Club Shay Shay - Nightcap - Hour 1: Celtics take game 2, Inside The NBA in limbo

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

Shannon Sharpe and Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson react to Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics beating Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers in Game 2, and Charles Barkley getting frustrated with the future of Inside The NBA being in limbo.03:41 - Show starts05:41 - Celtics beat the Pacers16:00 - Newscap16:10 - JB Bickerstaff Fired31:53 - Charles Barkley Inside the NBA(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.)#Volume #ClubSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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N-I-G-H-T-C-A-P for $20 off. Download Game Time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us for another episode of Nightcap. I am your favorite uncle, Shannon Sharp.

He's your favorite number 85, route runner extraordinaire, Bengals Ring of Fame honoree, pro bowler, all pro, all the way from Liberty City. He's Chad Ocho Cinco Rosado Johnson. Please make sure you hit that like button. Please make sure you hit that subscribe button

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20% off. Just use the code UNK. So, additional 20% off. Use the code UNK. Thank you, guys. Ocho, let's jump right into it tonight. The Celtics beat the Pacers 126-110. J.B., Jalen Brown drops 40 points as the Celtics take a 2-0 lead. And Tyrese Halliburton exited the game, was being reported as a sore hamstring.

Remember, he did miss time in the regular season. I think he missed at least 10 games with that sore hamstring. If he is not able to to return it was already going to be a daunting task even with him in the lineup with him out of the lineup i don't see how they stand much of a chance but hey that's why we play the game but the celtics are in control of this series they hold servant home um after a very tough uh game one victory they come out and they cruise 126 to 110 j Jalen Brown has 40 points. I think Jason Tatum had 23 points.

Derek Wright had 23 points as they take a 2-0 lead. Ocho, what did you take from the game? I mean, listen, for one, the Pacers, they were down 0-2 to the Knicks. They were down 0-2 to the Knicks, and they were able to prevail and come back. Obviously, Halliburton being injured is not going to make it easy. Like you did say, it is a daunting task. Even with him available, Pascal Siakam had a phenomenal game.

The supporting cast did what they could, but I think the Celtics are a little bit too much. A little bit too much for the Pacers. I'm hoping Halliburton can get back. A hamstring injury is something you don't play with. That's something that you do not play with. I'm not sure if he'll be able to make it back to this series, but even if he is,

the way it's looking and the way it's headed, it's looking like a gentleman's sweep. I hope the Pacers can steal a game and make it an interesting series. But as far as what I've seen so far from the Celtics, it looks like they're going to be in the finals. This is why you win the game you're supposed to win.

The Pacers are supposed to win game one. But they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. And look, I understand that. Look, all Boston did was hold serve at home. But there's a difference between Boston and the Knicks. The Knicks were already down

two guys. They were already down Julius Randle. They went down Mitchell Robinson. And remember, OG Ananobi, their best wing defender, one of their best wing defenders.

And the score, he goes down. Bogdanovich, he goes down. There ain't nobody down but Porzingis. They still got JT. They still got JB.

They still have Derek White. And you know what's funny? They're in control of the series right now. Porzingis was supposed to come back game four. There's really no need for Porzingis to come back. They might as well just let him rest and heal all the way up to 100% until they get to the finals. There's no need to even risk it.

There's no point. Well, here's the thing, Ocho. Let's try to make this a quick series. Let's go take care of our business. Go ahead and make this thing a four-nothing sweep. Let them guys battle it out in the West. And so now we'll get seven, eight, nine, ten days of rest. So Przingis

is fully healthy because he unlocks this entire offense because he's able to what he's able to do. He has a post game. He unlocks JB. He unlocks JT. And so, yes, he would be a much-needed asset and he gives them size. Because without him in the

lineup, yeah, I mean, look, you're going against Minnesota, you're definitely going to need Przingas. Because you go 7-2 Rudy Gobert, you go 7-foot cat, you go 6-10, 6-11 Naz Reed. So you're going to definitely need him. And even if you face the Mavericks,

you go probably 6'11 lively. You probably go 6'9, 6'10 Gafford. So P.J. Washington. So you're going to need somebody to battle those guys on the board. So you're definitely going to need Przingis because he's your best rim protector. And

he's a guy who can also score you 20 points if need to. Another another thing if it is a gentleman's sweep do you think it affects the momentum the chemistry of the team if they have that many days off before they play in the finals i'd rather have i know i know i know how it works with football you know when you're off when you have a bye week and you come back sometimes you're a little sluggish sometimes you're a little sluggish and it takes time to get that momentum going as opposed to they have right now. Is having

a 4-0 sweep, will it do the Celtics more harm than good? Well, here's the thing. A gentlemen's sweep is 5-1. I mean 4-1. A sweep is 4-0. So their bars are headed towards a regular sweep. Oh, they're listing Lively. They said Lively is 7-1. So you're definitely going to need Przingis.

He's 7-1? Przingis goes 7-3. You do have Al Horford, but Al is about 16. But you need as many guys as you possibly can to battle on the glass. Right. But here's the thing, Ocho. Yeah, you'd probably like to get maybe like two or three days of rest. But considering that Przingis you

need him to be at his best you want to make him as healthy as you possibly can the last thing you want to have happen you bring him back he re-injures that calf in game one and now he's going for the rest of the series I believe if we give him what he's going to probably be off somewhere between two weeks and and and 17 days right I think that's probably that'll probably be off somewhere between two weeks and 17 days. Right. I think that's probably, that'll probably be a good enough opportunity for that calf to heal up, heal up and, and to keep him healthy.

But the Celtics did a great job tonight. And, and I'm not trying to start in a controversy, but I don't think I'm breaking news. Jalen Brown has been the best player for the Celtics in these playoffs. Yeah. It's simple as that. Yeah, JB had a great game, game one, and we understand that.

But he has not been terribly efficient in the process of getting the numbers that he's getting. Jalen Brown has been their most consistent player throughout these playoffs. If you go back and look at the first round series, the second round series, and now this one with an opportunity to advance, Jalen Brown has been their best player. I'm not saying he is their best player, but I'm saying he's played the best. Okay, I was getting ready to ask you.

So I have a question about the Mavs. I don't mean to switch topics like this, but between Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown, and Jason Tatum the better player, he's just not shooting as efficient as Jalen Brown is. Who's the better of the two? Me personally I think Jason Tatum

is the better of the two but two things can be true. One can be the better player but the other can be playing better. You see what I'm saying? That's confusing. Give it to me in football analogy. Use football term the football players and I'll get a better that's confusing give it to me give me give me give it to me in football analogy use use use football use football term the football players and i'll get a better understanding someone can

might be the best receiver but he didn't play better in that game you see what i'm saying okay now now you make now you make it sense to me so that that's and so that's what i'm saying sometimes a guy can be the best player but that doesn't mean he played the best. I believe Jason Tatum is the best player on the Celtics, but Jalen Brown has been playing better. In the series, in the playoffs. In the playoffs, Jason Tatum was a first team all NBA selection. JB, although I think he should have made one of those three teams he was not so that's just that's my thought process of it

it's not it's really not that and like I said I think and I like what the Celtics did is that they tried to get the ball to JB or JT late to try to get him going you see he got a couple and one but he still shot nine of 20 from the floor. And so he's a better player. He's a more efficient player than what he's shown.

And look, I'm good with it. If we can get by with Jason Tatum not playing his A game and get to the NBA finals, but we know in the finalsals, we're going to need him to be on his best behavior in order for us to be either one of the teams, either the Mavs or the Timberwolves, because the thing

that the difference is between the two teams, Kyrie and Luka, they can go get you 60 to 70 between the two of them. And then you get P.J. chipping in and you get Tim Hardaway, you never know of them and then you get pj chipping in and you get a tim hardaway he livid you never know what you're going to get from him and plus now you go and and cat they also even jayden mcdaniels has been playing really well as of late so they're going to need

they're going to need jason tatum to build his best behavior and so yeah i mean go ahead going going into the next game obviously the third game i, I mean, from a coach's standpoint, a coach's decision, I'm not saying I'm a coach or I'm not really familiar with the game of basketball to that extent. But if I was a coach going into game three, I would have the entire offense run through Jason Tatum just to get him going, just to get that confidence in him. I mean, it should already be there, obviously,

but just to get him going so his numbers can be where they should be. Or does it not work like that? No, because I don't want to mess up everybody else. I'm going to run my offense. He's going to still get the same opportunity. He's still getting the opportunity. The thing is, Ochoa, it's a make-or-miss league. The ball goes in or it doesn't.

And more times than not, for Jason Tatum this year, the ball has gone in more times than not. For whatever reason, he'slead the ball goes in or it doesn't and more times than not for jason tatum this year the ball has gone in more times than not for whatever reason he's struggling shooting the ball especially from the perimeter now that's not to say he can't get it going because when you're a great player it could just flip like that and the next thing you know he run a streak of 30 point games off with an and being an efficient at an efficient clip. But right now, I don't change up anything. This is what we do. We run, look, they're very good ISO players. That's what they do.

They can ISO. JB can go one-on-one, back you down, shoot over the top of you. We know what JT is. He's another guy. But they shoot the three a lot, Ocho. They swing the ball. They shoot the three.

Big Al get threes up. Derek White gets threes up. So does JT. So does JB. Pritchard will come in off the bench. Hauser comes in, gunning. So that's what they are. They're a team that likes to get up a lot of threes. Hopefully they make a lot of threes, put a lot of pressure on you.

And when the threes are go, they can shoot you out the building. But when they don't, they continuously take them, and the team can blow them out of the building. So I don't think that's earth-shattering news, but the Celtics look really good tonight. In a 126-110,

Jalen Brown drops 40 points as the Celtics take a 2-0 lead. Now it's time for our first segment of the night. It's called a News Cap. News Cap. News Cap. J.B. Bickerstaff is out as the Cleveland Cavaliers head coach.

Despite the franchise's first berth in the Eastern Conference semifinals in six seasons, basically since LeBron left, the Cavs dismissed their head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, this morning. Bickerstaff won 99 regular season games in the past two seasons. But the franchise hopes to land a coach that will take them, take Cleveland even deeper into the Eastern Conference. You look at his tenure. Lenny Wilkins has the most. He has 316 wins in seven seasons. Mike Brown has 305 wins in six seasons.

Bill Fitch, excuse me, had 304 wins in nine seasons. Mike Fratello, 248 in six seasons. Bill Fitch, excuse me, had 304 wins in nine seasons. Mike Fratello, 248 in six. And J.B. Bickerstaff had 170 victories in five seasons. get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here. Just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their

Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately

be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm confused. Okay. I'm confused. Okay. Okay. confused okay i'm confused okay okay your franchise had your first eastern conference

eastern conference semis in six seasons so this to me obviously this would be the best season that they've had since he's been there yep then you got to take injuries into account the big three mobley mitchell and alan only played 28 games together okay so. So ownership, GM, and those upstairs already know, okay, if we got this far and we had injuries, why not run it back again with the same coach who got us to this point with the injuries as well? Why bring in an entirely different coach? Are you trying to appease someone else?

Is there a certain player, maybe by the name of Donovan Mitchell? Maybe. That might not have gotten along with the coach? Are you trying to appease him by bringing in somebody new? Or are you really saying, you know what, let's scratch it. Let's bring somebody else in new. And that's like, I'm not saying, I'm trying to use a comparison.

Excuse me if I'm wrong. But that's like letting Mark Jackson go and bringing in Mr. Kerr to take over for a team that already has potential, especially when the big three come back. Or am I off kilter here? You're not off kilter, but the question is, does the front office, does management, does ownership, do they believe? It's the same

thing. You remember Tampa? They got Gruden out of there. They got Tony Dunge out of there. Gruden comes in. Where's the Super Bowl? Mark Jackson leaves. Steve Kerr comes in. They win the championship. It's hard to argue with the results when you get the results that you wanted. You know what? When you have certain teams, right?

And excuse me, Chad, y'all stay with me when I say this now. When you have certain teams and you have certain personnel, you have a certain set of players. You know, my grandma could have coached the goddamn Warriors and they would have won the goddamn know, my grandma could have coached the goddamn Warriors and they would have won the goddamn championship. My grandma could have coached

the goddamn Buccaneers when Gruden left and they would have won the Super Bowl. If that's the case, why didn't the coach with the hat Kobe and Shaq win at the Lakers? If it's that easy. I didn't say it's easy. But the players that you have makes it that much easier to get there.

Coaches coach, coaches coach, but the players play. Players get coaches fired. Yeah. Who won with Michael and Scotty? Who won with Shaq and Kobe? Phil? So if that's easy,

so everybody should be able to do it, right? Ah. It's not even sometimes. Sometimes it's a word here or it's a scheme there. Yeah. I mean, it's hard to say. Coach Dungy had those same players. I think the only thing he changed was the quarterback.

Now, if Coach Dungy had had Brad Johnson as a quarterback, could he have won? Maybe. It's hard to say because, Ocho, you know from year to year, we've seen teams right there at the NFC Championship or get right there to the Super Bowl. Look at Philly. Philly was in the Super Bowl, brought down to the same team back.

You never know. You never know. I think it's a gut for ownership. It's a gut feel that says, I think we need somebody to get us over the hump that can take us further than what we've gone. And, you know, you make the decision. It's hard to argue with the decision

that the Buss family made when they brought Phil in to coach Shaq and Colby. It's hard to argue with the decision that they made when coach Gruden replaced coach Colby. It's hard to argue with the decision that they made when coach Gruden replaced coach Dungeon. It's hard to argue. And I know, look, I won't Jack, Mark Jackson to get a job back. Hell, maybe he should go, he should go interview for the Lakers job, but it's hard to argue that on a six year span,

go to state one, four championships, Steph was a two-time league MVP and one of those times he's the only unanimous MVP in NBA history. So with that being said, it's kind of hard when you get the results that you were hoping for all alone. Yeah. I hate to say it, and I'm trying to figure out how to conjure up the words to make it make sense. But at times, coaching does matter. I'm not saying that coaching does matter but we have

certain players that play together as a unit in a structured environment they make a coaching job extremely easy where he doesn't have to do much yeah i think the biggest thing with coaches is that you have to be especially basketball coaches you have to be in egos and your star players you have to be able to however you mesh those, whether it's meditation, whether you say it's okay this or that, but it's a lot more difficult to manage egos

on an NBA than say because you can have two great players. The likelihood of you having the equivalent of Patrick Mahomes at another position is not likely. What's the likelihood you have the equivalent of Patrick Mahomes at another position is not likely. What's the likelihood you have the equivalent of Patrick Mahomes at another position on the team?

Even if you, even on the defensive side, it's not the same. So, even if you say Aaron Donald and Matthew Stafford are the same, they're on the opposite sides. See, basketball, we're out there at the exact same time.

We need to be able to communicate. Whatever our differences are, we need to be able to set that aside while we're on the court, do what we need to do. And then, hey, we saw that cartoon when the dog tried to kill each other. Hey, Sam, how you doing? They punching the clock. See you tomorrow. But when they come back on the job, it's back to kill each other. Hey, Sam, how you doing, man? They punching the clock. See you tomorrow. Yeah. But when they come back on the job,

it's back to chasing each other again. And so it's hard. You think players have quarrels within the team? Hell yeah. You think that's real? Yes. Yeah. On the same team?

Yes. Oh, but they sure keep that under wraps because I ain't never heard no i ain't never heard no issues like that oh yeah of course it is yeah because when you get hold on when you get to when you get two guys buying well it's my team no it's my team well i think i deserve i'm tired of being in the shadow i want to move to the front you know how you move to the front by your play your play puts you in front you ain't got to do nothing else. There's no reason to argue with the person next to you.

Bro. If you want to be the man, if it's your team, being in your team, it means it's when you show up night in and night out. That's how you make it your team. How efficient you are, how good you are at your position, how easy and how better you make your teammates around you. It's well documented that Shaq and Kobe beefed. There's a reason why Mr. Buss got rid of moved on from Shaq and moved Kobe to the forefront. It's well documented that Shaq and Kobe beefed. There's a reason why Mr. Buzz got moved on from Shaq and moved Kobe to the forefront. That's documented.

I'm not breaking news. I'm not interrupting anybody's normally scheduled program. You know that. You've heard it. You know it. I know you didn't want to say it, but it is what it is. Hmm. And that's why that's why because that's why kareem and kareem and magic made it magic say

cat what you want it was never a situation where i'm the best so i need to be from no what you want cat we can win more together when we can't apart well i mean how can nobody have had that conversation with colby and Shaq during that time? How many more? I'm curious. How many more championships will they have if Kobe and Shaq stayed together? It all depends. Everything is contingent on Shaq and how serious he was going to take it. His body had started to break down a little bit. He had started to miss games during the season. That hurt Kobe. You see, here's the thing. When you a great player, mediocrity and people not working as hard as you, it annoy you. And if you're mediocre and you're not working hard, greatness annoys you. Right.

So there's two things at play here. That's why people are like, everybody couldn't play with Mike. With Jordan? No, no, because Mike had a level. Mike had a standard. Like Tom, you play with Tom. You know how demanding he was. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So imagine. So he's demanding a 53. Imagine what it's like when it's 12. And y'all can find y'all fly on the same little small plane. That's not a small plane but it's a nice size plane but you fly on this plane all the time you sit there in meetings together all the time you're right there on the bench together all the time you know when we're on the sideline no joke defense on one bench offense on the other yeah offense standing on one side defense standing

on the other side. So, and, you know, you got wide receivers got a meeting room, tight ends got a meeting room, linebackers got a meeting room, D-line, O-line, quarterbacks, wide receivers. We right there. That's crazy. And I know people in the chat like talk about, oh, yeah, Kobe and Shaq feuded. But as long as I played in the NFL, and I'm thinking about the team in general, I'm picturing my locker room year in and year out. And I'm trying to figure out,

I can't think of one instance. Now, maybe it's happened to other teams. Maybe it's happened when you were playing, but everybody got along. There were no issues, especially personal issues. Everything was left at the door. It was left on the outside. So I'm like, God damn, but what is there to argue about? Because I think about the game of basketball, it's only five motherfuckers on the court. And if it's five on the court, I'm sure everybody got the same end goal. Everybody has the same end goal. So how you can beef and

butt heads when everybody has the same end goal. The same way Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones butted heads. So why do they butt heads? That's personal. That's personal. That's ego. That's personal. That's ego. That's ego. Jerry allowing his ego to get in the way.

That's ego with both. I'm willing to break this thing up to be number one. Tom and Coach Belichick. Why? Ah. That's tough. It is.

That's tough. It is. That's making shit a lot more complicated than it should be when the end goal should be the end goal at the end of the day. At the end of the day. Listen, we're going to set our differences aside. Whatever it may be.

If you have any issues with me, let's talk about it, communicate. But at the end of the day, that trophy at the end of the day is what we're playing for. Oh, Joe. That's it. It ain't that simple

because more times than not, people would rather lose their way than win someone else's. That's why coaches say, if I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down doing it my way. When players say, if I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down doing it my way. When players say, if I'm going to fail, I'm going to fail doing it my way. You did things your way.

Nobody could tell you, Ocho, I need you to eat regular. I need you to eat this kind of nutritional food. You did it your way, right? So why would it be different for anybody else? Yeah, but see, that's a little different. I knew it worked for my body. Well, the guys know what worked for them.

I don't like that comparison about my nutrition and my diet. It happens, man. It happens. And, you know, it takes a special... Listen i you know what i wish this kairi that's playing alongside luca oh my god he been that and he he grown we grow we mature he's so at peace he got kids now he has a wife now that kairi with LeBron in Cleveland, oh, they can win multiple championships.

Oh, they win two, three. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely, unquestioned. Because the thing was, he didn't want to be second. He didn't want to be below LeBron. Wait, they had the same thing too? The man traded him.

He got traded after they went to the NBA Finals, Ocho. Come on now. I thought that was a money issue to get this money. It was time for him to get paid.

They could pay him more in Cleveland than they could in Boston because he was there. They could offer the fifth year. The team that you're with can always pay you

more money than if you get traded because they can give you something another team can't, which is a fifth year. Oh, hey, buddy, I got to holler at Kyrie. He should have stayed, bro. No, no, but

he had to grow. He had to grow into this Kyrie. He had to mature into this Kyrie. Everybody grows and mature at different levels. There are some people you see, they're like Kobe. Kobe was 17, automatically knew what he wanted. And he took charge of that

path. Some guys, it take a little longer. Sometimes, you know, you have to go out there and you bump your own head before you realize, I had a really good situation. And Kyrie is like, you know what? I had a really good situation. He's like, I got a great situation now. I'm not finna fumble this one.

But this Kyrie that's playing right alongside Luka, he was sensational. Go back and look at him in the finals when they won in 2016. Go back and look at when they lost in 2017. Look at his numbers. People are like, surprised. I'm not surprised he's been doing this.

He's as skilled as we have's skilled beyond skill he can shoot the three he got the mid-range his handles either hand can pat the rock he has it on the string you follow him he's gonna make 90 of his shots but he had to grow into this man that we see today yeah charles charles barker said the morale sucks as as inside the NBA remains in limbo for TNT. Chuck is displeased with the situation and he and his inside the NBA teammates find themselves in. Sweating whether or not the NBA will keep Turner Brothers, Discovery, Parent Company, TNT as a partner

as it's down to the wide media rights negotiations. These people I work with, they screwed this thing up clearly. We don't have zero idea what's going to happen, and I don't feel good. I'm not going to lie. I mean, it shouldn't, listen, this is a no-brainer. To me, I enjoy watching TNT.

I enjoy Shaq. I enjoy the banter between Shaq, Charles, Kenny, and Ernie. I enjoy it. That's golden. This is reminiscent for me. Chat, y'all stay with me. When you watch Martin and you see the cast of Martin, Pam, Gina, Cole, Martin, and Tommy. That, you can't replace that.

I don't care who you substitute and who you put in. You can't substitute the chemistry that they have. Nightcap. There is no chemistry like Uncle Nocho. You can't substitute that. You can have others that have a nightcap. You can take me out and put somebody else. You can take you out and put somebody else.

It just won't make sense. It won't fit. I don't understand what's going on over at TNT. It's a great show. Let me ask you a question, don't you? Where did Martin come on? They came on Fox, right? You know, I'm not sure.

Let's just say, we're going to say, I think it came on Fox, but let's just say for the sake of argument, it came on Fox. And CBS offered them more money, Martin's production company, more money to produce the show. Is he staying or going? Okay, he's going. Okay, now I'm understanding. Okay, if y'all want to stay together,

if y'all want to stay together, stay together. But y'all ain't going to have no basketball. Did you see what NBC paid? You see what ESPN's about to pay? It's about dollars. Now, if NBC wants to bring that on, if somebody else wants to take that on,

okay, they're not breaking it up. Okay, that makes sense. So if NBC, whatever it is, is going to buy the rights, then I'm sure the whole group would be gone. It would only make sense because you're not going to be able to replicate or replace that. They're trying to replicate it. That's NBC's call.

But the higher up to NBC, it would make sense, like common sense. If it's about business at the end of the day, and at the end of the day, it's all about dollars. It's all about dollars. If you want to make a splash, you keep the golden nugget. You keep it together. That's the cash cow. No, the cash cow is the programming, which is the NBA games. That's the cash cow. There's a reason why it wasn't included in that package. cash cow. There's a reason why it wasn't included in that package. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal.

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the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Buck? Do they turn in to watch Romo and Nance or they turn in to watch Patrick Mahomes go against Joe Burrow? They don't give a damn. Me and you

can call the game and they still me and you can call the Dallas Cowboys game and they still gonna do 30 million. Right. So, and I get it. I love it. I think that's one of the best studio shows that's ever been put together because they play so well

off of each other. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses, and everybody can play to the strength and stay away from the weaknesses. Chuck picks on Shaq. Shaq picks on Chuck, and Kenny is in between, and the greatest traffic

car that's ever been created is Kenny. It's Ernie, excuse me, Ernie Johnson. So this works great together. And I'm not saying that I agree with you. I agree with you that somebody should take this show and whoever has the right, I don't think it'll be ESPN, but NBC or Amazon or whomever else have the right, that should be the studio show.

You know what's funny when I think about it? Is people are going to tune in to watch the studio show. You know what's funny? When I think about it, is people are going to tune in to watch the games regardless. That was the package. People are going to tune in to watch the games regardless. But you know what else they're going to tune in to watch?

They're going to tune in to watch Chuck. The pre-and-departure game. Yes, I love it. Oh, they definitely tune in to watch that. Matter of fact, when it's halftime, people won't even get up

from their goddamn seat just to see what them boys finna talk about because you never know what you're going to get.. Matter of fact, when it's halftime, people won't even get up from their goddamn seat just to see what them boys finna talk about because you never know what you're going to get. That's what I like about it. That's what I like about watching the TNT show. You never know what you're going to get. The feeling of the unknown and unexpected is why people watch.

And you can't get that anywhere else unless you're watching us. Look, Charles Barkley, everybody that gets in this space, like in the media, especially now, that looks like you and I, we owe a debt to Charles Barkley because he's not journalistically trained.

He didn't go to try to get his enunciation. He mispronounced words, and he plays along with it. So we owe a huge debt of gratitude to Charles Barkley. Yeah, look, the show is amazing. There's a reason why that studio show wins Emmy after Emmy. There's a reason why Chuck wins Emmy after Emmy.

But at the end of the day, the NBA sold the rights to basketball. They don't sell the right to the studio shows. They sold the rights to. Yes. Yeah, I got you now, man. I just listen. I'm going to see. I'm picturing myself in a position of power as in a position of power to make that call.

picture myself in a position of power, in a position of power to make that call. Obviously, maybe the person that has the money that's sitting up top might not have the same view as I do, but to me, it just makes sense. Some things don't, some things do. Some things Ray Charles could even see. And breaking them up,

if there's a package where you just bought however much it was to show NBA games on your platform guess who I might have coming with me them goddamn folk yeah because I understand I understand what you get once they're on that tv oh they they they're they're their studio show is unbelievable and everybody tries to replicate it but it's hard to replicate something that has that kind of chemistry they've got such a big lead on everybody else. That's what makes them so great. It's kind of like what PTI did with Tony and Mike

Wilbon because there were colleagues at the Washington Post. They know each other. They play well off each other. And there's a reason why they've been going 20 plus years. And it seems like just yesterday, it's hard to replicate chemistry it's hard yeah and so you either have it or you don't some people can can it's instantaneous and some people it might take you a year or two to like feel somebody out now obviously they had a better opportunity because they work together you know we're working at the Washington Post I mean people like well you know how well did you know I said I knew of it and it. And I said, you know, I interviewed him one time. I said, well, we brought across each other, but it's not like we have the relationship that we have now.

Right. I say, but the thing that when I wanted to put something together, I said, I need somebody that doesn't take himself too serious, understands the game. But we're going to have to in order for the show to grow, we just can't talk football. I knew we were going to have to tell some stories. I just didn't know how we were going to be able to get to the stories to be able to tell. Yeah, there's stuff that happened in the locker room and you can say, well, hey, I remember

this time when I was in the locker room and this happened. And I can say that, but we talk about so much more than just sport. And so I'm going to need somebody that can not take himself serious, that can take a joke, that can joke and understands that at the end of the day, this is entertainment. That's what this is. This is entertainment. We're going to try to be as knowledgeable and informative as we possibly can. And I'm getting better. I'm getting better with my knowledge on basketball. I'm getting better. I'm getting there.

And hey, listen, they've been killing me today on Twitter. About what? They've been killing me all day on Twitter about the WNBA stuff. So, I mean, you and Gil had a conversation and brought up some stuff that I wasn't knowledgeable about. Let Bird imagine. Let Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese,

let them get somebody close. Let them get, look, whenever you might think, look, whatever you might think of this new crop, at the end of the day, more people started talking about the WNBA this year than at any point in time in the history of the WNBA. They're thinking about ESPN

and thinking about possibly doing a studio show, WNBA Today, just like the NBA Today, just like NFL Live. So whatever you think of these young ladies, I'm just going to sit back, and I get it. It's hard. It's just nature that is kind of what happened. Remember, Ocho, when they went to a pay scale for the rookies

because the Fats got so upset that guys coming in that have never thrown an NFL football except on their pro day was making just as much money. Sam Bradford became the highest player in the NFL as a rookie. Yeah. And the players like, okay, which played right into the hands of the owners

because guess what they said? You know what, guys? We thank you guys because this will give us an opportunity to keep more veteran players because we don't have to play these rookies this large sum of money. We put them on a pay scale, blah, blah, blah. What they did to the Vets, folks,

tell the people at home what they did to the Vets. Cut them! Yeah, cut them, yeah, yeah. They moved on without them. Y'all bought that because they told you oh this is gonna allow us to keep more bets

on the team where you going hold on you tell me the occupation how many occupations you know that you say you know

the most you can make is this amount of money right ain't too many of them now yeah and I get but I'm saying had you amount of money. Right. Ain't too many of them now. Yeah, and I get, but I'm saying, had they said, okay, we're going to keep veterans, and you know,

God is in his 10th year, because sometimes you need veterans' presence in the locker room. Right. Everything, sometimes you just can't quantify the importance of a voice everything can't be measured in play right like what you deep provided for the the heat you couldn't quantify it right but he kept the locker room he kept the heat culture he made sure everybody understood why

they were there and what they needed to do while they were there. Yeah. And so that's the thing that I'm just saying. Look, just be happy. The mere fact that we're talking about the WNBA as much as we do. Yeah. We wasn't talking about no WNBA. Nobody was talking about WNBA.

Listen, I mean, listen, they were getting on me. They were cussing me out. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out. Time out. Time out. On on on Tuesday, whether Tuesday, Tuesday or Thursday, Thursday was my first game. That was my first experience. And it was awesome. Yes. So I chimed in on my personal experience. Yeah. You and Gil are a little bit more knowledgeable about the wmba and how long it's been around and how the logistics of it works yeah i don't know that so i didn't chime in so somebody they were coming at me on twitter saying well i'm complicit because i didn't engage in a conversation i knew nothing about i didn't know anything about it all i can talk about is holy shit miss renee Renee Montgomery invited me to a game and the atmosphere was awesome

as opposed to what I've always heard on Twitter. I said, y'all lied to me on Twitter and told me the WNBA wasn't good and it wasn't exciting and it was the opposite of what I experienced. That was it. And now, what's going to happen now is I'm making my way.

I'm going to an Indiana game, which is not too far from Cincinnati. I'm going to a Chicago game. I'm going to make my way to Vegas. I'm going to start buying jerseys and wearing jerseys. So while I'm learning and getting better at learning not just the NBA, now I'm going to actually integrate WNBA into it too. So we're going to have WNBA nightcap. Yeah.

I mean, we talk about it. We talk're going to have WNBA nightcap. Yeah. I mean, we, and we talk about it. We talk about Caitlin Clark. We talk about Angel Reese. We've talked about, uh, uh, Cameron Brink and, uh,

and Rekia Jackson and Cardosa just came back. I think she just came back. She was dealing with a shoulder injury, but we're, but no matter what they think, people are talking more about the WNBA this year than they have at any other point in time in the WNBA history it's facts now if you don't want to give this you this young class uh Clark and Reese and these young girls if y'all don't want to give them, okay, fine. But the windfall is going

to come, and it's going to be a large part because of those young ladies. And that's, I don't care where the money coming from. I don't. Right. I mean, in the NFL, do you think Burrow cares like,

man, these games going to be streamed on Netflix. These games on Amazon. These streaming platforms. Right. All I know, direct deposit here, I get that alert. God damn! Not what I care about.

The reasons are unimportant to me. It don't matter. And listen, you've been to the WNBA game before? I have not. No, listen. I have not. The Atlanta dream,

the Atlanta dream and that atmosphere that I had the opportunity to experience. But that's different though, Ocho. Listen, they set a precedent. So now when I travel and go to other WNBA games, I'm expecting the atmosphere

to be like it was in Atlanta because, oh, that shit was amazing. Not only that, the game was good. I don't want to pronounce her name wrong. She played for the Dallas Wings. But a comparison to me.

Yeah. She was that bitch looking like Kyrie Irving. Oh, yeah. I don't know how to pronounce her last name the right way. Yeah, I think you know that. Oh, my goodness. Listen. Yeah. I don't know how to pronounce her last name the right way. Yeah, I think you know that. Oh, my goodness. Oben Wally. Yeah.

Oh, my goodness. Listen. But they got a young one. They got a, is it Lisa? See, I'm bad. Who'd you play for? Who'd you play for? For the Dream. Oh, great.

Miss Gray was nice. Miss Gray. Miss Ariel Powers was nice. They got, she played the five. I can. Miss Ariel Powers was nice. They got, um... She played the five. I can't remember what number she wore. She played the five for the dream. Oh, my goodness.

Man, out there looking like a Keem Elijah one, boy. Down in the block. Hey, calling for the ball. Man, stop playing. And then the crowd. Ocho. The DJ.

The energy. Ocho. Ocho, see, this is where you need to get messed up at. That's Atlanta. Go to a Falcons game. It's crunk just like that. You go to a WNBA game in Atlanta, it's crunk just like that.

Go to the soccer game. It is crunk just like that. Everybody going to be crunk. You know how they do it in the A. You got it. Because who in the stands? What they look like? Exactly.

And so you got to have it croaked. I didn't know. But that thing was raw, boy. That thing was nice. Daniel Jones wasn't happy about the Giants considering drafting a quarterback in round one. When asked about the club looking into potential replacement, Jones said,

I mean, I wasn't fired up about it. His injury history and the on-field struggles for much of his five-year career led the Giants, who picked number six overall in the 2024 draft, to take deep dives into rookie quarterbacks coming out. At the end of the day, they drafted playmaking wide receivers

Malik Nabors. The reality is that he's entering the make or break season despite just signing a four-year 160 million dollar contract extension last offseason oh yeah it is and that's that's exactly what it is it's a make it a break a year they paid to that money they let Saquon walk so now the onus of the team is on you. How far the team goes is on you. I'm not saying you're Patrick Mahomes, but you're going to have to be very Patrick Mahomes-ish

this year. So when the pieces are missing and allowing other people to walk, you have to pick up. You got to pick up that offensively. You have to pick that up as a quarterback. You have to. And if they did bring a quarterback in, listen, Drew Locke going to push you up that offensively. You have to pick that up as a quarterback. Yeah. You have to. And if they did bring a quarterback in, listen, Drew Locke going to push you for that job now.

He should. Drew Locke is going to push you for that job. I don't care if they paid you $300 million. Because if you start off 0-4 or you start off 0-5, guess who finished checking to the ballgame? Yeah. Drew Locke. Guess who finished checking to the ballgame? Mm-hmm.

Okay. And you got Malik Nables. You got to use him. You got to use him. You better use him the best way you can. And I'm hoping Malik Nables comes in like a Jamar Chase

or like a Justin Jefferson where there is no learning curve. He hits the ground running right away. And because of the atmosphere he comes from, because of the environment he comes from,

he should be ready to play. He should be ready to play, and it should be nothing to him. Look at the quarterbacks you're talking about were thrown to those guys. Jayden Daniels? No. Joe Burrow?

Joe Burrow. And first cousins. Jayden Daniels? First cousins. Were thrown to was thrown to Justin Jefferson in Minnesota. Oh, that's right.

That's right. Oh, shit. Okay, I see what you're saying. Hey, but wait a minute. If there is a weakness in Daniel Jones, you know a superstar receiver can hide those weaknesses

if you're that guy. You know that. Who thought he was that guy? If Malik Nabors is what I think he is and what I've seen, he can hide those weaknesses. Well, he's going to have to play better.

Ojo, he's going to have to play better than what I've seen. Malik Nabors was very wise to call that bet off because he's like, hold on. They ain't drafting no quarterback. Man, I got Danny Nichols throwing to me. Man, hey, I'm out of the bed.

The NFL, you know, I don't want no... Hey, but listen, from a receiver standpoint, I'm thinking about my mentality. Malik Naber's mentality is probably the same way. Just get the ball and put it in my vicinity. Who was your quarterback before Carson?

John Kittner. And I went crazy with John Kittner. What? I went dummy with Kittner. Right. went crazy with John Kittner. What? I went dummy with Kittner. Right. You know, I didn't care. Listen, the Sisters of the North could have been my quarterback. I'm finna get jiggy. I'm finna be open. Just put the ball in the vicinity.

Just put it in the area. Because I'm going to be open. Have you watched him play? Who? You watched him play? Daniel Jones play? Yeah. Yeah.

He's a good dual threat quarterback. He's a good dual threat quarterback. I mean, you say put it in your vicinity. You know, Newark is in the vicinity of the Meadowlands. It's in Jersey. You know what I'm saying? You say put it in the vicinity.

Lord Manhattan is in the vicinity. Right. Yeah, you know what I mean. Listen, I think when certain quarterbacks that aren't elite Yeah. and you get special talent, elite talent, receiver that have that ick factor, they raise your level of play and they make you look better than what you actually are.

And I think that's what Malik Nabors can be for Daniel Jones. Well, hopefully the offensive line is a little better. But the thing is that really helps young quarterbacks. There's only a handful of quarterbacks that's come into the league that didn't have a running game, a running back that could take some of that pressure off you. Pressure off of me, yeah. Now, I mean, we'll see. I think they signed a running back. I forget who they signed in free agency. So it's going to be very interesting to see how this thing works out.

I know the Giants fans are getting very, very frustrated with the quarterback play. And, you know, they had Eli and Eli, you know, they were, Eli didn't show, Eli was perfect for New York because nothing bothered him. It might have been bothered him all along. It might have drove him crazy, but you

couldn't tell. You never knew. He didn't show no emotions on the field. He didn't show any emotions on the sideline. Now, he might have got home and yelled into his pillow. But all I'm saying is that when he's on the field, and then Daniel Jones is just, I'm not saying it bothers him, but I just like, look, I understand quarterbacks is like, but I love competition.

They signed Devin Singletary in free agency. But for the quarterback, and people are like, well, Sheldon Dickens can play. Look, if he can't beat me out for the job, I don't give a damn how good he is. If the guy can't beat the quarterback out for the job, he doesn't get to play. Right. I like it. And listen, quarterbacks that get upset about players being drafted I don't

I enjoy competition now if you're in your 30s and you're 37 and they bring in somebody young you already know how the business works they're trying to work your way out they're going to work you out it happens to everybody

but if I'm young I'm you know 20, 23 and you talk about drafting somebody, oh, that's fine. Come on. Yeah. Bring that in here. That's only going to raise my level of play

and make me work. It was like your college, Ocho. You know, they're bringing in receivers every year. I said, well, he must be going to play the X because he ain't going to ever play the Z. He ain't going to ever see the field in Z unless we got a big lead. He ain't coming in here.

Yeah. So, hey, they draft tight as all they want to. He can beat me out. If I get hurt, I'm going to make sure he's ready to play if I got hurt. But as far as coming in and beating me out for the job? Oh, no, that could never happen. Not on his best day. The Volume.

It's best day. The Volume. but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolfe. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.