Hour 1: More Concerned with Spurs or Confident in Knicks?

From 30 for 30 podcasts. Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing what's about. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction. They're placing the arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now. You can already feel the buzz and anticipation. Big time matchup between the Spurs and the Knicks. Fronts and off the dribble, right wing three. Have some of that. First trying to get it back to single digits. Wembenyama, pump fake. Wembenyama throws it down. Oh, baby over Ananobi. That's not the answer. No. Bridges all the way in for the flush. San Antonio throws it away. Harper forced a pass inside. And red by Bridges will go coast to coast for a two-hand slam. It's a game-high 18-point lead for the Knicks. And the New York Knicks will snap the Spurs' 11-game winning streak. They fall to the Knicks. 114-89. That's right. It's a happy Monday here in New York for those Knicks fans. Good morning, everyone. Shea Cornette here with you. Vincent Goodwill with us as well. Stephen A., good morning to you. Brian Wynhorse, hello. Hello, hello. So, first of all, let me see Vinny for a second here. Let me see what he rocking this morning. Oh, so now we went from being sharp as a tack and rocking the tie and everything, and then all of a sudden we're going to change up because Dan Oloski and others try to come on without the tie, and then I came on without the tie because I had a wardrobe malfunction because I spilled something on it, and now we feel okay. He's been two weeks on the damn job, and look what he's doing right now. We'll deal with you later. Wendy, it's good to see you with the tie. Shay, I hope you had a beautiful, wonderful weekend and the whole bit. And we'll get into it later. But we ain't going to start off the show today without me giving props to my alma mater, Winston-Salem State University. The women's basketball team won the CIAA championship for the first time in history. Girls, y'all, oh, I'm loving y'all right now. I'll deal with y'all later. I'm going to talk about you more later. But I'm so proud. I'm so proud of my Winston-Salem State University and the women handling their business, doing what they do. I just wanted to start out the show by giving love to my peeps down at Winston-Salem State. Now we can start the show. I love that. Congrats to the ladies. That's awesome. Thanks for putting us on that. All right, let's go to the garden and what happened yesterday because the Spurs went to MSG and they were on an 11-game win streak. They were shut down by the Knicks, 114-89. Spurs started strong. They jumped out to an early lead, but the Knicks and that 26-2 run propelled them to the W. Mikkel Bridges at 25 points, Jalen Brunson at 24. It was all too much for San Antonio, who committed 22 turnovers. Here's Wemby after the loss. You guys had a month where you didn't lose, and then you all of a sudden had one pretty rough afternoon. How seriously do you take that? Do you see the sort of regression to the mean in a way? Regression? No. I mean, no, I don't see any regression. I think it's good for us to see this kind of adversity. I mean, we want to play the best teams, you know, and this is a top playoff, you know, top seed team. It's a playoff team, experienced. They know what it's like, you know, and they gave us a good showing today. Did they give Wendy an extra large mic because he's Wendy? What's going on there? Anyways, Vince, you were at the Garden yesterday. You witnessed this all firsthand. Obviously, yes, the Spurs were on such a win streak, and then it all kind of came crumbling down yesterday. Does this say more about the Knicks and where they're at or the Spurs and where they're at? Stephen A., prepare to grab your heart. You know, prepare to tell Elizabeth you're about to come home to her. All right? Because I think it says a lot about the New York Knicks. I think this is the most complete game offensively and defensively that I've seen this team play in quite a long time, especially on the defensive end. San Antonio came in this month shooting 50% from the field, almost 40 from three. They were completely shut down. Victor Wimanyama had seven turnovers at 22 overall. Steve, it shows me that on a given day, the Knicks' best game is as good as anybody's best game in the NBA. We didn't say a word about Carl Towns. We didn't say a word about, man, is Jalen Brunson dribbling the ball too much? We didn't say anything about the things that normally come up for the Knicks whenever anything goes wrong, and that's because they have so many weapons. Look, they threw Diora out there, and he was taking a shot a minute, and it didn't even bother him. And that's why I'm not predicting the Knicks are going to the finals. I'm not backtracking off anything like that. but it's good for the Knicks to see that on a given game, high-stakes competition, Victor Wimbenyama, who put up 40 against you in the Garden last Christmas, the NBA Cup and all that stuff that happened in December, that they can raise their game on a given night and play complete basketball. It was actually surprising to see, and I know a lot of Knicks fans were happy to see that, just like you. You didn't say anything about Carl Anthony Towns. He did such a good job on Wendy. There was nothing really to say. Go ahead, Wendy. Did you see Shea when Victor was, we just ran that clip of him in the postgame and he was talking about the Knicks. He said, they're a top. And then he thought about it for a second because this is what happens with the Knicks. You go, they're a top two, three, five, seven, one. It depends on the day because obviously he was pretty impressed yesterday with them, but I'm sure he watched other film where he hasn't been impressed. And look, this is just what the Knicks fans are going to have to come to terms with. your team can beat anybody and your team can lose to anybody. Now, if you take a step back, Stephen A., the Knicks have been playing some pretty good basketball. They've won 14 of their last 18 games. That's not unbelievable, but it's pretty good. I read in Vince's story today that he wrote on ESPN.com that over the last month, they're the number five defensive team in the league. I think their numbers from January 1st are right about the same spot. We know they can defend. And look, if you're expecting Mikael Bridges to look like Scottie Pippen every night, like last night he has 25 points and five steals, you're going to be let down. You think Carl Towns is going to look like Tim Duncan, although he had his 41st double-double yesterday. That's most in the league. If you expect that to happen every night, you are going to be let down. And I hear the New York Knicks fans being let down, talking about what they don't have. But this Eastern Conference is flawed, guys. and the Knicks, when they're at the top of their game, as they showed yesterday, can beat anybody. And that's where we're going to go into this playoffs knowing. Well, listen, contrary to what you believe, Vinny, I'm not going to sit up there and say that this was, you know, it's a shocker for what the New York Knicks did. I'm pleasantly surprised, and I think this says more about the New York Knicks in certain respects. I'm still going to go with the Spurs as the answer to this question, and I'll tell you why in a minute. But let me look at the New York Knicks for a second because it is my team. I mean, it's a beautiful week in between the Lady Rams and Winston Salem and now the New York Knicks. It was a beautiful, beautiful Sunday for me. Beautiful, beautiful. OK, but let's get to the bottom line. When we look at the New York Knicks, did we see an aberration? Did we see what we should have been seeing all along? Did we see what we expect to see when it comes to Mikael Bridges having 25 points and five steals on 59 percent shooting? The answer to that is no. We need that on a more consistent basis. I look at the Carl Anthony Towns averaging 14 points and nine and nine shots over the last three games. Is that going to get it done in the playoffs? I don't think so. I think I need to see him be a bit more aggressive, more assertive and more involved. But nevertheless, the New York Knicks handled their business. They went on like a 26 to two run. They were absolutely sensational in the second quarter. This is after they missed 14 of their first 18 shots. So major props to them for turning this around. I'm going to tell you why the answer to this question, Vinny and Wendy, is more about the Spurs. Didn't Kendrick Perkins come on national TV last week and pick the San Antonio Spurs to go to the finals to win the number one seed in the West? Correct me if I'm wrong, Wendy. I think he did. I think he might have said he could win the whole title. That's right. He said number one seed in the West going to the finals. And I don't recall whether he said they were going to win it all or not, But I know you said they were going to the finals. They were going to be the number one seed. Obviously, long road trip. You got you can't expect them. Twenty six percent for three point range. They look lethargic for the last three quarters of the game. That's not the San Antonio Spurs team we can expect to see. Do we really expect to see when we commit seven turnovers? You know, do we really expect to see that one to seven from three point range? I don't think we can expect to see that from him. Can we expect to see a De'Aaron Fox and a Castro to be as anemic as they were? No, we don't need to expect that. We don't need to get caught up in that thinking that that's going to be a continuation. We don't need to expect that. I think that would be a mistake on all of our parts. But still in all, watching the Knicks run them out the building the way that they did yesterday, particularly with Wemby having about 25 and 13, it does bring into question how reliable all the other dudes around Wemby are going to be come playoff time. They won't be as exhausted. There won't be any back to backs in the postseason. But still in all, they're a relatively young team. And when you look at it from that standpoint and see them exposed at the presence of the garden and has that how that roar just descended down upon them. And it seemed to overwhelm them. Obviously, their fatigue, you know, the long road trip had a lot to do with it. But you still saw some vulnerabilities with the San Antonio Spurs, which goes back to my point. I don't have them capturing the number one seed in the West. I don't have them winning the West. I think ultimately they end up running into a juggernaut and it's a bit too much for them to overcome. Whether it's the likes of Oklahoma City, Denver, or dare I say even the Minnesota Timberwolves. Everything you look at, you just saw a team yesterday that gave you every indication when it really, really counts. Will they be formidable? Can they win? Sure. But they can also be had. That's not what we were seeing from the San Antonio Spurs, but we saw it yesterday. Wendy, to Stephen A's point here, I know you've come on here multiple times and said it's their experience that worries you. Did yesterday give you another cause for pause? Yeah, I'm not going to react to overreact yesterday because like Stephen A said, so they haven't played in San Antonio since February 7th. Although one of the things we're praising them about is they had this 11-game win streak pretty much all on the road. They played some home games in Austin, but I don count that they were in a hotel So you know you have to you know you can give them credit for being great on the road and dismiss it but I not going to overreact to a noon game at the Garden What I will say is this If you creating a case for why the Spurs aren going to win you saw it yesterday They didn't handle it when the Knicks threw some punches at them. You know, it was a 19-0 run in the second quarter. You're not going to win a playoff game, most likely, where you give up a 19-0 run on the road. So you see stuff like that. How are they going to handle those situations? And then the thing that's sort of been the one thing you could tug at their cape on all year long is their three-point shooting. Now, their three-point shooting has been better during this streak. In fact, it's arguable that you could almost retire them as not a good three-point shooting team. When you see, like when they go into Detroit last Monday and they had that really nice win over the Pistons, they killed it from three in that game. But they are still, as a team, inconsistent on three-point shots. And when they get to the playoffs, the opposing teams, when they get to do game plans that are fully set up for a playoff series, they're going to force them into taking threes. And they're going to want Victor Wimbanyama to take threes. They are still a bottom 10 three-point percentage shooting team. And whether you like it or not, the NBA is still very much of a three-point league. And if you enter the playoff series where you get outshot from three, and I think the Spurs can out-shoot teams from three, because you're going to see games where Victor does hit five, six, seven threes. But that is where their weak spot is, their experience and their three-point shooting. I'm just going to say, Shea, I am not going to put a limitation on them. Stephen A. can make great points, and he could end up being exactly right. But they are not going to do something that is going to surprise me this year. Because of Wembenyama and because of what this team has going for it, nothing that they will do will surprise me but I don't have an expectation that they will accomplish the highest level yet I'll be surprised if they go to the finals this year just because of the present this group together guys has not even been to the playoffs and been through a seven game series Victor Wimbanyama is only averaging 30 minutes a night and then you're going to ask him to play 40 minutes a night every other night the game plans are heavier, the attention is more the physicality is ramped up and for a player like that that's going to affect him a lot more than maybe your average player just because he's so tall in the way that the games are officiated. I never believed that the Spurs this season were a real threat to get to the NBA Finals just because of that experience level and Oklahoma City in a seven-game series, Denver in a seven-game series, Minnesota in a seven-game series. Those teams are all experienced. Those teams have all been there. Minnesota, we write them off, but they've gone to the Western Conference Finals the last two years. Oklahoma City is the defending champions. Denver still has championship DNA. To beat one or two of those teams, I can't see that this year. I think they are two years ahead of schedule. Maybe this time next year we can have a real conversation about it. I want to see them win a playoff series first before saying three playoff wins in that Western Conference. That's a little bit too much for me. Go ahead, Stephen A. We also got to keep in mind a couple of other things. Number one, not only do they struggle occasionally from the three-point side like Wendy pointed out. But they were also out-rebounded on the offensive glass 18-10. You pull Wendy Yama away from the basket to some degree. Obviously, that's something that you can exploit. Come playoff time, that's more bites at the apple. You don't need that problem if you're the San Antonio Spurs and you struggle to win from three-point range. That's number one. Number two, let's give the Knicks credit because we're going to do that on this show. Since January 21st, ladies and gentlemen, The New York Knicks are tied for the best record in the Eastern Conference at 14 and 4. They're number one in defensive rating, number one in net rating, number one in assist to turnover ratio, and opponents points off turnovers. They are the best in the National Basketball Association. So I like that. I'm seeing that. I think it's important to bring that up because as we reflect on what we've seen from Mike Brown, who we know can coach okay the bottom line is we just have to put it out there tom thibodeau's name is going to be mentioned unless mike brown gets them to a conference finals and gets them just as close if not closer to an nba finals berth why because the new york knicks were considered like cardiac kids over the last couple of years yeah they ended up losing both times to halliburton and the indiana paces and i get that part injuries derailed them the first go around in that seven game semifinal series last year they blew game one and they never recovered let's just keep it a buck but in the end when you look at them they've been considered to be like cardiac kids overachievers their grit and their grind was what made you fall in love with them it didn't matter who they were going up against it didn't matter what the circumstances were they were scrappy they fought you tooth and nail they had that bite they let you know you were going to be in a dog fight That's what you saw when you saw the New York Knicks over the last two years, especially come playoff time. The problem is you're wondering where that has been on too many occasions this season on the defensive side of the ball. Yeah, they've improved and they've had a lot of great moments. But then you go up to Detroit and you get annihilated. You get your ass kicked. See, that's the difference. If you sit up there, you just have an aberration. Let's say, for example, Vinny, Wendy, that they were going up against Orlando or they were going up against Atlanta or somebody that, you know, that in all likelihood they would beat. That's your belief. You believe they would beat him. All right. That was an off night. But this is the number one seed in the Eastern Conference who you knocked out five games last year, whose coach came on national television on this show telling the world, oh, we want y'all. We going to get y'all back. They walk into this season. They've got the best record in the conference. They don't beat you. They kick your living ass. They beat you by 30 the first go round. All right. We're going to see what's going to happen the next go round. The next go round, they up by 40. OK, they up by 40. Then they walk into your house without a front line, without Jalen Duren, without Isaiah Stewart, both suspended because of the beef with Charlotte, and they beat you by double digits, and Kay Cunningham replicates Kobe, LeBron, Steph, MJ, or whomever you want to pick by dropping 42 and 13 on your home court without his full squad. This is the kind of stuff that we're looking at. So we see a Knicks team that can, could they beat Boston? Sure. Could they beat Cleveland? Sure. Could they beat Atlanta and Orlando and Miami and all these other teams? Sure. What we're looking at and where the trepidation kicks in is that Tom Thibodeau's team beat Detroit in five. And you have the team this year under Mike Brown and they sweep the floor with you. They run you out of the state. They give a new they show that immigration issues actually exist in the world of sports because the New York Knicks might not be allowed in the state of Michigan. That's how bad it's been. The kind of beat down that they got. You got to you got to make amends for that. You got to make sure that kind of stuff gets eradicated. And obviously we won't know until playoff time whether that's going to happen or not. But that's the situation with the New York Knicks right now. Well, let me just say this, Stephen. So then if you're a Knicks fan, you should be rooting for the Spurs to win every game. Because if you get to the finals, because you beat the Spurs twice in regular season, you should be able to handle them in the final. Last year they got walloped all season by the Celtics and ended up coming back and winning. The regular season and the playoffs are two different things. I know it's two different things but the point is is that Boston to me were the reigning defending NBA champions with a superiority complex they had a great season they know they could beat anybody they're going up against the Knicks and they got shot because the Knicks got all up in them and and and fought them like dogs and obviously got the better of them that's entirely different than a team on the come up who you've knocked off who's sick and tired of playing the fair where the stepchild to you has announced that they're coming for you and then they've done it y'all cover the game you know it's a different flavor when something like that is going on that's what i'm talking about the detroit pistons scare me and i think that if you're a new york nick fan you should be looking at the eastern conference yeah it's tough and yeah you're gonna be in a fight but there's one team that stands above the knicks with their foot on their necks telling them we're bust your ass again and they keep doing it you gotta answer that at some point in time you gotta answer that call my issue with the knicks is not about any other team my issue with the knicks is about the detroit pistons to me they are the best team in the eastern conference who have a personal axe to grind against the new york knicks and they treat their competition against the new york knicks like that, punching them in the face and then saying, what you going to do about it? And the New York Knicks have said, nothing. Nah, you got to answer. You got to answer. All right, you can't be getting pimp slapped like that. You got to answer that call. So it's nice to see them win yesterday. And it's going to be nice to see them make amends and beat Cleveland. Hopefully you'll do that. And Jalen Brown in Boston is coming and Jason Tatum might come back. All right, fine. But you can't have somebody rolling up on you and just treating you like you're nothing and you do nothing about that, that is unacceptable in the game of basketball. Unacceptable. My brother is nervous. Yes, I am. He's nervous. Yes, I am. I'm not denying it. I'm not denying it. When have I denied it? I'm not denying it. I've been saying for weeks Detroit Pistons have me nervous. Stephen A., Eastern Conference Finals, me and you are going to hang out in Detroit. That's what we're going to do. No, no, no. I mean, I'm good with the peeps in Detroit. I got a few. We know. We know, Steve. I'm good. I'm good. I've been downtown the whole bit. I'm looking forward to going. I'm just saying, when I'm in that basketball arena, no, I'm going to be rooting for the Knicks, but I'm being nervous as hell because I doubt the Knicks can beat the Pistons. I've said it publicly, and I'm going to say it again. I'm not going to believe they can beat the Pistons until I see them do it because the Pistons have a personal ax to grind, And the New York Knicks have not responded to that call out. They have not responded to that. That is unacceptable. That is unacceptable. What he's saying is games like yesterday maybe give Knicks fans a little bit of false hope until they face the Pistons next. That's kind of what I got. Very good, Shea. Very good. Very good. Very good summary. Absolutely. All right. He's all serious and nervous. We're going to make him laugh now. We got a quick take. Before the Kings lost to the Lakers last night, Sacramento head coach Doug Christie He had an interesting way of getting psyched. Sniffing some smelling salts here. Just trying to get a little, yep, a little loosey-goosey there before the game. Oh, didn't go down the way I don't think he expected it to go down. Stephen A., smelling salts. Smelling salts. Go ahead. Out the floor. Let me say this. I haven spoken to Doug Christie in years Absolutely wonderful guy I miss him Much love to you my brother and the wife We know about the wife Jack, we know. Hey, how you doing? Your sister, haven't spoken to her in years as well. All I'm saying to you is this. I haven't spoken to them in years, don't know. I haven't seen him or spoken to them or whatever, but they were always wonderful to me. But Doug Christie has always, always been a bit different. There is nothing ordinary about him. And that's not a bad thing. It's not an insult. He knows it's coming from a place of love. He knows. I always had love for him. But he is, he different. There's nothing about him that you see him do and you go like this. That's typical. That's normal. No. He's very, very, very different. I just want to say that. I don't know personal situation. I just know years ago, you know, him and the wife, I used to say hi to them all the time. They were wonderful to me. I don't know anything about the situation, but I'm just, I don't know anything. I see you, Vinny. I don't know anything, but I'm just telling you that with him, he's always been a victim. Go ahead, Vinny. Two Americas. Within the same America. Two of them. Okay, we'll leave that there with the smelling salt and we'll move on. Two Americas. America. Coming up here on First Take, Jalen Brown. Listen, Jay, some of those fans need smelling salts with some of those lineups the Kings have played. That's fair. That's fair. Maybe she's shared with the crowd. Anyways, coming up here on First Take, Jalen Brown has been cooking this season. He kept it going against the 76ers. Are they the real team, though, to beat in the East? Plus, Jerry Jones, of course, has some interesting comments about what he plans to do in free agency. But do we even believe him at this point? The giveaway, he wants to spend a lot money more first take coming your way next. First take is brought to you by Liberty Mutual Insurance. Only pay for what you need. Well they said this could not be done winning the first three races of a NASCAR season. No one has ever done it. Not since 1949. It happens today. The repeat for Tyler Reddick. How 23-11 in Toyota. Great work. What can you say about the domination by your team today? It's time for change. Time for change. And the guys feel the same thing. And, you know, Tyler came in with the most pressure, I guess. Everybody expected him or he had a chance to win three in a row. That's the hardest one to win, you know. And he kept to his strategy. And, man, the guys put together a great car, man. Look, I just put up the money. I'm just a competitor, but I think Zini's done an unbelievable job in terms of helping build this team, and I think the team has done a good job in just taking our leadership and going out and winning. That's what it's about, winning. That championship aura. Look at this. Tyler Reddick channeling his inner MJ, posting this to X3P Pose, just like his team's co-owner Michael Jordan did. So time for a quick take here now. Yes, Tyler Reddick became the first driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to win his first three races of a season. He won the season opener, Daytona 500, then a week later in Atlanta. Then he won from pole position over the weekend on the first road race course of the year. S.A., is it the MJ aura? What's your reaction to this? Well, listen, you could call it that the bottom line is the man wins. It's just that simple, okay? We know about the six rings and the illustrious, incomparable NBA career. We know about that, okay? You know, he sells his majority share in the Charlotte Hornets, and look at how they're looking right now. And then you sit up there, and you're the second black principal owner in NASCAR history, okay, to win championships. That's what we're talking about. I mean, think about that. Second black principal owner in NASCAR history to win the Daytona 500 last month, and that was joining former North Carolina Tar Heel Brad Doherty as well. And then to have your driver win three in a row to start this season, You know, you just can't say enough about it. It's a beautiful thing. I've always known what NASCAR means to him and what have you. And it's just, I mean, it's just opening the floodgates. And then take this into consideration, Shea. The man just settled through a federal antitrust lawsuit with NASCAR. And a lot of people deemed that he won in that regard. So he's sitting up there being a pioneer that he is, not in front of the cameras per se, but paving the way for so many others and opening doors we never thought would be open. it's historic in a lot of different ways and it's fitting that Michael Jordan is the face of it all. It really, really is. And I love it. To him and Tyler Reddick. Yes, congratulations both of them. I love that picture and the pose and how they both leaned into that as well, helping each other out. Historic indeed. Love that. Maybe we'll do another quick take on this in the next couple of weeks as NASCAR season continues. Let's go to the Cowboys though now. They finished the season not so great. 7-9-1 last season. Their big glaring weakness was their defense, which finished at or near the bottom in the league in most statistical categories. They also hired a new defensive coordinator, and now Jerry Jones is vowing to be a big spender this offseason. I would bet that we will spend more money in free agency than we have. I look at where we are with Dak, and I look at where he is in his career, and I look at some of the pluses that we have on our front and what we think we can do there and what we can do with Pickens and Lamb and what we can do with our running back that we just signed. And so all of those things, I want to do everything we possibly can to stop somebody and to basically win some third downs more than we did last year. And so I think that would be the area that you would see me bust the budget. Bust the budget, says Jerry Jones, at least on the defensive side of the ball. Dan Orlowski and Peter Schrager are joining us here now. And Schrager, what do you think? Do you believe what Jerry is saying? He's going to put his money where his mouth is? I want to set the stage a little bit coming just back from Indianapolis. You walk down these streets in Indianapolis. Every team is there. They're all wearing their logos. You turn a corner, and I'm going to tell you something, nothing against Indianapolis. There's not a lot of Louis Vuitton and Giorgio Armani on the streets there in Indianapolis during February. There is a giant double-decker cruiser with the Dallas Cowboys star emblazoned on it right there on Washington Street in downtown Indianapolis, basically saying, here's our flag, we are planting it, and we are going to be letting it known to everybody that we are here. And Jerry's telling it like it is. They're going to spend. They have money to spend, and they have a need. This is a defense that was atrocious last year. They already hired a 34-year-old whiz kid defensive coordinator in Christian Parker, who comes from the Vic Fangio School in Philadelphia and just got done being the mentor and tutor to Cooper Dejean and Quinion Mitchell there in Philly. I look at this free agency class. Jalen Phillips, Devin Lloyd, Alante Taylor, Boye Mafé, Tariq Woolen. All of those names would be names that I am imagining that Jerry, Stephen, and Will McClay will have their eyes on. They also have the 12th and the 20th pick in a very deep defensive draft. There is a chance that Cowboys come out and day one after free agency, we're saying, wow, well, that's been unlike them the last couple of years. They've got the money, they've got the needs, and they have the desire and will with Jerry. Now, another offseason into his career saying that was a year that was kind of wasted last season where we didn't make the playoffs. I expect Dallas to be big players and putting up those Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani prices in free agency. I don't know anything about those brands. I do. I think if you've been paying attention really since Super Bowl, I'm in the small camp that thinks that there's just another window for Dallas opening. And I think that I believe Jerry Jones' comments because the NFC is wide open, even still coming off of Seattle kind of dominating. If we just, there's a lot that can change throughout the offseason, no question. But if we're sitting here going, okay, what teams do we have high expectations for in the NFC right now that we truly believe are going to carry into August, September? I would tell you, yes, Seattle, but Seattle also can get raided. And if I was Dallas, I would raid Seattle with some of their talent. And they're going to have a new offensive coordinator. The Rams, no question about it. And Chicago and Green Bay are teams that we can bank on. Other than that, Philadelphia's got some question marks. There's going to be a new offensive coordinator. Detroit missed the playoffs. Detroit, new offensive coordinator. Chicago, I think we can bank on them. And Minnesota doesn't necessarily have a starting quarterback right now. And so if you're Dallas and you're Jerry Jones and you know you've got a championship caliber offense, you're not as bad as your defense was last year. You're not that far away on defense. You get two or three impactful players and really on the edges of your defense and at linebacker. Oh, God. I think you've got a chance to contend right away. I truly do. Before I get to the ridiculous football point that he just made, so we're trying to imitate Mr. Chippendales now. We ain't got no tie on. And then on top of it all, we had some cheap-looking chain dangling that you just stuck in your shirt. You know, I was trying to look at what that chain looked like. You know, what was that you were trying to rock? It certainly ain't platinum because you're too cheap. It's a chain that I got on Father's Day years ago. And it's, yes, a cheap chain. My bad. It's not a cheap chain. It's not a cheap chain. It's from your lovely children. I'm sorry. I apologize for that. Dizzy, to your football point, Mr. Ridiculous, there's nobody, Peter, there's nobody like, and I've tried to tell this to Shea, they're not getting it because she wasn't here when he did it. There's nobody like Dan Olofsky. He's one of a kind. He's absolutely positively one of a kind, ladies and gentlemen. This is the same dude last year that sat up there and said, that was kind of pretty good. I mean you take away like about eight teams and then name the eight teams. They're pretty good. But seven make the playoffs. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. I never get over that. It's the sound bite of the year. The sound bite of the year. And now here he is fast forwarding to the first day in March. Here this brother is right here today. Dallas Cowboys not that far away. Just two or three players. Really, that's what we're doing? That's what we're doing. Just two or three players, Peter. That's all. That's all, Peter. Just two or three players on defense. I mean we get that. I mean everything will change. Like, that's not a big deal. Two or three players is a big deal. You understand? There's a lot of teams whose defense would be exponentially better if they got two or three players. You act like that's nothing. It's a lot. The Cowboys have the capital and ammunition to acquire. That's the difference between them and some other teams. Okay, okay, okay. Well, now let's pay attention to that. So this cap money, cap's over a third about, refresh my memory, Pete, I think the cap is over $301 million. $301 million per last week. $301 million. There we go. There we go. I got it. So you, if you're the Dallas Cowboys in order to create some cap space, you got to restructure Dax deal. You got to restructure CD Lambs deal. You got to restructure probably Tyler Smith's deal along with a couple of others. This while you playing while you franchising George Pickens which is not necessarily the thing Now from a business perspective it makes sense From a morale perspective think about all of that Along with the moves that you need to make in terms of what you need to acquire to buffer your defense are we supposed to trust that the Dallas Cowboys are going to get all of those things in order? I don't. Please, trust, trust. I mean, please. And then my buddy, Jerry Jones, because we all know I got love for him. I got so much love for them. I might root for the Cowboys this year because I'm sick and tired. It's been 30 years. I've been right every year. It's been 30 years. I'm tired of being right. I want to be wrong. I want them to actually get to a Super Bowl. It might be nice, okay? It might be nice, all right? Especially with it being in so far. And you know I'll be there. But here's the deal. Jones quote, make no mistake about it. I don't have a higher priority than to go and win a Super Bowl. Peter Schrager. Yes. Before you started your soliloquy on this segment What's the first thing? Did you mention football? Did you mention the defense? Did you mention the offensive? I mentioned a nice luxury cruise What's the first thing you mentioned about the Cowboys? I mentioned a bus Yeah You see? You see what I'm saying? So they made sure they're going to get noticed They made sure they're going to be conspicuous They made sure that you're going to see them But they've done nothing yet They've done nothing yet You see, this is what I'm talking about. So you're going to sit up here and act like with all of these things needing to happen, that that's not going to somehow get in the way of Dallas Cowboys getting it right. I say it is. Okay, Stephen A. Okay, wait, hold on a second, though. But so to Stephen A's point, he has been right for a long time. The Dallas Cowboys don't historically go out and spend money, and they certainly don't do it quickly. But now, now if Jerry Jones is like, hey, I see the writing on the wall. I'm going to spend as much money as I possibly can, and I'm going to do it early. We're not going to go round and round with all these contracts. They tag George Pickens. They know what they're going to do with him. Like, they're going to be definitive. Would that change your mind, Stephen A? Would that change your mind in the way the Cowboys are approaching this offseason? If they go out and they spend money to buffer that defense up, all right, and they get the right acquisitions, I'll feel a little bit differently about them. You know, I know Mrs. Jerry Jones is watching as we speak, and I am definitely a fan of hers. She's wonderful. And I certainly want her to win because I know it's been very, very difficult on her to watch her husband continue to struggle trying to get their winning ways to materialize in the postseason. Because they've won regular season games. They've been very successful during the regular season. They just don't get it done come playoff time. Maybe something will change. But there's too many maneuvers that have to take place in order for us to feel confident about the Dallas Cowboys. And I'm not confident that they're going to be able to pull that off, y'all. I'm just not. Yeah, again, I would tell you that if you just paid attention to this organization over the last half a dozen years, they've actually been a good organization. They missed on the Micah situation. There's no question about it. They have 5% of their money allocated right now is in free agent signings. That tells you the job that they've done as far as acquiring players through the draft. We have to give them the benefit of the doubt that they draft more often than not good to very good football players. They are a piece. No, no, Dan, we don't have to do that because nobody questioned that. What we've looked at the Dallas Cowboys and repeatedly they found ways to get in their own way. When your offense is prolific, your defense is trash. When your defense is big time, you make too many mistakes. You got drama in the locker room that you don't need, etc. Now, last year, their defense nosedived, dead last in scoring, dead last in passing yards, dead last on third downs. Only 35 sacks without Micah Parsons, which ranked 22nd in the league. All right. Only 12 takeaways, which ranked 30th in the league out of 32 teams. We see that. That was definitely glaring, but it was still an aberration. For the most part, Dallas wins during the regular season, but pressure breaks pipes. and when you sit up there and you put yourself in a position where others got to answer the call and they ain't ready when the moment arrives that's what we've been able to look at the remember they won 12 12 13 games three years in a row okay back to back Mike McCarthy has some successful regular seasons how did that materialize in the postseason Wade Phillips had a couple of successful regular seasons how did that materialize in the postseason Jason Garrett had back to back to back eight and eight seasons before they went to 17 games and then this dude loses the last game of the regular season not once not twice but three consecutive years and the all three different teams within the division in the eagles the commanders before the redskins and of course the new york giants you can't make this stuff up somehow some way they get in their own way you're talking strictly football in terms of cap space in terms of personnel that they're going to go out and get we've looked at the Dallas Cowboys on occasions in the past and said yo this is a Super Bowl caliber roster and they went home in the wild card game this is what they do and Dan Oloski is not bringing that up and I don't know why Elvis I don't know why I would say this in the last 12 months they have made some very difficult decisions that other teams might have just said we'll deal with it we'll figure it out they didn't pay Micah Parsons they traded him Everyone critiqued it and ripped it, but they thought that was the right thing to do. They cut Trayvon Diggs, an all-pro on defense, and they fired Matt Eberflus, a coach who's got a good defensive history, all because they were setting the stage for this offseason. They have the 12th and the 20th pick, and they have a free agent class. There are several options. Let's hold our judgment until the roster is set before we say Eberflus. You had me until you brought up Eberflus. I know. Oh, my Lord. I mean, of all the arguments, and then you're going to come with evil flutes? What is up with you, Peter? The ESPN production staff had better Jimmys and Joes than the Cowboys defense last year. And their offense, you have to remember, their offense was in the top ten in almost every statistical category. And then a wide open NFC East. Coming up here on First Take, Jalen Brown has been proving the doubters wrong all season long. How far can he lead the Celtics, though, into the playoffs? Obviously not seeing eye to eye on that one. More First Take after this. It's Sam and Kwaku at corner last year. Welcome back to First Take. The Celtics have won six out of their last seven games after last night's victory over the 76ers. Namaeus Keita and Jalen Brown both scored 27 points to help the Celtics reach 40 wins on the season. The Seas came away with a 16-point win. Celtics now sit in the two-spot. They're five and a half games behind the Pistons. Are they a real threat in the East? Yeah, they're a real threat in the East. Shea, like Jason Tatum is on his way back. He may be back in the next couple of weeks. Jalen Brown is an MVP candidate. Are they the team to beat? Nah, I can't say that. Because if we're going to say regular season matters, if we're going to say that defense matters, if we're going to say that all of these things have to be taken into account, Detroit has its own MVP candidate. Now, I have my doubts about whether Detroit can go through not winning a playoff series to get to the NBA Finals. But they are the team in the East with the best home record, the best road record, the best defense, and an MVP. That is a formula despite the shooting. The shooting is horrific right now. It ain't great. But I still think Detroit is a team to beat. Somebody's going to have to beat them. Wendy? Look, I can sit here for the next half hour, guys, and go over why I think the Pistons can win or the Pistons can lose. The Celtics, the Cavs, the Knicks. I can create a case for them, all of them, winning and losing because they all are flawed teams. And it's a very tightly packed East. I understand Detroit's been number one for the entire season, but they have their flaws, okay? That's BS, be honest. Only one of these teams can materially improve with the addition of a player, and that's the Celtics. And of course, I don't know what Jason Tatum will look like when he comes back. I don't know what he looks like in game one of him coming back. I don't know what he looks like in May, okay? But the upside that the Celtics have because of the Tatum factor is the story in the Eastern Conference. That's the way it is. If he comes back and is even close to the All-NBA player that he has been for years, it is an absolute game-changing moment. Of course, there will be some chemistry issues when he first tries to come back. Of course, I don't expect him to be great. But you cannot look at this and look at the situation and not say that the Tatum potential reentry changes the entire dynamic for Boston. Essay? Here's my thing. Here's my thing. By the way, major props, I heard you talking earlier on Get Up, Wendy, about this kid, Kata, 7-footer, 26 years old. Brother had a great performance yesterday, 27 and 17. Got to give him love. You got a big man that can go out there and produce for you. They seem really, really high on him. The combination of him and a guy like Vucevic who can hit perimeter shots and pull bigs away from the basket certainly feeds into what Boston is doing. The answer to this question is that they are obviously a team that's a huge threat in the Eastern Conference. I wouldn't say they are the team to beat because I still think that's the Detroit Pistons. But in the same breath, I can't summarily dismiss what we're seeing from them, particularly with Jalen Brown having elevated his game. Jason Tatum is the wild card because even though he makes the team better, the reality is the last time we saw them, they were on the verge of losing to the New York Knicks. They were going down 3-1. Jason Tatum got hurt in the last two, three minutes of the game in game four. They were going down 3-1 to the New York Knicks, going back to Boston in that Eastern Conference semifinal series. Let's keep it a buck in that regard. So they were about to go home in all likelihood. And so we can't look at them and just say Jason Tatum coming back. All of a sudden, he changes everything. But in the same breath, because of the elevation of Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum being the class individual that he is, along with all world talent. Could they make some noise? None of us can rule it out, especially when you're finding diamonds in the rough like this kid, Kata. And then you've got Vucevic, like I said, Peyton Pritchett is balling as well. You know, you just look at some of these guys. Derek White, you can never dismiss him and how clutch he can be. They are definitely a threat. No doubt about it. They're just not the team to beat as of yet. That has to be the Detroit Pistons with what we've seen from Detroit. But Boston is a better shooting team, I can tell you that much. Everybody can. But they've lost to Detroit three out of four times this year. So, at this point, they've won six out of their last seven. That one loss in those seven games was against Denver on a back-to-back in Denver. You remember that. Their upside, obviously, with the Jason Tatum news is huge. Coming up here on First Day, quarterbacks were on display at the NFL Combine this past weekend. But which signal caller impressed the most? Can't wait for this one. Plus, Luka Doncic had himself a game last night against the Kings. But interesting comments from Draymond Green on Luka's trade from Dallas is something everyone's got to react to. More First Take after this.