First Things First - Lakers beat Rockets in Game 1, Bengals trade for Dexter Lawrence, Nick’s Mock Draft 3.0

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

(0:00) LeBron leads Lakers to Game 1 win over Rockets, Wemby met expectations? (25:15) Bengals trade for Dexter Lawrence, A.J. Brown a good fit for Patriots? (39:42) Time for Wildes to abandon the Hornets? (45:46) Nick’s Mock Draft 3.0 (01:04:44) Nuggets beat T-Wolves, Tatum performs, Panic time for the Pistons?  (01:16:48) Is Brou still picking the Spurs to win the NBA Finals? (01:23:17) LeBron underestimated, What did Wemby prove in playoff debut? (01:46:47) Front Office (01:55:21) Thunder dominate in Game 1, Can LeBron carry the Lakers? (02:05:56) Will the Hawks put up a fight against the Knicks? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York. It's a show that's done living a lie. Don't you dare. You're going to wreck the show. I'm not going to. You know what wrecks the show? Inauthenticity. Brue.

Faking it. I tried to count. Living a lie. I'm lost. Brew, you're about to get mad. You're about to get found and get mad. Go ahead. It's in the tease.

So I'll just let Drew experience it naturally. It's the first hour. first things first. It's not going to be good for us, man. Lakers roll the rockets. Are we starting to believe that LeBron can beat Houston all by himself? Meanwhile, our guy, Wemby. Brew, did he pass even our wildest ex-

This is it? No, this is it. I'm the Spurs. Did you pick? I didn't see the picks. Did you pick the Spurs to win it off? I needed a little more. I had the thunder, but after.

He didn't even have them in the finals. And now he walks in today and he's like, I'm Wimby guy too. I have been a Wendy guy for years. That's what he said. You're a check guy. No, I'm not. And Wimby hates Chet. First of all, Dylan Brooks. You can't do this. I don't.

Wow. Wemby's out here playing chess. Everybody knows Wimby's Mike. Everybody. I'm not a check guy. Stop saying that. You are. And finally, mock draft 3.0. This one's the real deal. First one, rough draft.

Second one, a bit of an artistic exercise. Oh, this one can't. Well, this one, I mean, it's not the final final, but I doubt there'll be a ton of big movement between today and Thursday. Can I have a probably should have I'm going to talk about it in the meeting? What? Your

own guy, like how Wemby is our guy, your guy, Brett Beach, said there's going to be tons of trades. So what are we going to do when there's trades? I'm going to but what are we going to do? I got to tell you that was a great thing to bring up and really

consider six weeks ago. When I was telling you, hey, I would like to have trades in the mock draft because I think there's going to be trades. And you barely even looking up from your kale salad was like with stuff in your teeth. Terrible idea. It's too confusing. It's too confusing. But I'll tell you what's confusing. Oh, Nick Wright's draft has this team not even on the clock anymore.

Blame last month, Kevin Wilds. We start in L.A. No Durant. Although he warmed up. No Luca. Austin, Vintage LeBron ran the show for 38 minutes, 19, 8 and 13. Here he was after the victory. I got to do a little bit of everything.

That's what the job requires. And, you know, so it's being a triple threat, being able to rebound, being able to pass, being able to shoot. Also defend, put myself in a position where I can, you know, bring value to this ball club, bring value to this team, you know, throughout this series. And, you know, it's going to be a game-to-game situation to see what, You know, how the game plays out. So I don't really predetermine what I'm going to do. The only thing that's predetermined in my game is how I prepare.

You know, how I prepare before I get to the game. And then once I get out there, it's just all about reading, react. And I understand the situations. I've been in every situation you can ever imagine as a basketball player. So there's nothing that can surprise me. Hey, I got to do a little marketing on the side. You know, I've got a media company. My son was playing in the game.

I'm all over the place. What did he prove to you last night? Something I've said before and I'll say again. He'll always be good. I buy that. He'll never not be good. 1,900 games, 73,000 minutes in, what does that version of LeBron look like? Prime Chris Paul.

Oh, okay. That's what 41-year-old year 23 LeBron looks like. A version of a player that was called the point-ne. God. That's what it is. He's still and he proved last night, I think for a lot of people, he's still without any age addendums added to it, a top 10 guy that you would want for the postseason. Yeah, when you put it for the postseason. For the postseason. For the postseason, there are not 10 guys in the league that I would rather have on my team running the show than LeBron. And the fact, Brew, that he really does

diagnose on the fly what the team needs. Like, I'm not trying to take other guys' achievements away from them. They, you know, Luke Gannard had to make shots. The Andre 8th and I thought was excellent. But I do think there's an element of the way LeBron to start the game

was getting everyone involved was exactly what that, team and that spot needed for that game. And if it was a game where he thought he could or what they needed was, man, I'm going to have to score 40. I think, I don't know if he would have been able to, but he would have gone about it a different way. And so I just, he is still one of the very best players in the league in the biggest spots. And for someone at his age, we've never seen anything close to it. And it was just a reminder,

Brew, that whatever the team needs that night, he at least is going to know it, and then see if he can deliver it. Yeah, I'm along those same lines. What he proved to me is that while his body can't do what it used to do, which it still can do a lot, obviously. His mind, I actually think, is better than ever. Now, he's obviously been a smart player,

very smart player. That's an understatement. throughout his career. I think he is playing the smartest basketball of his career right now. It started when he diagnosed and said, okay, he said it on his podcast. He watched Luca and Austin Reeves when he was hurt, okay, this is what the team needs. And he went in and deferred to those two and was the third option. When they got hurt, he immediately picks it up and starts scoring.

yesterday. Now I thought, and I think a lot of people thought, when Austin and Luca were down and out for this series, that LeBron, okay, it's going to be in LeBron's hands. And he's basically going to play like Luca has been playing, you know, a little different, but dominating the basketball and everybody's just spacing around him and he's kicking it out. No, he was not ball dominant yesterday. He did not over-dribble. when I thought he used to over dribble and be a little too ball dominant during his prime. Yesterday, he or Saturday, he was moving that ball. He was getting everybody involved.

And you said it. In the first quarter, he dominated the game by scoring four points. But he had eight assists to five, five different Lakers. Not even four, the rest of the start. Five. All right. And what he did, he had three to, to Kinnard, Luke Kinnard.

So it's no coincidence that Kinnard has his highest scoring game of the year. DeAndre Aiton was a monster, dare I say, 19 points, 11 rebounds. Marcus Smart have 15. And what that does is it gets everybody

involved early because he knew, I'm going to need them. They're getting touches early. But it also gives them confidence. When your point guard is spraying it to you like that quickly, balls moving, you have confidence, especially when it's a guy like LeBron James who you know could just be shooting

himself when he's getting you the ball that developed their confidence, grew their confidence and that's why they played so well. The way he's running the offense the way he did Saturday and this is no, with all due respect to Luca, he ran

it better than Luca because the ball is moving and it's crisper and everybody's getting touches. They're not just spacing waiting for you to give me the ball when you're good and ready. And I thought that was critical. So look,

a lot of players, I'd say most, at all levels, when they get older, you get smarter. But your physical abilities usually lessen so much than you can't do

anything with the knowledge. He, yeah, and he's still obviously very athletic. He still has the athleticism and size and strength and speed to activate what his mind is telling him.

And look, they were comparing him on the internet or social media to Magic Johnson, saying he had declined into Magic. That was a Magic Johnson type game. Yes. He was spectacular, and that's just what they needed. All right. A Lakers shot 61% from the field, 53% from three. So that'll work.

We'll see. But not that many threes. No, but they went in. He went into the post, too, a little more, which I love. Spin forward game two tomorrow, looking like Durant will play. Rocket's offense struggled without him. Here's EMA postgame. We won a lot of areas and just shot it poorly, honestly.

You know, we shoot at 37 and a half and 33 from three. And on the other end, they shoot 61% and 52 and a half from three. It's going to be tough to beat. But had opportunities, like dominated the glass, 21 offense rebounds, 23 second chance points to test six. It won the fast break, 11 to 4, I think basically even with free throws. And we had 27 more shots in them. Just got to convert those. I disagree.

Rockets in the second and third quarter is ice cold, shot 24% and 3 for 11 from 3. Are you buying LeBron can carry the Lakers to the second round? Yeah, because this was why the Rockets being minus 800, even if they did have five of the six best players in the series, Well, without Kevin Durant, still, you have four of the five best players in the series that I thought was ridiculous and why I kept saying that if Luca comes back, I think the Lakers will win. And if he doesn't, I still think it could go six and then, you know, I picked the Rockets, but I thought the Lakers had a real chance.

No flawed team should ever be just enormous favorites the way the Rockets were. And they're a flawed team. and the reason that I think the Lakers should have even more confidence, brew, is they didn't play that well. No. Houston made more threes. They tied them at the free throw line. Houston out offensive rebounded them 21 to 3,

had five fewer turnovers than the Lakers, who were turning the ball over like crazy in different stretches, particularly the end of the second quarter. And as Emay said, shot 27 more it took 27 more shots you should the only way you should lose a game when you take

25 more shots in your opponent is if they are on fire from three or if they're not taking shots because they're at the free throw line and those don't count as shots neither happened I know they shot a good percentage from three but they made 10 Houston made 11 and so it there is

no one in KD should be the most frustrated about that game your guy's shingoon should be the most embarrassed about that game. He's quiet. Alperin Shingun is supposed to be better than LeBron James in 2026. And instead, it wasn't even close. But he's supposed to be, right, W?

Yeah, well, they both had, did they both have 19? Both had 19. They both had 19. And LeBron's 19 felt like 30. Shingoon's 19 felt like a strong 12. And so, yeah, I mean, I think that I now, I now, I always thought the Lakers could win. I now think the Lakers will win the series. Are you willing to change your picks officially?

I mean, listen, it's kind of crummy to change picks. But if you're asking me who I would pick right now, I think the Lakers are going to win the series. If Kevin Durant misses game two, the Lakers should, will win the series, I think. Really? Because the Lakers should go up 2-0, and then I think LeBron can get them two of the next five.

Now, if I knew Durant was going to be out I don't know if he'll be out he's not going to be out the whole series but if I knew he was going to miss some games I may have picked the Lakers I hear you on them having four of the best five those five don't match

Reed Shepard Alperin Shingoon I'm in Thompson, Jabari Smith Jabari Smith hit the side of the bat board on a corner three that's the easiest three point there into and I'm in Thompson who I like and I like Jabbar one from corner three

they cannot shoot And I don't want to, I know they don't have a point guard. What is Reed Shepherd? Not. Because he ain't a straight up two. Well, now. As for darn. I feel like we need to apologize to EMA because EMAe wouldn't give him any burn.

And then finally he goes, I mean, EMA's not crowned himself in glory either. No. All right. But they, without Duran, they're not, they're bad. I mean, I probably, and all, maybe a bunch of us owe some apologies to Duran. That's what I was about to say. Because, hey, good. I'm good.

I'm not. I put him on second team all in May. Thank God. I was considering third. But man, he maybe should have been on NBCV. He maybe should have been on Bruce Ballet. The burner account while untoward, maybe it was right. These dudes look bad.

I mean, so look, if Durant plays game too, I still will, you know, I stick with my pick, Houston. But they don't look good at all. This was your squad, KW. Guess what? What? Fred Van Fleet got hurt in September. No. They needed a point guard and haven't figured it out since September.

So, of course, they weren't going to figure out Durant's not playing 20 minutes before the game. They've had five, six months to figure out a point guard, haven't gotten it, should have signed Jose Alvarado. That would have changed everything. That would have helped them, really. I still believe in the Rockets, barely. But I'm willing, if you're willing to go over to the Lakers, I'll come over there with you. I don't want you. And I don't want to, listen.

And I picked the Lakers as well. I like Fred Van Vleet a lot. He obviously would have been very helpful for them. He's a very good player. I like Stephen Adams a lot. He's very helpful for them. Two points. First one is we.

They still dominate their offensive glass. Right. And when they were massive favorites and I was fighting a three front war about maybe the Lakers can stay alive. until game six for Luca comes back. We knew those guys weren't there. We knew they weren't there. Now, we didn't know Durant wasn't going to play. But here's the bummer for Rockets fans.

Van Vleet Adams-Durant were supposed to be the additional veterans on top of this awesome young core you've built. All your young guys, like your future was the team out there. Yeah. And it looked like a disaster. I also thought Eme made a huge and shocking, coaching decision in starting a Kogi to guard LeBron rather than having Amin Thompson, who's already out there, guard LeBron. Like, at least let one of the best perimeter defenders in the league try to see what he can do.

I imagine they'll do that. I would think that's going to. I think you've got to, and I think maybe that puts then Tari Eisen back into the starting lineup in a Kogi spot. I don't know. But that was, if Durant's out, that is. That was weird. But here's the other thing before we move on.

Are you taking shots at Shangoon? No, I don't need to take. I try not to take shots at, you know, pretty good players. And so the, listen, it's a massive disappointment that he wasn't ready for the moment. We'll see if he is. He has, he looked more DeMontes-Sabonis than Nicola Yokich in this game, and that's disappointing. I would take DeMontes-Sabon. Well, what's happened is, look, he surprised a lot of people by becoming a star.

And now it's like, okay, we expect star. Exactly. Exactly, star play and he's struggling. No, but the thing I was going to show you is we don't do must win in the NBA very often. Game two for the Rockets, even though they're on the road, literal must win. Let me, hold on. I don't see the guy. You don't know what I'm going to show.

Of five. The show that, well, he's literally never been up to two games in any series. Oh, LeBron-specific. Whether 2-0 or 3-1, he's 32-0. You're already up against it. Just losing game one. Losing game one is 29 and two, and the last series he lost after winning game one

was the 2011 finals. It was 15 years ago. But if he goes up two games at any point in the series, which you can only go up to 2 0 or 3-1, 32 and 0. They have to win game 2, KW. That's interesting. I thought it was just going to be the raw going up 2-0.

No, because going up 2-0 at home doesn't, teams lose that all the time. Not LeBron. It's pretty good. No, it's still crazy. Well, it's like 15% teams lose it, right? I don't know. I didn't do it.

I just have the raw numbers. What are the raw numbers? Tell me. They're deep in my, they're deep in the script. They're later on. They're for the fur, I think, the wrong. All right. Game two tomorrow is at 10.30 p.m.

Fine, I head to San Antonio for Wembe's playoff debut. It went well. 35 points on the best looking stage I've seen in all my years watching sport. Brew, did you like the crowd and the team? I did. When I first saw the report, I was like, what is this going to look like? I'll tell you what.

But I like it. And you know what? I'm sure this was in the back of their minds. It's not like OKC where OKC has the blue or the white. You know, this is cool. And you wanted to be different. That's your rival and that you wanted to be a little different. All right.

Here was Wemby on if the playoffs felt different. It is obviously different. But we've been really good in the regular season. So we had no reason to act differently or do anything. do anything different. In terms of tactics, the sport aspect of it is different because we have more time to prepare. And we're going to have to play four times in a row. The first time I stepped on the court event for warmups, I felt the atmosphere was different. Everybody's ready. I mean, the fans were ready. It's probably the most excited I've seen this area, this arena. Most first half points in a playoff debut, Wembe yesterday, Tyree, and then of course, Bramie.

Brandon, Jenny. Great podcaster. Brew, did Wemby exceed our expectations? He didn't exceed mine. I mean, this is what I expect.

Whether there's 30 points, 27 and 15, rebut, whatever. I expected a great game from him. All right. Now, I didn't expect five rebounds and just two blocks.

The rebounds was weird. Shout out to clinging. He was outside a lot. Shut up. Yeah, yeah. But obviously. he played great. Look, I watch obviously a lot of basketball.

I'm watching. I'm making a point to watch just about every Wimbanyama game. I haven't done that with one player since LeBron was in his prime. Like, I'm making it a point. I'm watching. So offensively, this is when you were saying

he got an average 30. I'm like, dude could easily average 30. It's the way they play. And he can do everything as you saw yesterday. He can do everything offensively. And I know obviously he's not going to hit five out of six threes every game.

But his 35% three, the form, the smoothness, he is a great shooter. Even if he could go one for eight in game two. He's a great shooter from any, from three point range and inside. So I am not surprised. And what's happened is over these last several weeks, he has gotten more aggressive offensive.

I think the players, they still play, hey, it's like all of them. Like, it's my turn. I get it. I go because the lane is so wide open in part because of him. But he has become more aggressive. And so, Nick, the last five games, not counting the game where he played 16 minutes, I think it was Philadelphia, just to get to the 65 game requirement. Last five games where he's played a full game, he's averaging 38.0.3.

two points on 62% shooting. So it didn't surprise me at all for him to score 35 points. They started with Denny Avdi on him. He just took him inside, drove by him, and then took him inside and scored inside. They put clinging on, clinging looked like he was almost as tall as when he was seven to. He's huge, but he just take him outside, shoot over him and stuff. So I thought they looked good. good and, you know, when the close game, it wasn't that close, but they didn't tear them apart.

There was a moment. The Blazers had four consecutive possessions down two in the third quarter and had four straight turnovers. Didn't get a shot up. And that was the one quarter, Wimby had zero points that quarter. They played well with Wimby on the bench. Yes. And so, listen, when he's hitting his three.

he's impossible. Yeah. And, you know, I trust your eye and your belief that, you know, that 35% at one point is going to become 38%. You see his form. Right. No, and he's a good free throw shooter, which you've said. But the games where he is, you know, and the threes he took yesterday, one of them was very difficult, like falling out of bounds in the corner. One where he looked, he went over there specifically to shoot the three.

And so when that's happening. happening, no, we might see, we might not. When that's happening, he is truly unguardable, and you saw the blake, like, this is the one we were talking about. I mean, the Blazers, if you haven't watched, you know, as much Spurs as yours as Brew, what the Blazers did is what most teams end up doing, which is why we have all said he's far and away the best defensive player in the league. They just stopped trying to go into the paint. And so it's just you have to find different ways to get going. So I wanted to do something for Brew, sincerely,

because Brew has been big that he has goat potential. And I think there's really only three people that people really argue are the greatest player ever. But I think there's five pretty universally accepted best players of all time. People don't argue about the order. But in Broncreen, Jordan, Magic, and Russell. I think most people, those are their top five. You know what they all had in common. I know everyone, I know all the nerds are like small sample size.

You know what all those guys had in common? They kicked ass in their first playoff game. And so I just, to me, the five greatest players ever, what they do in the first playoff game, 32, 11 and 11, 36 and 20. Jordan 23 and 10. Magic a nice 13, 12 and 16 as a rookie, by the way. Russell, only 16 points, did chip in, 31 rebounds. And we don't know how many blocks, but I'm going to guess a bunch of them.

So Wimby's scoring 35, it's like, yeah. You know what I mean? Again, it's not like if he hadn't write him off, but it's nice to see. And I also thought, I do agree with you. He has, ever since he said I want to be MVP and there's more to offense than scoring, he's been like, I should probably score a little more. And I, listen, I like 35-point games. Can he average 30?

Well, I want to see it. I like 35-point games. I also, my one thing to watch is it's a long postseason. There were at the end of the first half, and then at end of the third quarter, he seemed winded at times. And, you know, 32 minutes for him is a little higher. Like, I am curious. He's going to play.

What his, like, his stamina. level is going to be over the course of this whole postseason, but that's just an A-plus playoff debut. Game two tomorrow at Brees guy. Our guy. Did Burroughs dreams just come true? The defense got better. That's next on FS1 and the Fox Sports Channel on Sirius XM. Hold on your hats. Is the Bengals defense going to be good? Maybe since he's sending the 10th pick to the New York Giants, Dexter Lawrence headed to Cincinnati. Coach, do you like this deal for Burrow and the Bengals? Yeah, I like it because they desperately needed a defensive player and they got someone that can be disruptive and can help them stop the run and all those things that we've talked about and the fact that they were willing to address the defensive side of the ball as aggressively as they did.

But in the bigger picture, I don't love this. Really? Yeah, because they had Trey Hendrickson and so they let him go for nothing with the thought process of we'll get these compensatory drafts. pick next next year so then they trade the 10th overall bat trap pick for dexter Lawrence they pay him the money that they have to pay him and and when you look at their production if we have this graphic there's a difference here of about the same amount of games but there's a difference of 50 sacks and 10 turnovers so you had a great player in the building and you had the 10th overall draft

pick so you could have potentially kept him and then and then drafted someone you know to help the defense as well but now they let him go and I'm not sure how it'll work out with the compensatory draft pick, but now maybe they've lost that as well. That one, they won't because since this is a trade. I don't think they I wasn't sure how that was going to. I don't think that affects the compensatory pick. But

listen, I really, Dexter Lawrence, despite the, he only had a half sack last year in the year before he hurt his elbow. I still think he is an excellent player. And his numbers are never going to pop the way an edge rusher will because he's like a traditional nose tackle

and he's great run defender. So I like Dexter Lawrence the player a lot, and when he's healthy and really full in, he's a top 3D tackle in football. And this is one of the most outrageous trades I've ever seen a team make on Cincinnati side. This is how bad teams stay bad. Pop quiz for the audience. Every instance of a non-quarterback being traded for a guaranteed, locked in top 10 pick this century. one instance, Randy Moss to the Raiders,

that's it. When I heard Dexter Lawrence was on the market, I was in my own head. I was like, would I give up the 29th pick for him? Like, maybe. Like, I think, like, now the chiefs don't really, the chiefs have Chris Jones,

so it wouldn't really make sense. But for a player who'll be 29 next year, who's a third contract player, who is coming off, again, I think he's a very good player, a down season with an injury concern to give up the 10th overall pick when you're Cincinnati and you desperately need blue chip long-term cheap talent on defense just because you're afraid that you've been mismanaged it so badly the last couple years that Joe Burrow might force your hand on something a year from now. I think's crazy. So I do think they got obviously better in the short term. But I, Joe Burroughs said my Super Bowl windows my whole career. And since he said that his team keeps making moves to make sure that's not true. Well, now we said I might thinking about retiring.

I understand that. I just don't think this is, I think this is such a shocking amount they gave up. I think everybody when we saw this assumed it was Dexter Lawrence and their second round pick for their. the 10th overall pick. That's why all the insiders wrote straight up. There was straight up written and everything because it's like, don't get it twisted. It really is one for one. I think it's crazy.

Great for the Giants. I think it's crazy. I hear you, but they're in a different situation. They're like win now. We've all said if they can just get their defense to be decent, which I think he makes it decent. They still have other holes. They've added a few other guys, Mafé and, you know, the safety from Kansas City.

So they're adding champions, right? They're improving the defense. I still think they should draft some other defenders. But they're looking at like, we got a world-class offense. If we can just get our defense to be middle of the road, which it looks like it could be, then they feel like they can win a Super Bowl now. And Burrow is not getting any younger, nor is he getting any healthier. He's always hurt.

Where I would have totally agree with you is if they had kept Trey Hendrickson, figured out and traded through this pick. Now you've got two elite guys on the defense. Because they don't have any edge rushes. Yeah, but it's like, okay, we're going to let this. Yeah, but yeah. We're going to let this guy go for nothing. And then we're going to make this pick to compensate for the fact that we lost him.

And collect, you know, have you gotten collectively that much better? It's a different position and it's a quality guy. I want to ask you after this. I want to ask you a question. But they also, and they wouldn't admit this, But some of this might be them understanding. They don't evaluate defensive players very well. Like we're not good at drafted.

Right. Let's get some proven commodity. They have drafted 29 defensive players since 2019. Zero of them have made the Pro Bowl. The only one I think since 2010 that they've drafted that's made the Pro Bowl was Jesse Bates, who they let walk. Who made it with Atlanta. After five years of not making it with the bingo.

So they wouldn't admit that. But yeah, we don't evaluate these guys well. Let's get a guy who we know is a proven commodity. But what I want to ask you, Coach, is because the numbers are going to be different. We understand. But do you think Trey Hendrickson is better than Dexter Lawrence? Like who would you rank better? They're obviously going to have different numbers.

Yeah. Look, I like big men inside that can be as disruptive as, as Dexter Lawrence can be. But they're totally different packages. When you talk about 80 sacks, that's an impressive number of sacks. And you've got the 15-4 fumbles, that's hard to get. That's a rare commodity. But what Dexter Lawrence brings is really hard to get as well.

So I like them both. I would probably go with the bigger men inside. There's fewer of them. And it also tends to help your linebackers flow more freely. because they eat up blockers? Listen, there's fewer great D-tackles than there are great edge rushers at this moment in the league.

And Dexter Lawrence win healthy and motivated. I don't know if he was totally either his final year with the Giants. He's an excellent player under those circumstances. We expect to get back to that in this spot. But just, again, you did Dexter versus Trey. I'm going to make an even weird comp. You feel like they weren't going to get a better player

for next year. No, not for next year. But the comp I would make is this. I think as far as value in the league, Dexter Lawrence and A.J. Brown are about the same. If we found out this weekend, the Chiefs traded the ninth pick straight up for A.J. Brown. They have a huge need.

People think they might draft receiver there. He's probably better than whatever receiver they might draft there. That would be franchise malfeasance. 10 might be higher. And so to trade to not get, you know, a really good day two pick back to offset it. It just feels like they paid 200 cents on the dollar to be, you're right, better in the short term, but I don't know if it's enough better to justify it. Yeah, you almost try to do like a three-team deal where you trade back with someone, get their first round draft

pick, you know, to try to offset how big it. Head to Philadelphia, where we've moved from maybe to probably, Adam Schaefter writing that A.J. Brown is, quote, likely to become a patriot. After June 1st, a scheduling line in the sand that is beneficial to the Eagles cap number. Is this a bigger deal for Drake May or Jalen Hertz? I think it's a bigger deal for Drake. Me too. Like, we've seen what Mahomes as a young quarterback had, Tyreek Hill, and obviously Travis Kelsey. We saw what Stefan Diggs did for Josh Allen.

Heck, remember what DeAndre Hopkins did for Kyler Murray, you know, in Arizona? And I know he had Diggs last year, but Diggs isn't, you know, in his prime. He was really good. He was better than A.J. Brown last year, to be fair. Their numbers were. His production was. Yeah. But you would admit Brown's a better receiver at this point.

Yes. Yes, A.J. Brown is a better. But their numbers last season were very comfortable. But Brown is just another level. He could obviously beat his man anytime. And then you still got booty and like, they, Now they got a nice little receiver. Seems like oddly booty might be on the way out now.

But the, I mean, that was reporting about a report. But yeah, but I love this for Drake. Yeah, I think it's a bigger deal for Drake made because of the fact that he did have Diggs last year. And now you get a younger version. You get an arguably more dynamic version with upside. And that's going to be really important to him. But this could also be great for Jalen Hertz. Sometimes there is addition by subtraction, and whatever the issues were, whether it was a chemistry issue, whether it was a personality, whatever the issue was, there was a significant issue between him and Jalen Hertz, and it'll give him a fresh start, and it'll give Jalen Hertz a different group to work with.

So it could actually end up, and it seems strange to say that when you lose a quality player, but it could end up helping Jalen. I think it's a huge deal for Drake, a huge deal for the Patriots, and a huge deal for our return to the Super Bowl. Question for you, is Drake and A.J. Brown a top five combination in the league. I'll give you just on yards. There's a lot of ways to split the atom here. Just yards. Donald and J.S.N. were one. Stafford and Pooker were two.

Dak and George Pickens were three. Burrow and Chase were four, golf and Amal and Ross, St. So that's just the top five in receiving yard. That's just top five receiving yards with all like their, I just added their quarterbacks. Ravenson's A. Flowers were seventh. So Can Drake May and A.J. Brown, you could say if there's another top five in there. I mean, did you say Burrow and Chase?

Yeah, Burrow and Chase are, they were fourth. I just put like yards just like, I think those are like the top comments. I mean, so. Seedy Lamb, maybe, but he's like just below. They're doing it so that because they expect it to be for sure. I think they would be top, I think that is now a top five combination. Well, hold, I don't, I don't, I don't know that I, I don't know that I view what you, you're saying combination, but those are just the receiving yards.

They're really just receiving yards. Will AJ Brown, will AJ Brown be, will AJ Brown be top five in the NFL and receiving yards this year? He expects to be in the Patriots expect him to be, he's there. I think that is true. But I think it's a bigger deal for, jailing because nobody wants like I don't

I'm going to take Kevin Wilde's word for it on this Drake May and Stefan Diggs last year you were adding it even though you didn't do that little fancy math there. They were 16th in yard correct but you thought they were a top five duo you told me. No I didn't think they were top five

duo. I think you said. KW. Actually, no one. When the pass rating number pulled the tape. You kept showing the past rating. No, the usage. You kept showing a usage was different. You kept through the pass-r rating, and then we got in a whole argument about you saying how Diggs is definitely. Diggs was definitively, one of the 10 best receivers in the league. I agree with that. Right.

And so he's out and A.J.'s in. By the closest eye of anyone that watched the Patriots, that's a wash. You lost the top-10 receiver for a top-ton receiver. What do you mean? Because he's better than Stefan Diggs. But he wasn't with- Bigger, faster, strong. Right, but last year you...

Younger. Can I just add... Last year I said it was great. It got even better. They had a great pizza restaurant and I got good news. I got even better pizza chef. I got even better. But Stefan Diggs had a lot of homes before he got to New England and there's a lot of maturity

that he went through and everybody talked about what a great team guy he was while he was there and you know, which was surprising to some. And so now, AJ, he has a lot of homes and he's in a little bit of a little bit of. a little bit different place and he can be very demanding it seems I've never worked with them and that can be problematic for a young quarterback if the guy's always coming back saying hey I'm open I'm open I'm open throw me the ball throw me J. Brown's had three homes where's the first one the Titans the Eagles and now the Patriots the Eagles the Titans are the Patriots no they're not really if the coach is the car where's your home still the different mailing

the Titans got rid of him if your coach if you go from one coach to the same No, it's the same home. No, but it would still be, it would, it would still homes. It would KW. If I move somewhere with my wife, I'm still with my wife. You have a different home though. Different home. Hold on.

Mailing address. But it's the same. If you go from one team and you have you reunited with your coach. On Diggs. Listen, Diggs, the Vikings sent him away. Yes. Then the Bill sent him away. Yes.

Then the Texan sent him away. That's three. Yes. Do we agree the Titans sent away, A.J. Brown? Do we agree? Yes. Okay. And then the Eagles would be sending away AJ Brown.

AJ Brown is leaving. Well, it's kind of both. So my point is... My point is this. Who was his coach in Tennessee? We know that. Okay. Now, who's his coach in New England?

It doesn't mean coach is wrong that he'd be on his third different spot. Almost every player has a connection. No, if a team wants the guy back, you're like, oh, he's had a lot of home. I caught the buzz. Now I'm dealing with a hangover, bro. Man. Hornets lost by 31. Well, Mello, we're looking for a big moment for him.

He had two points in the first half. He ended with 23. Here he was after the game. I should have been doing that from the jump for real. Like I said, we was doing a lot of plays and stuff, just getting pushed around and everything. I feel like I should have just took the ball from the beginning for real. But you live, you learn. Hey.

Okay. What, live you learn? I like that. Yeah, you live you learn. Those bad broke. Play. Didn't like the place. I should have just done my thing.

Is it time for me to hop out of the hornets nest? I don't think so. I mean, I said it even if they had lost the first playing game, it still was a successful season for them. Now, Connipal, you got to figure out. Because I remember when I saw James Harden struggle as a young player in the finals against the heat, I was like, he's young.

He'll get over that. he'll be fine. It's become a thing, right? Is this con Cinnipple like does he struggle in these big moments? But he was struggling with all. Yeah. So maybe it was just hit a wall, rookie wall, which is fine. But they got to figure out what that is. Look, I would not, it's been a successful season for them. I would not break it up unless I get a great deal or something like that. I would continue to work with the big three, if you will, Cineple. Lamello and Brandon Miller and just see if they can mature.

Next year would be a year where I'm really watching. Mello in particular. I thought he took a step this year, played smarter basketball. Does he take another step next year? If so, maybe we can build around this. But unless I get a blockbuster deal,

I can't refuse. I'm keeping it. Origin analysis. I never totally understood why you got on the bandwagon. Excitement. I, listen. Lamello's biggest issue of his career prior to this year had been health.

You know what I mean? Years three, four, and five he suffered various injuries. Even his rookie year, he dealt with a wrist, but he was available for the end. But he's had three years that he finished the year healthy, that he played most of the games, finished the year healthy. All three years, the Hornets made the play in. That's good, I guess. it means like you weren't awful.

The bad part is this. The worst play-in performances in the brief history of the tournament, we can look at them. I don't know what they all have in common. They're all Hornets games. They always just get annihilated. And you were saying about, you know,

what about Khan? Lamello's performance in the four playing games he's played in, even by his standards, that efficiency is grizzly. And we showed at the bottom that first half, this was the biggest spot of his career at this point. He is the leader of the team, the veteran on the team, and they were just embarrassed by a team that we all thought, again, or a lot changes in two games in the NBA. Orlando, right, all of a sudden, Orlando's rolling.

But Orlando was coming off losing to the G-League Celtics in game 82, losing to Philly, which looks at. even worse now as well in the first playing and then they're just up 30 immediately. So listen, I Lamello ball is going into year seven KW. It doesn't feel like year seven. Well, he's the same draft as aunt.

He's the same draft as hand. Yeah, but he's the same draft as hand. And never winning. And he seems like he has done a better job of taking care of his body, so that's good. Now maybe it's just maybe it was bad luck, maybe it is, but that's the first thing. I think the next thing is

and maybe the most important thing other than that is, he has to care at least a little bit on the defensive end. Now, the team was able, the final 40 games, to construct a good defense with him on the court, so maybe that was assigned to it, and he has to become a way more efficient shooter. All of those things, before we even get to the maturity stuff

that I obviously have documented issues on. If I'm Charlotte, I am more, I have more belief in Con Cinnipple and Brandon Miller's ability to be consistent winning players than Lamello Ball. And I certainly, while I agree with you, Brew, I wouldn't be like, we have to, we have to trade the guy. You had that, which was a good idea at the time. The Yonest?

Well, Tray Young, Jop. Oh, yeah. LeMello. At this moment, I would not trade Lamello for either of those. I agree with that. Well, listen, Jaws trade value is close to zero, and we just saw what Trays is. So I agree with that. But I, so yes, and Lamello had a good enough season where he ascended past that.

But it's just how much, I didn't love the end of year. I didn't love that the we were running too many plays thing. I'm not going to break down over it. I also think that there was a lot of pressure on him. And two points and down 30 in the first half is not a great sign of how you respond to it. Are you jumping off the Hornets bandwagon? On? Well, if you remember, I picked up the Hornets at the All-Star break

because that's when they got good. They were horrible at the beginning of the year. So I'm going to take them back to the All-Star break. Hubs, put this in pencil. Let's readdress this at the All-Star break, 27. Right now, still. Where is that? Do we know?

Where is the All-Star game next year? Nobody knows. We don't know. No way to sell. I'm still in the hive. Actually, a nest. A nest? A nest.

Why not a hive? They don't do hives. They're hornets. Live from New York, it's a show that's reminding you. AJ Brown's coming home. I didn't even get to use my videos. You guys got me so upset. I can't believe you started so weird.

You were disagreeing with coach, so you yelled at me. Yeah, so you jumped in. There's me and coach having a fight, and you were not ever fighting. Because you were somehow arguing that a player who got drafted by Tennessee, traded to the Eagles, and then traded to New England. is not a player who's been to three places. That's what you were arguing. Because it's the same coach.

It was the same coach, yeah. Yeah, that's, it's a bad argument. You also, you, you, okay. If I get divorced, if I get divorced, I marry someone else, and then I get back with my first wives. How many words that? You're twice divorced. Three marriages.

Three marriages. Three marriages. That's fine. Exactly. We didn't say he's had a bunch of head coaches. We said him into a bunch of teams. No. Today, did game one make Brew and I even more confident in the spurs, our squad?

Meanwhile, are the Celtics looking finals ready, all ready? Tatum and Jim Brown look great. Also, the Sixers. Not good. But right now, NFL draft time. Drafts on Thursday. We saw mock draft 1.0 coach, rough sketch. Just like a pencil drawing.

Mock draft 2.0. Wow. I was going to say something or something. No. No, I was going to say it's about. About MC Escher, waterfalls. Yeah, that's what you all. Yeah.

This is cool. I'm like, Mom, can I get this poster? Yeah. Mark draft 3.0. Series business. Yeah. With this, with this addendum, KW, much to my chagrin,

was like, you can't do trades. It's too confusing. Then it's, KW has a few few weird phobias. One of them we learned is double hypotheticals. So he's like, it's a hypothetical trade than a hypothetical draft. You can't do it. But the whole world says there's going to be a ton of trades.

So particularly in the top 10, maybe even in the top five, if you see a player that you're like, wait, that's too high. I cared more about player to team connection, even if I think on draft day, they might trade back to take that player. You're saying what I mean? Oh, so this isn't player to spot. This is, right. This is more about player to team than player to spot.

With that said. Is that how the grades are going? They do all of the above. You get like a certain grade for right player, right spot, you know, like one one Mendoza Raiders. You get different, you know, for getting the player in the right spot. Gotcha.

Or something different with the player with the right team. Here we go. Monctraft 3.0 might be the same as 4.4. but we'll see. Mendoza number one of the Raiders, we all know. Arvel Reese to the Jets. This is what everybody thought. Then it was going to be David Bailey. All the sports books said David Bailey.

Then all of a sudden, the Jets are like, hey, we can have 30 guys in for a visit. David Bailey, you don't need to come. And then the insiders are like, oh, that's because they already have all the info you need. Your old buddy Nick Wright says, you know what, you can spend number two pick on a player. You might bring them in, take him to, you know, I don't know, tell Monaco's or something, have a stake, figure out what's what. So I think you're going Arvel Reese. Francis Maui Noah is the best offensive lineman in this draft.

Three is probably a little rich for him to go, but I think the Cardinals are going to want to go offense. I don't buy their taking Jeremiah Love. It's too high to me for the receivers, especially when they already took a receiver crazy eye, Marvin Harrison Jr. I think they'd go offensive lineman, even if maybe they trade back. Jeremiah Love for the Titans, that's where we've pegged him the whole time. I think that's where he goes. Sunny Stiles to the Giants. John Harbaugh's first draft pick,

maybe the most intriguing, do it all linebacker in the draft. They also have a little more flexibility now with the extra pick. Cornell Tate to Browns. They need some weapons, no matter who the quarterback is, they get their pick of the first receiver of the draft.

David Bailey slips all the way to seven. Washington, though, might be with the best pure pass rusher in the draft. Ruben Bain Jr. The edge rusher out of Miami with the big. I read a whole long article today.

Every scout was just like, I love the player. An amazing player. Crazy motor. But I simply don't think he's going to be able to deal with the arms. All they care about is the arms. What's going on? They're like, the offensive linemen arms are so long. He has first percentile arms is not great.

The first percentile. He's in the first percentile? For, he would be as far as first round defensive end picks. First percentile lengthen. Oh, you're out on him too, huh? They worry about it. Just historically, they haven't had a lot of success. I listened to Ali Connolly talking about it on a podcast.

He was like he had a bunch of sacks and he had like six more where he just barely couldn't reach the quarterback. I'm like, my God. How was this so good on you? I don't know. I'm just telling you I want him to fall to nine to the Chiefs. We'll see about 4.0. He doesn't.

Caleb Downs, number one player in college football, a lot of people thought last year. That'd be a home run. Safety number nine to the Chiefs. And then with their second first round pick, the Giants take the guy. A lot of people think it's the highest. upside receiver in the draft, but injury issues. Now, me personally, if I'm a guy who's had my knee reconstructed and injury issues, no way. I don't want to go play at my career on MetLife's turf. However, maybe they watch, they see the World Cup, they see the natural gas, grass, they keep it.

Yeah, there's the time. You think them with a receiver who's coming off injury, they're going to draft a guy who has injury? Well, that's the question, coach. Sonny Stiles and Jordan Tyson, one offensive edition, one defensive edition for Harbaugh squad. Do you like that plan? And as a bonus question, could you see the Giants making the playoffs? First, talk about the plan and the draft. I like the Sunny Stiles pick. I think he's excellent. I think he'll be a good addition.

I struggle with the idea of them going receiver with the second pick. And the problem with the Giants last year was defense. And when you look at the numbers, if you can pull this up, it's pretty disappointing. And not only is it disappointing, but it got a lot worse. because of the Dexter Lawrence trade. So they need to be able to stop the run at some point. And they weren't able to do it last year. And now they're going to be worse at it this year than they were last year.

So to go linebacker, which is good and positive in that aspect, but to not have somewhat up front, it's problematic. They can't pull it up. I'll just hold it up in the audience and zoom in on this. But they're 25th or worse in everything. Points per game, yards per game, sacks, all that. They're not sacks. Opponent rush yards per game at 31st and now you don't have Dexter Lawrence,

you've got to get some kind of answer to that. That's what Sonny's Stiles supposed to be. Well, yeah, a linebacker can help, but you need someone in front to stop those big guys. How much more can they invest in the D-line? Abdul-Carder, Brian Burns, Kade on Tibado. Yeah, those guys are all out there. Well, they just try. I like that.

I don't think there's no interior D-Line men they're taking in the top 10. Ideally, if I was in that situation, I'd want to trade back and get someone like Caden McDonald, the big, gigantic interior defensive lineman from Ohio State. You're going to like that. I see. You're going to like where I have him going later. I do like Sonny Stiles. Some people think he could end up being the best defensive player in his draft.

I, Tyson, like you said, it's tough for me because people love him. But the injuries, I'm just like, if you're injured in college, it's hard to believe you're going to be healthy in the pros. And I know he wasn't on the board at this point. I would rather, though, than another receiver when I already have Malik neighbors, I'd rather Jeremiah Love. Again, I get he wasn't there. But I think I'd take him if I could rather than a receiver.

As far as they're making the playoffs, it looks like, you know, you get rid of Lawrence. It looks like they are just laying the foundation, changing the culture. getting some young players that Harbaugh can kind of mold in his image, so to speak. And so I think that's where they're going. And that division, that division could end up being like the NFC North was last year, where all four teams are really good. And so they could be much improve, which I expect them to be. A bold take.

But so could Washington. Dallas looks like, you know, if they build up that defense, they're looking good. And Philly is Philly. They did resign their offensive tackle. They brought in another offensive lineman from Baltimore. They picked up on Zeyah Lake Lee. They got Patrick Carr, the giant fullback. They have been active in free agency with some quality guys, maybe not the elite guys,

but they've definitely had some quality pieces. All right, we've got to go back to the draft. Dolphins are on the clock at 11. Yeah, back-to-back corners here. Monsor Delane, I think the best corner in the draft out of LSU to Miami. They need a little bit of everything, so getting the number one corner in the draft makes sense. Jermad McCoy, going to be one of the most interesting stories on draft day. Some people think he's the best corner.

Could be a top 10 pick. Some people think he falls out of the first round entirely because of the medical questions after missing the entirety of last year. But the Cowboys, I think, bet on the talent. It's a huge need for them. Jermad McCoy at number 12 to Dallas, the corner out of Tennessee.

Mackay Lemon, wide receiver, USC. The Rams can take a luxury pick. Also, Devante's older. Pookas had a rough off season. He also is a traditional slot receiver, which neither of those guys really actually is, so he fits with them and also can help them down the road. Brew, I've had your Ravens taking Vanga Yawane,

even though I've mispronounced his name the previous two times, in every draft. They need interior offensive line help. He's the best interior offensive lineman in the draft. Get Baker another weapon with Mike Evans, tears for wilds, departing. Kenyon, Sadiq, a tight end, the best tied in this draft out of Oregon to Tampa and Baker. The Jets go wide receiver, Omar Cooper, out of Indiana pair alongside Garrett Wilson.

So the Jets go defense with their second overall pick, offense with Omar Cooper with their second first round pick. And then Spencer Fano, who some people have been mocked all the way up to number nine to Kansas City. I do not see that. But the Lions all of a sudden, what was their strength offensive line, they now really need to. address. Vikings replaced the great Harrison Smith with Dylan Thinemann, who some people think is better than Caleb Downs. I think that's incorrect. But I also think that the Eagles, Cooper de Gene's success, is my saying this because he's an athletic white safety a little bit, has it really helped Dylan Thineman's draft stock. And also Harrison Smith in Vikings history,

I think he's an excellent player. The Big Edge out of Auburn, who also could probably play on the inside Keldrick Falk to the Panthers. And then the Cowboys go with the best pure linebacker outside of the Ohio State kids. Probably a bit of a reach taking C.J. Allen, but I know they feel like they have to come out of this draft with a lot of front seven help. Or back seven help, pardon me. So corner and linebacker. There's the next 10. All right. Back to Baltimore. Guard for Lamar is your preference here, Brew. Protection or weapons for Lamar? protection protection protection we saw last year even though he was injured i just think it it is the case as he's gotten a little older he's not as mobile as he used to be still very

mobile but not quite what he was a few years ago so getting protection you obviously lost linderman at center getting protection they do need receivers too though coach i mean right now you got zay flowers the oft-injured rashai bateman and then it's thin you lost isaiah likely. So they're going to have to get some receivers, probably another tight end as well. But you know what, regardless, whatever they do, I am feeling good about the Ravens. Why? So good. This is the year. That's why. The box. What are we going to make the year? Have you been watching hubs? There is, everything is new. They got a new head coach. They got a new helmet.

Oh, look at the new helmet. Is that a new logo? And they got new uniforms. Wow. Check out the new Ravens uniform. And what a surprise. They sent this. Wow.

They sent this, baby. Coach, I wanted to get drafted. I'll take this, though. I'll take this. I'm feeling good about the Ravens, Nick. The new uniforms, the new head coach. Why did they hit you up with a 26? Is that the amount of the time you said they were S-Bob?

I think it's for the 20. I think it's for 2026. When the elusive Super Bowl finally comes in a nice mat helmet. That's a great helmet. That is a great helmet. Look at the logo. The logo is sweet, too. Yeah, I'm telling you, Nick, I feel good about them.

I'm glad. Yes. I also, by the way, think they should go offensive line instead of wide receiver. That's why I haven't enjoyed it. Okay. But they do need some receipts. No, coach? No.

If Lamar was going to stay in the pocket like a traditional passer, then I'd say, yeah, a line. But he's not because his greatest strength is his ability to move out of the pocket. And if he was going to throw traditional routes, I would say go wide receiver, but he's not. So that's not where they need to go. No, where they need to go. Defensive pass yards per game, 30th. They were 30th last year. Didn't that get better later?

I don't know. Sacks, 28th last year. So why don't they go get more defensive players so Lamar doesn't have to score as many points and run around. And the games can be either they're in the lead or tied, and he has his whole arsenal of weapons that he presents as a quarterback, as opposed to playing from behind where he's got to be just purely past. I think they trust Jesse Minter to turn that defense around.

Maybe give him a couple people besides Hendrickson. All right. Steelers on the clock at 21. Listen, I have this before we found out Broderick Jones, They're worried about his neck and his availability for beginning of the season. They got to go offense. They got to go tackle Monroe Freeling out of Georgia. The Chargers legitimately do need more receiving help.

Quentin Johnson has not worked out. Obviously, Laden Conkey's good. They go Denzel Boston out of Washington. The Eagles do not go wide receiver. Instead, they go massive tackle. Caden Proctor out of Alabama, maybe Elaine Johnson error parent. The Browns also go tackle. Blake Miller out of Clemson.

The Bears seeing the run of tackles, which they probably would have wanted because Ozzie Trapio's injury in the postseason. They go with one of the most intriguing players in the draft Emmanuel McNeil Warren, the safety out of Toledo. The Bills coach, go with another D-Lineman, sit next to Ed Oliver,

Caden McDonald, the massive guy that you like out of Ohio State. At number 27, one of the more intriguing prospects, Caleb Lammu, out of Utah, the offensive alignment. I know they just re-signed Trent Williams today. They still need more depth on their offensive line.

The Texans desperately need more depth on their offensive line. Maxi and Achor, the tackle out of Arizona State goes there. The Chiefs addressed secondary. Avian Torell after losing Julian Watson, after losing Watson, pardon me, and Trent McDuffie to the Rams. They go Avian Torell.

Casey Concepcion, the very intriguing wide receiver out of A&M to Miami. And then one of the more interesting prospects, Messador was wildly productive for Miami. He also brew is already 25 years old. He falls all the way to 31. 25. He's 25. I mean, I, you like that? No.

And then edge rusher, T.J. Parker out of Clemson is the final pick of the first round. 25. 25 is pretty old. Eagles taking Caden Proctor at 21 coach. A lot of questions are like, did Sequin just sort of hit a wall or was the Eagles offensive line not good enough? Or what do you think about Eagles going O line? Historically, they've gone with a massive offensive lineman,

and it's been more of a gap-trapped physical type group. But they've changed their offensive line coach after he's been there, I forget if it was 13, 15 years, been there a long time. And there's a lot of talk about the new philosophy being more of a fluid zone blocking type scheme where this wouldn't be quite the fit. So they still may go offensive line. I just don't know if they go this style of offensive linemen where traditionally they have. But what do you want small?

What would be the difference in people you're looking for? The zone blocking offensive linemen tend to be super athletic. Remember, this is the guy who was catching passes. I know he's massive. but he's pretty athletic. I'm not dinging his athleticism, but usually those guys are a little bit more, not quite that size.

I do think they should go offensive line. I mean, that was clearly, it was subparred by their standards last year. And I think they're going to be a lot of Sequin this year. I would think at some point they'll add another receiver, but they might not. They've added several, you know, Elijah Moore and Donatio Wix and.

and all that's Hollywood Brown. So I think with the way they want to use, or the way they have used, Jalen, I know it's going to change under Mannion, but the way they've used them, they may have enough of a receiving court. And they're like, we're going to get more of a run game this year.

So I definitely think either way, they need to go offensive line first. You happy with your draft 3.0? Yeah, I think 4.0 will even better. Really? When are you driving 4.0? The day of the draft. Thursday.

Which you'll be here. I'm excited. Can you tell coach about Thursday? We got a big draft special. I didn't really. That's Thursday now. Yeah. It's an three days.

Excellent. Are the pistons in trouble? They lost. Never were, never had a lead. Not even two nothing, bro. Guess how many times that's happened in the play-by-play era? Four. Never.

Really? Number one seed. Thursday, six o'clock right here on FS1, the Yankees in Fenway Park. Red Sox got a W. I'm offended. About what? You know what? Is tonight?

on FS1? What? The Royals. Why don't we promote tonight? Why don't we promote tonight? I understand they're on a bit of a losing streak. How about we promote tonight? Watch us, then watch over time. I think the angels. The angels? Honestly, I don't know, but it's tonight. Head to Detroit. Number one-seeded pistons lose by double digits and never led first number one seat to ever do that play-by-play era. You know, it doesn't go back that far. When did that start? The play-by-play era? Everybody knows that, bro. Yeah.

96. Whenever you started talking to play. Kate had 39, but Jayland Durenne never got going. Al Harrington here, Al. Welcome. How are you? Is it panic time for the Pistons? Brew, do you want to go?

Yeah, because I pick the Pistons get to the finals. It's not panic time, but you got to be concerned. First of all, I don't know what's going on in Detroit. They're now, I believe, 0 in 11 in their last. 11 home playoff games. Last win at home was 2008. And it's not like they haven't, like I said. That dates back to Johnson.

That's a long time. So last year, they were two and one against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden, 0 and 3 at home. So they have problems at home in the playoffs. Yeah, better team. I mean this too. This is in all sincerity. I'm watching

the game Friday night. Orlando dismantled, obviously Charlotte. And I'm thinking, man, they, Orlando, when they're at

their best, like they play like Detroit. Like, remember last year they were the second best defensive

team in the league. This year, they fell off a little bit. But they play physical defense.

You got one star that people think will be a superstar, Palo Cade. But honestly, and neither

team shoots the three well. But if I really look, and I'm picking Detroit still to win this series, I think it'll

go six, maybe seven. but I think they'll win. But I think Orlando has more talent. I mean, you're talking about not just Palo, Franz Wagner, Desmond Bain, Jalen Suggs, who was a high lottery pick and played well yesterday. Like when they're healthy and their mind is right, they're a tough thing. We all thought they'd be really good this year.

So I think it'll be a good, they're going to push Detroit, but I still got Detroit winner. Yeah, I agree with you. I think that there's no reason to panic yet. You know, I think that them having a week off, they might have like sea legs a little. bit. But I think pound for pound, when you look at both teams, you match them up across the line. I think that Orlando has better offensive players. But I think that, you know, what Detroit did all year, I think they have a culture. And I think that to your point, they should be able to pull it out. You know, I think that Orlando, being at Pablo pretty much to me, had a bad year.

You know, it wasn't a year that we kind of expected for him is the reason why they've not really maxed out their potential, you know. But I think that, you know, if for some reason he does wake up and Franz and, you know, with Bain, the way Bain shoots the ball and the fact that he makes big shots when it really counts, they could be in for a dog fight. Well, that would be a, listen, that would be a catastrophe. Yes. Detroit 1-60.

Just the dog fight? If it goes seven games, it is catastrophe-adjacent. I understand we have seen teams. Yeah, we've seen that a lot. The famous one is the 08 Celtics. I get that. But Detroit- How about every other number ones?

Right. Detroit won 60s. 60 games, the magic, we are 96 hours removed from being like, well, they hate each other and the coach is getting fired and it's not going to work. And smart people, America's most trusted NBA boys picking Detroit to go to the NBA finals. And now we're like, oh, they should be worried. And I do think they should be a little worried. Cade had 39. Yeah.

And they got beat wire to wire. My guy, Dennis Jenkins, not, it didn't show up. But more importantly, Jalen Duren, who I had on my fake second team all-M-B-A, you had him on, your real second-team all-M-B-A, he didn't show up at all. Now, listen, I don't think Orlando is trustworthy. I agree. And so I, but if Orlando, their preseason over under, Al, was 50 and a half wins. Like they were going into this year, the odds makers thought they were.

better than Detroit. It's going to take a step. Would you agree they have more like Al said you call it an offensive talent? I would agree with that. I think they have more offensive talent. I mean I... They do hands down.

Yes, but I also think the two the two players I trust the most are on Detroit. Cade and Jalen. Jalen. Jalen. And so like that's... Well, he can't let Wendell Carter out play him. No, I agree.

Cade for sure, but I during, I mean, Palo, look, I think the key thing you said is Orlando's not trust They could come out tomorrow and look like they looked a week ago. So they already got it. They already got their they got their one road win. Outscored in the paint 54, the Pistons were.

Yikes. Jalen Jason back in the playoffs. Jalen had 26. Tatum had 25, 11 and 7 in 32 minutes. The crowd at one point mockingly chanting Philly's request of we want Boston. Well, you got a Celtics win by 32. Are we surprised by Tatum's performance? Nick.

I think this might end up being the story of this season. Tatum? Yeah. Jason Tatum, he tours the Killies 11 months ago. Yesterday, or when it was this game, whenever it was. I can't remember it was yesterday. Saturday. Saturday.

He looked like vintage Jason Tatum. Like that was, there was not only in the stat line, but also brew in how he moved, how he got the basket. He looked like pre-injury Jason Tatum. If he can keep up this level of play, then they all of a sudden have two first-team all-MBA

caliber guys, all that shooting, that coaching, and it's just this recovery on this timeline is remarkable. And he said in the post-game interview something in the effect of like this was the least nerves he's had

coming into a playoff game because for a long time he thought I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't be able to be playing in these playoffs. I think that's a really healthy headspace for him and dangerous for the rest of the Eastern Conference. I think all sports leagues should study his recovery.

However they did that, because it's amazing the way he's bounced back. A big thing when I was here last time we talked about it, I didn't expect him to come out the gate the way he has, and he hasn't missed a beat. You know, he is back at first team or NBA level, and that is extremely scary for the

East Coast, I mean, excuse me for the Eastern Conference, because with him playing at this level and with, you know, with Jayland playing the way he's playing, and to your point, the way they shoot and they share the basketball, I mean, they could potentially win it. Yes. With him playing at this high of a level. Yeah, no, I'm not surprised. I mean, he, I thought, I think when he first came back, I said he probably averaged about 17, 18 points during the regular season.

He is clearly back, getting really close to his normal form, you know, and he may get even closer. should be a quick series for them and maybe, you know, they'll have even a break. Especially in being, probably being out the whole series right. Exactly. And this could be a huge his injury blessing

in disguise the fact that he was out because Jalen, even though we knew Jalen was good, he was respected you know, all-star player perennially, he's gone to another level. In his own, maybe not in his own mind, but he's shown that

he can be a number one guy. People view him as the number one guy. So that takes some pressure, not just mentally, but also from the defense off of Tatum. And then you got the other shooters around those guys. So the way they play, the floor is open for him. So now that he's kind of back, he can get to the rim, which he did a lot yesterday.

Yeah, they look great. They look great. And so do he. Game two is tomorrow. That game was yesterday after. Okay. Too much basketball. We don't know.

Eight games. Denver dispatched of the wolves triple double for Joker, Jamal Murray at 30. Al, what was your number one takeaway from this game? One, I would say Anthony Edwards, I mean, it was a couple moves that he made where I feel like he looked like he was maybe healthy,

but I don't feel like he's 100%. Obviously, having Joker the best player on the planet, you got a chance to win it all and obviously dominate in the West. Jamal Murray is obviously a monster, but Aaron Gordon is their X-Factor. When he plays well and when he's making shots and he you know he just

do a little bit everything he's like the garbage man he makes the big shots he gets the big block he gets the big rebound when he's playing like that they're going to be tough to beat Anthony Edwards has to be special like that that's that was my takeaway as I'm watching this game it looked

like a team with two stars and some good players around them against a team of good and a very good player like nobody and aunt I guess he's injured I didn't know runner's knee or whatever, but he's playing, and you know how it is. Like, he's out there playing.

You're not limping. So you got to be that superstar. For the last few years, he has been on that level. We, you know, we've expected him to do it. And he was fine, 22, 9 and 7, I believe. So he was, it wasn't he was bad, but he's going to have to be special for them to have a chance. And I thought they played them well enough.

Gobert played really well that if they do. get some special performances from Ant, they can win some games. But if he's just going to be, you know, pretty good but not special, they're not, it's going to be a short series. Yeah. I'd be really, really worried if I were Minnesota because I didn't think Joker was that good. I know it sounds ridiculous. He was 25, 13, 11.

But the, for himself. But I would imagine that this will probably be the third worst game Joker plays this whole postseason. You know, I know that sounds ridiculous, and my bet would be this will be the worst game he plays this series. And Denver won handily. And I do think that, so I think Anthony is clearly injured. And I understand your point, Brew, which is he's going to be held to the standard because he's out there. But I also can acknowledge he, after being healthy all year, missed the bulk of the final month. And to your point, at moments looks like himself, but not throughout the understanding.

entirety of the game. And if he's not, if he is not giving them not just 30 a night, but a, but a tough 30, I just don't think they're going to have enough offense because I do think Denver, right now this moment, is the deadliest overall offense in the league. I agree. And like, I would ask you guys, like, who do you think can he rely on on his team? Like, who is the guy? For offense?

For offense. That can help carry the low. And it's supposed to be Julius Randall. That's who it's supposed to be. There's really nobody else. You know, I mean, Randall can have a big night here or there. Nasreid can have a big night. There's nobody that just-

Gobert gave you as much more than you could expect. 13 straight wins for Denver. Teams that go up 2-0, are you ready? 283 and 23 in the series. Teams that go up 20-0, 283 and 23. Wow. Okay, so that's over 90%. But that's just every series?

Every series. No matter home or road? I think so. Welcome back to first things first. Head to San Antonio. The arena looked festive and it was Wemby's playoff coming out party, 35 points in a victory in front of several Spurs legends on hand for the game. Brew, we revealed your pick while you were out sick with the faux neurovirus.

Why do you say foe? Because he diagnosed himself with neural virus and he was like, I got neurovirus, everybody. I'm out. Like did you have, did you get treated for it? He's like, no, I just rested and watched basketball. Buddy, that doesn't count. My stylist Christine told me I had neurovice. She has a medical.

I trust you, but I wouldn't use that appeal to authority. I didn't want you guys to get it. So I had to read all of your predictions. Look, I made some courageous picks this year. I wanted to go out on the limb, the Knicks over the Celtics, the Pistons out of the East. I mean, the distance are the one seat. Yeah, but nobody expects them to win Except me

So the Spurs Yeah, I'm feeling good, Al. I know we just got done talking praising the thunder in this To break me and Al But I think we saw that the Spurs Match up well with them in the regular season I'm not going to put all my chips

And they, oh, if they beat them 4-1 It'll be easy for them But Wimby I look at Wemby This is going to sound crazy Okay Wimby is a cross between Janice and Kevin Durant with the mentality of Kobe.

I mean, he wants it. And I'm saying that dude wants it badly. I think he's transferring that to his teammates. They're young, but they're mature. The way they came out in all the black suits, I love Kelly Olinick. Those were sharp, too. They look good.

The mentality is right. the big thing, obviously Wimby's going to be Wimby. The defense, they got to keep their aggressiveness on defense, and they shot yesterday 15 for 33 from 3. That's 45%. That won't continue, but if they can shoot well, which over the last two months of the season, they shot extremely well from three point range. If they do that, then they can win it, because we know they have the defense with Wimby

out there is going to be open shots for other players and they got a lot of talent. I think with OKC Al they both play similar. They come at you in ways. Both teams are incredibly deep but I think OKC's depth

is more talented than oh I'm sorry San Antonio's depth is more talented than OKC's whereas they have a case in Wallace, an AJ Mitchell even a J. Williams they're coming at you with Castle with the Dylan Harper and Darren Fox, who I think are more talented than those guys

from OKC. So, yeah, I feel good about their chances. They still got to get through Denver. Very true. I mean, we're kind of jumping over Denver. I'm hoping it's Minnesota. Yeah, yeah. That's the only way I think you guarantee it's OKC matchup.

I mean, because Denver's going to be a load for them. You know, and yes, they are young. They are exciting. You know, they are fearless. I love all of that. But like I told you, as the playoffs gets deeper and deeper into it, and, you know, you know, everybody's weaknesses and different things like that, it's going to be extremely tough for them to continue to play at that level, you know.

Obviously, Wimby gives them a chance for sure. You look at Castle, I was talking to my friend Cuffs the Legend, man. He was telling me that. Shout to Cuffs the Legend. You know, Cuffs? Not really, but I have a Cuff the Legends. Bro, but listen, he compared Cepon Castle to, like, D. Wade. Wow.

You know what? I can see that. I was like, he kind of plays a little like D-Wadeish a little bit. You know what I'm saying? My point being is that he's a special talent, you know, and they have a special team. But I just think that getting through Denver is going to be a low. And if they get through Denver, I think they're going to come through with some scrapes and bruises. And I just think OKC is just too built perfectly to win it all.

So again, tiny sample. I would have come out of this weekend a little more optimistic. if I were brew about my Wimby is going to be one of the greatest players of all time take, just a tiny bit more, because I thought he was so good in his first playoff game, and a little less optimistic about this Spurs team

winning the title. Why? Well, because I do think so much of it is going to come down to Wemby, and I thought twice in this game off pretty marginal contact, he was grabbing the, like, it seemed like those bruised ribs he had, like, started

to flare up again, like, because he got bumped. So that that made me a little anxious. The fact that he did not play super heavy minutes, 32 minutes is not a lot and it felt to me like at the end of the first half and then that carried over into the third quarter

that he was not didn't have his full wind. That concerned me a little bit. And I don't, to Bruce point, I do think they got a little outlier three point shooting night for them, not just from Wimby but for the team as a whole. So I

I thought Wimby was excellent. And I think that, you know, Vassell played, I don't want to say out of his mind, but he was really, really good for them, but he's a good player. But I think that the best path for them was going to be if Minnesota could really at least soften up Denver. And not only do I not think Minnesota compete Denver, if Ant doesn't all of a sudden get much healthier, I don't know how much trouble Minnesota is going to have with Denver. So all that plus OKC looking as good as ever, and the Celtics looking as good as they did. So wouldn't have, like this weekend, if the Spurs were at in my head, 20% to win the title,

I think they'd probably, it's like, okay, after this weekend, they're 19. Like, you know what I mean? That it just goes down slightly. So I wouldn't be emboldened by it, even though I thought Wimby was spectacular. First playoff home win since 2019. It felt like a coronation. Everybody there. Iceman was there.

Manu was there. Duncan, Robinson. That was their last year with Kauai. Yeah. It's a long time ago. Live from New York, first things first. Overtime, LeBron, had a great game, and we are getting breaking news from Dave McMeneman.

Is it huge news? No, it's small news, but it is breaking a video coming up that you have to see in two minutes. Emmy Real. Meanwhile, now I'm not sure if I take that serious. I'm 100% serious.

Really? I'm breaking news. It's not huge. It's small news, but it's breaking. Danny, buckle up for this mind-twisting conversation. Not really mind-twisting. He used to play for Mike Vrable. He's going to play from Mike Vrable again.

The guy's had two coaches his entire career. Has he bounced around the league? You can tell me. And finally. So to be clear, if you were traded back to the Titans, that counts as a third. Great question. That's a great question. If he got traded, then if the Patriots trade him back to the Eagles, has he bounced around the league?

No. Giants have two top ten picks. What are they going to do? Offense, defense, special teams? Special teams be crazy. The hard ball's like, finally, yes. Special teams. Chris Brousard does not have the neurovirus, although that was reported erroneously.

Kevin Wilde's Nick Wright and Danny Parkins, fresh off of six hours on FS. On FS1, a congratulations. We put up small plaque up. We didn't. Longest tenure. I was hoping for a banner. In this studio. Yeah.

But we gotta get to the breaking news from Dave McMannan. Please. First, this is the non-breaking news. Lakers win. Durant was absent. LeBron carried. Luke Kinnard. At the rep and the rep being like, my bad, bro.

It was so good. Luke Kinnard went crazy. Here's LeBron post game. I mean, we don't have a choice. That is. It has to be that way. Has to be a collective group. I mean, when you're missing so much firepower, like we are right now,

with AR and Luca being out, we all have to pitch in, we all have to do our job and even do it a little bit more, but take one another offensively and defensively, and I think we did that today. Already regret under wrestling. And this is the breaking news. It's small, but it's breaking. Luca is wearing basketball shorts.

This is from Dave McMeneman. We are on hamstring watch. Oh, boy. He is wearing shorts. No, it's right there. Yeah, the other. Standing there. But during the game, he had a collared shirt on.

He was calling for the ball. He dribbled it a few times. My antennas went up. Now he has put on shorts. Yeah. Parkins. Good reporting. You said Lakers were going to get swept.

Yeah. That started to look bad immediately. It did. So are you still thinking gentlemen sweep? Should I have to cancel the piano? What are you thinking here? Well, I guess I'm the first one on the show to a officially be wrong.

Yep. Right? Because I called sweep and the team that I had getting swept won a game, so it is impossible. Feels like a pretty significant fact that Kevin Durant didn't play. Why? No. You told me all. They got five of the six best guys.

Yeah. You beat your best. Now they got four of the five best guys. But their best scorer and their best player is the guy who was out. Hold on. That feels like it matters. Wait. In the same.

And everything else. Now we know. In the five best guy. The best guy. Not being there matters. But according to your math, the five best players on Saturday night. Yeah. Four of them were on the Rockets.

Yeah. Okay. But if you knew before, Durant wasn't going to be there. I would not have picked a swing. He still would have picked the Rockets. I still would have picked the Rockets. Yeah. For game one.

I mean, for Durant not. For the series, though, without Durant. Like, I think the Lakers should beat them without Durant. Because I think even though a lot of the, most. of the best players on the Rockets, they don't fit. And they don't have a point guard. They don't have a leader. They can't shoot that well.

Like the Lakers pieces fit together, especially with LeBron bringing it all together. Yeah, listen, LeBron was spectacular. And LeBron, force multiplier, basketball genius, makes everybody better, gets the ball to people in his face. Aiton said something after the game, is like, how can you not play hard when you're on the court with LeBron? It's like, okay. DeAndre Ayn should have said that to DeAndre Atenham.

Yeah. No, but when that- And Dr. Aetton is always like coming these revelations. Like, man, I just decided, you know what? I got to try my best. Like, dude, you're the number one pick.

Maybe seeing Clint Capella on the other side of the court helped him out a little bit. But I am still picking the Rockets. I still think the Rockets will win the series. And that game, Durant notwithstanding, felt like a massive outlier. Like, that was just a weird.

basketball game. Why? Why? Because the Lakers shot 60% from the floor and the Rockets shot 37%. Yeah. Like if we look at the difference between what one team shot and the other team shot, right? It was the fifth largest field goal percentage difference in a playoff game in the last 10 years. And it was a nine point game. So if you go and you look at the other games that fit that criteria in terms of one team shot that much better than the other. They're all massive blowouts. And that was a nine-point game. I don't think that Shingoon, who averages 52% from the floor, is going to shoot 32% in the series. I don't think Reed, yeah, Reed Shepard, who shoots over 40% from the floor is going to shoot 32% for the series. I could see that one. It was a

complete outlier bad game for the Rockets and an outlier positive game for the lake. that resulted in a nine-point win, and I expect Durant to be bad. Hold on. How can you say it was an outlier positive game for the Lakers when they had 19 turnovers, when they hit... Just shooting-wise. They shot out of their mind. 61% is always an hour.

No, no, no. I agree with that piece of it, but it was not... But they also got way fewer shots than you would expect. Like the flip side to your teams that out shoot the, you know, by 23% graphic is teams record in the playoffs when they get 25 more shots in the opponent usually don't lose those games.

So, like, yes, the Rocket's shot way worse percent, but they got 27 more field goal attempts, 27 more shots. They tied in free throws. The Rockets made more threes, so the Rockets are a great offensive rebounding team. They're always going to out-rebound pretty much every team, especially the Lakers.

I don't think they will out-rebound them out-offensive rebound them 21 to 3 again. I don't think the Lakers are going to have 19 turnovers again. And so I just think that what we saw on Saturday was

one team has a guy who can control every aspect of the game, and the other team has nobody like that. And one team's 41-year-old seemed like I know exactly what I need to do, and the other team's supposed to be stars.

Shin-Goon look totally out of his element. I don't know that's simply dropping in a less than 100% Kevin Durant changes things. So, like, it sounds like what you're saying is even if we found out today, Durant was out for the series, you'd still like Houston's chances. I think that's crazy. I think that if Durant was out for the series, it would be a huge problem, obviously. And I think the series would probably go seven. I think they would get-

Seven. Yeah. Because Houston would get, in theory, fewer offensive rebounds because they would make more shots. They're not going to shoot 36% from the floor. Did you feel, I didn't. They're hit the side of the backboard. They're bad shooters.

Airballs. I mean, Jabari Smith's a decent shooter. He hit the side of the backboard. But look, what happens when you lose Durant is everybody goes up. Now Shingoon, who's all season, had the focus been on Durant, I'm the second option. I get less attention. Now all of a sudden I'm getting doubled.

I'm the number one guy. Reed Shepard. All these guys move up and now they're not able to fulfill that role. But look, without Durant, Houston, I don't think has any chance. But with him coming back, he and look, Durant, I've said going into the series, the pressures on him to win this series. That's it. All we're asking is one round.

Now, I talked about last year. They went, what, second seed? Then they add Durant and they're not any better. But they also lost Van Fleet. They also lost, obviously, Stephen Adams, who's injured. So they're not the same team. And that's why without KD, I think they're drawing dead if he doesn't play. But assuming he's back for game two, I'm with you.

I'll stick with Houston. But game two is an absolute must win. because I don't see LeBron losing four of five to a team. That's not that great. They're not that great. I am assuming that Kevin Durant being out for the whole series is just not a realistic outcome for a new. But I'm saying if he's back for game three and they lose, I think they're done.

They might go seven. I mean, I picked them to sweep them with them. Why can't they win four or five if I thought they were to sweep them with them? Because maybe they're not as good as you thought they were. Like, because, and this was my whole argument about why. why I thought it was. Then the Lakers would win. But let's say Lucas doesn't come back.

My whole argument as to why I didn't understand the just overwhelming confidence in the Rockets, why I said I would be more shocked with Minnesota upsetting Denver, is flawed teams are always live to get upset. Always. If it were Rockets, Blazers, I would have said the Rocket shouldn't be minus 800. much less Rockets versus a team with LeBron James.

Like, the Rockets are, even with Kevin Rand, a flawed team. A hundred percent, which is why what I'm saying is the Rockets were such massive favorites, like it would be shocking if that team lost. Of course, the Lakers are a flawed team as presently constituted it. They're a flawed team, even with all their guys. Those teams never should be such decisive favorites because they can go cold. They can do, I thought EMA did some weird stuff. I thought Jay Sean Tate getting a technical and then EMA getting a technical.

I thought there was a lot of bad stuff. As far as you thinking, if the Rockets lost, they'd still be live. Listen, I understand this isn't, you know, we don't have Prime LeBron anymore, but LeBron's literally never lost a two game lead in a series. 32 times he's been up either 2-0 or 3-1. They're 32-0. 20 straight series he's won when winning game 1. The last one he lost is the 2011 finals.

I just, I think the Rockets right now are underdogs for the series, and that's without even knowing what Durant's health status is. Let's talk about Wemby's debut, eye-popping environment in a stunning start, 21 in the first half. Most ever in a first half debut, Wembe's last night. 35 points is Spurs record. He beat Tim Duncan, most in a playoff debut in the half. and then five for six on threes, first ever, with 35 and five threes in a playoff debut. What did he prove to you, Parkins?

I'm kind of jealous of Spurs fans. Yeah, I know. Like, that was, yeah, that side of it. That's out of that. A couple of Wembee guys over there. No, like, really won. Yeah, no, I know. I'm tweaking you there a little bit.

That was a, that was like a visually stimulating game to watch, and part of it's the court and part of it's the crowd. but also like David Robinson and Duncan sitting there watching, watching Wembe and me the whole time thinking like, are they watching this thinking that he's better than both of them? And I know Duncan is a top 10 player of all time and the overwhelmingly likelihood is that Wembe will not get to five titles and like that's going to be a thing and it's how we measure these guys. but he's just I've said all along like I have to wait to see him do it in the playoff before I'm willing to really entertain the greatest in the world conversation

because that's how it's always been but maybe the rules just don't apply to that I'm saying maybe the rules won't apply to him now that's what I'm saying that's what I'm saying well maybe the rules just do not apply to him softened on that take bro. No I said I said when we see assuming they meet Denver in round two

to me that will obviously to get to the Western Conference final. And that will also determine it. To determine who's the best player in the world. Now, it could be different if Wimby's awesome and they still lose. But likely those two will decide who's the best player in the world. I would just love to have known what Tim Duncan was thinking, watching that. Because it's just a.

Well, you saw his reaction. Or turn around bank shots. That's there. I know. You saw his reaction when Wimby took a coat, what, coast behind the back, just the coast, whatever he did. look I personally think having seen some film of

Kareem I don't know if you guys saw it when he played Dr. J one-on-one remembering Shaq early in his career dribbling coast to coast playing with Shaq even seeing him shoot threes I do think even will like guys these super

you know centers that we had if they had been like allowed to play like wimby they could have done a lot of this stuff the ball handling Ralph sampson wanted to everybody said he was soft because he wanted to shoot elbow jumpers you know but he's allowed to do it and the game has changed definitely could have yeah yeah i think all those guys shack was as i mean i think all of those guys could have done this type of stuff now the handle obviously handles have evolved today they let you carry too so guys handles are great They do.

I mean, they're carrying every time. What about the gather step? The traveling, everything. But, you know, but I don't want to take anything from Wimby. He obviously was sensational and it was a fantastic debut. I love, what I love about him is his mentality. Like, he's got the Mamba mentality. Like, this dude wants all the smoke.

He's telling you, I want the MVP. I'm the best in the world. I want to win a championship. now. Like I'm not too young. We're not too young. And, you know, it's going to be tough to back that stuff up. But you love the attitude. And the thing is, he's playing.

Maybe he's running his mouth has lessened the fact that it's house money. But if they lose to Denver, nobody's killing him. You just lost to you. You know what I'm saying? So they're kind of playing with house money, which takes off the pressure. So it's just going to be interesting to why. Does anybody take anything about the five rebounds? and clinging piece of it.

He's rebounded so well all year. And lately as he'd averaged 38 points he's been averaging like 14, 15 rebound. So here's the only reason I ask, because he also rebounded great in the loss to Joker. You know what I? I think he had like 18 rebounds or something in that

duel to Joker. Again, I'm not going to pretend like I know the answer to this. And it might just be weird game, outlier, where he was when shots were taking, whatever it is. But I, But I, nobody thinks Portland is going to beat the Spurs in this series. Nobody.

The most interesting thing to come out of Spurs Blazers from a Wimby perspective other than his individual brilliance is, is there anything the Spurs, I'm sorry, the Blazers with Klingin do that informs the nuggets for the next round? Or the thunder, if they, you know, if they get there with a thunder have obviously had no answer for the spurs this year with or without Wimby on the court. Like that to me is interesting. Here's the other thing that I just want to give the guy credit for. I hate the total dismissal of small sample size things.

I understand sample size matters. I also think that the nerds have overtaken too much of sports discussion when it comes to whether or not we can expect all-time greats to be all-time great at any given moment. And I love, shut up. I love that the five greatest players ever, all the very first time they were in the playoffs were awesome. And

we can argue about the order of the five greatest. I think, I don't know, Christine, if we have the, most people, that's their top five in some order or another. And the fact that they were all great in those games to varying levels.

Russell with a nice humble 16 and 30. one and untold blocks, Magic 16 assist, Jordan with a double double, Kreme with a huge double double, LeBron with 30 point triple double. It feels right that Wimby had 35 points. You know what I mean? Like I am not projecting, and right now I would bet against him getting into that group just because I would bet against anyone getting into that group. Like too many, it's a long circuitous road to that point.

But it's nice that the lights were certainly not too bright. And he, I know he said scoring over. rated when it comes to your offense. He knows 35 points pretty hard to beat and he's gone out and tried to, ever since he started talking about MVP, he's putting up 35 with regularity

and he did it with relative ease last night. Game is tomorrow night. 8 o'clock. A.J. Brown head to the NFL. Probably going to the Patriots after June 1st. I'm thrilled, but the Eagles offer. He probably already has a house there. Well, I'm...

Since he already played there. We haven't already played there physically, but just mentally, it's kind of the same spot. Okay, he's got a lot of Josh McDaniel, same offense. Well, it's like, have you ever been at a four seasons? No, buddy, I'm not as rich as you. That's not true. You know what a private.

Not true. Not true at all. I've never been to him four seasons. That is true. Gosh, darn. Very nice. They're very similar. Should have said, better been to do a TGI

Friday. They're all the same. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Ego's offense already occasionally sputtered, Danny. there are six fewest passing yards last year,

and now they're theoretically losing AJ Brown. What are the chances that they regret this move? Pretty high. I think this is shooting the messenger. We knew it was coming. We knew it was going to happen. They've kind of signaled it with their moves of Wix and Hollywood Brown, and there's cap ramifications in post-June 1 and all of that.

But you are now going to say that this is some sort of like all-in-year referendum on Jalen Hertz, if we're going to believe a lot of that reporting from the ESPN article and how he doesn't have guaranteed money in the future, and you're going to trade AJ Brown after the draft for a future draft pick. And so Jalen Hertz will probably be worse this upcoming year because when you lose a top 10 receiver and you do not replace it with an equally talented player, your quarterback's going to be worse. Now, maybe the Eagles are prepared to move off of him,

but they are worse when they lose A.J. Brown. and how AJ Brown could make it really matter for them is if he wins a Super Bowl in New England before they win more playoff games than Philly, which I do think is at least on the board. I think it's exactly what New England needed. And I think it's, I get it. I get why Philly is doing it.

But make no mistake, they are worse because of it. Well, it's interesting because all the reporting a few weeks ago, it was seeming like, man, everybody in that building agreed with AJ Brown. And they probably were glad he was putting, you know, speaking out about it. But this, that made me think maybe they won't trade him. Because if you really believed what A.J. Brown was saying, why would you trade him? You know, so maybe, like, I just think that the chemistry wise, this could help.

It must be that bad there. And so that could help Jalen. And they're not going to be throwing it 35 times a game. They're going to, I imagine they're going to 120 targets last year though. Like they threw it to them a lot. But Devonate is going to be your number one. You got a plethora of two, three-ish type guys.

Maybe they'll ask somebody in the draft. So it could just be, coach said it earlier, I agree. It could just, just because of chemistry, it could make things better. Like chemistry is important. I'm stunned that you're, you think the Eagles,

if you were running the Eagles, you would say, yeah, Let's just run that back. That works. Let's just keep A.J. Brown on the team. I think A.J. Brown is a better wide receiver than Jalen Hertz as a quarterback. So, okay, but that's not my quote. You certainly are not advocating that they would trade Jalen Hertz.

I mean, I don't know who would trade for him. What do you mean? I don't think that there would be a huge market trading for Jalen Hurst right now. Well, I mean, I think there's another. I mean, they won a Super Bowl with A.J. Brown. You can, you can. Is J. Loom, he playing that game? He did it.

And he was great. But I'm saying you can win with some circus and some noise and some book reading and some distraction. We've seen them do it. Yes, we saw them win with that and then we saw this season go sideways. But the point that I'm making is they are going into next year with Jalen Hertz as their quarterback. Yes. I don't think anyone thinks they shouldn't go into next year with Jalen Hertz, their quarterback. Okay.

I can't believe you or the audience thinks, yeah, just run it back. with A.J. Brown again. Like, that's not a tenable place to be. And I do think in sports, there is addition by subtraction sometimes. Sometimes there is a talented player that you need to move on from. And will the Eagles receiver room be better because of it? No. Could the team be better because of it? I think definitively, yes, it could be. It definitely will be. but I think it could be. Like I think it would have been insane for the Eagles to not move on from A.J. Brown. And I think they regret not trading him at the deadline.

I think they, like. Well, if you would have done that and gotten something for this upcoming year, that's one thing. But now you're saying this is an all-in year for Jalen Hertz and he doesn't have A.J. Brown. But he and A.J. Brown, that relationship's done. Like that on field, I can't speak to the off field, but that on-field relationship, it seems like is done. I mean, if they had done it at the deadline, they wouldn't have had anything for the rest of last year. I still think they'd have been better off. It's untenable and not worthy of a championship team.

Did it for a little while, but I couldn't imagine like JSN being on a Twitch, be like, get me off your fantasy team. The San Darnold doesn't, you can't get it done. Welcome back in. It is Draft Week. We are now three days away from the 2026 NFL drafted. We want to bring you inside the OT War Room, where every day we talk the biggest storylines ahead of the draft. this week with Coach Manjini, Willie Cologne, and myself. And guys, we got some old-fashioned news.

We had an actual trade that was made out of these war rooms. A new face in Cincinnati where the Bengals gave up a premium pick, the 10th overall, in exchange for Dexter Lawrence, since he also turns around and gives the three-time pro bowler a one-year $28 million extension. Now the Giants have two picks inside the top 10, so we'll get it to that draft component of it in a second. But Willie, we'll start with you first.

First, Joe Burrow gets a standout on defense. How should he and the Bengals feel about this move? Like, his prayers have been answers, along with the rest of the offense. You're talking about a team that hasn't been to the playoffs in three straight years. On top of that, Joe Burroughs approaching 30, right? So they had to get serious about this. And they did by Aquina, a premium big-time all-pro defensive tackle and Dexter Lawrence. And, you know, I'm going to be honest, man.

This dude isn't just – he's a game record. He's not your average guy. And I've gone against beefeaters like this guys who are just monstrous. Like these guys are hard to prepare for than somebody who's elite at the edge because not only can they push you back into the pocket disrupt timing, but these guys are hard to, one, get at a premium. So I understand why the Bengals made the move. Nevertheless, man, the Bengals defense just got a lot better. You talk about B.J. Hill. You talk about John Thanalli.

You talk about Byron Cook, who they got in the secondary, along with Dexter Lawrence and a Beaufort with Mafia. Like, this defense really elevated from being like non-competent and competitive to seriously being dangerous along with this offensive. the Bengals. So this is a great move by the Bengals. Now they just got to go win. Yeah, I'm torn on this. I like the fact that they address defense and I like the fact that they were able to go get a proven player and a player that has the type of impact that Dexter Lawrence can have. But when you look at it in the context of everything they did in the offseason defensively, it doesn't look as good. So they move on from Dexter Lawrence or they move on from Trey Hendrickson and that they don't get anything in exchange form with the thought

process being they'll get a compensatory pick next year. So they do that and then they give up the 10th pick in the draft for Dexter Lawrence, but then they've got to pay them. So they trade out one really good defensive player for another defensive player. And when you just look at them comparatively, if we can bring up their stat lines, and I know they're different positions, but they played almost the same games and we're looking at a difference of about 50 sacks. Okay, so it's 50 sacks and then 10 more force fumbles. So as much as disruptive as Dexter Lawrence is inside, trade. Ray Hendrickson was outside and you don't get that 10th pick in the draft and you may lose a compensatory pick.

So is it good that they address defense? Yeah, it's really good. Is it good in the context of the overall business that they did with those two positions? This is the most expensive way to get talent. Like signing players is expensive. Using a top 10 pick, it's expensive. You've now used the top 10 pick and signed a guy. And you let your marquee guy go for nothing.

Lawrence is significantly younger than. Well, I could see the most of the top 10 pick. moving to a 3-4, which is going to shake things up. And on top of that, they had to do something, right? You watched your all-pro, all-world quarterback, pretty much looked distraught at the end of a season because he needed help on defense, and they got it. So it was a win in Miles. He was one of the most double-teamed players in the NFL consistently for a defensive tackle

over the last four years, as you see right there, top three, each of the last four years, even when it was a down year. But let's get to the draft side of this thing with the Giants. This is where it gets fun. We have another team that has two picks in the first round, and the Giants have two picks inside of the top 10. They've got, of course, their own fifth pick, and now the 10th overall from Cincinnati.

So I'm going to give you guys two different scenarios. Option one, I will call the Help Jackson Dart plan, because there are some major problems on their offense. If you look up what's going on with their offensive line. Now, part of this, no doubt, was Jackson Dart scrambles around. It does not know how to recognize it, right? This is not all an offensive line stat, but they've had offensive line injuries.

He was one of the most pressured and sacked players in football, and we know about the concussion issue. Then with Malik neighbors having the year that he had last year because of the injury, they lose Wondale Robinson. I love Darnell Mooney. That's not a lot of returning production at wide receiver. So with the fifth and 10th pick,

if I put this draft on the board for you, and I said, we're going to go out there and we are going to get you Francis Maui No with the fifth pick, and then my guy, Carnell Tate with the 10th pick, how would you feel if the Giants turned around and turned in top offensive linemen, top receiver coach? Yeah, I wouldn't feel great about it.

All right. It's one of the things where they just spent $39 million to bring back the tackle that they had. So they tried and they brought another offensive lineman from Baltimore. So they've tried to address the offensive line. Getting a cornerstone offensive lineman is always good business, but it's not necessarily the biggest need that they have. And then with Tate, it would be fantastic to have someone with neighbors. But again, their problems are on the defensive side of the ball, not on the offensive side of the ball.

not on the offensive side of the ball. Not that they don't have problems offensively, but their major problems are defensive. I've got the defensive version in a minute, but what would you say about, hey, we're going all in two top 10 picks to help maximize Jackson Dart? Yeah, I love the Cornell-Tate pick.

I think you said it time-after-time. Every great quarterback deserves a really good receiver. You have a young man who can grow with Jackson-Dart and went on the outside, so I like the Cornell-Take pick. All right, so you like the Cornell-Tate pick. I know you had different questions about Maui-No. On the defensive side of the ball, it's an interesting draft. It does seem like that's where more of the premium talent is.

If they came out of this, Sunny Stiles checks off every box athletically, but he's more of an inside line. People comparing him to Fred Warner. So not as premium of a position. And then Mansoor Delane pretty much universally regarded as the number one corner. Corner, if you look at the Giants of Depth Chart, maybe their biggest pure position of need. There's not a defensive tackle in the top 10.

It's going to be a direct replacement of Dexter Lawrence. So as I was thinking about it, I was like, maybe this is the next best thing. Because you have Abdul Carter and Brian Burns for edge rusher. You would have Stiles for that second level of the defense and then get a guy who could be a top end player in the back four. Coach, I'm guessing you like this one a little bit more. I like this. I like the Sonny Stiles pick a lot. I really think that he's going to be a very good player.

And he would have an immediate impact form. You know, the corner does look, they could use help at corner. But again, they've got to address that. defensive line and maybe that's that's trading back just take a look at where they were defensively just to put this in perspective so in points per game they're 25th yards per game they were over 26 28th and then you go right down opponent rush yards per game they're 31st and and now you just lost dexter lawrence when you're already second to last in and rush yards per game they've got to address that problem so maybe it is trading back and you go get someone like

Caden McDonald, who is just an absolute beast inside, and 10 is probably too high for him. But that's the type of guy that can solve some of those run game problems. That would be, so you would trade Dexter Lawrence for the 10th pick and then turn that 10th pick into multiple spots to go down to more of a position of need. Yeah. When you're a team like the Giants or any of the teams that are drafting high in the draft, there's so many needs. So if you can trade back and I know it's not what the crowd loves, I know it's not what the fans love. It gets booed at draft day, yeah. It does get booed at draft day, but it adds a significant amount of value to your overall team,

and it adds value at a very low price range, which then helps you in free agency and years to come. It just gives the Jones a chance not to turn into the Bengals, by the way. So I just, I have a hard time believing that they have two premium picks and they have Jackson Dart, and they won't use one of them to help support him. I know, I know they have neighbors, but I would be surprised. So maybe they split the maybe. is some home run lock Hall of Fame quarterback. He's

encouraging things with him, but So all the more reason to to give him some help, right? Chance to hit his potential. Let's not let's not let him the whole play by down by 20. That might be a good way. All right, all right. Yes, I understand. It's common out dark today. It's complimentary football.

The defense helps as well. He doesn't like defense at all. You've got to score points to win. Tomorrow inside the war room, we're talking best fit for really the athletic freaks of the drafted. has some stories on how you can kind of fall in love with the measurables coming up on the OT War Room. Welcome back to the OT. I got 16-year NBA veteran Al Harrington out here with me now. Let's go to L.A. Al, where the Lakers up 1-0 in the series, just a casual 19, 8, and 13 assists from

LeBron. Of course, no Kevin Durant for the Rockets. Of course, no Luca and Austin Reeves for the Lakers. It was a masterclass performance from LeBron. Here's how he described it. I got to do a little bit of everything. That's what the job requires. And, you know, so it's being a triple threat, being able to rebound, being able to pass, being able to shoot. Also defend, put myself in a position where I can, you know, bring value to this ball club, bring value to this team, you know, throughout this series. And, you know, it's going to be a game-to-game situation to see, you know, how the game plays out.

So I don't really predetermine what I'm going to do. The only thing that's predetermined in my game is how I prepare. You know, I'll prepare before I get to the game. And then once I get out there, it's just all about reading, reacting, understanding situations. I've been in every situation you can ever imagine as a basketball player. So there's nothing that can surprise me. He is certainly that in terms of basketball savant, Al.

So listen, I am already wrong. I picked the Rockets in a sweep and they lost game one. But do you have faith after what you saw in game one that LeBron can pull off this upset? Well, I have to listen to the King of Kings, as I like to call him, because he's the old king. I think that they have a chance if Kevin Durant is not healthy and can't play. You know, I think that if you go Mano Imano right now, I think that Katie probably has a little bit more pop.

And I think that his team is like better suited to win this series. But they need him. You know, Katie is just, he's so integral to everything that they do as you've seen. It was like he's watching that game. You didn't just feel like those guys never played together. You know what I'm saying? So if he can't get back healthy, then, you know, I think LeBron can pull a rabbit out of his head.

But if not, you know, if KD comes back and, you know, gets those guys moving around and, you know, get Sanguang back into his role and stuff like that, I think they're a better team for this series. Is it that simple that, like, okay, so we know that Fred Van Vlique got hurt, so they haven't really had a great starting point guard all year. But KD is one of the great offensive players ever. And then when KD is kind of, they said they knew that it was possible because he wasn't there in the shoot around, but he goes out and everybody just moves up a role. Right.

So Shangoon becomes the one and then, you know, Jabari and Thompson and everyone moves up. It was shocking to me, even watching a lot of the Rockets this year and be like, man, they're not a great offensive team. Right. They looked like the worst offensive team in the sport without Kevin Durant. Yeah, they look really bad. And especially, you know, I was surprised by Sangun, right? I used to call him Baby Joker. Right.

Yeah, he did not look anything like that. Yeah, I mean, he could do a little bit of everything. You know, he can score the ball, you can pass the ball, you can shoot the ball. You know, as they say, a three-level score and all that kind of stuff. And you would think that the guys will maybe, like, kind of follow his little. But they just didn't, man. They just looked like they had not played together in a very long time.

They could not get into any offensive sets. You know, they liked to play pretty fast. They couldn't get in transition. It was just an ugly game from the Rockets all the way across the board. Yeah, so I'm still picking the Rockets also, because I assume Durant will be back. How much of that game won felt like it's just to make Miss League? And one team, Lakers made 60% of their shots

and the Rockets made 37% of them. I think they had a lot to do with it, honestly. You know, game one's a tricky. Just, you know, historically. obviously I've been in a bunch of them and it could go either way, you know, especially because there's a lot of time off in between that as well, you know, and I just

felt like the Lakers had some home cooking. They were at home and they would pull one out, you know, pull the game out. I don't want to take anything away though from LeBron. How he started the game in particular. Right. With all these, I mean, he's 41 years old and he's diving into the crowd. He's LeBron James. Like, I mean, I'm not surprised by anything you would get

from him, right? You know, he's always, you know, the threat to, you know, do something, you know, spectacular. So, you know, he did that game one we'll see you know I think that you know with this series I think the series is about about it's about two weeks if it's seven games so he could use the rest and you know when he's rested you know he usually comes out and play you know at a high level it's kind of remarkable you've had Luca at the shoot around not really doing anything but all of a sudden the rockets are kind of the injured team like if Luca comes back I was so surprised that Kevin Durant didn't play

yeah I wish I was out of nowhere wish I would have known that when I made my prediction let's go to Detroit where Cade Cunningham and the Pistons find themselves trailing their series with the magic wasn't on Cade. He had 39 points, a playoff career high, and he was asked simply, all right, you're the one seed, you lost, you were great. What went wrong? Like you mentioned, it's a make-a-miss league, right?

Oh, sorry, no. Just didn't come out with the right energy, gave them life early on. And then, you know, we had to deal with that for the rest of the game. We were better in stints, but can't dig a hole like that. Something we've said a lot this year. Now I'll ask you,

panic time for the Pistons? No way, man. Once again, week off, you know, sea legs, you know, they hadn't played in a while. Everybody around, everybody played that when you really look at it. Like he was the only person that played well. You know, Jalen Dernan is usually like, you know, Johnny on the spot, guy that's always there, you know, making plays, rolling, dunking the ball, stuff like that. He wasn't himself. They once again, they're a team that likes to play fast. They couldn't really get into transition.

They really couldn't get the floor space like they normally. do. So I think that coming in the game, too, they'll be much better. It felt like on the time off front, it felt like Orlando needed the play in games. And then Detroit was rusty because that was, it was a little jarring to me. Because it was like, who was the tougher team? Seemed like it was Orlando. Who was flying around more? Seems like it was the magic. Look at what they had to go through to get there, right? They had to play playing games, right? And, you know, sometimes that might bring something out of the guys, right? Especially like, you know, Pablo. I mean, because to me, he had a down year this year.

Yeah, Bencaro was disappointing. Yeah, so I think a lot of people thought that why you're writing them off is because your best player is not playing at his best. But, you know, the last two games, he's played like the kid that we've, like, grown in love and think that it's one of the top 10 players in the league, young players in the league. So I call the Pistons the Try Hard Pistons a lot. Like, very impressive, but I've seen this team before where it's like you treat the regular season like the postseason. Right. And then you get to the postseason and everyone's, playing hard. And then that difference

kind of gets neutralized. Like, Jalen Suggs was flying around. Desmond Bainz, flying, flying, now, at 10 out of 10 intensity and the magic are healthier, right? Franz Wagner was back. He looked really good. And all of a sudden, it's like, it looks to me like a fair fight. Like, I

now, I'm sure Detroit will win game two because a home team that's a huge favorite, loses game one, they get shocked, they come out great in game two. But I think this series now was going seven. Yeah, I think so too. I mean, it's going to be a dog fight. You know, I think those playing games definitely gave them a lot of momentum,

gave them some confidence. And that's all you need in this game, you know, in this league. You know, a little bit of confidence and you're playing better and guys are making shots. Like you said, now everybody's flying around.

The energy's there. You know, I think Detroit is in for a dog fight. The other thing, too, and this is a weird thing about Kate Cunningham, because it is not at all a knock on him. He's a top 10 player in the sport. It's not good when your player needs to do 39 points on 27

field goal attempts. That's too, he's too much of the team. Now, he did it because no one else was stepping up. I understand that. But it's a little bit of how I feel sometimes about watching the Knicks with Jalen Brunson. It's like, Jalen Brunson's amazing, but just relying on one guy to save you every time down the

court, it's tough to pull that off. And nobody wins like that. You know, the ball has to be shared around. And to your point, like, even with Cade, like, that's not even naturally how he wants to play. Right. He's a great facilitator. He likes to facilitate, but, you know, unfortunately guys just wasn't making shots. So he had to do a little bit more to try to, you know, will them a win.

So I think game two, they'll be a lot better. I think, you know, I think Jaylin will play better. I think the Thompson will play a lot better. So I think they'll be, they'll win game two. And then obviously we'll see what happens the rest of the series. Yeah, the 39 points there is impressive, but the four assists, also pretty alarming for the Pistons. Let's go to Oklahoma City. My thunder, my pick for the last three years, frankly, to win.

It looked pretty good. It was a blowout over the sun's easy 25 from SGA, 16 from Chishons. yet 22 from Jdub. I know how I felt watching the game, Al, but what was your biggest takeaway from watching the champs in their opener? Just how impressive they look defensively. I mean, their defensive effort is just elite at this point.

You know, there's no fall-up. There's no weak link out there defensively. And even with SGA being the superstar that he is, he gives maximum effort, right? So with them playing that well defensively, I think it's going to be tough to beat. I mean, to your point, SGA did not have one of his strongest games and look how bad they beat them.

You know what I'm saying? I mean, obviously he got to the free throw line. He shot 17 free throws. So, you know, he's playing downhill the entire time. But all the supporting cats play extremely well, you know, and whenever you be playing in a situation, all you're doing is just waiting to take open shots is a great situation to be in. Yeah, I've said it before.

The Thunder Superpowers, every single player they put on the floor is good at defense. There's not any, like, offensive specialist that it's like, oh, well, he's a liability and you've got to hide him and the other team's going to tart. Every single player is good. And I got to, I said it on social media and people are, well, you know, Jared McCain, it's like, Jared McCain plays his butt off on defense. He's six-three, is a little undersized, but he plays with maximum effort, and he played eight minutes. Like, imagine like, okay, so that's the weak link, and he played eight minutes in a playoff game.

And then the other thing, and this is, you know, a little bit more of an eye test, but it also showed up in the box score, so it worked. Jalen Williams, he matters for them, obviously. He was all NBA last year. He was all defense last year. He didn't play a lot this regular season. If we put up his regular season numbers, he averaged 17 a game. This is a guy who had a 40-point finals game last year. Right. In game one, facilitating, playmaking, looked fresh, getting to the basket. If they are going to get last year's version of Jalen Williams with this year's version of Chet Holmgren, I don't see any team beating this team. I'm with you. I mean, they're my pick. They really complement each other extremely well.

It's just like it's a perfect basketball team. I like Binds. I said they were a perfect basketball team last week. Coming up, Al's going to the game. Is he going to see any more resistance from the Hawks against the Knicks tonight at MSG? It's next on the OT. All right, welcome back to the OT.

Former Nick Al Harrington's going to be in the garden tonight. Al, Nicks fans not happy with me. I picked the Hawks in seven. Looks pretty foolish after game one. Nick's a six and a half point favorite tonight, Jalen Brunson and Kaffirn. We're both great in game one. Is it sacrilege for you to say that the Hawks are going to put up more of a fight tonight?

No, I'll say in five. Let's just start this. Nixon five. Nixon five. Okay, so you're going to do gentlemen sweep it. Well, listen, I'll say this. Even when I played, playing in the garden is kind of nerve-wrecking. When that popcorn get popping and then you look around and you see all the celebrities and everything,

you get them butterflies. And I think that's what happened with Atlanta. Really? So you think more comfortable for them in game, too? I think they'll be more comfortable. Well, I think that now that they've seen it and they, you know, got a feel for it, I think there'll be a lot better tonight. I think my Knicks will take care of home, though.

You know, they'll probably get one down in Atlanta. But tonight is the Knicks. What celebrity did you see, courtside, that made Al Harrington nervous? None. None. No, not one. Really?

No. I was more afraid of fans booing me. Oh, okay. I would have looked around and be like, that's Jack Nicholson. Oh, my God. Enjoy the games. We're back tomorrow on the O-T.