorite. If they get the number one seed though I think a lot of people will go on Winby side and I think he'll win it. So to me that's the key. So I agree with a lot of what you said and I the I I take issue with some of how Winby is covered. Far more than I take issue with Winby. I think I think I have been directly critical of Winby two times in his career. One was the skills competition thing that I hated. That he and Chris probably did a couple years ago probably. And the other was a few weeks into this season when he was like basically we play the right ethical brand of basketball and no one else does. He was early in that. And so once come around. And so aside from that I just have you know been more I have said man this guy's going to be one day the best player in the world and I bet he wins you know multiple championships. And that has put me in like the third or fourth percentile of Winby praise because it's somewhere from the league screwed. He's going to win a combined 20 defensive player of the year's MVP's and titles that go like all this stuff. And so you don't have to be super critical of him to be one of the bigger critics of him. But the media coverage of him has irritated me because this is the timeline of the last week because now we like scoring because I Winby as of four days ago had had one 40 point game since opening night and then prong three of his three prong MVP platform was scoring overrated. And all of a sudden it is roll gravity and Luca 40 points for a month. Who cares. And then Winby and back to back nights puts up 40 against a hapless Bulls team is what it is. And against a Warriors team that's starting a guy who's got to play one handed because they're out of players. And in those two games by the way Winby and the Spurs are not this dominant defensive team they've been all year. They're more he's leaning more into the offense as is the rest of the team. And everyone's like you know what's cool. Scoring a bunch of points. I've been there. I agree. I think scoring a bunch of points is awesome. Who's saying on that though. Who's how when when was the switch. The as every the switch is in line and I'm not through. I'm not talking about you. You haven't the switches in line with whatever Winby says or does the last call at 10 days. Is what an MVP would say or do the way he plays. What his statistical profile. Yeah. It's and going for the MVP. And that and so and so here is here is what I would say to Winby as far as is if he really wants the MVP. He should have been far more vocal and forceful about playing more because there are two things that to me are kill shots at the moment to Winby's MVP case. One of them is he has not played enough. The minutes he has played this season is so far out of line with so the average MVP plays 3,013 minutes. Winby is on pace for less than 2000. We have one MVP to play less than 2200 minutes. He's on. Hold on. He's on. He's on pace when winning MVP. Yeah. He's on. He right now he's played 1784. OK. Sorry. All right. He's played 1784. The one MVP who played less than 2200. Bill Walton. He got 50 a game. It was right. He got hurt in the 60th game of the year as the defending champ best player in the league on the best team missed the final 22 games. They gave it to him anyway. So that. But why do you why do why do you why do you care about that? Because I don't believe the MVP is a hypothetical award. I believe it is a what you have actually accomplished this season. But they're the two seed in there. They're going to win 60 games. 75. And I'm so free. I play a few extra minutes. No, no, no. I don't think you can have everything in life. And I think that the sacrifice of him not playing a lot of minutes when his competition and this is I'm glad you said what do you want him to do. They're the two seed. They're going to win 60 games. When Shay who is the guy who I think is MVP. I've argued Lucas should be considered more strongly. Shay is having arguably the single most efficient guard season ever. I can show you that quickly. And then also every other in every other. So this is guys who have scored 30 on 55% from the field in the season. It's a big or a wing a big a wing and Kareem and Shay. And here KW is the list of guys who have scored 30 a game and had their team win more than 60 games. It is every single time that has happened. They've been the league MVP. So if so, let me ask if the Spurs are the one seed you still wouldn't vote for Wimby because of the minutes. I would need to I would be the let me let me without answering it because I don't know who I would vote for if that happens. To me I the only way I would consider voting for Wimby over Shay is if they're the one seed because I just think Shay has been that good wire to wire. And I thought the other piece of Wimby's case of we dominated them. That is a great argument as to why OKC should be worried about the Spurs and the playoffs. But in those games Brew and you know this three of them Wimby didn't even start like he was he was he wasn't he wasn't dominant individually in those games. It was the team one. So I just I don't think a guy who's played two thirds of what the average MVP plays who has played the equivalent of what's 400 minutes at fifth the equivalent of 14 games less than Shay whose team right now is a worse record who is you know we're shocked when he scores 40 and we're not with Shay is the MVP of the league. I don't and I and and I don't think that's unfair to him. OK. What KW the minutes thing the minutes thing doesn't resonate with me. One I owe but two but games played does games played of course but and maybe I give him a lot of grace that I am still more concerned about his long term health and protecting Wimby in the NBA for a long time. So if he has to play under 30 so be it. Now SGA and Wimby both take themselves like aren't needed necessarily in the fourth quarter. SGA is the most static where Luca is is needed in the fourth. Some of this too though is the Spurs culture. Remember like for the last 12 years or maybe more than that I guess Tim Duncan second half of his career was playing 32 minutes a night Tony Parker like they generally don't play their guys so 35 minutes. So I agree. So I and I think that could be smart but where I I'm legitimately curious if you agree with me on this bro. I think that the Spurs plan with Wimby can be the smart plan the right plan and like you were saying because you're worried about his long term health. But one of the taxes on that is it will make it harder harder for him to win individual awards. Not for me. Because what he's doing in those 29 minutes is phenomenal. It's just he leaves the league in net rating. You know again playing so little you know 17 by by nice margin. By three points. So yeah he's so it's not like he's playing 12 minutes a night. No but he's playing 29. Can I ask you one quick question before you zoom out on this first. I made a narrative argument which is not based in statistics. It's not based in wind shares. It's got a little bit of points. But do you think fast forward 10 years and you're talking about and take the play outside of it. Right now do you think the story of the NBA this year has been SJ or Wimby. I think that I think that the here's the problem with your take the playoffs out of it. There is no story of any individual season. Will you tell me the story of the 1997 NBA season. Take the playoffs out of it. Tell me the story of the regular season. I'm just trying to say the MVP award always has the playoffs. Correct. Right. But you're trying to make it about the arrival of a superstar. Yeah. That's what it feels like. You don't think that's what this season. No I do. But I don't think that's what the MVP awards ever been about the story of the season. I don't look at it that way at all. I do think this season will be remembered for how it ends. I don't think this wasn't there's not a 73 win warriors thing where that season is you know the you remember how it ended but you also remember the regular season. I think this season it is either going to be the Jason Tatum's return is the story of the season because they win the title. Yeah. This guy is taken over the league because they win the title. The the thunder became the first back to back champs we've had in a decade because they win the title or something Joker goes crazy. Luca goes crazy. Anybody who right. And so that's the story right now. The narrative of the regular season is wimpy. That's right. I think that's I don't and I don't and I and I guess that that's the point I'm kind of making. I think Shay has been overlooked in that and I'm not a Thunder fan. No but I you know I believe in like Heisman moments is my big thing. I feel like Shay Star has dimmed. Didn't he just like two weeks ago didn't he hit a game winner over Joker and then three days ago didn't he hit a game winner had to have a way off for an office and then he won it and overtime with 47 points. The problem for Shay is he's this generation's this a little bit of an overstatement but Tim Duncan he's just not as exciting. He's his games a little more exciting than Duncan's but it's not just a captivating style of play high flying or anything like that. It's the it's the manipulation of the refs. I don't like that. After the Thunder win the opposing coaches say he does a great job with the refs and after Wimby wins the opposing team. What are you going to do? This guy is amazing. He's going to be the face of the NBA. Yeah, I like there's two very different here. I think you would agree to the story of the regular season is the story. I would even put Luke up maybe ahead of Shay. Yes, I absolutely agree that the like if you were writing like a New York Times recap of the regular season at the end of it that those that Wimby is the lead graph that to me though has almost nothing to do with how I would vote for MVP and I think that there are certain. But I yeah I I I I I get it. I don't think that's the primary. But I think about that more than I do like let me see his minutes played. But you so you don't and again I don't want to belabor it. You don't think that and I'll ignore the patronizing voice. That wasn't that wasn't that wasn't you. You don't think you don't think that whenever we're saying hey we've given out 70 of these awards and this guy would be far and away the least time on the court that should factor at all. Like it's the one thing if I just said he was you know it's below average. But anytime we're talking about least or most like if somebody with the Shay thing was like hey guys he's going to shoot more free throws by a lot than anyone ever. Does that factor into how you think he's made that that would that would resonate with me. Minutes. Minutes aren't akin to you know but games are. Which is weird. I just think that Nick like he's been so productive in those minutes. Like which is why I think he's 24 and 11 again and three blocks. I right now have him third in MVP voting. It's not like I think he's not having a great season. I don't think it's an up to overcome Shay and I think Luke has been better. All right we'll zoom out and talk about the Spurs as a squad. They've won 10 in a row 15 in a row if you take out the game. Wemby missed. He's thinking championships are going back to Wemby and friend of the show Scott Van Pelt. Is he friend of the show. Yeah we don't have experience right screw it. I mean that's all we got. We're not going to play any different wages because it is this way. I mean we're still going to play 100% and go to try to win this championship. Sure. Screw it. All right Spurs more likely to have a early exit or win the championship. I say win the championship. Like they're legitimate contenders. I don't know if I'm going to pick them yet or not. It's either them probably or OKC or maybe Boston but they I will not be surprised if they win the championship. Me neither. And conventional wisdom obviously is about the inexperience but here's the thing. Conventional wisdom would have told us there will never be a 7 foot 5 or 7 foot 6 player doing what he's doing. Playing with the guard skills the ball handling the moves the 3 point shot guarding out on the perimeter like you almost have to throw conventional wisdom out of the window when you're talking about him. So we've never seen a team really do this. We talked about the Portland Trail Blazers in 77 but outside of that nobody's come close to doing this but this is something we've never seen before. And the team is good too around him. The fine castle I think is a future superstar. Deair Fox is obviously a star. He's got a lot of talent. They got some experience but I look if the Lakers were to upset them let me put it this way. I don't think it's going to be an easy road though. Even the first round Phoenix or the Clippers. The Clippers have Kawhi Leonard. Phoenix will have presumably Dylan Brooks back by then. You got Devin Booker. Jordan Knott's a very good coach. That's not going to be easy. Then the Lakers is just intriguing to me for the sheer fact of the experience. So that again I would pick I will pick the Spurs in those series but I don't I would those are interesting. So that's and then and then by the way they're more likely to win the championship than to lose to one. So I this is where like to me this is a true like probability math equation. Because I think there are odds or I checked the latest title pie that we did. I had the Spurs at 15 percent. Six to one the implied odds of that are about 15 percent. It's about you know one in six chance to win the title. So I think those odds are about right. So my question is do I think they have a greater chance to lose in round one or round two than 15 percent. My answer to that is yes. Because I think they have about a 10 percent chance to lose in round one if they get the Clippers. They've played the Clippers twice this year. Both in March. Both were close. Both the Spurs had their full complement. And once the Clippers didn't have Garland and once the Clippers didn't have Kawhi and both were four point wins. So I give the Clippers a one in 10 chance of beating them. And then if they get past them I let's say I give the Lakers a one in three chance of beating them 33 percent. There is a far greater likelihood of you of a one in 10 coming in or a one in three coming in than 15 percent. So you understand what I'm saying there. And so it's it is really the math. On if 90 percent of 67 percent go ahead. They play the Clippers tonight. If they crush the Clippers tonight with this change your well oddly if they crush the Clippers tonight their odds of playing the sons go up. So like that. And that's a weird thing that if they crush the Clippers which they probably want to go out and do just to well send a message. Everyone matters for them because they're trying to get the one seed. Yes. And even just because those they've been two four point games. Two four point games in one of them the Spurs needed a huge fourth quarter comeback. There were down double digits going into the fourth. So I I think the most likely Spurs outcome to be clear if I like had to bet on how's the Spurs season end. The most likely outcome is a conference finals loss. That's what I think is the most likely outcome. That makes sense. But I think that there is I personally would be more surprised by them winning the title even though I think they definitely can then by them losing before the conference finals. Like I'm surprised by them winning. Yeah. Yeah. I mean because the other thing that we haven't whenever we talk about experience we're only talking about the players. But the in a Clippers Spurs round one. I tie lose coaching experience versus Mitch Johnson is noteworthy to me. And do they get worn down a bit even if they get past it and say for Redick. Right. Right. Redick he doesn't have a ton of money. But he has some and so like that that's the but I think but if they get to the conference finals against OK. See that means they will have gone through LeBron and Luca. Most likely in a tough first round at least an experienced first round opponent. I might pick them over the Thunder if they get there because then they're they're somewhat playoff hardened and they obviously match up well with. Let me ask you this. Do you think you'd pick them over the Nuggets if the Nuggets have beaten the Thunder and the Nuggets are like that. Probably but so that is that that's a it's a weird setup there of the Yolkage versus Wimby which I think would be some some smart people called that once. Godzilla versus Mothra. I think that we remember. We are about two weeks away from ordering a Spurs robe. Oh I'm just you're like you know SGA when I punch the numbers he's still the MVP and I still have the Thunder. I think it might be honestly we might need to have a meeting after the season. I think it might be best for the show for Brew to pull a Zack low and give his vote back. And to be totally you don't have to see you know I would say that as a compliment because I think you the fact that you have a vote makes you don't allow any bit of like show emotion to come into it because you but if you. I mean look. For a while like having your gravitas has helped the show but now it's really hurting. I felt this way about LeBron early in his career and I voted. Yeah objectively. You don't have a you don't have a crown on it. All right we're going to do the Celtics later on in the show. Coming up next is Kirk Cousins starting for the Raiders week one and wow wait till you see the pro day throws from Mendoza nailed them. You know. At EDF we don't just encourage you to use less electricity we actually reward you for it. That's why when you use less during peak times on weekdays we give you free electricity on Sundays. How you use it is up to you. EDF change is in our power. Households to ship weekday peak usage by 40% for an up to 16 hours of free electricity for subject to fair usage care. For all season series visit EDF energy dot com forward slash power high from power. Hey check out the podcast if you get a chance and we have brand new original content feature me and Yankees. What is that? That was what he's saying. That's not a bad look. Wow. Well that's why. Exactly. Wild test like thank you. He's like you could wear it to a nice restaurant. It's just you could play. It's like me on the union stuff. It's just like at least mine's profound. News out of Las Vegas. Kirk Cousins is a raider. He signs. It was your 20 million. No. We're on that later. It's getting 11 million dollars from Las Vegas nine from Atlanta. Meanwhile head to Indiana. The raiders soon to be QB had his pro day. Eric at home reporting that there were at least 10 members of the Raiders franchise in attendance and get this. Top prospect for Nano Mendoza shows off his trademark accuracy at Indiana pro day 53 of 56 throws. Wow. Yeah. Nobody was guarding. Nobody is. No way. Oh. Oh. No pressure. Hold on. Nothing. No. Can I defend that for a second. Nothing. Here's what. Maybe you guys agree with me. Let me get to the topic. Great pro days are often totally meaningless. But bad pro days matter. Who had a bad pro. If you. Yeah. Who was the last bad. I don't even have one off top of my head. My point is like 53. You can say 53 of 56. Who cares. But 46 of 56 against the air. That would be concerning. That's the point I'm making. But guys at this level shouldn't have bad pro days. Now Teddy Bridgewater right. No gloves or whatever. There was someone had a bad pro day. It was a member we got. It may have been. Mac Jones. Probably. It was Bill Balachek like this. Well Zach Wilson of course had. Oh amazing. But it was really just the one throw. But go ahead. Sorry. How should the Raiders use Kirk Cousins. I mean I think he should be their week one starter. And I think he probably will be. And I think it's perfect. Like I do. I think that. This is a perfect spot for Kirk. And a perfect mentor for Fernando. So. They strike me as. Similar. Yes. As far as. Yes. Incredible. Even their personality. Most Christian. That's what I was going to say. Both. Not only Christian. But very outward men of faith. And. Very positive disposition seemed to be. I know Kirk obviously his wife and kids for and Andrews young but very. Family men in different ways. So I think that part's really. Good. I also think. That. There are. Some. Not the athleticism. But some trait similarities. And I also think. That not starting week one. For Mendoza is great. And so. If I'm the Raiders. My. Fernando needs to be. So much better. Than I could have possibly imagined in training camp. For him to be my week one starter rather than. To slow build it. You don't have to do exactly what the Chiefs did with my homes where he played week eight week 17 back then. Because that team was a playoff team and you know. But. I wouldn't need to see Fernando until Halloween. I'd be fine with that. I agree with you on just about everything you said. But look. If he doesn't play this season. I'm fine. I'm fine. Right. My homes basically sat out the whole first season. Jordan Love sat two. And obviously it's back. But Aaron Rodgers sat the three. I've been. Now we've seen rookie quarterbacks come in and play well. Obviously CJ Stroud and. You know others. Jaden Daniels. But. I like the idea of a quarterback being able to learn. Sit and learn at the feet of a mature. Professional QB look. They're not. Going to be. I don't think a great team. They're in a great division. So they may take their lumps and you send a rookie out there against the Chiefs and the Chargers and the Broncos. Not to mention the rest of the schedule. And he could end up looking bad. So let him learn under Kurt Cousins. I think this great and Clint Kubiak has said he's on the record saying I would like a quarterback to. Sit. You know early instead of throwing him in there as a rookie. So I think that's the plan. Kubiak obviously was with the OC with Cousins in Minnesota. And Cousins had some great years under Kubiak. So this is clearly a plan. And I agree with Nick that I think Cousins are going to start. And if he plays well then he'll probably play the whole season. Oh I don't love that if he's playing the whole season. I mean Alex Smith played the whole season. How'd that work out for Patrick Mahomes. I mean Patrick Mahomes is almost an outlier. But I don't remember the last number one pick to sit in the entire season. That's what I'm saying. No number one picks. Having done it. It has a very long time. Everybody plays. Can I show you just this graphic. Last year I flirted with Cam Ward making to the playoffs. Just because we've had guys do it. And every one of these guys has a little bit of a different story. But you could have made the same argument for Bowen X. Bowen X was in the AFC West. Bowen X made the playoffs. And they had a Kirk Cousins he probably he may have sat. Yeah but Bowen X is doing great. Jaden was great out of the gate. CJ Stroud new coach defense was good. He popped. Purdy popped. Mack Jones was kind of a lot of it was Belichick defense. But Josh McDales he worked. Lamar worked obviously. He came in second half. Again Raiders are different than the Ravens. But I'm it feels like when we have like is any rookie quarterback going to make the playoffs next year we're going to say no. But if you look back in the last five years a bunch of guys have. Well the it doesn't hold it. Can we throw that. It's possible to throw that back up because I just thought. So but that also means since Lamar. So last year nobody did it. Last year in 2019 nobody. So three of the last what is that. Three of the last nine years no one's done it and six of them six of the years there's been one. There's never there's none of those years has there been multiple. So I don't 21 22 23 24 like I wouldn't have put Lamar on the graphic it recontextualizes it just recently. Well I shouldn't say none there's been multiple. Nixon Nixon Jaden were multiple in the same year. I Stroud would be the comp in this regard. That was a team. No one thought had a shot. They thought when they trade member they traded their future first for Will Anderson and myself others were like man that might be the number one pick the following year and he was excellent. I I think that it is. I think if he doesn't play all year I would be surprised. But I think that there are the flip side to this graphic is how many quarterbacks that are on shaky ground would have what Bryce Young have benefited if we didn't see him as rookie year. That's that's a good you know what I mean. I think and so and I don't know I don't know where Cam Ward stands with Titans fans right now. I assume fine but does he does Cam Ward if he is if he struggles the first five weeks next year or people are already worried about him as opposed to if he had sat. Yeah. And so and so there is there is a flip side of that of the quarterbacks who just didn't work or I shouldn't I'm not saying that about Cam but who don't pop would they have been better off sitting and watching and learning. I don't know. I mean it's an unknowable question. I'm not saying I am against playing him this year at all but I'm just saying if things are going well with cousins maybe if they're winning more games than expected I wouldn't have a problem with him sitting. Carson Palmer according to Hubs last number one pick to sit. Behind John Kittner Jerry Jones says he has a long term plan for George Pickens. Pickens is slated to play under the franchise tag but that might be a precursor to a longer contract. Here's Jerry talking about how he's handling negotiations. Take a listen. There's no issue with me with talking to agents. I need to do a better job of not getting well daddy said I could have it and him going to mama and mama saying daddy said I could have it. We've got to get on the same page when I also do visit with players always have sometimes make the deal with the player always have. It always works out if if he worked without an agent he'd save a lot of money. Well and we cut off the part where he said with me yeah save a lot of money critical. I mean because obviously he saved money if he wasn't paying an agent. He'd get that 3% whatever it is he's giving his agent but Jerry to me would you add on the second part the part we cut off is talking out of both sides of his mouth because he's saying I have no problem talking with agents but then he ends it with he saved money with me with me if he doesn't have an agent you know so if you're willing to give him say 35 million with an agent why wouldn't want you or without an agent why won't you give him that with an agent. You see what I'm saying yeah of course so I just think he needs to stop kind of going against agents. Right I mean here's the thing I just don't I it's it's it's against the collective bargaining agreement. George Pickens has an agent it's the same agent Micah Parsons had and this came up when the Micah Parsons thing went awry. Jerry was like you know won't affect the negotiation and David Mulageta said it won't affect the negotiation. Great we know David Mulageta feels especially with the cowboys I'd assume with everyone talk to me not my client let me earn my 3% this is ridiculous and I don't even have the I am going to out of kindness and to save myself in the show a headache not really dive into the the real implications of daddy said mama said and that thing and I'll just say he's just an old man he's you being folksy fine but I don't I really don't like that and I give I understand cowboys media it's a very interesting beat the owner is so accessible and all of it but and so I'm not and it's a hard job I'm not criticizing it but there's a lot of like jocularity when I would think it's just surprised me nobody's like hey Jerry isn't that against the rules when you're like hey you you can talk with the player didn't this come up with a player last year that actually you can't negotiate contracts with a player like he's just and he'd be like I'm just saying if if it if it were to happen but I mean it's I don't I remember when he was on the radio show that he goes on all the time and he threatened I won't come on oh yeah with fire you or something like he also like has an ownership stake well yeah I mean that's it but that's different but you're right just asking these questions I hear you completely and so I just I just don't I don't like this I don't want I don't want to act like I it's a huge deal but it it it irks me and it irks me that he is to me I think bruise reading is correct is implying the deal you can get if you and I work this out together over some whiskies and cigars is one thing but if you bring that guy in here I can't promise you that deal will be there so you can get a worse deal and pay 3% which to me is manipulative and it's just it's not the George Pickens is not a professional negotiator he is a professional football player he is paying money for someone to do this for him the person he is doing it for him has a relationship with the cowboys and the last time Jerry tried to go around that person it torched everything ruin the team it would not it's not unreasonable for someone to if you're a cowboys fan to expect even folksy jerry jones when he's asked about this to be like listen you guys know in in the past I have enjoyed talking to players one-on-one but we saw how that went with mica and I have a lot of respect for David Mulageta I know his name now I know I said before I didn't David and I are going to work this out whether it's franchise tag or long-term deal we want to have George here for a long time but we're going to do this the right way that's an okay way to expect the head of a 15 billion dollar company to act and nobody and everybody would have been stunned I was just saying if he said that like wow well since he didn't he should get a call from the league though of course like if the league won't call them a players association called the league and say call Jerry Jones again that also is not happening that's right two things that aren't happening close the b-block baseball been around for over a century brew and this is the first time a game has ever ended via robot or else up eight three on the rangers one two count called ball two or else challenge it and get the abs game ending strikeout where a week through abs been some highs been some lows for all different characters have you liked the way this is gone I'm here for it I am here for it I've been calling for this for years you have a lot of people think it was the first what are you even calling for oh and my former radio show the odd couple I would call we talked more baseball to hear I would call for it look we all grow up with a strike zone there's one strike zone that all of us who grew up playing baseball no matter how high you go have had okay and these umpires that think they're bigger than the game have decided or decided decades ago a few decades ago you know what I want my own strike zone yes that is not no there is no it's the basketball hoop is 10 feet high no matter where you go the strike zone is what it is no matter who's behind the plate not not to be argumentative go ahead and be argumentative well if one guy is six feet and the other guy's five and the strike zone is based on your body well so it's so it's not a basketball so when be the hoop 17 feet tall the umpire doesn't get to decide what the strikes are I don't know what he's saying I'm saying but it's a it's a it's like we know we know what the strikes are armpit where's armpit and these guys where does that start well you notice what's been one of the maybe the most changes are the low pitches and that's what's gotten my goat over these last few decades is all these low pitches that were called strikes and now thanks to technology that's no longer the case the only people don't like it are the umps that's the only people because they're getting embarrassed because they made up their own strike zone now to being exposed so here's salvi he kept on embarrassing this poor ump I believe the ump's name is eddings and it's just over and over these low strikes and he's like that's a strike now I think I'm going to find a sympathetic ear across the table that one's not that one's obvious how's he caught that one's great okay some of these other ones well the millimeter this is cb buckner he had a rough game three inches he had he had six uh misses in one game at red sox versus the reds that being said if you're going to miss like that that's fine but bruce there are pitches being called uh strikes strikes via abs it's like oh you missed by a millimeter where 99 of the ball is in the is out of the abs zone so and a thread hits it and like whoa that umpire he's he should be out of the league I'm just not a millimeters guy I'm not a big fan of the metrics but so here's the okay good joke uh that's the truth here's the so this is actually not where I was going to go but I'll respond to you the problem you have that you have identified there's no solution to because oh so there the the way that you might feel better about it is if what they put on the screen was the square with another or the rectangle with another rectangle around it yeah that was the exact width of a baseball and for it to be a strike 100 of the ball would have to be inside that because the same thing I don't even know what I'd be right I like a little bit of you just said no it's actually only a strike if the majority of a ball more than 50 percent of the balls inside of it that still is going to come down to millimeters yeah and so there is no there is no work around for it which is why replaying sports is terrible this guy goes always terrible it always sounds like it always starts with Vinny Testa Verdi's helmet was in the end so not the ball we gotta fix that that's how it starts that's the first domino of the meme and then the giant domino of the meme is hey you know that sick catch from Calvin Johnson turns out he set the ball down and upon replay we realized that's not a catch did anyone who's ever played football know that of course not and oh replay in baseball we just can't have a guy get called safe when he was tagged down on a stolen base that'll be quick and easy sure why not do it then all of a sudden we find out thousands of bases that have been rightfully stolen the guy for a millisecond after he stole the base comes off the bag he's out take that loob rock you're cheating forever no that's that's what it is that rule should be well that I am just telling and I'm telling you the bottom of your clip I'm telling you that all of the replay it sounds like a good idea and then it turns out every basketball game you've ever played at the Y in your life has gotten out of bounds wrong yeah because if I'm holding the ball and you knock it out of my hands if we get it slow enough Bill Nye tells me it went off the outside of my pointer finger and it's out on me I don't like it would be we're not making millions of dollars in our rec runs at the Y no but it's it just doesn't millions of dollars based on I just don't think it makes it better I and tennis is the one that I've said I'm okay with because it's so fast and accurate but the more I go to the U.S. Open every year I'm like you know what I miss arguing yelling at the young at the OPS that was in VAR I think is the like hollyard shoelace off sides live from New York it's a show that's wondering what happened to Don't Connect yeah guys scored 37 points remember that yeah who was that again the jazz now it's a couple weeks into the rookie year now he's now he's getting his minutes taken by Drew Timmy for the South Bay Lakers and Brani's not even available to South Bay Lakers because they need them for the real Lakers because Mark smarts out what's going on has anyone checked in with Al Horford sister if she's still sad for all the players that could have been drafted instead of Brani how they're gonna remember that story she was very upset why because it's unfair to who said the guys who could have gone 55 and instead Brani does now Brani's playing real minutes I don't know some other second runner I'm sure you guys having a blast and today Lakers thunder is one of these teams facing a must win meanwhile Joker locks up a triple double for the season see become underrated hmm I have a hot take on this the fact that it's not even in the first hour of the show not that the second hour of the show is not as powerful as the first no we lead the second hour of the show with our best stuff that's a good one tears bud list that's right my letter so are you bringing back brutal I'm not telling you gotta get to the letter time the most motivational segment all sports also time we read some viewer mail Christina went to the post office today I said thank you Christina she said you're welcome dear wilds love the show thank you and loved the last segment on the implementation of abs in baseball I tell you what people rip the post office these letters come quick have you guys considered utilizing abs within the show sincerely dawn and dawn abs within the show I'm not sure it's more of an um ah the automated blade again why do we do this I have no idea what was coming automated blade system yeah Jackson blade comes in and just spent my life justice right fires who I had to come in and let them know you're not above the game exactly all the strikes are losing say this for decades we're kids the lowest right the odd coming to me seven o'clock the ball at my ankles has never been a strike hey honey how was it right good I was a half hour of brutal I'm up the low strike in 2004 all right here we go number three Mike Brown oh boy Mike's in a tough spot oh no Mike is in a tough spot look you replace the guy that led the Knicks to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years so you obviously know what your charge was get them to the finals at least if not win the whole thing here's the problem you got a good team but right now Boston looks better and I'm not really looking putting much into the fact that y'all beat them last year in the playoffs Boston looks better Nick I think Detroit looks better yeah they have all season they've owned the Knicks in the regular season but the fact that they play so well without Kate bodes well for them in the playoffs and then on top of that you might get a Philadelphia team with a healthy Joelle in beat and Paul George not to mention VJ Edge come the nice rookie in the first round Tyrese Maxi yeah of course hey that goes without saying Maxi and so you could get them in the first round now last year you beat Philly in six but no Paul George and no VJ Edge come so you got a tough postseason ahead of you the good news is if you come through it and get to the finals you will be celebrated and look Mike you're a very good coach two-time coach of the year I definitely believe in you maybe a little more than I believe in your team all right at number two sorry Ramsey Luca Donchich now Luca you can't come out and say it but you want the MVP just as much as Wimby oh and you should why can't I'm not mad because now it would look like you're copying because Wimby's come out and said it and and really it's paid dividends for him and you would look like you're copying and here's the other thing Nick Luca you might not admit this Nick you need it you need it more than Wimby oh yeah need some heart Wimby's 22 you're 27 and Wimby is talking like he wants all the hardware like Shay Luca Kade get your MVP now get it this year maybe get your championship this year because Wimby wants all the hardware now there's been a gift given to you though Luca a gift an opportunity you got two games coming up against Oklahoma City within the next week if you ball out like you've been doing really all season you play great and you win wow that would move some now it in some ways it might help Wimby because it's gonna help Wimby number one but it would help Luca it would help you if you go out there and put up 40 something whatever you play great and you beat Oklahoma City that would be huge and even though it would help Wimby maybe get the number one seed maybe you meet okay see in the playoffs in the second round and you're in their heads oh and you got the experience LeBron James which you maybe you guys could do something so Luca I definitely believe in you your game is great contrary to popular people think I'm hating on Luca now I love your game your your your production little ball dominant for my liking but you're great all-time great player all right I believe in you number one Dan early oh wow all right the dudes a heck of a coach a heck of a coach I don't even mind all of his histrionics on the sideline I actually like them but I can't like you know I do like them I was watching him as they were getting stomped by Duke I'm sitting there watching him and he seems like he's cool he's obviously directing but he's single and I was just thinking what what is going on his head because it looked like they're gonna get blasted and obviously he had a plan and they came back and won it here's the deal he is one eight years at Yukon you've won two champions two national championships already two national championships in the previous three years Nick if if Hurley wins this championship he will become he will have three championships in four years no one not Bobby Knight not Roy Williams not Mike Shashesky no one not named John Wooden has ever done that in men's basketball and so Nick I know you like Petino but if if Hurley can win this championship and after what we saw last weekend why would you put it past them if he can win this championship I think he's got a great argument better than coach K well in this era where there is one and done and there's the NIL and players are transferring in the portal every year that would be incredibly impressive I'm not saying I would say he's better than coach K but he has an argument as the best modern coach since John Wooden if he wins have three championships and a better winning percentage that we saw from cool stats yesterday than coach K better tournament better tournament you're right um flirted with going to the Lakers we didn't know how much of that was real how much of it was a contract leverage move do you think that he would entertain calls from the NBA again even though Yukon hasn't locked up I think he should stay in college his style you know I don't know if he's hard driving I don't know if that were working the NBA I'm not saying it wouldn't but it'd be a question right seems to get this phone ringing every oh I think you would have opportunity yeah I think you get opportunity I was staying college I think the best college jobs are better jobs more certainly more stability but yeah just I mean just the it's Spolstra and Kerr it's like okay well so Spowe you know had had to win almost immediately and Kerr did win immediately and other than that it's like it's five years it's like it's like a lot you know a nice term at college plus you know you're hanging out yeah and so I just he if even if they don't win this at this point now he can be at Yukon for about as long as he wants and my other thing that I wanted to ask you before we are you yeah um great buddha as always but uh but it's not 412 yet so we have a couple yeah we have time to play with um Yukon has just unequivocally definitively become went to it as long as you incorporate and you should the women's game the university of college basketball in america yes certainly with the wind it's like but but I mean because you've had three different head coaches on the men's side win national championships uh calhoun was a legend obviously kevin olly won a championship yeah and now hurley is you know talking college basketball dynasty whatever that is gino's been to what 26 final fours and 31 years something absurd I don't have that off the top I thought I saw that but I mean it's and they're gonna win again yeah and so it's just it's really it doesn't feel like I don't know maybe I should try banging that drum harder it still feels like Kentucky North Carolina duke and then the graphic has women women differently women what that's the thing I think only if you're thinking of just the men if you're thinking of both it's clearly no both but women do carry most of the load but but if you women they're like primal there's no men's team other than UCLA under wooden that's been even close but but if we were talking just men's Yukon has an argument that post wooden yeah if you post wooden's ruins because they are the most successful program yes like it's hard five or six yeah the championships and it's just and doing it's not just like some of that after like North Carolina is Dean Smith Duke is coach K I think it's more impressive that they've done it with multiple coaches I don't know I'll tell you what's impressive what in fact that's 412 it's time for the sports media ombudsman got a little tease of this the beginning of the show I I'm ready for this because I'm it's about things I don't understand that I gotta tell you I gotta tell you I'm proud of the sports there is another one just overall I'm going third person that's how proud I am because a couple weeks ago we did something risky we called out by name you know a friend a guy kw might run into at the drug store that I share an agent with and very in a pal credible reporter in remport because I thought he along with others he was just the subject of sports media ombudsman's hire was misinforming the public about Travis Kelsey's deal you got 10 to millions of Swifties thinking the family is about to come into three years 55 million dollars and they were not yeah and I could see that that train coming down the tracks and the chiefs spend right the chiefs actually signed Travis to one year 12 million when they know they're going to have to essentially cut him after next season when he retires Swifties see three years 55 million they're not following cat mechanics they're going to be mad they're going to turn on the chiefs in nine months be like you cut Travis how dare you have anything for you and it was because what was a contractual mechanism to spread out a cat figure was reported as real money and I'm here to say the sports media ombudsman has affected some change okay because Kirk Cousins signed a one year 20 million dollar contract that for cap reasons is a five year 130 million dollar contract so let's check and see how some of america's biggest sports reporters reported it sources raiders are signing Kirk Cousins to a contract that pays him 10 million dollars for playing in los vegas in 2026 and 10 million dollar option fully guaranteed bonus with no offset there is a two-year team option for 80 million dollars so that's he's like listen it's a one year 20 million let's see what adam shifter said shifty comp update Kirk Cousins signed a five year 172 million dollar deal with the raiders amazing that that in hold on wow that in reality is a one year fully guaranteed 20 million dollar deal can name the club's option for two years at 80 million then the same stuff we heard from four and then more guaranteed money tom pelicero how's you do on this one okay i'm gonna need you to zoom that one back on in on for me dusk uh if i could explain it to the audience that's fine uh there it is Kirk Cousins will now make 20 million dollars fully guaranteed for playing the 2026 season go down a few bullet points raiders hold a two-year 80 million dollar option for 207 28 which is unlikely though not impossible to be picked up meaning is this they didn't nobody flat out said kirk cousins five years 130 million dollars they got legend at the bank did it again what's up kw i i did see that tweet around i'm not i'm well i'm just saying the um budsman's watch is not over it's not over okay well i want to give credit to those three guys for even though they were long convoluted tweets if you read them you did nobody left that thinking wait are the raiders not drafting mendoza are they gonna trade the pick five are they right are they committed to kirk cousins can i just also recommend give the sports media on budsman maybe open up his purview a little bit sure can we just sign the guy to whatever he's getting paid is that too much so why do i have to five so let me so let me explain kirk's deal quickly just because i actually think it's interesting the reason they are signing him to the option bonus is so the offset money from the falcons doesn't eat into his money so the it is it kind of screws the falcons a little bit and it allows him to make more money so the reason it's 10 million now and 10 million later is so he can make that money and the falcons have to pay the biggest share of it possible that's the first reason the reason for the option bonus is simply so in theory if he you know has the has a sam darnold here and they want to keep him they have that ability but in reality so they can spread this 20 million over multiple years of the cap from the salary cap perspective that's why they're doing it i hope that makes clear it up will you tell me no it did a good job it did a little bit and i'm glad the sports media is our this is how they are they're really i think they should be streamlined i don't stuff you like it i like i don't i like it it makes me more much about getting paid this year 20 million how much you pay me 10 sounds good oh no this one hurts my heart i'm putting the boston red socks on the bud list all last year i had a bit of a running joke about the colorado rockies when they were 35 and a half games behind the dodgers and i said you know it's getting late early for the colorado rockies well right now the boston red socks were six games into the season the red socks are one in five they are four games behind the Yankees they're in last place i'm gonna say it's early a lot of teams are four games out not true it's just the red socks yeah oh okay you run into the hot hitting astros not a big deal your your bats are slumping a little bit again it's early well i think there's major issues of foot here was the red socks a few days ago there's were two swinging strikes you saw then some defensive errors okay run scores now the ball scoots away we're back on the mound for the third pitch watch what happens that my friend is strike three no the end of the inning it should have been guess who guess who was paying attention no one what nobody baren bailiff didn't pay attention umpire umpire didn't pay attention alex corden's right he well he had several foul balls but he's already out what happened in the in the in the you know the score bug it was oh and two he swings and misses and the poor person who's operating ends up walking the person's operating just i guess that was a ball yes i missed it no one someone online i'd be like hey that was three consecutive swings and misses they never fixed it they're not they're not that i'm pire after the game apology yes but that's it so i think there's something majorly wrong outside the fact that since we won the first game against the reds uh but since then here are the graphics we're all in five last batting average 28th 29th running is a scoring position so you guys are in last place in your division last place so who's the division leader in the al east the yankees my second division leader in the al central i believe it's the royals it is so bruce do you remember when we did our baseball picks oh and i had the audacity to believe in the royals and wilds called me basically a childish homer and then explained how me picking my hometown team to go to the world series was ridiculous yeah and him picking his hometown team to go to the world series was was totally reasonable how's that i mean it's early how's that a six games it's aging fine really you're in the last place you just said it's getting late you're just getting late early it's getting late early but keyword early not keyword delay i mean the worst record what it what is worst record in all of me it's my stat you can't put my sad back on me i i i asked josh to make stat what is our bet you owe me a hundred thousand dollars what what do i owe you a hundred thousand dollars for the bet that last bet that we paid that what are your chips keep going you're doing it that's the sound of sam learning to swim in a hilton resort pool oh that's delicious and that's the sound of sam and his family enjoying dinner in the hotel restaurant good evening welcome back with stays in your favorite destinations and everything taken care of you can savor what's important when you want your holiday to feel like a holiday it matters where you stay book now at hilton.com hilton for the stay the fight for the college basketball crown continues live from las vegas tonight stanford taking on west virginia then you got rutgers taking on craten all starts at 7 30 eastern right here on fs one right now we're headed back to the hardwood of the mba three stories no breaks it's fast break denver gave the jazz the blues good that was good i'm supposed to laugh at that well i am laugh they used to be from new orleans bro yeah bruce starts like smith now yeah she really is it's a it was a perfect name for new orleans yeah well it should be i mean the pelicans are nice and everything but we should go back to jazz and trade it's a great trade you're right sorry we got to get to the jazz okay they sort of 170 oh sorry you saw skis let's come on about that joker at 15 17 and 12 the e clinch is back to back triple double seasons has he become underrated considering he's leading off fast break i i think joker is perfectly rated i think he is i think he would win the poll of who's the best player alive i don't think it'd be unanimous and i don't think it should be unanimous i think that it's as tightly there is as many great candidates for that argument right now as we've had in a very long time guys having awesome seasons i also think he has been fairly decorated he has three mvps the last five years he has finished an mvp voting first first second first second and so that means he has the same number of mvps as magic johnson and larry bird and the only people with more mvps than him are kareem michael russell brawn and wilte that's the fullest yeah and while what he is doing this year is remarkable i'm not certain you can say he's better this year than he was last year here's the numbers this year to last year he's going to play fewer games this year he's going to average fewer points he's going to average point three more rebounds and point six more assists on slightly less efficient shooting both times for the foreseed yeah now if people have you know moves they're like ah what happened to joker like that's redid you know if anybody's saying that then yes he's underrated i don't think anybody's saying that so i think he's properly rated and i don't think he right now bruce has a legitimate case to be mvp i think the because of the other guys how strong those cases are even though it's a good enough season to win mvp if we compare it to 2006 or something or but that's where i look i think you can just the mvp part you can argue for four guys you know winby shay luka yorkich but i agree with nick i think he is properly rated and that's because in america particularly in basketball and football it's about winning championships not just about winning championships but that is a big part of it and he is not one to date to the level that his statistics would and accolades even would suggest he has he's won one championship which is great the monkey's off his back and but only been to one other conference final correct all right so he puts up historic numbers and the reward for that are potential mvps which he's gotten three first team all mb a's gonna be a hall of famer talked about glowing lee like that's the reward but if you want to get spoken of higher than he already is you got to win more like the to talk about him more would be to talk about him in the magic johnson larry bird type category and he just has it all the guys talked about in that vein have won more than him so i also will say this if russell westbrook had not averaged a triple double four times we would look at joker like differently i mean and again he still recognizes a top 20 player of all time top 15 even to some people but it's been done the triple double so that and he's he did it last year right and so that takes a little bit do you agree with me that most people like i do think most people still say he's the best player in the world yep i agree with that moving on nix sixers both toppled tanking squads nick uh new york put up 130 on the gris the sixers put up 153 on the wizards they'd meet in the playoffs should new york be concerned yes i'm not saying i would necessarily pick philadelphia but look if mb and paul george are healthy then they could be a lot damn and we know mb and cat have this little you know little bit of rivalry i think mb definitely wants to take it to cat last year mb who has not been a phenomenal playoff player gave the nix 33 and 10 in the six game playoff series no paul george in that series no vj edge come fulfilling in that series so you add those two along with mb and tyrese maxi oh yeah and the pressure and i really believe all of the pressure all of it on the nix none on the sixers yeah it would be uh it'd be a tough series tough first round series so you guys know i have a soft spot for the sixers the what a the possibilities of it i want to ask you a question kw this is the scenario the seltix win their round one series in five games against whoever it is they're at home watching game seven of round one the sixers and nix have played a six game battle and going into game seven both teams nobody suffered an injury both teams are fully healthy and the seltix are getting the winner the nix or the three seed and the nix beat the seltix last year but the in this scenario the sixers have they are healthy going into game seven can you can you magically assure that they'll be healthy it no i'm i'm asking you in that if you're at home as a seltix fan watching that watching that game seven who are you rooting for because you think it gives your like gives you a seltix fan a better chance it's such a born to play the nix or the six a bad answer i'd assume that the sixers would not be able to make it through two playoff runs totally but if they but i mean but just assuming they're healthy but i'm assuming they're healthy going into that they are going the winner of that series is going to be healthy going into round two you don't want 35 point im bead if he's back and i know rested paul george all mba bruce can have an all mba battle maxi's all all mba maxi it's a very interesting setup of fresh paul george if we get the six weeks of healthy im bead it's very interesting and i'll tell you what i don't look the nix god bless them they beat philly or uh boston last year i'm not going to put much stock in that if they meet because i think boston is going to be like really up for that series like i think last year they relaxed they had owned them in a regular season all they were doing is getting flour stone at their feet all season and the nix to their credit play great but i this is going to be different listen i think a nix sixer series would be a seven game series and i think the nix would be super bummed if that's the team that i know the hawks of 1719 we're talking about that i think that the you know the magic and heat are you know right and that i think the nix would be bummed if that's who they get is the six all right well let's head down to atlanta for our weekly hawks conversation alexander walker at 32 last night hawks are 18 and three since the break finished a season sweep against the magic which orlando coach jamal moseley outlined here take a listen bro it means we got swept by the hawks that's what it means they kicked our ass there is no what does it mean was it feel that the legit lead the hawks have kicked our ass faithfully bro is it finally time to start talking about the hawks well look the hawks have had a tremendous run 18 and three um got some nice jaylen johnson i think he's gonna be all all in b.a. definitely um they play very good defense they're top 10 defense they're long and athletic and rangy and they shoot the three well they're like six i think in the top in three point shooting so they they're dangerous here's the thing in the 18 and three run their losses are to houston boston and miami which are almost the only three good teams they've played now they have beat detroit albeit without kade they beat boston without i think it was just beat them without tatum it was which still is a good win but um they beat orlando twice which they obviously own they beat portland they beat philly twice but again without that was with before im bead and they be tenors got back yeah so i'm just saying the 18 and three you would be like oh they actually could do something i just want to temper it a little bit but they're they're on the rise so you and i like what they're doing next same question is it time to start talking about the hawks saturday's baseball night in america on fox peak crow armstrong and danie's cubs taken on jose romeira's in the guardians or ronald acorn your jr and the braves against the snake snakes are doing okay i think that was a better than the red socks oh yeah everybody is baseball night in america saturday seven eastern only on fox lakers in okc tonight la has lost both of of their games against the reigning champs. Okay, see, this surprised me, almost 10 point favorites. When the Lakers lose, they lose bad, or they used to at least. Lakers have been scorching hot. Is this a must win for the Lake Show? I am really excited for this game because the Lakers have obviously been playing great and this is a great test, not to mention something that could happen in the playoffs. So I am actually going to say it is a must win. For the Thunder. What a turn. Yes, for the Thunder, because there are only two games ahead of San Antonio. Which is really a game that happens. And San Antonio has the tiebreaker. So if they lose this game, and now I know they played the Lakers again in a few days, but if they lose this game, this is at home. So let's say they lose and San Antonio catches them and becomes the number one seed. You lost the number one seed. You lost home court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs. Now you play these Lakers in the second round. Okay, these Lakers who will have beaten you on your home floor recently. And so, and who are incredibly experienced, LeBron obviously has seen it all. Luca has beaten this OKC team in the playoffs a couple of years ago, got to the finals. So he's not afraid of OKC at all. But especially if they go into their house tonight and beat them. So I think that that would really be intriguing. So I think to avoid all of that, OKC must win tonight. Wow. And I think this is a can't win for the Lakers. Not that they can't win, but that even a win is not necessarily good for them. Wow. So here's why. I can't win. Yeah, there you go. Thank you for it. Because what Brew didn't include in if the Thunder lose, meaning if the Lakers win, and the Spurs catch the Thunder for the One Seed. The person who's MVP case that helps the most is not Luca Nancic. If Luca in the next week plays Shea and outplays him twice, the biggest beneficiary of that will be Wimby. Yes. Because Wimby will then get the One Seed. And Luca is for narratively, I don't think fairly, but narratively considered, and also ran in this all of a sudden two man race. Maybe a second. That was exactly. This one, this is so unbelievable to me. This was a one by the Vegas odds for whatever that was worth. This was a one man race for months. And then Luca and Wimby were distant second third. Since then, all Luca's done is win player of the month and play his best ball. Wimby has also played really well. But Wimby was like, I should be MVP, guys. And the odds players were like, well, if you say so. Ha! And so it did work really well. So here's the other thing. I happen to believe the Lakers would be better serve playing the Spurs in round two than the Thunder. Because that's where the experience edge really comes in. And while both teams, obviously Spurs and Thunder, are very young, the Spurs are not crazy deep. The Spurs are not compared to the Thunder. Those are pretty deep. They got eight guys averaging double feet. No, so that's kind of where I was going. I think the Spurs have seven guys they really, really like. And that makes them either deep in the Lakers. I think the Thunder have 11 guys they trust. Point being this, I think that the Thunder are, for a lot of reasons, a much tougher matchup in the playoffs this year for the Lakers than the Spurs. And if the Lakers win this game, they are more likely to play the Thunder than the Spurs. But the flip side is, if they lose this game, they all of a sudden fall in jeopardy of going to the fore seed, which makes them, again, more likely to play the Thunder than the Spurs. So I see there's, yes, you want to win, and you want to feel confident about it. And it is, once the Lakers traded for Luka last year, they whooped the Thunder the first time they played them. And then the second time they played them, it was tied with six minutes left. Luka yelled at a fan. The ref kicked him out. Wild saluted the ref and said, damn straight, that's what you should have done. Oh, somebody's got to put their foot up. And Brew and I felt like we were robbed of what could have been a great ending. And so I just, Wimby's not playing tonight. It just got announced. I just read against the injury management against the Clippers. So there is a scenario where Luka puts up 46 points in a win over the Thunder. And the biggest move, and Wimby sits, and the biggest MVP move is Wimby's odds getting better. If this, but this not playing tonight could hurt Wimby too. Well, listen, I think not playing should hurt you. Wild's yelled at me for that too. It's the back to back. Oh yeah, back to back. So nobody's ever played back to back. If this game, Luka, I think, scored 60 on a back to back last week when he won Player of the Month. I think it was 60 points. That's why he's going to be third or fourth. And the plane got it at five in the morning. There's no room service. Could any result really change your view of these teams? If the Lakers get blown out or if the Lakers, we've seen the Thunder get handled easily too. Or is it just a game, or could this really change your viewpoint on these teams? You never want to overreact to regular season games. But if the Lakers win this game, that does make me laugh. Oh man, because as you kind of pointed out, we thought last year, OK, they kind of have OKC's number. Or at least match up well. If they meet them in the playoffs, yeah, they could give them some problems. You laid out last year the way it went. So it would raise the Lakers in my view. And if they get blown out, if the Lakers get blasted, then it would just be like, they're not going to match up well with OKC, or probably even Spurs. No matter what happens, because they play again so soon, you have a chance to. But I also, the other reason that I do think the Thunder are going to win tonight is I think, and this is one of the reasons whatever Lakers contending chances they have are so tenuous, because they really have to stay healthy. They really need all. I think Mark is smart, who's not playing tonight, in a game or a series against the Thunder, is more important than Austin Reeves. If Austin was out tonight, Mark was playing, LeBron just assumes Austin's offensive role. But without Marcus, their best option to guard Shea, I guess, is Vanderbilt. And their second best option, I think, is Brani. Like they don't have anyone who guards. He's going to give you 35 regardless. With Marcus Smart, he's still giving you 30. But you understand what I mean. Marcus Smart is the Laker who can guard the point of attack. And so he's a huge part of that team. Right. And particularly against Shea. And so that's a big loss. Alive from New York, first things first, overtime. Today is Wemby gunning for the MVP. News breaking that he's sitting out tonight against the Clippers. Has that hurt his case? Has that ruined this whole segment? Meanwhile, this Fernando Mendoza watching Kurt Cousins start week one, a take that you got to see to believe. Oh, wow. OK. A rookie needs to make the playoffs again. What do you mean? Of course, it'll happen again. Doesn't mean it's going to happen immediately. Well, it should. OK. You had them last year in the playoffs. It hasn't been the top pick making the playoffs. Yeah, it hasn't been the number one. Because usually they go to the playoffs. Also hasn't been the national champion. And finally, especially. Wilson-At-Jones? Exactly. And he made the playoffs. Thank you. It came on my side. And finally, special edition of Frenemies. Here we go. This is our greatest hits version for Parkinson's. Parkinson's like, I got an idea. How about it is Justin Herbert better than Patrick Malt. Not better than just performs better than. No, this is actually oddly a Mike McDaniel. Who knew that those two guys were such huge Mike McDaniel fans all the time? And the two starting tackles will be back. That's right. Yeah. Love what they did in free agency. Yeah. The Chargers are looking good. Harbaugh? We'll discuss. What do they do in free agency? Yeah, I don't even remember. I love so much. They lost a guard. They lost a. They signed a guard. They signed a center. Well, yeah, because they lost their guard in the center. You don't think they've upgraded at the interior of their offensive line? I actually don't. But whatever. We'll save it. Chris Versailles, Kevin Wilde, Nick Wright, and of course, Danny Parkins. We're on Wemby Watch. 25 and 10 at the half last night against the Warriors. Back to back games with 41 Parkins. He made his MVP case. And he was like, you know what? Scoring is not that big of a deal. Then he decided to give scoring a shot. He talked to Scott Van Pelt post game. I do care deeply about it. And I think that all the greats that are in the Hall of Fame or that are in our mind the best of all time, they have fought and grabbed everything they could grab early on in their career. And if I want to make my spot among the greats, I got to try to not miss any occasion I have to put my name up there. So that was Wemby on the MVP. And again, he's sitting out tonight. So I don't know. He's scoring the key to Wemby winning the MVP. It'll help, obviously. And he's clearly gunning for it. He's clearly gunning for it. He's clearly gunning for it. I doubt about that. And that's awesome. Like, it's OK. Thank you, Danny. Of course. But I'm consistent on this. I like brashness and calling your shot. I liked Timothy Chalamet saying I want to go down as one of the all time greats. And people were like, I don't know. You're 29. That's a little off-putting. I'm like, no. I want my elite artists, athletes, to know that they're great if they actually are and can back it up. And that's what Wemby's doing. And he's doing it in the context also with winning. Right. Like, I actually disagree with you, Brew, on the one seed on this one. Because if they both end up with 60, like if the Spurs end up with 61 wins and the Thunder end up with 63 wins or vice versa, I don't know. You both had 60 win seasons. It's not like the nuggets last year when Shay had 18 more wins than Yolkich. Like, they're both clearly contributing to winning. I would say when you're talking about world class athletes, this much difference is all it takes. The difference in winning gold and not placing in 100 meters is this much. Sure. So that makes a difference. And the impact is between having the one seed and the two seed is massive. Yeah. It is massive for the teams. I'm not sure when the differential is that small if it should be that massive for an individual award. OK. Like, personally. And I would vote Shay over Wemby because of the guard impact and because Jada being out. But I think it's very close. And I just think this run that Wemby is on right now, because we do the numbers for the whole season as we should. It's a full season award. But part of what's happened with his minutes is he was load managing the knee injury early. So we pulled the last 15 games because they happened to be 15 and 0 in the last 15 games that Wemby's played, which is pretty good. And in that stretch of time, he would be third in total points, second in total rebounds, first obviously in blocks, first obviously in plus minus, while being 57th in minutes. So the minutes. So that's in the. So the minutes being down, actually, with how well he's been playing recently is not impacting the number of points that he's scored. So OK. So that's really fascinating. And you know what would be awesome? And the NBA should consider doing it. I'm not. And I know that they were talking MVP for the year. But if they broke the season down into periods of time, like I don't know, you could call it the last 15 games or like a month. And then they gave a player of the month, we would know who was the best player that month. Because I think it's a guy. I think they do that actually. And they even do West and East and Luca, who he wasn't for not 418 points. I think it was even 600. And we don't have assists on there because Wemby's, that's not his like, Brew brings up a lot. Magic Johnson won MVP score in less than 24 points. I think it's great as Wemby is. I think Magic's touch better passer. Maybe more impactful defender. No, I'm just saying. But we. The question is, is he going to say he's doing something else? Of course we know he's gunning for MVP. I think he's obviously gunning for MVP. And I think the way he's gunning for it, to be totally honest, contradicts his initial case for it. Yeah, he's not defending well. No, he changes. He had three blocks last night. Hold on, Brew. Let's be fair about just these last two games. These last two games, the Spurs as a team, and I am told and I believe the biggest reason the Spurs have a dominant defense, we all agree, is Wemby. He is the most dominant defensive player. And the last two games against the tanking bulls and the G League Warriors, the Spurs by eye test and statistical test have not defended at the level they had defended all year. And Wemby by eye test and statistical test has played a different style of offense than he had been playing. He played a different style of offense. He scored more. He's playing the same exact style. He's just shooting a little bit more. But they're not running offense through him. He's not posting up anymore. He's shooting more. OK, well, that's what I, that's style. OK, well, all right, then I'll use a different word. He is looking for his shot more after telling us the reason he should win MVP was we dominated OKC, even though he didn't dominate them. That the defense is half the award and there's more to offense than scoring in his gunning for it. He's like, all right, maybe a little less defense and a hell of a lot more scoring. And I, again, I like 40 point games. I like high volume scoring, especially when it's efficient. It's also why I think Shay, if Christine, if we can do the 30 points per game thing, I think Shay has a vice grip on this award because literally everybody ever who scored 30 a night and the teams won more than 60 has won MVP. We're eight for eight on it. Well, but I think he has a vice grip. Because if Wimby gets the number one seed, this will still be true. Yeah, and I didn't vote for him. Right, I didn't say I would. I do think right now though, Shay has a vice grip on it. And I understand you're not saying he's MVP, Danny. Well, no, but what I'm saying is that when we did a Wimby topic, like a week or two ago, and I said everybody who had been 24 points or more, 10 or more rebounds and three or more blocks and their team won 60 or more games, they all won MVP. Yeah, well, that was two other guys, right? Three other guys. Yeah, I think this is a, this, this, there's a little more weight behind eight people across all the full decades, but we'll see, or eight instances, not eight people. But I just, I think that he's, I think it's interesting, Brew, that in his MVP push, to me, he has slightly changed his approach. And I think that the fact that he had 40 on opening night and then one 40 point game until in the time between opening night and he made that MVP speech. And since then, he scored 40 both times, tells me, or the last two, he is emphasizing that more. I don't know that that's bad, but I- Because he may feel like he needs to, like you've said. Yes, he needs to score more. Which is ridiculous, because 24 points a game has won MVP. Magic Johnson won three MVPs, never averaged 24 points a game in a season. Now you say he was a great passer, which he was, the best in history. This is the best defender in history. So they both have things they do that go beyond their points per game. That's all I'm saying with MVP. And I don't think I've, at once said, you can't win MVP at 24 points per game. You've talked about 24 points a game, like there's no way he can win MVP in 24 points. No, well, I just think in a year where, and I think when the other candidates are having such historically great, historically great offensive season. But he's having a historically great defensive season. I understand which is why he's in the conversation. I just don't think it's enough to offset it, but I know that's not really what we're talking about. Here's a graphic that I have that shows Wimby's impact. On the, look at the, his on court, the point differential seven, it's doubles, almost doubles Shea, doubles Luke, almost triples Luca kind of, and it's more, you know, four points ahead of Yolkich. Like that's why the minutes doesn't matter to me, because clearly he's having a huge impact. Again, if he was playing 20 minutes a night, but he's playing 30. And so, yeah, I mean, that right there is huge. Well, there's no, there's no more impressive eye test athlete in the sport than Wimby. No. It's, it is a crazy thing to watch. And you've, you said, Brew, he's the best player in the world, but we don't know what your ballot will be tomorrow, but I don't think he yet has been number one on your ballot. No, he hasn't. So like there is a, there is like a slight difference between best player in the world and the MVP. Of course. There's a big difference. Steve Nash was never the best player in the world. But having the best individual season. But this one, it's catching up. Cause I mean, Wimby's raising for you, right? You've had him higher than fourth. I mean, yeah, I mean, I think I, I had him third in my, you know, I don't have a real ballot, right? But I have him right now as a strong third. I have him ahead of Joker. And I am, because I do value the one seed and I do think and I value exceeding what we all, how good we all thought your team realistically was going to be. I think that helps Luke. I think that helps Wimby the most because that's a huge factor. Right. And so I value all of it. I, I find it interesting that your utter dismissal KW and you're somewhat dismissal, brew of the minutes thing. Because it's, I don't, I don't, the league has told us it values how much you play. They decided the decider was games rather than minutes. But it's all about minutes, time spent on the court is what we're talking about. Availability, all of those things. And Wimby is going to with missing tonight, he's going to finish this year playing the minimum allowable games to be eligible for the award, while also in those games, playing fewer minutes per game than any MVP ever by a lot. And so that is like, so this is career, this is minutes over the course of the season. Walton's the only one that's going to come close to Wimby's total and Walton's MVP year was very odd because they were the best, they were 50 and 10 when he got hurt. And then he didn't play the rest of the year and the league decided that, you know what, he was the best player there, the defending champs, he was having the best season, he's going to win it. That to me is noteworthy. I think what you noticed though, all of those numbers are recent other than Walton who got hurt. Yes. Because the game is changing. Guys don't play the minutes they used to, guys used to play, heck, going back even to early LeBron, they played 40 minutes a game. So the best players were playing 38, 40 something minutes a night. Now the best players are playing about 35 minutes a night. So he's not like way behind, I mean, he's several minutes per game behind some of the leaders. But when you consider his height, that he's guarding out on the perimeter and the change in the style of the play as far as minutes for players. Well, Anthony had a real injury. Yeah, right. But getting it a year, he was playing 20 minutes again. So listen, I think that is, I think if I were running the Spurs, I would have the same plan. I think it's the smart plan. I don't, what I am not comfortable with is the combination of, for whatever the reasons are, you have one guy who of the candidates has, in my opinion, they just say my opinion, far and away, is just objectively, the least impactful passer, is objectively, the least impactful scorer, objectively has played the fewest games and the far fewest minutes and doesn't even have the best record. And that guy, I know he's the best defender in the league. That, to me, is not enough to close this gap. And I am stunned he's not playing tonight. Like stunned. Yeah, this is not helping. It's obviously, I guess, the smart thing to do from a health standpoint, which is what's most important. That's more important than MVP, obviously. But this doesn't, isn't a great help. If he couldn't play it back to back and the Spurs are trying to get the one seed, I know he probably wouldn't have gotten an easy of a 40, but would it not have made more sense for him to sit against the left-handed free throw shoot and Corpse Warriors and be there against the Clippers? He could have sat more of the second half. Well, no. The game was clearly. Or just get ready. I don't know. I mean, that was weird. It's not like they didn't know they had a back to back and the Clippers game is a game you can lose. Maybe legitimately tweak something. Or you want to be ready for Denver on Saturday? But again, I think you're just as ready. I mean, today's Thursday. Like if you sit, I don't know. You get two days, Rasmus. San Antonio only two games behind the Thunder. Head to the East and down to Miami with a Celtic scorch. The heat, 53 points in the first quarter. Park and second most in the shot clock. Aira Jalen had 20 in the first quarter, 43 overall. Tatum had triple double. And Bam, who's known Tatum since he was 12, says, he thinks he'll get better after the game. He says, I can tell he's still out of shape. Wasn't. And so it was actually like a very nice comment. 25, 18 and 11 out of shape. Odds in the East, Celtics and then your Cavs. That's right. The Knicks, the Pistons and the 76ers. How are they still? Are you ready? Are you ready to abandon your Cavaliers pick? No. The Celtics are the favorites. They deserve to be the favorites. I have no problem with them being the favorites. But I'll answer your question directly. How are they still the second? There's a path. Right now they are the four seed in the East. You want to be the four seed in the East because you let, assuming the bracket holds, you let Boston and New York meet in the second round. I think you'd rather play Detroit in the second round of the playoffs than the Celtics or the Knicks. Would we agree with that? I think you'd rather play the Knicks. I think what the Cavs would love to be is the two seed, like Boston. Oh, I don't agree with that. What do you mean? I know that the Knicks beat the Celtics in sixth last year in the playoffs. I don't know. I'm saying if you're the Cavs, I think you'd rather play the Knicks in round two than Detroit in round two. I don't know that I agree with that. Oh, really? I'm not nearly as big of a believer clearly in this Pistons team where we'll see what happens with Cade Cunningham. And I think a lot of what they've done this year is by being a try hard regular season team. I will be shocked if Cleveland gets to the Eastern Conference, or excuse me, if Detroit gets to the Eastern Conference finals. I love Cleveland. They should have gone with what you were about to say. I'll be shocked. No, Cleveland is 16 and 6 in games when James Harden has played for them, which is a better win percentage than your beloved Detroit Pistons. It would be good enough if you did that over the course of a season. 16 and 6 win percentage would be the one seed in the East. And how many of those games were against tankers? I can get that for you. We can say that for every team in the league. Harden has been great since he has been with Cleveland. The efficiency numbers are way up. And you guys know I love my big four. Only five games played together still. I don't think that's a good thing. It's a negative. I would use that as a negative. But Allen is coming back. But they're going to have no continuity. Harden and Mitchell have looked great together on the floor. Allen and Harden, he's had double doubles basically every game that Allen and Harden have played together. They have been managing Jared Allen's knee tendonitis to save him for the playoffs. Donovan Mitchell is coasting a little bit so that he doesn't break down before the playoffs. All you got to do is get in. You have your matchup. And then you get to the Celtics in the Eastern. Yeah, you beat the Hawks. You beat the Pistons. And then you take your chances with whoever comes out of the beat up seven game series Celtics Nick. Why is Celtics Nick? First of all, why? The Pistons are not ready to win the East this year. I don't care. That's fine. I'd rather play than play them. Is it the injury? The injury, the inexperience. And we see this all the time. Teams that try harder than everybody else in the regular season and have an overinflated record. The Bulls, the Hawks, the Raptors, we see it all the time. I think that's what this specific team is. We don't see them with 55. You're talking about the way back to the Hawks. Oh, Bulls. Oh, you mean Bulls. It means Bulls Hawks Raptors historically. Historically, there are ones. They treat the regular season like it's the playoffs. And then when everybody else. Like the Knicks did last year. Yeah. Under Timberdote. That's what they do. And they were pretty good. So what I was, you didn't know what I was going to ask. Why do you think? First of all, why are you so confident the Knicks are going to be in round two? And if they are, that Nick Celtics is going to be a war. Like that, why? Because last year, the Knicks beat them. That can't be the whole reason. I mean, I think styles make fights. I absolutely think that for the Thunder, the nuggets are the scary matchup. Right? In round two. In round two. Because of what happened last year. Because they have Joker. There's no answer for them. Their offensive stealing is high. And I've seen them give them massive fits in the postseason. I don't know why that would be different on the Eastern Conference side when the Knicks have kind of built their team in the image of we have to beat Boston. And they beat them in six last year. That's a tough matchup. That's not an easy given series for Boston. We know that they can go cold from three. Listen, I think that's fair. I am not certain the Knicks, right now, without their playing to be there in round two. But let's just play out your idealized scenario, where we then get to the conference finals. You still have the Celtics beating the Knicks, right? Yeah, probably. OK. Yeah. Why are the Cavs beating a Celtics team where Jason Tatum now is two months removed from coming back. And a Celtics team that was markedly better than the Cavs all year before Tatum came back. There'll be an underdog. But I'm not a fan of the beginning of the game. Yeah, they can get. Yes, absolutely. They can get there. We have not seen the ceiling of this Cavs team that with James Harden is averaging 119 points a game. Cleveland has really great talent. Yes. And they've got depth. Look, on paper, you like them. What has been their problem in the playoffs these last few years? They've underachieved. But luckily, they've brought in James Hard. I think they've been mentally weak. They've been mentally weak. They have not answered the call and been able to match the moment in the playoffs. They should have. They have lost several playoffs series. They should have won. But they weren't mentally tough enough. Add James Harden has had problems with mental weakness in big games in the playoffs. That's my problem with them. On paper, I love the talent. But I just think that's why I think Detroit would beat them. We've got to get this in. James Harden is a better playoff player than Darius Garland. And it's not close. Fine. So it's an up-ranked. Darius Garland. But Cleveland is. Because they traded him for each other. It's OK. Fine. But you're going to have to get it done in a big game, six, or game seven. You confident he's going to do that? He had 28, five, and eight in a game six win last year. And then what happened? Remind me what happened in game seven. He had 13 assists. What happened in game seven? He had 13 assists. How many times did he shoot? He had seven points. But he had 13 assists. I'm counting on 25 from you, James. He gave me seven. He had 31 and 11 in game one. Hey, if you like it. Oh, he's great. He's going to be great. What did he do in game one? In game one. Game five wasn't good. Game three, game five, and game seven. James Harden is a more good playoff game than Darius Garland. Nobody cares about that. The Cavs. Garland does not need anybody to do the promise land. We're talking about the Cavs. And the trade they made to upgrade Darius Garland for James Harden. Happy friend of me's Thursday. NFL League meetings earlier this week. Owners, GMs, coaches, Nick. They're meeting in Arizona ahead of the draft. Jim Harbaugh and Andy Reed to talk to reporters, discuss their season outlook, and the new hires they've each made at offensive coordinator. We'll send Jim Harbaugh first. Awesome. Awesome with the capital A. And it is what I really thought it was. Just a perfect combination. Mike McDaniel and Justin Herbert. They're going to build really well for the Chargers. Awesome with the capital A. Tough to beat that. Andy Reed will try with Eric Biennami. Yeah, I'm fired up to have him back. When you lose a Matt Nagy to bring in a guy who could just step in and go, that's not an easy thing to do. Fired up to have him back. He brings great energy. Loves doing what he's doing. All he wants to do is win football games and have a great offense. The ultimate team guy. So this is red meat for us here in front of his land, Nick. Chances the Chargers offense is better than the Chiefs offense this year? I am so stunned that you love the Chargers off-season. Stunned. Because they obviously. What's Matt to love? Listen, a neutral party. Ben Solak, who I think we both think is a smart guy. Smart guy? How many teams are there in the league? I believe it's 32 still. So he ranked the 32 off-seasons. So you're just taking someone? No, I'm just trying to bring a neutral party to it. OK, go ahead. Out of 32 teams, he had the Chargers off-season 30 second. And the reason for that is, particularly on offense, they didn't get better anywhere. They had a center retire, and they were placed in with Beodish. Cole Strange is now slated to be their starting guard. The only reason we know the name Cole Strange was because when Bill Belichick, in one of his final fateful first round picks, drafted him, that Rams laughed at him. And I was proven correct by the fact he didn't make through his rookie contract. They didn't get better at running back. They didn't get better at wide receiver. So it's this idea that Mike McDaniel is going to be this cure-all when we're comparing them to a chief's team whose biggest issue on offense was the lack of a running game. They signed Kenneth Walker. And I understand that Eric Pianami, as an offensive coordinator, hasn't drawn up as many fancy plays as your guy Mike McDaniel. But you know what he has done as an offensive coordinator? Won a bunch of Super Bowls with this team. So yeah, I'm confident that the chiefs who've had a better offense than the Chargers, every year Patrick's been there and finished with an intact ACL will continue to have a better offense than the Chargers. All due respect to Ben Solak, who is a very sharp guy. That exercise was about additions and subtractions this offseason. Do you feel like the Chargers maybe are going to get better production at a couple of positions that I think you would say are important on offense? Left and right tackle? Yeah, I do. Left and right tackle. Those are two of their four highest paid players in Joe Walt and Rashawn Slater and probably their second and third best players behind Justin Herbert. So those additions will come in the form of their highest paid best players playing more than like six total games than they played last year. The chiefs also had their starting left tackle play eight games last year. It is not nearly as good as Joe Walt and Rashawn Slater. And the other, but I'm just telling you now, I think this is a strategic mistake projecting so much strength for the Chargers because by midseason next year, all those same offensive line tears you were crying about the left and right tackle, you're going to be crying about the left guard center and right guard. And it's going to be tough to be worse than the Chargers were on the interior of the offensive line the last couple of years. They might be as bad, but it would be almost statistically impossible to be worse. And I'll say this, man, we are entering a pretty large sample if we look at the two offenses. You act like it's insane to think that anyone could have a better offense than the chief. No, not anyone, this team. OK, well, let's put it up. Let's look at it. A sample of three seasons. I think you would agree it's pretty similar. And because the quarterbacks have played an identical number of games over those three years, scoring the same number of points within four yards, your team turns it over more, your team's a little bit better on third down, the Chargers have a little bit better pass or rating. It's very similar. And the Chargers are going to get better production at tackle this year, which was the biggest detriment to their offense last year. And they've upgraded at playcaller. The Chiefs are not upgrading at playcaller. They're upgrading at an energy vibes guy. That's disrespectful to what the fact that he is not the one calling the plays. Obviously matters. But it doesn't mean that he's an energy vibes guy. It doesn't mean that he has no tactical input. It doesn't mean that I know you're not a Matt Nagy fan. Pardon me. I know you thought he was part of the deterioration of the Chiefs offense. And those last three years are the three years since Eric Bienemme left. Bienemme's a beloved coach by players. I don't mean to be disrespectful to him. I think which addition is going to have a more tangible impact in terms of- Why? The Chiefs used to, by your metric, the Chiefs entered a three year slump when he left. By your, the stat you just showed. You know you follow the Chiefs very closely, closer than anybody. You know that Andy Reed is the offense. He's the playcaller. He's the play designer. He's the culture. He is everything. So I don't think he is everything. I do think he's the playcaller. I do think he is the most, the best head coach in football. I also don't think it is random coincidence that when Bienemme left, the running game got markedly worse. And when Bienemme went to Chicago, the running game far outperformed its talent level. And I know you love your fancy wizardry playcaller. I do. But we have no evidence that Mike McDaniel outside of the cocoon of either Kyle Shanahan or Pete Tyree Kill is actually majorly impactful. I like Mike McDaniel. I think he is a good hire to be clear. You wanted him in Kansas City to be clear, if you would have done it. Yeah, I think when I didn't think Bienemme was coming back. Absolutely. I'm glad they got Bienemme. I think Mike McDaniel is sharp. But I do not think that the shell game of, this was the problem with the Chargers. Now this is fixed when every year it's been something randomly different. When the real problem with the Chargers, in my opinion, has pretty clearly been they have had substandard offensive line play, which will continue this year, substandard skill position players, which will continue this year, and come the postseason, their quarterback is far worse than a substandard player overall. None of that changes by getting rid of, was it Greg Roman, the guy who was Jim Harbaugh, who you love, his first hire, and replacing him with Mike McDaniel. I think their offensive line will be better. And to be clear, since you complimented the Chargers somewhere along the way there, the Chiefs will be a much better run team. Kenneth Walker and Eric Biannemy, they obviously will be a better run team. So will the Chargers. And the Chiefs also are getting their tackle back. The Chargers also signed Alec Ingold, great fullback. Let's go to the NBA. Lakers take on the Thunder tonight. Thunder, nine and a half point favorite against your Lakers, although the Lakers have won 15 of 17 in March. Speaking of March, you might have heard, Luca, 600 points. Player of the month, named a few hours ago, and a runner up for defensive player of the month. That's true, you checked the NBA's account. Well, that could add a nice fun wrinkle into this conversation. Who would you rather have for the rest of the season? Shae or Luca? Oh, I, the, I mean, I think, listen, I think Luca's a better player. And I think- Close though. Right, you would say it's close? Yeah, of course. Of course. I- We're parsing. I think there is, like, Steve Nash won back-to-back MVPs. At no point did I think he was the best player in the league. Isaiah Thomas won back-to-back championships, including a finals MVP. I don't think anybody in that moment thought I was, except for maybe Isaiah, who I love, thought he was the best player in the league. It would be pretty unprecedented for a guy to combine those two, back-to-back league MVPs with winning back-to-back championships and not be the best player in the league. But I don't think Shae's the best player in the league. Well, I mean, it would actually, it would not even pretty unprecedented, right? Because the only guys with multiple MVPs and multiple finals MVPs, assuming he would win it if they do, I think it's like, it's the sixth greatest players ever arguably played. And so I, so I just, I think that, I think if you compare their careers, their primes or their playoff numbers, I just think Luca clears it. So the points per game, it's Luca, rebounds, assists is Luca. The field goal percentage is Shae, but the effective field goal percentage, because Luca shoots so many more threes, is Luca. The first team all NBA MVP. Now, what's fair is, yeah, but Luca came in awesome. Shae wasn't immediately awesome. So I took that into consideration. If we just do the last four years, when Shae has been awesome the whole time, Luca still, now the first team all NBA, it's going to be, now it'll be four to three. And the, see if he wins MVP. But again, I don't know that I, because Shae has had the better seasons, I don't know that I feel he's a better player. I just don't, I don't, and then if you look at the playoff stuff, when they played once in a playoffs series, Luca outplayed him. Shae, Shae has not, as even though he's defending finals MVP, he played a tick or two below his regular season last year in the playoffs, in root to it. Luca's actually had more deep playoff runs than Shae. They beat him when they played head to head. I think Luca's a better passer, definitionally, rebounder, definitionally. And I think he's a more dominant scorer. And I think if you put Shae on a team with 17 great defenders like, I'm sorry, Luca on Shae's team, they win the title last year too. I 100% agree with that. Like that they are close enough as players and the thunder are so excellently constructed. And kind of the perfect team for Luca to play with. Yeah, they're the perfect team for any player in the league to play with. Because every single player on their team is good defensively and they're crazy deep and they're well coached and they've got all that draft capital and they're young and athletic. The situation that Shae is in would be the best for anybody and I do think a few players would be able to produce around there. You did it by career and I was just thinking about, because I don't necessarily care because they came in as such different guys. Luca is basically a professional athlete who was Euro League MVP at 17 and Shae more of a prospect who has developed. I think that their numbers this year are very, very close. And again, absolutely, Luca better passer. They're one in two in scoring. They're one in two in free throw attempts. But I think you would agree finishing second in defensive whatever you said for Luca. Shae's a much better defensive player than Luca, right? Shae's a better defensive player who also zero times at any point has to guard the other team's best player. I mean, he was voted, if there was a third team all NBA defense last year, he got enough votes for it. Like he is, can, well they do that. Say that again, I just want you to say that. I want you to, with a straight face, say what you were about to say right there. If there was a third team all NBA defense, he would have made it, which means. Is there a third team all NBA defense? No, but you have votes. No, I get it. So, so, so, so he would, he got votes. And so he got enough votes where he would have been like 12. Yeah, and so, and I saw your defensive rating thing. Is that defensive rating? That's a team stat and you know that. So, but, but, but you also know that Shay is a better. Shay's a better defensive player than Luca. Okay, and they're close. I don't know that I, that's the part I don't think I agree with you on. They average within one point. They are close, they are close scoring. They are not close rebounding or passing. They're not. But they are close in efficiency all. Yeah, no, which is part of the scoring. They are close individual scores. Luca is one of the best passers ever. Shay is not one of the best passers in the Western Conference today. Luca's one of the best guard rebounders ever. Shay is a good guard rebounder. Like I just, no, I don't think, that is where I think the, that Luca gets short changed and that we over emphasize his defensive weaknesses. I think Shay's gonna win the MVP. I think Shay's a great player, but I'd rather have Luca. Another friend of mine for me. Fernando Mendoza and Kirk Cousins. Who should start week one? Willie Cologne next. Willie last night, the crown quarter finals tipped off. Oklahoma advanced after a 90-86 win over Colorado thanks to Nigel Pax, 20 points, five assists and two blocks. They faced Baylor after the Bears defeated Minnesota. 67-48, Cameron Carr had 15, nine and two. So we check an updated look at the crown bracket. Ooh, top half completed, bottom half still to go. What's better than a college basketball tournament in Vegas? Oh, nothing, man. Listen, watch out for Stanford's freshman sensation of Boca Chloric. Big time guard. Should light it up tonight. We'll see. Okay, man, you are. How do you feel about that? I think you nailed it. I think you nailed it is what I think. And yesterday you were dropping Rutgers knowledge, so this is Willie's big night. Let's do it. In the crown, we'll be watching right here on FS1. The NFL, Kirk Cousins is a raider. One year deal guaranteeing him 20 million bucks to get 11 from the Raiders, nine from the Falcons, continues to be a legend at the bank. Although in Indiana, Fernando Mendoza, he assumed number one pick, of course, to the Raiders, had his pro day, by all accounts, did a great job. League meetings, Willie, Clint Kubiak, new coach of the Raiders said his preference would be to start a more mature quarterback. That would appear to be what's happening now with Kirk Cousins and that guarantee. So more likely to start week one, who should start week one, Cousins or Mendoza? Oh, it should be Kirk Cousins. And I'm happy Clint Kubiak gets to reunite with Kirk Cousins. Obviously, they have some history from their days in Minnesota, but when you talk about what makes sense, and this goes back to what John Spitek has been saying, they wanna build this thing up brick by brick, right? And I'm just gonna take a small pivot. Listen, Las Vegas offers a lot of distractions. Let's keep it a buck. Sure, I've been distracted in Vegas. And I say that because in 2013, I had a young Geno Smith step into New York and there was a lot put on his plate, considering that he wasn't supposed to be the starter. It's supposed to be Mark Sanchez. Mark Sanchez gets hurt in a pre-season game. We wheel out, not wheel out like he was hurt, but we usher out Geno Smith, man. And I can remember when he ran out the tunnel and they played his music was JZ's 99 Problems. Yeah, okay. That song, right? I won't finish it just for TV purposes. Thank you. But nevertheless, man, I remember saying, oh, because it felt like he was trying to live up to what the streets were talking about, right? Like he was trying to wear that persona. He was trying to live up to being the king of New York. Well, we just needed him to be the quarterback for the New York Jets. And I think some of the all field distractions on top of managing being a big time quarterback in the spot, got in his way. As a guy who played with a young quarterback, sometimes from the neck up, they can be ready from the neck down, playing that long, dealing with those hits, being an NFL quarterback takes a toll. So I think giving him a year where you allow Kirk Cousins to kind of be the guy. A year? Yeah, 100%. Let him have a year. What's the rush? The Super Bowl will be in Las Vegas in 2029. If you're serious about this longterm plan, you want Fernanda Mendoza to be your stoner and quarterback when the Super Bowl comes around for you. Not paying down, quarterback questions, none of that. I think everything you said makes sense. And I think that you don't give Kirk Cousins $20 million guaranteed for him not, even if half of it's not being paid by you for him not to be the week one starter. So I assume he is going to be the week one starter. I promise you it won't be for 17 games. You don't, no. It won't even happen. No chance, man. Okay. Teams play their guys. You want the, well. Where does it get you? Well, when you draft someone with the number one pick, a high pick, you want to find out if he's the guy as soon as possible. Because if he's not the guy, you want to pivot off of him as soon as possible. But you're not going to know he's the guy in year one. I mean, you can. You can know that he's the guy. You might not be able to know that he's not the guy. Yeah. So like, and Fernanda Mendoza played in a pro style system last year for 16 games, won a national championship and is 22 years old. This is not some guy who can't have, who has no ability coming from a spread offense. Not that there's not some spread offense in the NFL, but it used to be like spread to pro style or small conference or like Josh Allen from Wyoming or like big 12 quarterbacks that never had success. This guy played in the big 10 in the national championship in a pro style system. With a lot of weapons who were, who had long in the two, 36 college starts. Like he will play next year. I'd bet anything that he plays next year. I don't, first of all, I don't, I'm, there's nothing pushed back against that because that's what history tells us. So I got to group that. On top of that, I would say if you're serious about his development, there's nothing wrong with entertaining, saying, hey man, let's continue to build this roster up. And then when he's ready and we feel like this ready, this offense or this roster is built to kind of help him out or be the best he can be, then we throw him out there. I always think with that, then he shouldn't be in the number two quarterback. Then he should just, then just full red shirt year and nothing that happens. But I mean, I remember being in Chicago when they signed Mike Glennon to a one year, 18 million dollar deal. Cause they said we were going to sit Mitch Trebisky for the whole year. And four weeks into the year, Mike Glennon was leading the league in turnovers and there was Mitch Trebisky starting week five and the rest was history. So I agree it can be a detriment, but Trebisky had one year of start egg. This guy's had three years. I will be floored if Mendoza doesn't play the majority of the games. Baseball, getting it right already yet again, sports on a roll. Finally. All right, we're a week into the regular season, Willie. And we had our first game that ended on an ABS challenge overturned, called it a ball, was strike three, replay coming. We can say with certainty, no MLB game has ever ended like this before. That was in the Orioles Rangers game last night. So is it already a success? What are your early thoughts on the ABS system? Oh, I love it. I think it's definitely elevated the game. The fact that we just finally talk about situational baseball like we talk about situational football because of the system. Like think about it. Like if it's the top of the ninth, it's five, let's say five forward, right? And you have one challenge left. If you're at bat and you know your clothes is coming out, which are not, you shouldn't use that challenge, right? You should wait till the bottom of the ninth and leave it for your pitcher and catcher. So now we get to evaluate those situations. And listen, I think these guys are still learning how to use it. But when you see the crowd stand up after a challenge, like if we're in the Coliseum and it's amazing. So I'm all about it, TP. What I like is it like the tennis system. It just is what it is. If there's no ambiguity, sometimes in football, they're like, I think it should stand. And then the rest like, it's over time. And I'm more confused. This is black and white. I like it. Good job, baseball. Good job, baseball.