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. What a big Monday doubleheader we've got for you tonight on ESPN and the app. We start at 7 Eastern with the Wooden Award frontrunner Cam Boozer, leading number one Duke against NC State, then number two Arizona hosts number four Iowa State. Of course, it'll be another great night. Some college hoops. Oh, he slips. He's all right, and he is. Stumbles, gets back up, and this goes in. It goes in! Driving right. Oh, he falls down. Got back up. Kept his dribble. throws up a three. But again, a circus shot by Luka after he'd fallen down, kept his dribble, and just threw it at the basket, and it went in for three. So Luka Doncic led the Lakers to their second straight win last night, finishing with 28 points, nine dimes, five boards, and LA's 128-104 win over the Kings. Now, despite the strong performance, Luka's play has come under fire recently, leading to Draymond Green entering the chat on his podcast to call out those who were critical of Nico Harrison for making the Doncic trade with the Mavericks. So listen. So many people crush Nico Harrison for the reasons that he gave. And when Nico gave those reasonings, everybody said he's ridiculous, he's crazy. But now when I turn on the TV, all I see is everybody in the media who crushed Nico Harrison, who essentially aided in him getting fired, regurgitating the same things that Nico Harrison was saying. And I struggle with that because I haven't seen one person come out and say, hey, Nico, I'm sorry for the things I said about you when you made that move because I just said the same thing out of my mouth. This has nothing to do with Luka Doncic and everything to do with the media and Nico Harrison. Nico gave his reasons as the general manager of a team of why he thought that was the right move. And everybody said, you're an idiot. You should be fired. Okay. Now, in Draymond's defense, we have been talking a lot about Luka Doncic and his ability to close and his ability to lead the Lakers to a championship. So is Draymond Green right, SA? No, he's not. He's very wrong. And he's wrong with his depiction of what people were saying. I think that in this particular instance, Draymond Green is being incredibly unfair. As a person that has his podcast, that's a member of the quote unquote new media, a phrase he's coined. Listen, you're allowed to deduce what you see and come to a conclusion and spew your point of view. That's what he does. This man has a full time job getting paid an exorbitant amount of money, deserves every penny he's a four-time champion a former defensive player of the year who will be a hall of famer he has the credentials to say what he says but in the same breath be fair about it the reality of the situation is that Draymond is saying that because he's fond of Nico Harrison well I got news for you a lot of us are fond of Nico Harrison Nico Harrison is a great guy Vinny Wendy I know you guys have met him you guys have spoken him who dislikes Nico Harrison who has a negative thing to say about nico harrison the person anything like that who had a negative thing to say about him prior to the trade nobody he had helped lead the dallas mavericks to the nba finals and made some deals that would you know the kairi irvin deal of pj washington uh you know daniel gaffrey he did a lot of good moves i mean this understandably so but the luka donchik thing stands out and draymond green should know better in terms of when you're talking about highlighting what transpired it is it the man is unemployed now why do you think that is you think it is an accident you think there's no correlation the fact of the matter is that Luka Doncic for all of his flaws was a 25 year old basketball global iconic figure he wasn't just a great basketball player on the court he was good for business because of his global appeal and you let that go and how do you let it go it wasn't just that you traded Luka Doncic you traded him for a dude that was almost six years older that was just as if not more injury prone and by the way when he arrived he's played he had a great game a great half his opening game and then obviously got injured that was the concern and the big the real issue the egregious part about it which draymond again should know and he should know from personal experience because before the trading deadline when it was a possibility that he was going to be traded what did the golden state warriors led under joe lakeup and steve kerr and these boys actually do they put feelers out there to see what level of marketability he would generate that is not what nico harrison did nico harrison then got on the phone with one dude, which was Rob Pelika and the Los Angeles Lakers. And this guy, in an era where we saw a whole bunch of picks received for Kevin Durant by Phoenix, we saw Orlando give up picks for Desmond Bean, we saw five first-round picks giving up for Mikel Bridges, you had Anthony Davis and Max Christie and a pick to show for Luka Doncic? that was the crime that you didn't put him on the market and literally see what you could get for and i'll end by saying this guys if luca donchich had been put on the open market by nico harrison can we even sit here and imagine the assets that would have been offered for him think about that for a second that's the issue and so knowing that and just throwing it at the media and talking about people were talking about him and he's terrible. No, the deal, in hindsight, appears to be a very terrible deal, but the Mavericks lucked up because they got the number one pick with the ping pong balls, which was Cooper Flagg. That is what happened. But in the end, there's no regrets here. I can take no joy out of saying anything. It wasn't me that was talking about him that way, by the way, but others who have. I didn't see anybody that hated on Nico Harrison as a person, as an executive or the job that he did in Dallas overall. They were talking about this one deal, which was egregious and will forever stain him. So much so it is highly unlikely he will ever get a job as a basketball executive in the NBA again because of this one deal. That's how bad it appears to be. Draymond knows that he has to know that. So to label it any differently, I respectfully disagree with him. Go ahead, Wendy. Yeah, I'll give Draymond a pass on defending a man who he thinks is a good man, has good character, and has been very good to him. I'll give him a pass on that. He can't give him a pass on him blaming the media. And so what I would say is this. The decision to trade Luka Doncic, because one thing you have to remember in the Doncic situation, This is a time and place thing, which is so important when considering trades. You have to consider the time and place. The Mavericks were coming up on a decision about whether to give him a $300 million extension or not. If you don't believe that that player is worth a $300 million extension, and you believe that he has habits that don't ultimately fit with your team, it is not unreasonable to want to trade him. I would not have done that. I would have believed that a 25-year-old that I believe can grow and mature through some of these things. But taking a position like that is not unreasonable. But guys, literally everything else that happened after that decision was made, that's where Niko got fired. The actual basketball decision of moving on from Luka Doncic is controversial, but not indefensible. Everything else, not only the trade itself as you broke down, Stephen A., But the tack that he took with the fans, the tack that he took with his public statements, including claiming that, you know, that, you know, now you see the vision when they won the lottery. I mean, that was a difficult statement to make under all consideration. And then on top of that, guys, he just got unlucky. He got unlucky because Kyrie Irving tore his knee up a few weeks later. We don't know what would have happened if Kyrie didn't. I don't think they were beating the Thunder last year, but they could have made a run in the playoffs. That team could have done it. And then I'm going to tell you what the nail in the coffin was, and it has nothing to do with the media, I promise you, no matter what. The ownership of the Mavericks had been sold, that they needed to trade Luka Doncic because he was not going to stay in shape and that as he moved into this $300 million extension, he was going to start to get hurt. And they bought that, and they let him make the trade. Not only did Anthony Davis get hurt immediately, Stephen A., when he came to training camp last fall, he was not in good condition. Out of shape. Now, he had had eye surgery. I am not saying that that is an insult to him as a person or a character, but he was not in good condition, and he got hurt immediately. And so the ownership is saying, wait a minute, we traded Luka, and this guy got hurt because he was out of condition immediately. That was the coup de grace. And none of that had anything to do with the media, with all due respect to Draymond. You know what we always have to be careful about? When someone says everybody. Because that's a very broad brush. That is a nice straw, man, for you to be able to knock down. Because you know who it's easy to take shots at? Everybody. Y'all. Let's be realistic and drill down is the way that Wendy and Stephen A. have already. Luka Doncic, my friend Brian Windhorst, came on SportsCenter, I believe, with Scott Van Pelt. after game five of the NBA finals And he pretty much said the words that Nico Harrison said later He said Luka Doncic behaved like a loser Nico Harrison believes that I was going to say Darko Ooh, that was bad. That was going to be a messed up thing. He's going to say, Luka Doncic was a loser. And if you feel like that this guy's a loser and you can't win with him, then you do what he did. You go about doing what he did. The problem was you traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers, who didn't need a stimulus package. You traded him for Anthony Davis, who's often injured. You got no draft picks for it. You didn't canvas the league. You didn't call Milwaukee for Giannis. You didn't call Minnesota for Anthony Edwards. You didn't call Oklahoma City for Shea Gilders Alexander. You didn't call Houston for their treasure trove of draft picks. You did the wrong thing. You did the right thing the wrong way. even if you believe that that's what he was supposed to do, every branch of that tree was the incorrect move that he made from that point on. One of the things, one of the things, and this is what I want to close by saying about Draymond, Draymond Green. Yes, he's opinionated and all of that stuff and, you know, whatever it is. But I wish him nothing but the best. He's a good brother. This is the thing that bothers me. He is highly, highly intelligent. people that watch him getting emotional in the face of referees and stuff like that they miss how brilliant of a basketball mind he is no he had to work on his shot if this brother shot the way he shot in game seven the year they lost and let cleveland come back you know from a 3-1 deficit if this brother in 2016 if he shot like that throughout his career my god the golden state would have about three three more championships okay but outside of his shooting ability think about him as a playmaker from the forward spot think about you know 85 percent of his assists have been courtesy of Steph Curry because nobody feeds Steph Curry the ball better than him what I'm saying to you is that Draymond's brilliance as a basketball player is what makes his statement even more egregious because put Vinny and Wendy up on the screen so I can see them when I say this if Draymond was a member of the Dallas Mavericks and Nico Harrison, even though Nico, I know he's got a lot of affection for Nico and he should cause Nico's a good man. But if you remember that team and you trade Luca, the generational global iconic basketball figure that averages over 30 in the post season and 28 regularly on any given regular season night. If you're Draymond Green and you're his teammate and they trade him for an all-star who is six years older and injury prone, a Max Christie, a Markeith Morris, and a first-round pick without canvassing the league, what would Draymond have done? The Draymond that you know, Wendy. The Draymond that you know, Vinny. The Draymond that everybody knows. Could you imagine if Luka was his teammate and they traded and you just called one team and you didn't get all of these assets in return for his services with the superstars out there that you could potentially could have gotten? If indeed you were canvassing the league, this is after you lost Jalen Brunson, by the way, because you didn't want to give him $104 million. Okay, this is what we're talking about here. What would Draymond have done? J-Mond would have lost his damn mind. And so for him to say that, it's like, wait a minute, what are you talking about? You know good and damn well. You know basketball better than us. You know basketball better than most. You know how egregious this is. Nico Harrison is a good man, great executive marketing-wise for Nike all of those years. We know who he worked for, worked with Kobe and MJ. We know that he knows what championship DNA is made of and what it's all about. We know all of that. And we know he did a lot of good things. He built a lot of good things. But that one deal will be attached to him like Velcro for the rest of his natural life. There is no way around that. And we're seeing the evidence of it right now. Because no matter what you say about Luka and some of his troubles, he's still an all-world player. Yeah. And Anthony Davis is home. And this was one year. By the way, not even on the team anymore. He's a Washington Wizard. It's true. And this was also one year removed, this trade, from the Mavericks being in the finals. So the timing of it wasn't ideal either. Mavericks on the outside are looking in of the playoffs while the Lakers right now with Luka Doncic are inside, not even in the play-in, fully in the playoffs as it stands today. Let's stick with basketball here, some hoops, and show some love to the ladies. Here we go, Stephen A. In February, Stephen A. was on X shouting out his alma mater, Winston-Salem State University, as their women basketball team. was on their way of making history, and this is what he said in part. Special shout-out to my HBCU. The Winston-Salem State University women's basketball team, now ranked number 18 in the WBCA poll, rallied from a sluggish first half to defeat Livingstone and secured its 20th win of the season. That marked ties 96-97, 97-98, 2000-2001 teams, all coached by Deborah Clark for the most wins in program history. Head coach Tiara Terry reacted to the shout-out. Let's flash back to what she had to say. So I was shocked to get the tweet message because I'm like, wow, we paid attention because, you know, like we've always had this discussion. Women's basketball sometimes flies under the radar. And I'm so glad we're at a different point in history where we're getting acknowledged and recognized. So thank you, Stephen A., for the shout out. We really appreciate it. Nothing's flying under the radar here. So the ladies went on to win 26 games. It's a school record. They made more history this weekend after securing their first CIA Women's Basketball Championship title in program history after beating Fayetteville State 60-43. Stephen A., let's show some love. Well, let's make sure we recognize the fact that they did it in a dominant fashion. They blew them out, number one. Number two, they finished the year 26-3. And I'm just looking at Nevaeh Farmer. She was the full-line player of the game. You had Mikayla Waleed. She's the CIAA tournament MVP. Mia Charles, she was gritty as well. I'm very, very proud. Anytime the university is represented in this fashion, it's obviously a cause to celebrate. Winston-Salem State is always home for me. I got a lot of love for these ladies. I'm very, very proud of the Lady Rams. They represented in big time fashion, and they deserve to be mentioned on national television. So I just wanted to let them know, love y'all in depth. Very, very proud of y'all. And Coach Terry is something special. You just got there and handling business and turning this program around in such quick fashion. She's a wonderful, wonderful coach doing a great, great job. I'm looking forward to bringing her on my radio show a little bit later on today. Just wanted to make sure everybody knows Winston-Salem State in the house. Nothing but love, y'all. HBCU in the house. Nothing but love. It's a beautiful, beautiful day. It absolutely is. Congrats to the Lady Rams. That is amazing. I love that, Stephen A. Thank you so much. So many stars in the NBA. Which is the superstar, though, we would build a team around? We'll have a take, of course, you don't want to hear. Plus, quarterbacks took the field at the NFL Combine. But why does someone think there are concerns about a top prospect? Tis the season. It's offseason in the NFL. More First Take next. We have breaking news from the NFL. Adam Schefter reporting that the Lions are trading running back David Montgomery to the Texans for a fourth-round pick. Offensive lineman Juice Shrugs and a seventh-round pick. our reaction to the trade. Go ahead, Triggs. Here's another year in his contract. It's a no-brainer for the Houston Texans. You pick up a functional running back for a fifth-round pick. We like the Sonic and Knuckles thing in Detroit, but they're going to move on. They're going to save the money there and go elsewhere. Yeah, I really like this for Houston. Joe Mixon was so good there his first year and then really hasn't been healthy enough, and so it certainly puts a giant question mark on the future of Joe Mixon, not only in Houston, but really NFL career-wise. So I like the addition of that style of running back in Houston. I have some question marks once again, like I did last offseason. This is the second offensive lineman that they've traded today with an offensive line that was okay last year. So there's two new holes in their offensive line in Houston. For Detroit, it makes a ton of sense. Gibbs has become the main factor. They're going to have to pay him a ton of money. They will find, hopefully, that role player, or at least that secondary physical back somewhere in either free agency or the draft. Stephen A.? I don't mind the deal. I don't mind the deal at all. I think any time you can buffer your running game, that takes some of the pressure, presumably, off of C.J. Stroud, assuming he's going to be there, which he should. But we all know how bad he was in the playoffs. He's got some making up to do, no doubt about that. So I definitely think this improving their running game helps. Giving up another offensive lineman, I'm kind of wondering about that, particularly considering, you know, you want to be able to protect your quarterback. You want to run block as well. But we'll wait and see with Detroit. I get where you're coming from, Dan, because of Gibbs and what he means to their franchise, et cetera. But he is just electrifying. But as electrifying as he is, he's relatively small. And I think that having that additional cat to run the football on occasion, I think helps him or helps preserve him to some degree. I think now we can assume he'll have an even heavier load moving forward. I'm wondering how that's going to affect. We know what he can do with the ball in his hands. I'm just talking about health-wise. That's my only reservation. Outside of that, I completely agree with y'all. The Texans had 34 rushing touchdowns over the last three seasons. David Montgomery alone had 33 during that span. That Texans defense, and now they have a solid run game? Yikes. The projected number one overall pick, Fernando Mendoza, did not throw at the NFL Combine over the weekend. Many of the other top quarterback prospects did, including Mel Kuyper Jr.'s second-ranked quarterback, that's Alabama's Ty Simpson. Arkansas quarterback Taylin Green opened some eyes, setting quarterback records in the 40, vertical jump, and broad jump. Dan, was there a quarterback that surprised you, impressed you the most at the combine? Oh, it was Ty Simpson. Clearly the best thrower of the football of the guys that participated. I love the fact that, one, he was the most natural thrower when you watched him throw the ball, too. By far the best feat within that group. I also think the fact that he weighed in almost 15 pounds more than he did really play at the end of the season for Alabama last year. I thought it was a really good weekend for Ty Simpson I not a big combine person and I think it easy to go out there and throw in shorts and whatnot It not real life But I do think the things that matter interviewed incredibly well by all reports as well So Ty Simpson, if there were question marks at QB2, I don't know why. Definitely solidified that. I'm of the camp. I think quarterback one and quarterback two are much closer this year than quarterback two and quarterback three. Let me take you to quarterback three then because that was a debate going into this thing. And I know his name has been dragged through the mud throughout his college career. Drew Aller had an awesome week, too. I agree. I agree. This is a 6'5", 230-pound quarterback where Ty Simpson has 15 starts in his career. Yeah. Drew Aller has 50 starts in his college career, and he broke his ankle this year. And obviously, James Franklin loses his job, and Penn State's season goes off the rails. But he threw a better deep ball than Ty Simpson. He interviewed incredibly well, and I asked all the GMs that I spoke with, I said, tell me about the different quarterbacks. And the consistent thing is that in the room, some guys just have it. That I've been a five-star prospect my entire life. I feel very comfortable in this setting. And Drew Aller walks in, and he is that Pied Piper. He's that guy that people follow. Now, I understand the college career did not go as well as Ty Simpson's or, of course, Mendoza's. But Drew Aller is maybe a third quarterback, and potentially that guy at the end of the first round is like a waiver pick saying, hey, I just want to get a win. Why not? End of the first round. Why not? There is such a devoid. There is an issue where there is a supply and demand issue with quarterbacks in this league right now. We're talking about Malik Willis, and we're talking about Geno Smith as like people are going to be doing flips over. You draft a guy like Drew Aller end of the first, early second round, why not? Big arm. We'll see what happens. Before I chime in, Dan Olowski, could you please refresh my memory about the size on Ty Simpson? How tall is he? I think he was just short of 6'2 and weighted about 210 pounds. How big? You said he put on about 15 pounds since January? Yeah, so I believe he ended the season right around 195-ish or so. Now, there's some stories attached to the reason why, but about 15 pounds, yep. A lot of protein. Let's leave a lot of protein drinks. Water weight. Water weight. Let's just say that. Let's just say that, okay? Here's the deal. So, 28 touchdowns, just five interceptions. three 300-yard games I watched him. Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma. He looked stellar in those games. This is my reservation, and it's primarily due to his size. And when you bring up Drew Schrager, I get that because when you 6'5 and got some girth on you, I'm thinking durability on the NFL level. I'm trusting that more than I'm trusting an undersized guy. So that's where my reservation comes in about Ty Simpson. Then I'm looking at the last four games or so, where he's done the last four or five games. 147 yards against Eastern Illinois. No big deal. They won that 56 to nothing. 122 yards against Auburn in the regular season conference game. 212 yards against Georgia. They got blown out. Wasn't even close. I watched that SEC championship game. First round against Oklahoma. Wasn't bad at all. And then Indiana, he threw for 67 yards. That's the last time we saw him. And I'm thinking about him being undersized. not just undersized in terms of his girth, undersized in terms of his height as well. So I get where y'all are coming from in terms of him throwing the football, but this is the National Football League, man. And I got to be concerned if you have that lack of size, meaning height, and that lack of girth. I would tell you it better be a precipitous drop-off from Ty Simpson at number two, Dan, to an Aller at number three or somebody else before I go that route with him number two. There better be a precipitous drop-off because if it's close, I'm going with the cat with more physicality, more size. Not to pile on Simpson here, and you can respond to this, but there's also in the last couple years, the most important stat might not be your height, your weight. It might be college starts and whether you can go right now. And Ty Simpson having just 15 starts, he's been compared to Brock Purdy. Brock Purdy had 43 college starts. I can't compare him to Brock Purdy. Truth of the matter is, Ty Simpson, you look at his starts and the other first-round picks in recent years who have had that little. It's Trey Lance, Anthony Richardson. It's not a stellar list of guys who have worked out. That's not good company. Okay, okay, okay. That's not good company. Okay, I agree with that, and that's a real thing, and that's a fact, not an opinion. I do think some of the Mitchell Trubisky, Anthony Richardson, their athletic profiles rather than those traditional pocket-passing quarterbacks. So that's just a difference. He also turned down like $6.5 million to go to the University of Miami this year because he only wanted to have Alabama. So he would have the opportunity to get more college snaps. That would have been meaningful. I do think there's going to be teams scared away from the 15 starts and probably justifiably so. Well, maybe there's a team he can go to where he could sit for a little bit of time. You cut on that Missouri game. You turn on that Missouri tape and you're like, this kid can flat out play. Yeah, but then you put on some other tape and it does give you a little bit. There's a lot of tape where you're just kicking. And he's just recently watched the Missouri game, so that's why there's that. All right, let's go to a quick take here. It would be more believable if you didn't have on those cheap sneakers. Number one, UConn women finish off their 11th undefeated regular season in program history on Sunday night. Another national championship may be incoming for Gino Ariema. What do you think, Dan, a resident Husky here? The greatness just continues to be great. This is a program that has had so many undefeated seasons, 11 of them. Do you know Auriemma has become one of the great coaches ever in sports? I don't care if it's women's basketball. I don't care if it's college basketball. I don't care what the sport is. All this young – not young men. All this dude has done is absolutely build an unbelievable juggernaut. And they lost one of the best players, if not the best player, in the country last year in Paige Becker. She goes to the WNBA. They haven't skipped a beat. And so they're by far favorite to go win another one. Shout out to UConn, man. Can we get another boys and girls? You know what's so cool about UConn women's? It used to be just UConn women's and everyone else. And that's not the case anymore at all in women's college. Exactly. You go on down the list. And yet still Gino Ariema continues to do what he's been doing for years and years and years. Go ahead, SA. One of the things that I love about watching Dawn Staley and others win is that it felt fair. It felt fair when UConn, you know, wasn't at the top of the heap. I just think things need to be put in this proper perspective. Gino Auriemma has won nearly 89% of his games in this game. He won 12 national titles. It's like, and then you see them, and it's like, my God. They just, they find a way. He just, he won't go away. He won't go away. You know, just when you were thinking the Dawn Steelies of the world and others, you know, we're here to stay, and the past was the past. Gino said, not so fast. And that's what you're looking at when you see UConn at this particular moment in time. And I just, you got to tip your cap to him. He's obviously the greatest coach in the history of women's basketball. No doubt about that. It's something special to behold. And what can you say? It almost seems unfair, to be honest. It's the basketball capital of the world, Stephen A. Storrs, Connecticut, baby. It's the basketball capital of the world, brother. I love me some Dan Hurley, but they got to win. All right? They got to win. They lost to Florida last year. He's coming back this year. He thinks he's got a championship squad, and he probably does. But March Madness is here. It's here now. It's coming. We're going to find out. We're like a buffalo. We run to the storm. Okay. Okay. All right. Chill out, Husky. Yeah, because all y'all got our storm. 31 in all this season. In stores. We're the women's team. Jokic is the king of full court passes in the NBA. So would he make the best NBA player turned NFL star? Two-way player. Two different sport players. Which star player in the NBA would we want to build a team around? Stephen A. Has a take that you might be shocked by. Are we ever shocked by his takes, though? Yeah. You don't be like the cows. Even as a cow, they run away from you. Our next TGL match is tonight at 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific on ESPN2 and the ESPN app at the SoFi Center. L.A. will take on New York. The Timberwolves picked up their sixth win in the last seven games Sunday, winning in Denver 117-108. Anthony Edwards led the T-Wolves with 21 points, six dimes, his 15th consecutive road game with at least 20 points. The Timberwolves feel like a team we do not talk enough about, and they gave Denver all they could basically handle over the weekend. Wendy, did this game teach you more about Denver or more about Minnesota? Yeah, it's really hard to evaluate Denver right now. They're just so banged up, and they lost another player in this game. Cam Johnson's been dealing with an ankle issue. He left the game early. They've just been a shell of themselves defensively since Aaron Gordon got hurt. I can keep going. Jokic has been off. I want to talk about the Wolves. The Wolves are a secretly scary team, and the reason is if you look at the teams in the West that are sort of in the middle of the pack, you know, right now, frankly, that's Denver, even though I sort of see them as a high-ceiling team. That's Denver, that's the Lakers, that's Houston. Those teams all have flaws. The Rockets, shaky offense. The Lakers, shaky defense. Denver, shaky defense. Minnesota can play at both ends. And I'll sound like a broken record here on this one. When you try to evaluate a team that's going to make a run in the playoffs, you evaluate teams that can play at both ends, that Wolves can do it. For all of the flack that Rudy Gobert takes, and some of it is deserved, when he is on the court, they are a very good defensive team. He gets dunked on. He does stuff like commits flagrant fouls. It gets him suspended. He says stuff that upsets guys. but when he's on the court, the data just shows they're a good defensive team. And they have Ant Edwards who is a transformational offensive player who also himself plays at both ends of the court I would not say I would choose them or pick them to beat Oklahoma City I would not pick them to beat San Antonio but boy are they a dangerous team And while these other teams have been struggling and falling back, Minnesota has risen. Minnesota 11-4 in the last 15, and they're going to keep rising because they play at both ends. And they're fun to watch, too. Go ahead, Vince. I think it's one of these under-told stories that we don't talk about as much. Anthony Edwards being one of the great player development stories in the NBA because he started off so high. Like his game has improved year after year, and we don't give him the credit for recognizing what it takes to become a champion, being a better shooter, being a better ball handler, all those other things. But as far as a unit, I look at the Denver Nuggets, and I got this stat for you. They're top five. They're starting five of Gordon and Murray and Jokic and Cam Johnson and Christian Brown. They played 10 games together this year. Less than 150 minutes. We know they have championship DNA. We just haven't seen it. And they're sitting fourth, and Jokic, since coming back, has not looked like himself. I'm going to assume he's going to look like the best player in basketball. The final stat I want to give you, because this is so critical to me, this is a shooting league. This is a league where three-point shooting matters. It's the great equalizer of everything. The Nuggets have seven rotation players shooting 40% or better. The only guy who doesn't is Christian Braun. Tim Hardaway Jr. comes off the bench and shoots seven for 43% a night. If they can get healthy, if Aaron Gordon can get that hamstring right, if Peyton Watson can get right, this team is going to be more than dangerous. They're going to be in the Western Conference Finals, but they have to get healthy. Yeah, they were 6 of 22 from three last night, so that was not good. Go ahead, Stephen A. What do you think about the Wolves? They got to get healthy. The bottom line is this is a simple answer to this question. Denver fully healthy deserves the advantage over the Minnesota Timberwolves because if there is a kryptonite to Rudy Gobert's defensive prowess, it is when he goes up against Nikola Jokic, a healthy Nikola Jokic. When we've seen this man abused, usually it's against Jokic, all right? And we all know that. Jamal Murray I mean how many people do we have more faith in in the clutch in terms of needing a bucket and relying on somebody other than Jokic to get you that bucket it's Jamal Murray and so Aaron Gordon he comes back healthy Watson comes back healthy with what they have you go with Denver but that's the only time you go with Denver if they had any any debilitated element to them Minnesota takes them because they got this dude Ant-Man who is a generational talent my favorite player in the NBA. The brother is spectacular. And by the way, Julius Randall is no slouch. DiVincenzo is no slouch. McDaniel is no slouch. Nas Reed is no slouch. They've been there. The one thing that I would say is this is the thing. If you wanted to give Denver an edge over Minnesota, and I'm not sure that I do, Minnesota looks different when they go up against OKC compared to Denver. It's a dogfight when Denver and OKC go up against one another. I mean, it's no holds barred, but you see something missing in Minnesota as a collective unit when they go up against OKC, at least dating back to last season. And I'm not convinced that they're equipped to overcome that this season. shay's back what about when jaylen williams comes back i mean why should we believe in minnesota against them because we saw them have a big game against okc i mean they were up by 40 against okc in the playoffs then okc just came back the next game and beat them jay that shay shay butter walked off the court like no problem all right y'all got us tonight it's no big deal you're gonna lose all right we'll get you and sure enough he got in the next game the very next game this is who they are when they go up against Minnesota. Not so much against Denver, which is why I think a healthy Denver squad deserves a slight edge over Minnesota right now. Wendy? I do think we should point out that Minnesota has beaten Oklahoma City twice in the regular season. And I'm not going to freak out about regular season stuff, but whatever that's worth to you. And Denver beat Minnesota three out of four in the regular season. Yeah, Denver beat Minnesota. yesterday was the first time Minnesota's beaten them. I don't want to put too much focus on that, but I will say this. Ann Edwards, when you're in a 50-50 game, Ann Edwards can carry you home. We just saw it the other night in L.A. where he gets the shot to win the game, and then he chews out his head coach five seconds later. And the thing I love about this, by the way, is that both of them had a point, and both of them know that they can help each other and they move on from it. but we saw one of the wins over Oklahoma City was Ant hitting a ridiculous shot against good Oklahoma City defense. Basically it's this. If you're Minnesota, what you want, get us into the last minute of two or three games against Oklahoma City or Denver, and we like our chances. There's going to be a lot that's going to have to happen to get to there, but if you get there, they got the guy who can finish it off. The problem is Jokic in four games against the Timberwolves this season, averaging almost 36 points, 15 boards, 11 dimes. First player to average that much against a single opponent in one season. French cuisine. In NBA history. French cuisine, Rudy. That's right. That's right. Coming up on First Take, will we see the return of Chef Curry this season? Or are the Warriors better off just shutting him down for the remainder of the year? We'll talk about that next. It's First Take, Rose Long. First Take, Rose Long. Our next TGL match is tonight at 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific on ESPN2 and the ESPN app at the SoFi Center. LA will take on New York. Coming up on First Take, we haven't seen Steph Curry in quite some time due to injury. Will the Magic return this season or are the Warriors better off just shutting him down completely? Last Takes here on First Take coming your way now. Rough weekend for the Warriors. Golden State was blown out by the Lakers on Saturday night. And on Sunday, it was announced that Steph Curry will miss at least the next five games as he continues to battle that right knee issue. So, Wendy, when should the Warriors consider shutting down Curry completely? You know, I don't have every piece of information about this injury. I don't think they're going to. I think he might even have tried to play through it more if Jimmy Butler hadn't gotten hurt. He was trying to limp his way through it. And if you look at the standings, what's basically happened is the Warriors have been trapped in the play-in. It's very unlikely they're going to be able to rise out of it. And there's so many tanking teams in the West that they're protected on the bottom end. So the only chance they have is doing anything this season anyway is getting Steph back. So I think, I hate to say it's a luxury because they're in eighth place, but they kind of have the luxury of allowing more time and not hurting them in the standings. Obviously, if he doesn't feel better in a couple of weeks, it's a different situation. But I honestly think that they're just looking at the standings and making a value judgment and holding him out now because it's not going to hurt him. I agree with you because it's not going to hurt him but so much. And obviously, it's one of those situations where you want to preserve Curry for as much as you possibly can. That I will say, Wendy, you want – listen, if you're Joe Laker with the money that you've spent over the years, You certainly want him there when it counts. You want to get a playoff series. You want to get some extra dough. You want to be relevant for a longer period of time. And this brother is absolutely box office. He's incredible for the brand, not just the Warriors, but overall the NBA. You know, watching the Lakers against the Warriors the other night, the minute you saw that Steph Curry wasn't going to be in the game, you're like, uh, there was a deflation that kicked in because the babyface assassin was not going to be playing. And certainly you want to see him, but in the same breath, You want to give him as much rest as you possibly can while positioning yourself to at least be a participant in the playing tournament if you can pull that off. That's what you're after right now. That's what they're aiming for. And I don't blame them one bit because you want to do everything you can to preserve him to make sure he's on the court as healthy as he can possibly be. But most importantly, he's on the court. You want him on the court. You don't want him sitting out for the rest of the season and telling folks look forward to next year. because you talk about a deflation that will automatically kick in in the Bay Area. I mean, he is it. Without him, there really is no reason to pay attention to the Warriors whatsoever. So the 2022-2023 season was the last time the Warriors were not in the play-in and made the playoffs, and they were the sixth seed then. Like, at some point, are we concerned with what's happening with the Warriors here, that they aren't a top-five team in the West anymore, considering all the injuries and everything else? Wendy or Steven? Because of the injuries, you're not. It's because of the injuries that you're not. If they were hurt, if they were not hurt and they were looking like this, just a couple of games above .500, then you would be concerned. But injuries happen, and injuries are going to derail you. What's Milwaukee without Giannis? What would the Knicks be without Brunson? What would Minnesota be without Ant-Man, et cetera? When you have injuries, injuries are a part of the game, and you don't expect your best players to be out and you still be the same. But if they were on the court healthy and you were losing games, That would be an entirely different matter altogether. Wendy. Steve Kerr said it best. He said they're a fading dynasty. That's an accurate assessment. It may have felt a little harsh, but it was true. And what you're hoping for is some laughs, gasps of it. And if you're Golden State, you're hoping to get him healthy at the right moment. You're hoping to get Chris Haps Porzingis and catch lightning in a bottle. That's just an honest way to look at it. Yeah. Right now, Golden State is the eighth seed. Suns are ahead of them. Clippers are behind them by about two and a half games both ways. We'll see what happens there. See you later, Wendy. Stephen A., I'll see you. Manana. Goodbye, everyone. Enjoy your day. Same place, same time tomorrow.
