New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce - NFL Draft Recap & Blake Griffin on NBA Playoffs, Retirement, Kobe Stories, Lob City & More | Ep 189

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

92%ers, welcome to another episode of New Heights brought to you by Xfinity!  On today’s episode, we find out if we’ve got beef with Meryl Streep, Jason and Travis give their thoughts on the Chiefs and Eagles draft classes, and we debate if Fernando should start or sit his rookie year. We’ve also got an incredible conversation with NBA legend, Blake Griffin! We get his thoughts on the NBA playoffs, how he’s enjoying life in the broadcast studio, the moment he knew his football career wasn’t going to work, what it’s like to get drafted with your brother, favorite Kobe story, his thoughts on MJ vs LeBron, what’s next for his comedy career, and more! Check out Blake Griffin on The NBA on Prime https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0K18UYC3L8XP43L13WLYXA746F/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_rYou can still pre-order our book “No Dumb Questions” at https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/nodumbquestionsNew Heights will be Live in Los Angeles at The Orpheum Theatre on June 15th. General Tickets go on sale April 27th. https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/09006491EE43FB93Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights every Wednesday during the NFL season and follow us on Social Media for all the best moments from the show: https://lnk.to/newheightshowYou can also listen to new episodes on Wondery, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. ...Download the full podcast here:Wondery: https://wondery.app.link/s9hHTgtXpMbApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-heights/id1643745036Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1y3SUbFMUSESC1N43tBleK?si=LsuQ4a5MRN6wGMcfVcuynwSend something to the New Heights Mailbox. Don’t be weird though. C/O New Heights Productions135 E OLIVE AVE, BURBANK, CA 91502Support the show: XFINITY: Get the most reliable, fiber-powered WiFi from Xfinity at one price for 5 years, guaranteed. Plus, get online in minutes with same-day WiFi.Visit xfinity.com to get it now. Xfinity Imagine That.AMERICAN EXPRESS: Unlocking access and elevating the fan experience–not only does it feel right, but it’s membership at its best. Terms apply. Learn more about Amex ‘s partnership with the NFL and Premium Events Collection at https://go.amex/nflREESE’S: Try the Reese’s Strawberry PB&J Cup and the new Reese’s Marshmallow Cup today, for a limited time only. EXPEDIA: The one place you go to go places. https://www.expedia.com/ PLANET FITNESS: Best-in- class equipment and a space for every kind of strength. We're All Strong on this Planet™ Learn more at http://planetfitness.com/ALLSTATE: Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds: https://allstate.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Puck drops, tip-offs, first pitches, kickoffs. When the game is on, you call the shots. Head to betway.com.C.A. and bet your way. Must be 19 plus Ontario only. Play responsibly. Concerned about your gambling, visit connectsonterio.com. Like, I told you that I'm trying to dunk for the first time of my life, right? Oh, yeah, that's right. How's it going?

Well, I tore my quad. Oh, so not good. I was doing quarter squats of that and then jumping up on the box. And it was working. My initial height of running and jumping was like 10-6. Like, it was embarrassing. I was up over 1010. That's plank.

Can you palm the ball? No, see, I got little... I can't... Ah, you got those little... You got those little baby. How did you learn to jump so high? What were the... What are the techniques that you implemented

to jump over human beings? I got to be honest, man, having a Black Dad help. I got to say, the quarter squat box jump combo wasn't really in my... You didn't have to resort to that. I've been doing this thing

called the penultimate step. Have you ever heard of the penultimate step? All right, I'm going to stop talking. I'm just going to do your intro. All right, here we go. Welcome back to New Heights, ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls. Oh, Jason's fired up. You should be too, because this is a wonder show brought to you by Xfinity. We are your host. I'm Travis Kelsey. This is my big brother Jason Kelsey out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Shout out to the University of Cincinnati. Shout out to the Tigers back in the Heights. Subscribe by you. YouTube wherever you get your podcast and follow the show on all social media at new heights show with one ass jason please tell everybody what we got coming up today by the episode we got an

amazing episode geared up for you guys today we are going to talk a little bit about the draft from this past week obviously covering heavily chiefs and eagles picks we're also going to get into a little out of the house at nascar don't know if you saw that hence the talladega oh and as well we have blake griffin joining us that's right the NBA playoffs are underway so we decided we get the funniest, most talented basketball analysts out there. Well, outside of Charles Broccoli. Sorry, sorry, Blake. Dude, he's the fucking best.

I can't wait to dive in with Blake, man. He's one of my fucking favorite people on Earth, man. He is the best. We're going to talk NBA playoffs, his incredible dunking abilities, as well as somebody else trying to dunk, and more. So before we get to that, let's get to some of that new news. New News is brought to you by American Express. We won a Webby Award.

How about that? Oh. though very prestigious Webby. Nice, man. Jason and Travis Kelsey won the People's Voice Award for Sports Show's Podcasts. Thank you to all the Nigby Centers. Kylie also won an award. Kylie won an award, NGL, the real ones voted her podcast.

Wait, do they vote on that? Mike, I got to light down. Light down, Mike. So this is voted on. You got a light. Well, Mike does a lot more than. But yeah, for right now, he is a lighting guy. What is this?

The hotel table lamp? That's 100%. Yeah, I'm on L.A., baby. I'm doing... I'm trying to sling our garage beer. Leave me alone. All right, anyways. New Heights of Jason and Travis Kelsey won the People's Voice Award for Sports

Shows, parentheses, podcast. Very precise award. Kylie also won an award with NGL. They won podcast of the year. Woo! Which I believe is a bigger award than we received. It's probably the biggest award that they have there. Very cool.

Shout out to Kai. Running away with it. it. I love it. That's right. That's right. Shout out to everybody on the staff over there. Emma, everybody else that has their footprints on the show. You guys have been killing it all year. Way to go. Yeah. And thank you to all the nice few percenters that voted us. We very much appreciate it. Travis, on to the next bit of new news. What's that? Do we have beef with Merrill Street? I hope she doesn't have beef with me. Let's play this clip. Gentlemen, Travis. I'm a fan of Merrill Street. I don't have any beef with her. You might want to wait until you see this clip.

Travis got called out for some reason in Devil Wears Prada 2's promo video. Oh, shit. The hardest thing about shooting Milan was walking in stilettos on the cobblestones. I'd like to see Prevous Kelsey do that. Oh, what? What? Trev.

Oh, Merrill, you have no idea how good I am at walking in heels, okay? I think we should recreate this. I think we should put this to the test, not recreate. We're going to have to find some size 14 heel. heels first. Okay. Well, we can have those custom made. I'm sure there's some WMBA players that can put us on to some spots. What's the heel, though? Is a heel? Because I wear like Chelsea boots or those heels? No, no, no. It's got to be a stiletto. It's got to be a pointy bottom. That's why it's hard. You're right. I'll give credit where credits do. I don't think I can do it, Merrill. I'll let you have

what, are you a quitter? You're a quitter. You're just going to give up to Merrill Street. No, I just don't think I'm going to make it. Italy and walk in Stilettos. Merrill Street has quite the resume. Well, she has a resume. That doesn't mean she's better at walking in stilettos in you just because she's a famous actress Travis we're competitors in the i can kind of correlate that yeah we don't bow down to anybody when it's meryl street you kind of do just kind of like bowed out well listen if she was saying acting ability i would get it i completely get it to be fair i would be acting if i had heels on so good point that's a good

point all right we're not going to put it to the test apparently i'm not i'm gonna let you have that one merrill can't wait to see devil who wears product too though the first one was a banger i know going to be epic. Not them questions, now that he has been called out by Merrill Street, does Travis Kelsey think he can walk on cobblestone with high heels? Well, we're never going to find out, Kitty. I'll tell you what, Merrill. If I ever find myself in Italy on that cobblestone, I'll try and find a size 14 and we'll put it to the test. All right now, Jason, you're a Teledicton champ. You and Ricky Bobby. That is correct. I am. I am a Talladega champ. That's right. I went down there on behalf of Hendrick Motorsports. I was

been filming some things over at their headquarters in Charlotte. I've been doing some exercises to really learn what it's like to compete in the sport of NASCAR. I went out there. I trained with the athletes. I was doing learning their techniques, all the things that go into coordinating a pit stop. These guys are changing tires, gassing these cars all the way up and sometimes under the nine seconds on a stop. I'll change all four tires, put gas in the vehicle, and then get it out on its way. It's remarkable.

the coordination and timing and expertise that goes into that. I also went out on the track with William Byron, who drove me around at over 190 miles an hour around the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which was fucking awesome and terrifying all at the same time. I then got to drive my own vehicle. They did not let me drive 190 miles per hour, but I still drove faster than I ever driven in my life.

How fast you go? How fast you go? They do it by RPM. So I was driving, this thing had a regulator on it that captcha at 5,000 RPM. And they said at one point, I went 140. Everybody else said I was going 120. So somewhere between 120 and 140. Oh, that's nothing.

You've done way faster? I was going 135 in a caravan when I was in high school. That thing is flying around. Caravans do not go 145. I guarantee you. They go 135 and they shake back and forth when you get up over 120. You got a little dicey. They're not as they are as they are.

Anyways, the last bit of it was to go to Talladega and to be with the pick crew with Corey Day's team, the 17 car with Hensure Motorsports, and it was incredible. I got to see it firsthand what it's like on race day, how they set up everything. These pit crews, man, they're in charge of setting everything up on pit road, right? There's five of these guys that are doing all these jobs. The Jackman has to run out there, jack up the car, take the new tire, put it on after the changer is taken off the front right.

He has to put the front right tire on immediately after that. Then the changer while he's bolting that thing on, he's taking the jack off, run around, jacking up the other side, doing it over there, and all this stuff is happening. And it's the dance that is taking place of speed, strength, athleticism, coordination. It is remarkable what those guys do each and every stop. On top of that, the drivers, everything they're doing, the game position, especially at Talladega. Their, like, foot is on the gas the entire race. It is, you are wide open.

The track is angled at, like, 33 degrees. So you are just, like, zooming around that thing. And a lot of it comes down to drifting, and it's a very technical race from that standpoint. So Corey Day, first time ever racing at Talladega, ended up winning, winning to race, our driver. And I'll tell you what, what they had me doing, I was a sign man. So you put the sign down on pit road that lets the driver know where to stop at. Sometimes you might want to stop it short. Sometimes you might want to stop it where he normally stops at.

Sometimes you want to stop a little wide. So we did a short, wide stop. So it was a pretty technical job of the sign. out of it. I get this fucking sign guy out of here. Dude, I just have, I have like one question. Oh, that wasn't my only job.

Then they had me be in the gas, I don't even know if there's a title for it, but I was passing the fuel in. And let me tell you, we won first place. I was the best fucking gas can passer on pit road that day, baby. Champions!

One and no, baby! This guy's sick. It was a Saturday race, though, right? It was not the Cup series. It was not the Cup series. It was not the Cup series, the big dogs. Still, still though. And for him to have his champion,

still though. And for him to have his, First race at Talladega and him come away with a podium. It was pretty dope. That was the coolest thing. Obviously, this kid, he's a really good sprint car racer. He's won a bunch of races in that world. Now on the O'Reilly series, first race at Talladega gets his first win there.

It was so electric down there. And just happy for him getting out the gates like that, man. That's an awesome moment. And it was cool to just watch. It was cool to be a part of. Obviously, my contribution was pretty much nothing. But you know what? I still can say I'm a NASCAR champion, baby.

Why did they put a scully on you? Why are you scuba steven it, man? It's a good question. If you're behind the car, near the gas at all, everybody back there has to be in 100% flame-proof clothing. So your shoes, your socks. You don't have it on your beard. You're right.

I actually think technically I was not following code. I think that that thing is supposed to be over my beard. Flag on the play. Take the metal away from them. Don't you do this, Travis. Don't you do this. But I'll say that not only were we there on behalf of Hendrick Motors to witness what it's like to be in a pit crew, to see a race firsthand, to hear in the radio, everything that's happening between the driver and the pick crew and the chief, we were also there to just experience Talladega. And to be, as my first time at a NASCAR event.

And it was awesome. All the other teams, the way it's set up, the people that were there, the energy. Like when you watch it on TV, it does not do it justice. And everybody has said that to me for years. I went to the Indy 500 in college felt similarly, but there's a level of having all of your senses engaged and watching these machines operate at this level that takes over you when you're there live.

Like you feel, you literally feel these cars coming by you, not just the whin, ding ding ding ding. The revving of the motors, right? You feel the ground moving and shaking in some ways. Like it is a, it is a very, sensory-driven experience. Whether you're in there, whether you're out there sitting on an RV,

watching outside of it, it was fun. It was a blast, especially now that I know more about it, rather than just watching them go around and circling them to be like, I don't know how most of this works. These guys are really good to take a left turn.

Somebody crosses it when the checkered flag is going. But yeah, awesome experience. Really appreciate them welcoming me in to kind of train with them and see what it's like firsthand. these changers. My guy Rod and Jafar,

freaking, they got five bolts. They got the single lug in the cup series. It's just one lug in the cup series. They're getting five of these things off, taking it on. I mean, it's wild. It's good time. Hell yeah, man.

And Hendricks is obviously, I mean, they're one of the top dogs every single year going around the NASCAR circuit. That's right. Shout out to Jeff Gordon. Yeah, hell yeah. My guy, Clint Boyer's been in the facility. He's good friends with Brett Veach,

and he's obviously a part of Hendricks, too. and it's a fascinating league. And it got even more interesting since Michael Jordan's come in. I know they had that lawsuit. It's been amazing seeing 23 racing take the fuck off this year. I mean, I'm pretty sure they've won the majority of the races so far. I know he won, I think the first three, four, maybe even like six out of ten or something like that. Those guys are absolutely rolling over there.

Having a good year for sure. And it's been cool to see him kind of take his greatness and have it rub off onto the NASCAR world a little bit. And yeah, it's just, it's such a fascinating sport. And I'm telling you guys, if you guys ever go to a NASCAR event, man, you are not going to be disappointed. That thing is alive. It is rocking. It is not just people just sitting around watching the cars go by. Everybody is engaged.

And there's things around the track and inside the track that you can get it, you can have some fun with as well. You know, I think it's just the, it's the ultimate weekend party if you can get to one of these things. For sure. And the boulevard is equally as fun after the race. highly recommend. Well, last bit of new news we got is George Kittle with like a Jason Kelsey intro for his alarm clock every single morning.

That's interesting. Okay, okay. He tweeted out, can I get a custom one of these introductions for my alarm clock every morning, please? George, we can make this happen. You're going to have to come on the show, though, baby. Let's go!

That's what I was going to say. I gladly do this, but you've got to come on, George. We've been waiting for this. Get my guy on here. Have some fun, man. had so many legendary tight ends and we still haven't had George Cup on. And now he just wants me to give him an intro. No!

You got to be a 92% of first, George. That's how this works. Oh, man. It's crazy how some of like the closest people to me, I haven't like invited on the show yet. The fucking worst, man. Well, you just, you don't like the presumption, right? You don't try to push it. You don't want to like.

Yeah, I don't like asking people. You don't, you don't, you don't, you don't want to impose. It's very standard. Yeah, but I think George would like to come on the show. He's clearly, I mean, he's asking to come on the show with this, right? Sounds like, sounds like he just wants an intro. And George... He doesn't want to come on the show.

He wants to skirt the show and just give the advice. You don't just get these kind of things. You don't get it. You have to come on the show, George. We'd love to, love to give you an intro, George. Get my got kid alone here, man. Anytime you want that you also do us a solid to come on the show. Absolutely.

No, no. All right. In case you missed it, we did have a couple of, episodes dropped last week. There's a lot happening with the draft. A lot of NFL news coming out, but we did drop a Charlize Theron episode. We also dropped a bonus episode with

my former offensive line coach, Jeff Stoutland. They are both out there if you want to check them out. Obviously, Charlize Theron's pushing the unbelievable movie Apex. It is a fucking thriller that you are not going to want to miss. And then obviously Jeff Stoughtland, man. One of the best

to ever do it. And near to your friend to Jason, obviously. It was just cool to sit down and hear his stories, man. And it wasn't just style. You know, we had Malada come on, too. Seleck was on there. We did a little roundtable. Trav and I talked to him.

I really wanted it to try and be a celebration of his whole career and some of the things he's done and meant to certain people. Obviously, Malada had a, that clip did really well. One of the things that I think, you know, I think he's being taken a little bit the wrong way. I do want to say this because it feels like it's getting out there is like he mentioned, you know, I asked him, you know, what went wrong last season? his answer by a lot of people because he said,

you know, you got to call the right play and the right defense, that's being made to look as though that's a dig solely at Kevin Petula. I really think if you look at the whole quote, if you look at the whole quote, and this is the way Stout is, you know, the whole quote is really referencing the players and the coaches. He talks about executing the plays,

execution and then calling, not calling bad plays into bad defenses. And although Petula was the play caller, I know Stout. And like, everybody's involved in that gameplay. everybody's involved in building that thing. So the plays in them getting called. Really, all he's saying there is to be successful in football,

it comes down to the players executing and the coaches putting the players in the best position possible. And last year, that didn't happen. That's what that was trying to say with that quote. So whatever. Just so you 92 percenters understand, the offensive coordinator is given the responsibility of putting the game plan together, right? He is a huge, huge, huge part of putting the past. game together, matching it up with the run game that is put together.

But there are different, like the offensive coaching staff comes together and somebody's given the run game, somebody's given the past game, somebody's given the play action game, somebody's given the screen game. There are people that are putting in their input on what the red zone looks like versus what backed up looks like when you're when you're backed up to your own red zone. Like this is a, this isn't just one guy putting together a game and everybody following lead. You know what I mean?

Like this is, it is everybody on the same understanding that this is the best thing for us to attack the team that we're playing this week. So to throw it all on one person, first of all, Stout would never fucking do that. And second of all, for people to make that assumption, I think is pretty unfair. Yeah. I mean, I get it because he said calling plays, but that's not the intention of it. A lot of people just, like you said, don't understand what goes into all the plays that happened on the game day. All right. That's it for new news.

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to it. We can pull up the photo of Arville Reese at the draft in his Reese's suit. Okay. Another Clevelander on the Reese's train. I see you, dog. There we go. There we go. Look at him. Look at the young fella. Complete tucks with the Reese's on the inside. Oh, wow, ball player right there if I've ever seen one. Anyway, Reese's has two new limited edition cups. The returning Reese's Strawberry PB&J Cup and the new Reese's marshmallow cup, two winning combos for an epic lunch. Get these. Reese's Strawberry P.B. and J. Cup and the new Reese's marshmallow cup today. It's only available a limited time only.

Whether you're in school or almost after summer, these new Reese's are the lunchtime redemption you never know you need it. They might make you wonder if everything happens for a Reese's. Hi. I see what you did there. I see what you did? I see what you did. I see how do you doing now? You're insane. Well, how about we get into some NFL draft recap, Jason. How about it, huh? I love that idea, Travis. I had a feeling you'd be down. Draft recap is brought to you by Expedia. The one place you go to go places. Chiefs Picks, we moved up to pick six. We had the ninth pick and the 29th pick, and we traded up for the best DB in the draft,

baby. Nice. He almost like he knew it was coming. Is that a red suit? He was in a red suit? No, I think the red light is on him. I think it was. It was more of like a... It's making a look more. Yeah, it was more of like, what's that color? Like a... I don't know. I'm terrible with colors.

Like a dusty rose. But DB Manchir, he's down there, Louisiana guy, I believe. Went to LSU. And this face was made when he saw the chiefs trade up. So he knew he was going to a pretty respectable team once this happened. And I'm sure he got the call when he saw him going up. Delane on getting drafted by the Chiefs. A lot of top 10 teams, they're really not too good.

But that's not the situation here. We have a championship team. Just had one little down year. But we're right back at it. And that's what I'm talking about, baby. Already coming with the fucking mindset of being a fucking top team. I absolutely love it. We had the first round pick, the 29th pick, as well as moving up to get Delane, Clemson D&Pet and Peter Woods at 29.

And I'm pretty pumped about getting somebody on the other side of Chris Jones there on the D-line. Obviously, speed is out the world at how big he is. And I think he's going to fit right in and Spag scheme here. Yeah, I mean, listen, I think that's one of the beautiful things about Spag's scheme. He can find guys that really fit what he envisions within the defense. He's always very multiple. You see guys that go in there and do specific tasks. And obviously, they like this kid to go up there and get him in the first round.

And I also like the Delane pick, that DeVins of Backfield has been picked apart so much over the past, what, three years or so. Justin Reed, you got Legerius Sneed. I'll say this. A lot of the big-name DBs that we've had years past are elsewhere right now. So getting an unbelievable DB, the best in the draft, and then getting a guy on the D-line that can really help Chris Jones not get double-teened as much or at least create matchups to where this kid can thrive early on and really bring something to the team.

I think that's going to be a huge part to the defense. But, I mean, it doesn't stop there on the D-line. We got R. Mason Thomas, Edge from Oklahoma. The guy's a fucking freak in nature in terms of athleticism and explosiveness. I can't wait to see how this guy gets after the quarterback, man. It's been kind of something that the Chiefs have been looking at to get better at, and that's getting after the QB and really putting quarterbacks under duress, man. Obviously, we've always had Chris Jones there, and George is a fucking workhorse.

Got Gillette last year, but I think this is going to be a game changer at the edge position. I know he had a hamstring last year on an unbelievable fumble recovery. So we'll see him when he gets in the building. I'm sure Spags will have a fun time putting him to work as well. There we go. Who else we got here? We got another cornerback from Oregon. He's kind of more of a nickel guy.

I'm excited to see this guy get to work Spags. Obviously, his nickel package is it can get confusing to a lot of guys. So I'm sure Jaden Kennedy is going to fucking be quite the chess piece for Spags. But after that, two to three picks that I'm pretty fucking excited about. And that's because they're all finally got to the offensive side of the ball in round five. Emmett Johnson, running back from Nebraska, I believe he was like first team, Big Ten, won a few awards at the running back position last year. We actually got to see him live when Nebraska played Cincinnati at Arrowhead.

And then the other sideline, Cyrus Allen, wide receiver from Cincinnati, who I am fucking jacked up to see. We got another bear cat in the building. We actually got two bear cats in the building. One came as well as Jeff Caldwell in the free agency pickup. But Cyrus Allen is, he's a route runner, man. He's a route runner. When we were talking about, you know, what do I want to see in a guy in the wide receiver room?

He has his own twist on a lot of routes. And he has the quickness. He has the decisiveness. He really knows how to use his shoulders and his quickness and rhythm to get DBs in a buying, man. Listen, he's from Cincinnati, so you know he's going to be tough. You know he's going to be physical. He's going to be a guy that loves football. Andy loves drafting Bearcats.

I mean, look how many successful Bearcats he's drafted. Not just me and you, Brent Seleck, Trent Cole. Brian Cook. Oh, Cook. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, either way, Andy loves the Bearcats. Cyrus Allen, Cincinnati Bearcats, tough, physical, fast.

Browell! Get this dude out of here. Overall, I thought we did an unbelievable job on getting young guys that looked like they love ball on the film that I watched of him and look like they can come in and help out right away, man. Garrett Nussmeier, son of a coach. I was actually with his father in Philadelphia. We'll see. Yeah. What do you think of the Chiefs draft class draft?

A lot of defense early, getting some offensive pieces late. I guess you got to solve some of the offensive stuff early in the draft this year, or earlier in free agency this year with Kenneth Walker. Yeah, man, I'm pumped. I'm pumped on just seeing these young guys getting in the building. You know, I thought we had a great team last year. We got a lot of those pieces back, and the ones that we lost, we filled those needs ASAP. So I think these guys, once they get in the building,

they feel the culture and they feel how we do things here. It's an exciting time, man. And I thought, shout out to Brett Veach and the crew for doing their, doing hard work and getting the guys that we need in the building, man. All righty. Well, Eagles also had a draft this week, and they went round one, pick 20, Mackay, and wide receiver out of USC was the Bolitnikoff.

I don't know if that's how you say it, but he was the receiver of the year in college football. Should be pretty good. This was a patented Howie Roseman pick. He was expected to be a top 15 guy, started sliding, and how he trades up ahead of the Steelers to snag him at pick 20. You know, this is just further proof that I think this Eagles' offense is changing, right? Like, you know, the Eagles and Jaylen Hertz have not throwing the ball over the middle of the field very much.

That's something that fans have criticized a lot. and this was really most of his production in college, right? He's a shorter guy going to operate out of the slot a little bit smaller, but he is physical. You put that film on, man. This guy can play some fucking ball. Catches everything. They're playing some highlights where he is going up and getting the ball.

Strong receiver, too, man. He is a strong receiver. A lot of the comparisons are the Amon Ross St. Brown, mini puka Nakua. And you see exactly with this offense that Sean Mannion is bringing with all the motions and shifting the formations from three by one to two by two, having those guys insert some of the creative, unique things they might be able to do with this guy. Cowboys, not too happy that the Eagles traded up for him or that the Cowboys traded with the Eagles

to allow them to come up to 20 draft, Mackay Lemon. At JD Cowboys 2, I dead ass would have rather traded with North Korea. That's a pretty hilarious tweet right there. I don't know how many picks North Korea had in this one. Didn't see a lot of the Koreans off the board. we have Jerry Jones on trading with the Eagles. If I eliminated trading with all the teams that I wanted to beat their ass, you wouldn't have anybody left to trade with.

Meaning he wants to whoop everybody's ass, not just the Eagles. So if he needs to trade, he's not just, you know, not trading to one team. Well, we sure appreciate it. We sure appreciate it. Eagles have done this where they've been trading up recently. I feel like how a lot of this has gone from like when he sees somebody sliding and sees the perceived value, especially if it's at a position of need, he is not shy at pulling the trigger.

Do the same thing with Jalen Carter. Obviously, we drafted value with Cooper to Jeanne as he was sliding in the draft a couple years ago. They've been doing a great job of getting value out of some of these picks in terms of like where the consensus has them read. Pick two, they go tight end from Vanderbilt, Eli Stowers. I don't know anything about him because I don't watch a lot of college football. I do know quite a bit about him, man. Okay. Well, then go ahead, Travis.

Please tell me. Please tell me. You guys got a stud, man. The word around town is he doesn't have quite the size, but I'm telling you, man, this kid knows how to play some fucking football, man. He knows how to run routes. He's got a good feel. He can run.

And when he has the ball in his hands, man, you'd be surprised on how much, you know, with this lack of size that they're saying, how many tackles he breaks and just how good he is, man. He was one of Vanderbilt's best players, I thought, when I watched the play. And again, it's another thing with this offense, right? Big decision you have to make. Do you go 11 personnel? Do you go 12 personnel?

How can you do all these runs and concepts and motioning guys around? And 12 personnel, a lot of teams utilize it. I mean, the Rams were utilizing 13 personnel, one running back with three tight ends. When you have a guy that can go out wide while also coming inside and block linebackers and safeties, you know, crack down on a defensive end, you have screen options with them. These guys are very valuable. And we see it addressed right away with the first round pick with Mikai Levin and the second round pick with Eli Stowers. Oh, yeah.

Third pick, they address the offensive line. Obviously, Lane Johnson is getting a little bit older. We thought they would take a tackle at some point. Some people thought it would be earlier in the draft. They ended up addressing it at the third round at Pick 68 with Markell Bell. Monstrous of a man. This guy is huge. We don't have his stats up here, but he's something like 6-9-350, basically.

He is a big boy. He's a big boys, big men out here in Philadelphia. He's a big boy. He's a big old son of a gun. Honestly, this one, I mean, Mountie. of a man, long arms, big old hands, not the most fleet of foot. It's a little surprising in some ways to me because this system is more rooted in outside zone concepts. Traditionally, these offenses have drafted guys that can open their hips and run and cut off on the

backside and do screens and play well with the misdirection game. This guy is suited to be a great pass buffer, right? Drop back, long arms, very rangy, going to be very good in that regard, as long as he can mirror and redirect with people. More of a power downhill guy, which some of these offenses have shifted recently. The Rams now run more duo than they do outside zone, right? Those officers start an outside zone. Now they're running more dive concepts, more downhill plays. Maybe that's something that'll tell you about what the Eagles think they might do in the future.

They don't go with the smaller, more athletically nimble tackle. They go with the big stalwart that'll be able to protect the quarterback and run downhill runs. Interesting pick there in the third round. Round five, they go Cole Payton. Get a little quarterback depth from North Dakota State. We've had some North Dakota State success at the quarterback position. Shout out.

Yeah, Cole Payton. Interesting, you know, we still have, we still have Tanner McKee on the roster. Obviously, Jaylon Hertz is the start. We still have Tanner McKee. Still have, went out and signed in this offseason Andy Dalton. Now we have another quarterback in the room. and Cole Payton in round five. Round six, they go, Micah Morris, different than Markle Bell.

Equally is big. Monstrous are men. This guy is explosive. He's close to that 350 Bill Mark 2. I mean, he's a big boy. He's a big boy out of him in Philadelphia. He's close to 340 pushing that, something like that. I mean, the jerseys hanging on for dear life when you put that tape on.

He is 6'5, huge, but this guy can move. I mean, he's jumping 30 inches at that weight. He's running sub 5 in the 40. I don't even know if that's true. But as Raz score was off the charts. Get this dude out of here. Anyways, but honestly, this guy can move. Very explosive.

Honestly, you look at the metrics. It's like, why was this guy around in the sixth round? Which kind of is concerning a little bit. Like when you're that big, that strong, that fast, you're not supposed to be there in the sixth round, right? You're usually going earlier. So maybe the tape is more of a developmental player. I don't know what it's, I didn't watch them specifically.

But when you look at the metrics, like this guy should be a much higher pick. Maybe it doesn't bend well. I don't know. We'll find out, though. I'm excited to watch him play. I like watching big athletic freaks of nature, which gets me to the next guy in the seventh round. Or Bernard from Nigeria.

He's never even fucking playing football. But he looks like a Nigerian god, not a Greek god. A Nigerian Greek god. He's fucking huge. Look at pull him up. Pull up his shit. Six, four and a half, three hundred six pounds, six percent body fat. 39 inch vertical.

10 foot 10 broad jump. 14 inches longer than any other deeper the tackle. 4,6, 3, 4.4. If you put it side by side with Miles Garrett, he's dwarfing him. One caveat, though he hasn't played football. Oh, yeah. Just a small. He's a D-line, man.

Just fucking run fast and hit people and get in the way. Reak havoc. Knock shit over. You're fucking super human. Put his highlights up of him working out. Because I do want to point this out. I'm kind of being funny. There's a lot on this kid's shoulder because of what happened with Jordan Malada, right?

The Eagles in the seventh round. Well, there's a lot on this kid's shoulders because he just got compared to Miles Garrett. Well, before we get to it, watch these highlights and tell me what you see. Because I noticed something right away that I think is going to take some time to develop. Not this part. Look at that. I mean, what the fuck is this? It's like they went to the Arnold Classic and found the biggest specimen they could.

Here's where I started noticing stuff. What do you see? I mean, he's just not used to moving like a football player. He can get going straight, but he's just got to put in a lot of work. And it's a different type of skill set, man. Exactly. Well, here's the thing. The metrics are off the charts. So to get a guy with this much physical talent in the seventh round is incredible. But he's never played the game. There's a level of stiffness in the change of direction and the agility that he's going to have to develop, right? And there's an understanding of the game to have the savviness to play the game within the game that is. Yeah, exactly. It's definitely a developmental guy. But to get drafted in the seventh round is quite defeat for him, all that hard work that he's done to put into his body to get to where he is. right now, man. Hats off, brother. If he can learn to play with great pad level, work on changing direction more efficiently, using his hands. If this all pans out, you could have an incredibly

high player with a high ceiling. Those are a lot of ifs. And it is rare for a guy that's never played the game to just come in and learn the sport, even though football, in defense's line in particular, like, dude, you take big, fast, strong people, they usually pan out. But this is a very green player. It did work out with Jordan Malata. For every Jordan Malata it works out with, there are guys that it doesn't work out with. I remember Brock Lesnar got brought into a camp one year with the Minnesota Vikings, and he was there for maybe one or two preseason games. And, I mean, he is a physical specimen.

You have to also have the knowledge of the game, the desire, the love of the game, especially if you're going to be playing in the trenches, you've got to want it. We're going to see how much he wants it, man, because you're going to get double-teamed. You're going to get blindside. You're going to get, like, trap-blocked. Like, it's, it's, it's as much of a metal game in that interior as it is physical. It's, it can get pretty taxing on, on you if you, or at least you can get pretty humbling in the beginning for him. So hopefully he sticks at it and hopefully the Eagles found someone that's, that's got that Jordan Milata type of spark to him.

Well, and what Jordan had obviously was great coaching too. You know, Jeff Stoughtland, it took him two years working with Jordan to try and get him on the field, right? He almost got cut up until the moment he started producing. this guy's going to be working with Clint Hurt, you know, Jeremiah Washburn. There's really good coaches that Eagles have on that side of the ball. And if I'm a coach, I am so excited to work with this kid. Like you see these metrics. You know there's potential there.

The explosion, the linear ability to move is astronomical. Like you don't see these kind of numbers out of football players really ever at this size. Yeah. So if that type of linear explosion, if we can get the agility going, If we can get the body mechanics right and we can teach the technique and rushing the passer and defending the run and how to use your hands and how to sink your hips and understand formations, there's going to be a learning process, but I am very excited to see if this kid can get it done.

Do you think he's an interior D-line or do you think he's an edge guy? They gave the comparison to Miles Garrett, the 40 and the broad jump and the explosiveness, all that sounds good on paper, but I think he's kind of more of a three technique just based off of how his hips are and just, you know, the techniques and everything like that. I think he'll be a three-four D-end and he'll be a three technique when they reduce from a certain side, right? Like he's not going to be, he might be able to play a five technique with like an outside background, the ball outside of them. I doubt they have him on the edge, right? I doubt he's going to be that player. Maybe, you know, some teams have done that with bigger guys,

especially early downs to just man Mountain Dean tight ends. But I would expect this guy probably to get a lot of work at three technique, four-eye, four technique, five technique, and base defense. I can't wait to see this guy put the pads on first day. I can't wait. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm going to go down there just to watch it myself. He had three picks in the seventh round.

There's actually a pick right before that. I missed over at Cole Wisniewski, safety from Texas Tech Plate with the Wisniewski. He would not transition to a safety. We also got round seven, pick 252. Kishon James Newby, outside linebacker, New Mexico. So Eagles opposite of the Chiefs, they go offense early with some of those higher picks. And then once they got to the later rounds, really started addressing some of the defensive needs. Well, still was primarily offense, actually.

They didn't draft the defensive guy until round seven. But then they went straight defense. Either way, I'm excited a lot about this class. The other part of the Eagles draft was Howie trading the two third round picks to the Vikings For Jonathan Grenard, this was a missing piece on that defense. Obviously, Jalen Phillips signed a $120 million deal in free agency. They lost out on that edge defender who really brought a lot to the defense midway through the season. Now they get Jonathan Granard a very good player from Minnesota.

More years 100 mil. Yeah. How much money does Philly have, man? Howie is a wizard. I mean, he just finds a way to get it done. I don't know that. I feel like they can finagle whatever they want because they just know how to structure it. I don't really understand how it works.

Oh, also I got to shout out Jeffrey Lurie for spending the money. But yeah, they find a way to get really good players and they do it very often by spending a fuck ton of money. So shout out to the Lurys for investing in the team. Shout out to Howie for understanding the salary cap and how to finagle every dollar you can out of that thing to maximize the talent on the roster. So that is also a huge part of the Eagles draft, which ultimately with that alone is a successful draft. Mackay Lemon pan out. Some of these guys, they picked the tight end from Vanderbilt.

I mean, this guy in the seventh round, if we get another Jordan Malata, although I don't want to start anointing him yet. A lot to like about this draft from the Eagles. All righty, outside of Eagles and Chiefs, there were a bunch of other players selected in this year's draft. Yeah, roughly 290. We do not watch a lot of these guys,

but we are excited to see something play. Obviously, everybody's talking about Fernando Mendoza, number one, overall to the Raiders, and people have known that for a long time. Only the fourth quarterback since 1967 to win the Heisman, the Natty, and go number one overall in the same season. That's an interesting stat. There you go. I'm interested to see, you know, exactly how they go about playing them.

Obviously, they have current cousins. I know Ty Simpson was picked by the Rams. Matthew Stafford. Our guy, Matt Stafford, is still, obviously, he's just one MVP. He'll be the starter there. So you get a guy that's, you know, looking to learn under him. I'm not, I'm interested to see if, you know, that's the approach the Raiders take. Yeah, where do you stand on that?

Like, I do. I mean, I'm for it, obviously, because I've seen it work. I've seen it happen. You know, I've seen Pat Mahomes learn under Alex Smith. You got Aaron Rogers, Pat Mahomes. A lot of really big name guys sat for a second. But there's also a lot of big Tom Brady behind you bloodso. There's a learning.

process, but at the same point to what Dionne Sanders said, man, I never learned nothing sitting on the bench. Like, you need to go out there and play to do the best, like. Out of the Dion, that was an epic fucking quote. It was a banger. Peyton Manning, I mean, led the league in interceptions, but he played his rookie year and learned a lot, I'm sure. Yeah.

I mean, look, what Caleb Williams was able to do last year. I do think in general, more so than playing or not, I think it's really good for young quarterbacks in particular to learn how to prepare, to learn how to watch film. to learn all that stuff from veteran quarterbacks that have been doing it for a long time and know that side of it. So like, Mendoza is one of the best at that. Yeah, Mendoza is in a great situation just being in the same room with Kirk Cousins. Regardless of what the playing time situation ends up being at the end of the day,

he is going to learn a ton about what it takes to compete and prepare at the highest level. Same thing, obviously, for Ty Simpson. And I'm sure he's got old Tom Brady right there at his back pocket, helping him if he ever needs, you know. That's a good point. There's another. There's another guy there. Yeah, you're right.

All right. Well, outside of those quarterbacks, another big draft pick for this show was Jets Jake not getting who he wanted the Jets to take because he knows exactly who should have been taking at number two. Dude, David Bailey is a fucking dog. You cannot possibly be upset at them getting David Bailey. Oh, he is. And the dude is a fucking game changer.

Jake, before they picked, said, don't mess it up, Jets, with a picture of a handwritten sticky note. Arvel Reese no matter what. I mean, he put in the time to really study who they should pick. I mean, listen, Arvel Reese, Glenville High School up there in Northeast Ohio up in Cleveland. The Glenville guy. Oh, yeah. Went to Glenville, Ohio State, to the NFL, as we know it.

For a lot of guys, it's almost a powerhouse up there in Cleveland in terms of getting guys to, yeah, getting guys to Ohio State or getting guys to the Big Ten into the NFL. So I'm excited for. for, you know, just to see Arvel Reese, you know, play some football in the league, man, fellow Cleveland guy. But I think David Bailey was a pretty goddamn good pick. Nothing will bring me greater joy than when David Bailey turns into like a 10-year New York jet, like multiple Pro Bowls and it's like, yeah, I just can't wait for Jake

to have to eat that entire sticky note. Sorry, love you, Jake. All right. Last thing, shout out the lineman, Caleb Lomoo drafted in Flipthops and Jorts. This is a big green flag for offensive linemen wearing jorts and flip flops. With a quarter of it? No. I mean, I'm fine with a quarter zip.

Quartersips is nice and comfy. I got those nice jeans. So nice. Yeah, they're not cutoffs. Definitely better. It's a bigger green flag if you cut off those jeans shorts yourself. Those are bought shorts. What's the?

Bought jorts. Not made jorts. Well, maybe he's not as good with scissors. Either way, I did love the internet. falling in love with him dancing. Did you see these dance moves from my guy, Caleb? I did. I did see them again.

Come on, put him up there. Very similar. Lane Johnson's got some similar moves. I've seen him pull in the locker room. I think it's a, you got good hips, fluidity, smooth. To be, to move like this, you know, you got to be kind of athletic. You can't just be pulling that out if you're big stiffy. No, listen, if you're, hey, hey.

I think this is a major green flag. I really do. Good hips, rhythm, loose, confident. Come on now. Show it all, big dog. That's hilarious. All right. That's a wrap for the New Heights draft recap.

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Untravel shop. Ain't that the truth. Flights, hotels, vacation rentals, cars, activities, everything is right there on the app. Dude, I remember going on trips when we were kids and it felt like everything was booked on Expedia because of how much mom went through all these different avenues to make sure it was all set up for us. Yep. I mean, it definitely just makes it more synchronized and just makes it feel easier when you're actually on the church. itself. No quite, especially when mom's taking care of all of that logistical. Yeah, mom,

mom had some help from Expedia to really nail down those trips. Dad, you just do the driving. Yeah, dad, you, I mean, he might have books. Yeah, mom, yeah, mom did most of the heavy lifting. Here's the thing about planning a group trip. It gets messy fast. Everyone's got different schedules, different ideas. Yeah, but no stress, Jason.

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And that brings us to our next section, the one we've been looking forward to all show. It's time for our convo with Blake Griffith. That's right. The legend. The one and only. This conversation is brought to you by Reese's. Tia Blake's highlights. What was watching?

God, damn. That alone will be the most electric episode we've ever done. So what about this one? Do you remember this one? Holy shit. How did you learn to jump so high? What were you thinking? What were you thinking when you did that?

When you jumped over Timothy Moskov, was that planned? Or how did you feel about that? Like, I told you that I'm trying to dunk for the first time of my life, right? I told you this, right? Oh, yeah, that's right. How's it going? Well, I tore my quad. Oh, so not good.

No, I was going to say he's, yeah, go ahead, Jason. Tell him how you tore your quad. All right. So I've been doing this type of training where apparently you, like, you lift heavy and then you do like explosive jumping afterwards. It's supposed to make you jump higher if you're not born naturally with it, right? So I was doing heavy quarter squats. If you're not born.

Supplemented with jumping on top of a box. So I had, well, I did seven plates the week. before and I was doing quarter squats of that and then jumping up on the box and it was working my initial high of jumping like running and jumping my initial height of running and jumping was like 10-6 like it was embarrassing start I was up over 10-10 so I was like high enough to get there I feel like so I just wanted like that no see I got a little bit of a chance I can't have a little you got a little you got a baby you got your baby bowl. Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum I like that. So I try to get just one more inch, hopefully.

And I go back in there and I'm squatting again. The week after that, I tore my quad doing the quarter squat and had to sit it down. But I'm getting ready to start it again. Do you have any, like, how did you learn to jump so high? What were the, what are the techniques that you implemented to jump over human beings? I got to be honest, man, having a black dad helps. I don't know. I mean, my mom, you know, God bless her.

She didn't bring much to the table. More of a runner, you know, long distance. Cardi. Yeah, I don't know. That helps for sure. I got to say, the quarter squat box jump combo wasn't really in my, wasn't in my. You didn't. have to resort to that.

Yeah. I've been doing this thing called the penultimate step. Have you ever heard of the penultimate step? All right, I'm going to stop talking. I'm just going to do your intro. All right, here we go. No, man, I just jumped.

That felt like that was the intro. All right. Our guest today is the 6'5 forward from the University of Oklahoma was the number one pick in the 2009 NBA draft. 2011 slam dunk contest champion, six-time NBA all-star, five-time All-MBA. He made his broadcasting debut this NBA season, his studio panelists on Amazon Prime 92 percent.

Please welcome, perhaps the greatest dunker of all time. Blake Griffin! Hyped up right now. Yeah, baby. I am sweating. I am sweating from that. He usually blows a gasket. Well, yeah, a bust of blood vessel on your eye.

Appreciate you jumping on the show, man. How's broadcast he going, dog? Your guys are in the heat of the fucking playoffs right now. You get the full year under your belt. How you've been to join Amazon? It's been awesome, man. I figured I was going to enjoy it. Obviously, we love the sport we play.

But I enjoy it so much more. And part of that is just like, dude, I get to sit in a room and watch the games with Dirk Nowinsky, Steve Nash, Edna's Haslam. Taylor Rook is our host, and she's awesome. So it's like, we just sit there and we watch games and talk. And like, that part's fun. But also trying to usher in. this new era of sports media and how people view the game, especially in basketball.

I think football, they do such a good job. But basketball, I think it needed sort of like an education and like an uplifting standpoint because obviously like you guys know like it's not easy. Like we're all, you know, training extremely hard, trying to win, putting forth so much effort. And, you know, sometimes it comes down to these little things. So just trying to like educate fans to sort of see the game, I guess, through the way we see it. It's been a blast, but I've had so much fun. Well, Jason is very much one of those people that think everybody, the NBA is just out there running and jumping and chucking up threes.

I've never said that once. Not wrong. Not wrong. Let me ask you this. How has the game changed? Because it does feel like the NBA has changed from, especially when we were kids. It's continuing to evolve. It's continuing to use more floor space.

How have you seen it continue to change? change now as an analyst from when you played? Well, for one, the pace has changed. And there's all these advanced analytics that talk about pace, right? But pace is sort of a deceiving stat because it's sort of just tracking, you know, how much you're going up and down. But now with every player being so skilled, like now centers shoot threes, power force, everybody shoots three.

Everybody can handle the ball to a certain extent. Now, some guys don't. But most teams and most of the good teams, everybody is such a dynamic player that the court is even more spread out. So now you're seeing longer closeouts. You're seeing guys be able to drive and kick and all that stuff in the half court is happening so much more. I also think that a side note, like that's why we're seeing a few more injuries. Like the pace is sure, it's similar to like the 90s, but there's so much more movement and so much more dynamic movement.

Oh, interesting. You know, we've gotten to a place where the game. I think the game is in a good place. It's just different than it was. And a lot of that was, you know, Golden State coming in and, you know, Splash Brothers and all these teams shooting. threes and I also had this thing where it's like, you know, that was great for them. And they had two of the best shooters of all time. Yeah.

And now you're sort of watching, you know, some of these other teams, like teams that are sort of tanking or rebuilding and young and they're playing the same way. And it's like, it's glaring when you're taking 53s and you're missing, you know, 42 of three. 50 fucking three. Makes some adjustment. Is insane. Yeah.

Insane for an entire game. I mean, by the way, that's like, it's like normal now. Like teams that don't even shoot the three. well shoot high 40s. So yeah, it's wild. But like I, you know, I still, I can always find things that I really appreciate about the game. I mean, we have some of the best young players. We sort of have this like weird moment right now, or it's a great moment of like, we still have the LeBron's, the KDs, the Steffs, like all these guys that we've known for years, but we also have these young guys who are fucking incredible. And they are like ushering in this new era of superstars.

So to me, the game's in such a good place. And I'm excited about it. Give me a quick three of these young guys. Who do you think is really going to be taking over this league? Or who are your three favorite or a couple of them right now? I mean, Wimby is like, like if he gets insane, dude, he's an alien. Can't tell me he's not an alien. If you haven't had to see him play in person, I got to see him in person for the first time.

Like, his follow through on a free throw is like 9, 9, 10. You know what you like? And when he fades away, you're not blocked. you're not blocking it. And then defensively, it's fun to watch him play defense. And we don't really say that often about guys. So he's like the obvious like outlier of just like a complete freak of nature, but also so dedicated to the game. Shea's obviously just on his care. We'll win another MVP in my opinion and they're the best team in basketball. Another guy I love watching and plays, Cade cutting him. Nice. Yeah. He's like I think he's so good. I mean, he's so under

control. You finally took off this year. Head Detroit number one in the east. So like I said, games in a good place. And that's just three of the few young guys that are really good. Are there guys in the league that you watch play? You're just like, man, if I just had one fucking dribble, I'd fucking go up and put him in his place and stuff him in the fucking rim. Brother every day. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's like, I don't know.

It's hard to, I'm sure, Jason, I'm sure you, like, you know, it's hard to not to watch games and think like, oh, man, like certain moments, especially end of games, big plays, like big moments. Like, that's the one thing that I feel like I do miss that you never really get back. But also, like, and I gave everything I had to my career, and I'm happy with what I'm doing now. And it's fun to be on this side. But yeah, I'd for sure challenge a lot of those guys. I'd try. It might not go well, but I'd try.

Well, we've got to ask you, as two Clevelanders, what do you think of the calves? What are we going to do in the playoffs? Toronto just tied it out. Oh, fuck. Yeah. I know. We'll see. So the biggest thing was like, man, like physicality in the playoffs over the last couple of years has sort of been the thing that they didn't match well. And the first two games against Toronto, you're like, man, this team looks pretty good. You know, they're playing free. I think they're so talented. Donovan Mitchell is unbelievable. We know what James Hardin is. I think they just need to get some of that like, you know what? Like, let's go out and let's play defense aggressively as we possibly can. Take the Oklahoma City model of like they just foul. shit out of people and they sort of look at the reps like, I dare you to call everyone. You can't. That's kind of the Belichick way in the NFL.

Make them call it in the playoffs. You know what I mean? And the game just changes in the playoffs. So I love their team. I think like, especially if Orlando gets past Detroit, like, that's their matchup in the second round. And Orlando's sort of up and down. They match up well lengthwise.

So I think they've got a chance. You just need to see them play like a really a much more physical brand of basketball, I think in my phone. Come on, Mowgli. Come on, baby. Start throwing those fucking bows in the fucking paint, man. Mowgli was the guy that, like, I realized, like, I should probably retire when I was, like, lined up next to him. It was just a freak.

Just 6-11, like, I couldn't get around him. I was like, you know what? It's right time. Is there an art with, like, the fouls to, like, one, not get called, but two, just really get in the other person's set, especially if they're, like, a shooter. Like, what do you do to, like, take a team out of three-point shooting by getting maybe their best players rattled? Yeah, I think it's, like, very player-dependent. Like, some guys don't like contact.

Some guys do like contact. The guys that don't like contact, it's about, like, from the tip, like, making sure you get a hand on or they feel you at every moment, you know, like, really, like, making them realize, hey, it's going to, you're going to be in for a long night. Like, physically, I'm going to, like, I'm going to rough you up a little bit for, team-wise, taking away the three is so hard, because like we just talked about, the court's so spread out. I think that's what Detroit's running into right now is, you know, they don't have a lot of great three-point shooting, and on top of that, they're not shooting the ball well from three,

and so that court just shrinks, you know, so they're packing the paint. So now you're not getting inside as easily, and the whole game changes. So defensively, like, to me, physicality in the playoffs is what really, like, sets team apart. Like, Oklahoma City, like I just mentioned, like they are they're on you at every moment of the game and you know i i say they foul

i wouldn't say they just play so physical that they're sort of setting but the team that hits first and sets the you know the the physicality level like that's the team that sort of dictates the game in my opinion especially similar similar in the NFL man if you come out and you fucking set the tone early man that that'll uh that'll put a team in a tough position yeah is that like a thing you guys would like talk or think about is like, hey, like, what, you know, whether, even if you're starting offensively, like, you're like, hey, like, we just want to make our presence felt first, first drive. First play, we're going to come out in 13 percent.

We're kind of out with three tight ends and we're going to run dive right at them. And we're going to set this tone. We're coming right down the middle. It would also be also telling what the coaches thought of the game because it'd be like, hey, second play, we're going to start with a trick play. And it's like, okay, you don't think we can have to physically. Like, we're going straight to the trick place. Got it, coach.

We're going flea flicker. They'll never, we've got to sneak one off the top of these boys. He didn't really believe in this like a funny day. Okay, so like, let me ask you a question. Like, you'd come out, like, say you get hit in the mouth first, how hard is it to change that through the course of the game? I mean, again, that probably, it depends on who it is. Like, some guys, the physicality affects them more,

in some position it affects them more, right? Like quarterback, if you get rattled, some of those guys can respond from it and some of those guys just the rest of the game are thinking about it and it makes them a tick off in their timing or get them off their spot. They start setting up deeper, which messes all sorts of other things up.

For me personally, I don't know. Like, if I got hit early, I would just be like, man, next time that happens, I'm going to make sure I fucking don't get mollywapped. You know what I mean? Like, I'm going to learn my lesson there. I'm going to go down with my head down and get a 15-yard penalty, but I'm not letting that happen again.

Great. Great. You can get you some mollywap right there. No, I kind of need that first hit. I like that first hit that happen early for me. It does kind of snap you into it. It, like, kind of gets the juices flowing, activate some things, get your mind into it.

And then from there, it's just kind of like, you know, the armor is set and you're ready to fucking roll. But I kind of like getting involved early, so I get that catch and try and, you know, impose my will or set the tone with the first down or something like that. Get up and start hooting and hollering and get guys pissed off on the other side of the ball. Yeah. Oh, that's the best. When you know you've got a team pissed off, it's the best.

Dude, so you used to play football? What position? You got to tell you, what age did you stop playing? I stopped my sophomore year. I was just like playing too much basketball, but I was like a wide receiver and like a safety. I was like, I didn't really like fill out until like after my sophomore year. You were a safety? Did we do six, nine as a sophomore?

How tall were you? No, no, I was like, sophomore year I was probably only like six, or freshman year I was probably like six five, six four. But I was, dude, I was so skinny. I could not put on weight. So it was like I couldn't play defensive end. I couldn't, you know. And Oklahoma football was like, they, it's, they're like, they're just go out there

and like, you know, just patrol around and any jump ball, just try to go get it. Right home, man. Did you ever do the Oklahoma? Madreel? Oh, yeah, dude. Let's go. My eighth grade year was the first year I played tackle. We did the Oklahoma drill, and I made the mistake of like, all right, I'm really going to, kind of like you said, I'm going to keep my head down and just got hit on the top of the head,

like stinger all down my... Oh, the old whack-a-mole. Oh, man, that's the worst. Yeah, turtle. The last play of my high school career in the playoffs and caught a pass across the middle, maybe 10 yards. Same play. Caught another pass across the middle.

yards, we go back to it. And this linebacker who was assigned to like Tulsa or something, you know, small school in Oklahoma just absolutely levels me. And all I remember is just like staring up into the night sky trying to catch my breath. And I see him over me and he just does the, get to get the penalty. And I was like, you know what? I think we're good. I think basketball.

Maybe. Well, this is pertinent because we used to ask basketball guys. It wasn't in the rundown. But do you think you could have played in the NFL? I mean, I would have had to, like, really dedicate time to it. I mean, you never know. I mean, there's so many guys that are, like, later bloomers. Like, I think, like, when it comes to, like, this, like, whole debate,

I think it's very interesting because everybody thinks they can do everything else. But it's just, like, I don't think people realize, like, I've learned this from, like, talking to, like, you know, Whitworth or, like, Ryan Khalil, you guys know. And it's, like, listening to them talk about the game of football. And like all the nuances and all the things that they have to think about and do, it really like lets you know that like, we are all, we all don't know what we're talking about. You think we can go do these things. Because you watch these guys do it and you're like, well, not that it looks easy,

but you do it so well that you think like, oh, I could do that. But you also, you're not thinking about all the variables and all these other things that are going into it. And like, you just don't know until you've been put in that situation. Like, I've had teammates who can't remember the. play out of the timeout. Oh, no. Oh, no. What do we? Like, how can we, how could we expect somebody to go out and, like, be in a two-minute drill and, like, remember all this when, like, we can't remember one play? Just so you know, there's some guys that we've played with that aren't very good out the timeout either. Like, that's not exclusive to baseball. There was one player not too long ago.

There was a player not too long ago who was in his later years. I'm not going to say who it was, but would literally leave the huddle on the biggest play of the game and ask me, what he had. And I'm just like, what? God, get it. Oh, the amount of time,

yeah, it's tough. Like, hey, where am I supposed to be? And then I secretly tell him to do something so that I get open.

It's the best. Just, all right, here. Clear it out for me. Who do you have winning at all in the playoffs this year?

Or the NBA championship, I just say. I mean, Oklahoma City is the best team, like, barring, like, an injury.

I mean, there's a little bit banged up right now. But they look fantastic. The East is super interesting to me because Boston was supposed to be, this was supposed to be like a down, down year. You know, like with all the injuries, they traded guys away. It was Jason Tatham was out.

And then Jalen Brown just had a monster year. They had guys step up. Brad Stevens literally a couple hours ago, one executive of the year. I mean, they just put this team together so well. Joe Mizzula is a great coach. Jason Tadon's now back. And so to me now, after watching how, you know, Cleveland looks, Detroit looks, and the Knicks look.

Like, I'm like, man, Boston, Boston, in my opinion right now is the team that's going to match up with Oklahoma City in the finals. But Oklahoma City healthy, man. Like, that's tough. They're a good team. Being from Cleveland, I'll still hope that they find a way to get physical on the defensive side. Come on, Cald. Come on. You heard him, boys.

Just get physical. Just listen to Blake. Come on. Go listen to Blake. Go watch Lance Stevenson clips from when he was with the Paisers. Do you remember that when he was doing? fucking LeBron's ear. That's not the physicality that we're talking about.

That's not what Blake's going to be the opposite of what I'm talking about. Well, Blake, you and your brother got drafted in the same year. How about that? How often do you remind him that you were the first overall pick and he was 48? Oh, man. You know what? I pretty much every day. No, that was like, dude, that was like, talk about like a,

dream come true. I mean, obviously you guys both got to play at the same time. But like, man, like draft night, like, it was like a little stressful because it was like, you know, I was fortunate enough to go one. And then we were kind of waiting around. And then when it happened, it was just like, this is the best night ever, you know, family, friends there. And like, you know, to like do that thing that you've been watching on TV for so long and being like, one day I hope to do it. To do it with your brother the same year was, it was pretty cool. And your, your brother's in the financial world now, right? Yeah, he's a, he started, when he retired, like, my brother, my brother was always, like, straight-A student,

four perfect kids, great basketball player. Yeah, yeah, so annoying. Never be, Jason. I was always Taylor's brother growing up. I was like, oh, it was Taylor's brother. And I was just like, but yeah, so when he retired, like, I was like, man, nobody better to, like, sort of have in my corner to, like, help me out. And, like, not even, like, as a man, but he started sort of managing my investment stuff.

You know, it was kind of like spread out all over the place. And he put his head down and went around and met with a bunch of people and really figured out that space really well. I went to work for a PE company. And now we have a VC fund that we run. And it's a blast. I mean, it's still to this day being able to like, you know, like you guys, being able to like still do stuff together is like, this the best. That was always, I was always little Kels. It was like, yeah, there's a little Kels.

He's pretty good at sports, but you can't read or write. So who knows? Who knows? We still haven't seen it play in game yet. Good kid, good kid, though. Good kid, though. Yeah, we're looking at you now. You can read now.

Yeah. Thank you. Well, audio. Yeah. That's why Jason does the intros. Hit that one on the head. Half the time, I can't even pronounce the name of the people we have on here. Your dad coached you guys in high school?

Yeah, man. You guys had to have won state. We did. I won four, and my brother won two. And it was, we played in like a little bit lower division, but man, my dad was like a, like a legendary high school basketball coach. He's coached for 40 plus years and like, I don't know, 15 state championships, something like that. He must have played, right? Yeah, he played, he played like basketball and football in college, like low, like a small college. And then when he coached football and then he only coached basketball. I think like when I was young, I think maybe like eight or nine, he kind of stopped coaching football and just was like all basketball. These boys going to the NBA, waste my time with that pig skin. He had a vision.

Yeah, it was awesome, though. It was really cool. And also, like, dude, like, you know, like, he pushed me harder than maybe another coach would have because he knew exactly how to make me make me work, you know. And I was like, you know, sounds like I was a little bit more like Travis, just a little bit, little scattered, a little everywhere, getting in trouble a little bit too much. You got a good gross spurt. everybody saw the potential.

I'm like, oh, okay, now, okay, now we'll give this kid a chance. Wow, he's powerful. He just jumped the top of the back year. That's amazing. It's all those quarter squats, man. That's right. Dude, when you came on the scene at OU,

holy fucking shit, did you know that you were just going to fucking take it over like that? Like, I don't know how to explain it. We were watching it from the fucking mid, like Cincinnati and Cleveland, and you fucking. we're dunking on everybody going coast to coast fucking just the most athletic powerful. Did you know, did you know you like we're going to take over the fucking college basketball

world like that? No, dude. I mean, my freshman year, I had like a solid freshman year. And I like, there was some moments my freshman year. I was like, okay, like I can do this. Like I feel like, you know, I'm getting a little bit of buzz here. But decided to come back, didn't enter the draft after my freshman year. Decided to come back.

And dude, I went away. my brother and I went and worked out with us. We found this trainer in San Francisco. Those guys were nuts. And we went for two straight months, had no money, you know, in college. And we worked out for two straight months. It was like six days a week. We were like running sand hills.

And it's like unconventional training. We do basketball in the morning, work out in the afternoon, go back and do basketball. And that's when I came back to campus for like summer workouts, it was like a very clear difference. And like it was big for me because it was like I really. realized, you know, the value of hard work. And I always felt like I worked hard, but like, I really, like, put in, put in a lot of time. And that's sort of when I made that, like, jump. And then my, my sophomore year was kind of when I sort of broke out, like, on a national scale. But, man, college was so fun. I loved every, every minute of it. Was it always Oklahoma? It actually wasn't. So my brother committed and played there as freshman year. And then they got a new coach. Kelvin Samson left. There was, like, some recruiting violations. They got this new coach. And, I honestly, like, dude, I loved Kansas. I loved Florida. Thought about going to play with our boys.

Because, you know, I'd known CP for years, you know, playing at you and stuff. And then I had, like, Duke and North Carolina on my list. But it was kind of like just like a, it felt like it was like a lifelong dream of, like, Duke and North Carolina. But I wanted to go to a place where, like, A, my brother was there. You know, it was close to home. My parents were going to watch his play. And then also just like, wanted to go to a place where you felt like they really believed in you. And you were going to be the guy and you were going to get the opportunity.

And I'm so glad I did. Like, that's always kind of my advice to, like, younger guys. It's like, you can't fall for everything these coaches are telling you. Because, like, you know, their jobs on the line every year, just, you know, just like everybody else. So go to a place that you're really, you know, appreciated, which is crazy because it's the complete opposite now with NIL. Dude, I was about to say, you can go and you can get to the league from. just about anywhere. And that's any league, that is.

You know what I mean? If the film is out there and sometimes all you need is that step in the door, man. But, yeah, it's way different, especially over there in Oklahoma where you guys got an actual, like, booster money. Yeah, they, yeah, football players were eating good. O-line was heavy. Very relatable, obviously, with Travis and I go into Cincinnati. And that was similar to us as, like, I played for three different head coaches.

So that was the model back then. was like you've got to fall in love with the university and like where you're at as opposed to that because that could change i mean on average coaches were getting fired or taking promotions within three years especially at the smaller schools like it was going to be quick turnover but yeah nils change all of it where do you where do you stand on nil are you pro nil i'm somewhere in between because what we've done is effectively that created a pro sports model without the things that keep professional sports on the rails you know like and and you know i sure it's hard to like unionize like all those college athletes. And so to me, what it should be is like football, basketball, men's and women's basketball and football are usually the money earners at schools. And like, so those, those sports, like there should be a union. There should be a collective bargaining agreement. There should be a salary cap that we have to sort of rein in the transfer thing. I get it. Like, you shouldn't be stuck at a school. But you can't, I mean, some guys are on their fifth school. Yeah, there should be a commitment like a kind of like a, like a, a, like a, a,

one, two, three-year deal. Like, there should be something from the player that's like, hey, I'm bought into this relationship as well. I mean, you said it. Like, you have to fall in love with the university. Like, I loved going to the University, Oklahoma. And I'm not saying, like, it's wrong now because kids are doing what they should be doing. Like, go get as much money as possible.

And, you know, for sure. If you're not the starter here, go to a school that'll pay you to be the starter. Yeah. There's no blame from me on the, on the athlete's side. I just think there needs to be parameters. just because, you know, and also something that's not talked about, really, is like, some of the other sports are being affected by this as well, because they're, like, some schools are cutting some of these non-revenue sports.

Oh, shit, you know, and it's messing up the whole ecosystem. And, like, dude, I mean, you look at like, we're always so good at the Olympics because every call, you have so many different avenues to go wrestle, to go to go do whatever sport it is you do. And if, if other sports are affected by this NIL and the big, money-making sports, then I don't think that's okay, too. I think everybody, if we're going to pay student athletes,

everybody should get some. I'm not saying everybody should get the exact same amount, but everybody should get some, and then there should also be, all the other sports should be taken care of as well. So how much did you get under the table at Oklahoma? Dude, that was getting gift cards. Oh, sweet, Applebee's, hell yeah.

Those appetizers at Applebee's are going down easy, boy. was a real Midwestern deep cut. Yeah, no doubt. This is luxury. Longhorn Steakhouse. No way. Dude, the bread rolls at Longhorn Steakhouse. We go to St. Joe, Missouri every fucking year, dude. And it is like the classiest establishment in St. Joe. They're going to fucking kill me for saying that.

But it is literally one of the big, I'm only there for three weeks and is right next to campus. So we go there whenever we want to like get the team together. I fucking pig out. They just bring the rolls out the entire. time. Like it doesn't just start in the beginning. It's just like as they come out of the oven, just like,

yeah, just bring those things on over here. It's the best. Especially, dude, especially like the college towns, too. Like, you go eat like a king. Dude, we had Lane Johnson early when he got there. He was, I forget if it's Longhorn or outback, because I always just associate them as like pretty much the same restaurant on my head.

Yeah. One's got rolls and now. He's got bloomin onions. Either way, he's like, dude, you got to get the chicken fingers. And I'm like, bro, you want me to go get the chicken fingers? He's like, just trust me. How much have you eaten of like Longhorn to know that the chicken fingers? It's like where you're kind of that part of the menu that you're just getting chicken fingers.

So we went and I got the chicken fingers and he was right. The chicken figures were absolutely fantastic. Blake, you're drafted number one overall to Clippers. What was it like going to the NBA being the number one overall draft pick? I mean, truly like, you know, obviously like a dream coming. I'm true, but also, like, I don't know if people remember, but, like, the Clippers was like, it was, you put the clip, yeah, you took the Clippers up there. They had the number one pick for a reason. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, exactly. And like, dude, I remember, like, I think it was Bill Simmons wrote, like, an article, like, saying, like, it was like an open letter to Tommy Griffin, my dad. It was like, don't let the Clippers draft your son. Like, you know what I mean? Like, because they had had, they were famously had, like, three number one picks that none of them panned out. And so it was there was like a lot of unknown and it was like a little a little bit daunting but I kind of like it was sort of you know it helped like the fact that I went to Oklahoma because it wasn't like at the time it wasn't really a program that like you know it wasn't like a top 25 consistently year after year and and the whole conversation I had with my coach Jeff cable there was like

you you want to be a part of building something you know what I mean it means a lot to to to do that and so I sort of had that experience in college and I kind of went in the NBA sort of with the same mindset. Like, hey, like, let's try to turn this around. And, like, I don't think I realized the history of the Clippers at the time. But, you know, we got lucky. You know, we had some great young players. And Chris Paul came and that team, you know, started running.

And I think that's one of the things that we're, like, very proud of to this day is, like, you know, the Clippers still have their faults. But, like, they're not looked at in the same light, you know. And we felt like we were sort of like part of that team that sort of tried to change. that that that you know that mindset of the clippers when it was you CP DeAndre Jordan fucking dunkin on everybody every fucking game was a highlight reel like that shit that shit made everybody clipper fans man and it definitely boosted the stock and and then you get Steve balmer creating a new stadium for him like it you could definitely tell that it started when you guys

were were rocking and rolling and in the hunt for it man do you think you got treated differently by guys playing against you because you're a number one pick? Like, do you think I got a mark on you to be like, hey, I'm going to show this guy what the NBA's like? I think a little bit. But, you know, like, it is like, you know, the term like brotherhood gets thrown around a lot. And like, I think when we came in, it was like a little bit different.

Like guys were, especially on the Clippers. Like the Clippers was kind of a place that like guys went to at the end of their careers. It couldn't get a contract somewhere else. And like they were just trying to make it. And so I didn't feel like it was. It was like an environment where I was really like, you know, being like guys taking you under their wing and showing you the way. It was guys just trying to extend their careers and keep playing.

And then that changed, you know, when Chris Paul came and then we had some great vets, you know, Chauncey Billups, Grant Hill. Like we had Lamar Odom, who was like just one of my favorite teammates, Jamal Crow. So we sort of had that later on. But, yeah, I mean, you definitely, I think you have a target on your back as like the number one pick. But like I also had like a chip on my shoulder because I had to sit out my whole first year. You know, my my first year I was hurt and like I dude I had to hear for an entire year I had to hear about how the clippers messed up another draft book and like this guy was going to be a bust and like

you know I'm just sitting there like just steaming just ready to you know so ready to like play that like when I finally did you know that next year I was just like was like you know no mercy just try to go dunk everything and try to just like play as hard as you can then you came in and you went straight to the all-star game um which is fucking that's that's the blade griffin we all know was that the year that you uh you jumped into the dunk contest too yeah yeah that was my rookie year so like i mean i set out my whole first year so that wasn't my rookie year so the next one i came back that was my rookie year and then yeah i was like got lucky man it made the all-star game and got to do the dunk contest and checked off some bucks everybody looked at the

Dunn Contest, like it just isn't what it was. Because you don't have the huge names that you typically saw, at least we saw growing up, the superstars of the league. So did you feel that, like, had that always been a dream of yours? Or did you feel like you kind of owed that to the game? I mean, I mean, I, dude, I would, like, I would record Vince Carter's Duncan Test. Come on, now. I recorded them.

Dude, I mean, that was like my childhood. And that was, like, Pete, you know, like, watching the tapes of, like, Michael George. doing the dunk contest and all these big names like it was like yeah i want to do that um but also like yeah i do think that like there's the reason why the dunk contest kind of is what it is is like guys just don't want to do it anymore and which is kind of a shame because it's like i don't know it's like have we built it up too much where guys don't want to go do it and fail or like you know for me like dude being the 610 like 260 like dunk contests really aren't like my specialty like just dunking in game is more like my thing.

Big guys, like Dwight, Dwight did it three years, I think. And like, that was awesome. I thought that was great because, like, it's a big guy who, again, like, not really his specialty. But, like, we just need guys to do it. And I, like, we need the young guys to do it. We need the Anthony Edwards, the Zions.

We need all those guys. Come on, Ann? Come on. And just go out there and just fucking, you don't got to do a whole 360 windmill between the legs. Like, just go in there and just fucking. Just do something. You know what I mean?

Like, dude, the, the Aaron Gordon. Zach Levine Dunk Contest was incredible. It was one of the best dunk contest ever. And since then, it just, we haven't really had, like, the, you know, the names or like the, but I think that's what it is. Like, I think, you know, I say this as like somebody who's brought in a car as a like, you know, it doesn't have to be came to key. But, you know, shout out to key.

So, I don't know. I hope it gets back. Let's give. a fan out of the stands, the ability to try and block the dunk so that we can just get posterized images. I don't fucking know. Yeah. Is this year, like, is this you trying to like get on the court? I want to be able to block. I want to see anybody can block a dunk. Yeah. Just slam ball style. Like, I've been training guys. I've been doing my quarter squats. I feel like it might happen. Put a force like scale. So like see who can dunk the hardest. Like who can apply the most pounds per force to the room.

Yes. Who can shatter their skin on their fingers, the hardest. Yeah, we got to do something. So I don't know. I appreciate you thrown out these options, Jason. We want to educate our fans on basketball history. Big moments in the NBA. Can you explain the significance of this photo of a chair? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Remember like it was yesterday. High level real quick. DeAndre Jordan is with us for years.

Dallas tries to sign him away. Our boy CP was on Dallas at the time, was part of the recruiting process. They got DJ to commit. And then so DeAndre was like, he had texted me. So he commits to them on like a Saturday call. He texts me on Sunday. And he's like,

what you think. And I'm like, what do you mean? What do I think? I'd already told him, like, you know, happy for you. You know, you got to do what you got to do. And he's, I can tell he's having second thoughts. And so I get a phone call from Doc Rivers, our coach of like, hey, I think we can get DJ back.

But I need you to get on a plane and go to Houston where DeAndre's offseason house was. And so I'm like, all right. So I'm texting DeAndre. I'm like, hey, I'm coming in. Go to his house. Spend like that night, you know, staying with him, making sure that like Mark Cuban can't come back in. convince him to sign and everybody comes in the next day doc rivers j j j christ paul jr redid chris paul

um and myself and we're all in his house and we're like you know convinced him like hey like this is the plate we want you here like we can do it and uh he's like all right i'm in and you can't sign the contract to make it official until like midnight that night okay or 11 p.m because we're a central time so we're just sitting in his house and NBA Twitter is going nuts yeah nuts they're like there's all the rumors flying are in like what's happening what's going on people were saying we held them hostage so i'm like all right well if we're going to be stuck here i'm gonna like i'm gonna start fucking people so you know he'll put the chair under the door take a picture send it out and like it was the most nuts day on mba twitter that's amazing dude i mean nobody nobody wanted live

city to break up man you guys were so fucking electric um and i've heard through through multiple of sources. I mean, Joe Dumas was just hyping DeAndre up not too long ago talking about the type of teammate he is and how he's one of the most veteran like leaders. And it's not just in front of the cameras. It's like he's just one of the best guys to have on your roster because of who he is. And I already know you guys had fucking unbelievable time. But can you speak a little bit upon like what what is it that DeAndre really brought to the team in terms of that energy? Dude, he's like, I mean, you know, you see him now as like a vet. And like it's easier for vets to do that, but he was that for us when he was, you know, second, third, fourth year in the league.

Like, he's like a connector of people. And not to mention, he was just an absolute freak athlete. Like, he, I watch him, like, physically punk a lot of centers and just, like, also never gets hurt. Like, just, like, he's a monster. But, like, off the court, he's just one of those people that brings people together. You know what I mean? He keeps everything light. He knows he has incredible, like, empathy and, uh, uh, uh, uh, e-ke.

Like his emotional awareness is like off the charts where like he sees somebody like, you know, not, not maybe having their best day or best game and he'll go put his arm around him because he's built that relationship with each guy on the team. So I definitely saw the Joe Dumar's quote. It's so true. I mean, he's like, and now at this point of his career, he's just pouring back into other guys and being a mentor. But he was like, he was such an important piece for us even when he was younger, you know, and in the prime of his career. just the type of person he is. Love hearing that. You guys were unstoppable on the court, but I definitely was throwing fucking lobs left and right on 2K. Daugan. Fucking epic.

There you go. Yeah, it was good. We had a good run. Didn't quite meet the mountain top, but yeah, it'll always haunt me. So thanks for bringing that up, guys. No, no, no.

We're so positive here, man. It's all positive. Wait, but hold on. What is the football at court one of? Is it just like trucking somebody? for a touchdown. There's a few. So getting Mossed is probably the closest equivalent,

which is like the receiver jumping up over a DB to catch it, right? Another version. On the defensive side is just absolutely lighten a motherfucker up. I think that's just you don't want to get caught. Especially if you see him coming. That's supposed to. Yeah. It's one thing if you don't see it coming.

How tough is that in film? How tough is that in film? Like the next one. I mean, for me, if I, get lit up. It's like, yeah, you know, it's part of the gig, you know, especially if it happens to where I don't see it. Right. It happened in my first game, honestly. I didn't talk about it all the time. Bernard Pollard was like fucking back there, like trying to, he was a veteran at that point. So he was playing for Tennessee. He was like trying to like fake whether he was in cover four,

cover three playing in the middle field. And he kind of just like at the last second came like, snuck down into the box. And the last time I looked at him, I was like, all right, cool, he's back. And when I caught the ball, I tried to catch it and like use my, momentum to like get upfield and he fucking rocked me to the point where like it's like what the fuck is going on what the fuck is going on oh shit i don't have the ball anymore and like i just grab on to like the closest person to me to try and save them from getting to the ball yeah yeah and i watched that over like 10 times crying laughing like god damn that's a fucking welcome to the NFL moment if i've ever fucking yeah for sure you got you definitely have to like you can't you can't

get salty about like getting dunked on or get you got to like embrace it. You can't be deleting your Twitter. You just got to run with it, right? You just got to go. Embrace it. He had a, the worst is when you have just an awful play, but it's like a huge play that you know they're just going to replay forever.

Like Landon Dickerson's first ever play in the NFL. Landon's an unbelievable guard. He comes in at right guard. He hadn't played it. It was his first play in the NFL halfway through the year because his knee was all fucked up from college. Eric Armstead just manmountain, like bull rushes. them and throws him on his back.

And it was like one of the biggest plays of the year. And so now, like for the last four years, you're just, every time they install that concept, going to that play, and Land is just like, oh, shit. Yeah, that's so tough. Like, it's an iconic play that just won't go away your whole career. Yeah. So, God, damn this one again. Mine is every single time we play the Chargers, I get everybody hitting me up on social

media about when Derwin James suplexed me at the goal line. Literally, it was like, it was like a dead, it was a postureization. It was a dead play. It was like, Pat's like fucking scrambling back and forth. Did he have this fucking dialed up,

brandy, you sick, son of a bitch. He got to this very quickly. I had already ran like three different routes. Oh, no. Oh, fuck. Even worse, the ball, as soon as I hit the ground, fucking shoots. up like a goddamn firecracker and I'm just like

I'm just like god damn it nobody likes to talk about how I made two guys miss on that play yeah let alone Durwin's just fucking strong guy man strong guy strong he's strong guy there's a moment where you're just you're on top of his shoulders

and I'm just like fuck oh no yeah we'll see what happens you're looking down I'm just like just hold on to it yeah just trying to try to survey your options and you have none. Can I put my, can I lean on somebody else?

Can I throw? Who's open? Does anybody open? Yeah. But like those plays, those type of plays always happen in such slow motion. Oh, you already know. In real life. 100%.

And you're just like, it just replays in your mind over. The worst. All right. We're here. We got to ask. You do not have to answer. We are going to ask. Who has the better squirrel tweet?

Blake or Travis? Blake, you got a story. Squirrel tweet? Oh, yeah. I didn't know this either. I'm looking forward to it. So obviously everyone knows on our show, Blake, I'm not sure if you're aware. This is Travis's squirrel tweet. I just gave a squirral a piece of bread and it straight smashed all of it. I had no idea they ate bread like that. The best part is a ha-ha hashtag crazy. It's so good. By the way, that's like, that's like old Twitter was like, that's what it was. There's just people just saying. Guys, you won't believe what just happened.

This was when Twitter was better. Let's just all agree on that. We need to get back to this. Just so everyone knows, the 12,000 retweets and 300 comments were like 30 years after this. Like, that got absolutely no traction when I posted that. I was like going back to my phone, like looking at it like, steal nobody.

All right. Nobody wanted to hit me back. Like, that's crazy, dude. No, no. All right. Here's Blake Street. Accidentally hit a squirrel yesterday in my car. I feel so guilty I could barely sleep.

Casey. Yeah, I'll never forget. I was driving home from practice. And I just, I, like, clipped its leg. And I looked back in the moving mirror. I see it just, like, struggling. And I was just like, no. Like, I felt so bad.

And then, yeah, I don't know, for some reason. By the way, that was Twitter at the time. I was like, yeah, I guess I'll tweet about this. It's the best, right? I wish I'd put ha-ha crazy, though. Always got to end it with a little hashtag, man. What's a good hashtag for this? Crazy.

I would have loved to see, like, your workshopping, you're workshopping which other ones you didn't use. Dude, not a big vocabulary. That's nuts, L-O-A. That's nuts. That's amazing. We got to ask you some rapid fire standard NBA podcast questions. What's your favorite Kobe story?

Oh, man. That I, like, that I, like, witnessed myself? Sure, yeah. Sure. Yeah. Or one that you heard of. Either one's fine. Well, I'll give you, like, one that I, like, really shows you how much of, like,

just a competitor he is. we're training camp for 2012 Olympics. We're in Vegas doing workouts. And at the time, like, I had fortunate enough to make the team. And I was kind of like one of the younger guys. And so they would always have other younger guys come in and scrimmage us. And so, like, Paul George was on the younger team. And Aaron Gordon and Kyrie.

And so we're scrimaging, like, day one. And I'm like, man, like, these guys are, like, kind of like, they're kind of frying Kobe. And I didn't, like, course, I didn't say anything. I was just kind of like taking note of it. And then day two, kind of same thing. I'm like, he does not look good. I'm like, is this in my mind? I'm like, am I seeing the end of like Kobe Bryant?

Like, can he not do it anymore? So day three, I'm down in the wait room at the hotel before we go over on the buses for practice. I'm working out. And I see Kobe and his trainer and two of his trainers and a security guard walking like kind of through like the gym. And they're covered in sweat. I'm like, man, he must have just got it. And I asked one of his trainers, I'm like, you guys, what did you guys do? You just work out?

And he goes, I'm like, what's up? And he goes, Kobe's got us doing these like 60-mile bike rides at like 2 a.m. And so I realized that he like, he didn't care about the practice at all. I mean, he practiced hard. But he was going, he was waking his trainers up and they would go for a 60-mile bike ride at 2 a.m. In Vegas, it was the only time he could do it because it's Vegas in the summer. and then he would come in he would go to the weight room and he would work out he would go eat breakfast and then he would come to practice and i was like oh that's why he doesn't look like he looks a little

slower today everybody else is like in the club and coffee's like working out uh but like that that to me is like just like the guy says it's an absolute basketball sicko in the best way you know what I mean like did things to like he he would do workouts to just gain like a mental edge. Feel more confident about what he's doing. Yeah, that's crazy. I don't know. I just love that because, like, man, he was, like, he was awesome.

He was. RIP, man. Now that he's won a playoff game with his son, and we do hate asking this question because it's stupid, but we have to ask it. That's so we've got to ask, who's the goat, LeBron or MJ? Oh, man. I mean, that was a pretty cool moment. I'm such a, like, such an MJ guy.

Like, we all get judged, as athletes, we get judged on winning. And to me, like, there's no basketball player that has won in a better fashion, in a more dominant fashion than Michael Jordan. It's hard to argue. Like six times to the finals, six and no, never went to a game seven, finals MVP every year, like highest points per game average in the playoffs. Like, he has all these things that like, I'm just like, in terms of like a career, like he won the best. And that's how we get judged. LeBron has had like the best career from top to bottom. He's still doing it.

But like, you know, I think you go with the way guys win. So I have Jordan one. I have LeBron too. But I think the problem with this debate is like people think that you're saying that one guy sucks because you're going to get a guy. They're both the best of all time. But, you know, that's if I have to rank it, that's what that's how I rank those things. Who's your all-time starting five? Ooh, I can't wait to hear this one.

Oh, man. Okay, okay. Let's go. Dude, I'm going to put Steph at one, the point guard. Yeah, that makes sense. Get him out on the court. It needs to be out there. Yeah.

Put the ball on his hand. Let him do what he does. So I'm going to go, MJ at two, LeBron at the three, Tim Duncan at the four. Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan is my favorite. favorite power forward. I mean, he's the best power forward of all time. The technician. God damn it. The bank is always open. Did you ever fucking hit a bank shot from like 20 feet out?

Because that was like his patent move. I'll tell you what, I tried. He made it look like it was easier. Like you had a better percentage if you went bank from anywhere on that angle. Big fundamental. That's my, that's going to be my four. And then I'm going to go, I'm going to go Shaq, just the most dominant player of all time at the four. I mean, yeah, you can't argue with that shit. What's crazy is like I just had to like leave Kobe off the list. That is crazy. If you're not doing it by like, okay, I need a point guard and all this.

Like I would just go Kobe, MJ, LeBron. And then I would go Tim Duncan, you know, so. But I'm just, you know, I like to mix it up. Yeah. All right. I hear you. Sorry, I'm not really rapid firing these. I'm giving a long, drawn out explanation of everything.

We'll cut it up. We'll cut it up. It'll seem real fast. They'll be like, man, he was quick. with that starting five. You've done stand-up before. Is comedy something that you want to pursue more of? Do you want to full-time be in the club?

Like, where are you at in your stand-up career? In the club? I want to be in the club every day. Yeah, I don't know. I love stand-up, man. It's like fascinating to me. It's like a really fun challenge. I just love comedy, man.

I love it so much. And I'm working on a couple of things. nothing. I'm not really working on stand-up right now, but I kind of always have, I keep like a notes folder of jokes, so I'm like kind of always like writing jokes if like I think of something. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but maybe someday it'd be pretty cool to have like a special at one point. Fuck yes. I don't know. I don't know. We'll see. Is that, have you, all right, so you've just kind of like tested the waters in the stand-up world. Yeah, I've done like, I wouldn't host to this show at this big comedy festival, I think,

for the first time and then I've done stuff here and there. I did like a roast, a Comedy Central roast, which is all like really fun. But my thing about stand-up, too, is like, I don't want to go to like the comedy store and like ask for time. And then somebody gets bumped, like some guy who's like grinding, trying to make it. Like, you know, sure, sure.

But I do love it. So I'm working on some, some projects right now that are like comedy-based. And, you know, we'll see how those go. Give me a top three comics of all time. For me, Chappelle is like, a, like, because it was just like my era, you know, like we do. We were like, we were in high school, like, when Chappelle was like,

that first episode, I will never forget going into the school. The next day. After Clayton Bigsby made its television debut. Oh, my gosh, dude. If you, like, didn't watch the show, like, that Wednesday night, on Thursday, like, you weren't involved in conversations. It's true. It's so true.

I'm Rick James, bitch. Chappelle is like, definitely my, definitely my top three. I got to go like Eddie Murphy. Ooh, okay, taking it back. Nice. The leather, a track suit or jumpsuit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Delirious. Delirious.

Can't say that guy's canceled. Comedians are, they're walking a fine line, usually. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know what I love now? You can't really put him in a top three But right now, like dude, Shane Gillis is just Everything he touches, man He's probably one of my favorites,

If not all time, dog Every single time I see that dude on screen I am fucking dying laughing Yeah, dude, and it does, like it could be like Just him, a podcast clip, but him just talking Like he's just, and it's just, he always had something Yeah, it's really incredible So I hope he keeps going on that trajectory

So I'll go with those three I'll probably get some flag for Shane being in the top three at this point in his career, but he's on his way. 100%, especially with Tyrus. All right, let's get into our last question. We always ask everybody, what was their welcome to their profession moments? So what was your welcome to NBA moment for you? Oh, man.

I'd say the first time I played against Kobe, you know, I'm like so hyped up. And jump before the jump ball, he's like, hey, what's up, young fella? Like, congratulations, blah, I'm like, man, are me and Kobe boys? I think we're going to be best friends. I knew he knew who I was. There's a chance we hang out after this. So, and I'm sitting like, you know, maybe second quarter, I'm sitting like this pin down screen.

And so from my teammate, and he's guarding him, Kobe's guarding him, and he's coming off. And, like, Kobe's just, like, we talked, he's just a competitor. and he comes off that screen so hard and just catches me in the stomach harder than I've ever been hit in the stomach in my life.

I'm just like doubled over and just like re-tham. I'm like, you know what? Maybe we're not friends. We're not. He was a lot nicer before than he is now. But it was like a good reminder of like it's kind of like that welcome the NBA

was like, no, you can say hello before the game. But you know, that that jump ball happens. Like it's all out of war. Hell yeah, man. And he was like, he was like maybe one of the last great guys who like it was like cool before the game cool after the game during the game fuck you you're the enemy you know what I mean I love that I just think it's great because it's no hard feelings it's like we're we're competing ultimate

competitive man and you definitely had that too brother Blake thank you so much for the story dog thank you for the time uh one of my all-time favorites on the court dog and I honestly ever since we got to hang dog just the fucking best man it's always fucking laughs through the fucking roof and can't wait to see how the rest of the Amazon stuff goes for you, these playoffs. We'll be watching, brother. I appreciate you, guys. Thanks for having you, man. Thank you to Blake Griffin.

That conversation was once again brought to you by Reese's. Or is Travis and I call it Reese's. He is the best. I mean, fucking hilarious. It's fun going down memory lane with the big guy, man. Smart as hell, also funny as fuck. Can chop it up, can goof, be a goofball. He is.

trades, man. Was an incredible player, but he is made for doing TV and entertainment. I forgot to ask him about why is he so good at commercials. I forgot to fucking ask him, man. He's literally one of the best, like athletes into endorsements commercials-wise. Bro, God damn it. Oh, well, I have to ask him in person next time I see him. He's got the it factor.

Nobody's saying he's over-exposed. Nobody was yelling in him for going on. Dude. Nobody's yelling. He's just got it. He just got it. Get these Kelsey's off my fucking screen. God damn.

All right. That wraps up another episode of New Heights. Thank you to Blake Griffin. Also, there are still tickets available for our New Heights live show in L.A. on June 15th. Let's go, baby. Check out the link in the description.

Let's go. Make sure you subscribe to a New Heights channel on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. Once again, New Heights of Wonder Show brought to you by Xfinity. Follow the show on all social media. At New Heights Show with one ask for fun clips throughout the week.

We're going to have a bunch with our guy, Blake. Thank you to new Heights production team. Thank you to the 92 percenters for tuning in. We'll see you guys next week, baby. Peace. This is the first day. I just want to preface. This is the first thing of trying to dogg a basketball in 20 years.

Oh, I'm going to tear my ACL trying to do this anymore. That's good enough. That's him for today. That's it for today. Full disclosure. nine foot rim, that's a nine foot. I was going to say, no way. That's Fent.

Okay. This is pre-corder squad. I'm telling you, if I show you some later clips, I think. It did get better. I'll vouch. I'll vouch.

It did get better after this, yes. He, I told him, I was like, bro, you're like gathering steps. Just,

you look like a fucking idiot. You look like an offensive line. Exactly. We got to get your technique down. Go watch some Blake Griffin highlights. Watch how he gathers. We got it. It's all about.

the approach in the last two steps and then there we go. You got to work on those hands too, maybe we can space them out. You got spacers, Jason? I was spraying tough skin, the stuff they put on your ankles before they take them. I will say this, Jason's only working with four fucking

fingers. He fucking snapped at hand in one of them's not great. That's not, yeah, that doesn't help. God, that was fucking hilarious, dude. I hadn't seen that first clip in a minute. We got some work to do, but we'll get you there.