First Things First - Hawks beat Knicks, Wemby wins DPOY, King of the Hill, Should the Steelers be done with Rodgers?

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

(0:00) Hawks beat Knicks, T-Wolves beat Nuggets, What does unanimous DPOY mean for Wemby? (26:44) Steelers don’t expect Rodgers decision before draft (39:51) Are the Cavaliers serious contenders? (46:14) King of the Hill (01:03:36) Can the Lakers win Game 2 vs. Rockets? (01:16:52) Knicks or Nuggets in more trouble? (01:25:03) Top 10 Tuesday, Knicks in trouble? (01:48:41) Ty Simpson a must-draft for the Steelers? (01:58:33) Front Office (02:07:27) Lakers winning the series if they go up 2-0? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a line in the sand that can't be crossed. What happened? Every day, okay? I write the script. I have all these like interesting notes and fact toys to put you guys so I can, so I can throw your meatballs across the plate. You guys, I go, boom, I'm the big star. Get it.

I come and look at my script. Look what, I didn't. write this. Great point, Nick. I didn't write that. I saw that sitting by the coffee maker and I thought I'd help you out. That's not helping. I know you like things imprompter

and things written that you're going to say and I was like, you know what? Might as well walk you down the back, Nick. I wrote in your pencil on everything. First hour of first things first. It's a violation. Today the Hawks take over the garden. How much trouble is New York in now?

Oh, one of my faves, an anonymous executive likes Fernando Mendoza more than Cam Ward and more than Drake May. The hot take I have about this anonymous executive that you'll have to see to believe. Wow. And finally, a special round one playoff edition of King of the Hill friendliest thing in all sports. A lot of changes. Yeah. A lot of change. It's a playoff edition.

There hasn't been a ton of playoff games. I thought Brew would be, no spoilers. Did you see? Did you see, man? Did you see what I put in? No, I don't, but look on your face, you don't seem thrilled. I thought you would be over the moon. Not enough rebound.

Ecstatic. Not enough rebounds. I just keep it real. That's all. I thought Brew would love the hill. Turns out it can't please the guy. It was all right. How many bonus takes do you have for the hill?

He's got a lot of bonus takes, I'm sure. Start off with a bonus take. We're starting in Denver. Wolf Steel game two behind a suffocating defense that stifled Joker and Murray in the fourth. After the game, Rudy was asked how he held up against Joker. And then Jaden McDaniels talked about Denver's defense or the lack thereof. Take a listen. I was lucky because I'm not a top three defender.

I cannot do that. So I was lucky. I was lucky. Well, some of the huge effects of my best to really get me with them. Go out of Yolkish, Jamal. All the bad defenders. Tim Hardaway, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, the whole team.

Like, just go out of them. They're all bad defenders. Yeah, they're all bad defenders. The wolves expose the nuggets. Exposed is obviously, I think, obviously, too strong a word. We knew that this Denver team, as good as they are. Their weaknesses are defense and lack of athleticism. especially without Peyton Watson, who's not back yet, all right, if he's coming back.

So that is what Minnesota attacked, and that's why I think they were able to win this game. Their athleticism overwhelmed Denver to a degree. And what was surprising, though, was the way Yote or Gobert, and I don't mind him saying that. He wasn't in my top three. He was on my second team all defense. but obviously one of the greatest defenders in history, particularly defending the rim, the four-time defensive player of the year.

And he's alluding to the finalist for defense player of the year had just come out. They released the top three. And he wasn't one of the finalists. Yolkich, I mean, Wemby, Chet, and Asoor Thompson, which were the three on my ballot as well. But he really locked up Yokic. He locked him up.

Like Yolkich was one for eight in the fourth quarter. there was the one play late where Yokish kind of they needed a bucket and Yokic they ran the quick pick and roll short pick and roll he got to the rim and yeah passed it to Christian Brown instead of going up with it and so I think that was a result of Gobert's defense was that were you okay with that it feels like that's one of those ones were it wasn't like a bad it was it was like if LeBron did it we would kill it was kind of like well it was kind of like the one I was going to bring up. it's the right play. It can be viewed as the right play, but in a lot of cases you say, man, I want my best player shooting that shot. Do we have a clip of that dust? Because I don't know,

okay, well, let's try to get a clip of that at some point. I don't know that I agree it was the right play. Because Anthony Edwards was the, Gobert was crowding the lane. But Edwards is the guy who deflected the pass. And on the broadcast, they said themselves, they were shocked that,

Yokic didn't take the little floater. And it's one thing to make the right play, clean pass, clean catch, clean shot, guy misses it. It's hard to say it's the right play. When the pass is deflected, Brown is in traffic. Now, he did get fouled and he could have made the free throws,

but it was, I was really, I don't want to interrupt your bro, but I was very surprised that Joker didn't take that shot down to with 20 seconds. And he seemed a bit off balance. but he has made shots like that. That's what he does. But bottom line, Gobert took it to him.

And like I talked about their athleticism, Yokic and Murray were exhausted in that game. I mean, obviously they're playing that altitude, but those guys should be more used to it than the Timberwolves players. And they were exhausted. And Murray, who is up for, he's one of the three finalists for clutch player of the year, was, again, on my ballot for that. He was one for five with two points in the fourth quarter.

And I thought another key was yesterday. I said Anthony Edwards has to be special. And he was special. Like 30 points, 10 rebounds. I thought he was great. He attacked the basket. The thing here is they are not scared of Denver. Not only are they not scared.

They think they're better. For Jaden McDaniels to say what he said, that's like we can beat, not only can we beat, then we're the better team, period. And so this is going to be a war of a series, which is great. I think I picked Denver. I think Minnesota can win this thing. And now I think I picked Denver and six. I'm expecting this to go seven.

And it's up for grabs as far as I'm concerned. So I also picked Denver in six. I still think Denver and six, but I said before the series I would be shocked. if the Timberwolves won. I would now be very surprised if the Timberwolves won. They played, I think the number is 29 times the last three years.

It's 15, 14. Yeah, I think it's 30, 15, 15. Oh, okay, all right, so maybe going into it now. Yeah, so my stat might be from before yesterday. Great. And well done. You mentioned Jamal Murray hit the Jerry West shot before half,

almost the exact shot Jerry won a finals game with to get to 23, hit a three minutes into the second half, and then at four points the rest of the way, four points in the final 20-some minutes. Murray and Joker combined in the fourth quarter, two for 12. Yeah. You're going to lose every time that happens. Like every time that, so I understand, KW, your focus on why you haven't been

as in love with the nuggets this year's, years pass is twofold. One is they're not the defending champs, so you don't love that. And the other is you don't trust them defensively. Yep. I haven't cared as much because I'm like, yeah, listen, with Gordon back,

they're a competent defense, not great, and they have the best offense in the league when they're rolling. So when they lose, I understand Jaden McDaniels pointing at over intact their, they lost because their strength wasn't their strength. And that's where I have been one of the biggest critics of playoff Rudy Gobert, a guy who won four defensive player of the years,

and then in Utah got played off the court repeatedly. He owned Joker in this matchup. He had two points. Joker had 24, 15, and 8, and Rudy won the matchup. And you could tell Joker was frustrated a couple different ways. One is he had maybe his first in-traffic, one-legged, one-hand dunk of the season. Right after. I want to see a little more of that.

And the other is Joker. When Joker feels like it's not going his way, he's very good at the dark arts. He's where all of a sudden he will force you to foul him going up the court, 50 feet from the basket. You're talking about that screen. Well, two. There was one with the screen where he.

Which I thought he flopped. Flopped and drew the foul. He did a good job of, yeah. And then right there. Yeah, I thought that was. Later in the. quarter when the nuggets are just taking the ball inbound on their side of the court. He got in front of, I think, Jaden or it might have been Kyle Anderson, and just did kind of

like herky jerky and drew a foul. He does that when it's not really going the way he wants and he wants to kind of stifle the other team's momentum. And Rudy did it. And here is the, listen, I picked the nuggets to go to the finals. So I really believe in this team. But Joker's three-point shooting worries me in this matchup. So his three-point shooting in the playoffs historically is really weird.

The last six years, 38 percent, 28 percent, 46 percent when they won the title, 26 percent when they lost to Minnesota, 38 percent last year, 21 percent through two games this year. But Minnesota is daring him to shoot threes, and he has shot seven a game. that's not like going one for seven from three, which is what he's doing, is not going to be the recipe for them, obviously. And so I haven't looked at those three-point numbers. My assumption is that they're so up and down because he doesn't take a ton.

He might take four a game, which isn't a lot. Four and a half five a game. No, but it's just, the point I'm making, I guess, is even only taking four and a half five a game, like the year they won the title, and he's shooting 46% from the he's unguarded. Like if you get up in him, he's going to use his size and his passing. Minnesota is daring him to shoot, and it's worked so far.

He, for the second straight game, had a mediocre first half. He exploded in the third quarter when Rudy was mostly on the bench. And then fourth quarter, Rudy shut him down. Like, I believe he's the best player in the world. Jade McDaniels is correct. He's not a great defender. His value comes from being the most unstoppable offensive player in the league. This is a hard standard because he's averaging 24, 13, and 9 this series.

But I don't think he's played great yet. I will say this. I feel like Minnesota, well, I don't necessarily think they're the better team. I guess I'm contradicting myself. I think they can control, like they missed 10 free throws yesterday. They shot 63%. Now, they're not a good free throw shooting team. They're 29th in the league.

But that still is 75%. So if they had just hit their normal 75%, they would have won fairly easily. But also, I feel like if they just attacked the rim, he said it, Jaden McDaniels, they don't have rim protectors. So if they just attacked the rim, like I don't want just settling for 10, 3-point attempts a game. Even though he's a very good 3-point shooter,

If they attack the basket, they can either get those guys in foul trouble or just finish over them because they're more athletic. Can I say one thing about you? Yeah, real quick. Because listen, Ant was better in this game. He still 10 of 25 and he does look not 100%. He didn't love his own game. Right. But they need him to play like a star.

Like put up star numbers. And here's the other thing. You've said that if Shea was more like high flying, that people either would like him more. he'd be considered maybe best player in the world. The other thing that Ant has that Shea does not is Ant is very old school in this regard. When I drive to the basket,

I am driving to the basket to score through contact. And gets contact like Braun does and like basically everyone in the 90s and 2000s was, I'm going to absorb the contact and try to score. It might

actually be to his benefit if every time he got hit, he just fell back and but he won't do it. I don't know if he's like morally opposed to it. It's just not how he plays. When he takes threes, in game one, he landed on Nuggets players' foot and just played it off and kept going. Ant is very, I don't want to use like Twitter-lingo.

Ethical. Ethical in the way he plays. And I personally, it's one of my favorite things about him. He is, when he's driving to the basket, he's driving to the basket with the intent of finishing even if you hit him not, oh, he's not driving to the basket to draw fouls. He's driving to the basket to finish. Which is how all these guys, including Shea, grew up playing.

Now, to do what Shea does, you have to say, you know what, I'm going to utilize this, make it a part of my game, and use it as a weapon. And I credit him for that, but you don't grow up looking for foul. I did. Meanwhile, in the garden, Knicks were up 12 entering the fourth Celebrity Road, Joyous. Fat Joe, Frolicking, Steve Sherell. My dad was smiling. But to Salome's chagrin, here come C.J. McCollum.

Six points in the final 208. Hawks shoot 72% brew in the fourth quarter. Was he targeting Jalen Brunson? Let's find out in the post game. You feel like you were maybe intentionally, maybe not looking to get that match against Jaylor. I know you said it's not about being but did you like what you had in that in those

one-on-one-one scenarios we get to the room? What do you think? What do you think? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is after he called him a Broadway actor. Nick's in the fourth quarter.

They're best fourth quarter team in the league. But last night, they only scored 15 points, shot 23% while the Hawk shot 20. He's got 28 points on 72%. Is New York in trouble? First of all, let me say this. It is incredible how the Madison Square Garden crowd can always make somebody a villain. Like almost every post.

season, there is a villain, all right? Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller, Tyrese Halliburton, Trey Young, and now the most, the unlikely list and likliest of them all, C.J. McCallum, who used to be on this show a couple times. Yeah, he's been on the show. Very nice guy. And he's one of the nicest, most soft-spoken guys. You, like, he is an unlikely villain, you know, for sure.

But he is taking it to the Knicks. Now, to answer your question, no. Okay. As someone that picked the Knicks to get to the conference finals, no. Now, I thought this would go six. And it might go seven. I think it's still going to go six. And here we are, on pace for what I see as a six game series.

All right. So I don't think Atlanta took that game with all credit to them for their resilience and not giving up and continuing to push their young team outside of McCollum that's kind of learning on the fly in the playoffs. but the Knicks gave that to them. Shame on the Nicks, because they clearly had the game. They're the best fourth quarter team in the league. They were up by 12.

They relaxed, including Mike Brown. Now, he's got to get out of this thing of, I get it here or there a couple of minutes, but he's playing, he's sitting Brunson and Kat. Simultaneously. Too much. Yeah, together. Yeah. I think it was 11 minutes yesterday.

They were off the court. They outscored by seven, which isn't a ton. But my thing is this. you have Kat who is a star. Like for all the criticism, Cat is a legitimate star. We've said he might, with the NBA standards, he might make the Hall of Fame, all right? He's that good of a player.

And he clearly doesn't at times get his offense, which y'all get to because we saw it again last night. One of the ways you get him going is when Brunson's out of the game have Kat in and you run the offense through Kat. So that gets him going. That has him in a rhythm. He gets his numbers. He's feeling good.

And so I don't agree with Mike taking them out. Mike Brown taking those guys out together that much. But yesterday, I just thought the Knicks, like, relaxed in the fourth. Jalen was three for eight in the fourth. And here we go. Carl Anthony Towns, 0 for 2 in the fourth. That is a – now look – He didn't get the ball.

Oh, I was going to say. Only two field goals. That's what he's saying. Eight for 10 in the game leading up to it. Didn't get the ball. Right. In the third quarter, when the Knicks pulled, got a little distance, he goes six or seven with 14 of his 18 points.

All right, seven of his 12 attempts for the game, I believe he had 12. And so they have to get Kat more of us. Somebody asks on Kat, be more aggressive, go get some offensive rebounds. But Jalen as the point guard, Mike Brown as the coach, you have to make it a point to get your big guy involved when he's not. And so I think the nicks need to make some tweaks. I also, Nick, McCollum is destroying Brunson, all right? Nine for 12 against him in the series last night, had his way with him.

I would put, and I know they're hunting him, so they're trying to get him. Get him and switch. But have your guys, whether it's Hart, Anobi, McHale, get them to, you go over the pick. At best you can, try to get over the pick and stay put on McCallum. I think that's an adjustment they need to make. But I think they're fine. They'll win this thing in six. Dust, give us a couple extra minutes on this and less time on defense player.

Do you want to go before I go? I just, please, Dust. There was a point where I was watching this game with my wife, and my wife's yelled at the screen, which oftentimes means yelling at me because I'm just like in the vicinity, like, get Jalen Brunson back in the game. And I was like, oh, that's a good point. Because we crushed Tibbs for running everybody into the ground.

Last year, the first two games, Brunson played 84 minutes. he's played 72 minutes so far. So maybe that's good for the long haul. But I like McBride, but I want a little bit more Jaylen Brunson before the wheels fall off. So I want to talk to Jailen, then I want to talk about McCollum just for a minute. Because my answer to this is the Knicks are not not in trouble. Not not in trouble.

I mean, I pick Knicks and seven, and my big, my defining reason of why I was going with the Nix is, like, listen, if it's a possession game in the final minutes, one team as Jalen Brunson, the other team to CJ McCollum. And I wasn't trying to be disrespectful to CJ, but Jaylen's different caliber of player, not last night. And Jalen Brunson maybe should have played more. You know what he definitely should have done?

Passed more. You can't have 13 field goal attempts and one assist in the second half from your point guard. 10 of 26 from Jalen Brunson gets you beat. Especially when they're hunting you on the other end.

And to your point, Kat was 8 of 12, 8 of 10 going into the 4th. quarter. We don't know how hot he could have been. He wasn't getting the ball enough. Jalen was in my, listen, he's hit the three to tie it late. He then hit the three to cut from four to one. He's a great player. I was argued with Colin today on his show because I thought Colin was downgrading him too much. He is a great player. I think he's a superstar. That wasn't a good performance by him. And it was a little too heliocentric, as you would say,

where he does his own thing. And then I just want to say quickly something about CJ, not just because eight years ago, he came on the show. C.J. McClellan's in the league 13 years. His teams have made the playoffs 11 of those 13. He has played for Portland, New Orleans, Washington, and Atlanta. Not in Portland, it was, you know, him and Dame. Right. But he was in New Orleans.

They made the playoffs two of the years he was there. He went to Atlanta. He's like the big jewel of the Trey Young Trey. He has played 70 career playoff game, Spru. averages 20 a game for his playoff career. That's a kid out of Lehigh who is, you know, a skinny kid, not that big. 13 years into the league, 32 points in the playoffs like this,

that's big time, and he won them the game. And he always gets kind of thrown in trade rumors because he's always had a tradable salary and he's a good locker room guy. But that was a huge moment for him to where, to your point, he becomes a villain when he's the least villain. this guy and the villain thing. Someone sent a great tweet.

I'm like, this is a perfect tweet that New York is the only team that always makes villains. It's like, well, maybe you guys are actually choking at the end of the game. No, no, no. No, Bain gained through it. What can we do?

All right, there's a pattern of guys killing it. This was the first time they have led by double digits entering the fourth quarter of a playoff game that they lost since the Redmond. Drew Miller game. I mean, it's 30 years. That's a great point. Them choking.

Yeah, it's like, no, no, no. It's just a villain. Oh, okay, another villain. It just so happens to him. Billen every two years. Wembe named first ever unanimous defensive player of the year. Here he was with the NBC crew on what the award means to him with a quick anecdote about Akeem Elijah won. Oh, no.

Take a listen. It means everything. You know, I'm smiling because I was just reminding myself of the time where I was actually at Hakeems. And looking at this. Black, you know, saying basically a block shots leader all time, right? And he was like, you're going to beat that one day. So, you know, one step at a time. Akeem said that on our show as well, that Wembe's the first guy ever he thinks that can break that record.

Wemby this season, first and everything, second in the opposing field goal percentage as primary defender. What does this mean? The unanimous part, bro. Well, look, obviously that's one of one that he's unanimous. He joins, not because he's unanimous, but he joins a distinguished trio of players to win rookie of the year and defensive player to year. It's only three.

I would think of it a little more, but Akeem was second the rookie of the year. Two Jordan. It was, okay, that was, yes, right. He was in the Jordan draft. So, but yeah, those three. And it's interesting because I wonder if Wembe will break Elijah Wynes record for blocks.

I think he should, but this year average three. Akeem had a few years where we averaged four, one time four and a half, four point six. The thing is back then with the game played a lot closer to the paint and not taking as many threes, more block shots were available. Guys were taking more shots at the rim more available. Wimby, one of his strengths defensively, he deters you from coming into the paint. And so I think he'll, if he has a long career, he should pass a team. But I don't think it's block number.

Like three a game for him, he should be averaging about five, but I don't know if he's getting enough guys are going at him enough. So I wonder, what about this record? Because here's the thing about the defense player of the year. It's one of the newest other than these brand new awards. They only been given out 45 years. So that's why maybe Kareem or some of the other legends aren't on that list. But it's been going on for 45 years.

Only 28 guys have won it because 10 are multi-time winners and three guys won it four times. This is a ward. Dwight won it three times, but Rudy Gobert, Ben Wallace and DeKimbe all won it four times. That's the high watermark. I expect him to break that record. Oh, yeah. The next five years. Well, I mean, the 65 game rule could hurt him in that regard as far as winning.

A ton of them. But this is his award until further notice. And this is something where the block stats and even the field goal percentage when he's the nearest defender stats aren't going to tell the whole story. I buy, you know, there is more hidden impact on defense than on offense. statistically I think usually your impact shows up either in points or assists. Not always. I don't know, Rudy Gobert was huge on the screen assists.

Wimby is in minute. Roll gravity. Yeah, I get it. But it is true that he is just a dissuasive force as far as people not taking shots. And also, it means it, never mind. Whenever there's a unanimous award, I get a little upset. But so it does. What are you talking about a unanimous award?

Well, I mean, it means that nobody is... Jordan wasn't unanimous. No, no, nobody was unanimous. I'm a big fan of unanimous awards. I'm also, you know, sometimes guys feel like somebody's season should be recognized. And so they vote, instead of voting for LeBron for MVP, they vote for Carmelo Anthony. But that's 12 years ago. I should be over it by now.

Last unanimous award winner, Steph in 2016. Well, and this is not usually an award that everyone agrees on. I think that's fast. Well, that's, yeah, he's strange. Fernando Mendoza better than Drake and what are the Steelers doing with Rogers? That's next on FS1, the Fox Sports Channel, on Series XM. Thursday mock draft 4.0. The official one.

This is the real deal, coach. This is it. The real one, the only one that gets graded, the only one that gets sent in to Elias Sports Bureau's archive department. So Elias running it? They're part of it. Shout out to Elias Sports Bureau. They've been kicking around. When I was a kid, when I was a kid, I got their phone number and would call.

them and what? Check they back. Checked stats. I bet they love that. And after like the seventh time, someone finally was like, who are you with? I'm like, I'm just me. They're like, you're can't.

Well, Dusty's giving me Intel. Dusty, what did you say? Thank you, Dusty. We're not contracted with Elias Sports Bureau from. Well, that's okay. It's Dusty's birthday. When I was seven years old, my house wasn't either.

He still called him. Steelers opened up a voluntary mini camp yesterday, Coach, Rogers's not there because, well, he's not on the team. We were told that. we get a quick decision this winter. Now I'm shopping for new bathing suits. I got time wise.

Still rocking the speedo? I'd like to. Eating too many cookies. Ian's girlfriend. I'm making too many cookies. All right, here's Steelers' GM, Omar Khan. We've had some great communication with Aaron, and nothing's changed, but it's all been positive and good.

And, you know, I said to see you guys in March when we met. You know, he knows how we feel about him. I mean, you know, we know how he feels about us. Okay. Should Steelers, it seems like a mean question now. It's not. Should the Steelers be done with Aaron Rogers? Can I have my camera, please?

I want to talk to Art Roney the second. Oh, okay. Art, you're from a family of legends. Your dad, you inherited the team from him about a decade ago. He was the ambassador to Ireland. His dad, your namesake, Art Runey, Sr., bought the team for 20. $2,500 $93 years ago. Bank rolled it off a winning horse wager.

All time. Classic. One of your first major signings went on to be a United States Supreme Court Justice. You're a legendary organization. You've been to eight super rules. You won six. And you are bending your own timeline for roughly the 23rd best quarterback in the league. Who is now taking advantage of every.

accommodation you've made. You're the Pittsburgh Steelers. The draft is in Pittsburgh. Yes. Yeah. Tell Omar Khan, I typically don't meddle in football operations. I'm going to make an exception. With the 21st pick, whoever your favorite quarterback available is, take him.

Because we have to be out of the Aaron Rogers business. You cannot, when he himself said in January, We expect a decision within a month. And then six weeks later, they said, well, we'll certainly have it before the draft. And now it's mini-camp, and the draft is in two days in your city. Let this guy make a fool of you

when he's not even that good anymore. It's one of the craziest thing, coach, last year. You tried to convince us it was worth it, why they would do it, all of it. And it went as well as it possibly could have, and they got routed in the first round of the playoffs. You cannot let one person, and hold your franchise hostage,

especially when he's not that good anymore? Well, first of all, I didn't try to advocate that for him to be there. I think that was Bruce's position. He loved him at the Steelers. And I was worried about the relationship. I was worried about the relationship with the offensive coordinator.

But here's where I'm going to strongly disagree with you. I actually think this isn't a bad decision to wait. And here's why. your alternative is Mason Rudolph and he's 9 and 9 as a starter. You could go and potentially draft someone in the first round that you don't believe in. That's not going to do you any good either. So if you have a conviction on a quarterback in the first round, great, do it. If you have a conviction on a quarterback in the second round, do it.

But Aaron Rogers coming back in this situation is actually better than it was last year because of the coach that he's coming back. He's a year older. He is a year older. But this is a really unique situation in the sense that the playbook's the same. If anything, the things that they can do together, coach and quarterback, is more extensive than it could be last year because they have the shared history of years and years of working together. So if your alternative is Mason Rudolph right now and going to reach. Will Howard or racher, bruising.

And going to reach in the draft, I don't think that's a good decision either. So if it works out, it works out. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. You're not any worse off by waiting than you are by making a decision right now. It feels so beneath the steel. Correct. I mean, they are a flagship franchise, six Super Bowls, as many as any other franchise. And they're sitting here, they look bad.

They look desperate. They look sorry. And they're doing it like Nick said, coach, for a guy. that will get them, what, nine or ten wins? Because here's the thing. Who at best is the third best quarterback in their division. The best case is the third best quarterback. And I agree with you that among the options out there,

Will Howard, who I don't know if I liked him in college, give him a shot, Mason, Rudolph, whoever, that Aaron Rogers is the best. He gives them the best chance to win games next season. But I think all of this is not in a vacuum. Like the end I admire the thought of let's just go out there and feel the best football team we can year after year after year. But it is in a context of trying to build toward winning a Super Bowl one day. And bringing back Aaron Rogers to me does not go.

It doesn't do you any good in that regard because at best, like there is no chance he would lead them to the Super Bowl. and McCarthy, the last two years of Rogers and McCarthy together in Green Bay they were 8, 10, and 1. 8, 10, and 1. That's with Air Rogers still being MVP caliber because once McCarthy left, he won two MVPs with Matt LaFleur.

And the team that was 810 and 1 under Rogers and McCarthy went 13 and 3 for what, three straight years under LaFleur? Two straight years? Let me just ask you guys a question. So we're going to be proud. proud and we're going to make a decision because we're the Pittsburgh Steelers, but yet we have no alternative.

So our decision is we're going to make a decision with no alternative. Here's the alternative. Instead of just waiting and seeing whether or not you get a better alternative and then moving on. But to me, here's the alternative. We play web, I'm thinking you play Will Howard or if you draft a quarterback, whether the second, third, fourth round, whatever, play one of the young quarterbacks. If by chance they show you something, okay, maybe we've got our quarterback. going forward. If not, and they're bad, you win four games, three games, you've got a high

pick in the next draft to rebuild. Otherwise, you're going to be eight, nine wins, and in the same position you are every year. And here's the, they went out and got Michael Pittman, right? That was the team we got Michael Pittman? Do we think Michael Pittman has spoken to Aaron Rogers? I think he has, but not about football. Oh, okay, that's right. You're right. So you are, I understand that Aaron has familiarity with Mike McCarthy. The rest of the Steelers, for the most part, don't. They're running minicamp right now. Yeah.

There is an element of, even if this guy is not the most talented thrower, there's a lot more to playing quarterback than just armed talent. And as far as other options, there's a list of options. You guys are going to immediately recoil at this one. You could probably take a flyer for a sixth-round pick on Amphiard. Anthony Richardson. Oh, I would do that. You're right.

Okay, good. I'm glad you didn't recoil. Coach, first round. Hold on, coach. I got a question for you. I like that. You can roll your eyes all you want. Here's an honest question.

You've loved him since he's been doing. You have. You're hoping to rejuvenate. But six rounds, sure. Hold on. I did like him coming out of the draft because of the overwhelming athleticism and talent and I didn't love the quarterback class, which by the way, I may prove my around with Bryce and C. We'll see.

Here's what I know. There is a 0% chance, 0% that three years from now, Aaron Rogers starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you traded a 6-round pick for Anthony Richardson, it wouldn't be 0% that he's your long-term quarterback. It might be 1%, but it wouldn't be 0%. And what I... Can you tell me who in the world is operating off of three years from now in the NFL?

People get fired year after year. It's about next year. It's about trying to win. If they got Rogers, like what do you think, you think they'd have a chance to get to the Super Bowl? I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying that when you make decisions, it's the decision you have and the alternative. So unless you have a better alternative to Rogers, it's easy to fire people. It's easy to get rid of people.

The hard part is replacing them. So give me a solution that's better than Aaron Rogers. And yeah, we'll move forward. and it seems like that's what they're doing. Just real quick, before we move on. And what I am trying to say is that there are a lot of quarterbacks that are worse quarterbacks than Aaron Rogers that are better options purely because it allows you to actually start your offseason.

Right. It allows you to actually, you can't, we can't talk about how important. I remember when Lamar was missing all those practices during the regular season. And we talked about how. For everyone else, when the starting quarterback's not out there, practice takes on a slightly different feel. You can't, in my, you obviously know better than me. I would imagine it is very hard for a head coach when it's already OTA season,

you know, guys don't really want to be there to begin with. To get full buy-in on a new program, if everyone's like, man, we're listening to the cadence of a guy who's not going to be our starter. But Mason Rudolph could obviously be their starter. So now he and Will Howard are getting all the reps, which is the best possible thing for them if Aaron Rogers doesn't show up. If Aaron Rogers shows up, he literally can walk in and run that offense. Do you remember who they pulled off the couch this season,

who hadn't played for five years in Indianapolis because they didn't have an alternative? So is that what you're going to do? You're going to go in and you're going to say, okay, we're going to try these guys. They're not working. Oh, let's go pull someone off the couch. Joe Flacko's still planned. Aaron Rogers, was better than 50% of the league.

Am I saying that's great? No, but it's better than 50% of the league. But why are you, what is surprising to me, coaches, you are dismissing entirely, it feels to me, the bizarre and inexplicable manipulation going on with Rogers drawing this out, and then we're going to put that in a drawer, act like it didn't happen,

and be like, lead the team. the most important leadership position in all of sports. Every other player at that position has come to their decision. Am I retiring? Am I not? What am I doing? And now we're going to ask you to lead our team. But I don't think the Steelers are putting on any big show of his leadership.

We've all seen the movie. We know how the movie works. He either shows up or he doesn't show up. And when he shows up, he shows up late. everybody on the team has seen the same movie over and over again. And at the end of the day, all those veterans that are there, all those guys that have a lot invested in the team, they want the best chance to win.

So if that's Aaron Rogers, they're all for Aaron Rogers, whether he shows up today or whether he shows up six weeks ago. I agree with that. The veterans especially there, they do want to win. But is it better for the franchise to go 9 and 8 this year, barely miss the playoffs, or to go four and 13 and have a high pick in next year's draft. Well, they have drafted quarterbacks in the past later in the first round that have been pretty successful.

What was Rothensberger? Rathlisberger was in mid-first round. Yeah, he was a mid-first round. Now we're back to what my plead art, Rooney. Draft whoever the best quarterback from the board. If Aaron Rothesburg is there in the first round, yeah, drafted. That would take. That would be great.

Last year, Roger signed on June 9th. So it's like a week after the age of round. This time this year. Afternoon headlines. They'll just put a rear for his thing. It's on Peacock Friday, I think. Spons by Hill and Garden and Hiltons for this day. Cavs took 2-0 series lead over the Raptors.

Donovan at 30, hard net 28. Brian Ingram, no show. Worst game of his career, maybe. Not good. Bad, bad pair of games. How good is Donovan Mitchell? He scores a lot of points in the playoffs. Yeah. Jordan, Luca, Iverson,

Katie. Jerry West, Donovan Mitchell and LeBron. That's not shocking to you? No, because I do this for 11. You knew that Donovan Mitchell was the fifth. Yeah, he used to be higher. Before he went to the cabs, he was higher. That's not shocked.

He's like, he's like, everybody knew that. He's like top five all time and playoff 50 points. Well, then give him some respect. He has not been to the conference finals, but he steps it up in the playoffs. It's not a hardened situation where he goes down. Correct.

Yeah, he's better than LeBron. Well, he's actually exactly tied. You just put him out of it. He is the only guy on there to never be to the finals, let alone the conference. Yeah, he's also the only guy never to be a conference finals, but that's fine. Well, can the Cavs go to the finals now? No. But I will say this.

Here's what I'll say about the Cavs. Look, because the original question is supposed to be, are you starting to believe that the Cavs can get to the finals? That's close enough, bro. You said, are they going? No, they're not going. Are you starting to believe? No. Then what's the different white white?

But what I'm going to say is this. I love when Brue gets mad at you for not doing your job. I mean, that's pretty close. Your job's pretty easy. But that's pretty close. I live in the nuance. I live in the nuance. The answers no to both questions.

Here's the deal. If we didn't know about the Cavs history, if we didn't know about James' history, if we didn't know about James, Hardin's struggles in the big playoff game. So you're saying, if we didn't know about, right, Cleveland's, I'm just going to call it like it is, they played soft in the playoffs the last few years, right? So if we were, Dan. Danny seems to, yeah, not, no, whatever.

But he knows. I mean, they lost to Indiana. They, a few years, they were the fourth seed. The Knicks beat them a few years ago in five, and the Knicks were the fifth seat. Like, so they just fall apart in the playoffs and play. play soft. My point is this, their talent

and the way they're playing right now is great. I think they have as much talent as anybody in the Eastern Conference. But because of the history, and Donovan's really not in that. I'm just saying, your answer to solve your playoffish woes

was to bring in James Harden. I just, I can't believe in them. Now, they could, Nick. They have more talent than Detroit. And Detroit might not be there. Right. Or Orlando, Detroit.

But let's say it's Detroit. They could beat Detroit. They have more talent, I think. I think Boston would run them off the floor. See, that's where I totally agree. Nicks would be interesting. But the Nicks aren't going to be there. You know, we'll see.

Sorry. Oh, I don't think. I don't think they get to the final. So I, and what I. You know, in the attempt for a laugh, I probably what I was saying, about Danny was probably, I misstated it. Danny, who believes in the Cavs,

is treating this as if the history is irrelevant. Right. And you and I maybe are treating the history a little too relevant. You know what? And so it may be the right answer somewhere in the middle where the history is not nothing, but the history is not everything, because the reason Danny and Vegas, for that matter,

they have the second best odds to make the finals out of the East, even the Cavs team is the talent, the how they've looked since they got hardened. The path all of a sudden seems opening. Like the Raptors are no resistance at all. And again, it's one game, but the Pistons look shaky after one game. And so all of a sudden it's like, wow, their path to the conference finals is wide open. And then who the hell knows what happens? and my answer to that is

I know exactly what will happen. Boston will not only beat them, Boston will lean on their big game experience and be more comfortable in those spots. And for Cleveland, for every single guy on that roster that matters, those conference finals games

if they get there will be the biggest games of their career, except for James Hardin, who will remember games as big or bigger and his shortcomings in them. And that to me is a perfect storm for one team to blow the other one off the court. So I know this sounds contradictory. I absolutely can see the Cavs making the conference finals,

and I see no scenario in which they win that series. None. Now, if it were the Knicks, I know you don't think that would be the case. If it were Cavs' Knicks, I would give them a real shot. I would still lean Knicks because in that world, the Knicks have just gotten past Boston again, you know, the issues we've had. And we say this every year on this show, and every year we fall prey to it,

and I'm sure this year will be no different. The amazing thing about the NBA playoffs is, unless a series is a total blowout, it's 3-0 and the team down 0-3 wins a game. Whoever won the last game, it feels like they're, how could they, ever lose to that team. Like whatever the last result was.

So right now Cleveland's played twice. They've looked awesome twice. It's like, man, maybe that team's play like that. You play around them every night. That's what makes the show work. We can't be like. Turns out, you know, it wasn't going to be a sweep. Did Joker lose his spot atop the hill?

That's next on first things first right here on FS1. Hi from New York. It's tearing us apart. You can tell it's already upset about the postgame content. The newlywed, first thing's first newlywed game, KW is, this will surprise America because he's so affable, so likable, so talented. KW has a real hard time taking it out. If you're saying I have a hard time with cheaters, you're right. Which is funny, as I'm a Patriots fan, I get it.

How did I? How did I cheat in our first thing's first newlywed game? Because the question was Bruce's best NBA reporting moment. No, I said with Paul Pee. With Paul Pierce, did you call back where I called game? I thought that was great. Brew wrote that. Wouldn't you write down?

Working with magic. Co-hosting with magic. Yes. Yeah. And then you wrote. And I said when he broke LBJ to Miami, he then afterwards said, Nick might be right,

but I don't even need that point. Dawson, I'm right. I said his, we all were wrong. I said his first job was Paperboy. You said it was Akron Beacon Journal. As if this guy's not a bootstrap guy, been working his whole life. Thought he didn't have a paying jobs.

It was 23. The silver spoon. How are it? I'm talking about a career job. It still wasn't a beginning. It was the Cleveland playing dealer. Thank you. So even there, you'd have been wrong.

Gastarnet. Second hour, first thing, thanks for it. Today, can LeBron take down the rockets again? I love that highlight of him pointing at the ref. The rep put his hand up like a. Buddy, you're the ref. Do you see the Shingoon stand-up controversy?

Yeah, but Shingun said he was just getting something out of his pocket. I don't believe you, Shingun. It's like standing out of him. Like an official. Meanwhile, we're expecting another 30-point game from Wembe? We'd like to see some more rebounds, bro. Yeah. Level six.

I think he would. Time now for to put our differences aside. It's time for the friendliest segment in all sports, a special butterfly edition of King of the Hill. Indeed it is. It's going to be a good one. With, I assume, a lot of bonus takes. Oh, geez.

The 28-person playoff Hill. Hill. So let's remind America does show who's not on the hill. We can do either one first. Either injured and eligible or who fell off the hill. The Kauai, Steph, Lamello, they were

on the hill. Their teams are not in the playoffs, so they're out. Jalen Duren and Aaron Gordon's teams are in the playoffs. They haven't necessarily themselves shown up to the playoffs, particularly Jalen Dern. That's a bad slide for Jailen Duren. Well, yeah. I mean, he had a double single, and

and they lost to an eighth seed. Gordon off to him. I thought, listen, I thought the most noteworthy part of Jaden McDaniels calling out everyone by name was one of the people, he could have just left out Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon is a good defender. And Aaron Gordon will take that personally. But Aaron Gordon needs to play better, needs hit a few threes.

He hit that big three late. I think they need to get him to rock more. But he also needs to be more impactful on the defensive end, which is where, you know, his money is made really for that team. So that date, those two guys slid off the hill even though they're still eligible. Kauai, Stefan Lamello, not eligible because their teams are out. Injured and eligible. Same three guys as before.

I did not make KD injured ineligible because he might play today. You know, so I didn't think. He needs to play today. Well, we'll discuss. Bottom of the hill. Danny will be happy. One quarter of the big four. Evan Mowgli, welcome to the hill.

He's playing well. Denny Avdia, I wanted to move him up. I thought he played awesome in that game. Yeah, 30. And, but they lost, he's only one playoff game. Maxi dips a bit, Fox and Castle and Scotty Barnes stay where they are. Scotty Barnes, tenuous hold, but he's been the best Raptor. They're just getting torched.

And in the Danis Jenkins Memorial spot, Luke Ginnard. 27? I mean, he's averaging 27. He's averaging 27 shooting a crazy percentage. Shout out to our graphics team. First time he's ever been on the show with a graphic. Oh yeah, absolutely. They got the right headshot and everything.

Sixth row. Welcome to the Hill Rudy O'Barre. You could argue should be higher, but he did only have two points. However, that's not what he's there for. He's there for his defense, and his defense was spectacular. Devin Booker dips just a bit. Katz stays where he's at. Katz had a weird playoffs in that first game he was non-existent with the first half,

then exploded. Second game, he was really good, just didn't get a bunch of touches. Chet, Jalen Williams, and. Jailer, Williams. Williams. Had an argument to move up. Right. That was the, it wasn't his best game since last year's playoffs,

but it was one of his best games since last year's playoffs. And Jalen Johnson stays where he is. Fifth row. So I debate, I was like, should I just move up Durant, move up Durant because we saw what they look like without him. I was like, he could be at the top of the moment. Right. I mean, there is.

But it is also, you know, I don't love the Superstars Missing. playoff games. I do agree with you, Brew. I'd be stunned if he doesn't give it a go tonight. And again, he is a tough guy and he's played through stuff and he played 78 games this year with second league in minutes. So if he

can't go, it's a real like he's dealing with a real problem. But I'm worried. The fact that on Saturday night it wasn't even like, ooh, Kevin or Aunt's going to start the game, but we're worried. It's not like football where you

You know, if a guy plays and then we only have 46 guys who dress and now we're short of tight end. What are we going to do? The fact that he was not able to even try on Saturday at the beginning of the game makes me concerned that it's not going to be ready to play tonight, but we'll see. Jamal Murray, really good for the first half yesterday. Fell off second half stays where he is. Jalen Brunson, good in the first game.

I didn't think very good yesterday to stays where he is. Palo bounces way up. C.J. McCollum. You gotta give it to. Debut. Debut for the playoff, yeah. He did 32 points. Dominated the game.

This new villain role is great for him. I mean, it really is. You know, like, he's becoming a household name. Good job, CJ. He's the opposite of a villain. Oh, totally. He owns a winery. He's married to a dentist.

He's a family man. He's one of the nicest guys in the league. He was the president of the Players Association. He's not a villain. He's not a villain. Just a great dude, but I guess you beat the Knicks. You become a villain. He left out PJ Brown brew.

Nick Smith. Yeah. Oh, yeah. But he actually wasn't a body slam Charlie Ward. Remember that. Fourth row. Jalen Brown, didn't do anything wrong. Just other guys moved up.

He was like, you'll see why. I was going to argue about that one, but I left it alone. Bonus take. Okay, no problem. Cade was a tough one. He was great, but he's also the best player on a one seed that got wire to wire beaten by an eight seed. So he drops.

Yeah. I think that's fair. Shout out James Harton. out James Harden. To the right here a quarter of, or a half of Danny's big four. Donovan and James Hardin, they've been excellent so far. If we're evaluating it on the playoffs up to this point, they've been excellent. Third row.

Shea dips a bit. Fair. The five for 21, I just can't. I just can't. I understand 15 of 17 free throws and man, they were exhilarating free throws. I enjoyed watching every one of them. But he didn't, his team was awesome. He was fine and he got his numbers,

but I don't think even he would say that was a good game by him. Jason Tatum, I think everyone would say that was a great game by him. And, Brue, do you, would you agree? Let me ask you this. If you didn't know he ever tore his Achilles and you watched, that was the first Jason Tatum game you had watched this year, would you think there was ever anything wrong with him? No, not at all.

So that's, even two weeks ago when he was putting up good numbers, you talked about he can't really get by guys as well. I didn't see him at the Guard. Right. And you saw that's what it was. And so in that game, he looked, and I'm not saying he is all the way back, and I don't think people should expect him to be 100% Tatum.

But in that game, he looked like that. Anthony Edwards isn't right, is finding away 30 and 10 last night. moves up. Second row. And just, you know, just vintage Chris Paul. Lakers. He deserves it. Five and a half point dogs to two and a half point dogs. They were still underdogs when Durant was ruled out. And this was, we talk a lot, Drew, about how a 15 point lead in the modern NBA is never safe. And you saw yesterday, Minnesota was up 18 in the first half. It was tied at halftime.

The Lakers were up seven, basically, the whole game, and it felt like they had a stranglehold on it. Like, it felt like they were in firm control. Now, some of that was LeBron orchestrating, some of that was the Rockets, missing everything. LeBron moves up. Joker, however, cannot stay atop the hill because Rudy Gobert for the fourth quarter of yesterday kind of took his lunch money. Which means one guy's missing, bro.

Shout out to your guy. Great time. Listen, I'm a Neanderthal. I'm not as smart as the, you know, the advanced analytics guys. You know what I like KW? Points. Points. Raw points.

35 point playoff debuts. I like that. I like tough contested threes. I like dunking on people. Wimby, doing it all while winning unanimous eventive player of the year. You know what? Shout out to the young man. He gets to be atop the hill.

I thought you'd love it. I fear you don't. It's not a bad hill. I would say this bonus take number one. Oh, yeah, let me hear them. Where's DeAndre Aiton? Ooh, great take. Who do you want off the, there's no room on the hill?

Oh, somebody can come off. I mean, I guess we could have dropped off Maxie because his team's been so. You're taking Maxie off? They got demolished. I could have dropped off Scotty Barnes. They're down 30. I don't think Fox. Fox?

No. I didn't want to drop off any spurred. because they won. But that's, but Aiton, Aitin was big. Aitin and Aiton was just as important as Knaar. Because of, you disagree, KW?

Well, Knair was on fire. He had 19 and 11. Yeah, he was the only guy. And why wasn't Houston able to convert a lot of those offensive rebounds? That's shooting. Well, but he. Same plus minuses is Kouard.

Brew, that's a good take. Thank you. He's borderline. I don't. I don't know all of the, I know it's a rich tapestry. Yeah, exactly. I think LeBron's a little high. As great as he was, I think he should drop down.

True, you told me he was Magic Johnson for a night. No, I did. I said that's what the internet was saying. But he played like magic Johnson. You said he played a magic Johnson. It was a great game. What the hell is going on? Looking at everything.

That's dusty. All right. Looking at everything, they played a Rockets team that was discombobulated. without their best player. I think, and if I'm just looking at, because I don't know if it's just who was better in their playoffs games, that's what I'm saying. Because if I'm just looking at who's been better in the playoff game,

Yoke it should be lower. Because he has not been great by his standards in these playoffs. Donovan should be higher because they're rolling and he's averaging 29 a game. CJ should be high. So I'm just saying I think LeBron was great, but I think he's a little high on the mountain to be. I know it's not left to right. No, oh, it's certainly not left to right.

In the second seat. It was second or third. Before you go, KW, and I don't think this is stepping on your take at all. I don't know what you're doing, but I would imagine it's not. Any level of disappointment for you, KW, that you can't even put up an argument that So that's part, well, I'm glad your team you have. I also have two bonus takes. Oh.

My first bonus take was I don't think Jalen Brown should have slid down the melon. He had 26 points. It was an easy dub. But so where, who would we? I decided not to have any division between Tatum and Brown. So I left it alone. But as a bonus take, I would not flip-flop those guys just yet. Bonus take number two.

I'll just bonus take on the fly bonus take number three actually I like that you left Shengoon off he needs to see this hey Shingoon you played so poorly that people think that you are scared of LeBron and you're standing up when he passes by you

like he's English royal I don't even know we got supposed to do that to call him King James that's a good point actually standing up like no I was checking something in my pocket well guess what You shouldn't have your phone in your pocket. Getting ready for the game.

My real take, time to start talking, C.J. McCollum, which we have talked a lot about C.J. today. Here he was last night on becoming a villain. I am no villain. I'm a nice guy with two kids and a wife. I think all the villains have, most of them, not Chinese. Game one, 26 points shot 55%. Last night, he shot 32%. And it's a question.

Again, it's Richard Tapestry, and this is just the playoff edition. But since that trade, that Tray Young trade, this is actually with and without. It's not just raw trade deadlines because he missed some games. But the 28 and 15 when he plays, offensive rating 114. Everything got better. Offense got better. Defense got better. So they were ninth.

And now they're, I mean, could they upset the Knicks? I wouldn't be shocked if they did. I mean, listen, since I said I thought it would go seven. I obviously think they could win. And again, I don't want to belabor the point I made earlier. but when I said Nixon 7, I was like, I just trust Jalen Brunson at home in a game 7 more than anyone on the Hawks. CJ is reminding us like, CJ has two career 40-point playoff games. He has 11 career 30-point playoff games.

He has been a reliable playoff scorer and like a true professional score, if you will, for almost 15 years now. And it is a really, it is exactly what I feel that Hawks team needed. Like a real adult leader. And that is an underrated aspect of like team building. And I don't even think it's not like they were saying, we have to go get C.J. McCollum. They wanted to move off Trey and that was the best return. But he ended up being the crown jewel of the Trey.

a young trait. I like that crowd. You know who could use him right now? Houston. Can you imagine C.J. McCollum in Houston right now? You need someone to get buckets. Well, don't you? I mean, isn't that they were supposed to be getting a much better version in Kevin Durant?

And that's what they got throughout the year. You know what I mean? Like that's the veteran. I'm just saying even with Durant, like they would be. But look, there is no reason. We understand Jaylen Brunson is not a good defender. But a lot of that is his height. Yeah.

And I know he's not the most. athletic guy in the world, but neither is CJ. CJ's not a big guy. CJ's not like a super freak athlete. Brunson should be able to stay in front of him to some degree. Look, great scores can score. But Brunson should not be getting abused like this. Nine for 12 when defended by Brunson.

Yeah. He got to take this person. No, that's having your way with him. No, and that's, and they, you know, the Knicks, I think, would try to hide Brunson on Dyson Daniels, but then all of us, You just, they sweat. Yeah, they're hunting. They're hunting.

But the whole, they got to get over those. The idea behind, Mikhail Bridges, giving up all those picks, getting O.G. Annanobie, prioritizing Josh Hart is, if we're going to have, if our focal point of our team is going to be Jalen Brunson, we're going to pair them with towns. We need to have awesome defensive wings elsewhere. And it is Mike Brown's job to figure out how to best hide Jalen and use your ass There because if O.J. and

O.J. and Inobie ends up, if the Hawks and Quinn Snyder are able to get it to where O.J. and Noby is, you know, guarding Dyson Daniels in the corner when he's away from the action, that's just a wasted player. And, you know, that is where, and I don't have the exes and those knowledge to know how you fix that. But that is where Mike Brown's job comes in. Can LeBron do it again? Hawks are favorite on Thursday. That's next on first things first.

LeBron? Hawks are favorite? It's in Atlanta. Still. of the UFL is Friday on Fox, D.C. versus Birmingham. These have been good games. Got some trades going on, a lot of action. Friday 8 Eastern on Fox.

Right now we're headed back to the NBA Rockets, Lakers tonight at 10.30. Now, Durant is a game time decision. This is a video from I think yesterday of Durant warming up. Looks moderately mobile, but he's got some tape on his knee. That wrap on his knee or whatever it is, I don't like how that looks.

looks at all. Nope, nope. Other news on the injury front from Shams is that Luca is not expected at all in round one. A.R, however, we could see him if the series goes six or maybe seven. And he's already doing one-on-one. He now has to progress to three on three and five-on-five. What is said about A-R.

Before and four, not unnecessary. Do you believe the Lakers can win tonight if KD plays and then your overall view because I know you had some thoughts about Luca. Well, they certainly can win. I think if KD plays, and is himself, like able to just play his game, I think the Rockets will win.

I think I don't think they'll shoot 37% from the floor. Because look, I think the Lakers probably play good defense for the Lakers, but a lot, some of that was also just the Rockets having a bad night. I know they're not great offensively by any stretch, even with

KD, but I do think there are other players will be better. Once KD is back, that opens things up a little bit for Shingoon, assuming they do not have Kevin Durant playing point, right? Because we saw how that worked out. The Lakers beat them on back-to-back nights

or back-to-back games in March, and Kevin Durant was playing point guard, and all you got to do is double teaming, get the ball out of his hands, and then the rockets are all discombobulated. All right, so don't have him play point, which I assume they won't. I think,

their rockets are more desperate. Now, LeBron obviously understands the Lakers should be desperate too because if they go up 2-0, if LeBron and Reeves will beat the Rockets. Like, I don't think there's any question about that in my mind. Really? Yeah.

If LeBron's got, now you've got a second guy. Like, I think LeBron and Austin Reeves and the rest of their crew without Luca would beat the Rockets. Huh. Yeah. So the Rockets, like the Lakers need to just keep this thing going or

get rid of them quickly, but keep it going and then they have their reinforcements coming in Reeves. But Houston is desperate because if they lose this game and it's really weird because it's in L.A. This series I think is over. You know, like it wouldn't seem like

a road team down 01 should be desperate. But I, but given the weird circumstances of the series, both teams probably feel a little desperate.

Like the Lakers should. I wonder if their young guys do. And LeBron can try to get them to understand the gravity of it. So this, LeBron, I obviously feel, played a brilliant floor game and leadership game passing in game one. This now also,

it's only a second game in a week, a little more than, you know, a little more, I guess, actually, a week and a half, right? He played Sunday and so in a week and a half. I would expect LeBron play Saturday. Right, played Saturday. No, I'm saying the previous Sunday.

That's what I'm saying. It's his second game since a week ago Sunday. Second game in 10 days. I would expect LeBron to take a more aggressive scoring approach tonight and feel like if we win tonight, we're going to win the series. If we win tonight, especially if they feel like Austin, like, you know, should be back by a game six. We win tonight. How do the Rockets respond?

We also have another two days before our next game in this series, and then they have one game between games three and four. And I once again, like I did before game one, say a five and a half point spread is ridiculous. You want to say the Rockets with Kevin Durant playing are slight favorite, so be it. Even in Los Angeles, fine. But I would be stunned if the Rockets did to the Lakers,

even with KD, what the Lakers did to the Rockets, where they just keep them at bay the entire game. I just don't think, I think that right now, the Lakers role players, particularly at home, are going to be playing with such confidence, and LeBron is going to be trying to put them in the best spots at all times. I think Aiton, your point, was it you? Who said that Aiton should be on the hill?

He loves Aetian. Dominating. No, but I mean, I think DeAndre, LeBron, without saying his name, send a message to DeAndre before the series. When we were talking about the rebounding. And the Lakers, by the way, got crushed on the glass in that game. And they're going to against Houston. But it shouldn't be 21 to three offense of rebounds.

And the thing the Lakers, while the shooting will cool off, there are two things they can do to offset that. One is they can take more threes. Like one of the reasons I wasn't as reactionary. as some about them shooting such a high percentage was what Luke Conard and others were doing a lot of is turning down contested threes for wide open mid-range jump shots and I know those are not analytically sound shots but Ruy's great at them, Conard's great at any

open look and those are high percentage shots for them. The other thing they can do is not have two stretches in the game where they turn the ball over four out of five possessions like they did in game one. So I think legs are going to win tonight. Really? Yes. I I think the Lakers are going to win tonight. I think there will be, if Durant plays, I don't think you go from being, oh, my God, I can't play. I can't even give it a go Saturday night to being 100%

Tuesday. You'll be able to shoot, though, and you're not facing a great defensive team. Like, even when the Lakers really puzzled him and beat Houston those back-to-back games, with Luca and Reeves, we talked about it. The defense actually does get worse when they're off the floor. Because when they're on the floor,

LeBron can focus more on defense. That's all true. With him running the offense, he's not going to be as good defensively. But I think it'll be interesting in the night to see which LeBron comes out. Does he come out and kind of run the show, be the floor general like he was in game one, or does he come out and score 34 and, you know, kind of put them away?

I think he'll just read what's necessary. They had control of that game one, so I don't think he felt the knee. He only had, I think, 10 points going into the fourth quarter. I also think he, I think he expends less energy, floor general, than scoring. And I think he felt like I need to make sure I have something in the tank for the fourth quarter. But they were, they didn't get, and maybe this will be different if Durant plays.

They didn't get annihilated in the non-Lebron minutes like we were worried about. You know, they did other things. And the other piece of. how good of a defensive team or what will this team look like without Luke and Austin that is hard to judge is when Luke and Austin went out Marcus Smart was still out as well and he has been it's a precarious situation to rely that much on Marcus Smart at his age but he has been one of the most the fourth most important person on this team you could argue in a weird way third most ahead of Austin just because with Luke and LeBron there they have they still have a lot of scoring and when Marcus Smart has played with LeBron on the court, those two guys, they've been good defensively. And so that's the, I don't know

who is going to be like Katie's primary matchup. My guess is it would be Rui. Vanderbilt, when he's out there, I think, will be Katie's primary matchup. But if he's bringing the ball up the court, Marcus Smart will go after. I'm surprised as Mr.

regression to the mean that you're not more worried about the Lakers cooling off after shooting 60%. and even EMA in post game, who is not afraid to light up his team, basically boiled it down to we had a bad shooting night. See, I don't, it's the reason, and I am, I do care about regression to the mean. The thing that will regress to the mean the most is the rockets are not going to take 30 more shots than the Lakers. There's not.

Like, they will take more shots, and they might beat the Lakers by 10 in the offensive rebound in category. But they're not going to beat them by nearly 20 and turn the ball over way less to the tune of what happened in that game. Like the Rockets, the Lakers shot a crazy high percentage on crazy few shots. And they only took, I think they need to take more threes. And one thing that JJ's been telling Kinnard all week is four for 10 from three is better than two for four. Like take some tough threes and you saw Luke doing it later. I just think I don't believe in the Rockets. And I've been consistent.

Blazers back in San Antonio. Wemby dropped 35 in his playoff debut. Brewer, are you expecting another 30-point game from our guy? I am. Just because he's been so aggressive lately trying to score. And I don't know how much he's going to play. If they blow him out, I mean, he's still, I think they're going to play him close to 30 minutes, even if it's a route.

But I think he's been so much looking for his shot. that he's going to get 30. I think I said yesterday the last five games, he's played a full game. He's averaged 38 points on like 62% shooting. I do not expect him to get 30 every game in this series, but I do think he's going to come out again with the home crowd. It's going to be exciting. I think he's going to come out and have a big offensive game.

And I certainly think he's going to get more than five rebounds. I bet that's something he's looking at. I don't know if he said it publicly, but privately saying, I got to get more rebounds than that. So I think you'll have a big game. So I think certainly if he's hitting his threes, every game he shoots over 50% from three,

I expect him to score 30. Yeah, but this five for six is crazy. No, five for six is crazy. 83% or whatever. I am less interested. I shouldn't say less interested. What was most fascinating to me about game one is, the spurs

crushed in the non-Wimby minutes. Like that's when Vassell got hot. They pulled away some. Right. And so they, I think they're, you know, he played 32 and I think they had a, you know, a bigger margin of victory, if you will, in the 16 non-minute's he played in 32 he did play.

The Blazers held their own with Wimby on the court. They were losing those minutes, but not by a ton. I think it was four. Right. Exactly right. They held their own, which is, the reason I bring that up is this. Were the Blazers fine with what Wimby did? Like, I don't, I know that sounds odd, but if they said, hey, he's not going to have one of his 15 rebound games.

He is not going to dominate, you know, in the paint, which he, again, he scored 15 from the arc and, what, four from the free throw line. I don't quite remember. and yeah, we're just, we'll take our medicine there, and the other, when he's on the court, we're going to be okay, is that fine with them? Because I am, it was a really fascinating game because he was awesome. He seemed to totally dictate the Blazers' offense

when he was on the court, and the Blazers were right there every minute he played. So where the Blazers let go the rope was the non-Wimby minutes, and I just, any game the Spurs play all postseason, if they win the non-Wimby minutes, they will win that game. That is the moment when other teams must take advantage, and that's where Cornette deserves credit, the other guys deserve credit. But I do think, it seems like Wimby has adjusted his approach offensively, Bruce, since,

and I know the MVP race is over, but since the line is, when he said I want to be MVP, from that moment forward, he has been a more assertive score. And I wonder if the Blazers are okay with that. If it's like that, and we've heard that with great players before. Some teams with Joker, now he's obviously a better passer. But you heard people talk about LeBron or Joker like, hey, as long as trying to stop him doesn't then end up letting everyone else get off. Like if he goes off, he goes off.

Is Denver in trouble? Are the Knicks in trouble and updates on Luca? That's next. Denver loses to the wolves. That series is headed to Minnesota on Thursday for game three. Meanwhile in the east, Mikael Bridges' last second shot is off the mark. So the Knicks are headed to Atlanta.

I'll nod it up at one. Which number three seed is in more trouble? I think Denver. I think Denver is, I still, you know, I'm staying with my pick that they win this series. But I think they are in a, what's going to be a war. I think the Knicks are just on alert.

I don't think they're in trouble right now. I say that about Denver. One, I think they're facing the better team of the two. I agree with that. I think Minnesota is better than Atlanta. Minnesota is a better defensive team. Atlanta's a good defensive team too, but I think Minnesota, when they really put their, you know,

mind on it is a better defensive team and a tougher defensive team. Atlanta's a lot of finesse, but very good defensive team. team two. They're more experienced than Atlanta, Minnesota is. I mean, heck, they've been to the last two Western Conference Finals. They've beaten this team Denver before in the playoffs coming back for an improbable game seven win. And they're more familiar with Denver than Atlanta is with New York. They're in the same division, play each other four times a year. They've played each other all the time.

And so, and they have what, with all due respect to C.J. McCollum and Jalen Johnson. They have a legitimate superstar that can take over games. And I know Yokic is on the other side too, but Ant is better than anybody on Atlanta. So I just think that Denver is, for all those reasons, is in more trouble than the Knicks are. So I'm stunned, that's your answer. In part because I, Ant's obviously the best player on Atlanta, Minnesota, but he's also

the most injured of their star guys. And I know, Brew, you're saying... If he plays, yeah, I'm like... Well, no, I know you're not going to make that as an excuse, but I do think in while we're, you know, breaking down who's in more trouble, I'm yet to see Ant in more than a month look like truly himself.

Now, yes, again, yesterday he was good. And I thought, and I thought even in game one, he had, you know, he had moments of great burst, even in the game he wasn't great in. I mean like explosive dunks. Just to where, no, in game one, he had some explosive plays. This runner's knee thing, see, I don't understand it. Because when we hear guys on the broadcast talk about it, or you heard Steph Curry talk about it,

it's like this lingering thing that can flare up. And so it clearly is something. Yeah, again, I don't know. Tennis elbow. There's times where he looks totally fine. and then there are times where he lands from jumping. You saw yesterday he was limping at that time. And so that to me is a concern.

The flip side of that series is the best player in the world is standing across from him. And I understand he was not great in game two, particularly down the stretch. And I thought in game one, he was only good by his standards. The Knicks, on the other hand, at least I, have been. been somewhat disappointed with all year. I don't think they've been bad. I think they've been good and all the metric, you know, the record and their metrics.

They're a tick better than last year. I get that. But they have seemed like a team that never quite fully hit their stride all year. And I hate an old-fashioned stolen playoff victory. The, like the Knicks, the Tim Rolves Nuggets played a game. those back and forth the whole game. Either team could have won. The Nuggets hate that they lost home court.

The Knicks didn't sleep last night. We had that game won. I thought you meant you hated it for the hall. No, no, no, no. I'm saying it like a team. They gave it away. A team that's like, man, we did everything we need to do to be up to nothing, be in full control, and now all of a sudden we're in a best of five

where the other team has home court. I understand the Nuggets are also in a best of five with the other team has home court, but they, I think, feel like, listen, they outplayed us. Like, you know, tip our cap as opposed to we gave it away. I just, so I think that both home teams win, but if the Knicks and Nuggets both win the series, but I think the one more likely to end up getting sent home is New York. It's not what I want to happen, but it's what I think is more likely.

I would be, you guys, you wouldn't be shocked if Nikola Yokic and Jamal Murray after this season, when all of a sudden, once Aaron Gordon came back, they went on this crazy run the last couple months, they had the fourth best title odds. Right, that all of a sudden, they're sent home in round one.

But I've seen this before. But look at who their face. It's not your typical round one opponent. And they don't have, like I said, Yokic has been the two conference finals. Two. Not like he's winning all the time. No.

And the one real yeah-but on Yowicz's entire resume is that series against Minnesota when they were the defending champs. Up 3-2, get beat by 45, I think. I think it was 115 to 70 or 105-70. It was awful. And they were up at home. And then game seven at home up 20. Up 20 in a game seven is the defending champ and end up losing by eight. Like, you know, they just, that is the only thing, everything else on his resume, it's like,

Jamal Murray was hurt. They ran into, like, peak A.D. LeBron. Like, there are different explanations for it. Losing this series would be pretty devastating for the, you know, when people are trying to build the Yokic top 10 player of all time case based on the regular season success, you can't go from championship to bouncing around two, bounced in around two, bounced in around two. bounced in round two, bounced in round one. You don't think that would be more, I know,

we're talking legacy hypotheticals, you don't think that would be more of a result of an underachieving Wolves team in the regular season? No. I think some of that is, yeah, I think the wolves clearly pick it up in the postseason and play better in the postseason.

But I think the reason that happens to Yokic is because he and his team are not great defensively. Like, what is that phrase you have? Defense to wins the championship. I mean, there's true that. We point to all the other centers that you would compare Yokin to historically. They all were great defenders. And you heard Jaden McDaniel usually say, they got no rim protection.

You got the seven-footer who's arguably the best player in the world. And they're like, they got no room protection. You fought, not to be a sidebar. Shack was a great defender when they were. I think he was not technically because of his size and strong. You're not just like, oh, shack there. Right, you ain't attacking the rim with shack there. Right, you're not, you're not, youokic.

Yokic is a solid defender because of his size and his rebounding and his smarts, but he's not deterring anybody from going to the rim. That's all fair. What I'm saying is when we talk about, you know, guys who have in, he is in his prime. He is in six straight, we think top two MVP finishes. Maybe this year he finishes third. So it'll be six straight top three MVP finishes. people think he's the best player in the world.

There's not a lot of instances of guy, best player in the world, like everybody basically agrees, three straight years sent home early in the playoffs. And so just not a lot, you go through it. So it would be bad to lose this series for him. First thing first overtime. I'm shocked. Today. Better cook the Knicks.

What went wrong for the Knicks and has Parkins been right all along? Meanwhile, draft is on Thursday. Which one prospect are we calling a can't miss talent? And finally, it's top 10 Tuesday. Which team is under the most pressure to nail this draft? And is it the Chiefs or the Bears? Did you see Caleb's quotes? Yeah, watch the whole thing.

It's great. I like them. Yeah, what's not. Wow. What's not the like? Chris Richard, Kevin Wilde. Or the Giants. Under the most pressure to nail that.

Yeah, two top 10 picks. Yeah. Yeah. Top 10 Tuesday. Danny Parkins has got it's full of takes. He's just been firing off takes upstairs. I also, I don't think you were watching because you would have been mad. It sounded like when we were talking Cavs earlier, I took a shot at you.

I 100% heard it. But then I clarified. I was not taking a shot. Yeah, no. It sounded like it at first. And then I, and I clarified. It was almost a shot. He felt bad.

As soon as I said it, I was like, that sounded bad. Yeah. He's like in an attempt to get a laugh. It's like a real apology. Yeah. It's a real mean slown. I disappointed you and myself. Knicks were the best fourth quarter team in the league.

He did say that. It was a ridiculous. I realized it sounded me. I didn't want to be me. Shut up. It wouldn't be like you to be me. Single up on my camera and dim the lights. They weren't good in the fourth quarter last night, Parkins.

Hawks claw their way back and get the dub. Here's Jalen Brunson. Obviously, I can control what I can control. And so poor decision making on my part. And a couple of possessions, they play great defense, not the ball on my hands. We just had to be, you got to play better with the lead. That's twice in the fourth quarter now that we've done that. My vibe meter shot down through the floor on that one.

Guys, it's one one. That's what I was saying before. Like that is so much worse than a nip in time. worse than a nip and tuck game you lose, a game that you feel like you controlled the whole way in blue. It's a loss and a half. On the flip side, if they were up there like... This is doing the whole gatorade thing. Whoa!

You crushed that too, no doubt. You know what I'm saying? Thank you. That's all I'm saying. Thank you. Hey, you know what? That loss, I need to be better. But just like, oh my gosh.

I mean, brousin with the eye, the sunglasses. Very sad. He was very sad. All right. Parkins, what went wrong here? A lot. A lot went wrong. I mean, they flat out choked.

And there will probably be a bigger blown fourth quarter lead in the playoffs. They were up 12 entering the fourth quarter. I'm sure there will be a bigger collapse. But if there is a worse loss than that one, we will talk about it for a while. Because that was just. And I'm not sure there will be a bigger one. I mean, that was the Knicks' first double-digit fourth quarter blown lead in 31 years. It doesn't happen all the time.

No, but just leads evaporate quicker than ever in the NBA. 12 isn't huge anymore. Exactly. That was the point I was making. But the way it happened and the totality of the blame for it was crazy. And they fired Tibbs because Mike Brown was supposed to different lineups, get more out of the team, get them over the hump. And he shares a lot of the blame for this. Like, I don't know how you justify some of the lineups that they put out in the fourth quarter.

And we can start with just who the players were to start the fourth quarter when they're up 12. Don't you dare. Don't you dare. He was making stuff happen out there. That is the, listen, I know we like Alvarado. That is the first time those five guys played together all season. That doesn't seem like a good time to be trying a new thing. And then so no, but then let's fix it.

and sub out Jordan Clarkson to bring in Deuce McBride who had zero points in 13 minutes with a couple of turnovers. They also had never played together all season. Also had never played together all season. Now you hit a three at the end of it. So you're up 12, then you're up six,

and then you hit a three and you sub back in town, Cat, Cat, Cat, and Brunson, right? And then you're in control, you're up nine. You get the Hawks into the bonus. How do you approve? when you get the Hawks into the bonus. Well, you take as many twos as threes. Brew, you've been covering basketball for forever.

Is that how you're supposed to approach getting the other team in foul trouble in the fourth quarter with a nine-point-le? You shoot four free throws down the stretch of a game. What I would say, though, is nowadays teams still keep jacking up threes. Even if they're, I agree, attack the rim, get foul, get free throws.

But nowadays, Nowadays, no matter what the situation, teams are jacking up three. I get it. But Brunson was awful in terms of his efficiency, 10 of 26. Cat was not good again in the fourth quarter. They didn't get to the line. And so Mike Brown's not getting them good looks, not getting them to the line, using lineups that he's never seen before.

And then he uses the use it or lose it timeout or doesn't use it, excuse me. And so now he doesn't have a timeout at the end of the game to get the ball in the clutch player of the year's hand, Brunson, and they rely on the Bridges pull-up shot. And even Bridges, I thought there, could have just kept driving to the basket. I was going to say, man, Bridges should have, if we can show it, he should have attacked the basket. Jay, he should have went for a dunk. He had enough time.

He had two and a half seconds left when he shot. Go to the rim. I get it that the Hawks are there, but you probably get filed if you go up and try to dunk it. You're right. I just think, listen, I had the Hawks in seven before this. I thought they were a little shale. Shell shocked by the playoffs and the garden and the bright lights of game one. They kept getting down and coming back, down and coming back.

It looked a lot more comfortable last night. And Nikiel Alexander Walker has not been good yet. You're going to get a game from him. Well, they're going to go home. Yeah. Guy had 17 points inefficient in game one, had nine points in game two. Jalen Johnson hasn't played to his season average yet in either game one or game two. Jalen hadn't been as aggressive.

I don't think. You're talking about Jalen Johnson or Brooks? Jailen Johnson. So the Hawks stole home court advantage and haven't really played well yet. They are in great shape. So that, listen, I'll push back on the in great shape. This is going to be 2-2 when we're back in New York, and New York is going to have home court back.

The Hawks aren't going to win three straight games. The Hawks, we saw seven quarters of this series, and the Knicks were decisively the better team. Now, that doesn't mean this isn't, I called it the most catastrophic loss anyone's going to suffer in the first round of the playoffs. Like I do, and even if the Knicks get out of this round, this loss will have attacks because they're going to need all hands on deck for the Boston series.

They're now going to have, you know, more likely to get banged up, more, different things. So this is a bad loss no matter how you slice it. I don't think it necessarily is as doomsdayish as you seem to think for the Knicks. But I do think that in the playoffs, when your best player does, doesn't play like he typically does, you can lose. You obviously can lose even if he plays well. But we're going to talk about the Nuggets in a bit. One reason the Nuggets lost that game is Joker wasn't as good as Joker normally is.

And one of the reasons that Nicks lost this game is in the second half, Jalen Brunton was five of 13 with one assist. 13 field goal attempts in the first half, 13 field goal attempts in the second half, wasn't getting Towns the ball. So, yes, I agree with you. Mike Brown made some mistakes. lineup-wise and time-out-wise, all of that. But Jalen Brunson was a little, I think he's an awesome player. He was a little, I don't want to say ball hoggy, but it was, he was too focused on getting his own shot and not as good at getting other guys involved.

And he did hit two huge threes late once Atlanta had actually taken the lead, but while Atlanta was taking, you know, clawing back into it, he was ice cold and he kept shooting. Yeah, and that's his game. I mean, he's a score. Like I've said it many times when Katz not getting the ball, Brunson and Mike Brown should be like, let's run something for the big guy. Let's get him a touch.

Let's get him a bucket. Let's get him something down lower, even an open three. And they don't do that. Look, Atlanta's in great shape for a sixth seed that nobody except you thinks is going to win. So they're not like this is, the Knicks will be fine. I am convinced of that. And I even don't, I don't even think there'll be attacks on this.

There'll be a tax on this game maybe if it goes seven or if they if it goes seven or obviously if they lose. Last year, remember, Detroit gave them all they wanted in the first round and then they play Boston and beat Boston. You know, so I think they'll be fine. I actually think overall this could be good for the next. It's a wake-up call. Now, you can argue they shouldn't need one, but this is a good wake-up call for them. But you would agree. They relax.

It's bad if it goes south. If it goes seven, you don't necessarily want to go seven. One, because anything can happen in the game. Correct. And because you're just less rested for game. Okay. Yeah, I do think it'll go six. I think this Hawks team is going to get better as this thing goes on.

Like I, you don't think they're going to get better? Well, CJ McCollum is really good. But he's not going to do this for seven games. Average 29 points. I mean, I don't know. That matchup with him and Brunson looks like he can get to his spot. when he wants to get to the Knicks got to make some adjustments,

which I think they were. From MBA.com before last night, road teams were 31 in 1,296 down 10, entering the fourth since 1955. I watched every one of those games. Anthony Edwards poured in 30 points, although after the game he wasn't thrilled with his box score.

16th 30th, 30 point game with his playoff career. Here he was after the game. It's 1-1. There's no driver's seat. We're going home. We got advantage at home. Our fans, you know, rattled them a little bit when they come to our career.

We'll be ready. Okay. Do this game change your view of the series, Parkins? Not necessarily. I think I had nuggets in six, but is this the best rivalry in basketball? Like, it just, you said earlier 15 and 15 in their last 30. I gave you guys the stat the other day about the playoffs that they met in, you know, two of the last three years. Everything's like tie.

And everything is tied. They were in eight points of each other in 12 playoff games. This is a five-point game. There's a legitimate star power, obviously, two face of the league candidates and Ant and Joker. It's a little more animosity that maybe we're stoking the flame. But that's what I'm saying. We're kind of, we're kind of,

they're a team full of bad defensive players. Our crowd's going to come out. Like, Minnesota back-to-back Western Conference finals trips seriously levels up in the playoffs. Joker struggles with Minnesota's physicality. Like, everything, styles make fights. And these teams keep matching up with each other. And now they're starting to talk a little trash to each other.

That even though I do think Denver is better and Joker will ultimately win the series, man, who knows when they're this close over this long? And Minnesota absolutely believes they can win. It has changed my view of the series. Now, I thought it would be hard fault. I had Denver in six, which I'll stick with that. But I did not think Minnesota. could win this.

I shouldn't say could, but I didn't think they'd win. Now I think there's a pretty good chance they win this series. And it's all the things you mentioned about how well they've matched up over the past. Now, I thought Denver was past that. I think were they three and one against them this year?

I know the regular season can be iffy, but three and one this year. That game seven when they came back from down 20 was two years ago. So, you know, I felt like they were past that. and we weren't sure if he's going to be 100%. And I did not think Gobert would defend Yokic this well. Now, I don't know if Gobert, he obviously is always motivated,

but I don't know if he's extra motivated because he was, in his view, snubbed for at least consideration for the defensive player to years. Yeah, I mean, he mentioned in it shows that he was. So they match up well, and their athleticism gives Denver problems, especially again without Peyton Watson. So I think this series is going seven. So I thought we all picked Denver and six.

Nothing that has happened changes my view on that. And I'll explain why in a second. I do want to give Rudy credit because Rudy for his career in Utah, it was I win defensive player of the year and then guys take turns trying to hurt my feelings in the playoffs. Like Lucas said, you know, what was the year? your favorite moment of your career with the Mavs? And he's like, that shot I hit over, Gobert.

Like, I think if he did take it personally, I think it is because Rudy probably rightfully thinks, man, I don't get the credit I deserve. I am a four-time defensive player of the year winner. Every advanced metric says I'm one of the most influential defenders in basketball, and whether it's the inside the NBA crew, my colleagues around the league, I'm a punchline at times. And so I'm going to take on the charge.

challenge of the best player in the world, and I am going to show the impact I can have. And he dominated that matchup as much as anyone can dominate a matchup against Joker to the point to where on the biggest possession of the game, I feel like Joker made a mistake. And you know I am not. Definitely did. Okay, you agree with me. We've just been soft pedaling. Okay, well, we can run the video show.

Because I do, I don't believe the best player always has to take the final shot. But this, right there. That's his shot. That's his shot. No question. Gobert's out of the play. Anthony Edwards is on it. And again, if you're going to make the play to a role player,

it can't be a batted. And I understand Brown got fouled and he could have made the free throws. But that's what Denver wanted they got, Drew, and Joker second-guessed himself. Yes. So one of the reasons I think Denver will be fine is I think Joker's going to come out with a freaking vengeance. You know, I think he is that level of player.

I think he is that good. I think he does look at Minnesota as rivals to a degree, at least. They've knocked him out of the playoffs. And he's like, man, I know I'm averaging 25, 13, and 9. I'm not playing well. And I'm going to be better. With that said, if they keep daring him to shoot threes and he keeps going one of seven, that's not going to work for Denver.

He's got to, they are clearly comfortable with. him shooting threes more than almost any other team. Like they are saying take them. Tip, he's a, in his career, is a really good three-point shooter. He hasn't been making. He's missed several wide open ones. Yes.

And he, Airbowed one yesterday in a big spot. Like, he's been off in that regard. I think he'll bounce back from that, but he's got to. All right. We're 50 hours away from the NFL draft and 30 seconds away from another episode of Top 10 Tuesday. Today, today's topic, the teams under the most pressure to nail the NFL draft, starting with a surprise for me in the 10 spot, Parkins. Yeah, well, we'll just get right to it, Wilds.

Every team wants to nail the draft. Obviously, these are the 10. I think it's the most important for the Chicago Bears at number 10. Really quiet offseason. And people don't know this, but they are the back to back to back off season champions leading into this year. So it's a three-peat. Wow. Yeah.

Congratulations. Yeah, thank you. And so this year it's been a little disappointing. They got four picks in the top 89, plenty of ammo. If they do want to move up from 25, if a left tackle that they like falls into the teens, if an edge rusher they like falls into the teens, I could see them moving up from 25 and making that their splash of the offseason. Try to get another premium player with their young core. The Bryce Young trade, drafting Caleb, signing Ben Johnson.

That's what made them. Correct. Okay, got it. That's how they won those three straight offseason championship. Makes sense. I buy it. Modern age. It's a Walker trade.

Caleb Williams and then hiring Johnson. Who's the offseason champ this year? Do we know? Is it determined or do we have placed on the graph? It hasn't been. Hasn't been. Right now it's, I'll give out that banner. Yeah. Okay, that's a good one.

Yeah. We track these things in the places where we don't actually win a lot of playoff games. I like it. Coming in at number nine, the Tennessee Titans, but we could also just put up number eight real quick if we don't mind because number nine and number eight exact same logic. Neither one of the Titans and the Cardinals have been to the playoffs since

2021. They are picking three for Arizona, four for Tennessee, and they are both linked to Jeremiah Love. It would be insane for either of these teams to take Jeremiah Love. That is a luxury pick. That is a luck. Great running backs do not make bad teams good. They make good teams great. If you can find a team who wants to trade you a haul for a running back, you should be doing that.

Or draft an edge rusher, or a left tackle or a receiver, a premium position. Don't take Jeremiah Love. Don't mess it up. Barkins. Cardinals have been linked to Jeremiah Love. Yeah. Cardinals don't traditionally make a bunch of great decisions. Do you think that is just a bad decision or just trade bait?

I think I will be floored if they take. We're going to take Jeremiah Love. I think it would be completely insane for Arizona to take him. And I like him a lot. It would be ridiculous. But Tennessee, you have, you think you have your quarterback. back. And I think, I don't think Tennessee would be bad to take him. Arizona, I think, would be insane. They've got, both those teams have a lot of holes. I think that they mirror each other.

Coming into number seven, Bruce Baltimore Ravens, you have the 14th pick in the draft. It's kind of similar logic to the Chiefs. Like you have a premium pick with Lamar and his prime. Let's look at how the Ravens have done with top 20 picks in the last 20 years. They normally don't pick in the top 20. Wow. All of these players are good. They've hit on every single one of them. So history would suggest you see seven first team, all pros, 20 Pro Bowls combined. Unique opportunity for the Ravens to come through there. At number six, it's the Browns.

We know they're awful. I don't think they are going to be drafting a quarterback with a high pick, but they have the sixth pick and the 24th pick. They also have four of the top 70. That is premium draft capital to actually just go get good players. Get a left tackle, get a receiver, get a linebacker. Like, they've got a lot of holes on their team, and they've got the draft capital to do it. Then they can load up for next year's draft to get a quarterback. They drafted well last year.

Coming in number five, Knicks, Kansas City Chiefs. You have three picks in the top 40. You haven't picked, you haven't gone into a draft with the top 10 picks since 2013. Last time you had the 10th pick in the draft, obviously you traded up to get Mahomes. Unique opportunity for Brett Veach to build a new young core around Mahomes. for his 30s. Coming in at number four, the Dallas Cowboys. We know they've got the 12th pick. We know they have the 20th pick from the Micah Parsons trade, and we know that their defense is not good. Every GM says, best player available. For Dallas, this is pretty clearly, best player

available at a position of need on defense. I will be shocked if they take any player on offense with either of those picks. Now, maybe they trade up to go get David Bailey or Arvel Reese at four, maybe they trade down at 20, but I think they are going to pick a couple of starters on the defensive side of the ball. They need to hit on it. Coming to number three, the New York Giants. You make that Dexter Lawrence trade,

and I think you did a great job on the draft capital there. If you have two picks in the top 10, you're going to try to do what the Jets did a couple of years ago and get your version of Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson. You got to nail it. If you think you've got your quarterback, he's young, you think you've got Abdul Carter as a stud pass rusher who's young, neighbor's a stud wide receiver who's young.

This should be your last chance with premium draft picks. Coming in at number two, the New York Jets, they get to start the draft. Two and 16. Arvel Reese or David Bailey, you've got to make the right pick. You're going to pick an edge rusher, premium position. You have four picks in the top 44. And then the Raiders, pretty easy number one. We know who it's going to be.

You just have to be right with Fernando Mendoza. You have 10 picks and a lot of holes. Those are the top 10 teams who need to nail the NFL draft. It's a pretty good list. Thank you. Brew, what do we not do on this show? What do you not do? Physically fight each other.

What do you not do? You don't wait. Go back on our picks? Okay, sorry. You don't wave the pom-poms for a lot of things we don't do. I also don't. Which is why I sadly have to say it's the juice. They have to nail the truth.

Number one. They should be number one? Yeah. Wow. They have the best player in the sport. They are the team who are, is. Is the dynasty era of the Chiefs over or is it on pause because of last year? That is going to be determined by how they do Thursday and Friday.

Do they use what is an opportunity? I don't think they will ever have another top 10 pick while Patrick's there. And they very rarely will ever have multiple first round picks. So they have the 29th pick, which they're used to, plus the ninth pick, plus the 40th pick. they need to get three guys ready to play day one to plug these holes and to grow. They have the most pressure. These other teams, like, they're used to draft.

Cowboys a little bit, but they used to get good. But the Cowboys also have two first rounders next year. I think, right? Do they? And maybe they trade one of those away. A first and an extra second. Yeah. So I think the chiefs have the most pressure.

Well, to play off your Pompom-Pom analogy, the Bears, this is clearly Pompoms. Why are they in it? Why are they in it? They have the 25th pick. They got four picks. They're a very good team. They, I mean, everybody's got needs, but they don't have any huge holes.

I'm putting Washington in there. All right. Seventh pick, Jay and Daniels last year is kind of a, you know, a wasted season. Dan Quinn's seat getting a little bit hot. I like that. So I got watching. You like Jeremiah Love? Yeah, for them.

That's, that's a lot. That's a totally reasonable place for Jeremy. I love to go. The Giants would be reasonable. Titans or Cardinals would be. Giants aren't a very good team, but you like him there? Well, I think they think that they have answers at premium positions. Do the Steelers need to draft or maybe find a quarterback while they wait for Aaron Rogers? That's next on first and first first overtime. Take your time, Aaron. Welcome back at first things first. We got Coach Manjini and Willie Colon out here. Well, another day, another Aaron Rogers still not with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yeah, some

More the same. But Steelers, you know, they still got to conduct business. Omar Khan, their general manager, said, you know, get used to it because he was asked if there was going to be any announcement on Aaron Rogers ahead of the draft, which was apparently their preference and not so much. Take a listen. We've had some great communication with Aaron and nothing's changed, but it's all been positive and good.

And, you know, I said to see you guys in March when we met. You know, he knows how we feel about him. And, you know, we know how he feels about us. All right, Mr. Pittsburgh Steeler. Still no Aaron Rogers. Thought they were going to have a resolution by the draft. They say everything is fine. They've hired Mike McCarthy.

They have a 21st pick in the draft. Do you think this makes it more likely that they draft Ty Simpson or a quarterback there up top? No, I think the stills aren't panicked. You know, last year they waited all the way up to June to get a decision and they got their answer. I think they're still kind of in that mindset. I think, you know, I do think even. with Aaron Rogers coming back or not coming back, they may get a guy later in the rounds.

But I also believe right now the Steelers have a plan. And, you know, for me, if they honestly felt like Aaron Rogers is not going to come back, they would have been more aggressive in free agency. I think they would have made a hard push of Malik Willis or Kahnemur. So I think they do feel like he is going to come back. But I also think they are prepared for him not to come back. If he doesn't come back, I can see this team start offloading someone else's defense. of high number guys like Alex Hinesmith and Cam Hayward and T.J. Watt. You know,

I can see them calling Dallas and say, hey, what do you want for Alex Hinesmith? Let's work for them out. Or they call the Rams and say, hey, we got T.J., you know, let's work something out with you. I think they call some of them teams that feel like they're a guy away from making a serious push at the Super Bowl. Nevertheless, man, I do think there's a plan in place. Aaron Rogers is not coming back. You know, I think that's something they have talked about and we'll continue to talk about. But I think they really feel that he's going to walk through those doors. And I think Aaron Rogers not being here is less important this offseason than last off season because Mike McCarthy is there. So they have the ultimate familiarity with each other,

with the playbook. It's unique in the sense that they can actually draw on past experiences in terms of things they shared to incorporate moving forward. So that part is fine. And then you got to talk about alternatives. Ty Simpson may not be the alternative that they're looking for. for someone in the first round just to fill the quarterback spot on the board, that makes no sense whatsoever. And then when you look at Mason Rudolph, his numbers aren't very different than Jacoby Brissette, who's starting for the Cardinals and now wants a contract extension. You can take a look at it here.

Points per game, almost identical. Brutoff's a little bit better. Passer rating, Brissette's a little bit better on that end. But in terms of overall performance, they're very similar. So if they have to go into the season with Rudolph, they have to go in the season with Rudolph. There's a lot of teams that are going into the season with not the ideal quarterback situation.

But that doesn't mean that you reach for someone that doesn't make sense for you and give up the possibility of getting better player. Because that was scream panic to me, to your point, Coach. You go get somebody just because, oh, we need a, no. Right, but the Cardinals are expected to be one of the worst teams in football. Pittsburgh thinks that they're going to be in the playoffs.

So, like, our quarterback is kind of as good as Jacob Brissette is not something that I would feel great about. Well, Ticole Bresset who wants a contract extension or not, or maybe a raise as opposed to an extension. He is still a starting NFL quarterback. And you can look at it. You go get a rookie quarterback who has very little college experience in a guy like Ty Simpson versus a guy like Mason Rudolph. He doesn't necessarily give you a better chance. And they have faith in Mason Rudolph.

Like you go back to that game, the playoff game, when they were in the shoot, not shootout, but they were coming back against the Buffalo. They felt like they had more time on the clock. Rudolph could have got him out to build him with a W. So there is legit faith that he can carry his team if need to be. And I completely agree that Aaron Rogers and drafting a quarterback, those two things really should not be connected. Like the Packers drafted Jordan Love when they had Aaron Rogers still in his prime,

but they did it because they really believed in Jordan Love. The last time the Steelers drafted a guy with a late first round pick because they just needed it do it out of necessity, they got Kenny Picket it. And it was a disaster. So if you like Ty Simpson, draft Ty Simpson. draft Ty Simpson. But if you don't like Ty Simpson,

and you're like, well, we just have to do it because of Aaron Rogers. That's how I think you set your organization back even further. But it would be nice if Aaron Rogers could just make a decision. It would be nice.

Or maybe they know it. It'd be nice. It'd just keep in their cars close to their chest. And it's one of those things, too. Everybody's seen the movie. We all know how it ends. This is part of the process. This is what he does.

And nobody's surprised by it anymore. And I'm sure it doesn't shake anybody even on the team because they're used to this process. All right, let's go to Chicago. Caleb Williams met the media yesterday, and he was talking big about his goals for the upcoming season, some of which, well, I'll tell you after you listen to it,

but Caleb doesn't have to worry too much about. Take a listen. It was good for me to be able to see, to be able to feel, to be able to go out there and win games, but that wasn't my goal. That's not my goal. That's not where I want to be. I want to be the best.

I want to go win. I want to be, as we call it, a world champion. I'm a Super Bowl champion. I want to be the best bear quarterback, best quarterback. And so my goals, yes, that was a good step in stone for me. But, you know, that wasn't the last step in stone. I have excellent news for Caleb Williams. He is already the best Bears quarterback ever.

That one is done. Now, world champion, coach, he doesn't. doesn't have a Super Bowl like Jim McMahon, but he is better than Jim McMahon. He is better than Jay Cutler. He is better than Eric Kramer. I mean, not wrong. Jay Cutler had some pretty positive seasons in Chicago. Jay Cutler did not have anything like Caleb Williams had last year. I know you have a love affair with Caleb Williams.

Jay Cutler made it to an NFC championship game, but Jay Cutler was the same player in year nine as he was in year three. He was the same guy. Was he the number one overall draft pick? was not. No, but he came over after being a pro bowler with the Denver Broncos and backfooted interception. Jay Cutler mastered it. But world champion, best player in football, all of those things. But I personally like big goals. Like he's not just saying day at a time, I got to win these OTAs. I got to win this mini camp. He's talking about being the best. And I think, you know, manifest it. Yeah. Speaking into existence. And when you hear Tom Brady talk that the course of his career is always

about, you know, lofty goals in the future. It wasn't about what's right in front of, oh, no, that's the exact opposite of what Tom Brady did, right? Yeah, where Tom Brady was always focused. Tom Brady was focused on what was next, what was, and because that's the only thing you control. You can't control the future, and you can't change the past. But what you can do is you can do something about what's in front of you. So instead of talking about lofty goals, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be in terms of the way he presented it, It wasn't like texting the punter and saying, don't worry about it.

You're not going to have to do any work. But it's still like, let's just focus on what's in front of you and getting a little bit better. But see, I disagree. I think his coach, Ben Johnson, has set out realistic goals, right? Taking that complete percentage from 58% to 72%, right? Or being more sound in the pocket, being on time with the football. I think he's talked to Caleb in a sense, like, there's a standard in which I expect you to play. Just because you had one dominant year last year,

I think there's a next, I think we look going to this next year and saying, hey, man, you have to be more a polished quarterback where we're starting games faster, right? Where we're depending on you early in games instead of saying, hey, let's get this run game going to stabilize the offense. And then let's unleash you. I think there's a legit concern about Caleb just being a more polished quarterback through four quarters. And I think Ben Johnson is holding him. Right. But we're talking about the guy as if he was a late, you know, a second round draft pick, a late run. This was the number one overall draft back who came in with high expectations. where everybody in Chicago expected those goals from you and now because you had such a down first year

we're really happy about the positive things you did in the second year and it's good it's good to see the progress but let's let's just continue that progress as opposed to now up the end is he supposed to not talk is you supposed to not talk about wanting to win a super wool or wanting to be the best no that's that's not what I'm saying at all I'm saying that focus on things that you can control and instead of continuing continually pushing out these expectations, just work on you and work on the group around you and maybe be a little quieter in the offseason as opposed to hype everything up. Well, he's a confident guy. That is not going to happen. I think what he displayed last year is hard for him to be quiet.

I think we talked about the playoff game when he threw that big touchdown pass. I mean, which one? There were so many. Right. But I think when you put that on tape, I think there is reason to be excited. Like he, he raises the temperature in Chicago solo because of what he's able to do with the football. So Jaden Daniels went to what, the NFC championship game? Yeah.

Drake May went to the Super Bowl and Caleb went. Division or. Okay. Yeah, no, he's got work to do to still be the best. Manifestation. Put it out there in the universe. Coach Aids it. Say it.

See it. Welcome back. The NFL draft is on Thursday. So we are bringing you inside the OT War Room where every day we have been talking the biggest storylines. ahead of the draft. We got Coach Manjini and Willie Cologne with me. Taking calls and gentlemen, I've been looking forward to this conversation for a long time because there's the film and then there's the combine and the pro days and the measurables and all of that other stuff. And I've always had a hard time mixing the two together.

Figuring out what are we going to do? Plenty of examples of guys who do ridiculously. This is one of my favorite. He jumped out of a pool and he landed on his feet. Is that Tristan Wills right? Yeah, exactly. The Bears draft. a guy, Dron Gilbert back in the day, who did that. I'm like, he's going to be a great player. He wasn't. They could squat a million pounds. They can do just freakish things.

Coach, you have scotted these guys. You've been in the war room for these types of situations. So I want to start with you. How do you balance the athletic freak in nature versus film production? Yeah, you have to be really careful because there's such a significant difference between time speed and timed athleticism, measured athleticism through drills versus playing speed and real athleticism, that reactionary athleticism. You're saying you don't have defensive tackles jump out of the pool in the NFL?

Not typically, but a great example of that is Rodin Harrison. So Rodney tested poorly in the 40, I think it was around a 4-7, 4-8. He'll probably be mad about me talking about that. But then when you watched him play and there was a human being with a ball, he played significantly fast than that. So he played as fast as the guy that he was chasing. And that's so different than a lot of guys who are inside a perfect. area where they're running a drill and they get to start and all those things that have no

relationship to football. It's very different. Yeah, I think one of the reasons why the athleticism doesn't transfer over is because depending on how a guy learns, right? Like some guys are visual learners. Some guys can look on the board and be like, oh, that's what you mean. I can go out and do that. I was a visual learner, right? If you go out and show me what to do, I can do it. Put me on the board, I'm like, hey, man, let's talk about this for a little bit, right? So there's a difference. But on top of that, man, I think a lot of times where it comes to guys, you know, if you're going to draft the guy on his athleticism, you have to make sure you've seen what you're asking him to do on tape because scheming of fit

matters. I play with a bunch of guys. For instance, I played a tight end out of Texas Tech. This guy was big six, five, big hands could go up and catch the ball. But we were asking him to block, right? We were asking him to do things that was outside of his physical skill set. But when we asked him to use that athleticism, he couldn't really roll it over, right? Because he was used to doing one thing in college. So you have to do it. to make sure when you draft the guy that's scheming fit fits what he can do well. All right. So there are plenty of guys from this draft that we could choose from to put in this. And I'm not saying that all of these guys did not have any production on the field, but some of the biggest athletic freak in nature.

I'm going to give you the top three. And I wanted to start with Kenyon Sadiq, because this man is ridiculous. Like we had 15 different hurdle tapes that we could choose from. It's preposterous. And then you look at the measurables. And the measurables are, okay, a 439 40-yard dash, faster than Bijon Robinson, faster than AP, as fast as Saquan Barre. And he's got 20 pounds or more on all of those guys other than Saquan. He measured out at 6.3-245.

So a 6-245-pound human being who can run a sub 4-440, I liked him to Baltimore. They lose Isaiah likely. He can learn the technical aspects from Mark Andrews. They have Zay Flowers, but they don't have a true, like, number one star-making difference-making playmaker. And so I felt like he could kind of come around because you watch his film, and it's like, sometimes he looks impressive hurdle in a guy, but he never had more than 600 yards in a season in college. So I liked Kenyon-Saddyke to Baltimore, Willie. I don't mind. That makes sense, obviously, everything you just said.

But I also like him to the Carolina Panthers. Dave Canales doesn't have, like, a true, you know, superstar titan. He can be that guy. about all its measurables. I think you pair him with Bryce Young and some of the weapons they already have, man, that makes for a good young core. Yeah, when you're talking about a guy like this, I remember talking to Bill Parcells about a tight end

I liked who was really fast and how you could be impressed in the passing there. And he said, well, are you drafting a tight end or a wide receiver? And I said, a tight end. He said, well, what about blocking? I think that's the big question here, because these are great examples, but you didn't show any examples of him blocking.

So if you're gonna ask him to do that as part of the scheme, then, then, you know, that, That's a different equation. If you're asking to go there and just be a pure playmaker, maybe be on the back side of runs, that could work for a lot of teams. But if you need a true tight end, it's not this total package. Okay, now let's go to the defensive side of the ball because this next player absolutely fits this athletic freak build. In fact, he might go number two overall. Arvel Reese, the edge out of Ohio State.

He absolutely will go in the top five, maybe number two, to the three. the Jets. Arvel Reese, his profile, if you actually look statistically, in terms of the measurables again, is Micah Parsons. Same height within five pounds, seven hundredths of a second slower, but an inch longer on the arms. But if you look at through, 10 tackles for loss, six and a half sex, those are the career numbers. Now, the rubbles, well, you know, he would, he would play as a spy and he would jump off of tape in terms of the athletic. but not really in the production. I thought the Cowboys made sense if they were going to do the trade up because they'll say,

we're going to get our next Micah Parsons. So I could see them trading up into the top five to get him. When you look at a guy like that coach with those measurables, but kind of lacking the counting stats production, what do you think? I feel the Jets pain right now in trying to make that decision because they're looking at a guy like Arvel who did so many good things. He did good things on the ball. He did good things off the ball. He tested through the roof. And we had the Vernon Goldston experience.

experience there. And then you've got a guy like David Bailey who has a lot more production. Do you make that decision and go go with someone that's more proven in one specific area? Could Dallas trade up? Yeah, this could absolutely be a pick that someone says he is our guy and he is the difference maker. But again, you better have a plan for how you're going to use them. Yeah, if I'm the just don't pick up the phone. You want him going number two to the Jets. They just need him. He fits what Aaron Glenn is trying to do over there. A guy who has a lot of versatility, can disguise. He's not as polished as a pass rusher as they like. I think he can get better in that regard.

But nevertheless, man, he's a generational type town. I like him because of his sales and speed. Would it concern you that he's also one of the youngest players in the draft? He's got the measurables and the youth. Not a ton. He's got one-year production. He's young. He doesn't really have a designated spot.

All those things are real concerns. because you're taking that guy to play a thousand snaps next season and play a thousand snaps that are impactful steps. All right, the last guy I wanted to show you guys, Sonny Stiles. People think he's going to be a top 10 pick, but it's an interesting position because it's an inside linebacker spot

will be the first linebacker taken off of the board. This is kind of the opposite because he is massively productive. He wore the green dot, absurd athlete, voted team captain, was a safety, then moved to linebacker. Look at the first. physical measurables. This is Calvin Johnson playing inside linebacker. Oh, whoa. He's 6-5-244.

Crazy long arms for a linebacker, 4-4-6, 40-yard dash time. I thought this was a Dan Quinn pick. I thought Dan Quinn, captain of the defense, defensive guy, maybe their last stand with that coaching staff in Washington. It's a big year for them. I thought that that was a perfect fit at seven. Yeah, I hope it gets to Dan Quinn. I think it'd be a great situation there. I don't know if he's going to get to Dan Quinn. I can see the Giants. possibly takes me. So you think he's that good? You can be a top five pick. I could see someone ahead of Washington taking him just because of how productive he's bad and how dynamic he's bad. Yeah, it makes sense. You lose Bobby Wagner. You need a captain on defense. Obviously, he fits the

role. You have Jayden Dayings on office as that kind of figurehead piece. He'll be the same thing on defense for the commanders. I also like his dad was in the NFL. He's the youngest of four siblings, so you know he got bullied and picked on as a kid. Like seriously, I think. His brother had a hell of a day too. Yeah, don't forget his brother too. I think that's the type of thing that translates, but it's fun because this is seen as a complicated draft, but there are some absolute athletic freak in nature. Also, the fastest 40-yard dash time in the history of the combine. I don't know if we're getting faster if only the fast guys are running. But tune in tomorrow we put on our Jerry Jones hat. Uh-oh. It doesn't fit well. What the Cowboys should do with their two first round picks. That's

tomorrow on the OT War Room. All right, welcome back to the OT. Game two, Rockets, Lakers, tonight. Gotta be honest, Willie, I picked the Rockets in a sweep and they lost game one. So that bank has aged like an avocado. But I didn't know that Kevin Durant was going to be out with a knee injury. And now he's a game time decision for tonight, which throws the whole series into question. LeBron was obviously dominant in game one. Don't forget about Luke Knark. He was unconscious.

Lakers win tonight. They win the series? I believe so. I think if you're the Rockets right now, you go down 0.2. The next game is a must win. Instead of going one to one and you feel like, man, we have a chance to kind of take over this thing. And I also think if you're KD, man, damn the mobility.

I know Ema, Boca came out and said, hey, you know, we got work about some mobility. You got to play in this game. Like, the Lakers beat you down Austin Reeves and company. Like, you got to be in company. You got to have this game. So if I'm KD, damn how you feel, you got to show up. I will be surprised if KD doesn't play,

but I was shocked he didn't play in game one. And I still think the Rockets are going to win the series, and they will win the game tonight. The Lakers shot 60% from the floor, the Rockets shot 37% from the floor, and it was a nine-point game. The Rockets are better. You just got to not be the worst shooting team in the sport.

But the Lakers got momentum on their side. Is one game momentum? It is. Well, you play the way they play it. Okay, I guess it's momentum. Luke Ginnard, go off again. We'll talk to you tomorrow on the O.D.