Halford & Brough in the Morning - We'll Always Have The Spaghetti Warehouse

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat withThe Athletic OKC's Andrew Schlecht (1:26) about the amazing season of Canada's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder's NBA playoff push, plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Music 802 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford and Bruv, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Bruv of the morning is brought to you by Sands &ands and associates BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3000 five star reviews. This is them online at Sands-trustee.com. We are now in hour three of the program. Andrew Schlecht hosted the producer for the athletics NBA show and the OKC podcast down to dunk is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off our three.

Our three of this program is brought to you by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Guests on Sportsnet 650 call in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most. Visit them at powerwest.ca today. They keep the lights on. Uh, let's go now to the aforementioned Power West Industries hotline.

Our next guest, as I mentioned, host and producer for the Athletics NBA show and the OKC podcast, Down to Dunk. Andrew Schleck joins us now on the Halford and Rough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Andrew. How are you? I'm doing well. How are y'all? We're great. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. So tonight, the OKC Thunder and our good Canadian son, Shea Gilders Alexander, are looking to book their spot in the NBA finals.

They can do it with a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Let's get started with the excitement level among the OKC fan base for the potential to get back to just the second NBA finals in franchise history. Yeah, I mean, this is peak excitement. I mean, especially after the way the game four went, you know, they, they got hammered in game three, they come back, they win an extremely close game and game four, you know, the, the big three for the thunder combined for 95 points and just deliver a pretty big punch to the timber wolves who are at home.

And then you get to come back for game five. Um, this is probably the most hype we've seen in the city since 2016. I mean, certainly since 2016. Um, and I believe, and I've been saying this for a couple of weeks now, this is their best chance that they've ever had to actually win the whole thing. You know, you don't have LeBron James waiting for you in the finals. You don't have, you know, Kurt, you're not playing against Curry and Draymond Green and Clay Thompson in this

game five. I mean, not, not to diminish who the wolves are, but like you're not playing against You know these teams that are already established champions and the Thunder, you know, have the upper hand. You look at the Vegas odds, you know, everything is Going in their favor. And, you know, I think for Thunder fans tonight that you just hope that they deliver, you know, the last punch of this series and get to the finals. OK, so it's truth time here on the program, Andrew. And we've always had conflicted feelings towards the Oklahoma City Thunder because based in the Pacific Northwest, we lost our NBA team here in Vancouver. And then both my cohost and I, Jason, we were big Sonics fans. And then we lost them, too. and they went down to Oklahoma City,

and then immediately the Oklahoma City Thunder became a really good team behind Kevin Durant, then the big three with Westbrook and Harden, and now they're on their way to their second NBA Finals. And to make it even more painful now, you've got this great Canadian player in Shay Gilders Alexander leading the charge. So I'm gonna put away our petty jealousies

for a minute here, and I do wanna ask, what's it been like watching SGA mature and matriculate to the point where he became the NBA's MVP this season? Yeah, it has been really interesting getting to watch him as closely as I have through the years because he gets Oklahoma City and when they trade make the trade honestly the thing that I think most Thunder fans are thinking as far as a rebuild is okay you have Shay who we believe is like a starter probably a two guard and that's great now they have to go find the next

franchise player like I don't think anybody you know thought that when they traded for SGA you know and you know on that night that that was going to be their franchise guy and even it took a couple years to get there. There was even a point in oh what was that 2021 where Josh Giddy was I guess maybe it would have been 2022 where Josh Giddy was, um, I guess maybe it would have been 2022 where Josh Giddy was like thought of as like the point guard for the team. And we even, we even did a press conference, you know, after a game where we asked Shay about it and like, Hey, what do you think about you playing more off ball and Giddy playing more on ball? And we, I remember Shay telling us like, this is not my plan. A, you know,

like we had like moments like that, you know, throughout this, it was never just a foregone conclusion. But the thing that Shay did is that he continuously got better every single summer, he got better at something. He came back and you're like, wow, like he can now hit a step back three or his passing has gotten better as defense has gotten better. And I think the biggest thing that has jumped from last year to this year is his leadership. He has taken the mantle.

Like he is like the next great Thunder player and clearly he's doing it on the court. But I believe that he is the best leader as the best player that the Thunder have ever had. I don't think Westbrook had these leadership skills. I don't think KD had these leadership skills. He wants it really bad and he wants to put his teammates in the best positions possible and he's doing that. I think that's one of the biggest things. Like obviously, led the league in scoring, he's the MVP,

he's doing everything he can with his own talent. But he's also like spinning it into leadership skills. And like it's no, it's no mystery how J-Dev and Chet have gotten better because like Shae is like literally paving the way for them and leading them into the best like play of their careers right now by design. And he said it after last year that like he needs to do a better job of putting those guys in position to be the best versions of themselves in the playoffs. That was what the whole regular season was devoted to for him.

Was not only giving his best, but putting those guys in good position. Yes, it's a leadership over the last calendar year for me that has been the biggest differentiator this season. And he's still, he was the best player in the league this year, and I just think he still has more potential to get to, which is, it's gonna be interesting to see

how he reaches that moving forward. It's funny that you mentioned the leadership capabilities and qualities as the thing that really defines it because Jason and I watched the Canadian Men's National Basketball Team play. We had the questions going into some of these major competitions about who was gonna be the guy and who was gonna establish himself as the leader,

because there was candidates, right? Jamal Murray had just won an NBA championship. You know, R.J. Barrett's been one of the most highly proud Canadian players. But within seconds of watching that team play, it was like, oh, this is Shay's team. And it was in part because of the leadership characteristics he mentioned, also because he played phenomenally well. But I'm curious more about his personality and what you've been able to uncover because for those that haven't watched and You know down to dunk you do you get on? Incredible access to the players and a lot of really cool stuff that you're doing with them including SGA

So what's he like on a more personal like what's sgs personality personality like what have you learned about him over the last little while? You know when you see him in like a press conference, he seems like pretty low key, pretty chill. But when he's kind of out of that, he's very personable. He's very kind. He's one of the more down to earth superstars that I've ever been around. He, you know, like, I'm just, I'm a fly on the wall for the most part when I'm at stuff. Like I'm not there to like be a character in any of this. I'm just trying to tell, you know, talk to fans of the thunder about what's going on.

And like, he like, you know, media day, none of us have seen each other in a while. Like he's stops to say what's up to me. Like he's just like very normal. It's like almost like back to school kind of like, hey, we're back in the building and you know, he'll stop to say, you know, hello to me. Like I wouldn't ever say that like I know him really well, you know, like I, I had been around him in these like media contexts, you know. But like still like he stops to say hello and like he is, he's also a lot more bubbly than you think he would be just around his teammates.

You see like kind of this like fun atmosphere and I think a lot of people think that probably like J-Dub or some of these other guys set that tone and he does certainly to some extent but like Shay does a lot of that too. He's a guy that brings like a lightness and a joy with him into a room and I think that he's a huge part of just like the culture of this team. So yeah I mean I have young kids, I have three boys that are all super into hoops and you know, Shay is their favorite player and I'm like very much encouraging that not only because he's great to watch but he's also just like the kind of person that I

would want my kids to root for. So I mean the Thunder have been ridiculously blessed with the amount of good players that they've had you know in their short time of the franchise and And, you know, Shay is just next in line and like has the chance to be like the top guy when this is all said and done. What's it like being a member of the Oklahoma city thunder in the city? Is it, is it easier than playing for, you know,

New York or LA because maybe there isn't so much national attention, obviously that changes in the playhouse when you're close to the finals. But is it also maybe at times difficult a little, a little bit because it must be such a fish bowl where everyone's like, you know, there's lots of famous people in New York and LA. Um, you know, I don't want to make too many conclusions about Oklahoma City,

but it's different than New York and LA, I imagine. Yeah, I mean, it is certainly different. I think Oklahoma City offers a chance for NBA players to live about as normal of a life as possible I would say. There's probably places like where Jalen Brunson can't go right now because he is like so famous and is one of the best Knicks ever. I think these guys can kind of live their lives as as if they're just normal people for the most part. Yeah, they're going to get stopped.

People are going to want to take photos with them and stuff. But I do think like Oklahoma City, the market is like really unique and like you could, I mean, a lot of guys have been seen like doing their own grocery shopping and stuff like that throughout the city. And you know, you'll run into guys at restaurants and things like that throughout the city and you know you'll run into guys at restaurants and things like that. I just I think that it it provides because it is more of a low-key place it's not as densely populated as a lot of these bigger markets. I think it does offer like a chance to be like a little bit more normal is is what I say. And like some guys probably like that,

there may be guys that don't like that. They may want to be in the spotlight. You know, they may want to have like their entourage going with them everywhere and it being, I don't know. I mean, I think guys like James Harden, I don't know that Oklahoma City was like the best like city fit for him. Like I think there's a lot of reasons behind that. But for this current group, you know, they're all young. This is kind of all they know for the most part. You know, Shay did play for the Clippers, so he knows a little bit more. But like these other guys, this is all they know when it comes to the NBA.

And so it seems to fit most of those guys pretty well. But yeah, it is different. I grew up here. I would have never imagined there being an NBA team here. To be honest. Never ever in my wildest dreams did 12-year-old Andrew ever think that there would be an NBA team here. And it took a lot of things had to fall into place for that to happen.

The city's done very well supporting this team, but it is unique in a lot of ways for sure. Well, I kind of want to hate you, but I really like you. You seem like a nice guy. And I'm glad that you're having your basketball dreams fulfilled. Tell us more about when Oklahoma City got their team because as a Sonics fan, I was like, they're leaving for where? They're leaving for Oklahoma City? Like, you know, we've actually had this, this

discussion on the show. Is it worse to lose a team to a big city like New York? I mean, the Grizzlies went to Memphis and we're kind of like Memphis, really? Like, you know, in some ways you're kind of like, you could have left us for someone, you know, bigger or more, more glamorous.

So what was it like when you got the team? Was there a sense of disbelief that Oklahoma city was getting an NBA team? Yeah. I mean, so it's interesting because the city had already taken in the New Orleans Hornets because of Hurricane Katrina back in the day. And so they had, we had a team here for a couple years that had rookie Chris Paul and David West and Tyson Chandler and pages J. Akowicz were on those teams. And the city really likes that team. You know, they really took to that team. It's fine. They

were they didn't they were not set up to take on an NBA team at that time either. Like they had the they had the arena which was it's and that's still the same arena they use today but it was it's been renovated a couple times and is in much better condition now to to host an NBA team but it was it's been renovated a couple times and is in much better condition now to to host an NBA team, but it wasn't quite ready then and you also like they didn't have a practice facility at the time and so they're practicing at this like a local private college gym. You know, like there's just like a lot of circumstances that you know said like they're not quite ready, but of circumstances that you know said like they're not quite ready but the the city took to them so well and you know David Stern at the time was good buddies with Clay Bennett who was part of the

ownership group that bought the Sonics and I think like having the Hornets here for a couple years was like a tryout like a like a trial balloon of like, could Oklahoma City actually be a city that takes on an NBA team? And Clay was part of getting the Hornets here, and he was part of, like him being good buddies with David Stern was like kind of laying the foundation for this to happen.

And I'm sure for people that are fans of the Sonics like you guys were as like seeing who this was that was gonna buy the team like wait a minute like why are you selling the team to this guy like what's going on here because like the the writing was on the wall there and as much as they wanted to pretend that like no no no we're gonna see this through we'll go through this vote for the new arena and all these things in Seattle but like Clay Bennett is I

think the most impactful person To the city of Oklahoma City maybe ever because of like a lot of his like monetary contributions and then bringing the thunder to this To the to the city is such a big deal a lot of his like monetary contributions and then bringing the thunder to this to the to the city is such a big deal without him it doesn't happen without clay doesn't happen without I mean they don't I mean he he was the one who Brian Sam Presti and did all these things like there's without clay like this there's

the history of the city is drastically changed. And he was determined to bring a team to Oklahoma City and, you know, found his found a way to do it. But yeah, as like as somebody that was like kind of just sitting back from afar or watching it all unfold, it did feel unbelievable. Just felt like, wait, like, seriously, this team is actually going to be here? It did not feel real. I was at the time, I was still in college and you know, was a huge NBA fan, you know, even then and like could not believe that they were actually going to be here. Like they were actually going to play and even since then, you know, that they just got approval to build a new arena and the

lease is like 50 years, you know, once they build it. And so like the thunder here for the long haul, but there was even questions then like, you know what, if we don't, if the city doesn't vote in favor of a new arena, is there going to be, are they going to relocate? Because there's always been this like tension of like, does the NBA really even want this to happen? There's like Adam Silver really what a team here There's a lot of arguments against it. There are so many other cities that would be better suited to have an NBA team than this one but they you know the cities, you know, the the taxpayers are gonna pay for a large portion of the arena and Keep this team here for a long time. But yeah, it's it's all felt a little surreal

Like if you just take a minute to step back, it's like, man, I cannot believe this happened. I mean, listen, like I remember one restaurant downtown when I was growing up. I remember one. This is not making me feel better, by the way. Keep going though. I could not, it was like we would go downtown like once a year to go to a place called Spaghetti Warehouse.

And it was like that was the only time we would ever go downtown. And now that's like completely changed, like completely. My family and I would go downtown all the time. There's tons of stuff to do there now and it's all because of the thunder. Like that was the reason why this thing has kind of blown up. And so, yeah, I mean, Clay Bennett, like if Sonic fans want to be mad at anybody, I mean, and it's all because of the thunder. Like that was the reason why this thing has kind of blown up. And so, yeah, I mean, Clay Bennett, like if Sonic fans want to be mad at anybody,

I mean, Howard Schultz is a pretty good person to be mad at, but then like the second person to be mad at is Clay Bennett because like he had a vision for this city that he was able to somehow like manifest, which it seemed like if he were to tell you it in like 2007 you'd be like you're an insane person like no that's not never happening do you feel any guilt at all do I feel guilt no I don't feel any guilt well there there might there might have been a little Andrew in Seattle that was

like crying when the Sonics left no no guilt? Yeah, I would ask that question to Clay, honestly, like, did Mr. Bennett, do you feel any guilt? Well, I'm glad it's working out for you. And, you know, it does make me feel better that there's a humble Canadian there that might help you guys win a championship. There's a couple, we got Lou Dord as well.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, it Doerr as well. Yeah, mm-hmm, yeah. I know it's been exciting for sure. Andrew, thanks for taking the time to do this today, man. We really appreciate it. I enjoy the game tonight, it should be a good one, and maybe we'll do this again if the OKC Thunder do indeed get and win that NBA championship.

Would love to do it again, thanks guys. Yeah, thanks for coming on, we appreciate it appreciate that. Andrew Schlecht from the Athletics NBA show podcast, also the OKC podcast Down to Dunk, which I wasn't just blowing smoke there. So you should go watch it. He does this. He gets the players to try and spell the last names of the head coach, Daniel, and then some of the more adventurous surnames on the team,

because they've got a lot of different European players. It's actually quite funny. She does a really good job with it. We should do that with Dolly Wall. We should do it thinking about spaghetti warehouse. I wish you would have followed up on that. Yeah, I guess I have so many questions. Is it a giant warehouse? I've got really bad news.

It's not a warehouse. No, it closed. Oh, yeah. What are we going to do? The city got too big for us to make this warehouse model. The warehouse? No, it closed. Oh! Yeah. What are we gonna do? The city got too big for us. The warehouse model was unsustainable. The spaghetti warehouse used to run this town and then the thunder came in. We got some breaking news out of Edmonton. Zach Hyman is done for the playoffs.

Chris Knoblach, the head coach said he needs surgery. Obviously terrible news for the Edmonton Oilers and also Zach Hyman who was giving it his all in these playoffs and he had a bit of a tough regular season in terms of goal production and he decided I will just hit everything. And yeah, it looked right away. Did he get tied up, not tied up with, there was a. Marchment. With Marchman. And there was like a kind of, it looked like he got his wrist jammed and that's exactly

what happened. Or was it, is it his wrist? I thought it was his shoulder. His wrist surgery. Well, the surgeries, uh, Dolly Wall was reporting the surgery is going to be on Zach Hyman's wrist. Um, yeah, the way he was carrying himself off the ice, um, it looked like it might've been a

separated shoulder, but it also looked like it could've been, he just jammed his wrist and I think he knew like that thing's broken as soon as he went off the ice. 109 hits through 14 playoff games for Zach Hyman thus far. And didn't I see a stat he only had like 107 during the season?

He just reinvented himself as like,'m just gonna hit everything that moves and Quite the reinvention though to go from that number to that. Well, okay I again I don't want to look too far ahead But everyone's already anticipating with both teams up 3-1 in their respective series that we're gonna get an Edmonton, Florida Rematch in the Stanley Cup final that is a bummer that he's gone because I want these two teams Doing the clash of the Titans thing in the final. And we're running out of time here, but I put together a whole thing about,

on the heels of speaking about the Oklahoma City Thunder, like the NBA right now, and he made that joke, our previous guest Andrew, about like, did the NBA and Adam Silver really want this? OKC driving? Yeah, an OKC Indiana NBA final is not what the NBA and Adam Silver really want this. OKC. Yeah. An OKC Indiana NBA final is not what the NBA wants. It's going to get bad numbers. And I know a lot of listeners don't care about TV ratings.

But I'm going beyond just the the old school Nielsen ratings on this. When there's no intrigue and no drama and nothing that's really drawing people in, aside from the hardcore basketball fans. The funny thing is that, that matchup would actually draw me in because based on the type of fan I am, I think the, a small market final would be cool.

Right. Because it's like, wait a minute, are the Indiana Pacers going to win the NBA finals or are the Oklahoma City Thunder going to win the NBA finals? I. Or are the Oklahoma City Thunder going to win the NBA finals? I think it would be really, I mean, Indiana, obviously one of the greatest basketball states in the United States. I know we're up against it for a time, but laddie, can you grab the Barkley audio that I threw forward?

Because not only might you have two of the smallest markets in the NBA going toe to toe, and by the way, markets, if you want to know what, how they go market size, it's essentially two things, right? It's TV market size and then metro population. That's how the majority of these lists put them together. OKC perennially is regarded as one of the NBA's three smallest markets along with Memphis and New Orleans. Those are the small three, not the big three,

but the small three, if you will. Seattle goes to Oklahoma, the city of Vancouver goes to Memphis, come on. Right, and they become two of the smallest markets in the NBA. Indiana's a bit larger, but it's still in the high 20s in terms of market size. So you've got two small markets,

but listen to this from Charles Barkley previewing the NBA final, if it is indeed OKC in Indiana, here's Charles Barkley from last night's broadcast. This is the Oklahoma City Invitational. Whoever they come out to East, they gonna beat the hell out of them. Beat the hell out of them. Beat the hell out of them.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are gonna win the championship and anybody wanna bet me any amount of money come to my damn house, because I can afford it. OKC is the best team in the NBA. So not only might they have two really small markets in the NBA Finals, it might not be that close of a series and that would be a disaster, especially when stacked up against the Stanley Cup Final. Like let's be honest, this would be the most highly anticipated Stanley Cup final in an awfully long time.

You don't get a lot of rematches in the Stanley Cup final. You certainly don't get a lot of rematches off a series which a team had a 3-0 lead, blew that 3-0 lead for the first time since 1945 and then came back and won it in game seven. We're way up against it for time. Get your what we learns in. Dunbar Lumbertex, line is 650, 650.

Let us know what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. We'll do yours. You'll do yours and we'll do them all on the other side of the break. You're listening to the Hal Ferdinand Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Vic Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets weekdays three to four on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time.

On the show. 834 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program. It is what we learn. Time hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound, real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today.

All right, the dogs do not have what we learned for the second consecutive day. When asked if he had a what we learned to share today, a dog said, sorry, I'm busy working. To which I replied, this is working and learning apparently the the place that you asked him to get a person from for our next show has like a convoluted super long for me has to fill out to get it maybe right like a poem and do some like trivia questions working hard over there he's sweating answer the these

questions three did yet for Willie Desjardins? Yeah, it's like the most like... That's who we wanted to get. It's crazy. I've never seen a WHL team do this before. It was like so complicated. You know what I like is when they have those puzzles to make you confirm that you're not a bot, it's like click on the squares that have a bicycle. I like those ones. They're like, sorry, this is what a bot would do. Yeah, I like those ones. Anyway, we're trying to chase Willie. He's going to the MemCup, right? Woodrow the Eligible Bachelor. Text it in, Willie Desartien and the Medicine Tigers have advanced to the Memorial Cup final.

The Memorial Cup is on right now, my friend. Oh! They beat the London Knights. Good for you. How many teams did that this year? Did not know that. I only have search bands. They're in the final June 1st,

so you'll have to miss the Whitecaps game. Ah. Well. Tough draw. Now that I know it's on. okay, we're gonna, anyway. They're playing Cruises Azul. Are they? Yeah, they've got a hockey team.

Cruises Azul's got a busy day ahead of itself on June 1st. Okay, we're gonna do our While We Learn since the dogs yet again failed us. And I'm gonna start. I learned, I learned that one of the greatest quarterbacks in Pittsburgh Steelers history does not like what the current Pittsburgh Steelers are doing at quarterback.

Terry Bradshaw, Jason, is not a fan, not a fan of Pittsburgh's ongoing and some say prolonged pursuit of Aaron Rodgers. Yesterday, in an interview on an Arkansas sports radio station, 103.7 The Buzz. By the way, someone asked the other day, they're like, are all the sports radio stations in the US called The Fan?

And I said, no, some are called The Buzz. What is Arkansas sports radio? Hole of the hogs! I don't know why, and why was Terry Bradshaw on? And why was he talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers? No matter Here's the audio from 103.7 the buzz laddies listen to this. He said it jumps around a little bit So stay tuned Here's one minute and 41 seconds of Terry Bradshaw going off on the Pittsburgh Steelers

Aaron Rodgers and their own on on again off again relationship from 103.7 the buzz What do you think about possibly Aaron Rodgers being the quarterback? That's a joke. He shouldn't, they, that is just to me is a joke. What are you going to bring him in for one year? Are you kidding me? I mean, that's not the Steelers way, right? No, man, that guy needs to stay in California.

Thank you. And chew on bark and whisper to the guys out there. 100%. These guys on the show, Mr. Bradshaw, know I'm not a fan of his. We've been around each other personally and he was not a kind person. I had to go over and introduce myself to him. I had to go, hey, Aaron, I'm Terry Bradshaw. I know he knows me, but I just felt like I better tell him who I am.

And not, you know, you walk in there and you get in his presence and you feel like it's gonna start snowing. Oh, hold on. Roger, that was supposed to be something. Dan Hanson, do you agree with that, that dude that they go with Rogers for the Steelers? He is not a guy you would want for a neighbor, but here in Chicago, I watched him for 15 years, make play after play to win football games.

And from what I understand, Aaron Rogers' agent is basically telling the league, it's just a matter of time. Aaron's kind of cleaning up some personal matters. He is going to be a part of the Steven now whether you like it or not Yeah, I heard the same thing Dan. I just don't want to be a mercenary player. You know, you could see Arizona or Tampa The first thing he cleans up is his damn attitude. Yeah Dan was that King of the Hill?

Like what was going on? No, I was amazing. Why was everyone on a different piece of technology? Like someone was clearly on a phone. Someone was on a riding more. Yeah. Someone who was using a walkie talkie at one point. 20 different qualities of voices. There was like five different guys.

Boomhauer was in there. Yeah. Very southern, you know Chinese or even Japanese I'm lay ocean this hit The hit was clearly Just it was all over the map. Anyway, if you miss other time if you miss the kicker And terry bradshaw is terry bradshaw is always entertaining The best line was about Aaron Rodgers, that guy needs to stay in California,

go somewhere and chew on bark and whisper to the gods out there. I'm using that moving forward when I wanna be dismissive of someone and tell them to go away. I'm gonna tell them to chew on some bark and go talk to the gods out there. I actually wanna listen to that sports radio station now.

That sounds amazing. It's 103.7 the buzz. Can you imagine after like a Razorbacks tough loss? Probably sounds a lot like that. Yeah. They have 18 callers all at the same time on the air. You know how we don't take- Brad Shaw's from like Louisiana, isn't he?

I want to see, yes. I mean, he's definitely Southern. That one guy, that host had an amazing Southern accent. I didn't know what to expect from Arkansas Sports Talk Radio, but when I heard it, I was like, yep, this is exactly what I expected. That's what I should have expected. Yeah. By the way, as an addendum to this, there is one person I feel bad for, and it's Mason Rudolph. Currently, I guess the number one quarterback in Pittsburgh. So they opened up some sort of mini camp the other day at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. And Mason Rudolph, they're not even trying to pretend that he's going to play. They're just asking him questions about Aaron Rodgers inevitable arrival.

And Mason Rudolph has to try and play along. He's like, well, you know, in every NFL market, there's always a lot of noise. And everyone's like, but not as much as here. Yeah. And he did sign a two year deal. He's making good money, but he clearly knows that all he's doing right now is waiting for Aaron Rodgers to show up and be the quarterback of the Steelers.

But the Steelers look like idiots right now. They look like huge idiots right now. None of it makes any sense. And I know that they kind of painted themselves into a corner when they made, put it this way, when you make the initial, when you make the initial, like, when you make the initial offer to Aaron Rodgers, you're screwed because now the ball's in his court.

So you have to play by his rules. And if he wants to go back to California and chew on some bark for a couple of months before he's ready to show up, they have no other option. You're committed to it now. There's no other. Even even the giants are like, all right, we'll take Rosa Wilson. Yeah.

Mason Rudolph's like, I know it's not going to be me. Like it might not be Aaron Rogers, but it's definitely not going to be me, but it's probably going to be Aaron Rogers. Anyway, moocow all that Jason braff. You have a, what we learned. Yeah. I'll just do it real quick. You remember that, you know, the tour

championship in golf, how they had those staggered starts. Was this the one where you got to start like 12 under if you did good in a previous tournament? Yeah. Yeah. That was a dumb rule. They're ending that.

Nice. I think, I think the turning point was this year when Scottie Schaeffler started like 10 under and then he went like 20 more under. He's 50 under par. I didn't know he could do that. Yeah. And he ended up winning it quite easily, although Morakawa went low too. They finally said, like the fans hated that.

So they basically just gone back to the old way though. It's like, okay, the winner of the Tour Championship wins the FedEx Cup. But then that brings into the equation of like, okay, so it's just, when in you're in or like, you know what I mean? There's no advantage to finishing first, for example, on the FedEx Cup ranking. Because they always say, you're not interested in this at all. I'm trying to figure out where they're playing it. Well, it's, it's always, well, they might change that too, but it's always at East Lake.

Okay. That's in Atlanta. It's in, yeah. Home of 103.7, the buzz Atlanta. Yeah. Uh, anyway, I'll end this one quick, but that whole thing, uh, with, uh, with the staggered scores and everything, it's over. But there's still going to be people complaining about it because they're like, well, wait, I was doing so well and I qualified first for the tour championship, but then I didn't win the tour

championship. The guy who finished 29th in the FedEx Cup rankings, now he's the FedEx Cup champ. So this whole thing with the tour championship and the FedEx Cup and the this was where I mean, I wasn't like a huge golf guy to begin with, but this is where I really started, like my eyes started glazing over me. It just got to be so I just saw that look of yours, but it just got to be like, uh huh. The money, the sums of money got to be so incredulous. And this is the, was part of the, the issue with Liv too, was it just sort of became,

well, if we throw enough money at someone, they'll eventually come to one side or the other. But then they just complain about how we whack up the money. Yeah, and it had nothing to do with competition anymore. Like I was like, do these guys even want to really beat each other anymore? Do they just all want to get paid? And it's fine if they want to get paid.

What do PGA Tour guys do? Cause I think they went back to it cause they actually thought about like, hey, you know who we should think about? The fans. Yeah, nobody did. Who don't want to watch a Tour Championship where one guy gets like a 10 shot lead,

and some guys don't, and you're like, well, Galtzen? We want this to come down to the, we don't want to give the best player the greatest advantage, just because he wants more money, and he wants a better chance at winning. We want to give the best player the greatest advantage just because he wants more money and he wants a better chance at winning.

We want to watch a good tournament. And I think what they're going to do with the tour championship, another thing is they're going to make it hard. That's a pretty good idea. And because no one, I don't know about you, but I would much rather watch a tournament where the winning score is like four under or something like that.

I don't want to watch 30 under, which is a big problem they had at the Canadian Open when they played it at Glen Abbey. It's kind of like they would just eat the course up. So anyway, give us a moocall on that. Let's fire up that dot matrix. Humanoid submissions for What We Learn brought to you as always by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Reminder, they now have not one but two restaurants. They're both AJ's, 325 and 327 East Broadway. Expand your palette with AJ's White Pies made with rosemary and infused with cream sauce. Still got that read going. Or garlic oil.

Only at AJ's Pizza. Order online at ajs.pizza. Mike from Thunder Bay, what we learned, teams without their own practice facility can have playoff success. OKC Vancouver, did he say that they do have their practice facility now? I am so tired of talking about practice facilities. We even brought the Lions into the conversation yesterday. It is, it's a testament to our listeners that they sat through an entire segment about Oklahoma City Thunder basketball and had the attention span to still hear the words practice

and facility because we have like seven people text in about it. Sometimes I mock you people and I'm like, you're all crazy. But in moments like that, it warms the cockles of my heart to know that you're still paying attention and anything you can make about the connects.

By the way, on an, I had a question. We kind of had a weird exit with Andrew there. I did have a question because the Oklahoma City Thunder's franchise trajectory was forever altered by the Paul George trade. We got a good what we learned in here on that. Which netted them Sh shade Gildes Alexander Five first-round picks wasn't SGA drafted by another team and then he was traded to the like was it this draft day trade?

Well, I can't remember how it went down to how he landed with the Clippers like but he was a Clipper Yeah, yeah, but but this is his third team technically I think okay see but I think he's only played for two? I have to go check on that. Yeah, yeah. I think you're right. Anyway, practice facility update when you're ready. Go ahead, Vlad. OKC has had one since the 2010-11 season. So they didn't have one when they first went there.

When they first went there. But they found some land in Oklahoma City. They're like, there's some. They took over the old spaghetti warehouse. It's called the Integris Health Hunter Development Center. So they do have a practice building. Can you confirm that it is the old spaghetti warehouse? OK, anyway.

And I heard they had to pay $5,000 per acre. It was a lot. It was crazy. $5,000 per noodle. Anyway. OK, stop it with the spaghetti warehouse. Sometimes you get focused on things and then. You're focusing on the wrong thing, Adoc.

Anyway, the trade. So I was like, I was gonna tell Andrew, I'm like, we have a thing here where we try and make everything about the Canucks or we try and have a hockey parallel to everything. Like the Harry Maguire, Deon Faneuf comparison. And I was saying like, there's a lot of people right now that are saying the Canucks should be trading Quinn Hughes

at seemingly the height of his power. Yeah, yeah. Which is kind of what the Oklahoma, not kind of, really what the OKC Thunder did with Paul George. When they traded Paul George, everyone was like, how could you trade him? You're the top five player in the NBA.

You win with a guy like that. But the trade has paved the way for this next generation of players, including SGA and all the draft picks that they got from it. So Chaitin and Surrey has what we learned. Yes. And, uh, you'll, I'm going to apologize if I mispronounce some players, cause I'm a bit of a

Dolly wall with the NBA. Here we go. If both Oklahoma city and the Pacers make the NBA finals, the star players will have ended up on their respective teams due to the trading of Paul George. Pacers originally traded George for Oladipo. Victor Oladipo.

And Sabonis. Yeah. Sabonis was then traded a few years later to the Kings for Halliburton. OKC got SGA for George in a trade with the Clippers. You did great. You got them all. Okay.

But anyway, the general manager behind all this is former San Antonio Spurs general manager, Sam Presti. He also got mentioned in that hit. So the point being for you Canucks fans out there is there is a precedent where a team decides, even though that elite player is incredibly integral to the franchise at that time, and this isn't trading an aging all-star

who's maybe played his best hockey and or basketball. This is trading someone at their peak It worked out very well for the Oklahoma. I haven't asked us anything for you guys. Go ahead Andy What is the benefit if it's about them spaghetti warehouse? No, we I retract If the Canucks know that Hughes is leaving in two years What is the benefit of holding on to him now for one more season and then trading him next year as opposed to just moving him now. Because you can always change his mind.

No, no, no, no. I'm working on the assumption he is gone. Obviously if he changes his mind, it's a completely different scenario. I think the conversation starts. Like what is the end game here? It was more or less what I'm asking. Oh, and it's Stanley Cup.

I think the conversation starts, well, the end game is trying to convince them. You've put out a hypothetical that they don't believe in. Everyone has the ability to change their mind. So we don't know that they don't believe in that. Well they're doing everything they can to keep Quinn Hughes, so unless you just think they're lying about all this. Which we're willing to accept is a possibility.

Yeah, I mean people lie sometimes. True, people change their minds and people also lie. Yeah, I mean hey, if they can convince him to stay, and if he stays, it's a completely different thing. And obviously, I want him to stay, and I don't want him to trade him, and I want him to be a Canuck for life, but I'm just working under the assumption

that it's not gonna happen. Well, if they traded him, that would vastly affect their business for next season, for sure. JD and Coquillum. Yes, but what would the point of being waiting, what would the point of waiting a year be though is my question. Well, I would have to move them at some point.

I think the conversation starts at this year's trade deadline if the Canucks are not in a playoff position. That's when it starts because some people will say that the most value you're going to get for Quinn Hughes is if he can sign an extension, um, like Ranton and did, but I kind of disagree with that take because, um, what if there's only one team that he's willing to go to and that's New Jersey, then you can't shop around. Like what Carolina was able to do was I imagine

it was Ranton and there was a few teams who's willing to go to. So they were able to shop was, I imagine, it was Ranton and there was a few teams who was willing to go to. So they were able to shop it around and go, okay, we're going to be able to shop Ranton and extended, not just as a rental. But can you really do that with Quinn Hughes if you wait until after next July 1st, not this July 1st, but the next one, because he's just going to

be like, well, you can't shot me to other teams with an extension because I'm not only gonna extend with New Jersey. So I think the conversation starts at the trade deadline if the Canucks aren't in a playoff position because then the value would be like, well, you get them for two playoff runs at least. Because even then you could trade them to someone else That's not New Jersey and say like hey

This is still pretty good to have this guy For two years where you had to do a cup contender for a couple seasons for for a couple seasons couple runs Yeah, and he has I don't think on his contract. He has any ability to say no to that JD and Coquillin with a question. Is this the first time that Bradshaw, Terry, who we just had audio from, and Bradshaw, the assistant coach, have been mentioned in the same Haliford and Bruff show?

I believe it has, JD. Bradshaw, of course, is now an assistant coach in New Jersey, meaning he will not be rejoining the Vancouver Canucks head coaching staff, which means, as we talked about earlier in the show, they still have vacancies to fill. And it doesn't seem like we've got a ton of clarity for the other head coaching jobs that are still available in the NHL. We had Frank Sarah Valley on earlier and he had not much out of Pittsburgh and Seattle. He's not even over yet. You guys, there's lots of time. It's just, no, I disagree. It seems weird. Well, you want to have your coach

in place early enough, but yeah Hasn't even been awarded But the fact that most of the other teams did it already and that it just kind of seems still very much up and up for grabs And in Pittsburgh show-offs in Pittsburgh too, which seems strange now Pittsburgh's apparently as per Frank 14 or sorry Boston I think it was a 14 or 16 Candidates interviewed it sounds like term. Yes. I mean Sturm used to play in Boston 14, or sorry, Boston I think was a 14 or 16 candidates interviewed. It sounds like. Sturm.

Yeah, I mean Sturm used to play in Boston, so there's that too, right? But yeah, Pittsburgh and Seattle, because after those jobs are filled, the guys that didn't get those jobs are like, well, now we need to find an assistant coaching job, which means they could end up without a foot. There's still some dominoes to fall. Yep. Willie in the puddle, what we learned, we constantly all hear talk about the rebuild, but when you analyze the rebuilds in the league, 90% unsuccessful, even after waiting 6 to 15 years.

Okay, well, I don't know if that's 90%. Best teams, almost all have gotten some valued picks later, four rounds, trades and free agents as a combined approach. Yeah, everyone, yeah, you got to get a bunch of things. You also have to make yourself a destination for players to go to. That's what Florida has done. That's what, honestly, Edmonton has done. They get a guy like Corey Perry who's willing to go there

because he wants to win a Stanley Cup. Here's the thing. Do a lot of good things well, but it always, always, always, always, in my opinion, starts with the draft. And the practice facility. Okay, we gotta go. And the practice facility.

We gotta go for now, but we will be back tomorrow. Thank you all for listening, and thank you all for contributing. Signing off, I have been Mike Helford, he's been Jason Brough, he's been A-Dog, and he's been Laddie. This has been the Helford and Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. ["Sportsnet"]