The Kevin Sheehan Show - One More "Mock" Reveal

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

Kevin opened with a discussion about Jon Allen's next few career years including the possibility that he becomes a hot commodity at the 2024 NFL trade deadline. He revealed another game from his Washington Mock Schedule before tomorrow's full reveal. Ben Standig/The Athletic jumped on to talk Commanders and NBA Playoffs. Download the PrizePicks app today and use code Sheehan for a first deposit match up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. The presenting sponsor of this podcast, Windonation. Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com. Mentioned my name for a free in-home estimate.

Wind Donation's name was mentioned last night at Tommy's event down at Shelley's, cigars and curveballs, a huge success again. He's done a great job. job with this guys. So many of you, by the way, were down there and it was great to see a lot of you. But for those that haven't been, Tom's done a phenomenal job for a great cause. This thing got moved into the big room last night. Bob Moderazzi, a great host, the owner of Shelly's. And when I made a bid on an auction item, Chris Spira, who helps Tommy out a lot with this event, said that all of Kevin's bids are sponsored by Wind Donation.

And everybody got a chuckle out of that. But that just goes to show you. Wind Donation and this podcast are synonymous. Anyway, thanks to Wind Donation. Thanks to all of you that came last night. I know Tommy really appreciates it. He will be back on the show with me tomorrow. One guest on the show today.

Ben Standing's going to jump on. Not for one segment, but for two. We'll do football in the next segment. And then we will talk about the two NBA playoff games from last night. Entertaining, controversial. I missed the first half of Nick's Pacers because I was at Tommy's event, saw the second half and then saw all of what Minnesota did to Denver. And what they did to Denver last night in the first half should be illegal.

I mean, that was impressive and just destructive of the defending champs. They are in big, big trouble. But we'll talk some NBA with Ben in the final segment of the show. I am going to give you another reveal of my mock schedule, which I will do in its entirety on tomorrow's show. I don't know if all of you care. Some of you really care. Remember, I was contemplating not doing it this year. Everybody's doing it now.

And so I just thought it had run its course, but so many of you love it. And I also think some of you hate it. Actually, I really do. I think some of you think it's the most absurd thing that we do during the course of the year. It's hard to disagree with that, but it's entertaining for some. I got this from Encore. Kevin, how about Monday night, October 28th on ESPN for either the Eagles or the Bears and you retire 28 that night?

on 1028 retired Darrell Green's number. Now, Thanksgiving Day is November 28th. Hmm. Will I have Washington playing on Thanksgiving Day again? I certainly did not think about it from the Darrell Green number 28, Jersey retirement perspective. But thank you, Encore, very much. I will get to the other reveal from my mock schedule coming up.

to read this, and I've got a couple of other things here to touch on here in the open. Jeremy Fowler did kind of a recap of intelligence from all 32 teams post-draft, and he wrote this about Washington's selection of Johnny Newton in the second round. Quote, having three talented tackles is hardly a bad thing, but a few league execs are wondering if Washington will ever consider offers for John. Allen, who is due 15.4 million this year and 16.5 million next, below market for high-end tackles. The people I've talked to, Jeremy Fowler writes, believe Washington will need to either rework his contract or eventually decide to entertain trade interest, which it has rebuffed in the past.

But for now, head coach Dan Quinn can concoct a plan to get all three defense. of tackles on the field. So there's not anything super revealing in Jeremy Fowler's write-up, not for us anyway, but I was thinking about John Allen after reading this. First of all, Jeremy Fowler writes that the team has rebuffed trade interest in John in the past. I'm sure that's true. I don't remember anything specific. You know, I don't remember, oh, the Texans, remember when they offered a second and a third for Allen at the trade deadline. I know that there's been interest, but the team hasn't been interested in moving on from him. They were interested in moving on from Chase Young.

They were interested ultimately because of the offer in moving on from Montes-Swet. But I bring this up because if the upcoming season is more of a rebuild season or a recalibrating season, as Quinn and Peters have described it as, and they're not contending for anything. But John's playing well, Duran's playing well, Johnny Newton's playing well. I think we will talk about John Allen as the trade deadline looms in late October, early November, whenever it is.

Because at 29 years old, with a full year left on his contract, after this upcoming season, he will be a desired player, for teams that have a defensive tackle need and are in the playoff race or believe that they will be in the playoff race. And it may be the time in which you can get the most in return for John Allen, and they'll have to weigh that decision. Do we take the best compensation we will have ever been offered for John Allen because it's a team that's desperate, has a need, and he's still got a year left on his contract, which makes them more attractive.

And we can get some compensation for the upcoming 2025 draft, which, by the way, is, according to the draft people, much more of a defensive draft than this last draft was. It's possible. I mean, that's a projection, of course. It's also possible that John's playing lights out and Johnny Newton isn't very good. and the team sees John as, you know, a contract extension target because they think at 30 and 31 years old,

he'll be part of a contending team here. But anyway, I thought I'd bring that up. To this email from Lewis, Kevin, I hope I'm wrong, but after paying $6 billion for the team and with merchandise sales in the tank, I think there's a chance that Jaden Daniels was picked for jersey selling reasons. He was the most marketable of the quarterbacks in the draft after Caleb Williams. It wouldn't surprise me, and I would understand it, if Josh Harris asked Adam Peters, if things are close enough, can we pick Daniels? Thank you, Lewis.

You can follow me on Twitter at Kevin Sheen, D.C. email me through the show's website, the kevin sheeonshow.com or kevin shiannshow.com. I can't go there, Lewis. Come on, man. First of all, Lewis is talking about, I think, or referring to, this report from financebuzz.com that tracked spending by fans on the 32 NFL teams, and it revealed that Washington had one of the lowest merchandise sales numbers in the entire league, the lowest by far in the division, the second lowest in the NFC. By the way, just as an aside, I think we all understand what a disaster the commander's rebrand was. You know, most times when you change a name and you change uniforms and you have new merchandise opportunities,

there's an immediate sort of increase and you're near the top. This was a disastrous rebrand from a revenue standpoint. Again, though, and I've said this in the past, I don't care who was in charge of it, whether it was Will Misselbrook and Jason Wright or two other dudes that were in the same spot. It was an impossible rebrand to do because you had an 86-year-old,

existing brand. This wasn't an expansion team or this wasn't a team that had the kind of following and the kind of history with the team name and the team brand that this one had. I've said that before. I think they did a shitty job. Don't get me wrong. I'm with all of you. It was a shitty decision, shitty uniform colors, branding. Everything that was done, I thought was done poorly. And the rollout was embarrassing. But I don't think anybody could have gotten it right unless they went with Washington as the brand. You know, Washington FC, FC Washington, that's always been my suggestion, because I know that Redskins is not coming back. I know that. I think most of you do too, even though you do hope that it comes back. I think many of you right now would take Washington

with the old uniforms and maybe the old logo if that was doable back. I think you'd take that right now. be okay with it. I would. But back to Lewis's email. Come on, dude. I mean, a little benefit of the doubt here. This isn't Dan. Josh Harris isn't trying to sell jerseys. And by the way, how much more marketable really is Jaden Daniels than, say, Drake May? A little bit, but not a lot. No, I don't see that at all. That's really cynical. That's real PTSD when it comes to, you know, what we've been through the last 25 years. I think, you know, if Josh Harris were really interested, you know, Dan Snyder's style in, you know, merchandise sales and excitement over the team and buying season tickets and

sweets, then he would have hired Bill Belichick or he would have tried to hire Jim Harbaugh. I mean, but he didn't. No. I don't buy that at all. All right. Mock's schedule reveal number two. If you missed it yesterday, I had Washington opening the 2024 season in East Rutherford against the New York football giants. It was, you know, based on thinking they'll open on the road after opening four straight years at home.

and then I took the Road 8 game schedule, and I knocked Philly off because they're playing Green Bay, week one in Brazil. I knocked Arizona off because they've played Arizona on opening day twice in the last six years or five years or whatever it is, and I ended up on the New York Giants. All right. So that was the opener on yesterday's show. Today I'm going to give you – it's actually one – reveal, but if you connect the dots, it will reveal something else about the schedule that

you'll get tomorrow. The other game I'm going to give you is a Thursday night game. Every team's got to play one on a short week. Sometimes it's a short week. Not always is it a short week. December 5th at Dallas on Thursday night football. One week after 3rd. Thanksgiving Day, where Dallas plays at home, as you know, and then for six of the last seven years, Dallas has played the following Thursday night at home against somebody. That somebody this year is Washington at Dallas, Thursday night, December 5th, 815 kickoff. Washington played Dallas in 2017, the week after Thanksgiving. Dallas played that Thanksgiving Day.

Washington played that Thanksgiving night against the Giants in 2017, and then a week later on Thursday night football, they were playing Dallas. Dallas will likely have Thursday Thanksgiving, they will definitely have, and then they'll have another game a week later on Thursday night. Last year they played Seattle.

It was a great game. I think it was last year they played Seattle in a really good game. That's my second ridiculous. absurd mock schedule reveal. The Giants season opener yesterday, today, it's at Dallas Thursday night football, December 5th. Now, the news on the schedule is that it may not come out this week. There's a lot of reporting out there now that the NFL is going to hold off until next week. I thought it would be Thursday night. I think what we'll get, though, is we'll get a few games here and there before the actual full schedule is announced.

We'll get some of the holiday games, Thanksgiving Day games, maybe a Christmas day lineup because they're going to play on Christmas Day again this year, even though Christmas is on a Tuesday, right? It's a Tuesday. We got that news a couple of, like a month or so ago. No, Christmas is on Wednesday. Christmas Eve is Tuesday. Christmas is on Wednesday, and they're going to play.

football on Wednesday, the 25th. So if the schedule doesn't come out this week and it appears that it won't, I still think the NFL will leak out some games. But my mock schedule in its entirety tomorrow with Tommy on the show. And the two reveals this week are the Giants season opener on the road and at Dallas Thursday night, December 5th. Those are two of the 17 games, the other 15 tomorrow. Ridiculous, I know. All right, Ben Standing next after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, guys, now with the NFL draft behind us,

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kept it short and sweet. Brett gave us five stars and just wrote great podcast. From Dag 7, he gave us five stars on Apple and wrote Best Podcast in town. Keep it up. From Mayhew 82, he gave us five stars. Love the show. I say he, could be a she. Love the show. Thanks for keeping Tommy in line, daily listener. J.P. Max wrote something a little bit longer. Love the show, although I now live in New Hampshire. I'm a DMV guy. So your podcast is a piece of home. I really enjoy listening to you in Cooley. The way that 47 breaks film dead. is killer and it's obvious that there's a real friendship when you two go back and forth.

I am hopeful that the, and he can't say it, he writes command dot, dot, dot. I can't say it, he writes that the skins, hopeful that the skins make things right with 47. That guy was a baller who meant so much to the fan base and to the Washington Redskins. Thank you, Kevin, and H-T-T-R. It's big for us when you guys take the time to do. do that. So I thank all of you who have done it. And if you haven't done it, you can spare 30 to 60 seconds to give us up to five stars, hopefully, and a quick review. It's a big help. All right. Jumping on with us right now is our good friend, Ben Standing from The Athletic. Ben's got a podcast that you can

listen to. It's called Standing Room Only. Ben does a great job writing for the athletic. I'm a subscriber. It's a couple of bucks a month. It's totally worth it. You can follow Ben. as always on X, on Twitter, at Ben Standings. So we're going to do back-to-back segments with Ben because Ben's a huge basketball fan, a huge NBA fan. So instead of opening the show with what I watched a lot of last night, I'm going to save it, as I mentioned in the open for the last segment, and Ben and I will talk some NBA playoff games from last night.

But first, it's all about the football team. And I actually just wanted to ask you for a quick calendar review. The draft is behind us. I know there's a mini-camp coming up this weekend, I believe. But just lay out what the rest of the spring and summer is until we get to training camp. That's correct. Working mini-camp this weekend, then three OTA sessions, and then the one mandatory minicamp at the end. And then where's training camp?

As far as I know, it's just going to be Ian Ashburn. I mean, they haven't said. And needless to say, they've been trying to figure out their plan. I think there's some interest in doing the go away for camp. But at the moment, I'm not aware that it's Richmond or anything else. I believe it's going to be an Ashburn until I hear something else. All right. We are basically a week and a half removed from the draft.

what kind of impact will Washington's rookie class make beyond Jaden Daniels? Well, I mean, you know, potentially a significant one, and I don't want to be like overly wish you, but it's all just going to depend on how quick could these guys adjust, right? I mean, you would think that Johnny Newton, you know, just based on what he showed in college and at that position, and, you know, that he's a guy that should be able to help out fairly, quickly, and I think what's interesting there is, you know, if you look at the defensive end

situation, right, they signed Doran's Armstrong as like the main guy. They added Cleveland Farrell, Dante Fowler, for some depth, you know, veteran depth, he still have KJ. Henry. But, you know, other than Armstrong, and I'm just basing it on his contract essentially, and his performance that warranted it, like, he's the only defensive end that probably, like, you feel like needs to play, right? But now you've got these three tackles in Allen Payne and Newton. Plus, you've got Frankie Lou Voo. It looks like they're going to use in that sort of Micah Parsons lineup, you know,

here, there, and everywhere roll, not to mention, you know, if Jamie Davis ends up just sort of being focused more on rushing the past or that. I'm kind of wondering, is there a world where they're kind of playing a three, four, with the, you know, with the tackles, let's say, take Armstrong out for a minute, playing a little bit of a three or four with the tackles having then, you know, Louvoo coming off of one edge, maybe, you know, Davis and other, maybe it's Armstrong or something. I wonder how much they can play the three tackles. It was never an option, like I say, when they drafted Fedarian Mathis because you had Montes White and Chase Young, but you don't have that here. And Dan Quinn's willing to, you know, experiment up.

So I'm intrigued to see where Newton kind of fits in. And then with Sanders still, like, I would assume he's going to be the lead. for the nickel corner role, but we still need to see what they're playing is for Kwan Martin and everybody else. That's really interesting. You can get three tackles on the field in a five-man front. You can obviously get the three on the front if you decide that you're going to play base three-four or you're going to play some three-four.

And the outside linebackers actually kind of makes sense, the ones that you just mentioned, You know, although you mentioned Louvo and Jamie Davis, and you'd have probably Bobby Wagner and who else inside. I don't even know who else they have that you put inside. If you had Louvo and Jamie Davis on the outside, you could potentially put Louvo and Wagner on the inside with Davis and a guy like Fowler Jr. playing up on the outside. Yeah.

It could almost kind of be like either like a 3-5, a 3-3-5 or a 4. to five. And I'm assuming, like, most teams are going to have five defensive backs out there all the time, and you're right. He did last year in Dallas. Right, and I was in Wagoner on early downs at a minimum is out there. The question is it 307, is he still out there, or is it something else? But, yeah, I mean, I guess I'm just saying, like, it's interesting to see,

you know, look, this group played five defensive linemen in the past, but I always kind of took that to be more of. They just felt they had more depth on the defensive line than they did a line. linebacker, and this was their way to get their best on the field. Not that it wouldn't be the same here, but here it would feel more like, let's get experimental. There is no, again, other than Armstrong, there's no defensive and you have to play. It doesn't feel like. So, you know, if Johnny Newton can come in and contribute, I think there's a pretty decent-sized roles for him sitting there.

Yeah, I mean, it's interesting that when Washington was in their five-man front, when Jack Del Rio played it, you know, at times it actually looked like a three-four with the whomever the two ends were, but they were all in three-point stances, which made it a true five-man front. I'm interested in a lot of what happens here roster-wise. Ben took a swing at a depth chart. You know, it's early to be talking depth charts, but he did one, and I still think the biggest unknown is what they think of the players from last year that are still on the roster. And I don't know if we have a good feel for how they feel about some of those players. I mentioned, and I think you probably mentioned as well, the thing that was out there from

what's his face from over the cap, that indicated that Washington had the fewest percentage of its 2023 players left on its roster. What did you take from that? I mean, we know that they've signed a lot of players in free agency and they drafted nine more. But what was your biggest takeaway from that number that came out yesterday, that Washington leads the league, if you will, with the fewest players on the roster as it stands now from last year's roster? Well, and I think the number two team, I believe, was the Chargers, and I mentioned that because those are two teams that change the coach and their general

manager. And, you know, I think at the end of the day, right, I mean, again, we went through this four years ago or whatever it was with Ron, where all the commanders coming in and all that, because this is partly what happened, right? Anything that's inherited is not something that's yours. I mean, you know, you're not going to be, you know, silly and just arbitrarily cut Terry McCorn or Duron Payne or whatever, but, like, you're not as tied to them as you are with people that you bring in or the people that you know and have you.

So, look, this group needed to be rebuilt. It was rebuilt. They did cut, you know, they cut Charles Leno. They cut Logan Thomas, guys who had contracts, you know, at least for a little bit more time, but it made sense based on their age and the cap hits and all that. But, you know, they just, a lot of guys run one-year deal, so they moved on, and it was the easy way to do it

because they really are starting over, so Adam Peters could, you know, try to find guys that met with what, you know, he looked for in players, what Dan Quinn is seeking, excel on. I think the other interesting parts out of this is the other graph, the other charts of the over-the-cap showed, and that was the percentage of players from last year's roster are not currently on a team,

and Washington had the highest percentage there as well, and I think that goes to show how much, you know, how much of a talent deficiency, I guess they were playing with, and then they weren't helped out by the coaching staff, I think, for the most part. So I think that's like putting those two things together. The one you can paint sort of optimistically, but hey, Peters wants who his guys are.

The other one maybe shows a little bit better of the short deck. He was inherited right off the bat and how they needed to move on because there's not enough guys, I guess, who are viewed as. And look, it's only May, right? A lot of these veterans are still out their world final teams. So I imagine some of their guys that are floating around will still hook up somewhere.

But yeah, I think it's notable that when you combine the two stats, what it really is health really paint a picture of what Adam Peters inherited. No, I think that's a good way to put it, that the first number, the fewest percentage of players returning from 2023 on the roster, can be an indication of, hey, new regime, GM, coaching staff, by the way, a 4 and 13 football team, but they want to create the roster the way, you know, their, you know, sort of, as they've discussed before, aligned vision.

And then the other one, which was the teams with the highest percentage of players from 23, not on any NFL offseason roster as we speak. You know, what's interesting is Washington has, you know, leads the pack in that, but the dolphins and Steelers who are playoff teams are the next two. So some of that sometimes, I guess, can be age. That wouldn't be the case really with Washington necessarily. But back to, I wonder what they think of some of the players that played a lot that are still on the roster. I mean, we have to assume that they like Terry McClorn, that they probably feel pretty good about Sam Cosme,

that Brian Robinson, Jr., you know, in the kind of player traits that they like. And they've talked about, you know, toughness, finishes, runs, you know, high motor, probably fits what they like. Duran and John on defense. And then it's like, I don't know. Like, what do they think of John Dotson? What do they think of Diami Brown? What do they think of, you know?

I mean, I mean, Forbes is a big one. Yeah. Yeah, he might be the biggest one for me, yeah. Yeah, Jamie Davis. I mean, just because they didn't pick up the fifth-year option, it was obvious they weren't. aren't going to pick it up, given his off-the-field issues.

But I wonder if Dan Quinn has a vision for him that could end up, you know, getting the most out of him, where the previous coaching staff didn't. I still think I saw something in K.J. Henry last year when he played. I wonder if they see the same thing. Now, maybe they don't because Armstrong, Fowler Jr., Cleland Farrell, all in free agency. You know, some of these D-Bs, Derek Forrest and Percy Butler, you've already mentioned Forbes, Juan Martin, Benjamin St. Juice. I wonder how they see these guys, you know, on next year's team.

Yeah, I mean, you know, we discussed that. Like, I know people were upset that they didn't draft an offensive tackle with the first, you know, straight-up or get wrong right away. And, you know, people are a little maybe skeptical, Brandon Coleman, whatever. but like they did draft a tackle. But, okay, like, so they didn't draft a running back. They did add some as the UDFA's, but, you know, okay, the running back room seems to be relatively set right with Chris Rodriguez as the third guy.

I actually wonder if Chris Rodriguez takes over the kick return role because with the new rules, having a bigger guy back there as opposed to work the type of body we're used to seeing could be an advantage because it's going to be a more compressed space. But in any event, they didn't take a running back. They didn't draft a guard, right? Now, obviously that wasn't necessarily a position. Like, you could, right? I mean, Nick Allegretti, kudos to him for playing the Super Bowl,

but he was the backup in Kansas City. It's not like he's a locked and starter. So I'm thinking, well, why not? What's there? This could just be pure speculation if they just went pure best player available. Maybe then it just didn't work out that way. But I keep thinking about a guy like Ricky Stromberg, and I mentioned him in the story I wrote,

you're talking about what do they think of guys? But what about him? He was a third round pick last year. He was a pick that people liked. It wasn't like there was a view to the stretch. It was just, you know, when they did that having given Nick Gates a multi-year deal, that seemed kind of odd, which, of course, it played out that way, and then he only played out that way.

And then he only played four games before we got hurt with an knee injury. All those snaps were at left guard. Is there a world where they're saying, hey, we now have Tyler Beiotic. We also signed this guy, Michael Dieter, very low-key signing for them. but they signed him. Is it possible, Stromberg ends up in a potential competition, a left guard? Because otherwise, like, what's he doing? You know, if he stays healthy, knock on wood for that position here,

you know, is Stromberg not playing? So I think, like, that's something to keep an eye on. And you mentioned KJ. Henry. You know, they did draft the defensive end in the seventh round out of Notre Dame. You know, we'll just assume that's just a flyer, and we'll see. And, yes, they did add Cleland Farrell and D. Valente Fowler. Both of those guys are on one-year deals.

If they don't play for whatever the reason, it's not a crisis. I think they just kind of leave room open for K.J. Henry to emerge. Now, again, maybe that's just the way the best player available draft fell. Maybe they're viewing because Frankie Louvre and perhaps Jamie Lewis end up getting some snaps in those roles. And maybe they just didn't want to crowd the situation further. But I do think there's an opening for Henry. you know, again, you know, drafting Johnny Newton was drafting over Fadarian Mathis.

Fadarian Mathis, his value, his feature takes a little bit of a hit, because now he has to get past three people to play. Whereas, you know, Henry, I don't know, what's you going to get past? Got sort of journeyman types of Farrell and Fowler in a play. That doesn't seem nearly as challenging. So, yeah, I mean, we still have a long ways to go to figure out what they think, But that's what I'm trying to look at right now. That's kind of why I did the death start.

Just let me look at it, lay it out, what's there, what's not, where a position's where it's clear they need more from a town perspective, or maybe they have enough bodies and who still have a shot to play more things like that. You know, you mentioned something that is interesting because, you know, unlike previous years, finding a kickoff returner is a big deal with the new rules. and, you know, I don't know if anybody saw this from last week. There was a story where Pittsburgh may be considering Justin Fields as a kickoff returner. Did you see that story?

I saw it on Friday actually on Thursday night as I was on my way out of here. You mentioned Chris Rodriguez. Like, there are a couple of candidates for that. First of all, it may be the reason that they brought Crowder back. Could be. I mean, you have Crowder and they, you know, they, you know, They also signed Zakias from Philly previous to that. Atlanta.

Armani Rogers, you know, who was considered to be a guy that the last regime liked is a guy that could do a lot of different things. Remember, he was a quarterback in college and has really good hands and really good running ability. You know, I'm wondering who that guy will be. You said Rodriguez? I mean, it's not going to be Dax Milne, I don't think. they're going to try to get some explosiveness, but Crowder, Rogers, Rodriguez, who am I missing from that possible discussion? Kaz Allen, the guy that, you know, was actually kind of brought in last year to be considered

as a punt returner. Did Luke McCaffrey do any of that at Rice? I don't think he did. Could be wrong. I don't recall if he did or not, but. Yeah, I know, but those are interesting ones. The Armada Rogers' one is actually kind of fascinating. I mean, he was a quarterback, as he said in college,

so it's not like he ran a ball plenty there. And, you know, this is what's going to be interesting with that position. It obviously was getting completely phased out because of the nature of the rules and the kicker that is kicking everything out of the end zone and all that stuff. So, yeah, it's a brave new world in terms of how anybody is going to contemplate this. Yeah. All right. So what else on the roster could happen that would be significant between now and training camp?

Anything? I mean, you know, look, we know they still have a ton of cap space. I know people are just saying, well, just go out and sign, throw a lot of money at somebody to play tackle. And, you know, you could use that same logic for other spots. you know, they can roll over their cap space to next year. And as I've been saying, I think next year is when I imagine they get a little more frisky in terms of making some bolder moves. I don't know.

I mean, like I said, it's similar to the defensive end situation. Yeah, it's not the best rotation. It's credible, right? I think we can now probably say the same thing about the cornerbacks, right? It's not great unless Forbes and St. Juice really kind of turning the round. but between those two, Mike Davis, who they signed from the Chargers, saying we're still, plus like the safety, you know, okay, that that's a credible enough rotation.

And I kind of feel that way about almost the whole roster. I think the one spot I kind of wondered about was receiver. You mentioned Jahan Dodson, I would love to know what they think of him because whether you want to say last year was about Bient, issues or Bienomi or Sam Howells and experience, you know, I mean, Dotson, ESPN has a metric of, you know, how well receivers do about getting open. He was definitely towards the bottom of that list. But there's no real obvious, not to even be remotely like, hey, couldn't he get bench.

I just mean, like, is the third receiver Luke McCaffrey? I kind of think it is, right? The only other receiver, you mentioned OZ that they added. And, you know, he's had a 40-catch season. Like, he's had some productive year, but he's also 5-foot-nothing. And, you know, I don't know if he's like really anything. McCaffrey's their tallest receiver, actually, by height. You know, whether or not he plays that way, we'll see.

But he is their tallest receiver. I think he's 6-2 and a quarter, and I think Milne is 6-2. And I think McAfre... Not Milne. Diommy Brown. I meant Diombe Brown. Right, right. And I think McCaffrey, in terms of the rookies, you said, what are they going to get? I mean, he could be one that's pretty impactful quickly. He, you know, he changed positions as well.

So, you know, it's one thing to talk about potential. it's another thing to talk about production right away. But he's a guy, you know, based on his skill set, his size, and the fact that there's really, you know, what other options do they really have it at slot? I mean, if we ask Adam Peters, he could say, well, this guy, this guy, this guy, but for our perspective of, you know, an impact,

he may be the clear cut, you know, even more so than Newton and Sanders still perhaps the jump the guy who plays the most depending on how he goes this summer. will they extend someone like Sam Cosmy before the season starts, do you think? Well, I think this is a very interesting scenario because until they start to spend the money in any real way, we don't quite know what their philosophy is. Sam Cosmo's going into the last year of his contract. I think if this team had been, you know, better, I think there would have been, I don't know if there would have been Sam Cosby, pro bowl talk, I don't want to go like too nuts,

but I think there would have been more discussion of how, hey, you know what, maybe there is another brain and sheriff trajectory going on here where, you know, guy moves from tackle the guard and really starts to thrive. I know he I think he had some hesitation moving inside originally. He loves it now.

And he's the anchor, right? I mean, more than, wow, I'm not going to throw a round thing in here. More than anything else, he is the one offensive line, I guess, to be honest, you could say, but we haven't seen him here, that you can feel pretty good about. So to me, you know, that would be something I would look to do.

And if you're him, you know, just like anything else, is what they're offering enough, or do you feel like you need to hit the market? So I think there will be discussions. I feel really confident about that. Whether they get a deal done, obviously that's just a matter of, you know, the two sides can, you know, what makes sense? And like I said, we just don't know yet how Adam Peters is going to operate in that regard. you wrote a little bit about the front office

with Adam Peters and Lance Newmark and Martin Mayhew and you actually mentioned a name when you wrote about it that I haven't heard mentioned in a while and that was Marty Herney. What is Marty Herney's role in the organization because he was never officially let go by the new regime? I'm not 100% positive about this, but I think his role was hang out on the golf course or by the swimming pool wherever he lives.

I don't think he was involved in anything. I've assumed, you know, typically the scouting department contracts when they're up, they're up post-draft. So I imagine he's been under contract all this time, and, you know, they were just going to let it play out and all that. But, yeah, he's not been to mind the understanding a factor in any way, shape, or form this whole time. So he exists because he's on the payroll, but that's about it. Yeah, I know that during the season and during the sort of approach to the transition to the new regime, that he was someone who Josh Harris in particular leaned on for things like, you know, organizational, historical understanding, et cetera.

And by the way, he's been in the league forever. And maybe that's his role essentially is just an advisor, you know, whenever somebody needs him. He's on retainer. I don't even think it's that. I don't even think it's that. You know? I just think he's, you know, like, May he signed a new contract. I heard he got reassigned.

I just think there's, I just think he's out. Yeah. You just, you never know. Maybe, you know, Ben Affleck playing, you know, Will's good friend in Goodwill. hunting when he goes in and pitches himself as will and says what I'm really looking for is a retainer. What a great movie that is. What a good movie.

What a great movie. You know, that movie, I watched something recently about that movie. When I say recently in the last year, you know, Matt Damon basically wrote the first like 50 pages of the script of that movie. It wasn't the two of them sitting down and writing it together. That eventually took place. But he had the idea for the movie. And then Affleck, who was a really good friend of his, came in, read it and said, why don't we finish this thing together?

I always was under the impression that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon sat down together his best friends and sort of wrote it from scratch together. But it was actually Matt Damon's idea. I think Matt Damon was like, he had a, I think he went to Harvard, right? And he was taking some sort of a class in, I don't know if it was a movie, you know, filming or writing, whatever. But yeah, he basically, I had his class project wrote, like you said, 50 pages, some form of a draft, whatever, about that. And then later, yeah, he and Affleck, you know, decided to, you know, flesh it out and turned it into, essentially what it became. You know, the other part of it was just their, they credit their theater teacher from high school

because it wouldn't have been from Harvard because Athleck didn't go to Harvard. Did Athleck even go to college? I don't know if he did or didn't, actually. Actors are weird like that because obviously when they start young and he was in, they both were in movies in a pretty young age, relatively speaking. Yeah, I mean, they don't necessarily go, man. But they give, I think it was their high school theater teacher, so much credit for teaching them how to write a script

and being super encouraging of them to, you know, try everything in addition to acting. Anyway, look at us, just moving in different directions here. How would you like to move in the direction of the NBA and stick around for just one more segment and talk about the games from last night? We can do that. I got Seinfeld's boss, too, whatever you want to do. Okay, that sounds good. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

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Indiana down a point at Madison Square. Barnett Turner will be called. That is shocking. You've never seen that call at this point in the game. I mean, never. That happened with 12.1 seconds left in the first game. last night at the garden between Indiana and the Knicks. You heard Stan Van Gundy there.

Not thrilled with the call, nor were a lot of people that watched the game. There was a lot of controversy in that game over the final minute or so. Ben's sticking around. We're going to talk about the two NBA games to finish up today's show. The show, as always, is presented by Window Nation, as is this segment of the show. Wind Donation right now, having their semi-annual sale, which gives you an opportunity to save 50% off on all windows, plus five years, no interest at all. So you're going to pay half price on the windows, and if you are financing the purchase, you won't be charged interest for five years. Plus, if you schedule an appointment today, they'll give you additional savings if you mention my name.

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Most people don't know that until somebody comes out an expert like Windonation comes out and lets you know. So Windonation.com or 86690 Nation, mention my name. They'll take really good care of you. So I want to start with the Knicks Pacers game and talk about Jalen Brunson for a minute. This guy just completed a fourth consecutive game scoring 40 or more points. Bernard King did it. Michael Jordan did it.

And then Jerry West actually did it for six. consecutive games. I don't put Jalen Brunson in the category of Michael Jordan or Jerry West at all, but what he is in the process of doing is really impressive. What do you make of it? It's unbelievable. Jaylen Brunson going to Villanova was a big-time recruit, right? In high school recruit, he gets to Villanova. Never quite as an individual lives up to that promise. He was on the two teams at one title. But, like, right, he was like the, what he was the first pick of the second round, I want to say, when he came out?

Yeah, second round pick. Like that? Yeah. Yeah. So, like, it wasn't like he was coming with major expectations. And then, you know, like that last year or so in Dallas, it was like, oh, wow, okay, Luke has got a buddy here. This is interesting. And then he goes to the Knicks.

Like, boy, did the Knicks just sort of overpay for a guy who's good, not great? Well, I apparently, no. Apparently they traded, they signed a guy. who's fantastic. I mean, right this minute, other than Luca, and I guess if you want to say Che Gilgis Alexander, simply, you know,

he's obviously very good and he was, you know, one of the three candidates for MVP. I don't know there's a better guard in the league right now than the way this guy's been playing. And what's so fascinating is he's not a guy you would say he has to be in the three-point shooting contest. He's not some athletic presence. He is, his basketball IQ must be just off the charts.

He is so good at finding space to get to get off a shot to make moves to understand the flow. Obviously, his dad was a player. So, I mean, you know, he has that sort of, you know, jeans. He was, you know, one of those kids, I'm sure there was around the sport his whole life. So there's some of that, but it's remarkable to the degree that he's playing. I mean, don't forget with the Knicks. I don't know if you would say that Julius Randall was their best player. But, you know, at a minimum, their second best player is not even playing.

And Brinson, again, without some sort of specific athletic trait or one specific skill that's just overwhelming, he's the focus of the defense and he's still getting up his points every game is crazy. I just want to clarify something. When you were talking about Jalen and Luca and SGA, you were talking specifically about guys who are technically point guards because you'd put Anthony Edwards in the conversation of. the incredible guards in the game right now. Yeah. You know, look, to me, LeBron is at times really their point guard. It's really hard in today's NBA because the player that handles the ball the most, in essence, and initiates the offense, is a point guard, even if they're, you know, six, you know, in Lucas, I mean, in Lucas case, big dude, but how about just Nicola Yokic

who actually brings the ball up the court? 50% of the time for Denver. It's become somewhat of a positionless league. But anyway, yeah, I mean, it's funny. I was with my son and a couple of his friends over the weekend, some parents, but they, you know, invariably the conversation turns to sports, and a lot of his buddies want to ask me questions, but I actually like their input as well.

And they came up with right now, who would you rather have Maxie or Brunson moving forward? I actually think it's a very close call. I love Tyrese Maxie. But what Brunson's doing is just amazing. Never saw this coming at any point to your description of what he was coming out of Villanova and picked, you know, early in the second round and, you know, non-descript years for the most part in Dallas to start his career. And here he is back-to-back years. I don't know what he averaged this year. Did he average close to 30? I think he did. and yeah, so go ahead. Yeah, no, so I went, I was thinking about this last night, and I went through a couple years ago,

the athletic route, like, the best 75 players of all time, you know, whatever. So I went looking through the list to see, is there anybody whose career is even close to what we're seeing here with Brunson? And the best one I could come up with, like, Alex English, who was a second round pick, wasn't particularly productive early on, but then it gets to Denver at the point when Doug Mo has this, you know, one of the very first, like, straight up offense plans ever, just like up and down, we're just going to score.

They would put up insane points. Yeah. At a point with the league. They just went, yeah, they didn't guard anybody. It was all about pace and scoring a lot. Right. And that was at a point where big men ruled the league still, you know, your Ewing, your Robinson, whatever.

So like Elijah on, so, like, it was abnormal. but then he basically became a Hall of Fame or average over 20 points a game every year. That's about as close as I could find, at least of the better players in the league, how rare this is. And to tie it into the commanders, I think the thing with Brunson also is,

he is a culture player. There are some guys who obviously are tremendous scores, passers, rebounders, whatever, but they're not necessarily setting the tone for everybody else with how they're playing. I think this guy does. He's so smart. He's constantly finding new ways to create opportunities from self or his teammates.

And, you know, this whole Knicks team in general has got a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm. And I think to that extent, like, who would I rather have? It is a very debate, close discussion because Maxie is so, been so impressive and he's such a good athlete. But Blunson, man, I do think he's the kind of guy that every coach would be like, give me that guy. He's not really good. but we want everybody else to think like him. Do that and we'll win a lot again. I was thinking, as you mentioned Alex English

and because you said he was a second round pick, which I would not have been able to pull. But Gilbert Arenas, in terms of second round picks, for a while, looked like, you know, he was going to have that kind of career, certainly as a score. Anyway, so a couple of things, and I'll let you respond.

respond to this about the game last night. First of all, you can't call that moving screen in that spot if you haven't been calling it the whole game. Technically, and I haven't seen the two-minute report, it should be out. If it isn't out already, it will be shortly. That is a moving screen by definition, but it's not the kind that typically gets called unless the game's being called very closely, and it really had not been. Certainly for the portion of the game that I was watching. There was a play earlier, which we'll get to here in a moment, but hated that call, hated everything about that call. But let me just mention that it wasn't over at that point. The game was not over. It was a one-point game with 10.2 seconds left. Indiana did not have a

chance to proceed with that possession and a chance to take the lead, who knows, maybe win it with a super late shot and take game one. What really was so frustrating for me. By the way, I had Indiana last night plus the five and a half, and it came in. But it was close to not coming in at the end because Nemhart grabbed Jalen

Brunson before the inbound pass and put Brunson at the line for a free throw that made it a two-point game. Then they fouled them again. He made both free throws. They were up four. That was a stupid foul to give, and it was very

obviously a foul. You can't lose your cool like that, because you're going to get the ball back down three, worst case, if they inbound the ball and you get a quick foul. But the call that really changed the game. By the way, this was an exceptional back-and-forth basketball game in the third and fourth quarter. I mean, it was a fun game to watch. Knicks would go up and here come the Pacers. They were up at one point by seven or eight, you know, with eight minutes to go,

something like that. I think they're the biggest lead. They pushed it back to five with about four minutes to go. It was just a great game. But with 52 seconds left, they called the kickball violation on Aaron Neesmith. And it wasn't. It was his hand that hit the ball. And not only it was a bad pass actually by Brunson that gets deflected,

they call a kickball not reviewable. And instead of the Pacers, they would have been on a three on one, maybe four on one fast break that would have ended in a dunk, they would have been up two. The Knicks retain the ball, and DiVincenzo knocks down a three, and they're down three. You know, the conspiracy theorists, Adam Silver, wants the Knicks to keep moving on. I'm just not, I think referees make mistakes. I think home crowd, if anything, it's a home crowd environment that typically home teams will get some of the benefit of those calls. It was a great basketball game.

It's a shame the way it ended, but the pace of the game really favored Indiana, and yet the Knicks still won. We're going to see some fun games in this series. I hope the Pacers can win a couple of them to extend it. Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, Indiana can score. I wouldn't put them in the get Denver Nuggets Alex in this category that we discussed, but they're more like that than they are some stodgy half-court team. They're going to look to get the ball to court.

Also, look, I mean, Halliburton had a lousy game. last night he's there answer Brunton so they're going to have to have to get more out of him and I would imagine that happens here going forward so yeah no it's a really fun series the coaches

are both really good so yeah it should be a really fun way to go and I think in general like it's broad out the playoffs one thing it's so fascinating with these playoffs is I think I've been waiting for a long time and maybe you have as well for the new era

the new era of players to finally take over, for real. Like, we've focused so much on LeBron and Steph and Durant for so long now, understandably, but it has felt like the last, it's been, it's the last year or two, there should have been more coming from the younger group, and instead, you know, I mean, I guess you could say Yokic, to a degree is part of the new, but I'm just saying, like, the, um. No, LeBron, Durant, Steph, I mean, we're seeing a changing of the guard. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

And, like, you know, we have to some degree Brunson's part of that, to a very big degree, Anthony Edwards is part of that. Okay, C, you know, their entire teamers, babies, right? Yeah. Their whole group with Shea and Shed Holmgren as well. So I think this is shaping up to be a pretty significant time here in the NBA for what it looks like. And I think, you know, I'm trying to switch to the other game. But seeing what Edwards has done, I mean, it's, it's, I didn't, you know, I didn't watch a ton of Timberworld games.

I kept hearing everybody saying he's improved and this on the other. But watching him in the playoffs, oh, my, it is, you know, I'm not going to go crazy with the Jordan comp, but like, boy, I get why he may be the best player in the league right now, if you want to say that. I mean, at least it's in the discussion. he's got all the athleticism in the world and then some he can shoot and he's got the mental toughness it looks like in these moments so yet he's got the whole package

and I really do think for the league this is so important that I think the league would be better off if he if Edwards and the T. Wolves make the finals win or lose because that they need that next faith of the league and I think he's going to be that guy

Yeah, I think that Minnesota, I mean, it can't be Minnesota Indiana in the NBA finals. You don't want that. But in Minnesota Boston NBA finals, Minnesota and NICS NBA finals would be, I think, an attention getter because, look, last year when Denver was in the finals against the Miami Heat, everybody said, oh my God, this is going to be dreadful. And the ratings, I think, were. but what it was was for a lot of casual sports fans, it was an introduction, believe it or not, an introduction to Nicole Yokic, but that's at 28 years old after he had two MVPs already. Anthony Edwards, you're catching... Remember what Lisa Sultz?

I remember what Lisa Sultor said last year? I don't. I don't. Like, she's an NBA sideline reporter. She said at some point, I know if it was a conference final or final, that she was like kind of blown away by how good Yokic is. Like what? He already won like MVP.

I know, but I think a lot of people just don't know. And I think, you know, I was having a conversation before I recorded the podcast with my friend Nick, who, you know, all he wanted to talk about was the idea of maybe LeBron and Paul George or LeBron and Kaui, like the clippers are going to break up and where's Ty Lou? Are they going to go to Golden State? And I said, stop. This is what I hate. This is the best and the only really. good time of the year for professional basketball. You know, it's a totally different game than it is in the regular season.

You really get big reveals on players. You know, Halliburton last night, you mentioned, he was two for six. He's not had a good postseason. As good as his regular season was, as good as his in-season tournament was. But this is like, can we just, you know, no. I mean, LeBron talk, and he's already getting ready for the July, so opera, which I can't stand. I like the games. And these games have been really intense, really compelling. And to your point, we're seeing this breakout in this postseason. And I don't

know that anybody predicted it. I mean, I know Oklahoma City was a one seed and Minnesota was a three seed, but I don't think that people saw OKC in Minnesota being undefeated in the playoffs at this point. You know, I mean, Minnesota's won six in a row, and OKC's won five in a row, right? Five in a row or four in a row? I'm trying to think right now. Have they opened up their series yet? No, they opened it up tonight. They've won four in a row. They swept the Pelicans, and they open up against Dallas tonight. Now, is it still possible? We get Boston, who's been in the finals, with players who have been knocking on the door against an NBA defending champion. Yeah, it's possible, but it seems like we have a chance to get something that we never get in the NBA.

And that would be potentially two newbies. I mean, Boston should get through, and they've been in the NBA finals, even though they lost. But imagine OKC or Minnesota being in the NBA finals. There's usually this graduation process. You know, they won a series. then the next year they won two series, then the third year when they were in the playoffs. By the way, after three years of not being in the playoffs, you know, year six, they're in the conference finals, and year seven or year eight, they break through.

You know, we've got the history of that. I don't know. Well, that's a good segue actually into the Minnesota game last night. I've watched a lot of NBA playoff basketball, and today's NBA playoffs and today's NBA playoffs and today's NBA is just generally much different than it was, you know, before. I think the significant rule change, which was the elimination of the hand check in the sort of development of a more free-flowing game. And we've seen even more of that. And obviously the three-point shot and the distance of the three-point shot, all of those things play into it.

Last night's defensive performance by Minnesota was unbelievable to watch. They're a good defensive team to begin with. And they did not have Rudy Gobert, the guy that's, on the verge of winning his fourth defensive player of the year award. He was out because he was with his wife having his first child. And so you had a Denver team who we all know is really good and really good at home. They could not score. In the first half of that game, it was so intense, it was so suffocating.

It was three-quarters court, sometimes full court, of just total disruption. by Minnesota. If you were tuning in for the first time and you watch Minnesota Denver last night, you'd say that right now, Denver has no chance to win the series, that Minnesota is so much better. What did you think of that game last night? Yeah, I was trying to think of a defensive comparison for an NBA, and I honestly couldn't. I had to go to college back in the 80s with Georgetown, where their defense was so smothering. that they were like, there was that second, that game against Kentucky and the five national semifinals.

Held him to 40 points, I think. It was 40 points, something like that. Yeah, and like they're just like shot, like, you know, it was a really ridiculous. I don't remember for like they missed 22 of 23 shots, but something insane like that. And that's where you would see these types of smother defenses, you know, Arkansas, 40 minutes of hell or whatever, because you're dealing with, you know, obviously younger players and, you know, not every position is going to be a legit player. here, not only we're talking about the defending champions,

but like, you know, Yokic is like, you know, just an insanely gifted player, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter. I think Denver's depth is, a lack of depth, is catching up to them a bit, but like to the, I don't recall seeing an NBA team struggle who just simply get in their offense. And it did look at times that Minnesota had seven players on the court.

They were just so everywhere. I really haven't, I really can't recall. there have been good defensive teams before, but like I'm just, I don't recall seeing something that swarming the whole time. It was really quite, quite impressive. Not in the NBA. You know, not since, you know, the early 2000s where we were getting scores in the 70s and, you know, they ended up, you know, creating a more free-flowing game with the elimination of the handcheck and other things. But yes, I, you know, it's funny because the sports that we all love, like the NFL's become a league in which if you can't score, you can't score, you can't. can't win a championship. The defense wins championships old adage, I don't think applies as much

anymore. I mean, look, you can play great defense and win a lot of games, but if you can't score, and you're not going to win it the way that Baltimore won it, you know, back in 2000. It's just those are few and far between now. But watching last night, it's like, especially in today's NBA and the scoring we saw this year. To see Denver struggle to score 35 points in the first half 80 for the game as season low. They were 29 of 83 from the floor. They turned it over 16 times. Minnesota had 11 steals and 12 block shots. It was like they couldn't initiate offense against a set defense. And if you can't do that, I don't know how you can win. four of the next six games.

The only way you can do it is if you do it yourself on defense. Denver is going to have to become a very down-and-dirty, nasty defensive team where they get stops, they get rebounds, they get turnovers, and they score in transition. And you win that way. I'll tell you one thing, Yokic bringing the ball up against that pressure is not a good idea. I had Chris Miles on the show. I think it was Chris Miles who pointed this out. He's like, the problem with them is who's their, when you really need a point guard and they haven't really needed one, who is it?

In terms of a ball handling against pressure point guard. It's a good point. Yeah, no. They're in trouble. Wait, wait, I'm blanking here. Who they lose last year? What's his face? Yeah, but he wasn't

I'm going to come up with it here in a second Who did they lose? Yeah, I'm blanking here too I mean, they lost some depth This is what happens as we see with teams in general You can't, you know, you have guys who cost a ton of money Like, you know, because Bruce Brown. Yeah, I mean, Bruce Brown was one guy, but yeah, but not the true point guard, but

Yeah, if Smith was actually on the team the last few years He actually can handle the ball as a point guard But go ahead. Yeah, no, I was just saying, like, you're right. Bruce Brown wasn't a point guard, but Bruce Brown was incredibly effective in a specific role. And they just lost some talent. Like, I think there was a hope that, you know, Christian Brown would step up. But, you know, he'd even fine, whatever.

But, like, you know, he's not, especially offensively, it's not going to give you much. You know, Reggie Jackson is a very, you know, hot and cold type player. Yeah, they just don't, and, you know, a guy like KCP, who's, you know, a really good role player. But, yeah, if you need more from him, you're going to be in trouble. trouble, and that's the, and then, you know, I don't know his exact stats, but it feels like he's not that great for 44 minutes, and then the last four minutes, he's the best player in the world, but you can't, the game's got to be close for that to matter. So, yeah, I mean, and, you know, Michael Porter, Jr. is a guy as hard for me to rely on too, too

much in general. So, look, I'm not, opposite, the defending champ is not going to be a stunner if they somehow figure out a way to come back, but right now, I don't see how that's remotely happening. And also, like, it isn't just Minnesota. They look off the whole Lakers series. I think the difference is that the Lakers have just almost nothing that's stable around LeBron. Anthony Davis is, of course, up and down. Their defense is not good.

You know, a lot of their players are just kind of random pieces to a degree. Minnesota, if their defense is like, forget how good it was the last half. If your defense is really good, that is a very stable element, meaning, you know, you can compete even when your shots are off. and then on top of it like you know all the Edwards has been really strong so like they have just to feel like a much more stable team and that's why it's hard to see right now how this is going to change

because what it is it's working it's not like they're making you know 18 three-pointers a game okay that can be up or down what they're doing is really you know leaning into their defense in Edwards is you know that that's a tough combination to be right now people the Minnesota Timberwolves have won six games by an average of 15 and a half points per game.

And they just went into Denver and held them to 99 in game one and one by seven and 80 points last night and won by 26. In Denver, defense does travel in almost every sport. Real quickly, before we get to Jamal Marine, we'll end it on him and what he did last night. A couple of revelations for me, because I'm not going to sit here and tell you. I've watched a lot of the Timberwolves during the regular season other than a lot of Anthony Edwards' highlights.

Nas Reid's been a major revelation for me. I did not think him. I watched him a lot in college. They knocked Maryland out at the buzzer in the second round of the NCAA tournament. I mean, that team, that LSU team coached by Will Wade basically had a salary cap. They were the biggest cheaters in the sport. They had Tremaine Waters, who, remember, had come from Georgetown and Nas Reed. and I never saw that coming from him.

I didn't think he was anywhere near that good. He is awesome. And I think Carl Anthony Towns, for all of the discussion over the years about him being soft, I think he has toughened up, maybe? I don't know. But that leads me to Jamal Murray

and what he did last night. For those of you that don't know, he was pretty much the hero of the series against the Lakers he had. a buzzer-beater in game two, and then in game five, had a shot with three seconds to go to win it. He was so frustrated last night. All of the nuggets were he went three for 18. He's nine for 32 in the series in the first two games.

He's not 100% healthy. But besides that, he threw a heating pad from the bench at a referee on the floor while the game was going on. He also threw a towel in the general direction of a referee while the game was going on. They didn't see it, so they weren't able to tee them up or throw them out in the moment. The question now, and maybe by the time you guys are listening to this podcast, something has already happened, although they don't play until Friday night, so they have some time. Adam Silver has some time.

But the question is, will he be suspended from him? game three. If he is, the series is over. Minnesota wins game three and then nobody's ever come back from three nothing down. What do you think? Does he get suspended or not? I think you have to you, right?

I mean, give the referee's credit between that not doing anything in the moment and Mike Malone, his outburst walking right out on the court and not giving him a tech. The refs clearly were letting Denver vents and not understanding, hey, like to me when we talk about that the players play in

This to me is the stuff that I think kind of almost matters more than the fouls. Because the fouls, you know, like the controversial one in the Indiana game, it's overacting, the ref fell for it, you know, that happens. But here, like, you know, they're going to vent. They're pissed off. You get you understand why. It's not even really about you, the rep. It's about the situation.

But that said, you know, in the, when the day clears and you're thinking about this, you know, without the emotion of the moment, I think he's got to get suspended. I mean, you can't. What if somebody stepped on it or, you know. If somebody had gotten hurt, he definitely gets suspended. I mean, it shouldn't matter, but there would have been an absolute cry for it. I had two people on the radio show today, both of whom said they don't expect him to get suspended. Actually, one said that.

The other one declined answer, but it seemed like, I don't know how you don't suspend him for that. That's outrageous behavior. It's unbelievably. you know, immature and incredibly impulsive. Like, you can't do that. But, all right. And frankly, that's also why I'm sort of discounting Denver at this point. Look, it's still, you know, things can happen.

But, like, they have unraveled so much. They haven't played one good game in the playoffs yet that something is going on. Maybe it's not the biggest of the deal, but something is going on with them. It's not just Minnesota's defense or Anthony Edwards. They've been a mess. and his actions and Malone, you know, freaking out a little bit, says, like, that's a team who is mentally struggling right now. And look, you know, they've, they won the title last year.

You know, they had, you know, if you go back to the bubble, they were the Western Conference finals. Like, they've been good, a lot of pressure, a lot of burden, and whatever it is, something is off with them in a significant way right now. All right. Last question. Give me, in the postseason, the player you've most enjoyed watching and the player that you've, least enjoyed watching.

And I have one thing for you once I get through this if you're willing. I mean, I probably would say Anthony Edwards, because like you, it's not like I'm watching a ton of Minnesota games. I see the highlights. But highlights can be misleading. What's the context? How is he going? What's he doing on all, you know, throughout the game, now it's a bigger pressure.

To see a guy, you know, it's a pretty rare air for me and others, I think, to say, this is the guy who's about to become the best player. in the league arguably. That is as high of a barbber it can get. And, you know, again, sometimes there's best player in the league, but it feels maybe it's bleeding. In this case, again, I don't want to go crazy, but, man, there's so much to like with his physical,

athletic, mental makeup that, you know, this could be a guy we're talking down the line as, you know, one of the best ever. A long, long, long way to go for that. But it's, for me, that is a high bar to call him. clear, and I feel like watching him throughout these playoffs has gotten me a lot closer to that than I would have imagined. Like the least, I mean, look, the clippers are going to clipper. Like the fact that James Hardin and Russell Westbrook faded the way they did was so unbelievably predictable.

It's why I don't understand why adults continue to look at the regular season, particularly in the NBA, but same with the other one, and think that it is equal to the playoffs. The stakes are very different. The pressure is very different. And just because you're, you know, crushing it in game 27 or 46 or whatever doesn't mean you're going to do it then, especially when we see over and over and over again, those guys fade. I mean, losing to the Mavericks, no big deal, especially without Kauai. But the way those guys finished, it's so predictable and so embarrassing, you know,

for these guys who are like Hall of Fame-level players who just fade every time they're in the spots. It's ridiculous. So I'll answer it. I'll give you the Anthony Edwards, although I still love watching Yokic every single time they play. It's just a pleasure to watch him.

For me, it's really hard for me to watch Luca. I just I'm so rooting for Oklahoma City to take out Dallas. I'm just not a big Kyrie fan at all in terms of the person that he is.

Now, I will say this, he is a spectacular player. And I do try to separate that when I'm watching the games, and he has been spectacular in the postseason. And look, look, when they won it in Cleveland, you could make the case that at times he was the actual alpha. And I appreciate the player that he is or the shotmaker and the talent that he is. Luca, to me, is just joyless watching him. The whining, the complaining, can't take any of that with him, so hoping that they get beat by this young Oklahoma City team. Yeah, you said you had something else for me.

Well, just regard to this Minnesota-Denver series, you know, I'm not trying to always try to find a way to shorn in the wizards or something like that. But this one's pretty simple. Because the guy who all the architect for Denver, Tim Connolly. And then he came in here when Minnesota already had some pieces, but then he's helped, you know, put the final touches on the scene that now, you know, is clearly an NBA title threat.

And the fact that back in 2020, or 2020, 2019, whatever year, what, 2019, when Ted was, when he gave it a shepherd. When he fires or any Grunfell and he's doing this search and he's hiring a search firm and three months into it, they just end up hiring the guy who was down. in the hall for 16 years. But the fact that the one guy that they paraded about, okay, we're bringing Tim Connolly in for an interview, everybody watched this.

And then I was told in real time that whatever offer Ted was making was just not a legit offer to get somebody like Tim Connolly to leave. And then Ted ultimately denied that he even offered him anything other than he said he offered him sweet green for dinner at his house. And my point, and I... Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on. I don't remember that. Say that again. He eventually pushed back to say that he didn't offer Tim Connolly anything specifically

other than Sweet Green for dinner at his house. Ted's just so funny. So I tweeted, I wrote something back then with Michael Lee about how the Wizards downfall occurred. And I called this section fake hustle because it's either one of two things. Either A, he wanted us to think that he was really making this push for Connolly, remember also that was when he was eyeing Maasai Uri as well. That was your Toronto won the title.

But then he also liked to then deny it. Why would you deny it? Jim Connolly is really good. And he had ties to the organization. It's okay though to go for something and miss. But it was just another example of like just being completely only there for the PR, not really there for the

for the prize. How many people, don't you remember he interviewed? like 50 people for the job. Like he was so proud of how the process was so, you know, deep. I mean, you know, it's the typical. He interviewed 78 people as to how to fix this team. Yeah, and I remember in real time when this came out, like one of the names of like Jabari Parker, I want to say. And like he, Jabari Parker had been on the team for like two months.

Right. Like because they traded with the deadline. Like obviously his son was on the list. Barack Obama, like all this stuff. And again, they hired the guy from down the hall. And by the way, whatever advice those people gave him, clearly they should not give that advice because it totally got worse. Yeah.

And I like Tommy Shepard. But yeah, that whole thing was just, you know, garbage. And, you know, I'm sure cost was an issue. But Tim Connolly doing a phenomenal job with the Minnesota Timberwolves. By the way, the Wizards still need to high. or head coach, and I, you know, I mean, maybe I'm not, you know, on that beat, so I'm not tracking it, but there hasn't been any noise, which makes me wonder, are they waiting either for somebody from OKC because that's where, um, winger and, uh, well, the, their front office came from that, that,

that, that, well, that, well, Hawkins, sorry, sorry, it came from that world, um, that or somebody else is in the playoff because it's like, you know, whatever, you don't have to rush per se, but, you know, the, the draft lottery is around the corner. other teams have already made moves. So what are they waiting for other than seemingly somebody who's still in the playoffs? Right. All right. Thanks for doing this.

Appreciate it. Yeah, man. Always. All right. We are done for the day. Tommy will be back tomorrow. He was just too exhausted to do the show today. So I'll be back tomorrow with Tommy.