The Kevin Sheehan Show - Are Playoffs a Must for Jay Gruden?

Episode Date: May 31, 2019

Kevin opens the show with a quick discussion about Peleton then gets to Redskins' coach Jay Gruden and what his future in Washington would be if the Skins don't make the playoffs in 2019. Kevin recapped Toronto's Game 1 win over Golden State. Chris Miller/NBC Sports Washington came on the show to talk about his 45-min interview with Ted Leonsis. Kevin closed with what happened in local sports 40 years ago tomorrow (June 1st). <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now, here's Kevin. I'm here. Aaron's here. This show's presented by Wind Donation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Windonation.com and tell them that we told you to call. Toronto, minus one and a half. Actually went to two, Aaron, right before Tip. Winner. A major anti-public play last night were the Raptors. And I gave that out as, you know, an off-season smell test selection. I think I've been pretty good on the off-season smell test picks so far in the NBA playoffs, and I killed it in the NCAA tournament. I love the game last night. I've got a lot to talk about as it relates to the game tonight,

and I will get to that in a few minutes. Ted Leonces spoke about the GM search and other things. We'll get to that with Chris Miller, who did the interview in a little while as well. and there's some Redskins news also. I wanted to mention just at the top because I have a Peloton bike, and I think Cooley and I may have talked about this on the show a few weeks ago because he and Maddie have one at home as well.

I think it's a bike. It may be the treadmill. We have the bike at home. And it's addictive. It really is, and it works. And the conversation, and I'm going to invite those of you that are on Peloton bikes or treadmills to tweet me at Kevin Sheand, D.C. with your favorite instructor, because mine right now is Emma. Emma's great. I like Lena. I like Jennifer Jacobs. She's outstanding, too. Um, but there's this conversation that I think primarily middle-aged men who are on Peloton bikes or treadmills

trying to lose weight are having about their favorite female instructors. Now, you may have a favorite male instructor as well. I have not used a male instructor yet. I'm sure my wife has. I have focused in on some of the female instructors and Emma is pleasant and she's encouraging. But it really is such a phenomenal idea to have your own on-screen right in front of you personal trainer, essentially. It's a great idea. I actually think there's a version of Peloton that should be explored and that would be more are an R-rated version. But who knows? Maybe someone else will come up with that product.

But it works. How many of these weight loss programs or exercise programs do you just, you know, you sign up for or you try for a week and then you're done and you move on? Peloton, it's hard. I mean, it's a workout. But when you have somebody there, like your own personal trainer encouraging you, I think it's brilliant. It's working for me. I've lost, Aaron, I'm down eight pounds now in a month. Cooley told me, I thought I could lose 15 pounds in a month, and he said, no chance. And he was right. But the reason is because I'm still too often indulging in ice cream during NBA playoff games at 10.30 at night.

That does not help at all. I did want to mention a couple of things real quickly before I get to the NBA playoff. And the first is the Rubin Foster news, which Ian Rappaport broke. I don't know if it was last night or this morning, but Ian Rappaport tweeted out that Ruben Foster, who underwent successful surgery from Dr. James Andrews on Tuesday, suffered a torn ACL and LCL. That's according to his sources. The LCL was the additional damage.

Remember there was a report, I think JP had the report, about potential nerve damage, which would have really been one of those things that you would have then wondered about the career, his career. But it's just the LCL that was torn in additional or damaged in addition to a torn ACL. And Rappaport tweeted out that Foster is already raising his leg and should be good to go for the 2020 regular season. So that's, I think, good news. I mean, he's out for 2019, but it looks like it's the typical ACL, LCL. Griffin had that. Remember, he tore the ACL and the LCL. Damage the LCL in that Baltimore game came back and played on that toward the ACL and the LCL in the playoff game against Seattle. God, what a game that was,

and one of the more memorable Redskin games in history, not for the right reasons. anyway, so that's good news on Ruben Foster. I also, before I get to the NBA finals in game one, I wanted to go back to Jay Gruden's comments to, in his press conference the other day, the question, Aaron, that was asked about hard knocks. Well, that's not up to me. So if we're forced to do it, then obviously we'll have to make it work.

And, you know, it's a process. It can be distracting at times, but really they do an excellent job as far as keeping out of your business. So it wouldn't be the other world. I think our guys would probably have fun with it at the end of the day, but initially it'd be a distraction, so to speak. But I think really, if they were smart, they would go to Oakland. I mean, seriously, I mean, what an entertainment value that would be. Tonyo Brown, John Gruden, Paul Gunther, Montez Burfet. I mean, incognito.

These guys got to be crazy not to go to Oakland. I mean, they can do us next year maybe. Not if you make the playoffs. If we don't make the playoffs, I probably won't be here anyway. They can come here and do it all they want. So it's that part that I wanted to talk about, the part where he is very self-deprecating, but also perhaps very predictive.

Because I was reading Neil Greenberg from the Post. He does a lot of analytics stuff for the podcast. post and does a lot of research stuff on a lot of different sports. And he's got a story that I read early this morning online about the Redskins over under number in Vegas, which is six and a half wins and why he thinks that may be actually too optimistic, why they may go lower than that. But at the very end of his short story, he wrote that missing the playoffs for a fourth year in a row would bode poorly for the future of Coach Jay Gruden in Washington. Since 2016,

the season after the Redskins last made the playoffs, there have been seven other teams that have missed the playoffs three years in a row. All seven made at least one coaching change during that span. So the bottom line here is four straight years of missing the playoffs. Not many coaches get a fifth season if you miss the playoffs for, consecutive seasons. In fact, and I went back and did this research, I think I'm right on this. It was back of the envelope, you know, looking through all the teams, coaches and seasons and records, etc. But I think I narrowed it down to just one coach in the last decade has gotten a fifth season after missing the playoffs four years in a row. And it was Jeff Fisher. And I think part of that is the

fifth year that he got was the year they moved to L.A. from St. Louis after missing, again, the playoffs for four years in a row. He was fired during that next season, that first season in Los Angeles. But he did get that fifth season. Perhaps it was because of the move to L.A. And they just had much bigger fish to fry during that first year back in Southern California. No other coach in the last 10 years has missed the playoffs four years in a row and then gotten a fifth season other than Jeff Fisher. Tom Coughlin won the Super Bowl in 2011, then missed the playoffs for four years in a row. He did not get a fifth year. He got fired in New York. Cawthlin was a Super Bowl winner and didn't get the fifth season. John Harbaugh missed the

playoffs in 15, 16, and 17. And what was the talk all season long this year? If the Ravens missed the playoffs for a fourth straight year, Harbaugh's done. Hell, he was almost done despite the fact that they ended up making the playoffs. Sean Peyton, Sean Peyton had a run. You may not remember this because it just seems like Sean Peyton and Drew Breeze have always been in the playoffs. Well, it's not true. They had three seasons in a row of seven and nine in missing the playoffs. 2014, 2015, 2015, 2016. I went back and looked at some of the stories about Sean Peyton entering 2017. There was a lot of pressure for them to make the playoffs in that season. Or Sean Peyton could have been gone. I mean, I'm talking about Peyton and Harbaugh were potentially on the verge of getting fired had they missed the playoffs four years in a row.

Tom Coughlin did. Only Jeff Fisher survived. So Jay Gruden is probably right. If he doesn't make the playoffs, he's more likely gone than not gone. Now, I felt that way going into last season. I really did. I really felt like Jay Gruden needed to make the playoffs last year. And as many of you know who listened to the podcast during football season, you know, it wasn't until, I don't know, mid-December, late December that I changed my mind and thought, he may be coming back.

You know, they keep talking about how close they are. They keep talking about all these injuries. and the injuries being the reason for missing the playoffs. But I think basically NFL history tells you that it would be truly unique for Jay Gruden to get a, it wouldn't be his fifth season. At that point, it would be his seventh season coaching, right, if he came back in 2020, right? Because this is year number six. But it would be the fifth in a row.

It would be getting the fifth season after missing the postseason for, years in a row. They were in the postseason in 2015. Now, I was thinking about, is there any way that if Jay Gruden and the Redskins go seven and nine again and miss the postseason that Jay could be back? Well, there is an extenuating circumstance with this particular team and this roster, and it is a young quarterback, a quarterback drafted in the first round, a quarterback that the franchise believes will be the quarterback of the future. If Dwayne Haskins shows promise, and Haskins, by the way, really likes Gruden, and the coach and the player end up being a good fit, and it's reflected in their performance together

as the season goes on. There's improvement, even though they don't make the postseason. They're in games. Haskins is getting better. Maybe they're losing close games. Maybe they win a bunch at the end after starting. slowly, that could be the reason that he becomes the second coach in the last 10 years to survive a fifth straight non-playoff season, a fourth straight non-playoff season.

He could survive it because of the Haskins factor. But I don't know. It's just right now the odds, as Neil Greenberg points out in his story, and I've added to it by looking at how many coaches got to. that fifth year after missing the postseason four years in a row, more likely than not, you know, I can't imagine that a case is going to be made for Jay Gruden, you know, when it wasn't made for Tom Coughlin, you know, it may not have been made for John Harbaugh or Sean Payton, but they're going to make one for Gruden? We'll see. I think it's a big year

for Jay Gruden. I think it's a big year for everybody. I think the owner, I really feel that the owner, and I've talked about this several times, including the other. other day when I gave you a timeline of sort of the involvement of Dan Snyder. A lot of you gave me feedback on that and had a couple of tweaks to it, which I appreciate, things that I didn't necessarily remember. But the bottom line is that, you know, Dan Snyder's, you know, day-to-day involvement in the operation has been different at various times during his 20 years of ownership. It's been very significant and it's been less intrusive or less involved.

I think right now it's very heavily involved. And I think that there's pressure not only on Jay, but I think on Bruce too, there should be, you know, unless we get back to, you know, the possibility, as we've discussed in the past, that Bruce is like a security blanket for Dan. He's his voice. He's his voice in league meetings. he's his voice with the team, he's his voice with the media at times. Dan's become a very reluctant, borderline reclusive public figure.

And I think Bruce gives him a guy that he's confident will represent them better than even he will publicly. But that doesn't change what I believe is happening in the background. You know, without the cameras, without the other owners in a conference. room or in a board room. I think Dan's much more involved now, and I think they've got to show something this year. And Jay Gruden, you know, it creates that other conversation, which will be very interesting. If Jay Gruden has to win to get a fifth year and he's interested, not fifth year, it would be a seventh year, but to get that fifth season after four non-playoff seasons, to get that, you know, does he feel like he needs Case Keenum, an experienced quarterback, or

Colt McCoy, or does he realize that his path to long-term employment here is developing the young quarterback? I would think it's the latter, even though I just said that if he misses the playoffs, more likely than not, he's going to get fired. It's just, it's an interesting situation with Jay, because the data will tell you that he cannot survive another non-playoff season, yet at the same time, if he develops the owner's prized player at this point, and he develops him and it's obvious that they're in the process of developing something that will produce results, then he may survive. So Jay's got an interesting situation.

And again, I do believe that what is in play, it coolly disagrees with me on this, but I believe it is in play that Jay may not have the final call on who plays quarterback this season. At the beginning or at any point during the season, I think that that could come from the owner. All right, I wanted to get to NBA game one last night, which was, you know, a big win for Vegas last night. The world was on Golden State last night, plus the, you know, at even plus one, plus one and a half, plus two. The game went off at minus two, Toronto minus two in most spots. Toronto wins the game, and there's nothing, nothing about that win last night that was flukish.

They were the better team pretty much in every phase of the game start to finish. Now, can they do it three more times, or will they do it three more times? They can. Durant apparently, I don't think he's going to be ready for game two on Sunday night. I do think now that Durant is in play for game three. fall 2-0 down. I think that that becomes a much bigger possibility. Boogie Cousins played last night.

But that game last night, start to finish, was owned by Toronto. Now, it was an odd game watching it in that, you know, both teams had had a long layoff. The Warriors had been off 10 days, all right, since they last played. And they were clearly rusty in this game. Toronto came in off, you know, a layoff from last Saturday night. So they had a five-day layoff before playing last night's game one. The building was unbelievable. Mark Jackson said at the beginning of that game, he said,

this is the loudest, most electric environment I have ever been in as an NBA player, coach, or analyst. You could sense that last Saturday night in game six against Milwaukee. It was incredible, and it was great again last night. But it was an odd game in that I think both teams, first of all, Toronto came out and shot 14 threes in the first quarter. 14 three-point attempts. In fact, Golden State had 10. At the end of the first quarter, the two teams were on pace to shoot 96 combined three-pointers. They didn't end up shooting that.

They ended up shooting, I think, 63. But the first quarter was Golden State losing everybody defensively. Gassal, Siakum, everybody was lost, Lowry was lost, Green was lost. They were just out of it defensively. How many wide open looks from behind the arc did the Raptors have in that first quarter? They were five of 14 on threes in the first quarter. And then they went to work in the second quarter with their defense in particular, which was excellent all night long. The star of the game was Siakum.

Now, I've talked about Seacom during the course of the regular season as a guy that really looks like, you know, a star in the making. You know, he was a first round pick, late first round by the Raptors in 2016 at a New Mexico state. He's from Cameroon. We've seen him as a bit, you know, reserve role player on the past Toronto team. in the postseason. He's developed into at times when you've watched him this year, he's looked like a potential future All-Star. But during the playoffs, he's been very inconsistent. He's had a couple of really good games, and then he's been absent in a couple of key games that they had. Last night, all of them, Siakam in particular, they were all confident and all aggressive.

Seacom in 40 minutes went 14 of 17 from the floor. 14 to 17. 14 to 17. 82.4% from the floor he shot. Finish with 32 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 block shots, 1 steal. He was an incredibly active and energetic player. Toronto had more energy. You know, even like right from the jump, Green was looking for a shot. He knocked down 3-3s in the game. Lowry's stat line won't blow you away in terms of points.

He finished with 7 points. He was awesome in this game. passer as a defender. He drew charges. Gasol was knocking down huge shots, especially early. If you watch their bench players, look at how aggressive, even in the six or seven minutes or whatever Powell played, Norm Powell. He was super aggressive in the limited time. I was surprised he didn't play more. Van Vleet has been given the green light now for two weeks, and he was awesome off the bench, 15 points. And by the way, really good defending Curry. Serge Abaka played well again. What was really interesting about last night is that, and I've watched every single Toronto

playoff game, last night was really the most uncomfortable that Kauai Leonard has looked. The warriors doubled consistently, trapped him consistently, at times hedged a third player over in his direction. I'm a little bit surprised. at that, I don't think they should double Kauai Leonard. I really think that they are in trouble if everybody else gets into the act, which is what happened last night. And a lot of it stemmed from, Kauai's got the ball, here comes a hard hedge or a double or a trap, and they had a release point in the middle of the floor, whether it was Gassal or it was a Baca, sometimes it was Lowry, but Kawhi Leonard found the player in the middle of the floor.

Kawhi Leonard ended up with five assists last night, but Aaron, I didn't see a number on this. I would bet that he had at least five or more hockey assists last night. Yeah. Because it started with him getting doubled, ball typically going to the middle of the floor and then to an open shooter. So it goes to Gasol, he turns, and he kicks it somewhere else,

and then it gets kicked somewhere else for an open three. They were 13 of 33 from behind the arc last night. They shot 50% plus from the field. It was an impressive performance. I am not off of Golden State winning the series. I still believe they can win the series, and I still believe they can win the series even without Durant. I do think that there was some rustiness to Golden State.

They were not good defensively. They got attacked constantly off of makes and misses, and then they struggled and got lost. defensively all night long. And they were really focused on Leonard. And they made Leonard uncomfortable at times. Leonard was 5 of 14 from the floor, got to the free throw line,

and on an off night, Kauai Leonard had 23 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and as I mentioned, probably was the key starter of at least another five to ten buckets

off of the defensive. of action on him, where he made the right play, made the right pass, ended up, you know, that guy made another pass and he ended up with an easy bucket. Seacom was in attack mode all night. All of them were. It was very impressive. They were certainly up to Golden State's, you know, marquee experience in the finals. You know, if Golden State has an aura about them, which they do as a dynasty, as a legitimate

dynasty. Toronto didn't back down from any of that in the first game. And it should make you pause if you pick the Warriors. It should. I think what it absolutely looks like to me is that this is going to be a lengthy series. Toronto had to win game one. This was an opportunity for them. I've not seen, in fact, I'm going to look it up right now. I didn't look at this before the show. I'm curious as to what the game two line is if it's out yet. It's out. Toronto's a two- point favorite again. They're again favored at home. And let me see if the series odds have changed significantly after last night. I'm sure they've changed. The Warriors are now minus 150. They were minus 280, 275 yesterday. They're minus 150 today. And I thought they would come back in game two

if they lost last night, which I predicted as a favorite in game two. They're a two-point underdog again. And by the way, the early public action is on the Warriors. It's on the Warriors. I still think they're so good. Even without Durant, I think they can still win this series. But it's a tough venue, it's a tough place to play, and it's an excellent basketball team. Toronto has been a lot over the last month, a lot about Kauai Leonard's all-time historic playoff run. you know, one of the all-time historic playoff runs. But when they've played their best, and I pointed this out yesterday with Tommy, and I pointed this out with Legler, and Legler totally agreed.

When they've been at their best and they've won going away, it's because everybody else stepped up and Leonard ended up with 19 or 22 or 25 or 27, not 37. And last night he had 23. And they got 32 from Siakum, they got 20 from Gasol, they got 15, from Van Vleet. They got Danny Green who stepped it up after just an horrific, horrific series against Milwaukee shooting the ball. He was three for seven from behind the arc. They're well coached too. Nick Nurse does a really good job. I was a Dwayne Casey fan, always was, and I think Dwayne Casey would have had the same results with this team, you know, with the experience that they have, the playoff experience of Green

and Gassal, and then the great player, the top three to five player, and Leonard. I think he probably would have had the same results. He just didn't have the same team that Nick Nurse has. But an interesting game one goes to Toronto. The Warriors looked lost defensively. They got attacked. They weren't the aggressor. Curry had a great night, got to the free throw line a ton. There's a lot of complaining about the officiating last night from Kerr and some of the Warriors. I didn't see a one-sided officiated game. I didn't anyway. But it was a very impressive game one out of Toronto. By the way, just as one more note on, sort of on the game,

not really on the game, did you notice the crawl during the game at various points from Channel 7 here locally about Jeopardy? I did see that, yeah. So Jeopardy apparently last night with James Holshouser, who is at 2. Whatever million in 30-something days consecutively, and he's breaking every Jeopardy record that's ever existed. the show must be doing unbelievable ratings because it wasn't shown last night because I guess

there was severe weather. And they had their weather guy on from the weather center talking about severe thunderstorms or tornado watches or whatever it was. I wasn't, excuse me, I wasn't watching in the moment. But when the NBA game started, they ran a crawl that said, because of severe weather, a life-threatening weather, Jeopardy wasn't seen, but it will air tonight at 1.36 a.m. Set your DVRs and extend the DVRs in case the basketball game goes long to be able to watch it. Jeopardy.

Jeopardy out drew the NBA finals in some markets. Is that true? Yes. I saw that in Louisville that Jeopardy got better ratings than the NBA finals. That's amazing. It's that important right now. It is, it's pretty, it's, it's been fun to watch. It's been fun to watch. I think, I think we've talked about this before. You actually tried to qualify and nearly qualified for Jeopardy. Aaron did. Aaron's smart. Aaron's got a lot of knowledge. I've done the online tests before and I've done, you know, it's hit and miss. Like I'll either kill it or I'll be awful. It's just like the show. It depends on the categories. I can go really deep in a lot of categories and I have nothing on a lot of other categories. Don't hit me with, you know, Spanish lit.

That's not going to be a good category for me. All right, we'll get to Chris Miller from NBC Sports, Washington here in a moment. But first, a quick word about Window Nation. Window Nation's summer savings, they're going to continue for another week now. You buy one, get one free. It's their best offer. It's back for another week. They're extending it beyond today.

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It's much better than Six Flags. and it's much better than the one in Williamsburg. What's that one? Bush Gardens. I grew up going to King's Dominion because that was really the first out of all of them, I think, here. I guess Hershey Park was there. Hershey Park, to me, is clean, neat. Everything about it just is first rate.

So you get free tickets to Hershey Park if you get a free in-home quote. 86690 Nation or Window Nation.com. They're backed by Window Nation's A Plus Better Business Bureau. rating. You're guaranteed the best value when they come out. They'll pay you 250 bucks if they don't give you the best value. Their sizzling savings ends next week. Call today. Buy one window, get one free. There's no limit plus zero percent interest for five full years and bonus tickets to Hershey Park. Call today, 86690 Nation or window nation.com. I'm being serious about Hershey Park. That was the place when the kids were young. I much preferred to take them there. And it's not that

long of a drive, then down to King's Dominion or Six Flags, which really, six flags to me compared to Hershey Park and Bush Gardens in particular was a dump. I don't know if you felt that way. Were you a big theme park guy? I'm not a huge theme park guy. I did go to, you know, six flags, it was so close, somewhat often, not too often. Yeah, I mean, we went a couple times. It wasn't terrible, but Hershey Park just had a different feel to it. I thought it was just cleaner and nicer and I don't know plus you can go visit the Hershey Museum exactly the and get free and get free chocolate exactly that was it always smelled good there make your own candy bar exactly all right let's bring in Chris Miller from NBC Sports Washington you can follow him on

Twitter at C Mill SNBCS Chris is I you know you and I have run into each other over the years in various gyms I'm not coaching like I used to um because all of my kids are grown and out of the house. I'm sure you're still making it out to the various places, district heights, high point, wherever, you know, there's a tournament or a game. And I miss those, you know, I miss those

Saturdays and Sundays being in a gym. I haven't done it now for a year. But you've been one of my favorites. You know, I've told you this before. I think you do a phenomenal job. Your relationships with the team and the players, it's always comfortable and it's always a great thing, you know, as a Wizards fan

to see you, you know, do an interview with Bradley Biel after the first half going into the locker room and getting information from him. Chris has always done a great job. You had a chance to sit down with Ted Leonis and talk to him, I guess it was yesterday, about the search for the new, you know, Ernie Grunfeld replacement, the new GM. First of all, people can listen to that on Chris's Wizards Talk podcast. But first of all, I mean, for me as a Wizards fan, The one thing I keep wondering is what's taking so long? What is the problem?

Where are they on this search? Tell us what Ted said with respect to that. I appreciate the kind of words, Kevin, and thanks so much for having me on. I am a, it was a 45-minute interview yesterday with Ted, and I just told him before and after. I just appreciated him just kind of sitting down and getting his message out there. I mean, you are the quintessential wizards fan, Kevin, that I see. As I told him, once we started talking about the Wizards, I was at DeMatha two nights ago watching my son play.

And I walk in and three of my buddies that have sons that plays on DeMathus team, we've been through the whole thing, you know, all four years, one in our boys' senior year, soon as I see them, they don't say, hey, how you doing? How's your wife? how's Donovan, you know, my son has it. The first thing, literally all three of them said to me was, what's up with the Wizards?

And it's funny because I told that story to Ted, and I said, so Ted, what's up with the Wizards? And he just went into really the process. And the one thing about, you know, obviously you know the names that had interviewed, when the Tim Connolly situation didn't go down, I think the way both sides wanted, a lot of fans came to me and was like, well, what the heck is plan B? So for yesterday, Ted explained that this is not a have a two-hour lunch and then we decide that we're going to hire you.

He's going to take the long view on this. And I had a little bit of pushback with him. I'm like, there are a lot of people that are hiring other candidates and other people in the league. You know, the pool is getting really small. And he said he's not surprised that the pool is small, but he wants to do his due diligence. He wants to let this thing play out so he can get not only win the press conference, but get a guy in here that can actually turn this organization around. And Kevin, you know it as a fan.

All of them know that the Wizards are not where they want to be. And Ted even admitted that. He said, listen, the fish stinks from the top down. He took full responsibility for what has happened. But Kevin, I don't think he knows who he wants right now. And I think he's going to play the long game and see how all this plays out. And I know it drives Wizards fans crazy. It makes me nervous because I want to go on vacation.

You know? Yeah. So I get it. I get it. But I'm kind of with him on this. You don't just want to win the press conference. And you don't want to have buyer's remorse one year in. So him doing his due diligence, if that's what it takes to get the right person in that position, I'm for it.

Do you think that they were turned down by Connolly because they didn't offer enough or they just weren't interested in Connolly? I think they were interested in Connolly. I just think that both sides could not agree on, I don't know if it was the money. I don't know if it was how the situation would be brokered in terms of the power infrastructure. Who has the final say? How do they deal with Wall and deal? what did they do with that moving forward? There was a lot of issues.

I don't want to say issues, but there are a lot of conversations as to how that would play out. So, again, Conley stays back in Denver. From what I heard, he got a little bit of a bump in his pay. I just don't want Washington to be a place where people come in here to get an offer so they can get a better offer going back

where they came from. You know, I had heard from sources that Tim considers this a dream job. And when you go that, route. And when you talk about it being home and all this other stuff, you know, it's easy for me to say, but sacrifices can be made if it truly is your dream job, Kevin. Is Ted potentially waiting for these NBA finals to end because there's a chance to get Masai Ujiri or somebody from Golden State staff? I truly believe Ted is, and this is the phrase that I'm using, Kevin,

I feel like Ted is big game hunting because it doesn't make sense if he's not. Because if he wasn't big game hunting, then after the Tim Conley situation didn't work out, you would have thought some of the other people that had interviewed for this job would have been plan B and they would have already been hired by now. So that makes me think that, yes, he is looking at maybe Missa I Jiri or someone within the Golden State Warriors organization. He did say, again, you can hear, and I appreciate you telling people where they can hear the full interview on the Wizards Talk podcast, He did say he spoke, got permission from another NBA owner to speak to his basketball person, and he would not say who it was.

So that lends me to think that it's probably one of these two teams. Well, you know, Ujiri's wife is from here. She grew up in PG County, I believe, and she's from here. And I know for a fact that, you know, as recently as two or three years ago, they were looking for property in town. Now, I think they just wanted a place here that they could come and spend time in when they weren't in Toronto. But there are, you know, he's got a family tie to here. I think that that's interesting.

And the job he's done, obviously, in Toronto has been incredible. But, you know, one of the things in listening to your interview, and again, I urge everybody to go listen to it, I sort of predicted on the podcast a week and a half ago that when Ted finally talked about this, he was going to tell us about in his, you know, in his AOL corporate speak way about being patient. And we've got to cross all the eyes and cross all the T's and dot all the eyes. And we've got this is a, you know, this is a long distance run. This is a marathon. And we don't want to be impulsive.

I just, that's fine. And he's made a lot of decisions that way. And he's been incredibly patient as an owner. I don't think there's any doubt about that. There's so many examples. Obviously, Ernie being the biggest one. But at the same time, we've had stories and reports about the Lakers and the Wizards and Beal to L.A. for Lonzo Ball and the fourth and maybe Kyle Kuzma. I don't know if there's any truth to any of this, but who's running basketball operations right now?

Tommy Shepard is the interim. He was Ernie's number two for many years here. So they are still going about the business of getting ready for the draft. They were in Chicago when I was out there, Kevin, for the pre-draft workouts. The only person that was relieved of their duties was Ernie, everyone else on the basketball staff, the scouts. All of those folks are still there, and they're still going about the day to day. Tommy Shepard has actually looked over the John Wall rehab. As a matter of fact, I was just talking to a source of mine this morning. Tommy has just been down there in Miami with Scott Brooks and the medical staff, kind of overseeing John.

Rehab. So they're going about the day-to-day business as if they're going to be running this. So Tommy Shepherd is still a candidate. He has met with Ted and he has done the business of being kind of the acting president or general manager of the team. So again, the only person that was relieved of their duties were Ernie. Everyone else is still going about their job. I mean, you don't think that they would make a big deal before hiring the new GM? I don't. In fact, you know, Ted even spoke about John's rehab. You know, I wanted to get into the wall and Beal dynamic. Again, we talked for 45 minutes and we really couldn't really get deep into the Beal situation, but he did call him, quote, a pillar of the organization. And, you know, you need pillars to keep your house state. So I would probably venture against Kevin to say that Ted is probably still all on board with Beal, especially the fact that he didn't make all. NBA, so the Wizards didn't have to make that difficult decision of maybe giving him the Super Max extension. So, you know, that actually was a benefit to the organization.

Brad was, in my opinion, one of the 15 best players in the league this year, but the media didn't vote him in. But that was kind of a situation where the Wizards didn't have to make that decision ultimate. In this interview with Ted, what's the most interesting thing that you thought came out of it? I thought the fact that he said the pressure on John is there is no pressure. If he doesn't play at all next year, no problem. And that can open up a lot of cans of conversation, Kevin, because that means are the Wizards positioning themselves to be a team that could be in the lottery again next year?

There are a lot of questions. You know, you still have to fill out the roster. but I thought the stuff about the process, I kind of knew all that stuff going in. I just wanted to get his thoughts on, you know, obviously the update on Wall, what his thoughts are on Beal, and if he wanted to run it back with those two, which potentially could be not next season, but the season after that.

Let's talk about the team, because it's not in a good spot right now, and it's really a shame because I know you and me and every, all of us got so excited about what I thought was going to be a 10-year run of being in the postseason every year, of winning playoff series and potentially contending, you know, once or twice, you know, for not an NBA championship, but maybe to get to the NBA finals. And they were close. You know, they were in a seventh game against Boston. And prior to that, they certainly had Atlanta on the ropes before John got hurt in the conference semifinals in that particular season.

And now, you know, literally with. within a year, you don't know what John Wall will, what that injury means to his future. You have a really good, you know, to very good scorer in this league in Beal. And he's become a very good all-around player. But he's also potentially your ticket to starting all over because he's got so much value to him. It's a tough spot right now. And then they got the ninth pick in the draft instead of potentially getting something that would have been truly helpful. And by the way, it could still be helpful. I mean, look at last

night. Siakum was the 27th pick. You know, Kauai Leonard was the 15th pick. Clay Thompson was, you know, middle of the first round. Steph Curry was the seventh pick in the first round. So, you know, if you can still get that superstar player, you know, it's a crapshoot, as we know when it comes to this NBA draft. But what do you think they're going to do? You know, to me, the big question is, do you look at starting over, which means you really actively try to deal Beal at his height, at his highest value, or do you move forward with him and try to create a team around him? Kevin, I have gone through that scenario in my mind, really all off-season, and I'm torn.

I wish I could give you, like, this is how you do it, and it will work, but I can't, because, you know, obviously you talked about, you know, the relationship. relationships that I've built with Bill and Wall and really the organization over the last 12 years, you know, I've seen it all. And you get to a point from my perspective where you want to see someone drafted, you want to see them develop, you want to retain them, you want this person to one day ultimately lead, you know, the city to a championship. I'm not a native Washington, but I've been here long enough where I'm all in, right?

You want to see this team win. And for me, Bradley Beale is that kind of player. He's that kind of player that he comes back 30 years from now, Kevin. Fans in the stand stand up and give him a standing ovation, regardless if there was a championship or not, because he was invested in the team, right? So that's that one side of it. But then there's the other side of if this is a rebuild,

he is the best value player that this team has right now. Two-time All-Star has played every game, average 25, 5, and 5. You know all the numbers, right? and he has a very manageable contract considering all the accolades he's been able to procure over the last two years. So he has value,

and that could actually speed up another rebuild if you want to have a rebuild. So there are really two schools of thought there. Kevin, I'm telling you, I've lived in both spaces in my mind thinking how that works out, and I don't know which one works. I feel like the wall and building, there's some unfinished business there,

but then there's another part of me that feels like, all right, we might need to move on from that. So it's a long-worded answer to your question. I don't know what to do. I've thought about it a lot, too. And, you know, here's the thing. I like Beal. I really like Beal, but I've never considered him to be the potential top-five kind of

NBA player that you pretty much have to win a title. You know, the bottom line is, if you don't have a top-five player in the NBA, you can't legitimately win an NBA title. And the Wizards don't have that player and they've got to try to find that player. Last year at this time I said I would trade my entire team for Kauai Leonard and just figure it out from there. And if it's for one year, it's one year, but we're going to have a top five player on our team, which gives us a chance.

I think it's time to move on. I think you can get a huge package for Beal, whether it's from New York or L.A., I would prefer to be from New York because if you got that third pick, now you got a shot at Barrett or John Morant. I love John Morant, but I don't think Memphis is going to let him get by number two. And you start over because ultimately what is the upside by keeping Beal and trying to build around him? Winning a series, potentially maybe winning two. If John came back at some point and was healthy and played like John, it's never in that particular setting, unless they get really lucky in the draft, it's not going to be a championship team.

Yeah, I mean, when you look at, and even Ted said this in the podcast yesterday, you know, the NBA has now become a place where it used to be, well, you need two stars to win. Well, now Golden State has three, maybe even four. So, you know, I understand. And I really agree with what you said. But again, there's that other part of it, too, as, you know, this town has seen a lot of people come and go, Kevin, in all sports, as you know. And Beale is a first. great guy. Yes, and many of them will go on to another team and have success, and you're like, well, what the hell

happened? How come he couldn't do that? I know. He's just a good person that you can build around. And, you know, like, again, like I said, 20 years from now, he comes back for a reunion, whatever it is, the fans are just like, man, you remember when he was really good. But I do understand the other part of it is, listen, if you can get a package, you talked about the Knicks. I understand the Lakers stuff.

If you're willing to give me four, Ball Coosma, I mean, how do you not look at that and think, well, that could speed up our process. Yes. And to me, Kevin, it's hard, being a diehard Carolina fan to say it, my favorite player in his draft is Cam Reddish. I feel like he has the NBA skill set to be special.

And you get him, and then you still have your ninth pick, and you get bowl bowl. Okay, now look. So it goes back to what you were saying. If you give me a package like that where you have four, nine, two starters, you're absolutely right. You have started your rebuild almost in real time. Yeah, I mean, that could happen.

It's funny you mentioned Cam Reddish and I was just having a conversation yesterday with a friend of mine. You know, the DeMath Showcase event that they have in December. I'm sure you've been to it the last few years. He gave Georgetown Prep 40. Oh, yeah. Well, so he, when they played prep two years ago, they, Jared Bynum, who was one of the best freshmen in the country at this year in the Atlantic 10 at St. Joe's, he had 34 against Reddish, and Reddish went for like 37 in Prep won the game. They were ranked, I think Westtown, I think that's the name of the school. I think they were ranked fifth in the country. The next day, it came back and he had 55. I don't know if you were there that.

day was crazy. I was there. Yeah. It was nuts. It was nuts. But in thinking about Beal, it's like, I hear you. He's a first-rate guy, and he's really good. And I'll never forget the seventh game, you know, in Boston, the way he really carried them when John went cold. I'll never forget the Toronto series and how badass he was in the Toronto series when they swept him, you know, as a truly young player. How about the Atlanta series? The young player. Yeah, the Atlanta series, game six, when Wall and him just went nuts and got Atlanta out of there.

I mean, yeah, he's had these unreal moments this year, the 50-point games, 40-point games, the two triple doubles that he had. I mean, again, you know, in the wrestling business, they call people like me a mark. I'm a Mark for deal, man. I hear you. I mean, it's funny about both of them

because I'm the biggest Wizards fan, and I really, really got, for the first time in a long time, so excited during those few years in some of those games. I mean, that game six in Atlanta when John went for 42 and I think scored 18 of the last 20 to close him out is one of the great individual performances in Bullets, Wizards, franchise history. I mean, that game, I think he had 42 and nine or 10 assists and a bunch of steals.

He was phenomenal in that game. So was Beal. But I also have at, times pulled my hair out watching the two of them. You know, when I'm like, come on, that's that, that's an unforced turn. How many unforced turnovers have the two of them had in key moments? Or at the end of quarters where we settle for, all right, we're just going to watch one of the two of them just dribble the clock down and miss, you know, at the end of a game. But, but he is, he's a terrific player and, and they drafted him. They drafted him. And, and like you said, and it's been clear in the

interviews and I had him on the radio show once or twice. He's a first rate and a smart, you know, thoughtful young guy. And so I know, I know how you feel. Well, I mean, we're not going to solve it. Ted's got to get somebody. And, you know, I know a lot of people really like Tommy Shepard. And I hope it works out for Tommy. That would be great. But that's the decision, right? I mean, to me, I just wonder if part of the interview is, what's your plan? Like, If Ted's interviewing these people, to me, part of the interview is, present me with your plan for our situation. And if he told you that Beal is... And it's a difficult situation.

Yeah. It's a difficult situation. Again, you're talking about your best player, your franchise player, is going to start his Supermax contract not playing. Okay? So you're already behind the eight ball. And, oh, by the way, he's a very good point guard, which is the most important position in the NBA, right? Yeah. So he's on the show.

You've got your second best player, or 1B, however you want to say it, is really, really good. But is he good enough to uplift you and to lead, right, to lead you to the playoffs and win a series? And then you've got all of these roster spots that are open. Then you've got this Jan Mahoney final year of his $16 million in your contract. You've got Dwight Howard Opti again. You've got all of this stuff going on, right? They should have dealt Trevor. They should have dealt Trevor, and he's been one of my favorite players in the league, and I think it was a massive mistake to let him go to Chase Durant, which was never going to happen.

Because I think if Trevor had been on the teams that followed that first one he was on, that they may have had a chance to go even further than they went in the postseason. But, you know. Kevin, by the way, did you hear, did you hear Ted talk about the summer of 2016 on the podcast? I missed that part. I thought that was interesting. Tell me. I thought it was interesting. He said, now when you.

recalibrate and think about it. It was a mistake. Before I think all of that money into 2016, he said we probably should have stepped back. It's interesting now. He's had this time to kind of just look back and evaluate what the last 10 years have been like, especially from 2016 on. And he's admitting, you know, in public that, yo, man,

I made some mistakes, you know, but I'm learning from them and I want the team to be better. He's pouring money, the infrastructure. He's talked about that building the practice facility, doing advanced analytics, all this other stuff. And then his face, when he said, listen, we've done all these things, but we lost 50 games last year. When he said we lost the 50 games, Kevin, if you can see his facial expression, he was so frustrated that this team last year lost 50 games. with all of these things that he had put in place. So it was just really cool to sit there and just see a guy that, as you said, had the AOL kind of thinking and wanted to get his messaging out.

But the reality was, I think it was kind of like therapeutic for him to kind of just, okay, this is what I've learned. This is what I want to present to the people. I'm sorry. Let's try again. And I think that's all you can ask of people in positions. like that to speak to the to the to the to the to the to the public right you know made a mistake a lot of of stuff he was saying i was like i had no clue i didn't think he was going to say that that's that is

the whole part about it's all on me that's fascinating because you know there there are a couple of things that you know as a fan i got dead wrong and then a couple of them that i thought in the moment like your durant's not coming here you got to keep leaders in players like trevor oiza and you got to keep a guy even like ney look nana is still, you know, giving significant minutes to a championship caliber team. Why? Because he's outrageously high IQ as a player. And personally, Chris, I thought Randy was a good coach. I know that it wasn't the perfect fit with the players and the relationships, but Randy could X and O it up with anybody. And he held people accountable. It was great. Hey, listen, he wasn't

the biggest fan of the media, but I was like, look, man, I could care less if they win games. I mean, look at what they looked like before Witt got the job and look what happened when he left. They were in such a better place as an organization because of the accountability. And the fact that Ted also mentioned, you know, the one voice thing just is not working anymore in professional sports. You have to have a collection of really smart people sitting in a room, regardless if they're in the front office. scouting department coaching staff, maybe the leaders of the team as pertains to players, the health and wellness portion of your organization. I think all of these people now, he has said, are going to be in the calculus moving

forward trying to make the right decisions for this organization. That scares me a little bit because you know what really works? Popovich works. Belichick works. There are a lot of different ways that it can work. And when I hear guys like Ted talk about consensus building, and calculus and it just concerns me. You know, here's the bottom line, and I've said this over and over again,

and I don't know if you agree or disagree, but in the NBA, you really do have to get a little bit lucky. You've got to somehow land on a player that ends up being a top three to top five player, and they come in so many different ways. They come as the number one pick, and they come as the number 15 pick, or they come via free agency, but you've got to have one of those guys, or it doesn't matter how big your boardroom is and how many people are participating in an analytical discussion about your roster. It really, it's the one sport where you have to have a great player

or, as you mentioned, three of them, or you got no shot. I was literally just telling my wife this morning. We were talking about it, and I kind of bounce a lot of my ideas off on it. I was just like, you know, the Golden State Warriors are the classic case of it. It all just worked together. It all just, all the puzzle pieces kind of just fit, right? You had two of the greatest shooters that ever lived. You had a guy like Draymond Green who was like the glue, okay? Then you started adding around them.

But those guys, again, like I said, Kevin, draft developed and retained, okay? Then you built around them. Then you brought in the ego dollars of the world. You get the big fish in Kevin Durant, okay? You got boogie cousins. but it all started with Golden State by drafting. And it was like that's the key in the NBA. And that's why I feel like this summer, if the Wizards stay at 9, they got to get it right.

You have to get this right because if you want to get your rebuild started or continue with the wall build experiment, this piece, this number 9 piece has got to be a significant part of turning this thing around. I agree. But that's where, to me, the luck comes into it. it. You can be the most phenomenal evaluator of talent and have tremendous vision as, you know, Oklahoma City did for that stretch or, or Golden State did. But, you know, it is very difficult to evaluate and let's face it. Most of these kids are 18, 19, 20 years old and you're projecting on all of them because none of them are ready. None of them are ready to come in and lead you to a championship. Before I let you go real quickly, what did you think of last night?

You know, Drew Gooden is a good friend of mine. He's on the podcast with me, and he's been doing games for us here at NBC Sports Washington. He and I, Kevin, literally, after the first game of the regular season, started this battle between Toronto and Milwaukee. And we were constantly all season long jabbing at each other, texting one another, who got a win, who looked better. He was team Milwaukee. I was team Toronto.

And when Milwaukee took three or four from Toronto on the regular season, I almost tapped out and was like, yeah, you might be right, but I stayed with Toronto. So going into last night, I've been a closet Toronto Raptors fan all season long just because I crowned them. I said they're going to be the best team in the East. And when they went out there last night, that was just validation for me. Yeah. They are really good. And when Pascal Seaccom can be that number two, and last night I actually thought he was number one.

Yeah. I thought he played really, really well. It was an off night for Kauai. And then, you know, obviously, Gassall got going early. Listen, Kyle Lowry were doing, I thought Kyle Lowry might not have had the best scoring night, but he was doing those little things that a point guard needs to do, taking the charges, getting people into the right set. I really like their team. I've liked their team all year long. And Kevin, I think Toronto's going to win this thing in seven. I've said at the start, I just, and now this story with I Godala, you don't know how bad it's. calf is, boogie cousins, is Kevin Durant going to play? I mean, the Warriors have a lot of things that they got to figure out, but they are the champs, but I'm going to stick with Toronto. Chris, it's so funny because you and I have been identical this year. I have had this running

debate with Van Pelt all year long. He loved the Bucks, and I said Toronto's going to be the best team in the East. Kauai Leonard's going to lead him to the NBA finals. But when we got to the postseason and Milwaukee destroyed Boston, and you know, Toronto was in a phenomenal nominal, you know, series with the Sixers and a seventh game, you know, that was decided at the buzzer. I, he kept saying, look, all year long, he's like, they're killing people. They're winning, they've won 40 games by 15 points or more. And I'm like, yeah, but you've got to earn your dues in the postseason. Janus hasn't been there. But we got to the beginning of the series and I said, all right, you convinced me. I'm picking Milwaukee. I hate to because I've been on Toronto and I

picked Milwaukee. But I have been a closet Raptors fan all. year long because I've just always been a huge Kauai Leonard fan. And I'm rooting for them in these fun. He is a phenomenal talent. Yeah, he's just so much fun to watch. I'm so happy for, I'm happy for the city. It's like one of my favorite cities on the road. Such a great city.

Just the people, the energy there. Absolutely. Even when it's four degrees out, people are smiling. They open doors for you. Yeah, I'm just rooting for them. What an environment. What an environment that was last night. And the game six against Milwaukee on Saturday night,

It felt like, honestly, a huge college game, you know, on a camera indoor or, you know, wherever. It was a phenomenal environment. I really enjoyed this. I love when we talk and catch up, and I appreciate it. And everybody should go listen to that interview with Ted on Chris's podcast, a Wizards Talk podcast. You can find it. I'm assuming anywhere you can find a podcast and also at NBC Sports Washington. and Chris has done a great job with the Wizards broadcast for years.

Appreciate it, and we'll talk soon. Thanks, Kevin. I appreciate it, man. Have a great weekend. Good talking to you again. Great talk with Chris Miller. Really did enjoy that. Quick word about stamps.com.

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All right. I wanted to finish up the show with a couple of things real quickly. Number one is this. Tomorrow is the 40-year anniversary of the last time the Wizards slash bullets played an NBA finals game. 40 years ago tomorrow, June 1st, can you believe tomorrow's June 1st already? June 1st, 1979, the Seattle Supersonics came in up three games to one in the NBA finals and beat the bullets at the Capitol Center 97 to 93 to win their first ever title. It was the second year of the bullets and the Supersonics playing against each other in the NBA finals. The Bullets won the title in 78, and the Sonics won the

series 40 years ago tomorrow. By the way, they won game one, the bullets did, and then lost four straight, Gus Williams, the wizard, who ended up becoming a bullet later in his career, and Dennis Johnson, DJ, were the stars for the Sonics. DJ actually was the best defensive player in the playoffs. He won the MVP. There were four Hall of Fame players in the game on that day, 40 years ago. One of them was, and by the way, a Hall of Fame coach as well, Lenny Wilkins, but the four Hall of Famers were Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld in Washington, and DJ Dennis Johnson, and Jack Sigma, Seattle Center, were both Hall of Fame players as well.

After a decade, that particular decade, of being in the finals four times, all right, the bullets were in the finals, the NBA finals, four times during the 70s, once in Baltimore and then three times in Washington, They won it all in 1978. Since that decade and since that day 40 years ago, there's been nothing. 40 years of nothing, not even one Eastern Conference finals series or game. This organization has won, listen to this, just four best of seven playoff series in 40 years.

Three of them have come in the last six years. a pitiful stretch, really one of the worst stretches of just absolute playoff, you know, emptiness for any organization in any sport. So that, I'll never forget that series, I'll never forget those teams. I was so into the bullets and went to the Capitol Center to see some of those games. I was not at that game five. I remember being at the game one when Larry Wright had two free throws with like a second left to win. game one and then they lost four in a row. But I would have never thought that that franchise, which was a true, you know, top five franchise in the NBA and had been for a decade and a half, you know, going back to the days in Baltimore, I would have never thought that it would have been 40, that 40 years would pass without another NBA finals game, not even an Eastern

conference final appearance in those 40 years. Wanted to mention also, that. I wanted to mention also, that there was some news about Kuznetsov. The NHL basically cleared Evgeny Kuznetsov after that video surfaced earlier in the week of him sitting next to a table in which there were two lines of white powder, cocaine, more likely than not, in a hotel room. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said earlier today that the league thoroughly reviewed the situation and considered the matter closed. quote, while we certainly do not condone or endorse some of the decisions he made on the night in question, Mr. Kuznetsov's account of the events that transpired aligns with other information we have been able to gather,

and we have found no basis to question his representations with respect to what he did and what did not occur. So Kuznetsov, you know, who claimed after the video surfaced that he had never taken illegal drugs in his life and said that he was just caught in a bad situation that he was not aware of. He has been cleared on that front. Interesting NFL injury news. Matt LaFleur, the head coach of the Green Bay Packers, formerly the quarterback's coach here with Mike Shanahan and Kyle Shanahan when he was in Washington, he tore his Achilles at an OTA practice.

So his first year of coaching will start for, I think six months on crutches. Man, that Achilles injury, that has become a much more prevalent injury over the years than I think it used to be. I could be wrong about that, but I think we have read and heard and experienced with people that we know torn Achilles much more now than we ever did. It must have something to do with the condition and the body fat, I think, or the existence of or the non-existence of body fat. in that area of the body than perhaps in years past. Other than that, I think that's it for the day. I'm going to be watching golf this weekend.

I hope Tiger plays well today. The Memorial is one of those iconic courses in Dublin, Ohio, Mearfield Village, Jack's course. It's always a great tournament. Tiger was two under yesterday and has not teed off as we're recording this podcast today, but he's won the event five times. So that'll be fun.

And then we have to wait until Sunday night for game two between the Warriors and the Raptors. And by the way, this series is spread out a little bit. I don't know if you saw the schedule on this, but it is Sunday night and then Wednesday night. And then I think there is a game Friday, but then they wait until Monday. They don't play one over the weekend. And then finally, if there's a game seven, it would be essentially two weeks from last night. So they spread it out over two weeks. It's interesting that you read that Jeopardy outrated the NBA finals last night.

I'm into this series. I don't know if others are or not. I like the Warriors to bounce back in game too, but if the public's loaded up on the Warriors again, getting two, then I will probably play the Raptors. And I'm rooting for the Raptors. Anyway, have a great weekend. Enjoy it.

Thanks to Chris Miller. Thanks to Aaron. Next week, by the way, a couple of interesting guests, including Brad Johnson, former Redskins quarterback, is going to be with us, either on Monday or Wednesday. We haven't decided yet, but he's going to come on and talk about Dwayne Haskins and some of the other young quarterbacks and probably will go down memory lane 20 years to review, or at least his portion of the 20 years of Dan Snyder's ownership.

But Brad's a great guy and always a good guest, and I talked to him last night, and he'll come on with us next week. Have a great day and a great weekend. Back on Monday.