Tatum, Brown, and the Celtics // Mike Vrabel Meets the Media at the NFL Combine // Caller Reaction - 2/25 (Hour 3)

I think that feels like a nice package there. Yeah. Wow, look at those phones light up. It's Felger and Maz on 98.5 The Sports Hub. Hour number three, Felger and Maz here from our Town Fair Tire Studios in Waltham. All of us, after a couple snow days, yours truly, back here in the shop. And we're talking Celtics to lead off this hour. We'll get back to some of the stuff Mike Vrabel was saying in Indianapolis today, shedding light on the Patriots offseason plans both on their roster and externally but as promised back to you John in New Bedford go ahead John. Hi I was looking at the internet to find out what the information that that Mavs was looking for about distance from the basket and all that stuff and I found something at and I'll give you the the website it's not too hard but it's a little bit long www.nba.com slash stats slash teams slash shots hyphen closest hyphen defender and i think that that leads to it's like a tip of the iceberg i think it leads to an enormous number of statistics of the kind you're looking for and i'm not sure that that one is going to give you the specific situation that you're looking for, but it's in something called NBA Advanced Stats. John. Jonathan. Just amazing. John, thank you. Got it. I found it. I was typing it while he said it, and I got it right. But that's not about closest defender, not closest to the basket. No, that's right. I want closest to the basket, but I give him an A for effort. Listen. Yeah, WWE. I know I'm old and not tech savvy, but at least usually I don't go www. That was a good effort, though. That's what you know. I put out the call. And I'll give you the website. It's not too hard, but it's a little bit long. www.nba.com. I got it. I got it, John. Thank you for the call. Thank you. No, no, thank you. I got it. I got it. Shots dash close. Slash team. No, no, I got it. I got it. Thank you. Dean and Shrewsbury. Go ahead, Dean. What do you got? Hyphen defender. Tatum is an awful mid-range shooter. During his career, he shot 413 from 3 to 10. Dean, but honestly, why do you think that is? Because look at his skill set. Look at his size. Look at his shooting touch. Look at his release. Look at his handle. there's no reason that guy should not be a good mid-range basketball player and i think he's not dean because the way the game is played dunks or threes and you know as matt said he says sometimes you don't want the contact enough to go in there and get the dunk but he'll get to the line when he's so he's either attacking the rim or shooting a three-pointer he's never been asked or has thought about the mid-range that's what i think dean no i i disagree i think the reason why he's not good at the mid-ranges he's trying to do this kobe thing where he fades away every mid-range shot and it really throws his shot off jaylen brown is much more straight up and down sometimes he'll fade away but he's he's a better fade away shooter than tatum is you're right about that tatum likes the the best analogy i ever heard was sarone battle who said jason tatum a lot of times shoots the way you put your dirty hoodie, you throw it in the laundry hamper. Like you're rolling your bedroom and you roll up your sock. Kobe. You know, like me. Yeah. Crump up a paper here in the office. You shoot at the waste paper basket. You know, that's how Tatum wants to shoot the ball. He does shoot like that a lot. It's true. Can you teach him to go straight up? Well, so that's the thing. This is the part that, and I think we're on the same page in this. the part i categorically disagree with is that he can't do right he's not physically he has all the physical tools to do it it's either mindset or a little bit of work at it yeah so look maybe he doesn't like going up without a lot of space and i think this relates to the physicality of it he doesn't like the contact so he jumps away from it if you want to tell me that that's true i would agree with that but don't tell me he can't make a shot from 16 feet if he can make him from 25 he can make him from 16 here's uh steven carver what do you got steve hey guys so a lot of people don't remember but the celtics started their season oh and three actually on opening night they lost to the 76ers without mb and paul george and during that week people like chris forsberg everybody else in the media said well you can't blame jalen brown or joel mazula look what's around them and you're an idiot because the master plan of this organization is to tank because the number one pick was born in boston don't you see it's a master plan now the same media members mike five months later with the same team are telling me they're legitimate championship contenders which one is it chris forsberg which one is it the rest of the guys in this town because you show down anybody who wants to be slightly critical and then you completely change up and the carrying of water for this team by the media members i can't take it it's i'm gonna blow a gasket on my phone right now i'm like i'm mad i'm in steve you said it all a thousand percent right and just another night for the gap year celtics but it's like so i think dig grandy's sort of playing off himself there or something. But the way the thing was covered early on was, well, what do you want Brown to do? Look at what he's surrounded by. Look at how Peyton Pritchard's shooting. Look at how Derek White's shooting. You can't expect Jalen Brown to lead this team into the top of the Eastern Conference. Look at what he's surrounded by the same stuff. And he's doing it because he's proving himself to be that guy, which you should have held him to that to begin because he's obviously capable of it. And I think he's exceeded, you know, even, I mean, I think he's an excellent ball player and, you know, a borderline all NBA guy. He's a second or third team all NBA player. I take him on my team any day of the week. I told you I would give you Giannis straight up for him. I said this last year. He's an excellent basketball player. Right now he's like fourth in the MVP balloting. So he's even exceeding, you know, those of you who thought he was a high-end ball player, he's even exceeding that. That's great. But the point is, and the Celtics as a team are exceeding, I think, even the loftiest expectation. They're exceeding mine. Mine was to be a top four team, mid-pack Eastern Conference playoff team, right? Sure. Okay, so that's what I said. They'd be out of that play-in round, no lower than six, but ideally in that four or five spot, that's what they could be without Jason Tatum. So they're definitely exceeding even what I thought. But for the Celtics nation to have accepted what they looked like they were going to be in that first week is just so soft. It is soft. Like, come on. No, really soft. But that's who they are. You know, once it's like once they can't go 65 and 17, it's better to tank. Here's Sandy and Everett. Go ahead, Sandy. Yes, I don't know why you're pinning Brown and Tatum against each other. They're both great players. I don't understand that. One, Tatum will pass the ball a lot more than Brown does, and that's why Brown makes so many points, because he doesn't give the ball up too easy. I don't know why you're pinning them. They're both great, and the team itself, they're all great players. So, Sandy, I don't know how it sounds, because we have the tone. I'm not pinning them against each other. I think, as I've said a million times, they've proven that they can play and coexist with each other on the floor and off and they've proven this at a championship level and they proved it long ago which is why i find it comical sandy that part of the storyline of tatum's return is how are they going to coexist i'm not asking that question the celtics people are asking that question right i said wait a minute we settle this like five years ago so but now i'm gonna accuse i'm not i'm telling you that they've figured it out but i don't know why we've had this inner this layer of drama introduced when they've already proven that they can coexist on the floor and i'm not being sarcastic i believe that no listen they've proved they can play together as long as i mean at least at least when it's run through tatum so now so listen so this is a wrinkle because the conditions have changed brown has proven himself even beyond what he previously did and tatum's going to come back and the things the train is flying down the tracks without him and so he's going to have to fit in more than he ever has in terms of them fitting into him and so there's a wrinkle there but i think they're capable of it and if they're not shame on them these are again highly motivated driven serious adults who have a chance to win another championship i don't want to hear this thing about whose team it is and can they coexist i'm telling you sandy that they can and they should it is incumbent upon Tatum though to adapt yeah it is going to be yeah it's incumbent upon Tatum to adapt because if the team is better off for it the problem is in that league the egos get in the way and inevitably the offense starts somewhere I mean Miami ran into this a little bit when LeBron and Wade got put together and Wade you know they had they took a little while for them to figure it out and they finally figured it out but you know there's it's got to be and and now they're you know in LA they're running it through luca they're not running it through lebron now lebron's 40 but every team like but tatum tatum's got to sacrifice a little here he does and i think he will and if he doesn't i'd be disappointed as you all should his character indicates he would right but we should all go into it assuming he will yeah he will do what it takes because i'd like to think that he knows and they know that at the end of the day now once you've established yourself as a an all-NBA player, now people are just going to count your rings. They're not going to say, you know, maybe they're doing it now, well, you didn't even win finals MVP. I think at the end of the day they're going to count your rings when you're that good, when you're that good. If Jalen Brown had to prove himself as an all-NBA player and an MVP candidate, he has. But once you're on that level, they're not going to go back and say, well, you know, Brown took more shots that game. No, no, no, no. They're going to count. How many championships did you win? and hopefully they know that, and that should be the most important thing, and nothing else should matter. Never mind, you know, how's it going to look if I come back and we don't succeed? Which is just, I mean, don't tell me that that's a reason he wouldn't come back. It is. Don't tell me. Luke in Vermont. Luke where you been man So we got to remember that the Bridgie Celtics was Isaiah Thomas finished number one in the East and Isaiah was a top five MVP candidate Jalen Brown is much better than Isaiah, but it can happen in the regular season. It would be silly to think that this team could win at a high level without Tatum. I've been Team Tatum. I love Brown. I've always appreciated Brown, but I thought Tatum was the 1A and Brown was the 1B. And Brown has exceeded my expectations. But if you think about what kind of makes the Celtics tick in the regular season, it probably shouldn't have shocked us that they've overachieved with this group. And I think it's possible, even with Tatum eventually becomes the best player, that they might benefit from Brown being clearly the leader, similar to... Hey, Luke, down the stretch here when Tatum comes back, who does the offense go through, Brown or Tatum? At first, it has to go through Brown until later on. Eventually, maybe Tatum gets hot in a series or something. But Tatum's got to defer to Brown for a while until he's all the way back and he's taken over a series or something. But I still think they're better playing team basketball than just giving it to one guy to ISO. So I think that's what kind of makes the Celtics good. Can Tatum do that? They don't do what Buka does. Can Tatum play that way? No. I think so. Like you said, Tatum and Brown are real professionals. They're hardworking, smart basketball players. They're not James Harden. They're not some of these other guys in the league. I would think Tatum would be able to sacrifice 100%. Me too. Me too. I mean, didn't they basically do that in the finals? Yes. you know like for example again it ran through tatum and brown won the mvp right so i i mean i think that's basically how they did it they were shooting threes the road was easy and all that you know stew you think this is an issue though i do i just look at how they're playing and they move the basketball so much better with jalen brown on the court and when it runs through him then they they have in previous years with tatum i mean i think there was a stat i said this to you guys off the air where Tatum was the slowest pace of play. There was one player behind Tatum as far as slower, slowest player in the league. And it was James Harden. And who got that when you came in, quiz us on that. Who got that right? This guy, Mr. Basketball. Thank you. Okay. I said Don Chichu was third. So we, we pretty much, we pretty much given. Oh yeah. But listen, loser. And you don't trust that Tatum can adjust and adapt and defer when he has to. Not right now, especially coming back from an Achilles injury, which slows everything down. I'm talking about ego and mindset-wise, too. Oh, definitely not. Like, it's got to be Tatum's. He's a dookie. It's got to run through him. It's got to be his ideas, his offense. And he's got the coach in his back pocket who's going to support Tatum, and that's a variable, too, I think. Jason Tatum and Missoula. Missoula was Tatum's guy, and Jalen Brown has been benched twice this year, even though it's Jalen Brown's team. Missoula would never bench Jason Tatum. It's an issue there. I mean, it is an amazing thing in that league. If it really is that sad, go ahead. Just putting the ball in someone's hands is like this huge dose of testosterone. It is. It's totally about I'm the man. You line up behind me. And they fight for the wheel. They do. They fight for the wheel. Murray's right. It's like five lead singers. It's a good analogy. But when it comes down to the NBA finals, like they did play well in the finals against the Mavericks that year. But in the finals, LeBron James on the biggest stage passes to Ray Allen. Ray Allen hits the shot, hands off the ball to Kyrie Irving and lets Kyrie Irving pound it into the ground and make the last shot. In the finals, it's different than maybe on the pathway to the finals. We continue with your thoughts on this again. It's an issue, Mike. What Vrabel had to say about Chris Gonzalez and others today in Indianapolis. Don't go anywhere. Hi, I'm Sean Flaherty, managing partner of Catcher's Law Group. At Catcher's Law, we're proud of our roots. For more than 40 years, we've been part of this community, raising families, cheering for the Patriots, and fighting for our neighbors. Being named the official law firm of the New England Patriots isn't just an honor. It's a reflection of what we stand for, loyalty, strength, and community. Whether you've been hurt on the job or are suffering from years of physical wear and tear, we are here for you. Visit CatchesLaw.com or call us today to schedule your free consultation. This is your home for the... Useless questions! That's normal. What are you, some kind of idiot? Builder and man, the sports hub. Just try it. Mike Evans hits free agency. Are you interested in Mike Evans if you are the Patriots? No, because he's old, he's injured, he's expensive. I don't know how much longer he wants to play. I, even though they won a Super Bowl with Tom Brady in sort of a Brady Patriots like offense, from what I understand about the time, I don't think Tom Brady had a great experience playing with Mike Evans. And, you know, maybe that transfers over to people that Brady knows that are with the Patriots now. In or out on Mike Evans, out, says Greg Bedard, in part because he, I mean, they won a championship, but Brady wasn't even that big of a fan of him. And does that translate to some people in the building? I.E. Josh McDaniels, right? Or Vrabel even, you know, who knows? No, I go McDaniels first. Not a fit there, perhaps. So what do they do? Because when we played to that, well, let's just play it to you again real quick. When Elliot Wolfe was asked about Steph Diggs yesterday, and he did a million interviews, and there was another place where he actually mentioned Steph by name and said some nice things about him about how he played. This wasn't his only answer on Steph Diggs. He talked so much yesterday. It was hard to keep track of all of it. But this was one answer that Wolf gave on Steph Diggs. Number 17 from yesterday, Jimmy. I'm not going to get into any specific players today. You know, there are certain conversations that we're having. And, you know, we'll see what happens with everyone. Okay, so that felt very cold fish. Definitely. If I were Steph Diggs, I'd start, you know, getting my resume ready, as you would say. Vrabel was asked about it today, Jimmy, from his full press conference. Mike Vrabel, number one, from his full presser, if you could, please. Again, Vrabel spoke in a bunch of different places, too, so we're just trying to piece this together. Go ahead. Well, I mean, not only his future, but what he was able to do for us and come in and provide leadership, worked extremely hard. And the time that he was rehabbing from the knee, I think it was just a really good presence each and every week. And so as we look to evaluate the football team, you know, we're doing that constantly. We're doing that, Elliot and myself and Ryan and Stretch and Elliot's staff. And, you know, just being a little bit behind of where we were, just how long the season went. Those conversations for each and every player are happening in the meetings in between that we have with the draft players here. So, you know, there's a lot of things that we'll do between now and the time that the football season starts. so that's going to be the same with I would say most every player on our roster I still take this as a bad sign nowhere have I heard one of these guys say we love Steph and we'd love for him to be on the team his name we'd like to on Gonzalez I was just going to say this I was someone we want to work with going forward and it's very simple to say we love what he brought to the table we'd love for him to be here that doesn't mean he's going to be here that situations change, but we'd love them to be a part of the future. Correct. They're not saying that. No, they're stopping short of that. And also, I'm sorry, I look at the timeline on this too. And Vrabel talking about, well, you know, the season went late and now we're here at the combine and we're talking to this, so we got to fit it in. You don't have time to address the Steph Diggs situation? And also, Vrabel came after Wolves, which means that, you know, if they're doing their job in terms of public perception, they know what the reaction was to what wolf said yesterday or at least you know some of the reaction and mike you know we haven't had time to figure out that i mean that's kind of what he's implying there right and regardless of how many bullcrap regardless of how many interviews he did he was asked about digs in that setting yesterday and said this so and i know he gave different answers i'm not i'm not telling you but he did also say this among them and that answer he gave yesterday was kind of a i'm not going near that i'm not touching it so i'm still not feeling great about steph diggs's future here so out on mike evans guys like alec pierce not realistic picking not that they ever were i aj brown i guess and mike very well had a lot of nice things to say about aj brown today just as a human being and i'm not gonna play it for you but it's just like really sort of touchy feely human stuff about how close he is with aj brown and how much he loves loves him as a man and again i'm paraphrasing but all that kind of stuff so i guess aj brown is a consideration but if it's not digs who is it uh give me rabel at the table number two jimmy this fresh fresh batch rabel two at the table on difficulty of finding a number one receiver you said last year when we asked you about a number one receiver like if you see any walking around the perfection center let me know how difficult is it every year to find those guys Not a lot of them hit free agency. Well, yeah, I mean, they're not going to be there in free agency. But you have to try to draft them. I think that's where a lot of them are, and you develop them. Some of them develop, and guys that transition in that position from year one to year two can be pretty special. Just, you know, it's a lot for these guys. And again, they go from the combine and the combine training to, you know, maybe not running as many routes or understanding defense. And, you know, once they get out there and train camp, they realize, like, this isn't combine training. And coverages change. And, you know, things that look like man coverage now become zone coverage. And things that are zone coverage now become match coverage. And, you know, there's just a lot of volume for that particular position. And so excited to see where guys like Kyle Williams go from year one to year two. And just his development and his growth mentally and physically. What? A lot of times these number one receivers are developed And they understand that coming from college and the combine to the NFL is a whole different deal Changing coverages and figuring that out and a lot of the times the number one receivers are developed. So I'm interested to see where Kyle Williams comes in. So you know, before he even said that, I called up the draft to say, did they draft anyone other than Kyle Williams at receiver? I couldn't remember. He's the only receiver they took. so like what they gotta you know he's the guy you're pinning your hopes to him if this guy becomes a true nfl number one receiver not just the best receiver on your team which i still might do this i will eat my hat i'm gonna eat one already for morgan geeky i might eat my hat again kyle williams stop it stop it stop it you know what my hope is with wide receivers they typically pop in year one if they're that good stop it well my hope is that uh he said that you don't find him in free agency. He didn't say anything about a trade. Right. So, believe me, but just Kyle Williams, which, credit to the guys down there, was the immediate follow-up question. Jimmy, number three, please. Do you view him as that kind of player who could develop and do it? Well, I'm not going to say that. I just know that I'm excited about seeing where he goes from year one to year two. I'm not. It's a fantastic play. Some ability to adjust down the field on a deep ball. He's got really good release skills. You saw what the crossing route was against Tampa Bay and his ability to create an X play that was maybe 10 or 12 yard pass. I'm not going to sit there and say, these guys are going to be the number one receiver, edge rusher. We're just excited that he's with us and what he showed us. His attitude was fantastic. We'll have to help him get to reach his potential okay so listen you know me i am not a guy that says you have to have that flashy you know sexy outside number one receiver i'm like i've led the charge on that over the years i've moderated my opinion the last several because i think more and more of those guys are really turning into winners frankly you know i'll take puka naku on my team any day of the week i'll take jamar chase on my team any day of the week. I'll take, you know, Steph Diggs with his head screwed on straight any day of the week. I think those guys are winning ball players. And so, like, I've moderated a little bit. But, however, you need someone that approaches number one status. If they go into next year saying, well, Kyle Williams is going to develop and Booty's never really been put in this. If they're going to do that thing, they're in trouble. Yeah, they're also doing a disservice to their quarterback. Like, come on. All right. To me, the biggest offseason question is Christian Gonzalez. Are they going to take care of Christian Gonzalez this offseason, or is that going to become a thing? Number four, please, Rabel, number four today. Is it a priority to try to extend Christian this offseason? Well, it's a priority to extend and keep all our best players. That's the obligation that we have to the team. That's what our coaches want. That's what our personnel people want. That's what Robert and Jonathan want. That's what our fans want. So we have to draft them and figure out a way to develop the guys that we draft and then ultimately re-sign them. So what the timing of that looks like, I don't know. I know that that will be all part of the equation moving forward. I really enjoyed just our relationship and how you had to put some time into it. And again, there's a lot of trust that goes along with certain guys. And watched him continue to get better and improve as the season wore on. And said that, you know, asked him if he wanted to be a captain. And said something that he strives to be. And I want to help him try to get there. To use his ability and his instincts and his knowledge to help the team, help the guys next to him. So I found it interesting. You say he put a lot of time into it. like that tells you it tells you that Vrabel thinks he needs work on that end right or yes it didn't come naturally to him or definitely didn't come naturally or they maybe had some uh ups and downs you know I mean I don't know why it would take so much you know I've spent a lot of time with it just tells you there was an extra layer there with Christian Gonzalez there was in terms of the timing of the money and if they're going to give it to him this offseason the total non-answer There's nothing to glean there. But what I gleaned there is very acknowledging that Gonzalez took some time. You don't take time if everything's perfect. Yes, Maz, what do you want? No, no, I go back to that Baltimore game when he clearly wasn't happy, I think, about how Gonzalez was engaged early in that game. And then he picked it up, and all of a sudden it got better. So I think they called him out on some things as the year went along, and they asked him to give him more, and he probably did. We touched on this with Perillo last week, Mike, just quickly. Don't they have to pay Gonzalez? Yes. And when I say have to, I don't even mean that, you know, because we've had a debate as to whether or not he's worth it, not worth it. Is he the guy? Is he not the guy? But if you're going to come in and do all this lovey-dovey bull crap, be our guys, do what we ask, he was drafted by the organization, then it comes time to pay him? You're not going to pay him? Like, that's a bad sign. Of course, to maintain the culture. Yes, and what you're instilling, they have to pay him. But I think they have to pay him because if they don't, he's not going to play. Like, I think he's a businessman, Chris Gonzalez is. And he's hired serious agents that aren't into the hometown discount. And, you know, he doesn't have the agents that he has. Same guys as Drake May, by the way, to sort of settle. and if the precedent has been set that these young corners get paid after year three then he's going to want to get paid after year three and if he doesn't i don't think that's going to go well on his side and what does that mean uh and so we'll see if the team drags their feet and i think it is the number when reese wrote number you know the very first postseason column that espn posted they asked their 32 writers or went 30 around the league 32 and you know what's the number one thing facing each team in postseason in the offseason re said gonzalez's approach on his contract which i found gross that he put it on gonzalez it's like no no no no no no you know what gonzalez's approach is he's going to want to get paid the question is what's the team approach but mike was right to point to gonzalez they're only they're only going to spend a certain amount of money so you got to figure out what gonzalez is going to get this year and then everything else falls into place but i think some of these guys have got it backwards andrew callahan in the herald did a column translating elliot wolf's comments yesterday and he went through like half a dozen of wolf's comments and then sort of read between the lines so he did it on christian and remember yesterday elliot wolf said he's someone we want to work with in the future and we'll have those conversations at the appropriate time translation we're not in a rush said andrew callahan christian will get his money and become the highest paid cornerback ever soon we know it his agents know it for now we have more pressing matters that impact our immediate cap and long-term spending better to sort those things out first before approaching his camp and at least try to cool and play it cool before writing a gigantic check they have to do the other things first before they do Gonzalez? Does that make sense to you? No. In fact, budgetarily speaking, they should be doing Gonzalez first. It's just the opposite. Yeah. If you're talking about how you set the budget and how he would be first. If they're only going to spend a certain amount of money, forget the cap. If they're only going to spend a certain amount of money this year, which is how they manage it. If they start spending on these other little things at the end of the day, then maybe there's not enough to give Chris Gonzalez the bonus it's going to take to sign them. Exactly right. They need to, they need to know what they're paying him first. It starts with Gonzalez. He's their biggest expenditure of the offseason. Reese had that right. The first question is Gonzalez's money. His real money, his immediate money. Because whatever you give him, you can't give to a free agent or you can't give to another one of your players. And if you start doing those other things first, you chew up all the money you would give to Gonzalez. And he's the most important guy of all of that. It starts with Gonzalez. so it's just Reese just you know the way he wrote that put it in Gonzalez's camp which is just come on Gonzalez does and should want his money if Derek Stingley got paid this offseason and Sauce Gardner got paid this offseason I mean by this offseason their third after their third year and they got the bank and they got the bag then you know what Chris Gonzalez is going to want of course he's going to want 30 million a year probably guaranteed like Derek Stingley got then there's no question what he wants is the team going to do it that's the question and i still don't know i still don't know wolf made it sound like no rabel wouldn't even go there but believe you me if they start doing other things then you then i don't think they're going to do gonzalez has to go first yeah they can't dink around with this guy and i think that rabel also has invested interest beyond the money again you're going to preach this whole culture we're in it together buy-in, now it's contract time and, oh, no, we're not going to pay you? Or, you know, we're going to pay you less? They're not going to go for that. I'll say this again. I'd pay him. He proved it. He proved he's worth it. But if you're not, if you're going to dick around and you're going to spend elsewhere and not have enough, oh, we don't have enough for Gonzalez at the end of the day that he took too long and he's got another year on his contract. We're going to do this thing and then all of a sudden he's going to have another hamstring injury and we're going to play this game? Trade him for two first-round picks. Just, you know, So instead of doing, like, again, pay them. But if you're not and you do that dance that you like to do, trade them and get two first-round picks. And, you know, don't have that thing stretch out into the summer like it may have last year, I guess. Once again, Jimmy, I'm sorry I'm so late. Update. Then we're right back. Don't go anywhere. Hi, I'm Sean Flaherty, managing partner of Catcher's Law Group. At Catcher's Law, we're proud of our roots. For more than 40 years, we've been part of this community, raising families, cheering for the Patriots, and fighting for our neighbors. Being named the official law firm of the New England Patriots isn't just an honor. It's a reflection of what we stand for, loyalty, strength, and community. Whether you been hurt on the job or are suffering from years of physical wear and tear we are here for you Visit KetchesLaw or call us today to schedule your free consultation Now more of the show that gets Boston home Felger and Mass on 98.5 The Sports Hub. All right, two of your phones on everything here, as promised. Dakota and Braintree set us straight, Dakota, with the real story. Go ahead. All right, I don't know if you guys heard a lot of things, but one first on digs. The reason that Cardi B had gotten that whole thing was one of his baby mamas showed up at the hotel four days before the game, earlier that week. And as for the hotel itself, and I have a question for you after I give you this information, which you may or may not have heard. I want you to ask the question, would Bill Belichick handle this? Now, let me preface this. I love Mike Grable. I think he's phenomenal. I can't wait for next season. But did you know that the players, the week of the Super Bowl, stayed with their families in the hotel room, including the night before the Super Bowl? So, no, I didn't know that. How do you know? Are you sure, Dakota? And how unusual is that? Michael, 100%. Like the, that means 40. No, it's not, Tony. 100% the players, the wives, girlfriends, families, were allowed to stay all week in the same hotel, same rooms as the players, including the night before. So that doesn't exist? That's not the way that that's done? No. No. Even during regular home games, they usually treat them as an away game. The wives, the families are always separated, even more so the night before, a Super Bowl. Go ask anybody, Mike. It's unheard of. Now, I know Vrabel, which, again, I'd love, and this is not a trash on Vrabel. I just question that decision because there's no way in hell that Bill Belichick would have ever let that happen. Okay. So is that why they lost the Super Bowl because they had their families with him? I just don't know what to do with that. First of all, I don't believe it. Or I don't, you know, I don't, I just don't believe it because you're saying it to go to. You might be right. You could very easily be wrong. And is it really that big of a fact? Is it that unusual? What do teams do with that? So, look, it may have evolved. I mean, obviously, we all like them to be sort of often by themselves and everybody focused. But I don't know. Maybe that has changed. So I guess the problem. It's all moot. They're going to get squashed that day anyway. The Seahawks were better than them. If Steph Diggs brought four gals like that, then the room gets a little crowded, you see. Well, you would think. And that's maybe a little loud. It's a problem. I'd think about four rooms adjoining maybe if you want to go that route. Danny Quincy, what do you got today, Danny? Oh, God, we're hitting all the big ones today. Oh, yeah. Well, hey, listen, you were talking about Bregman earlier. You just can't let this Bregman thing go. Now you dig it up. I thought Devis was a dead issue with you, Felger. Alex Bregman posted a picture of them dapping up with smiles as wide as San Francisco out there. Do you see that? Listen, when Bregman, I'm going to give him a break. If he plays 150 games for Chicago and he's 80% of what he was in Houston, then he can shake his derriere at me and everybody else, okay? Until that happens. And we had the argument when, you know, I said, what was wrong with letting him go? And Sam Kennedy come out with a statement, if he wanted to be here, he would have been. But that's a true statement. No, it's not. Oh, it's not. He had a player option. He exercised it. It's disingenuous. The only reason he signed with Boston was because of that player option. Otherwise, he never would have came to Boston. And Cora had to kiss his ass to bring him here. These guys want to go where there's the best deal. You know that. and that's their right, and they should do that. No, you're obsessed with sticking up for the player no matter what. No matter what, you take the player's side. What's your excuse for bringing up Devis now? That poison pill had to go. I thought we settled that. Are you listening or watching on the same day? They posted a picture together. Who cares? Who cares? It's a fun picture. That picture's great. That's Alex Bregman, and Alex Bregman was the one who posted it. So Alex Breitman, when he was asked last week about Sam Kennedy's comments about if he wanted to be here, he'd be here. He didn't say anything. But he just did with that picture. Look at us. Look at this. We're out. Ha, ha, ha, or whatever. Exactly. He didn't put any words to it. Escape from Alcatraz. But he had. How'd they try to F you? Oh, they painted me as a pain in the ass club. Yeah, they wouldn't give me a trade clause. F them. Ha, ha, ha. We're out of that hell hole. But Danny, you may have been listening earlier. The Red Sox can easily turn that picture around on those guys. They just need Caleb Durbin to be a legit everyday starting third baseman or even better, Marcelo Meyer to be that guy. The both of them, young, affordable, the future. There's your post. If I'm the Red Sox, I keep that picture. And if at the end of the year, Meyer or Durbin are a legit high-end everyday third baseman that you're getting good production from, I repost that picture and put $525 million on top of Devers and Bregman. I'm just eyeballing that number. Their combined total contracts, isn't Devers like $300 million? Yeah. Oh, yeah. And Bregman signed for $200 something? $175. Okay, so. Half a billion dollars. Half a billion dollars. Those two guys dapping it up on the spring training field in Scottsdale, Arizona. Beaming. Look at us. We're out of that bleep hole. But you repost that picture in October. $475 million. And then on the left, you post a picture of Caleb Durbin with the AL East leading Boston Red Sox. $746,000. It's a good picture. Sure it is. You win. Or Marcelo Meyer, the future. And those two are on the other side. And my leadoff thought today is why it's PR-wise, it'd be so much better if they just put Marcelo Meyer there at third base from day one and said, this is our guy why don't we pay Alex Bregman why didn't we pay Rafi Devers you're looking at him the franchise the future right here at third base except they're making Marcelo Meyer battle for second base against four Scribini's and they traded for Caleb Durbin to put a third which tells you how much they must really hate Marcelo Meyer so that was our lead-off thought Danny you may have missed it no and the only thing I would add to Danny is Danny is under the illusion that the Alex Bregman thing is about Alex Bregman. It's not. They want to let Alex Bregman go, fine. No problem. See you later. But they could have had a lineup this year with Devers in theory. Devers, Bregman, and Roman Anthony in the middle of it. The only guy they have is Anthony. Did they replace the other two? No. But I'm just telling you, if we don't sign Devers, we don't sign Bregman, but you have the future, the franchise, the guy and Marcelo Meyer that's palatable so why don't you do everything you can to make sure Marcelo Meyer is the guy but they were so afraid of Marcelo Meyer at that spot that they last minute I mean this the deal didn't happen till late in the offseason they traded for Caleb Durbin who I know got rookie of the year votes last year but is a borderline everyday player trust me the Brewers would not have gotten rid of him otherwise. So something's up with them and Marcelo Meyer is really what that shows. Yeah. They don't like the play. They don't like the player or, or, you know, they're giving them one last chance to kick them in the ass. I mean, when you add all this up, because it's not solely about Durbin, it's also about all the other guys. They have a second base. All of a sudden they're now options. Mikey Romero's an option at second base at Montessaro. And who's the other guy? Carter for Lefa. All these guys are all candidates at second base. and they brought in Durbin. And you have the fourth overall pick sitting there? Right. They want to get rid of Meyer. I mean, if I had to guess, I'm not telling you I know that. I'm just telling you, if I had to guess, right now, they are looking to move Marcelo Meyer. Well, they had an opportunity to for Kettle Marte, and then they didn't because he was the wrench in the deal. I know, which is why it doesn't make sense, Murray. It's almost like the organization is run by a bunch of idiots. It's weird. I agree. But it feels like they, you know, So, you know, they're probably trying to, you know, pride him. Yeah, goose him, exactly. They're trying to goose him to get it out of him. But the point is, he's not playing to their expectation. There's a reset of our leadoff item today, so we're going to have to do it at 5 o'clock. Here's Anthony in the car, quickly. So, I just, I couldn't agree with Jimmy Stewart more. I think Jamin Brown's just way more decisive with the ball. I can't stand watching Jason Tatum dribble the ball for 21 seconds and then wait to get double teamed and throw up a terrible shot. So I think when Jason Tatum comes back, I think Jalen Brown should just be clearly our number one. You know, on paper, maybe Jason Tatum's more talented, but Jalen Brown might be more effective at winning. I think that's the difference. Do you think Jason Tatum and the coach feel the same way? No, I know they don't, which is what infuriates me because I'm afraid that when he comes back, we're just going to go to that way more ISO heavy style. I think the team looks way better when Jalen Brown can be more decisive with the ball. Okay. In the regular season, most people agree. And the postseason, the pressure ramps up and his handle comes in. Brown's handle comes into play and he kicks the ball away a lot. The final game against the Knicks, he turned it over seven times. When Tatum rolled his ankle against Miami, Brown had eight turnovers and nine field goals. Okay, like I've seen that story. You don't think Brown's evolved? I think he's better than he was. I don't think he will be the type of distributor and, you know, ball handler that Tatum is ever. I like Jalen Brown as PG1. It was what the caller called and point guard 1. All I'm just telling you is it's all within them to figure it out. Yes. And they should figure it out. You shouldn't accept anything less. We continue with your calls off the top of the hour. Don't go anywhere. Raise yourself. Raise yourself. More pellic red masses on the way on the SportsZone. Hey, it's Maz for the Bernardi Auto Group. Big doings going on right now at Audi Natick. You can lose the lease. Not lose. Lease. Lease. lease the all-new 2025 Audi Q5 from $525 per month for 39 months with $4,525 down MSRP $54,930. 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