First Things First - USA beats Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jaylen Brown traded to 76ers, Balogun sent off, BUD List

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

(0:00) USA beats Bosnia-Herzegovina (23:11) Celtics trade Jaylen Brown to 76ers (39:22) Biggest takeaways from USMNT’s win (46:00) BUD List (01:04:12) Surprised the Celtics couldn’t get more for Brown? (01:16:53) Can the USA beat Belgium without Balogun? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2006 Chevrolet Equinox, awarded the most dependable compact SUV in the U.S. by J.D. Power is designed for your everyday. And with available all-wheel drive, you can handle your to-do list with total confidence. Start your build at Chevrolet.ca. Details at J.D.power.com. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result?

Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. Could be a problem with this for England. There's the shot. It's in. He's scored. Brian Sitpenga. It's a sensation in Atlanta.

There's to cross to Kane. He scores. England's Xavier, England's captain, Harry Kane in the nick of time. Harry Kane. Money's cross. He won up for grabs, keep her out even with a strike. The number 30, United States Committee, Cereo, Searle. Yes, it can be a red card.

The final decision is Red Card. Wow. Tillman. Live from New York. The show that is just on 10. On 10 today. We've got special guests, welcome. Live from Singapore.

Live from Singapore, you came all the way here. We have a huge studio audience. They came all the way from Singapore just to see the show. And what a day. It's a fantastic power pack day of wins and terrible trades for the Celtics. We are 12 hours removed from one of the greatest moments in the history of U.S. Mons soccer. That's where we're at.

I mean, it's undeniable. I made my, I made my youngest daughter stay up to watch. It's the end with me. I was like, my whole life, we've won one game in the knockout round. It was 24 years ago. I was like I want us to have this moment. Don't get like Wimby and the Spurs. We got more to do with this.

Oh, that I totally agree. Oh, you know what? We got work to do. So I shouldn't have been crying after? First hour, first things first. Today, red, white, and blue, and then red again. USA wins, balligan carded. How confident should we be moving forward?

Meanwhile, Jalen Brown to Philadelphia, a return of a fan favorite segment. Hey, what's going on? And finally, the most motivational segment in all of sports, a special Luca and U.S. soccer edition of the Bud List. And I saw, I think, a rough draft of the Bud List, and there's someone on there. I had a list of about eight potentials. Oh, you should have made it eight. We got two hours. Can I, the, okay.

Can I do a bonus, bud list edition that I'm not putting on? All the other coaches in soccer wearing these resplendent three-piece suits. And meanwhile, Pochitino has just mastered this look. He looks awesome. I like that look. I normally wouldn't. It's an interesting look, and I like it a lot. He looks awesome.

He looks better than the guy that was in the sharp double-breasted shirt. That guy was holding on to the ball. Give us the ball. It didn't look right. What are you going? Tito looks great. He looks like a soccer coach. Yeah, he looks like a fishing outfit.

I like it. We start in San Francisco. USA wins 2-0 after our first half goal from Baligan. Then he gets carted and sent off. We're up one goal and down one man until Malik Tillman saves the day with a world-class strike. Here was Port-a-Tinian. here was Bochitino after the game. So proud.

The player deserves everything in the way that we compete. Again, a very good team, very difficult team. I've seen it's about to be proud, so proud, so proud of all my players, all the stuff. And then these fans that were amazing today again. And I think it's amazing to live that experience. Why not us? Why not us? Why not us?

I didn't hear that. I love Pochitino. I've become a crazy Pocitino fan. He's a huge part of this success. And maybe my favorite... It can be overstated. The two lasting, most lasting images

to me of last night will be Tillman's set piece because that felt like you were rooting for one of the best teams in the world. Like the best teams in the world have players who if you get a set piece from that spot, it's like, oh, he might just put it in.

Yep. And, but the other image that is lasting for me, and we'll play it later in the show, is Pochitino in part because I know what his voice sounds like. I know how thick his accent is, how, like, I'm not saying he doesn't struggle with English, but you know what I mean? It's not, he's not perfectly fluent. Him singing along to the John Denver song after the game. Come on.

It was just, it was great job by Fox keeping the camera there and staying silent. It was just great. And so we can get into it. Sorry. That's right. That was not your... Well, you haven't even asked the question yet, so I know Brew likes when you asked the question.

What was your take on the game? Oh, I thought it was how impressed with... I was Brue... I was wildly impressed with basically everyone involved... Not wildly impressed with Polisick's performance. We're going to need a lot from him in this Belgium game. But everyone else did their jobs to AA plus levels. It was a...

shut down defensive performance that I didn't know that they had in them. Bosnia had one shot in the first half. They didn't have a single shot within 15 yards of the goal and that's with a third of the game you're playing 10 men. I think that

the way the U.S. won that game in the perseverance of having to play down a man and still not totally just parking the bus and being like, we're going to hold on for dear life, but throwing some attacking out there which led to the Tillman set piece, I thought it was great. And

I think that everybody involved probably feels awesome about the way they performed with Polisik saying, I could have been better. And that hopefully puts a little chip on his shoulder for a game that needs to be the greatest game of his life here coming up in a few days. Yeah, and 2O was my

prediction. Oh, yeah. That's what we got. And I don't think Polisic was bad. He wasn't He wasn't a star. Yeah, he wasn't a star. But, I mean, Tillman's kick, obviously, is the most memorable thing about this game, which was just phenomenal. But I thought, you know, it wasn't as artistic as Paraguay, you know, that 4-1 win. And we were looking like a machine to some degree at earlier points in this tournament.

And I thought because Bosnia came out so physical, like they were grabbing, grabbing. grabbing shirts, holding, body checking. They were really doing a lot of stuff. And we matched it. You know, it was like, okay, we're not going to be able to win necessarily the way we were earlier. We have to get gritty and grimy. And that's what we did.

And then to hold on for 30 minutes, 30 minutes with 10 v. 11, I thought it was incredibly impressive. And Nick, I think despite Balligan being out for the next, next game, we have momentum going into this game with Belgium. Like, as you said, I think the vibes, I think the team feels confident. Obviously, you're going to miss Balligan greatly. But they're about as high as you could be going into a game like this without your, who may be your best player, one or your two best players.

Two things that we do that we always do, one thing that we did that was unique. The two things that we do that we always do. One, we score early. We can take a look at first half goals. And we, for our previous three games. This is the latest we've scored. Yeah, a lot. We are usually scoring.

I think every one of our group stage games we had scored within the first 11 minutes. This time, we still scored in the first half when Balagan's goal. So overall, USA goals scored. We're fourth overall. In first half, we have seven goals. That's the best. From set pieces, we are now the best. In Bosnia, A Hurts Convenient.

We were tied with number three. With Tillman's goal, we were four. The thing that we didn't do, because we had controlled possession in all of our games, even the games where we rested guys, this is the first game where we did not have most of the possession. Again, we were down the guy and it speaks to when you were talking about a gritty win. They had more shots, more shots on target. Our expected goals were higher. We had higher quality targets and our touches in the form five.

Well, that's the thing is we, that's where I thought your guy, Chris Richards and everyone doing an amazing job. Friendly to show. Bosnia just couldn't get close to the goal. Yep. For them to have 10 shots and only seven touches in our 18-yard box. I feel like they were going to cross and use their height, but Chris Richards is always there. And shout out to Tim Riem, too.

He was on the show. We were a little bit worried or some of the narrative around Tim Riem is he's old. He's like 38, I think, Josh, but he's always well-positioned. He doesn't need like a bunch of athleticism all the time. Well-positioned clearing the ball. And shout out to the defense as a whole. and freeze because going into the Australia game, they had one shutout in their previous 13 matches.

They now, two out of three. They've shut an opponent out, including a game where for a third of it. I mean, the red card was with 63 minutes, but the game went 100. Because 10 minutes of stoppage time because of all that, they really had to fight there. All right, let's dig into the red card. In real time, this was not a foul, looked okay. in slow motion,

look like a yellow. In still frames, this looked like a red. Balagan was sent off. He'll miss the next game too. There is no appeal process. Here's Auree post game on the red. Let's all be honest. If you pose at that moment

and you see the picture, he looks awful. But you need to have some type of common sense. He never went to hurt nobody. He went to get the ball and where do you land after? He's going to have to Lensom, unfortunately, if you press polls at the right time, it looks not great. Do you think the officials got this wrong?

Yes, because they didn't follow the protocols. And I'll talk more about this kind of throughout the show. I know everybody's like, ah, there's no appeals process. We'll see. They didn't do what they said they're supposed to do with VAR. This is from the official FIFA governing bodies rulebook on how you're supposed to use VAR. The VAR can check the footage in normal speed and or in slow motion.

But in general, slow motion replay should only be used for. Facts, for example, position of offense player, point of contact for physical offenses, point of contact, and handball, a ball out of play, including goal and no goal. Normal speed should be used for the intensity of an offense or to decide if it was in a handball offense. They showed the ref the slow motion on the VAR because we see what VAR. are is seeing. And that is what led to the red card. And so I, I understand that the, had this, had the refs seen this in real time and decided that's a red card? Because intent doesn't always matter. Intent can make something upgraded, but you also can get a straight red with no intent at all. Then it'd be like, ah, that's unlucky. But he didn't see it in real time.

and I don't think on regular speed, that's a red card offense. And so I was, I was disappointed. You guys know, I despise replay in all sports. We're on the forefront of anti-replay. But this is another instance of the technology making it worse. There is no one, including, I think, the Bosnian players, that in the moment that happened was like, that guy's got to be out of here.

And even this, like in slow motion, it, you know, it obviously looks bad. And in super slow motion, it looks really bad. But no, I didn't, I did not think they got it right. Does, did we get the Zadon video? Oh, when he punches with his head, at World Cup final. That's a red card.

So this is the funky part about this, bro. Scoring in a knockout round and getting a red card. The last two instances were Baligan last night and Zadon in the final. Zadon's action had malice. Yeah. He head butted a guy in the chest. Kind of head punch, really, lowered his head. Yeah. Yeah. So to me, there's not even there's no malice in Balagan's action. The fact that these two penalties are on equal footing is just strange. And it's in line, with the messy play that got nothing. Well, I'm about to show that because I think you set a precedent in the opening game.

This is after Messi, if we can get a close. I'm sure we're going to see. We get a close up look. But Messies was far worse as far as I'm concerned. He has scored two goals. So here you go. That looks intentional. Well, that's worth, whether it was or not, it was, that was way worse.

Now you're making the argument that you can't judge intent. because that's what that's what the rules are. It's like we can't judge intent so everything's got to fall under. But I thought regardless of intent, that was much worse in my view than what Balligan did. I agree. He didn't even get a yellow in this. And Brew, to your point, I don't think you're saying intent to injure, but Messy is going after the ball looking down. Oh, I see what you're saying.

As opposed to we're just running side by side. And I, my foot landed on this guy. Like he was, they were just trying to run to the same location. Messies was an attempted, you know, I'm looking down, trying to get the ball and he screwed up. So that's like he, again, he didn't even get a yellow. Correct. Like a classic, like a, you know, NBA foul like trying to help you up. Messy kind of did that.

Balligan's like, I don't know what's going on. But Balligan also didn't get a yellow. No, in real time. I mean, I wish, I'm saying that he got a red. No, I guess what I'm saying is I think like the, the VAR is what screwed this up. Oh, you mean right away. Yeah, right away. Like right away.

You could get a yell up. Right away. This is a huge mistake, though, by the officials, because I think we can beat Belgium without Baligan. But if we lose, a lot of people are going to point to the absence of him. Of course. And so you, that's going to put a damper on things if indeed that is the situation. All right. So let's.

We're going to, let's just dig into that overall. USA Belgium Monday at 8 on Fox. Belgium won in their thriller yesterday, but they were on the ropes, most of the match. Here's Henri on Team USA without Valigan. That's going to be tough, but also that's what you need to do in a tournament. You need to go through at some moment without your best player of the tournament. Pulisic has been brilliant, but when Flo Balogood is on the field, the way it runs into the channel, the way you always ask for the boarding behind,

He never wants the ball in his feet. He stretches the defense. He's strong. He has an eye for a goal. You're going to miss him, but Pippi is there. Maybe Wright can play. I don't know who, but look, you're through. Enjoy it.

And let the coach think about what's coming next. Okay, so it's hard to overstate how important Balligan has been. Teams with three goals when no one else on the team has two or more. Messi has six. Holland has five. Balligan has three. So are you? Still confident in Team USA against Belgium, Belgium without Balagan.

I am, but he's our best player. I'm done calling Christian Policic our best player. He's our best player. He's our best player. He's the most reliable player. He's actually scoring. Every other star in this World Cup is scoring a ton of goals. Polistic were like, hey, those were a few nice moments.

And the, almost got one. Yeah. And Baligan almost got, Baligan had a goal called off by off sides, and Polisicic had a goal called off by off. sides. And so we are, right now, we're still the favorites. And, you know, with Baligan out, we're, you know, not huge favorites, but slight favorites over Belgium on the sports books. But this is the Christian Polisic Legacy game. And I hate to be reductive and make it that. But the fact, here is the 2018, he is a young player on a team that catastrophically

fails, qualify for the World Cup. 2020, in a game we have to win against Iran. He scores the goal in the first half to go ahead, gets injured on that goal, and then at half time gets subbed out, and then does, you know, we hold on to win, and then he, along with everybody else, basically, doesn't do much at all against Netherlands in the knockout round game. This tournament, he has been fine. He played 45 really good minutes to start the tournament, didn't score but assisted, then missed a game, then. played, I thought, pretty well in a game we lost. And yesterday, if we were giving out man of the match, second place, third place, he'd be like seventh place on your team USA, man of the match ratings. So this is, you're not going to have this a better opportunity to become a World Cup performer than in this game against Belgium. And so it's a home

World Cup, you're a favorite, you're supposed to be the best player. It's really what it is is we're without our second or third best player. I just think Balligan's the best player. This is Christian Ballissick's moment, and he's got a rise to it. No, there's no question. I'm confident we can still win, but, you know, Belgium has been higher ranked than us in the world. Yes. You know, they've been in the top 10, 9th, 10th.

We're like 15, 17, whatever. But we've played better in this tournament. Correct. Obviously we're going to miss Balligan, but like I said, we've got tons of momentum going in. And yeah, I agree with Nick on Polisic. That's why he might be in for some extra motivation. Oh, excellent. To your point and what I've enjoyed about this World Cup, and you can get as deep into the tactics as you want to. You can also just watch England yesterday. You're like, Harry Kane needs to win this game. Harry Kane says, okay, I will do that. I'm a world-class striker. I will do that.

And it's as silly as it sounds, if you're on a McDonald's Cup with all-time great guys, you got to play like it. You can't be like, you know, I created some good opportunities was offside. Everyone is stepping up.

Hey, what's Mbapap going to do? Multiple goals. What's Holland going to do? I got you. What's Messy going to do? I'll actually score all the goals. Yeah, Vinny Jr. This has been the World Cup

of Stars scoring. Yes. Everyone that has a star has not only scored a goal, has scored a goal, has scored multiple goals. Now, historically, like this year's golden boot race is going to have, we've had World Cups. No, but I'm saying we've had World Cups where six goals won the Golden Boot.

This one, it feels like it's going to take a dozen. And so it is, you know, a little bit of an outlier on how much guys are scoring. But that makes it even more of an outlier that Team USA, which has been, based on performance, one of the best performers in this World Cup. We've probably been overall like the sixth best team in the tournament so far. We've done it without getting a single goal from our highest profile supposed to be best player.

And so I think that the other reason, Brew, that I think we can beat Belgium is to your point, they are, they came into the tournament ranked higher, but we have been playing our best and they have been shaky throughout. They went into their final

group stage game and third place in the group needing to get a result. Yesterday, like, they did not look like the better team against Senegal at any point. They were outplayed for 85 minutes. Right. And then Senegal kind of unfortunately collapsed a bit at the end. I also think this is where Pocitino really earns his money, figuring out how we're replacing Balligan and what the approach is going to be without him

and instilling confidence in these guys without him. For what it's worth, and you can glass half full this or say, ooh, I don't like this. I'm choosing to glass half full it. out of 360 minutes, 90 times four games, our starting 11 had only played 109 minutes. Polisic missed the half. We rested everybody. Then Polisic played. Then we missed ball again.

No, and Polisic missed the half and a whole game. Yeah. So it's like 30, 30, what is it? 33% you can do it here. Yeah. I mean, it's the first half of game one. It's the first 60 minutes of yesterday. And that's it.

And that's it. That's it. That's it. So we are used to. to having sort of this fluid next man up mentality glass half full. Yeah, well, that's where it's good that we played our reserves in that third game against Turkey. So at least they got, you know, think if they had not played. Yeah.

Now they've been basically four games a month without playing. So that's one bright spot. Yeah, that's also why I'm back in on Norway against Brazil. Oh, shocker. Big shock. All right, we're talking about Jalen Brown being traded to the 76ers. And coming up, we are counting down. to Yamal, taking on Austria.

I haven't given it up on Spain. They're going to look good today, bro. They need. They're going to look. Four hours, 36 minutes live from Los Angeles on Fox. More first things first after the break. Hey, y'all. It's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if?

Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca.cair, every style, every home. Welcome back to first things first. Ronaldo in Portugal taking on Croatia.

Ronaldo coming off of a two-goal game against Uzbekistan, no goals against Congo DR and Colombia. We'll see if that was a outlier. I tell you right now, the Nick Wright World Cup system loves Croatia. Loves growth. Now, you haven't exactly explained with the system. Well, it's proprietary info. Early in the World Cup, it looked like maybe I had misapplicable. some data, but being, you know, getting nine games in a row correct has made.

Yeah. Real. System's working. Well, not necessarily nine picks in a row, but nine where I put the old money where the mouth is. We're on a nine game winning streak. So you've got Croatia here. We've got Croatia.

We've got Croatia. We've got Croatia. Tonight at seven from Toronto, eight hours and 32 minutes. We're going to head back to the NBA right now where the Celtics traded Jalen Brown to Philadelphia for Paul George two first and two seconds. Brown is coming off the best year of his career. average 29, 7, and 5. It took the second most shot attempts in the NBA only behind Luca

as he carried a Tatumless team to 56 wins in the two seat. Celtics said thanks. See you later. Brewer, are you surprised the Celtics made this move? I'm not surprised, the Wilds. Give it to me. I'm not even doing a misdirection, but I'm just telling you, I am flabbergasted. I am dumbfounded.

and thunderstruck. Co-sign. All right? Yes, thank you. I mean, look, Brad Stevens has been a very good and smart GM president and head coach since he's been in Boston.

I would never have thought he'd make such an idiotic move. And that's what this is. Jalen Brown for Paul George, essentially bleep the picks, all right? Sure. Jalen Brown for Paul George. All right?

Paul George is 36. Jalen Brown is 29. Paul George has been banged up and injured for the last almost decade. All right? He hasn't played more than 56 games since he was in Oklahoma City in 2019. All right. Jalen Brown is by today's standards an Iron Man. He is always available virtually.

Jalen Brown also has been Eastern Conference Finals player MVP. MVP. Finals MVP led you to a title obviously. And Paul George has been up and down in the playoffs. It had some moments in big, huge games, particularly with the Clippers in the bubble, where he disappeared in the big moments. And that's the trade you come up with. I mean, I just, this is a travesty because the Celtics got worse.

All right. Now, look, they might very well go out and win 50-ish games next year. if Paul George doesn't play a game, you're essentially putting Jason Tatum in the spot where Jalen Brown was at and you add Mitchell Robinson. So regular season, they're going to be fine. They are no longer

Eastern Conference contenders. They will not win the East. They don't have a chance to win the East. Holy cow. All right? That's what I'm saying. And this I was, when this happened, I thought one of two things had to be true. I thought, one, that Jalen had to have been adamant that I am not playing for Boston next year.

Like, he had to tell Brad Stevens, I'm tired of you guys shopping me all around, get me out of here. I will not play for you guys next year. Or he had to be adamant that he wants the extension. He's got three years left on his deal. But he is eligible for an extension this month in July or, yeah, July later this month. Two years, I think, is $142 million. So unless I thought, okay, maybe he was like, I want that extension, the way you guys have treated me

and shop me and all this, blah, blah, blah. But all the reports are that he did not, not only demand a trade, didn't request a trade. All right? So to me, Nick, this comes down, this comes down to analytics. And the fact that, honestly, the Boston Celtics don't, and this is relative, don't think he's that good.

That is correct. Don't think he's that good. And he was 11th on their plus minus chart. 11th on the team, all right? And Brian Winhorst said today, or yesterday, that the Celtics, despite the media hype about Jalen being in the MVP conversation, legitimate, and he was and should have been, they think Derek White was their best player last year.

But look at the numbers, not analytics numbers. Numbers we judge players by historically and still today. And Derek, the dude that shot 39% from the floor, 33% from three. He, at average what? What is that? 12 fewer points. He's better? I don't need to dim Derek White's game.

I'm not diming Derek White. Derek White will tell you he's not better than Jaylor. I think if he doesn't, he's, he's. So can I jump in, brew? Yeah, I mean, come to this is bad. I'm going to re-fire up, brew, about the analytics at a second. So, you said, just one quick thing. They would have been contenders.

If they just ran. If they just, with Mitchell Robinson added to Jalen and Jason, yes. They would have absolutely been contenders, not just for the East, but for the whole thing last year, next year. Now they are not. Okay. So I know you said forget the picks.

I want to add a piece to that. What another thing Brian Windhorst said, and Wendy knows what he's talking about. Wendy was that the price to get a team to take Paul George's contract was going to be a first round pick. So the Celtics got two first and two swaps. What they got, if they were, if it was, if a cap space team was like, hey, we would, will take Paul George from you and give you nothing back. The Sixers would have had to include a first round pick with him. Just get off the deal.

Which means the math on that means what they got back for Jalen Brown was one first round pick and a swap or two. That's what it is, which speaks to, I think, three points that I will try to make quickly. The first one is my inclination that the Celtics found it absolutely untenable to start the season with Jalen Brown on the roster was unequivocally true. They thought, I mean, he wasn't demanding that.

So I'm not saying that Jalen Brown thought it was untenable to start the season with him on the roster. The Celtics thought it. The Celtics, whether it was because of the consistent shade, I felt he was throwing at Tatum throughout the year up to and including the

misinformation that the team found out 30 minutes before game seven that Tatum wasn't playing when the team found out seven hours before game seven that Tatum wasn't playing, the Twitch streams, whatever it is. They first, point one, Celtics wanted to get out of the Jalen Brown business and they did. Point two, to your point, even if Jalen Brown doesn't have as much value across the NBA landscape as his biggest fans hoped he did, this is a shockingly small return. And point three, and this is the one I will hammer that.

them on. To not have a read on what his market was when you are, when you have the ability to trade him for Janus and you're holding the line at Hugo or Shireman is incompetence. But Nick, Hugo was third on their plus minus. Okay. That's what they're going by. So here's the thing. So this is, I just want to, they could have traded Jalen Brown.

And again, instead of being plus two first, minus two first, obviously, if they would have included certainly both of the players I'm about to show you. And it seems like the reporting is at least one of them. Hugo's 20, Baylor's 26. Here's what they gave you in the regular season last year. They both played a bunch of regular season games. They averaged four points and five points, and then 15 minutes and 19 minutes. in the playoffs when you were desperate enough

that Ron Harper Jr. was starting a game. No disrespect to him, but he was a two-way player before. How much did you lean on these guys? Well, Hugo never scored and was coach's decision DMP three games and Baylor again stayed with his four points per game. Baylor was the 30th pick a couple years ago. Hugo was the 28th pick last year. To make either of those players untouchable

when you can get Janus, when the backup plan was getting an extra couple picks and taking on what many considered to be one of the worst contracts in the league not that long ago. I know he was good. Paul George's credit was good in the series against the Celtics is unfathomable.

I understand this probably is the precursor to a move they will make during the year where they will try to package a bunch of these picks to remake the team on the fly a bit. But this is one of the least the day you were out KW, Danny was talking about pretend Jalen Brown trades

and one of them was a bunch of role players from Portland including Scoot maybe Shaden Sharp's he just was making him up so to speak and Bruce's snap reaction was horror. Like you can't trade Jalen Brown for that. All of those packages he mentioned

were better than this one. And so it is stunning to me that A, the league doesn't value you Jalen Brown seemingly at all and that the Celtics were did not realize the league didn't value him and take the bird in the hand of making the honest deal happen. All right quickly. Let's look on the Philly side of things. They did just beat the Celtics in the playoffs and now also have one of the Celtics best players. Potential starting lineup, Maxie Edgecombe, Jalen Brown, D. Wade, no relation. And cameos from Embeddeed. Brew, what does this mean for Philadelphia next year? Well, look.

Those four, that would be fantastic. But I say this respectfully because I am, I really like Joel Embed and his game. But I almost don't even consider him a part of the team. Because there's no way he's going to be healthy when you need him. We saw it this year. Great against, you know, Boston in those comeback games, those that they decide that series with

and then is a part-time player against the Knicks. Like it's just so I have to take Embed out of my thinking as far as what they can do next year. Now, the trio of Maxi, Edgecombe, and Brown is great.

Like, but they're in a quandary because when Embed's there, you play one way. When he's not there, you play another way. And I look, so I think it was it was a great move for Philadelphia. They got a great player, and I don't care what the analytics say,

but they got a great player and to add to their great team. But for Boston to trade him in the division to a rival that just beat you in the playoffs, I mean, like I said, they don't think he's that good. I don't understand. I can't wrap my head around that. Do you think it's just the analytics? Yeah, I think they analytically, they believe fully the way they believe fully. the way they play is straight up analytic,

shooting all those threes. And they don't believe he's nearly as good as we in the media. And I would say other players that go against him think he is. And here's the other thing for, now I know Jalen has wanted his own team or felt like, hey, I can be a number one. He ain't number one. He goes there and it's Tyrese Max these teams.

He's in the same position. He was in in Boston where maybe you're the best player. There's an argument for you. You certainly can believe it yourself. But you're not going to be viewed as the best player. But he is the most accomplished in the – Yeah, but it's still Tyree's Maxy's team clearly. And if Embed is there, Brown could be the third option.

But I think overall is a good move for Philly. They improved. I just think they're in a tough situation because you got a great player that is kind of in and out of the lineup, so you almost play two different ways. So listen, I think it's obviously a great trade for Philly. Again, if this trade wasn't out there, and there was a team that said,

hey, we will, we want Paul George. We'll just, but we're not giving you anything back. Philly would have said, yes, please. So like the fact that, you know, we don't have to include a pick, take them. You know, so to include a couple picks and swaps, which again, new lottery, rules, you know, that maybe this looks

worse, you know, as far as what they gave up, but I think they have a pretty high floor because Maxie and Edgecomer young and, you know, durable players. So I don't think they're as worried about the swaps as they, you know, or the picks as they, as other teams. And Jalen Brown's durable and in

his prime and you get him for very, very little. I am curious if they are done making moves. Hello. So I, Bruce, Tony Jones, who covers the Sixers for the athletic reported they have now reached out to Rich Paul about is this a team you'd be in Brabron no LeBron about LeBron joining but I think there's another different wrinkle on this

which is my fake trade that I would like to bring up oh good let's hear it if Philly is like you know what we are truly interested in clearing the books entirely from like the mori like do you think it's like a front office more well it's just in Beads contract is obviously underwater and Beed's going. It's three years, 190 million. I can't imagine anybody taking that on. Well, so I'm just curious. If the Warriors, like, hey, we'll send Jimmy Butler back to Philadelphia.

We're sending no picks. We are doing nothing, and you guys aren't sending picks either. And we will roll the dice. Jimmy Butler for Embeddeed because we think we're going to get LeBron. And that's the team. The Warriors were interested in taking a different, very unavailable big. You know what I mean? for Jimmy Butler, but they're going to have to pick in that.

190. No, again, you would be, you like the, and but Jimmy Butler right now makes the exact same amount of money as Embed this year and is unavailable. It's just the most injury-laden team to ever see. If they take on three years, 190 million for Joel N-B, they're crazy. Okay. They're crazy. So you think Embed's just definitely on the Sixers next year and they're rolling the day?

I can't imagine why a team would trade for him. Six or seventh place last year had 45 wins, came on hot, one-up playoff series. Okay, coming up after the break, we were talking about how far can USA go, and we're counting down to Yomal and Spain taking on Austria today at 3 o'clock on Fox. Yamal scoring goals. Spain's defense yet to concede a goal all throughout the food stage. There's only them in Mexico. That game is in four hours and 16 minutes.

If you want a $3,000 a month payday for life, what would you feel free to do? Maybe take a long weekend, every weekend, or try a bunch of new hobbies. Would you feel free to upgrade and listen ad-free? Don't worry, we get it. Every $20 ticket could win you $3,000 a month for life and supports life-saving cancer research at the Princess Margaret. Feel free to buy your payday for life ticket today. Raffle number 155-214. Please play responsibly.

USA wins in advances. Balligan scores. Malik Tillman won the best goals yet. Take a listen to John Strong and Stu on the call. This run-up is telling me more power. Look at our fossils, giving up the entire right side of his goal. Let's go. Dax, what was your number one takeaway from the victory last night?

Our boys met the moment. When pressure and expectation for this group has never been higher, they absolutely delivered a performance yet again that we can all be proud of. And it looked completely different than the first two games. It looked totally different against Paraguay, and it looked totally different against Australia. And I wanted to know how this team was going to react when they didn't score an early goal. I absolutely thought it was within the realm of possibility that this would be a much more difficult game.

And it turned out to be for about 45 minutes until we got that goal. And the U.S. never panicked. They never looked nervous. They never looked out of control. There wasn't even one second in this game where I didn't have full confidence in belief that we would go on to win it even after the red card. Oh, nice.

We were a little bit, I think a little shell-shocked everybody seeing the red card going back and forth on if it was or wasn't. But the U.S. men's national team, they actually didn't even look like they were down a man until what you said a little bit early in the show. They played even better at moments. They played better than Bosnia.

They played unafraid. They kept pushing numbers forward. They created great chances. I never felt like Bosnia even really tested Matt Fries. A couple moments here and there where they were in and around our box. When you're down a man, you're going to concede a little bit more possession than normal. But we were confident. We were comfortable.

And we played without fear. And this is a national team now that we can praise them all we want. But I'm actually like legitimately starting to fall in love with this team. The best thing I can say about how this tournament has gone for the U.S. is that I can ask all of you. We can ask the producers. We can ask everyone that helps us out around here. Who's been the best player in the World Cup for the U.S.?

We would get seven or eight different answers. I firmly believe that. And that is how you know it's a team that's balanced, a team that has depth, a team that has 11 players. Can I guess your answer? What do you think of my answer is going to be? Weston McKinney. He's up there.

Honestly, again, I don't even know who I would pick. It could be Weston. It could be Tillman. Could be Boligan. Could be Tim Green. Could be Chris Richards. Stop, stop. Don't do that. Don't do that. I'm telling you that there's seven or eight guys that we could pick. I know whose name isn't coming up. But let me tell you why that's a good thing.

Okay. This is a good thing because Christian Polisic, whether you will admit it or not, is still, he is still our best, most dangerous player. And he's not our best goal score. That's fall in and baller. but that's not the conversation. Who on any given day, on any given moment, against the best teams in the world, has the ability and the capability to take over a game and win us a game.

Malik Tillman, excellent. But Christian Pulisic is still the answer. And the fact that we are playing like this and the fact that we look so dominant without him at his best is absolutely a good thing. It is a good thing. The U.S. men's national team just continues to get better. No, I agree with you.

And look, they could have gone one of two ways when Balagan got the red card. They could have felt sorry for them. We all think they kind of got cheated and they could have just even gone defensive mode. But they stepped up and Weston McKinney said it after the game that we got an adrenaline boost. I think their alertness went up.

And because you know, all right, we only got 10 and they stepped up the right way. So I was impressed. I thought, I said earlier, it was totally different than the Paraguay. game where they looked, you know, offensively just spectacular. They had to really come out and fight. Absolutely.

Because Bosnia was extra physical and they met the moment, as you said. Quickly, because we're going to get to the most motivational segment in all of sports at the top of the hour. Is it a one-for-one switch with Bal again? Are we going to be in a different shape? What is your takeaway? You never really know with Mauricio Pochitino. If you remember back to some of the friendlies we played prior to the one,

World Cup against Portugal. He came out with Christian Pulisic as a false nine. And that was kind of like, whoa, where did that come from? So I believe we should do a like-for-like replacement with either Ricardo Pepe or Haji Wright, who hasn't played a ton because the U.S. is fundamentally a better team with a reference point on the field, a number nine, a guy who is a goal scorer. Because when you take a goal scorer off the field, then you start to move different players around to different positions and you're shuffling the pack too much. The team is playing too well right now to move too many different pieces. Bring in Ricardo Pepe if he is your guy and

Pochitino has shown that he is the clear backup, even if I don't believe Ricardo Pepe has even played that well. He didn't. But again, if that is who your backup striker is, you need to have a striker on the field. Just real quick, Dust, if we can play the video, my biggest

takeaway from the win was honestly watching Pochitino celebrate afterwards. Seeing I love that. Seeing this Argentinian man embrace, like, be embraced by this team and sing the John Denver song.

They have a contract extension on the table for him if he wants it. And the deeper we go and the more bonded this team feels, the more likely it is, I think, that he sticks around for another World Cup. And I think that would be the best thing imaginable. I think

his sense of calm, his expertise, and the fact that you know, it's, you You know, his managerial career was, I don't want to say on the ropes, but it was on shaky ground when he took this job. His own personal kind of, not reinvention, but ascent back up the mountain has been great. All right. Coming up next, the most motivational segment in all of sports, the Bud List,

and we are counting down to Yamal and Spain taking on Austria. That is going to be in. Let's hear of four hours, one minute, and 43 seconds. a lot from Los Angeles. When you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive advantage you can get. Like an AI solution that works for you, not against you.

SAP Grow is built with AI embedded at its core, working across every system, and it's ready to go from day one so you can hit the ground running. Bring it with SAP Grow, AI Cloud ERP for any size business. Live from you. Sorry, I was distracted.

What? Telling us about his high school soccer play. Glory days. I didn't know you a high school soccer star. I got to get out of watch. I'm just glad you're going to be remarkable KW. That you beat me in soccer. No, that's not what I was going to say at all.

I promise. The same version that we sometimes get a brew when Greg is out here. And he's like wide receiver to wide receiver. We get from you when Dax is out here. It's really, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a good. It's a very true. Hey, hey. Hey.

I see. You make fun of brew, but now you're like, yeah. During the break, he's going to Dax. He's saying to him, he's like, he's like, listen, now I only play. Every morning I come in here, we have a nice little chat in his office. When he was in high school, when I was in high school, this happened. I learned it from Bruce. You can no longer make fun.

No, I know. Second hour. First thing first. today USA wins. What's our plan for Belgium without Balagan? Meanwhile, Celtics trade Jalen Brown. What's our plan now in Boston without Jaylen? Just be good. That's it. Yeah. Hang around. Be a good round. That's right. Be okay. And then losing the playoffs. That's your future self. You know what? You can still make money that way. That's right. That's what that's totally fine. All right. Time now for the most motivational segment in all sports.

It's also time where we read some viewer mail. We get some great mail from all across the globe now. Have we ever gotten mail from Singapore? No. They should send it in. We'll send you the address. We do have Ryan's. We have Russell. Oh yeah.

Shout to Ryan. Dear Wilds, love the show. Feels like cooler heads have prevailed and you're back in on Norway and Holland. See, I knew it. As they prepare for Brazil. That's a good read. And speaking of cooler heads prevailing, did Holland's hats have anything to do with this?

Cheers, Ryan and Brian. Well, thank you, Ryan and Brian, as always. Yes, Holland has found his way into my heart, thanks to some of his cool headwear. Like everyone's scoring goals. Very few guys are scoring goals and then putting on Vikings helmets, or as I call it, a hat with horns. And because this game was in Dallas, he also took a little shopping adventure to the cowboy hat store, cowboy boot store, and he came away with one of these hats. And of course on this show, we're always fond of anybody if you're going to wear interesting hats.

And of course, I am now back in. Dax on Cowboy Hallard. That's one of my character. That's a, it's a, not his real body, though. No, that gut. He's way fitter than that guy. Yeah, thank you. Thank you.

That's a real soccer term. Yeah. Brew is slimming down. Have you seen brew? Yeah. Brew looks great. I'm trying. I knew it was I didn't have any crumbled.

When we went to the cube. Oh, yeah. It was tough. I had a whole one. They were calling my name. Do you eat Title Pye, though, when it's here? No, we haven't been good. I've been eating that as well.

I have to. Here we go. Number three, let's go to the NBA, La Mello ball. Wow. For the umpteenth time, Le Mello, I beg of you. I implore you. I'm going to say it nicely. Okay.

Mature. Mature. All right. Play winning. basketball. You're in the NBA, not on an AN1 mixtape tour. All right.

So when you go to Minnesota, stop taking the ridiculous, ill-advised three-pointers. That's not going to happen. It's got to happen. All right. Stop it. Start giving a darn on defense.

And be passed first. You are a great passer. I don't know if everybody knows. Great passer. Be pass first. You still going to get your 20 points. All right. And if you do that, you and Anthony Edwards could be one of the best, if not the best, back court in the NBA.

You guys in Minnesota will compete for the Western Conference Championship. You'll be a contender out there. And you will totally revamp your image. I've said here on this show that you have Hall of Fame talent and skills. Six, seven point guard, can shoot the three, can get to the rim, can finish, can pass. You can do it all, all right? But you haven't thought with a Hall of Fame mind. You're still young.

You still have a chance to really turn your career around. It hasn't been bad, but really just go to a whole other level. La Mello in Minnesota, I want to believe in you. I want to believe. I like that, bro. All right, at number two, Luca. All right. Luca do.

Well, it's about what he's going to do or not do. Luca, LeBron's gone. All eyes are now on you. And just like I said to LeBron when he went to L.A., I'm going to say to you, you must win a championship for the Lakers. Every other player, save Elgin Baylor, 60-some-odd years ago,

has won a championship. Every other Laker that's been on your level of play. And I'm putting you up there. Jerry West, Kareem, Magic, Kobe, Shaq, and LeBron. And Wilk, I forgot Will. They have all won championship, at least one championship with the Lakers. That is now your charge. And look, I want to hear Nick's opinion on this at some point,

but I actually think the Lakers had a good day yesterday. You went out and got Walker Kessler. That's the center you want who can finish at the rim with your lobs and other things. He can protect the rim as a shot blocker, one of the best in the league, can even step out and hit the three-point shot here and there. All right? Then you went out and got more athletic and younger on the wing with Quentin Grimes and Colin Sexton. All right, so the roster has, it's not a championship roster yet,

but it does fit more around what you need. All right. So I'm not, nobody's necessarily expecting the championship next year, but this is the team around you that fits your playing style. You'll have the ball and you guys need to be at least a second tier contender out there in the West. It starts with these two things. Get healthy this offseason.

I know you did it last year. It didn't work. You got to find out what it's going to take for you to be able to play. 75 games and be ready for the playoffs next season. And you have to step up as the leader. This is now your team. Dallas was your team, but you were younger. We get it.

Maybe not the leader at that point. Now you've been in this country for many years. You've been in the league. You're a legend in the league. You have to be the leader. Luca, I want to believe it. Wow. Just and I want to.

I want to because I'm just saying it's tough out West. Yeah, that's the problem. You were the first calling Luca Letcher. Luke Legend. Yeah, I believe in him. It's tough out west. There's a lot of competition out there. All right, number one, we are going to the pitch.

Kristen Policic. Now look, I mean, Dax and Nick have said it. This next game without Flo Balligan, you have to step up. As Darren Fletcher said, Nick Wright is watching. He's already been on you. He's ready to pounce, all right? And so you have to step up and play a great game. As Dax has told us, it's not just about your goal scoring,

although that would help. You're losing your top goal scoring these games now in Balagan. So we do need you to step up and score. And here's the question. We know you ended your scoring drought in last month in a friendly against Senegal. You got a goal. But you haven't scored. That's the only goal you've had for club.

or country in 2026. So has the scoring drought just merely become a scoring slump? We need it to not be a slump. We need you to start scoring, creating for your teammates. The extra attention will be on you with Balagan out. But hey, this is the World Cup. This is a chance to continue this historic run for Team USA. So Christian, I believe.

Oh, nice. Yes. Like a story there. I believe you can get it. Excellent Bud List as always, Dax, welcome to your Bud List. Third Bud List, correct? Third Bud List, I do believe. Excellent.

Very motivational. You guys imagine if I came up here and I was like, all right, I'm a magic fan, Paulo Bencaro. And it wasn't soccer. Did you imagine if that would be kind of absurd? I like, you should do that. Ricardo Pepe. So your versatility.

We've talked a little bit earlier on in the show. about bolligan and what he has meant to this U.S. men's national team with three goals already in this World Cup, generally looking like not just the best striker that we have, but one of the best strikers at the tournament. And now all the consternation about the red card, that's going to swirl around this team for the next couple of days. If I'm to read the tea leaves,

and I don't know what Maricio Pochitino is going to do, one can be expected that as the backup striker, as the guy who came in and started against Australia when Christian Pulisic was injured, I am going to assume that you are going to be the guy whose number gets called. And I think that you should be the guy whose number gets called.

But this team still needs goal scoring. We still need a reference point. We still need a focal point. And I know against Senegal, about a month ago, you had a really good performance. You had an assist, your combinations with the other attacking players looked great, but you haven't scored in seven games

for the U.S. men's national team In fact, your last goal, I think, came back in November of 2024. And I want to be fair to you because I believe you've only played something like 260 minutes in those seven games. But we need a focal point. We need a reference point. We need a dangerous goal scorer. I'm not enamored with Belgium's backline. I absolutely think that we can take advantage of them.

And when we have our team playing as well as they are playing and creating the chances that they are creating, we need someone who is going to step up in a big moment and deliver. for this team and take us to a historical performance in a World Cup for the first time in our history. And you have to be the guy to do it. I believe in you. The whole country believes in you. It is your time. And I really hope you start because if not, this will be for nothing. It's good. That's exactly what the bud list is for, though. It's a motivation. I am curious what you think of Dax's bar there. You came up with that? I like that. I like that more peppy in this step.

I didn't even see it. Dusty strikes again. Wow. You like it? That's great. My thoughts. Your thoughts on that. Yeah.

If I had a red card, I would. You would see. Remember like red. Take today off and also tomorrow. Okay. It's time now, it's 1113. It's time now for the sports media on budsmen. It's one of the favorite segments in the whole country.

People, well, the whole world. I mean, people took the longest flight in the world, 19 hours nonstop from Why do you keep saying that? Is that true? That's the longest flight. Really? Because other times you have to fuel. 19 hours is the longest.

Yeah, that's correct. And they came. What about a little further away? But they know you go the other way. No, you have to stop. You have to stop. Yeah. Right there the edge of gas.

What? They brought chocolate for it doesn't matter. That is that. I don't know what it was. They came for the Bud list. Okay. And a little extra dessert of sports media on Budsman, which I didn't know it.

I am kind of taking. indirect aim at Dax's take here. Oh, because sports media, American sports media. Can we stop acting like balligans definitely suspended and try to put our finger on the scale here?

So I saw this immediately. Great take. From the athletic. They're like, oh, don't, listen, let's be clear. FIFA's got rules. There's no appeals process. FIFA sources confirmed. There's no mechanism to appeal.

World Cup Red Card, disciplinary code, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's FIFA, it's the World Cup. Homefield advantage has always mattered a bit. And you know what? I think we might be able to apply a little pressure because we're not appealing the referee's decision. We're appealing something totally different. Misapplication of VAR, which is appealable.

What's the VAR rules? Well, luckily, we have them. VR can check footage in normal speed and or slow motion. In general, in general is very important there. Slow motion replays, should only, I would really highlight the only, I'm boldly. Used for facts.

For example, position of offense, point of contact for physical offenses in handball, fall out of play. Normal speed should be used for the intensity of an offense. There's a case right there. Here's another case. What about point of contact? Listen, if you wanted to do slow mo to see

where the guy got hit, fine. It fine. But I think it was the intensity of the contact, which is what got Balagan in trouble. Here's what I know, okay? I know that Christiana Renato got a three-game suspension right before the World Cup. And the FIFA's like, you know what? Let's go two games probation because he's going to play in the World Cup. It seems like, you know, our president's buddies with the guy who runs the thing, he got the

Peace Prize, maybe make a phone call. Maybe see what you can do. It's a home world cup. World Cup. You go the other way. Like, you know what? This was so intense. Actually, Balligan, two games suspended 2028.

Yeah, whatever it is. In the Gold Cup. The Gold Cup. The World Cup. I'm just here to tell you that we, as a collective media, need to be talking about Balligan suspension as a possibility not in a shirt, not a shirt, like pending the appeal of the obvious VAR error. And then just continue to put pressure.

I think it's on the board. And I don't like all this fatalism. Like, oh, well, we read the rules and they say this. Rules can change. I don't think he's definitely out. It's one of the best sports on buds, media ombudsman I've ever heard you. I appreciate it. Excellent job.

I'm going to stay in the world of the World Cup. I'm putting, and this is huge for me, Dax, because a lot of my life is surrounded this thing I'm about to put on the bud list. And now I have a whole new take on it. Highlights. You're on the butt list. for my entire life from the first highlight I saw to about two weeks ago

a highlight had to be a highlight not anymore anything close because of soccer is now a highlight this crystallized for me on Olise's bicycle kick didn't go in, missed the goal off the post, France misses the goal again

guess what? Great highlight one of your favorite moments of the World Cup but it's just like like any other miss swinging and missing at a baseball, missing a wide receiver. So then I did an audit on all my favorite misses. This was game seven. LeBron was fouled here, but he missed this dunk. Guess what?

It might be better than the block. Yeah, it didn't go in, but still, it was a great effort in a great unsuccessful try. Lordis Guriel, an all-time play here. Now, granted, the ball went off his glove and he tossed it over the fence. That being said, in my new soccer version, I'm like, you know, a great try. You ran all the way back. You almost got it. I enjoy just the athleticism of it and the excitement.

Now I'm also taking catches that were negated by penalty. Oh, wow. What's the greatest catch of all time? Is it Odell Beckham? No. It's now DeAndre Hopkins. This catch, he catches it with one hand, then puts it through his legs. No one ever talks about it

because it didn't result in anything. Well, guess what? It's one of the greatest plays in football history. Go back to Uzbekistan, Colombia. No one talks about this non-goal one of the shots of the tournament. Did it go in? No, but who cares? It was a thunderbolt.

That's what you call it. I agree. It was a thunderbolt. It wasn't a colossal, but it was a thunderbolt. So I have opened up my highlight worldview. And we'll have it reflected in maybe some of the weirds, weird and wonderfuls, where it used to just be John Morant Miss Dunks, but now I'm opening up to everything.

That was a unsuccessful try, and maybe we don't have to live in a results-based world. Maybe I get on the poker table. Make the right play, it doesn't work out. Yonis loves that. There's no failure. It's just learning. That's great.

That was excellent, wow. Wow, thanks. That was one of your best additions to the Bud List. And you know what? Even if it wasn't, I tried my hardest. Yeah, and it was still cool. All right, coming up next, we're going back to the NBA. Yes, the answer to this question is yes.

100%. They lost the tail of him. Without a doubt. Yeah. And we are counting down to Spain, Austria, Spain, FIFA rank number two, Austria, FIFA rank number 24. That's coming up today in three hours and 39 minutes. This episode is brought to you by Activia.

You might already be eating yogurt, but not all yogurts are created equal. Activia contains over 1 billion probiotics per serving to survive and reach the gut alive. When it comes to gut health, Activia is the number one family doctor-recommended probiotic yogurt brand. Choose Activia. Feel good from the inside out. Visitactivia.ca for more details.

First things first, Laminia Mall, three hours and 34 minutes. Spain, Austria, on Fox from L.A. Spain hasn't lost in 33 games, bro. And Brew, you better be wearing during this game. Your Spain polo that I'm going to return nine today. Why? And get a larger size.

You like the Smedium. You love it. You wanted to look tight. You couldn't wait to show you. Yeah, exactly. It's very. Plus, when I wash it, I'll get one size up, but then wash it. So it's the same.

I don't think it'll shrink. The years-long saga of the Celtics trying to trade their second best player, even after they won a championship. and he was one the finals MVP is over. It meant nothing. Boston didn't end up landing younger Durant, which was an option a few years ago. Or Janus, it was an option a few weeks ago.

They wanted Baylor Shireman. They got 36-year-old Paul George's contracts and two firsts. Philly gets finals MVP. Are you surprised this was the Celtics best move? I'm shocked that no one trumped this offer. This is not like when Luca got traded when no one knew he was available. Everyone knew he was available. And if you were going to go in the older, expensive, small forward shopping aisle,

I had to call up Houston about Kevin Durant. Like, hey, that locker room doesn't, you know, you guys might need a divorce there. E-May has a relationship with Jalen Brown. You know, he is, Durant is more durable. I know he was hurting the playoffs. More durable than Paul George. Still much better than Paul George would fill in. And if they had made that trade while it, you know, you get much, much older, obviously,

but similar with Paul George. It's win now. It's win now. Like that, that would have made sense. I think there could have been a lot of trades where they don't get a marquee player in return that I wouldn't have hated, where they get role players and it's just like we're going to have one star and then a. deeper team. I wouldn't have hated.

This, and the biggest defense of this trade from folks is, well, this is the move as a precursor to another move. I, maybe, and we'll probably at some point they'll trade these picks, but I just I understand,

and this is what's ironic, Bru. Jalen Brown's been very frustrated with a lot of things, but one of them is the media. In the media, a lot of things about the media. The media seems to value Jail Brown demonstrably more than the league does because the media votes on the awards, the media does these things.

And so, but even if I was like, okay, he was sixth an MVP, I do not think he is a top six player. I don't think he's a top 10 player. To me, he's very, very clearly a top 25 player and I think clearly a top 20 player. You can argue top 15. Yeah, sure. Like I was just trying to, but I would have him firmly in the top 20. To have a top 20 player in his prime with no injury issues that this is the best you can get is stunning to me.

Yeah, I love your Houston idea. And if they didn't call about that, shame on them. I know for some reason they are so tied to this team. I thought they could have went after Janus. They could have obviously went after Jalen Brown if they didn't. Houston, you're saying? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, they seem to be really tied to that team, which as they are currently constructed, has a clear ceiling, clear ceiling. All right. So I would have loved Jalen Brown there. I think, yeah, I'm surprised too. But the fact of the matter is, I clearly believe, I don't know if you guys agree, Boston is a very analytics-driven front office.

And there are a lot of those in the NBA. A lot of, I say there are some, not all the analytics guys, but a good number of them I don't think can just, watch the game and tell you who can hoop. They're totally dependent on the numbers. Because you'd be surprised a lot of these guys don't really have a great basketball background. They're really smart and they know numbers,

but as far as basketball, I just don't think they value the eye test. To look at Jalen Brown the way he plays and his numbers that he puts up and the success that he has had and not want him on your team is ludicrous. And all the analytics, we get it. And I'm going to show quickly,

here's what these analytics guys in these front offices are really looking at. This is the career on offer plus minus for, and it's via Lev Akabas of Sportico. All right, this was online. But this is for Nick, all 23 players. There's 23, five-time all-stars in the league currently. And we picked a handful. And we just picked some of them.

This isn't the top. No, these are just a handful of names. Obviously, legend that we picked out. Jalen Brown is 22nd out of the 23 in plus minus. Who's beneath them? Do you have it? Demar DeRosen. And DeMarre de Rosen and Jalen Brown are the only ones that are of a negative plus minus for their career.

What happened when the Raptors traded? Marjorosen. Yeah, but they got Kawhi Leonard. They didn't get Paul George banged up and 36 years old. My point is this. If Jalen Brown was such a negative for a team, how could he be one of the winningness or maybe the winningness player in the league since he's joined the league?

He has a championship. He's been the two finals. He's been the six conference finals. His numbers are Hall of Fame-ish numbers. if he was such a negative, how has Boston won so much with him? Him being on the court probably more than any other player the Celtics have had over his stretch. It just doesn't make sense.

But I think a lot of people value that, and that's why his market was so long. Can I have a flip side? The negative career plus minus, because I don't put a lot of stock into plus minus games times. We kind of sometimes, it's like, ah, you're playing with reserves and whatever, the game flow. That did surprise me that it's negative.

And it's not like the most advanced analytic in the world. No, I. But so I, yeah, I, it is, so that to me is an, and a valuable piece of data that speaks to, oh, he is not as good as 30 points per game as the best player on a 56 win team would suggest. Right? Maybe. Maybe. I mean, I won 50s. six games with him.

No, I understand. Take away as 30 points. Let's see how I'm going to. No, so that's where I was getting to. My point is, I think that is, I think the frustration brew and a lot of, I think, you're seeing former players who are in the media. A lot of former NBA players that want to get

in front of. Yes. The frustration is to use that plus minus and some of the other advanced analytics instead of as a data point to construct the full picture of the player as the data point to define the player.

So like to me, whichever front office member said Jalen Brown, we have him as the, he would be the seventh best player on our team. That's using that data point. That is, you know, a catch-all the way for some people war became in baseball.

Yeah. Like who are the best baseball players? We can tell you one by one by one according to this one metric doing that. As opposed to a data point suggesting, okay, so his, His point, you know, his raw counting numbers are here. His analytical numbers are here.

The intangible, you know, what's he like in the locker room is here, and it used to be here. That's, you know, to paint a richer picture. Right. But it is unfathomable to me that it turns out Walker Kessler has more trade value than Jalen Brown. like the Lakers gave up two firsts and two swaps and did not have to take on an awful contract to get Walker Gessler the Celtics gave up

or got I'm so the Sixers gave up pardon me two first and two swaps and got off a contract that everybody said was underwater for Jalen Brown and there is there is to me and Brew said it there is a there are a lot of the more advanced numbers that to me don't, one of the reasons they don't paint the full picture is they take things,

assumptions into evidence that are not true. Like people very often these days, like per 36 minute stats as projections. It's like, okay, I'm very interested in if you play 35 minutes a game and you play 38 minutes a game, look at your normalize it if you guys are playing the same i am not that interested in someone's per 36 minutes stats if they're playing 15 minutes tonight because i have no reason to believe they're going to be able to keep up that level of production i if jalen brown for his Celtics career has taken on the workload of i'm guarding the other team's best player i am i'm available i'm durable when other guys are out and i give you 25 and all of that does does that hurt his

off-court numbers because those guys are playing better than they would if he weren't there. It's like, oh, gosh, darn it, tonight I have to guard the best player. And tonight, you know what I mean? I have to play extra minutes, all those things. That's to me, you know, the richer picture. What is stunning to me about this is there's not a team in the league that thinks he's awesome. That's what this trade tells us. That there is not, it's not like the Celtics desperately wanted, Paul George.

It's not like the Celtics looked at, oh, one of these picks is this gold mine pick. It's an unprotected King's pick in the year the next Wembe's coming out. None of it. It was just a, eh. And so nobody wanted to trump it is, that part is stunning to me. Like really, and the fact that the Celtics themselves are not worried about jail and making them pay. Oh, right. Like Maxie and Edgecombe are not going anywhere.

It's almost like a slap in the fate. Like they really don't think he's going to do what he's doing. They already lost. They already lost to the Sixers. He's going to put it on them next year. Oh, my goodness. And just very last point, if I may, if this is how low you value Jalen Brown, then when you found out the bucks, we're going to trade Giannis for a player.

You don't value that much plus two first and then a role play. How do you not take that deal if this was your backup? To walk away to... You can't find another Baylor Shireman. Or Hugo Gonzalez, to walk away from the table at that trade. Draw the line on Hugo Gonzalez, who got... Again, 20, maybe he'll turn into a star. He does have potential.

You guys are going to be on the Hugo Gonzalez finals MVP mixed in. No, that's fine. God bless. I mean, he might end up being good. But to not have... be like, oh, listen, we're walking away from the honest trade because we know we have a less flashy but a trade we're happy with or because we're fine with just running it back.

I think they should have kept Jalen. If this is all you could keep Jalen running back and they would be right there with the Knicks next year. Well, that team did win the finals. Thank you. They forgot that. They forgot that. Can USA win without Balligan, dashed the party?

If he's out, I'm sorry. And we are counting down to Portugal, Croatia on Fox. Croatia took the third fewest shots of the 32 teams to make the knockout round. Portugal should be able to win this game, but we'll find out in seven hours. This is going to be a great game from Toronto. This episode is brought to you by L'Oreal Group. Beauty is a powerful force that moves us. That's why L'Oreal Group has built a business that has included.

at its heart with 100% of its brands championing diversity. With 25,000 professional opportunities for people under 30 worldwide and 54% of leading positions held by women, diversity is a strength that helps L'Oreal Group create the best beauty products for all people. Visit L'Oreal.com to learn more. Welcome back to first things first. We're counting down to Spain, Austria, on Fox, 3 hours, 18 minutes. Laminia Mall has played 20. 53 matches for Spain. Spain's record 17 wins, six draws.

LaVar Ball style, never lost. Lemuel Mawal. Turns 19 this month. That's why I picked them to win it. Knockout round of the World Cup's weird though. You can draw and lose. True. Like they is. But he's never lost.

But I mean never lost. It doesn't go down as an official. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm saying in there like, oh, the official. The official score calls a draw. That's what, yeah. The other ones hasn't lost in three World Cups. They never won it.

Monday night, Balagan has scored in every game he's played in for us, but he's out on a red car pending a fictitious appeal that not fictitious, a hopeful appeal. Dax, how confident, I'm going to have a bonus question, how confident are you in Team USA without Balagan? Scale of 1 to 10, one being absolutely zero confidence to win this game, 10 being the ultimate confidence to win this game. I'm out about a six and a half. So I don't know.

What were you before the red card? Before the red card, I would have been about a seven and a half. So Baligan is worth a full confidence point for me. And a full confidence point for Baligan. But if you go back, oh, but three months ago, whenever it was, we played Belgium. They beat us five, too. That's bad, right? That's not good.

Well, U.S. men's national team in that game did not have Matt Fries, did not have Chris Richards, did not have Tyler Adams, did not have Sergenio Dest. three or four of our best players, Matt Fries, okay, goalkeeping, we really haven't needed to rely on him that much. Alex Freeman didn't start, and Tim Wea played as a right fullback against one of the best wingerers in the world, Jeremy Doku, who was on fire in that game. And so, look, you can take what you want from that friendly game,

but I look at reality, I look at performances in the World Cup right now. The U.S. men's national team has potentially never played better in the history of the program, while Belgium is on the tail end of a quote-unquote golden generation of world-class players who, by the way, when Belgium beat the U.S. men's national team in 2014, all those players were in their primes playing at the biggest clubs in the world. And now they are 12 years older. Bulletin board material aside, fact, they are older. They are slower.

They are not as mobile as the U.S. men's national team right now. So while I'm at a six and a half, I'm kind of selling myself on what? why the U.S. men's now jeep should probably be a bigger favorite. And I expect it when it comes out, the line, whatever it may be, I expect it to be closer to maybe 50-50. But I think it's 53-47 U.S. If I, if I, if we go through this game based on the performances of both teams, because I do not believe Belgium has looked good at all in this World Cup,

I would still be highly disappointed, all things being equal, if the U.S. men's national team does not win this game. Yeah, that's what I was going to ask. Like, because yesterday we talked about how if they didn't win beat Bosnia. Yeah, massive failure. Yeah, I mean, this whole thing is a failure. Would it be looked at that way? I mean, we're without arguably our best player.

Sure. And we're in the round of 16. If we lost this game to Belgium, do you think it would? To me, failure is removed. Way too strong of a word. Disappointment is what it would be. Like, we have, we have, we have, we have. graduated now passed where failure is possible for this tournament.

This tournament has been definitionally, right, it's been, to me, definitionally, this has been a successful World Cup. That does not mean it won't be a slightly disappointing World Cup. This is the inflection point of the round of 16, always for me was going to be the difference between, okay, like, we've been here before, didn't get past it, and how I felt about the tournament was going to be how we looked in route to getting there.

So that's like a to me plus, how we've looked in route to getting there. And then if we win, it's the greatest tournament in the history of the team. And so like that is, you know, and so, but failure is now removed. And there is now a little bit of a built-in excuse of, well, a guy who I think is playing like our best guy

and certainly our most reliable goal scorer and front-line player is out. But my competition, level overall yesterday. With everything that happened yesterday, I think my confidence level is unchanged as to where it was yesterday morning. Because the loss, the potential, loss of Balligan is offset by the fact that I think the two teams playing yesterday that we could have been playing today, Belgium, Senegal, the worst team won. Correct. I was watching that Senegal game and I was like, man, I think they're going to be able to score on us.

They are fast. They are athletic. Like I hadn't seen. We played really well defensively yesterday, but that was where my concern was. And when Senegal is pouring on goals and Belgium, you mentioned the Golden Generation, they're down to nothing. They're like DeBriiner and Lekaku out of here. Go to. Right.

Go to, or not Lekaku. Sorry. Lukaku. Did Doku come out? Dooku got subdued. Yeah. So DeBriana came out. Like those two of their best guys they took out, they put Lukaku in.

I'm thrilled Belgium one. Like that, again, it's not going to be an easy game, but I don't think, I think Senegal in this tournament has been better than Belgium. They were better for the vast majority yesterday and kind of blew it at the end. So I think people should be cautiously optimistic and confident. And I have been hammering this point for a month now. But the managing matters and the home field advantage matters. And that crowd in Seattle is going to be. we've ever seen. A 13 out of 10. And so I think you just have two host nations. Canada is not

getting this benefit because they didn't win their group so they got to play in the states. That Mexico against England and the U.S. against Belgium, you are going to have even more so in Mexico, but overwhelming home field advantage that I think in close matchups can tilt the scales. Do you think this is more of an offensive game or like which unit needs to step up more. Yeah, no question. I think our attack, both. Our attack needs to step up because we need to prove that we can still score goals against the vulnerable Belgium backline without ball again. But we can get in the weeds in this a little bit later on this week. But our defending, our high pressing, our repressing when we lose the ball has led to numerous chances and numerous

opportunities. And it has essentially broken the will of the opposition to even be able to attack and break our pressure. back. We do. We win the ball back high up the field and that leads to numerous chances for us. So I do not expect Mauricio Pocentino to play scared. I expect him to say, Belgium might be the best, quote unquote, most talented team with the ball that we are going to play in this World Cup up to this point. We're not going to change a single thing that we do. We're not going to pull a Ronald Kuhman and change up anything, change up our tactics, change up our pressure. We're not doing that. They're going to play to win.

And today at 3 o'clock on Fox, watch Spain because that's who we're going to be playing in the Not looking ahead. We're not looking ahead. The fans can look ahead. The fans can look ahead.