The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Rockets Win 3rd Straight! Ryan Hollins Joins The Show, "D" of The Year Winner!

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

Rockets Win 3rd Straight! Ryan Hollins Joins The Show, "D" of The Year Winner! 

This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Teno 1 in H-town. Good morning. And welcome to a Tuesday edition of the Matt Thomas show at Ross. No, Ross. It's Ryan Hollins on Sports Talk 790. Rockets win. Final score. 126. Indiana

119. You're saying, well, why are you playing pink houses? Well, that's because the great John Mellon camp is from Indiana. On the television call, Craig Ackerman and Vanessa Richardson is from Indiana, and Ryan Hollins is from

Southern California. Rhino, good morning to you. Good morning, Matt. Let's go home, brother. Man, it's good to hear your voice. I only saw you like hours ago. Listen, Matt. I could hear your voice every day, Matt. I know you could.

A way to wake up. That's not the way to, no, well, you only one person. Oh, forget it. Ryan's going to hang out with us for a couple of hours. He is from the Ryan Holland's Celebrity Studios, and we look forward to hanging out with him today.

We will also have today gut feelings at 1230, and Emendoka's going to be about 1 o'clock for our little visit as a weekly conversation. Rockets last night took care of the Pacers in a game that, frankly, the box score, there's some ugly parts of that box score first of all, Rhino. First, the turnover's unnoxious. Number

two, the Pacers, who were the worst shooting three-point team in the association, comes in and hits a bunch of them last night. And the seven-point game was not truly indicative of what it could have been when the Rockets were up by 20 plus for most of the game. Yeah, no, listen, honestly,

nothing surprised me. And here's the thing for the Rockets, and I'm glad that they're back to defending at a high level. Thank you, getting back, Dorian Finney Smith, Tari Easton, that is a huge, huge part of it with their versatility and size and mindset. But, you know, Matt, I'm sure there's a point in that game where the Pacers went on a flurry, you're going, this may not be a Sacramento game at home or a Pelicans, you know, game at home. But the level of respect is there. And that's what you saw from a group that kind of like buckled back in and didn't take it for granted last night.

Well, you know, the Pacers are terrible. They're injury riddled. Tyrese Halliburton was a final half away from winning a championship, and now he's not going to play this year. They have been beset by numerous injuries. And that'll conclude, Ryan, our Indiana Pacers break down for the season. More importantly, and I had Kevin Durand in the postgame show yesterday, and you guys have had a chance to visit with him a lot,

and we got him yesterday on the radio side. I didn't know much about him, except I hated him for obviously, for all the reasons, whether he was Golden State or Oklahoma City or Brooklyn. all he did was score and all he did was defend and all he did was become one of the best, best big shooters of all time, six, ten and above. I mean, where do you put them in permanent wise? I mean, top five and six guys take six ten and above pretty much? Yeah. I mean, so all he does is go to the elbows last night.

And I said, man, when you retire, and I wasn't trying to kiss his ass, but it probably came across that way. He hits every one of them. I mean, his success rate at the elbows has got to be about 90. percent, give or take, right? It's crazy. He's that good. And, man, I think the one thing that we're looking at in awe is not just that he scores, but the efficiency in which he scores.

That's what sets Kevin apart. Yeah. He doesn't, you know, a lot of scores, you know, I played with a lot of guys who can score. It takes time. They're normally, those are volume shots that we see going up and not with Kevin. Unbelievable. He's Mr. 30 point guy. He's 90, 40, excuse me, 50, 40, 90 a guy at 37 years of age. And the crazy thing about it was yesterday, and I was talking to email about this before the game, is that, you know, you think about all the minutes that he plays, and he's top 10 minutes. But it's all about taking the right steps when he plays. He kind of camps out of the top of the key or the three point line, makes his two or three steps to the elbows.

and again he can drive the layup for the layup line too but primarily he's in that mid-range area so it's not like he's wasting he's so smart he's played so long he conserves every step possible that's why he's able to play as many minutes as he has it's it's a bit of old man basketball at this point you know he can mix from the top of the key but like there are some of those moments where he's like you said he's not wasting energy he puts his back on a defender throws that one leg up and shoots right over you like he he he prides himself on efficiency and I think that's the

that's the really cool thing because you look at a box score and you go it didn't take you 30 shots to get 30 points and I know sometimes for a guy or a player you know you can hit a headline with that and you know say oh man you know you had 30 points Kevin Wright doesn't just want 30

he wants an efficient 30 and even more so mad I don't know how you feel about this when I watch Kevin's approach to the game it looks completely different when Alprin's out there versus not being out there and you see him it's like this understanding that I'm not wasting any possessions I don't want to say hunting shots but he's more aggressive when the shots do come to him than not yeah and the fact is we've seen the teams back off on the double teams not because

necessarily because Kevin wins at that it's because Jabari Smith's knocking down shots I mean Thompson doing his thing and think about this Ryan the the Rockets are one of these After times, Alperin Shungoon is resting a sore leg or whatever he's got going on right now, and they're still winning basketball games. Now, granted, Indiana is terrible. Cleveland's been a little bit of disappointment. You've got Brooklyn coming up, which is not great. But, you know, you kind of have to do what's in front of you,

and that's beat the teams that are directly in your schedule. It was a really strange road trip, though, wouldn't you not say, with the fact that you beat Denver in their building, you beat the Lakers on Christmas Day, and yet those three losses against Sacramento, New Orleans, and the clippers kind of haunt you a little bit. Yeah, Matt, I don't think we had that on the bingo card. It was a, it was a surprising trip.

And, you know, what I kind of see as a former player, and we go, you know, knowing that we had a long road trip out, you know, you kind of, you know, you'll throw out, hey, you know, we're looking to win every game. But if we go four out of six here, we're not going to be complaining. You know, you're right on pace or you'll kind of look at that. But I think this group is going to be. going to have to learn how to deal with

adversity. And what we saw Matt is that first game, that lost to Denver, and there are some challenges. Obviously, Yokic is one of one, and I think we'll appreciate him later on. But there's a lot of

energy that was taken away from Zapp from our group, and that's when you want to be aware of, is the carryover. And there are some tough calls, some that the league, you know, went out and said, you know, weren't the right calls, but some of those calls came back and it just kind of haunted

Houston through the trip and it looked like they didn't shake it off until the very last game. Obviously if there was one game I wanted to be won selfishly was the Lakers on Christmas Day obviously for reasons but they've got to learn how to shake those games off because sometimes there are tough calls from officials

and again it says how you respond and they did they responded well they've won three straight games Brooklyn again coming up on New Year's date. So how many times have you, do you remember how many times you've gone against Kevin in your career when you're still playing? Several times man, and there are a few guys that I want to say

I feared on a scouting report because I felt like they were good enough to beat me and the team. When I was with the Clippers, we played them a lot, we played them in the playoffs. Obviously, you know, on the West Coast you'd see Kevin multiple times a year. But when we'd read

the scouting reports, he's seven feet tall, got to take away the three. Got to take away the mid-range. When he drives, he drives, and he's efficient. He gets fouled. You know, which way does he drive? He can go right well, and he can go left well.

Like, the only beat that you get on Kevin is that when, I don't even know. I mean, you can't stop him anyways. I'm sure everybody knows this. But when he gets the ball in his left hand, that's when the pull-up is coming. He's more efficient. Now, it's not to say that he can't shoot the pull-up going right because he's a student of the game, but that's about the only beat that you can get on him in a, the scouting report other than that you're stuck well the reality is this the only thing that

as a blemish on his and his record and i mean he's one of the greatest players of all time is he turns ball over quite a bit and that's because a ball handler at 610 is going to do that a lot more than a ball handler at six feet tall so if there's anything about his game and that's it but everything else has been i mean he is think about this right in the last 11 games he is shooting about 58% from the floor he's shooting north of 50% from 3 he goes the free throw line it makes about 93% of his free throws. We're talking about the last 10 games or so. And he's 37 years old. Or 30. I don't know. I always lose track how old he is. But point being, he isn't what he was 10 years ago. But when that slippage comes in, let me know what it is because all he's doing right now is waking

up and putting up 30, 7 or 8 assists, 5 or 6 rebounds. And as you mentioned before, he's incredibly efficient. Look, we love Jalen Green here in Houston in the last couple of years. But Jalen would get to was 30, but I've also taken like 24 shots to get there. You know, madam, I'm glad you brought that out because when you speak about Kevin's longevity and fair enough, tell me if I'm wrong, when we would discuss Michael and Kobe and LeBron, he deserves to be in these conversations. Yes. Am I crazy for saying this?

No, he's in the conversations. You know, again, you have so many great players that you just can't. it's impossible to narrow it down. For instance, if you're really going to narrow it, it's basically Wilt, Kareem, Russell's a defensive player, Michael and LeBron. I mean, there really is the

maybe indisputable five. I mean, I don't know. Again, everything is disputable, I guess, in life. But when you get the six to say six to 12, there's arguments about Akeem, there's Tim Duncan, there's Kobe Bryant, there is Kevin Durant, there are players that you and I never

saw a play, you know, like Elgin Baylor? I mean, you tell me, again, when you have such a large league with 70, 80 years of existence, it's hard to narrow it down. It just is. And the reason that I say that is because Kevin's in a unique space where he can kind of carve out his own destiny. And the reason I say that is because he's looked at this group and Kevin's so, so intelligent man and he's been able to kind of sit back and say less is more and how can i efficiently

you know push my career out how can i get the most bang for my buck and in my opinion that's the most impressive thing and tell me if i'm wrong matt the way that he's able to do this is he looked at our group and said man and man thompson's got a ton of energy if he's getting in the paint and making the plays that he's making, I can play a couple more years at that pace because now I'm getting some spot-up jumpers. You know, with no outprint, we're seeing him work hard for his shots,

but he's going, man, probably, I'm not going to have to work as hard for these shots anymore because we've got this young, hungry group that's attacking, you know, and again, there's different mindsets that he attacks the game with. And, you know, in fairness, as I compare it to, you know, the Kobe Bryant's or the Jordans of the world, those guys didn't turn it off turn it off you know man like when Kobe was was older he still

was getting those same shots up he didn't he didn't take lesser of a role necessarily where Kevin said hey right I'm going to play my part correct and and I'm going to let these guys roll and I'm going to let Al P get shots and and in all of these guys and then you know what like I'll be ready to go yeah yeah I think obviously what Kevin's surrounding him is much better than what Kobe had in his last few years with Los Angeles. All right, that is our friend Ryan Hollins from Space City and the Rockets. We're going to talk about

a lot of basketball, but we also can get some football in. Bejan Robinson, Ryan, all I needed to do is go for three carries and four yards before turning an ankle. Instead, he ripped off a 91-yard touchdown. I lost my fantasy football championship. I got squashed in the finals. Bejohn Robinson. Wow, that's a tough one.

That's a tough one. Dude, I won a fantasy championship. it was some years ago with a 49er interception. How about that? How about that? I don't care about your personal success. I want to talk about my personal failure. This is what this show's about, right?

Come on now. You're still stinking too soon? Yeah, I don't want to hear about your lovely stories about winning. By the way, your Niners, are they feeling better that the Rams lost last night? Yeah, no, absolutely. I think for the 49ers, man, like they're playing with house money right now. There's no, you know, with all their injuries, this is just a feel-good season right now that you're looking at. How did you, by the way, how did you as a Cal kid, Southern California kid, become a Niner fan?

I mean, help me out. I mean, because the Rams and Raiders were moving out of town every other year. Is that the reason why? Well, I'll give you this. I'll give you this. When I was growing up, there was a lot of gang activity in Southern California. That was a big thing. and essentially if you had Raiders paraphernalia

you could get robbed for that they literally there were starter jackets were huge okay I'm dating myself for those of you who remember and you know the Raiders weren't just like a football team like they were like a gang so it was like you're not going to be a Raider fan okay I hope you I hope you know that much at the end of the day and honestly too on top of that you know the 49ers were really good

my father was a huge 49er fan and I was you know one of the things that we did we'd watch the games and the 49ers when I was coming of age they were dominant man so my dad and I just big time 49ers fans and then the Rams weren't really weren't giving you son to cheer for them they left to St. Louis and then they did that and became good so uh you know for me that's my 49ers story you know well you're sticking to it I appreciate that I we a lot to get to today besides basketball there is a serious injury potentially potentially happening in Denver. We'll talk about that. The Colts are playing the Texans this Sunday, and they're going to change a quarterback. That's interesting. And Ryan, somebody turned 50 in sports. One of the all-time sports greats. What will his life be as a sports personality and athlete once he gets past 50? We'll tell you about that as well.

1018 is our time. 713-212-5-790. If you want to chime in on the conversation, 7-13-212-5-79. Ryan Hollins, Matt Thomas, with you here on. Sports Talk 790. 1024. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Ross is off today.

Ryan, you and I will be going to Brooklyn tomorrow. We're going to watch the ball drop in a time score tomorrow night. You want to? We got to. It's a thing. No, we're not doing it. No, no, no, Matt, that's a bucket list activity. Not happening.

I'm not doing it. No chance. One time in your life. Nope. One time. Nope. Come on. me give you the reasons why.

Upper 20s. Okay, cool. We'll dress warm. Number two, you're going to be in a spot where there's going to be hundreds of thousands of people. Okay. And you're going to want to get your spot, correct? Yeah, we'll go early. Number three, you got to go to the bathroom.

What are we going to do? We'll map out our exit plan. Do you know people use diapers? We're not diapering. No, no. No, no, there's no diaper. There's no diaper. We're not going to diaper, Matt.

What? Come on. Jonathan, seriously, you have to use depends because if you get a good spot, you have to not leave that spot. So we're not going to eat. We're not going to drink. We're not going to go to the bathroom. We're going to be around hundreds of others, thousands of people that are probably going to probably soul themselves. That's what you want, Ryan, for New Year's Eve?

Listen, everybody at Times Square. It's not wearing a diaper, man. Here's what I want you all to do. Jonathan Ryan, give me a favor. Google diapering on New Year's Eve in Times Square. I promise you're going to see stories about it. Oh, my God. Is somebody typing behind you?

What's going on? I feel like you got a typing class behind you. Is that you just typing away on your computer? Yeah, I'm pulling up diapers. Stop. Some diaper notes. Well, here's what I want you to do then. Why don't you live, I'll live vicariously through you.

you go down the time score tomorrow night and video call me and i can watch the ball with you in my room when i'm probably a half asleep at 1145 oh mt i would never do anything without you all right uh i just want to say i just i just i want to see what your thought was on it um we're doing something matt you will not you can't get a bot to you in new york we can't even eat dinner tomorrow every place in new york's going to be totally full we're going to eat in our rooms somebody's going to have plans we'll have plans we'll have something I don't know what it is, but we'll have some. All right.

713-212-5-7-9. We've got some folks that are going to call and want to say hi. We'll talk, obviously, a lot of NBA. Do we know anything about the Yokic injury? I know he turned his ankle pretty bad last night. Have you heard anything more this morning about it? I haven't heard anything more. It's actually a knee on an ankle, yeah.

I will give you my non-doctor, former player breakdown that I don't want you to cold or use anywhere. No, this is an educated guess on your part. Uneducated. well it is educated because i played my opinion i hope there's no structural damage it looked like a hyper extension so when you do those things they'll check the tendons make sure nothing's gone nothing's out of place and i think very likely it's just a hypertension that should hyper extension that you'll let that need to have calm down it didn't look like it bent all the way back you know i didn't check the video if he had to be helped off the court but just looked like someone bumped

into his knee and he wasn't prepared. Yeah, it was the Cam Kid, Cam Jones, I think is what it was. It was the one that ran into him. By the way, I got back up here. Let's talk to Chris on 70. Chris, you're on with Matt and Ryan. Good morning to you. Oh, brother.

Good morning. How are you, man? I had to call in, man. I've talked to you on the badge, man. I love to show. Thank you. I love, man. I look, dog.

But I'm more mad on this one. I got a sister that lives in New York, man. He's been up there for about 20 years. Everything he's saying about these defendants is true, but she's like, basically, it was the worst, one of the worst experiences that she's had in her life. When she first moved up there, she was a person else, you know, man, it's once-of-a-lifetime opportunity yet and all of this stuff. But she went out there and she didn't realize that she needed the diaper thing.

And it got to the point of where she was down there, darn near, and tears to the of like, I, do I lose my spot or do I pee myself because I don't have no, I don't have no the pen zone. So, she got smart about it and she lost her spot, man. She had to come

to the bathroom. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Sat there and suffered, lost her spot, didn't eat, wasn't drinking, was probably dehydrated. She was cold. She was miserable, bro. So, not my ideal situation I haven't. that's not a happy new year to me man you can miss me with that bro thank you very much chris i

appreciate you the backup you hear that john you hear that ryan got it's do they make i mean ask you this do they make depends for seven footers i am strongly against all this depends talk just so we're clear there's no part of me that plans on doing this depends thing okay but matt i can you take can you take me ask you this can you tinkle or you a free floor what a little bit of a little bit of both big fat a little bit of a little bit of We'll keep them to have two nights and events on the show. Hey, this is all I'm saying, Matt. This is all I'm saying.

We might not be in the action, but we can be around the action. So I believe we're going to find something to do. I don't know what it's going to be, but, you know, a place with a restroom. Okay, that's a fair minimum, bare restroom, some food, soon, no, no, no, okay, yeah. Whatever we do tomorrow night, it's going to involve a restroom very close by. 1030 is a time. That's Ryan Highland's on Matt.

and we were glad to have you with us. We're with you until 2 o'clock today. Ryan's going to hang out with us until noon. We have gut feelings at 1230. The final gut feelings for the 2025 calendar year. And then at 1 o'clock, we'll visit with E.May, Adoka. 1031 here on Sports Talk 790. Ryan Hollins filling in for Ross with a couple of hours.

All right. So, Ryan, the poll question is up. Should Craig, Ryan, Vanessa, and I go to time score tomorrow night to see the ball drop, even if we have to word depends to keep our spot. Small number of votes are in. And again, the poll questions on my Twitter account at SportsMT. 71% say yes, once in a lifetime. 29% say no, not worth it.

Oh, my goodness. I can't, so we're clear. I'm out on the depends. I'm out. Okay, whether you're going to get a terrible spot then. You're not going to see anything. That's fine. But what, Matt, what if there's a,

a building or a place in view where you can see everything and you're... Well, I hope you can find it for us. That's all I'm saying. You know, great people watching. Yeah, I'm off... Look, now, Graney, we could also stay... We could also get into like a bar near the hotels where in Times Square, but my guess is that's going to cost us about a thousand dollars

just to get in there. You don't realize that the racket these, the Times Square. I mean, people have been dying to do this for decades. Now, Ryan, if you and I were 22 years old, I'd say we could just suck it up and do it and bring like a little a water bottle, if you will. Oh, have you done that before? Have I brought a water bottle of things? Absolutely.

On a boat? Yes, on a long car drive, you don't want to stop. Now, some things are going to be easier than done than others, but I'm just saying we'd have to eat light. Hey, I mean, listen, again, why do, Matt, is, I didn't see this coming from you today. You seem like you're a negative Nancy. It looks like you are looking for the worst possible scenario in this. I have not, let me just put it this way. I've not worn a diaper in 51 years. Oh, my gosh.

All right, let's go to the phones. Rogers with us on 790 and 1039. Roger, good morning. Good morning. That's a lot of the Penn Stock before 10, 1545. That's a new one for you. Yes, sir, it is. So in regards to the offense, how it's not, you just get this clear.

I say this, we are not better without Alpi. We've got to have Alpi to get anywhere where we're going to go. I did see the offense just a little tick, kick more fluid, should I say, look more nice and fluid. And you guys, I like to see Reed Shepard looking like a true porn guard and probing and used like a domino term, but, you know, Kevin Durand, like, you like that mentality of not all money's good money, and he likes to spread the wealth around, get everybody going,

and what looked like yesterday. So, yeah, I liked it, you know, get well soon, Alpi, and maybe we can mix and match moving forward with the offense. But, yeah, I like the way it looked, not saying because Alpy was out, but it took a tick more fluid, if I can say that. and Ryan, thanks for being on the show, man. Giving Calvin a run for the money with your specific gear, man. I like it, love it, and keep it moving.

Thank you, Matt. Thank you. Thanks, Roger, for the phone call. So, Ryan, give us a little basketball 101 here. Tell me how the offense has changed with Alpi down on the floor for large chunks of time, like we've seen the last couple of games. Here's the thing with Al-P, yeah, the ball hit has moved, but I think the improvement is common, and this has nothing to do with Al-Pee, but we talked to.

about it earlier, Matt, you have Finney Smith is back and you got Tar Easton, so I think the defense has improved and what that's done is allowed Houston. We talk about this all the time to get in transition to run. It takes the pressure off the offense. So

the need to score hasn't been there and he is spot on. That's someone who watches Rocket Basketball for one because he recognized, hey how good of a group that we have, but even more so, you're going to need Al Pete to be successful down

the stretch. Make no mistake. That's a Matt, can we say the second or third best center in the NBA? Right? Easy? It's Yokin. Well, I mean, yeah, all-star last year. He's playing at an all-star level this year. He's closer to triple-double numbers that did ever been in his point in his

career. The three-point shot has failed him a little bit as of late, but generally speaking better than it was last year. Free throws are about the same. Defense is about the same, but moving the ball around. Obviously, and the responsibility of bringing the ball up at times has been on his plate, which is something he didn't do a whole lot of the last couple of years. Yeah, yeah, you're right. And, you know, that's the

point. So, yes, can the ball stick with Alpe? Yes. Has the team, is he good enough for the ball to stick with him? Yes, he absolutely is. There's moments where, you know, and he's going to have to grow because he's getting doubled. Kevin's getting doubled. And, you know, you like to see the ball free flow and get off, get off, you know, move more. And in fairness, yes, the ball movement has been excellent of late but i i think that's a little bit of the defense you get different guys out there kevin has been electric and i do you know it's funny you say this matt and i want to touch back on the point that you made that kevin does turn the ball over in spans but i think what's really huge about kevin durrant as we speak about those turnovers is that he's a guy that doesn't make

the same mistake twice right so he almost yeah it's computes to whatever defense he sees or the players and he will make those adjustments so I think that's really fun to watch a guy that still goes out to get better because I played with great players that make the same mistakes against the same people for their whole career and Kevin's not what I'm. And you want to yell at him, don't you?

No, no, I'm not a yeller, Matt. Okay, don't tell me who it is. Sign up, sign out, Matt. Y'all catch out four weeks. Yeah, I saw that. Hyper extension. You know what, you got that right, by the way. Good for you, Dr. Holliday.

I appreciate it I played long enough I'm not a doctor or a trainer but I kind of understand a little bit of everything Yeah re-avowed in four weeks and the number one thing that people thought of was

well first of all it's nothing in terms of a serious knee injury but if he doesn't play 65 games it takes him out of the all MVP conversation Right

And then Shay runs away with it Wow Just saying Hmm. Okay, man. I see you. Just saying. No, no, you're right. That's a big thing because right now, am I fair to say? There's no question he's the MVP of the NBA. He's putting up video game numbers.

Well, I put up, we do a thing called To Tell the Truth, and we did this two weeks ago. I think when, and this may be crazy, and maybe I'm talking about it because it's a recent, you know, the recent games we're watching, I think when Nicola retires, which could be probably eight to ten. more years, as long as he cares about basketball. He's going to be one of the top ten players ever to play in the NBA. I think we're going to have to kick somebody out of the top ten to put Nicola Yolkich in it. Look, man.

Just saying. I'm going to throw this out there. If he gets another championship or two and his numbers are there, he might be in the goat debate. Like, that's how wild his numbers are. And when you check up, because when you talk about Jordan,

Talk about Mike, right? It's dominance of an era. It's dominant, utter dominance of an era. You can look at those numbers and you can look at what he's done with his matchups, and you can say that. And that's the thing why Denver, if they're smart, they should be doing everything in their power to make sure he has the most talent around him. You know, we see similar with Janus out of the Coupo in Milwaukee.

That's why Milwaukee was fighting to get Dame Lillard and buying out Dame Lillard and getting Turner and really just sacrificing, bringing all the Outs of the Coupel brothers on the team. Like, you know, like if Yolkich's brothers, if they had some in the tank, you know, I'm putting them on a 10-day. Like, what do you need? Keep him happy. Yeah.

By all means necessary. I think he's going to be traded, by the way. I really do. I do believe he's going to be traded. I think Milwaukee's going to be on the outside looking in and they're going to get a haul. I have a feeling. This is going to be one of the most active trade deadlines. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

In my hair, did you just say you think Yolkich will be traded? No, no, no, Janus. Oh, Janus. Okay, okay. Well, let me ask this. I'm glad you said that. What makes you feel confident that, because this is every, dude, this has been like the last four or five years. What makes you confident this season, Janus will be traded by the deadline?

Because the Eastern Conference is wide open. You're going to have four or five teams that think they got a legitimate shot at getting it. And I think if you're in New York, this is your. your best chance to get your first ever championship, and I think Yannis could be the determining factor. I think there's incredible pressure in New York to win the East this year. Because Indiana's out, because Boston is out, are you going to tell me you're going to let Cleveland, Detroit,

Orlando beat you for the Eastern Championship? No, they're going to go get them. Or the Knicks are going to do something crazy to make a jar, to make a really, really crazy trade deadline. Just hold me to it. And if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Just saying. All right, we'll talk to Gary.

We'll talk to you. We've got to update a number of us on our poll question. We've got some good news coming in on that. We'll tell you about that as well. 1046. Texan's conversation we'll get to as well as they are probably going to take on the winner of the AFC North between Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Last night, Bejohn Robinson cost me in championship by running for 5,000 yards.

We'll get to that. And we also have to get to a happy birthday for someone who's now 50 that will be in a new sports league, so to speak. 1046 on Sports Talk 790. We'll head back on the phones at a second. Ryan, the Phillip Rivers retirement tour has come to an end. Riley Leonard is going to start for the Colts against the Texans on Sunday. I don't know how much you saw of Philly performing. He did his best.

He just has nothing left from the fastball. and when he would throw a mid-level passive, say, beyond 15 or 20 yards, it had no zip to it, easily interceptable, could move. It was a last gasp effort, and it just didn't work for the Colts. Are you mad that they did it, though, Matt? I'm not mad. It's an indictment against the quality of quarterbacks right now in professional football, put it that way.

Let me say this. Not about just the feel-good part. but so you feel like there was better out there in a high pressure moment than Phillip Rivers that I can't tell you now Ronald Leonard

um you know Anthony Richardson is on the Injured Reserve they didn't have very many options wasn't Ronald Leonard hurt as well so what are you supposed to do I mean I guess you could go grab somebody that was in the CFL I don't know it was just it was an Odd selection, I just don't know how many guys that have been retired five years from anything in life could come back and be successful at it, especially with as an important of a position.

It just shows you, I think the desperation that the Colts had to at least bring somebody they knew and somewhat trusted. Problem is, it was as expected. I mean, I don't think anybody thought that Philly Rivers were going to come in there and throw for 255 yards and three touchdowns a week. He did the best he could. It just wasn't good enough. Yeah, but here's the mindset, right? You have one of the top defenses in the NFL. You have arguably the best running back in the NFL and worst top three, right?

And Jonathan Taylor. And all he's got to do is hand the ball off and manage the game. They darn near beat the Seahawks. And again, it could be something as simple as handing off the football and running a game plan and being a leader and motivator of men. That's what they needed. But they couldn't fall. But when they fell behind, he wasn't going to be the guy who was going to rob. then.

The goal was not to fall behind. You're right. Here's his numbers. Here's his numbers. Not terrible, Ryan. Think about this. 58 and 92. 544 yards, 63%.

Four touchdowns, three interceptions. One of those interceptions was a pick six late in the ball game. He was okay. He just, I thought when he would go back on a five or seven step drop and throw the deep ball, there was absolutely no zip. And you know, anybody that knows in the NFL, if you don't have something extra on that pass it's going to be easily picked off because these cornerbacks know it and they did and uh you you just nothing more than an intermediate passing game is not going to win in the NFL well i thought the goal

right man if i'm not mistaken was for him to never be in those situations and i thought he manufactured as as many points as he could you know but like the goal was just hand the ball off trust the defense let them go win the game and the mindset being that our defense was good enough our run game was good enough and if anything you get in the play accident situation and you're you know you're able to just to make the simple throws I in and honestly I think Philip Rivers was good enough you could argue and say hey the defense let them down the run game let them down and obviously the flip side Matt I get what you're saying with the deep ball if this quote don't quote me wrong if they know you can't throw the deep ball

even off the play action nobody's biting down they're just sitting in no they're just sitting in the box so what it did basically is it simplified the prep for the indianapolis offense we'll take our chances with him trying to beat us 30 yards down the field we're not going to let jonathan taylor get off and he just didn't do much all right let's go back on the phones forget at the top of the hour break let's talk to gary on 790 and 1056 Gary good morning hey morning man how y'all doing good great hey uh you know what a catheter is i'm sure you do yeah they make external catheters and it's like putting on a rubber and it's got a hose and it goes to a bag and you strap it to your legs.

So you can go to the ball drop. You know, just you can order them on Amazon. So that fixed your problem. Problem fixed. So you're going to have a time to order a catheter off of Amazon and get it here in time for our flight tomorrow. It would be a great story. Well, we did for my dad.

Two days. Well, no. Okay. Wow, thank you, Gary, for that. I appreciate the update on the catheter by the way we have an update on our poll question 41% believe it's once in a lifetime experience do it

59% say no not worth it so I think you know the people did you vote by the way I did I quote tweeted you I don't know how that counts it counts it counts it counts but I mean hey Matt

I mean listen I don't think it's it's not the craziest, you know, thing to do. I don't think it's wild. Now, again, I am on the side of comfort. So, just so we're clear there. You know, I'm not, I'm not saying to do anything extreme. I'm on the side of comfort. You know, I'd like to find in a perfect world an amazing spot where we can watch the ball drop. We can watch. Yes. People watch. This is going to be some great people watching. And that is true. That is true. But the problem is, the people watching spots are probably going to be a table of four minimum a thousand dollar spend but what if they know matt thomas

uh who's known more in the NBA circles me or you you've been at it for a long time no you played and you know everybody they're all your people your guys your ladies your guys new york's your town are you trying to know new york is not my town but you know i will attempt to try to find some of us right all right uh second hour of the matt thomas show with Ross. Ross off today. Ryan Hollins, our friend from Space City and Rockets TV, joining us for another hour or so. We've got gut feelings coming up at 1230, and

at 1 o'clock we'll visit with E. May Adoka. You would like to join us. Come on and be a part of the program. 713-212-5-790, 7-19. 7-19. It's 1058, here on Sports Talk, 7-9, with a word. This is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. Here we go, 1103 on Sports Talk 790.

Our friend Ryan Hollins from Space City Network is in for the hour. Rockets last night took care of the Indiana Pacers and it won three straight games. On to Brooklyn for a game with the Nets on New Year's Day. And then two days after that, the Dallas Mavericks. Nicola Yokic hyper-centered a knee last night. It was re-evaluated in four weeks. We have a quarterback change for the Indianapolis Colts as the Phillip Rivers era at least ends for the 2025 campaign. it will be Rodley Leonard is starting for the Texans against or for the Colts against Texans

as a 12 noon start at NRG Stadium and Ryan I know you've been to live here a few years but I think you've got a pretty good grasp you know this is big time Dallas Cowboy territory even though the Texans are in town right you mean you it's hard to not to run into a cowboy fan somewhere that is even in California even in California so Greg Rajan who writes for the Houston Chronicle he's like their TV guy just found out that on channel 26 this noon this Sunday at noon they are not going to air the cowboys giants game they're going to put the titans jaguars game on instead because obviously that has an impact on where the texans could finish in the afc south if the jaguars win the game they win the afc south which is going to happen because the titans suck the jaguars are home but i can't remember and i've lived I'm 53 years old. I've lived in Houston for 39 years of my life.

I cannot remember a Dallas Cowboy game not being televised when it could have been televised. Now, for instance, if when the Texans were at home or the orders were at home, these have rules where you could only put the local game on and you couldn't put a game opposite on. Like if the Texas were home or the orders were home, you couldn't put a game on opposite channel. But that isn't the case. and this new NFL TV rules. So at 12 noon, Titans, Jaguars are on, Cowboys Giants or not. That's got to be a first in television history, at least for Houston.

That's a lot. And go Texans. And go Texans. It's the right thing to do. The Texans have a team that has an opportunity to win a Super Bowl this year, Matt. It's the right thing. And depending on where they play, where they're at the bracket, this is a huge game. And we care more about that game.

We don't, look, the Cowboys are out. The Giants are horrific. So it's the right decision. It really is. But I know there'll be some Cowboy fans bitch him on. But if you're a cowboy fan, do you really even care about watching the last game? That's what I was going to say, Matt. Seriously.

If you're a Cowboy fan, do you even care? And to be a Cowboy fan is to be disgruntled and frustrated. you know and especially in a year like this maybe you're a micah parsons guy or gal maybe you know you're you're uh you're you're deck prescott guy maybe you're you know you're frustrated with cd lamb frustrated with the george picking situation i mean jerry jo like where do you stop like there's frustrate so maybe you're tapping out and saying you know what just just put me out of my misery here you know i don't need to see it by the way the titans are a 13 and a half point favorite i mean underdog at Jacksonville.

I mean, that would be, again, just put things in perspective here. If the Texans would want to win the AFC South, they have to beat the Colts, which is probably a pretty good chance of that, and the Titans have to beat the Jaguars in Jacksonville. That would be such a Jacksonville move, by the way,

if that happened. I keep wanting to tell you the whole world, and I've said it for many, many weeks. I'm just not a Trevor Lawrence guy, But as I say that, he's had a really good season. He really has. It's not been great, but it's been better than previous Trevor Lawrence seasons. And every time you want to rip on Bo Nix for being who the hell's Bo Nix,

that Bronco team, except for the one blemish against guess who? Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars in Denver. That's been a really good football team this year. No, they have. Let me ask you, what makes you so anti- Trevor Lawrence? What makes you go? I think he takes sacks. I think he overthrows receivers.

I think he makes the easy passes look difficult. I think he looks skittish in the pocket. He does not, to me, Ryan, look like a 1-1. He doesn't even look like to me like a quarterback that I... I mean, think about all the money that the Jaguars have put into his piggy bank over the last handful of years because that's what NFL quarterbacks get with their second contract. And honestly, that's part of the reason why some Texans fans, Ryan are skittish about putting so much money into

CJ Stroud's wallet because if you spend all that money in the quarterback which you kind of have to do that's how the NFL landscape goes If you mess up at that spot You're screwed other places Yeah look at the chief right now That's a big thing about the chief And that's not even and that's and Pat Mahomes' contract

Isn't really even that crazy for when it was It was originally assigned a few years back well actually it is and people don't remember with that contract what they did is they they really backloaded the contract so essentially it gave them the best chance to win when he originally signed it

and the longer it goes the worst the team's going to get because well how about this? Yeah, make more money well how about the Dak Prescott contract? I mean that guy is making $60 million a year no wonder Jerry Jones can't finagle the rest of his situation because he's spending so much money on the guy

in fairness with Dak whatever you want to say I believe he's lived up to it he's worth every bit of the money and I think that DAC is one of the rare instances where you pay a quarterback and he's lived to the expectation

because what happens when I pay you now I've got to run the offense through you and I can listen if you watch the Cowboys games you can say there's a lot of instances in these games it was not Dak's fault

he made some incredible throws there were some drops we will name who will not name who dropped there's been some wide receivers who are uninterested in certain games. George Pickens, yeah. I can't blame, I cannot blame Deck Prescott.

So I think you're right. The challenge is obviously with Trevor Lawrence and CJ, you know, when you pay those guys the big bucks, now you've got to shape the offense around them, you know, and is that the best move to make or do you kind of play hardball and it can kind of like take a life of its own with your season because now everybody's going to be asking about your quarterback getting paid and we saw that in Dallas. Trevor Lawrence, Ryan, makes $55 million a year. Wow.

Ain't worth it. Listen, I mean, there are crazier contracts out there. I know, but you're tough in a situation. Do you move forward, you know? And again, the controversy can inculp your organization. And that's all that you hear about. And you're really almost not able to, really in a sense, not able to move forward. And so you pay these guys, especially when they're that big of a name.

Yeah. he's got uh he's tied with joe burrow is one of the highest paid in terms of guarantee money 200 million dollars guaranteed keeping him on a contract through 2030 it does include a no train clause there's incentives for team success 142 million he got it signing 200 million dollars guaranteed money now what you have to do we talked about this yesterday is that you know you've got to spend a lot of money in your quarterback you got to make sure you're very reasonable with draft picks and those street-free agents and making sure you get him a good value. I'm just saying that if I'm a Jacksonville Jaguar fan, I can live with my quarterback making crazy money because that's what quarterbacks do. And nobody would care if Trevor Lawrence was making $55 million a year

if he was thrown for 5,000 yards. But he's nowhere close to that. It's just not. But he's been better this year. He just has. Here's the problem that the organization is run into. Who else are you going to put in that situation? Who else are you going to bring it?

You know, are you going to move forward? Because here's the only, and this is the way that they've set it up, not me, not anybody else. Right. If you want to move forward from Trevor Lawrence, the smartest thing you do is you go into the draft. You've got to wait, though. If you go into the draft, you're essentially starting all the way over and you're evaluating a young kid that you don't know is worth it. You've got to be able to look and say, well, you know, this guy's worth it. And again, you don't know what's out there.

and you take a chance and you can get a late drafted guy or somebody else and say, you know, it kind of work out, works its way out. But, you know, a lot of times not, Matt. Yeah, I just, and look, people are going to wake out about whatever CJ gets, but that's what quarterback suit. Average quarterbacks, above average quarterbacks, elite quarterbacks, take up a lot of the salary cap. 1112 here on Sports Talk 7.8.

Ryan Holland took up a lot of salary cap in the NBA during your 10-blash years, correct? I don't know. I took up to probably the most minimal amount from the salary gap. I think one year I missed a year I took out the mid-level exception. How about that? That's definitely not. I get the mid-level exception in radio. You didn't know that, did you? I did not know that. How does that work? It's not great. Mid-level, mid-level for radio hosts in Houston, Texas, not even comparable to an NBA deal. 713-212-790. Ryan Hollins, Matt Thomas, with you here.

until noon and then I'll take it from noon until two where we'll have gut feelings at 1230 and we will also have email at 1 o'clock 713-212-5-790 we need to wish somebody a happy birthday when it comes the world of sports and say about that next 1113 here on 790 all right Ryan Hollins you know everybody uh lebron james turns 41 years old today do you uh text him a happy birthday i did not I did not text him that, Matt. All right. Also, turning 50 years old today, Tiger Woods.

Wow. Tiger Woods, 50 years. I remember when he was at Stanford. You remember when he was at Stanford, right? Yeah, yeah. So, when you're 50, you're eligible for the Champions Tour. Hmm. You can assume that Tiger's going to be part of that.

I would assume that, but, man, I don't. don't even know what the rest of his life is entailant. I don't know when he's healthy, when he's not, when his golf game is good, when it's not. I frankly hear more about his son that I hear about anybody else, don't you? I mean, it's, he's not out of the side of mind because obviously he's still one the most right. If you were to go to a bar and just name, I mean, I'm talking about not necessarily a sports

but just a regular restaurant and said name a golfer, Tiger Woods is still going to get half the votes. Oh, no question. You know what I mean? I mean, he is such a, such a legend. But I thought Jack Nichols' record was going to be crushed. Jack's like, he's resting well. He's like, I ain't scared of it.

If a tiger ain't going to do it, my record's my record. Point being is that do you, if you're 50 years old and you're playing in the older tour, the champions where the people that are 55, 60, I mean, I don't think you can reinvent yourself. You may get a few more eyeballs on those events. I don't watch senior events. I just don't. I'm not a big golf watcher as it is. But is it, can Tiger reinvent himself or is it just what a natural 50-year-old does

when he's no longer able to win on the PGA tour? The big key that you just said is you're not watching. And the reason that that's important is because if Tiger Woods played, you'd watch or if you wouldn't watch, you would check up. And he would be the face of the entire tour, right? so athletes now know their values so for even tiger woods to entertain something like that you know you would have to he it would have to be worth his wow because right now i mean clearly matt what we're both saying he's he's bigger than the tour it's right well here's the thing

here's what the tour now is and the champions tour is 50 plus most of their events are three-day events as compared to four-day events and you get to use golf carts now I mean, I would assume that would help out, Tiger. Franklin would help on anybody over the age of 50? You know, he did not compete on a single PGA tour event this year at all? I mean, again, granted, the Nike swoosh and the branding of everything still puts him on top of mind. But it's so weird that he goes from what obviously was the most dominant run for any individual athlete ever to the extracurricular activities that got him

plus the plethora of injuries and the accidents and the pills and the booze and all that to trying to come back and reinvent himself to his body just kept breaking down. And now what's the forecast? What would you guess? Does Tiger do some events? Does he go, wait a minute,

I used to kick ass on a PGA tour. I'm not going to this seniors tour, this champions tour, and just going to just cash. it in because I can to drive a cart now and I don't have to worry about playing in a 72 hole but I can play in just 54. I think

it's what they're willing to sacrifice to him. If it's something like this I don't know if obviously with his son playing there would be an immense value there. They would have to offer Tiger something that makes it worth

his wow. If not, I don't believe you get him. I don't think he goes out i don't think i don't think it essentially makes sense matt right is that fair to say i think he if he does one event a year it gets a lot of media attention but tiger's not looking to grab media attention in fact probably my guess is tiger would just just as soon just make sure the plenty of the Nike gear is still sold and then he's done right yeah yeah no absolutely like i said is he still attached to Nike by the way i was starting to think about that is he still

attach with him? You haven't seen much, but guys like that normally get lifetime deals. Yeah, that's true. You'd assume that Nike locked him up for a lifetime deal. He's still getting paid and need be. He probably makes a couple appearances a year. That's, you know, well worth, whatever

they're paying them or giving them. Right. But he did not complete for an entire year. He was at a news conference in December. He said he's only recently started putting and chipping and wasn't close to being able to take full swings. That doesn't sound like me is going to run on the champion store and make a lot of money.

All right. So the other guy celebrating his birthday. By the way, do you think December 30 it's the most famous birthday of all time? That's got to be between him and LeBron, right? That's pretty big time. That was probably a hectic delivery. Oh, yeah. They were not the same hospital, Ryan?

I mean, they're nine years apart. But point being, we saw LeBron. No, not that they're together, but I'm saying that day alone is being born that day. Right, right, right. We saw LeBron on December 25th. See, I know a lot of people want to go crush. He can't shoot threes anymore. He can't defend anymore.

He can still, not doing it a bunch, I wouldn't even say half the season, but there's going to be once or twice or even three times a month where LeBron James can take over a basketball game. And if anybody's expecting more than that, then they don't realize the value of father time. But I think LeBron, even though he keeps telling us he's getting ready to settle or retire, I think he's going to do it as long as he can.

He wants to break all the records. He wants to make sure everything that he's accomplished individually is so far out in front that no one's going to be able to get to it. The only thing that I think about that I don't know the answer to is will he finish his career in Los Angeles or does he want to go chase after one more championship? Because I don't believe, at least when you and I saw Christmas Day that that team is not ready to win a championship. They don't look like they're defensively ready to do it. They don't look like they're getting along at all. It was an odd matchup, and the Rockets, frankly, beat them from almost the opening tip of the game.

Yeah, you know, with LeBron, I thought that L.A. was always a business move. I thought he was fortunate to get a championship out of it when he did, but I always saw the business there. I never saw and felt like, hey, you know, this is just strictly a basketball move. And again, he was good enough to. get a championship there it worked out but i i i just don't see you know didn't see otherwise man i don't that makes sense yeah by the way i was i when i thought about whether he was tied to nike anymore i was right i want to thank gregg and brian for backing me up tiger is locked

to nike in apparel his equipment has moved to tailor made for club and balls and gregg says that he has his own brand now called sunday red um sun second word day third word red i like that wait a minute. Now, Brian's telling me he's got an apparel deal, but Greg says he's got his own apparel deal. Whatever. He's, he ain't worried about his next. He's, he's, he's Tiger Woods, y'all. Yeah, yeah. He can do whatever he wants. No, I know. Well, how's it go? It's Tiger Woods, y'all. It's all good, y'all. It's Tiger Woods, y'all. How are you laughing? Keep singing. I'm looking to fill two hours here.

I don't think that Tiger sang the song, but I forget what it was. It was some type of show or something that was on. That, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, I don't. that may have been a little more famous even than Tiger himself. All right. You've ever been in a party or in a place where Tiger Woods was in the same place you were? Have not. No. He's one of the rare guys. I have not seen

Tiger in any place. No. I'm not, Matt. I've got to be honest. Now, I know LeBron and you've been in the same spot, yes? Yeah, of course. We played against each other. Yeah, Matt. Do you ever foul him? Yeah, of course I fouled LeBron. Do you feel bad about it?

No. One time I actually knocked his headband off and the crowd cheered. Remember, I was on Cleveland after LeBron left, and the love and hate and wildness that was going on in that game was absolutely crazy. We lost one in the first game. It was an

absolute mess. I've never seen an NBA game like that. It was a very unique situation. You had several fights in the crowd. When he came out, I kid you not, Matt. There were so, I've never heard this before, man. When LeBron came out, there were so many booze.

It was about 10 straight minutes, and the booze just sounded like one loud vortex. Woo! It was just a, you know, you can hear kind of boo, and the people think, boo, you can hear it. It was a, that's how loud it was, and it sounded, and it was such a, it was a unique moment, man, in sports again. you know i was there i was a part of it and it was just there was a lot going on but we beat him the second time it was celebrations for everybody it was it was you know a happy time in cleveland but uh man i will i will never forget that experience and that was after the first time you left cleland correct yes okay yes everybody was upset and um and again you know

the thing that i know about lebron he's never been content with being a bad guy and at that stage when he went to Miami he was unapologetic he had the decision it went horribly wrong and for LeBron being the villain never worked out for him and he was uncomfortable

the entire time I'm going to give you a statement and I want you to respond when we come back and we're going to break here okay he doesn't want to be the villain but his actions make him hateable stay with me on that oh yeah tell me if you agreed

disagree on that i'm going to say it again i'll tell you when we get back he doesn't want to be the villain but his actions make him hateable 1127 on sports talk 790 1133 on sports talk 790 is matt and ryan ryan ross is off today this is uh my last show the year tomorrow we're going to have the uh morning drive hang out for an extra hour and then adam lex was going to jump in 11 o'clock until one is uh ryan and i head to uh new york city the Rockets and the Brooklyn Nets tomorrow night, or a New Year's night in Brooklyn, then the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday. All right.

So the Rockets, Ryan, had Dylan Brooks the last couple of years, and Dylan Brooks lived a life and will always live the life as the villain. He liked it, embraced it, wanted to be it. He thought it was a great way to motivate himself, his teammates, and to draw the ire of his opponents. I said before the break LeBron never wanted to be hated but his actions made him very hateable around the NBA agree or disagree

I completely agree you know LeBron knows it's his show with all due respect you know it's his show he's a spotlight that's been him since he was in the eighth grade since he was 14, 15 years old you know and that's kind of what

makes him who he is and i i think the reality from lebron's standpoint though is he you know he'll kind of be him unapologetically and deal with it later and you got to understand like it's tough man like he's done this for 20 something like we've grown up watching him and living and dying with him and i think what's tough as players is we don't always have the greatest sense of reality so i don't think he necessarily wants to be hated but he knows his value he knows how important he is and he embraces it you know he kind of is who he is unapologetically but i don't think he wants to not be liked it's just the conflict with some of the things you know and the thing about sports and we're starting to see this is you know when you aren't playing up to your value or

what you you know you kind of demanded you know there's frustrations there but it's like hey man like he's he's he's a unique situation the one thing i learned really quick in sports is like you can't compare yourself to somebody else like it ain't for everybody like you have a number of guys going out and saying well Kobe Bryant had this magical farewell tour that ain't for you bro that was for Kobe Bryant that's for different guys and again everybody just has unique situations that work for them and LeBron does earn more than his keep in his spot and you know I think he's challenging now and I understand it between hey how committed I am to this game is it's worth it and and you know am i kind of locking into my family and my business ventures and what's

crazy is he's still really darn good as he said earlier matt so those are the conflicts we're seeing and kind of you know we've been privileged to kind of grow up and watch lebron james grow up right before our eyes yeah so i've never hidden the fact that i think the greatest player in the history of the NBA is michael jordan okay and it's gonna there's really nothing i can do to you could do for me to change my mind. Do I think the gap has closed because of LeBron's greatness? Yes.

He's clearly number two. And for anybody that doesn't like LeBron because of his basketball skills, then you're only watching a certain part of the world. And that's just not fair to LeBron because LeBron on the basketball court is still a special human being. The other stuff in his life,

ill-informed social takes, I think, probably rubbed people the wrong way. As far as on-the-court demeanor, you were on the court with him so you tell me when i'm wrong about this i think he spends way too much time uh talking to officials i think there's been issues of him flopping in the past i think there has been some issues of blaming others when things don't go right and maybe when you are the alpha dog and you've been that you want everybody to play at your level maybe michael jordan was guilty of that as well uh and i also believe that uh there are sportsman like things that should be done that

he's been guilty of not doing, the shaking of hands, the saying goodbyes, whatever the case would be. And again, that's all minor, minor, minor stuff. But it goes to the big part of who he is, the complete package. I can separate, because I think I'm a pretty decent person, I can do this, I can separate the extra stuff from what I see on the basketball floor. And what I see in the basketball floor is the second greatest player in the history of the NBA, the all-time winning score, a guy who is not at 100% where he was in his prime. But he's not at 40%. He still can contribute. He still wakes up and puts up 18 and 10 with his eyes closed.

He still has value left. And he's still going to be a thorn on anybody's side, whether he stays at the Lakers or not. The question is, can most fans separate the other gunk with his on-cordability? And I think the answer to that is, frankly, cannot. That's why there is so much perceived hate for LeBron James. Yeah, no. In no mistake, you're right, Matt, because, you know, Well, LeBron is a guy, and, you know, again, these are languages I couldn't speak as a player,

but, you know, I like to call it, they move the goalpost. You know, he's going to move the goalpost or whatever, you know, fits him in an argument or a situation. And, again, it ain't for everybody. And it can't frustrate people, but he plays by his own rules. You know, if you play well in moments, yes, it is, it's him. And if, you know, you play bad, you're kind of out. It's your fault. And, you know, they're picking one guy.

you know that's the thing even about sports you know you a lot of time you don't blame the players the coach got to go you know in situations oh and coach killer too don't forget that either i forgot about that one too well my goodness man look at you you're just on a tirade right now but yeah he he has earned the right to do that he's been that good so you know because of that lebron has loved and hated you know depending on what you know where you're at in the scenario was he the hardest guard guy for you to guard ever in your life who's if you had a top three list i'm i've never really asked you about this all years have known each other. Who is in your top

three of, and maybe because it was centers, because you obviously have a five, but is there a shirt list of guys you're like, oh my God, I just can't. I'm trying, I'm athletic, I'm seven feet tall, I'm trying, but I just can't stop the kid. I've played against

great, great players at my position. Tim Duncan, Shaq, those guys were related to Kevin Garnett, yeah. Kevin Garnett. You go down the list. Shoot, I still had a bit of the power forward era that's a position that's pretty extinct now those are guys that played in the post played in the mid post and you know would do a lot of the scoring and they said no we're going to score with our point guard and our wings we're not going to score with

power forwards anymore but i say that to say the guys who gave me problems was um demarkis cousins mark gassall and chris bosh because they could they could they could go either way with either hand, when they got you in foul trouble, it took your aggression away. And when you take aggression away from a defender, I can't guard you the way, I got to guard you, I got to be careful, got to keep my hand out the cookie jar, Matt.

So those guys gave me problems. Now, I did play and was in that game, and I'm salty and resentful, Matt, and yes, there's something I'm very salty and resentful for. I love it. is lebron won that they when they won their championship we were up three two against the heat and they came back and won that series and we had a home game and we knew uh in boston that we were going to win this game and lebron james put on one of the greatest performances that we've ever

seen in sports and at that time matt so for those who listen i give lebron a lot of respect a lot of props because i've competed against him and i played against them and everything that we thought we knew about him we did not because he showed up in every way we double team everywhere he hit impossible shots and you know that was that monster lebron james signature game was then and you know he he he he became him and again i he forever has my respect and whether paul wants to admit it or not or i know kg does for the most part um absolutely does like they he showed us what he was and we did not think that at that moment lebron would show up in in those games and it wasn't wade's team early in the series it was wade kind of closing and it got to a point where

like LeBron close us out man they went on to win a championship so anything you kind of talked about him not being the guy and all this stuff like you can miss me with that like he he's the guy he's one of the greatest if not the greatest to ever do it you know depending on who you're speaking to all right take quick time out we'll come back you get a phone call in before the top of the hour Ryan's with us for one more segment uh if you want to get a rocket chatter in because of course Ryan sees it as good as anybody he's got better sheets than I do at most games. Oh, stop it.

I shouldn't, I'm sorry, I shouldn't say most. All. 713, 212, 5790. You saw what it was like to do radio in San Antonio, didn't you? Big fella. I had a blast.

That's on my bucket list. I mean, listen, man, if I can get one of those in a year or as many available, man, I mean, listen, I think I had a lot more fun than you did. Yeah, because the Rockets lost. I was miserable after the game.

No, I was upset, but I got to, you know, I got to sit there with my bud. All right, I didn't think that was on. I like it. I like it a lot. 1143 on Sports Talk 790. Final segment for our man, Ryan Hollins. And then he's going to go get us some diapers. We can go on time score tomorrow.

Let's check the poll question. I don't think we're doing it. I think the people have spoken, Ryan. 58% say not worth it 42% say worth it so there you go no we're not diaper I don't think anybody wants it

well maybe they want us to diaper but they wouldn't diaper themselves that's a fair assessment you know and it'd be a heck of a story look I fully expected my life later in life I'll be wearing a diaper I'm fully aware of that but I don't think I want to do it right now I want to wait to the very last possible second yeah I'm with you

I'm with you right brother I'm with you let's go to Geo on 7-90. Geo, thanks for holding. Good morning to you. Hey, good morning, guys. Great show as usual. Nice to hear from you, Ryan. Good to have you on the show, man. While we've got you here, I got a question for you, man. I'm real curious about this. Seeing as you played in the NBA for a lot of years, you know, you're good at your job. And Matt, same for you, man. You've been around basketball. I've been around NBA for, you know, a lot of time of your life. And I just want to know who do you guys think is the next, not to compare, but who do you

guys think is the next player or play yours to kind of take that mantle and being like the faces or the face of the league. Good question. Thank you, Gio, for the phone call. You could go Anthony Edwards of Minnesota but he's so salty

with his language. I don't even know if the NBA wants to build it around him. He's such, I mean, if you're talking about player itself and the ability on the floor, it's aunt, right? I agree. Well, to a degree. Okay.

Okay. Here's where the challenge is. If you are willing to say that the next face of the NBA can be a European player, okay, that's Victor Wimbunyama, and there's no question there. Don't tell Adam Planting that. He will not be pleased with hearing you say that. Well, it's the truth. Okay. I respect it.

saying that it's an American-born player Anthony Edwards is our best option and who Anthony Edwards is now is not necessarily who he's going to be tomorrow

and maybe he is maybe that's just you know where he stands as far as the language and whatnot and it's really hard because you want these like to be the face of the league and you can say LeBron has been the face it was Michael then it was Kobe then it was abroad okay

and then there's another list that will have Steph Curry on it and we'll have a couple of other guys or you can say Shaq was one of the faces of the league when Kobe was there but you can say clearly it was Kobe Curry is as clean an image as you can get and that is a part of him being one of the faces of the league so that's the challenge with Anthony Edwards and again who he is today is not who he's going to

to be tomorrow. But if we take out American Bourne, what we've seen from Victor Wimbunyama, it's him. So that goes back, and that's a great, it's a great name to choose from.

Can the face of a sports league, which, by the way, it may be too big for one person to do it. I mean, we may be just talking out of our, you know, our brands on this. It may be, the league may be too big for one person. But can that one person, that one person be somebody from another country, can that one person be from a team that is

not globally known? I mean, look, San Antonio wins championships, but San Antonio, you know, the small markets, you know, the sexy teams of the New Yorks, the L.A. is the Chicago. Now, granted, Minneapolis is not a super big market, so Edwards could do it. But is it also part of it as if he misses 20 to 25 games a year, which very well could happen for guys that are north of seven feet, as you know, Ryan, is it hard to build around a league when Victor 1 Boniama is going to be missing some time on a regular basis? That's going to be hard, extremely hard. I'm glad you brought that up. And for LeBron James, you know, you got to credit his longevity.

LeBron James had to get to the point of winning. And then, like, there's clearly like flare behind it also, Matt. So, you know, you got to be a player that has flare too. So there's a lot that goes into it. Yeah. You got to have the game. you got to win and then you got to have like the flare in the story behind you and you know what i'm seeing from wimby this year tell me if i'm wrong man i want to see how you feel i feel like

he's shown us like this attitude this flare like this edginess that made you kind of okay victor you know that he's showing and you know i do want to throw this out too that you know she shay gildjus alexander is the name we have to throw in the hat and he may be be more like Steph Curry where you know, Steph Curry didn't come in as the number one draft pick and held it all this but Steph Curry's body of work through time and the way he won

and how much better he got in his development pushed him into being fair to say right one of the faces of the league if not a of LeBron's 1A he was 1B undoubtedly but it came with winning and it came with swagger and a great story behind him

and I think honestly maybe SGA has a leg up because he's on his way to winning another MVP, especially if Yokic can't play 65. They're the chalk favorite to win another NBA

championship. And frankly, if Anthony Edwards can't get deep in the playoffs and doesn't get the national recognition, and frankly, every time he does an interview, he's dropping a swear word,

that takes him off cameras. And the reality is the NBA, how you become a star is by what you do on the corp, also how you're seen, how you're interviewed, what's your demeanor on the floor. And I hope that, look, I want Anthony Edwards to fail because that means the rockets are going to have another team to worry about, much less everybody else in the West. But Edwards, he doesn't want to change who he is. He enjoys being opinionated, boisterous, using salty language. That's just, and again, that shouldn't determine who the guy is.

But when you're the face of a league, you are more, to your point, you are more than just a great basketball player. You are a representative of the league. And Steph Curry, because of the squeaky, clean image he has, has been able to gain that. And Victor Webanyama, and Nicole Yokish doesn't want it because Nicole Yokuch just wants to play basketball. He has no interest doing anything else but just playing basketball. He does not care. Doesn't care. I'll give you this, Matt, and I don't know if you saw it.

there is a video surfacing I mean not like a big deal or anything crazy but Anthony Edwards but understandable to your point and there's a mom she's in like in the shoe store

and the little boy goes look at these new Anthony Edwards these are the shoes I want mom can you get these and mom goes oh absolutely not I hear the way he talks absolutely not and you know

to your point yeah for Anthony Edwards that is going to be thing you know and again unapologetically himself but in terms of the face of the league if that's something that he wants you know he wants to have and wants to be

you know that the language will be an issue maybe nobody wants it maybe nobody wants carry the league you know you want to be on the video game you want that so if you want to if you want to be on the front of the video game you're going to have to have some sort of demeanor to it and maybe maybe the video game doesn't matter

you know it maybe it doesn't because that's a different clientele let's go to before the of the hour and say how to Kenny on 7-90. Kenny, what do you got today? Hey, happy holidays, gentlemen. Good morning, you, Governor, Mr. Hollins. Hey, I just joined in. Is thirsty RV there today? No, he's off today. Okay, yeah, that's usually, well, his case, usually about two or three days a week, right? He usually has vacation or something. We're definitely doing the holidays. Hey, Ryan, I think you do an excellent job. You and Craig, and those shoes are a lot to fill with me being biased to Calvin.

I mean, I love them as a player and even more so as an announcer. The reason I called, I got through listening yesterday, we are giving the D of the Year award. Yes. And basically, Lane Kiffin basically owns that award every year, whether he's coaching or not. I mean, I love Gordy, but goodness, everyone knows this isn't going to end well. Did you catch him in the, when they brought them up to the booth on the Cougar game,

the Kinder Bowl? Oh, Elaine Kiffin? No, I was in the car, but I definitely saw the people shooting videos of it. Yeah. How did that conversation go, by the way? Did you, would you listen to it? I just tuned out. I just, I was infatuated what he had on.

He looked like a strip bar, like a real sleazy owner of a strip bar. He had this leather. this brown leather mid coat on and I was just looking at him like you know because I had it tuned down I was watching something else at the same time uh when it was in half when they going to the breaks because you know they weren't showing the game they was just showing him and the announcers and I looked at I'm like well is that thank you and then of course you know they introduced them and everything and I'm like oh goodness um yeah that that that situation is going to not going in They gave him $91 million?

Yeah, because he's, because he, and thank you for the phone call, Kenny, in the nice words. Thank you, Kenny. Yeah, he was number one off-season higher. Florida wanted him. LSU wanted him. I'm sure a lot of their schools would have wanted him too. Lane Kiffin was the number one go-to guy. Won some games at Ole Miss, wins wherever he goes.

Now, it doesn't win championships, but he would like to get there to that point. And he feels like that the LSU is the spot to get to. Here's the reality. I don't know how much you paid attention to the whole Lane Kiffin leaving thing. It's never easy to leave a school, much less a rivalry school. But everything about the whole situation

was just sleazy. Because I think the college football coaching industry is sleazy. It's just, I'm just, it is what it is. That's fair. It's just, there's no, there's very few ways to be classy about it. But I do believe he does not tell the truth. I do believe he believes in lying.

Remember, I tell you this, Ryan, coaches lie, players lie, general managers lie, owners lie. We're in a lying society. But when you get called on on it, you know, the way that he got mad at the kid for calling him a ho and all that kind of thing. He's, he just plays the camera. He plays to, you know, what is important to him. He wants the narrative of he's just a football coach where he's frankly more than that. It's just, and for a school that got rid of a coach and paying all that money to go take him away, again, leaving one job or another, you can do that. It's just, there probably was just a much more classier way to do it than I think the way that Lane Kiffin did it.

Yeah, it's understandable. That's fair, Matt. All right. I will see you on the plane tomorrow. I look forward to seeing what size depends you're wearing and we'll look forward to having a great time in Times Square. Or maybe we'll just find a restaurant and have dinner and not worry about anything else other stuff. Hey, Matt, it's been a pleasure, my brother. Anytime I get to work with you, you know, beyond our friendship, man,

it's always cool moments, man. Thanks for having me now. That's why I love him like a brother. That's Ryan Hollands of Space City Home Network. Up next, the news at noon. We have got gut feelings in one half hour. But first, we have to salute the Rockets win over the Pacers with John Mellencamp on the tunes. 12-1 on Sports Talk 790.

Matt Thomas Show with Ross. Rockets win. Final score, Houston 126, Indiana, 119. Just like everything else. Those old faces and dreams just kind of came away. I need a ruling from you, Jonathan. John Mellencamp. I was hoping to ask me.

I've heard this song before, but it's been a long time. So you started playing. I was like, I don't know what this is. I played it. Dude, this is the perfect time of the year for this song. You're driving along? I like this. Oh, it is a great driver-run song.

I'm glad you said that. Turn it up. It fits. It does fit. Ironically enough, he's the most famous Indiana Hoosier football supporter. He's been going there with his dad for like 40 years. Really? Yeah.

I think 60 Minutes somebody did a story on him about, or it was ESPN about how he's been going to those, you know, because Indiana football sucked for most of its life. The last couple of years have been a lot better, but yeah. Little John Cougar, Mellencamp. See, it's funny, he was John Cougar Mellencamp, then he was John Cougar for a while, and then he went to John Mellencamp.

I think it's where he is now. Yeah, all of the songs of the couple of minutes, just John Mellekam. Yeah, Mellicamp, yeah. Yeah, man. And I don't mean to get old, I'm getting old guy, because I don't want to be that. I always want to stay young.

At least I want to sound young. But that's another guy that's, I would go see in concert. But if I'm going to go see him in concert, he's going to sound 40% of what he sounds like on the music right there. You know what? That makes me sad to get old because you keep saying that. I'm like, dang, imagine? I couldn't imagine that. Who is your favorite performer right now?

Performer? I don't know. I could just say something out the blue. I'll just say like Bruno Mars. Okay. You're going to see Bruno Mars for the next 20 or 30 years. He's going to sound pretty. good. Bruno Mars is

75. Engel sounds so hot. That's, oh, life is crazy. So I got the Eagles who are not even because one of them's dead and unfortunately Glenn Fry. But and they've got a couple of people that have left the band. But generally speaking they're sound pretty good, but they're also in their late 70s.

My man Paul McCartney, one of my favorites because of my favorite all-time band of Beatles, he's in his early 80s. He's got 40% of his voice. My man, Barry Mattelow. Got lung cancer. Hope he survives and things go well with him. I saw him this summer. He sounds like he's 80. I got nothing left.

I got John Cougar Mellencamp playing in his 70s by now. But that song, oh man, you put a John Cougar Mellon camp song on. Jack and Diane hurts so good. I mean, there's one hit after the other.

A lot of things about life by getting older. It sucks. Some things are really good, but losing my favorite bands to music is not one of my favorite thing. Now, granted, they're also, you have the art of music, you can listen to that same song.

I mean, the Beatles haven't been around since the 60s, and I still listen them all the time, still enjoy it. So you sure do. I got to stay young as possible, long as I can. You look young. Besides the bald head, but, you know, I knew besides the bald head. I knew a dude in college, he was 22 with a bald head. You can still look young.

You black guys love baldheads there. I don't know what it is. Am I wrong? It's like once that headline starts pushing back, we just, we're not going to do it. Tate Diggs is like one of the hottest guys in the world, apparently, and he'd been bald for 25 years. It's a new move. Just cut it all up. It's okay.

Embrace it. Well, you got a good Maine going there, so you're fine. Do you see Johnny Furfey's Maine from the Indiana Patriot's last night? No, no, let me see. That thing was, once you go Google Johnny Furphy, F-U-R-P-H-Y. He was one of their starting wings for the Patriots last night. He was a former Kansas Jayhawkers from Australia. Okay, got the little mullet going?

He's got like a mullet going. Now, it's kind of tame, yeah, okay. But it's disjointed, don't you agree? It doesn't have any form to it. He's starting it off. It's the ugly phase. It's got it. Oh, okay, I got it.

Yeah, yeah. It's a whole process with the mullet thing. I learned that in Kentucky. All right. Well, there's your news for the day. Johnny Furvey's got a bad main. Jonathan got a good one. Real quick, Nicola Yokic,

Hybrick, Senanee, going to be out at a minimum of about four weeks will be re-evaluated. Rockets, as you heard, just beat the Pacers last night. No Philip Rivers starting a quarterback this week. The Colts have decided to make a change

at starting quarterback, and I don't think you particularly care because, again, they're not playing for anything. The Colt, the Texans still are, but they're going to go with Riley Leonard on the Colts this Sunday for the 12 noon starting.

If you don't know, the game of the Texans and the Colts is Sunday 12 noon in RG Stadium. And what else? Happy birthday to both LeBron James and to Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods turns 50 years old today, which makes him now eligible if he so chooses to be on the Champions Tour. Speaking of feeling old. I remember Jonathan when he won the U.S. amateur championship,

meaning he was not a pro player yet. Meaning he couldn't make any money playing golf. Hmm. You know, this might make me sound young, but I thought he was much older than 50. I was actually surprised me to that. Hmm. I didn't know how good.

I knew how good Tiger Woods was, but. You don't even, do you really even remember when Tiger was killing it? Well, my grandpa was a huge golf fan. Golf fan. So I remember, like, you know, being at his house and when... Five or six years old, yeah, I get it. Yeah, yeah. That's all I remember.

You know, I didn't know he was that big of deal. You know what I mean? Yeah. All right. At the bottom of the hour, we have our final gut feelings of the calendar year 2025. So y'all need to get your... gut feelings ready. KJ and Larry want to talk about

some basketball, a little Texans. We'll get to those two calls coming back as well. 1214, gut feelings, bottom of the hour. Those where you make your sports predictions, whether it be about the Texans, the NFL playoffs, about the NBA, just anything sports-related, we'll take your gut feelings at 1230. It's 1214. It's a Matt Thomas show at Ross.

E. Maddoke in 45 minutes here on 790. Not to be a Debbie Downer here on the show, but did you see the story about Stefan Diggs? Uh-oh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Facing serious criminal charges for strangulation and assault. He was charged with felony strangulation or suffocation and misdemeanor assault and battery charges stemming from an incident on Tuesday, December the 2nd. Diggs is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, January the 23rd, just two days before the A.F.

championship game. If there is smoke at his fire, the NFL can suspend him. And maybe he misses the AFC championship, provided they get that far. Matter of fact, he could be missing playoff games, not just the championship. He was, what's going on, man?

Well, I don't, I think strangulation's pretty cut and dry, unfortunately. Now, didn't he play over the weekend? Yeah. I thought I saw him playing. Not that I spent a lot of time watching the Patriots. I was on Red Zone, but... Yeah, that's not good.

God, I mean, straight. Now, again, two sides every story. Innocent until proven guilty, for sure. Look at the box score right now. How did he do? England. Yeah, he had six for one-on-one with a touchdown. Yikes. This is going to be another, uh,

Mike Vic situation. Ray Rice. I was obviously Oh, oh, I'll, I forget about that. I'll be about that. Michael Vic was the dogs. Not that that was any better, but yeah. Mmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and there's nothing to do a comment except let's, let the judicial process take over things here. Let's go to KJ on 790, 12, 22. KJ. early new year to you, friend. Same to you, fellas, man.

I guess you was my open, typical opening. I love the show. Thank you. Real quick. First, I'm going to start off with a question. Watching the game Saturday, the two opening touchdowns that we got, the one to Higgins and the one to Noel. Do you guys think that was more of a good play call and a good play design?

Or do you think it was more of a byproduct of since the Texas don't typically do that, they caught the defense off guard. Wouldn't you think that the good play call was because the other team wasn't expecting it? Okay, so it can be a combination of both. They don't have to operate exclusively.

Yeah, I would say this. We don't say enough of that, honestly, and I loved it. I would have tried to go for it again a little later to at least put something on tape because after those two plays, we didn't see anything nearly as dynamic the rest of the game. And I guess that leads into my point.

Because, again, one of the things that you hear people say consistently about CJ is he is a master of the deep ball. And I'm bringing this up because this off season, the Texas is going to have to make a decision with CJ. And I know, and I'm at, well, they're going to have to make a decision. A decision is pretty much already made. He's going to get paid. Right. But my point for saying this is, I mean, we all know Demico is a defensive-minded coach. I wonder, and I'm going to ask this question, I'm going to make this statement.

able to ask this question, I'm going to let you guys have it to respond. Okay. You don't buy a Ferrari to drive it in the school zone. You know what I'm saying? I mean, if you genuinely feel like your quarterback has the ability to make plays like that or make more plays over the course of 60 minutes every Sunday, more capable of doing so, why not genuinely find out how capable he is? and so that way you have a better gauge of what you're getting because to me as good as

CJ was his rookie season he didn't have any tape on and he caught a lot of hell he caught me off guard because I saw him out of our state had no idea he was going to be that good in the pros his first year tape was out on him in second year last year was still a solid year but again nowhere near as good as his rookie year and he struggled consistently this year like we all know in sports once the footage gets out there teams make adjustments so I'm wondering do you guys think that the lack of offensive consistency this season is more a byproduct of

CJ's lack of confidence in himself, in his line, or in the play calling, or do you think it's more Nick Cayley and by extension, Domingo Rines, want to consistently run a conservative offense, and because

of that, the offense does it back when they jump out there on a lead, because if it's the latter statement, then I'm not a fan of giving somebody a quarter of our payroll that we basically want to be a game manager. Well, here's the thing. Real quick, before you hang up, KJ, you know,

you just talk, what do you say? You don't want to drive a Ferrari in the school zone? What if you buy that nice Ferrari, but the guy who's driving it never wants to go by past 60 miles an hour? Okay, so you think it's more, C.J.? No, no, no. I think looking at the sum of the product this year,

I don't think Nick Cayley is a tremendous play caller. That's the first and foremost thing. I do believe C.J. has trouble with some progressions, but I can't, I don't have an eye for that, so I can't say that's a little bit of it, a lot of it, or none of it. I do believe the body of work watching the Texans operate as an offense to me is that D'Amico Ryan's is a very conservative, offensive-minded coach. Well, this is my last thing real quick, Matt. I'm looking at the game the other night with the Chicago Bears. Who was that they played the other day when they had that shootout?

Chicago was playing. What was it? Packers. Packers. Packers. Yeah. Packers. Okay. No, no, no.

This was the last game. Oh, Chicago. Oh, I know you're talking about. I'm, let me look at it up. Whoever it was, I'm looking at Caleb Williams, and I'm looking at both Knicks. I'm just naming somebody younger quarterback to the leagues. These dudes have a couple. 40-9ers. It was Sunday night game.

Yeah, Sunday night game against the Niders. So, Brock Reddy, another young quarterback. Yes. These guys have a strong command of their offense to the point to where they literally make plays when plays aren't there consistently, not all the time, obviously, but they make enough plays to keep teams and games offensively. And I just don't see

CJ with that swagger. I see him moping a lot. I see him throwing a ball away at times when he actually has time to get rid of the ball, and I just don't see him having that confidence that Zebedo Fera that a lot of these quarterbacks have, and I'm wondering, again, if he's being affected by

the play calling, or if CJ's just lost some of his mojo, man, because I don't see the same thing in him from a competent standpoint that I see in a Drake May or Jordan Love, some of these younger quarterbacks. And I'm going to check back, man, I've got to get into work, but I'm going to say back in. Thank you, KJ. Yeah, I mean,

what we will know is this. the Texans' offensive line is better. It's still not elite. That's strike one. Strike number two is the Texans have no running game to speak of. Jordan and Marks and Chubb don't scare anybody.

So that hampers you too. So what I would say is this, and maybe you don't want to do this right now, let's see what CJ does with a running back I mean think about it in his three years

now last year he had Joe Mixin that was nice the year before that he had Damian Pierce when we thought Damian Pierce could be an NFL running back and that clearly has not happened this year he's had no real running game to speak of average less than four yards of carry there been a few bursts here and there

but no one is no one is game planning for the Texans running game to be them. And then let's see what the Texans do in terms of approving their offensive line, either through draft or through trades or through phraged and acquisitions. It's just, you just can't say one particular thing is hurt. I do believe the conservative play calling that Nick Cayley has been told to do. We talked about it on the show yesterday.

A lot of first down runs, especially late first half and basically all the second half. We don't, we don't see a lot. I'm not talking about freaky plays. I'm not talking about backward passes or double reverses or flea-flot. I'm just talking about general going down the field with a little bit of aggression to up-tempo. We've seen it a few times, but nothing consistently. Because that's just not in D.N.A. And I think when given the opportunity, sometimes when you are to take that five, seven-step drop,

when the coach gives it to you, it's, you know, you get a little. little nervous. Think about it in your place. If you have a conservative boss that doesn't let you do a lot of things, try different things, and then you get an opportunity to do something, you're a little skittish about whether or not it's going to work or now. Now, you can't be skittish if you're an NFL quarterback. If that's the case, you're doomed. I don't think, I don't think C.J. is worrying about making mistakes, if you do that, then you're never going to survive. But he did, the opportunities for him to really go downfield and try things and be it more advanced like some of the other offenses as you see in the NFL,

just aren't there because the Texans don't have the offensive weapons from a line, from a running back, to experience receivers. Knowles are not okay? You've,

we have Nico Collins. Dalton Schultz obviously has come through. Hutchson, to a smaller extent, but it's still not a receiving core that's going to strike a lot of fear and a lot of teams. That's why it was so encouraging to see what they did

on those two big catches early in the contest. And I'll give you a long-winded answer, but that's just a truth. It's just too difficult. to say, well, if CJ had more confidence, or CJ had a better command of things to be different. I think it's a combination of everything. I don't think that Kaylee has done himself any favors this year as an offensive play caller.

I think that the governor has been put on him and CJ by its head coach. I think CJ has made some mistakes. At least one of the interceptions on Saturday was a shaking your head, oh my God, what was he thinking moment? Maybe two, but certainly at least one of them. Larry and Mark, we'll get to you guys coming back. We'll also get gut feelings before we visit with EMA Adoka. It's 1231 here on 790. Matt Thomas Show with Ross.

Ross is off today. Eme Adoka is not off. He'll be joining us in 25 minutes from now. Let's go back on the phones and talk to in terms of longest wait. John on 790. Hi, John. Hey, I'm too.

What's going on? I have a quick question I want to get to before EMA comes on, but I was real quick I was listening to the conversation real quick before I asked my question even with CJ's mistakes I mean

the OC and an online coach is still fired at the end of the year right like you don't believe that they still stay on regardless of the talent being inferior I mean the offensive line looks trash period I think both stay I think I mean could you imagine

the questions that Domeico Ryan would get if he fired back-to-back offensive coordinator Yeah, but it's just so, they just were so, so just in depth. I mean, it's obvious, it's obvious the only way we get to where we get to is that the office can score at least 27. Right now they've been doing it at 20, but it's, it's going to take a little bit more, I think, especially in the cold weather cities that we're going to have to go to, where you're going to have to put a draw together and get it in the end of all.

And I just don't foresee it. But let me get to my question really, really quick. What happened to Christian Harris? And was how, because I know he was cleared. I remember him in Alabama. I remember him in his working year. I know he had a slew of injuries. But I think he's been cleared.

And he's just not on the field. And I remember him being Alabama, the sideline guy. And if they're sour on him, with where they are probably going to drafts. If there's not an offense alignment, is there a scenario where you see Jacob Rodriguez from Tech

or Anthony Hill from Texas being drafted where they would, the Texan would probably pick? Christian Harris is able to play. He's just off the depth chart. Did not record anything in the game against the Chargers. He had

one assisted tackle against the Raiders. Four. tackles, two solo, two assist against the Cardinals. Did not record anything against Kansas City, and he had one assisted tackle against Indianapolis. So he's still with the team. But, yeah,

out of mind, and I think you answered your own question. I think it's numerous injuries, just got them well behind everybody else. Linebacker always could be in need, especially Christian Harris, is not going to be in the long-term future.

I want the Texans to address offensive line and running back. And I don't really know much more I can say beyond that. Because I would be highly doubtful that Joe Mixon comes back. I'm not ready to, I'm not ready to say that Woody Marks is a three-downback. Nick Chubb's got nothing left in the tank. And Jawar Jordan is who he is. practice squad player who had a nice game. You need to invest in running back and offensive line.

And I thought it would be a clean sweep with offensive linemen, but maybe there's enough guys here that are growing up that are playing better the second half of the year that maybe the Texans would have some faith and keeping those guys in where they are. But you've got to resolve this running back situation. And I know it's very hesitant for teams to take running backs in the first round. I'm not even saying that per se. but if you want Jacob Rodriguez or somebody like that,

that's going to be something well advance of taking him over a running back. And I think you've got to get that position. And you've got to strip the offensive line. I mean, I know the offensive line is playing better. And pro football focus will grade him out better as this. But in your heart of hearts, you're still scared to death about him. And in your heart of hearts, I think D'Amico Ryan's is. Maybe that's part of the reason why he's been so conservative as a coach

is because he knows at the end of the day that that's just, Not a good enough offensive line to try to do some of the things that maybe Nick Kelly would like to do as an offensive coordinator and certainly C.J. Stroud would like to do as a quarterback. I'm staying with it. Offensive line, running back. Focus. You need a running back that's going to scare somebody. Because right now the play action works to a certain extent. Imagine how good it would be if you had a running back on this team that could really scare opposing defenses. Let's go to Mark on the north side at 1241 on 7-90. Mark, thanks for waiting. Good afternoon. Good afternoon.

I've been listening since yesterday. I mean, one of your guys called in. He was saying CJ was scared, and then y'all were trying to say, no, he's not scared. But, I mean, this guy, he cannot handle any pressure at all anymore. You look at those two interceptions, he took against the charger, man. And I'm just, I'm just sitting there shaking my head, like, what does this guy do? I mean, who was he throwing it to it? It was not even close to any straight to one of those guys.

I mean, yeah, he had two nice throws on probably busted coverage or something and the mix up in the secondary, which, I mean, Steve Warner probably could have made those throws. But I was listening to the Raiders game on a radio a couple of weeks ago, and Andre Weir was calling the game like he always does. But he started pointing out that, you know, CJ's getting rattled in the pocket. he can't have the pressure, is getting happy feet, and he's sailing balls,

and it's starting to become a problem, him sailing these balls. And then, you know, C.J., I mean, Andre, he's a quarterback. I mean, I believe he won a highman, I believe, with you evade, but I think he knows what he's talking about, and he says he's been seeing that,

and it's been rearing his ugly head. He's selling these balls, and just a matter of time before they start landing in the defender's hands, and I think that's going to be our Achilles Hill in the playoffs. I got no faith to see. CJ. And there's a reason

Jacksonville came to town and beat CJ and Mills went to they're on the road and beat Jacktonville on the road. That's my argument. Thank you guys. All right. Did you listen, by the way, did you listen to Andre talk about the two touchdowns that were thrown in the first quarter? I mean, yeah, selective analysis is something that everybody's going to have. You're going to Curtis. I mean, the Texas game against the Raiders was an

offensive disaster. It just was. They should have put up 35 points. so it's selective hearing and i'm not saying that andre is necessarily defending cj one week crushing the next he's only commenting on what he's seeing and i don't know i don't listen to texans radio so i mean i'm watching the game they don't listen but it you know yeah if you listen if you only listened to a texans game any of the broadcasters whether they were working for the team or on the national side like what's going on here this this team looks flat it looks disinterested it looks like it it looks like it's it's it's

It doesn't have any diversity to it. It doesn't have a lot of interesting play calls to it. I pretty much feel like that Andre probably in the, after watching those two long bombs thrown in the first quarter of that game against the Chargers, probably had a different philosophy to it. But that's how quarterbacks go. One week they're awesome. The next week they suck.

Now the two interceptions that CJ threw, that wasn't very good. One may have been tip, one not, I don't know, but those those were tough to stomach. But, yeah, again, what we have to understand is that C.J. Stroud hasn't taken the step that you want him to have when you see the likes of Jordan Love, when you see the likes of Brock Purdy, when you see the likes of, even for that matter, Drake May this year in New England and his second year has been just fantastic. You want them to take that natural step. And the question would be, are those teams I just spoke of? Are they able to have decent running games? Stevenson's been fantastic for the Patriots. I'll just give you one example of that.

Are the offensive lines protecting those quarterbacks better than what's going on right now in Houston? I would assume the answer is yes to that. So I would just say, look at the big picture of this. and understand that you don't have a better alternative. C.J. is not having a poor season. I don't think he's going to be the number one reason why this team does not make it to the playoffs. But I'll say this. Who would be more likely to have a rougher game?

A C.J. Stroud, rough game passing-wise, or a Texan defense against up 30 points? I think you know the answer to that. Texan's defense has been remarkably comfortable. and being able to keep around that 20-21 point mark. In most cases, less than that, 16 against Chargers. Now, thank you, Cameron Dicker, from blowing the kicks on two different occasions. We know how this team is going to get there.

If they get to the Super Bowl, it's because the defense has been phenomenal like it's been for the last two months, really the entire season, and the offense does just enough like it's done during this winning streak to win ball games. what you can't afford is for the Texans defense of an off game

and then expect this Texan's offense all of a sudden put up a 35 spot. I don't think that's in their DNA. 1246, when we return, Jonathan and I will have our gut feelings on sports predictions, how we did last week, what we're doing this week, and if you have any sports predictions,

you've got anything in your gut you want to tell us about, 713-212-5-790, 7-1-3-2-1-2-1-7-9. 1-1-2-5-7-90 if you have a gut feeling let us know next here on 790 listen up girls and boys that's been so appealing this is russ and matt thomas yo they got a good feeling this is their gut feeling on the matt thomas show all right 713 212 5 790 7-790 7-1 3212 5 790

Jonathan how did we do last week all right let's start with uh gorty we had him uh last week Texas Longhorns is going to land UF running back and U.H. Cougars beat LSU by 10. So I guess that's a win. That's a win. It wasn't by 10, but it was definitely a win for sure.

Ross said Woody Marks is not RB1 for the Texans next year. God, that's easy. Texas made the playoffs as a seat hired in 7. Yep, he's going to win on that. Texans lose to the Chargers 2418. Oh, must call a battle red for that one. Rockets will finish

Top three in West, Rockets win the regulation and covered the 7-5 versus Clippers. That didn't happen. That didn't happen. Oh, God, not. It didn't happen. Oh, Lord, did not happen. And then Houston goes one and two versus L.A. Oh, that is, they went two and one against L.A.

Losing the Clippers, beat the Lakers and beat the Chargers. Okay, so he's like two and two. He's all right. I said Texans win by one score versus Chargers. That's correct. That's good on me. And then Matt, you said Rockets beat the Clippers and the Lakers. Yes.

and the Chargers. Did I not say perfect 3-0 in California or no? Let's see. He says, no, I don't got it in here. All right, well, I didn't get that one because the Clippers beat the Rockets. U.H. Cougars beat LSU by 7-plus. Yeah, I didn't get 7-plus, but it should have been. We'll take it.

All right. James Harding is not in this season as a Clipper. Yes. And then Denver finishes as the number one seat. I don't know if that's going out now. It's a cold of your coach out. Eops. All right.

If you got a gut filling in right now, let us know. 713-212-5-790, 7-1-3-212-5-7-9-0. Jonathan, write this down. Texans play Baltimore next weekend. AFC playoffs, wild-card playoffs. I think Baltimore goes to Pittsburgh, wins the game. They win the AFC North. I think the Jaguars beat the Titans at home,

meaning the Texans' cold game is meaningless, meaning the Texans of the 5C will take on the 4C, which would be the AMC North Champions. Texans play at Baltimore next week of the Wildcard. Okay, you have no faith in these Steelers at all, do you?

I wouldn't say no faith. I mean, it wouldn't be a terrible surprise if they win. I mean, I think Baltimore's favorite in it, but I just watched Pittsburgh play Cleveland last week. Is it a Metcalf going to be able to, I mean, is he going to behave himself? I forgot all about that. Is he back? No, I think he's going to miss

one more game. Does he not? That was the two games suspension. It was two, right? Oh, man. Mm-mm-mm. All right.

Let's see what else. What else you got? Texas beats Michigan in the whatever the bowl is. Cheez it. Citrus bowl, which sounds weird. Citrus bowl.

Yeah, I got Texas beating Michigan in that. I think Michigan really cares because Lord knows of it a terrible experience. And what other else do I have here for college football on the Bulls? Let's see here. I'm going to go with Ohio State beats Miami. Ohio State, write this. Ohio State covers a nine and a half against Miami.

Okay. Okay. I got Oregon beating Texas Tech. Sorry, Cameron, my son. I guess so I got Oregon giving up the two and a half to Texas Tech Oregon covers I like Indiana to cover against Alabama Indiana minus seven over Alabama and I will take Ole Miss minus the six and a half against

I'll take Georgia excuse me Georgia minus six and a half against Ole Miss I'm taking all the favorites in the bowl games So just if I want to write that down. All the favorites. Against the spread. Really? There's nothing in there? You don't see?

Oh, Rockets 2 and O this week. They will knock off Brooklyn on New Year's Day. Go to Dallas and beat the Mavericks in Dallas on Saturday night. Yeah, okay, that's my bias? Of course I am. Just saying. Just Ted. That's fine.

I can live with it. That's okay. What you got before we get to Bradham before we get to EMA docker? You know what? I was going to go to these bowl games. but I think I have the exact same things you said so I'm not going to say that okay uh you got you want you take Pittsburgh to be Baltimore then once you try no actually you know what I do believe that I think I think I think we're going to end up versus the Steelers I think Tyson's going to

write it down yeah no I think I got I'm one oh right now so I'm going to go for it okay anything else uh and you know let's go for an upset I think Miami wins you got Miami wow Miami beating Ohio State huh just just for the fun because if it happens I'm going to be over here Well, if you're wrong, I won't rip you too bad. Let me check real quick. SFA basketball. We haven't even checked on now. Let me tell you to see, Southland Conference.

Let's see what's going on there. Go to the women's ball. No, we don't. No, no, no, no. We're there on that side. Let's see. SFA, oh, I got SFA winning at Northwestern State. Boom.

Okay, all right. How about that? I go, Jacks, okay? I like that. Jacks are O and two. Northwestern State Demons are three and nine. I like SFA. on the road at Northwestern State.

Brad, before we get to EMA Adoka, Brad, what's in your gut this week? You forgot about my team, Texas State. They're going to beat up on rice again. You know, you haven't said nothing, but they're joining the Pact 12. Do you know in your lifetime a small school that eventually made it to the big dance? The small school? A small school. school, and I'm not talking about your school. You're not small. My school.

Who's your school? Like my school, that made it to the big, now they're, they're just like, they're in your conference time. They're in the Pact 12, but they can play you now without, they're supposed to be on level ground. Who? Who is your school? You don't tell me how your school is. Texas State. Oh, that's, that's an open enrollment school. Come on now. Come on. You guys are under You guys are under 500 And playing in a bowl game You gotta be ashamed to yourselves

They're playing rice What are you talking about? Yeah It's not my fault we pick They pick rice Every time we play That doesn't even count It's a fourth ball in a row

All right Well what's it got in you I got one more prediction Yeah yeah I got one more prediction The Astros don't seem to care I think it's Seattle's gonna win the division. And if the Astros don't look out, I think the athletics are just about to pass

them by. They're paying for all kinds. They're paying for all their players. The Astros has decided to throw stuff against the wall and see which pitcher sticks. Wait a minute. The Astros have a top 10 payroll in baseball. Thank you for the phone call. Brian, Happy New Year. The Astros have a top 10 payroll. People tend to forget about that. You just don't go write open checks during off-season. They just don't. Dave, before we get to E-Made, go ahead, Dave. Hey, Matt, I agree with all your picks on the football, the college

football playoffs this weekend. I've got to take it all the way out to the end. I'm going to predict that my gut feeling is Georgia beats Oregon for the national championship. Oh, wow. That's, you don't have Ohio State playing, huh? No, I love Georgia.

I think they've just been gaining steam all year. Their quarterback, that Gunner Stockton guy. He's starting to play with confidence. I just think they're rolling at the right time of year, and they're going to roll right through everybody. All right, thank you very much, Dave. I appreciate it. Let's talk to EMA. Doka next. Start the final hour of the Matt Thomas

show with Ross. One o'clock on 790. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. All right. Emey is talking to the media right now, so it's going to be another five minutes or so before we get to him. So we will

do a short segment here and then take a break and then give you a full opportunity to visit with EMA coming up in just a couple of minutes. It is Matt. No Ross. He's off today. I'm off tomorrow. Friends from the morning dry will be in tomorrow morning for an extra hour from 10 o'clock until 11.

And then from 11 to 1, you'll hear from Adam Wexler. And then at 1 o'clock, we will have the pregame show leading up to the Texas versus Michigan bowl game. By the way, we need to coronation, right? Jonathan, we have to announce our D of the year

winner. And it was a runaway. D of the year. We'll make that announcement at the bottom of the hour. We have 32 minutes left to vote. And more like 20 minutes or so. The four candidates for D of the year, Pete Bovock with the athletic director at Notre Dame for his constant bemoaning the Notre Dame

didn't make the playoff. 50 minutes, by the way. Oh, it's still going? The press conference is still going? Yeah, yeah. That press conference is going for like two weeks now. He's still answering questions. Sharon Moore, the former coach University of Michigan,

for basically using his IG and his only fans to have group sex and to have sex with a co-worker. And then when she breaks up with him and he's not happy with it, he goes to her house, he gets fired and starts blaming her. Lane Kiff in the way he left Ole Miss and the Co-Played couple. now we're a sport my my twitter account is largely about sports my guess is the cold play couple will be the viral moment of the year in twitter or write instagram when you think yeah that was i can't even compare it to a different viral moment it was like a different type of viral like

everybody knew it on every demographic every you're right johnson if you were 81 years old or eight years old you knew who the co play couple was you don't know their names you know the company they work for it doesn't really matter you just almost the co-play couple. So that's the first poll question that is up. The other poll question that we have up, and this one also looks like it's going to be dominated by, thankfully, the right answer. So tomorrow, Rockets were traveling to New York to take on the nets on New Year's Day.

So the question is, should Craig, Ryan, Vanessa, and myself go to Times Square tomorrow night to see the ball drop, even if we have to wear depends to keep our spot. Thankfully, a 58% of you say it's not worth it. 42% say it's once in a lifetime. That's kind of close. I don't know. How many votes is like 100? Like 150 or somewhere? Somewhere in the range.

No, no, no, no. It's not close. It's good enough sample size. I kind of like the catheter idea. Get the rubber. No one that's a know, you know? You want me to walk around Midtown Manhattan with a catheter on. I mean, if you've never done it, I mean... And I don't want to do it. It's not on my to do list. And you're, and both of you guys are tall. So, I mean, you guys can see past most people, so you don't need that good of a spot.

Wait, man, I'm 6'1. I'm above average, but I'm not super tall. Ryan's seven feet. By way, don't you think Ryan would get harassed by people trying to walk around and look at things and he's got a seven-footer in front of him? Yeah, y'all might get a diaper thorn at y'all or something. You know what? Wait a minute. If you're bringing the diaper, you can't throw the diaper.

You don't think, come on. Let's use our imagination. It's New York. Alcohol is flowing. whatever substances are going on. Do you understand it's going to be, like, in the high 20s? Yeah, my girl's there right now. And there's people, like, packed to the brand.

Is she going to the ball drop? I hope not. Because, I mean, I don't want her, because she's, she's, like, she's five foot, so it ain't going to work out. How long is she staying for? I think, uh, you can leave that Friday the second. Okay. Yeah, been enjoying the New York Times, you know.

Okay. I'm just worried about her. those New York guys She better stay honest She ain't what I'm wrong with me Yeah send me your phone number And I'll put her on my GPS Make sure she's behaving herself

You know what I like this idea I like Perfect Yeah I need some I need some incanida I need some recon you know what I mean I wear funny glasses And I put a I'd put a

A wig on or something I could do that for you Oh what's a wig would you put on That's a good Problem is wigs are so obvious That it would be painfully it would take you one second

to figure out who it was would you go for the long hair would you go for the little like the toupee on the top try to go to the fan side what would you do that's a great I never quite thought of it that way

I don't know what that I would do if I was to wear a wig what would I a hair piece I've been bold for so long I don't know what I would do that's not I was like

this was a perfect answer a perfect question hmm You know, let me think about this. But I will go, and I will snitch on her, because I'm team, I'm team Jonathan. All day, all day. Do they, you guys hear this? Yeah.

Yeah, I don't, I don't want her, I don't want her going to, I don't want to go to Manhattan at night because they, just think about it, when the ball drops, what does everybody do? Kiss people. Didn't Jenny McCarthy years ago kiss a complete stranger when she was anchoring the New Year's Rock and Eve? I think she did. Now, now let me put it this way. And I know Kim's not listening.

If Jenny McCarthy was waiting for me, I might have to go. With the wig or no wig? With a wig and a catheter. We'll talk to E.May, Adoka next, 110 on 790. All right, it's Matt with the 1112. Fresh off the basketball practice court. Joining us now for his weekly visit. E. May Adoka, head coach of your rockets, beat the Pacers last night.

Three straight wins. E. May, first of all, good afternoon. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Tell me how your two big men are feeling right now. Outbring is better, much, much better. Went through a good workout today. Feeling much better. So I'd say he's probable for the game.

I'm hoping to have him back 90%-ish, I guess. And Stephen had a little swelling, a little stiffness, but felt better after the game with some treatment last night. So hopefully having back as well, but we'll know a little bit more how he feels tomorrow. Did Stephen happen, heard on one particular player? Was it just the progression of him playing minutes? Oh, he rolled it on a play.

He fell over. I don't know if you remember that in the third. Oh, yeah, yeah. And he basically tweaked his right ankle there. Didn't land on a foot or anything, but it was wrestling with somebody and it just rolled over. Eamay, why would any grown man want to wrestle with Stephen Adams? I mean, every time he goes down to the ground, I feel like the other guy's body's going to break into like 15 pieces. Oh, yeah.

I mean, he got the first two. two or three offense rebounds of the game and they subbed some guys out to come in and box them out and they couldn't either. So eventually you're going to have to tackle them and that's what happened on the tackle. All right, so let's get to it. First of all, you won. The game was comfortable for three quarters. It kind of got kind of weird

in the fourth, but we wouldn't bring that up. They were the worst three-point shooting team in the NBA. They were making a boatload of them. That had to shock you a little bit and then the turnover count started to get high on the rocket side too. But other than that, it was a Dominique performance by Durant. You got Jabari Smith doing this.

thing, you got a manned Thompson, so you were able to withstand missing out before a couple of games and get some nice victory still despite the absence. Yeah, I think, you know, some guys that normally don't make shots, make shots, and we're willing to live with those. And so we know those percentages will come back to Earth eventually, and for us it was really stayed, take away what we wanted to, make it tough on other guys, and those, like I said, in the second half, the numbers dropped from three-point percentage, and we did a lot of good things. Guarded at a high level. Overall, I think offensive we've been sharp, and our

spacing and attacks have been really good. And so that's the result you get in these last three games. It's a really good defense, on point, decisive, crisp offense, and comfortable wins. You know, I think Kevin's been a 50, 40, 90 guy for much of his life, field goal, free throw, three-point percentage. It feels like it's been 90% of his rocket's career. I don't want to say you're amazed because this is what you brought him here for, but it feels like there's a such fluidity from his shots, say 15 feet and in. Would you agree? Yeah, I mean, those are almost like a layup for him. And so, you know, his mid-range has always been a, you know, big part of his arsenal, one of the best to ever do it, and let

alone the last 15 years or so. And, you know, he can rise up over those guys, very efficient, get to his spots, and it's almost money. So not surprised at all. You know, the reason we brought him here was because of that. The efficiency hasn't dropped at all. It's not, he's even more efficient as he's getting older. Jabari has a nice streak of going 15 or more for you, and that's always a nice way to have that in the back pocket. It's the catch and shoot threes, which are really good. It's that fade away from 10. What do you think has changed most, the most improved part of Jabari's offensive game so far this year?

I'd say the physicality and being decisive, he's driving it better, taking contact better, and getting to his spots. And so not getting knocked off his drive as much. So, you know, just his body in general on both sides of the ball. You know, he's more comfortable with the physicality of the game and opportunity as well. You know, when you look at Jalen and Dillon and then Fred going down, that's three starters from last year. So he's going to be in a different role with that starting lineup. Eman Doca with us here on Sports Talk 790. All right.

So the month of December goes 7 and 6. You obviously would like to have gotten to at least 10 wins. So what would you say are the ups and downs of this? last month for your squad. I would say the ups is that we played really good basketball at points, you know, lately, of course, but even in the losses, you know, we had big leads and two of those losses or played Denver really close and had some late-game meltdowns. And so there were a lot of good things that you did in those games, you know, that got

masked because of the late-game breakdowns or fouls at the end. And then the bads would be those late-game meltdowns and letting the lead slip away. And so finding the balance of doing what we did really well to build those leads with staying consistent throughout and not letting us have those lows to lose two fourth quarter leads like that. And then foul against New Orleans and Denver to, you know, let them back into the game and lose overtime is obviously not a positive. Emaid, did last year around the league teach everybody a little something about not sweating the standings too much? And, again, obviously you want to be in seating and you love to be in the two-seat. but Golden State didn't know they were going to be the 7th seed until the playing

round and you had constant shuffling. Is that something you can live with that, you know what? You want to win every game. You know there's going to be a few bad losses in the mix, but if you're going to sweat those things, you're going to be miserable a lot more time than you are when you celebrate good victories. Yeah, definitely

standing there are less important, honestly, with the play in. You don't know who you're going to play if you're one or two seed. And the 7, 8, 9, 10 are all good teams, especially in the West. And so, you know, it's a matchup thing in the playoffs. And sometimes certain massups are worse, depending on seating or just a team in general. And so for us, it's really about playing good basketball. We want to do that at all times. But

especially late in the year, being healthy at the right time and kind of hitting our stride. And so yeah, you want to avoid the lumps. But what I told the team was going into the Laker game, we're not a different team than five games ago. We've lost them, let some leave slip away and lost some overtime games, but if you won those games, it would mask the losses, but there's still things we need to work on and be sharp about. And so for us, it's playing the right way, regardless. And, you know, like I said, you want to be hitting your strike going into the end of the season. I don't know if the guys would admit it as much. I know that I talked to Jabari after the game. It was nice. It was his first Christmas day game. You had a lot of first time guys

planned on Christmas. Did you notice any extra energy coming out of the locker room or as they were playing the game knowing that it was the only game being played on that time during that time? I think it's good for everybody to go through for the first time. Like I said, all these benchmarks for our young guys, whether it's in-season tournament getting to Las Vegas or playoffs for the first time. It's great to be on the stage, and it means you're doing some things well, and you've got some really good players. And so myself playing in some and coaching in some,

it's not new to me, and Kevin's played in a million of them. But for the other guys, the great experience, and I think a little extra juice, the fact that we played the Lakers for the first time. Before it let you run, you got Dorian Finney Smith. You've had him for a couple of games. I would expect his game hasn't changed. Obviously, you're keeping him on a minute's restriction right now, but as a Houston rocket,

what have you seen in terms of his plug-and-playability for you right now? These are things because of his rhythm, legs, and conditioning back, but the IQ toughness and intangibles are there from day one. The communication has been really great. It's great to hear him on the court in the loud arena. He's one of the guys calling out coverages, being very vocal, and we need that from everybody, let alone our veterans. So adds to our depth, as to our versatility, and just overall rotations and lineups

have that quality of a player join us at this point at this point of the season. Does it feel like for the first time? And obviously, Fred not being with you is a huge loss, but is it feel like you've got, you can look down on the bench, you've got a variety of different options depending on the matchups about maybe using Josh, maybe using Doreen Finney Smith, big lineup, small lineup, do you feel like that's, that Dorian adds that to your list? Yeah, we're getting there. You know, we love our depth in general.

and to have Josh and Aaron and a different guys step up all year has been great for us. But now, I would say, having the full complement of guys back, it adds to that. And, you know, once we get off the minute restrictions for him and Tari and those guys, and now if he gets back healthy, we'll really get to see what we are minus Fred this year. But I think it's just only added to our depth, which we have, you know, three deep at every position that we're really comfortable with. All right. Lastly, Ryan Hollins and I decided we're not going to go down to the ball on New Year's Eve

because this can be crazy plus. being in the 25-degree temperature. If I gave you a prime seat for the ball dropping at midnight, would you go to it or do you just pass and watch it on TV? Absolutely not. I never wanted to go there, and I will avoid the crowd and the cold as well. We'll see if I watch it on TV either,

but no, that's not one of my bucket list things to do. It really isn't mine either. People think I'm nuts about that. E. May, thanks for the time. We'll see you on the plane tomorrow. We appreciate the visit as always. Thank you. I will see you.

You may docket with us here on Sports Talk 790. Our time is 121. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Are you a little nervous about your first coronation of the D of the Year coming up here in about 10 minutes from now? You know, this is, it's rare finding your previous winners would include Jim Schlossengel, the University of Texas baseball coach, Amy Strunk, the owner of the Tennessee Titans. I know I butcher her now, same. I don't care because I hate her. She's a D of the Year.

Here's our first female D of the year, winner. We've had some classics. So we're going to announce that coming up in just a few minutes. Also, so if you didn't catch it, it sounds like that Alpern and Shingoon is at 90%, which is a good sign. Rockets will take, have another day off tomorrow before going up to play the Nets on Thursday. And then Stephen Adams, a little bit of swelling. You know what? Clint Cappell is done okay.

So that's why you brought in additional depth. So it feels like that's a pretty good spot. All right, let's take a break here at 122. We're going to come back and we're going to officially announce the nominees and the winner of the 2025 D of the year. D of the year. And we'll check the final poll on that. We'll check the final poll on whether or not Ryan Hollins, Vanessa and Craig and myself should be down at New Year's at the Big Ball. You know, I never threw this to you, Jonathan.

If I gave you the spot, if I was able to lift you up. up and put you in the spot and put a porta potty within about 50 feet of you. 50 feet. And you can go back and free and go back and forth as you want. Now, I can't guarantee you food and drink. You're probably going to have to bring that with you. Okay, okay. Would you take a spot right near the ball? If that port-a-party is there, yeah, all day. But you've got to wait eight hours. You've got to get there like at four and a after that. I ain't ashamed. I'll stand. And if I need a little break, I'll go to the party party party. Just sit down.

You're going to sit in one of those things? No, no, no, no, no, no. You better bring some Kleenex or a cleanser. They got the little hands and ties on the side. You don't need it. You need a whole bottle of that. All right, 123. D of the year, we announce the winner next on 790. It is 130 on Sports Talk 790.

The votes are in. And we welcome you the special presentation of the Matt Thomas Show at Ross. It is our D of the year. D of the year. D of the year. The nominees for D of the year. And the votes are in. And we have a dominant winner.

Our four finalists were the athletic director at Notre Dame, Pippew of Aqua. Poor Jonathan's been listening to his press conference for multiple weeks. He goes to bed at night He hears Pete of Aqua speak He's here at the office He's spending Christmas with his family And all he hears is Pete Bavakwa complaining again about Notre Dame

Not being in the college football playoff And refusing to go to a bowl You Pete Bavacwa Are a D of the Year candidates D of the year Our second nominee Was the former coach of the University of Michigan

Sharon Moore Well, I tell you what, Michigan's got a bad culture. Jim Harbaugh, Sharon Moore. Sharon, married, young family, has a sidepiece, did. Sidepiece was a subordinate, worked in the football operations office. Sidepiece younger. Sidepiece. Basically was asked about it, and both he, the,

sidepiece and Mr. Moore said, eh, we're getting doing nothing. And then the sidepiece came and said, we are doing something. Sharon Moore got fired. Sheron Moore lost his mind, went to the girl's house, threatened to kill her, threatened to kill himself, arrested, probably going to serve some sort of jail time.

And oh, by the way, he's fired from one of the most prestigious college jobs in America today. Sharon Moore, you were a D of the year nominee. D of the year. Lange Kiffin gets to take jobs. You get to leave jobs. That's what happens in college athletics. You don't get to finish, you don't have to finish out contracts, but

Lane, you, let's be brutally honest. You basically lied through your teeth the entire, through the entire process. You lie to your players, you lied to your coaches, you lied to your athletic director. You wanted your cake and you wanted to eat it too. You were mad that you were unable to coach Ole Miss in the college football playoff. You were mad that people didn't like you when you left town. You were mad when people were driving you off the side of the road, people that were swearing at you at the airport LSU it's going to happen to you eventually

not a matter of if but when I think it's going to be at least five years Ross thinks otherwise but that's a different issue for a different time the way Lane Kiffin treated this entire situation Lane congratulations

you were a D of the year not a D of the year and then the Cole Blake couple all this husband and wife well no they weren't with them they were sidepiece and sidepiece You notice something The side pieces always get you in trouble

Do they not, Jonathan? Stay away from side pieces. It's almost spiritual. I don't know. Just stay away from them. The Coldplay couple was at the Coldplay concert, got on the big Jumbo Tron, and not only did they take their hands off each other, they turned around and hid.

Meanwhile, the whole world saw who they were, and they were viral, as Jonathan said earlier today, from 8 to 88. You knew who the Coldplay couple was. Coldplay couple, you were the non-sports candidate for D of the Year. In fourth place, at 13%. Jonathan's best friend, Pete

Vavalaqwa, the athletic director and underdame, 13% of you thought he was D of the year. Next, at 16%. In third place, the cold play couple. In second place, Lane Kiffin, the way he left Ole Miss to go to LSU.

25% you are at third. And ladies and gentlemen, The 2,025 D of the Year is Michigan, former head football coach Sharon Moore. D of the Year. I would like to call for D of the Twitter year. This guy named James underscore Mike. I just thought. I was like, what's going on here?

So you're allowed to comment on tweets. I could turn the comments off, but I don't ever do that because I think this is a free-form commentary. If you tweet something, you should be prepared for comments. I was expecting comments of, hey, I think this person should be it, or you forgot this person. There were people that said that Chaunty Bilps may be considered a D of the Year candidate for his setting up these bogus poker games. And Damon Jones, former Houston Cougar, is what it is. so j underscore mike seven who has 79 followers congratulations of those of you he also follows me i'm surprised he still does he doesn't believe in capitalization on his sweets which is fine

he tweets back at me yesterday 20 hours ago are you effing retarded sharon more up against these people question mark again no use of capitalization, you're a effing, ugly-ass bald clown. Hmm. Okay. I don't know what... Then Rex Podex

sends a reply to him and says, huh? I happen to retweet this. And I said back to him. Thanks for listening. 10 to 2, Sports Talk 7.9. I don't know if he listens or not. My doubt is he probably didn't. And of course, for following me.

By the way, I think I'm quite handsome. Happy New Year. I took a polite angle to this. You did. I'm proud of this. Thank you very much. His response, just say, and again, it doesn't use capitalization,

just say you're a low IQ individual and keep it moving. The poll was embarrassing. Next, I respond. Listen, keyboard warrior. the suggestions came from listeners. I promise I'll continue this amazing dialogue when you start using proper capitalization. Following up by that,

Ibuyaku said, are you attracted to BBWs? What? I did that reply. And if you don't know what BBWs are, can we say it wrong? Jonathan, we can say it, right? Say what?

BBW is what stands for. Yeah. Big black women. So naturally I went to Eboo's Twitter account. He does like BBWs. Oh, real quick, before we, on the topic of the year, Alex from Conward just called.

He was like, did y'all not say Diddy? And I was like, dang, we completely forgot that. We forgot about Diddy. Diddy's like an all-timer, right? Shout out to Alex. Yeah, we should, that should, yeah. I guess I was like, it was too obvious, right? Yeah.

I'm afraid if we said something, if we said something about Diddy, he would have his people come after us. Oh, yeah. You know what? But I feel like there's still not enough left on, there's still stuff uncovered on that that we maybe can make him for an early 2026 nominee

for the year. You know what? Smart, smart, smart, smart. So I handled the right thing by saying I did not respond to do I like BVWs? Does he follow you too? Yes, he does.

It made me chuckle. Again, if you're going to attack me, and I guess Twitter is the easiest place to do it because you don't have to put your name or your address, your phone number, or who you are, why are you not using capitalization? Don't give me any room for me to think that you're basically an IQ of 40. Why are you trying to beat up on you on a random? Wasn't that rude? I didn't insult them. I came up with the options based off of what the people said were nominees. I said, what are your nominees for day of the year? So I got the day of the year nominations.

in there. I think in 2026 we ought to be nicer. We as in you be nicer? Well, I'm going to try right here. For all of you fake media who think you get credentialed for sporting events,

but you're really not a member. Oh my God, Jeff Blum is here. Life is good. Okay, back to what I was saying. To all of you that are fake media, I'm going to take, I'm going to give you guys your space. Your YouTube pages are thriving.

You get to ask the easy softball questions to the Texans head coach in the front office. I'm going to leave you alone. Jonathan, I promise you, I will not be talking anymore about the bootlickers and the water carriers that are Texans supposed media. All year long. Done. Rid. Finished. Okay.

So I write it down. All right. Okay. So that's the one thing I'm giving. I'm going to be better in 2026 about. Enough of you guys that consider yourself media. You're really not media. you make no money you have no influence you get credential because the texans credential everybody

and their mother matter of fact if you're a member of the general public you should ask for a Texan's credential you probably get one done Jonathan what are you going to be better about in 2006 what I'm going to be better about yep I'm a good dude I don't know so you're saying there's nothing wrong you know what maybe I could work out more oh this is a resolution you want me to Oh, work out. Yours is a resolution. You said you're going to stop being mean. Yeah.

I'm going to stop being mean to that group. Maybe that guy, maybe that guy that wrote those things is one of the Texans bootlickers. It would make sense. Nah. Coming after you, saying low IQ, called you, called you bald? Call me a bald, ugly ass and an effer. Don't forget the clown. In the clown part, too.

I only reserve that kind of criticism from my wife. your wife calls you No she does not Not in my wife If you can't call me things My wife can't call me That's okay that's fair Yeah I feel like that's a principle

All right So if you If anybody has any New Year's resolutions In the next 15 minutes We're not playing believe We're not going to have no prizes We can get news for you We can nobody in the office

And I haven't been in the office all week All right So I'm going to be better To the non-credentialed The credential members of the media For the Texans who shouldn't be credentialed you're going to work out more. Let's come up with a resolution for Ross.

I got a few for him, actually. Oh, good. This is going to be good. If any of you've got any resolutions for yourself, you can call us it right now. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. 142, final segment of the Matt Thomas show, Ross, before we open up a brand-new year next year on 7-90.

This and Michigan, we'll have it for you right here on 7-90. Our coverage begins at 1 o'clock. tomorrow the what we call the show in the morning now morning drive first team up and adam with adam or there's no adam on that show uh but yeah the morning drive will be on an extra hour from 10 to 11 and then it'll be uh adam wex are going to hang out 11 to 1 with you tomorrow and then uh 1 o'clock will be the coverage all right so things that ross needs to improve on for 2026 okay he needs to understand what a must win is there are way more most wins in life than he is ever ready to declare. Don't you think? You know what? That's a good point. It's a little too literal.

He's too literal. He's too literal. Number two, he needs to understand that Mr. Texas has a different palette. Not for everybody, but it's still a widely regarded palate. I can't back you up on this.

Shut up. You can't back me up on this. We've got five minutes off on the show this year. You don't even like tamales. I don't. Everybody was talking about tamales. Where was I at the night? I was getting my head shaved

when I got back from the trip. Yeah. They were talking about how they enjoy their having tamales on Christmas at the barbershop and I didn't say a warden. I was telling my barber and I said, I got news for you. I don't like tamales or guacamone. He says, this cut is over with.

I was like, you can't stop mid-shape. Imagine let you half and half? I can't be half and half. That wouldn't be good. All right, so he's got to be more understanding of my palate. He has to understand America's greatest sandwiches the McRib he has to understand

that concert we went to the Stevie Wonder was sucked and I love Stevie Wonder I can't believe you were saying that it's truth it took forever

to get the songs we actually cared about Stevie Wonder I know and I love Stevie Wonder I would go you know what as much as I

bag on that concert if Stevie Wonder came back to Houston I would go see him again even if you knew it was the same format it can't be the same format he wouldn't do that

to us a second time people liked it I left I never left the concert before that early I was like it's three hours plus and he still hadn't played

superstitious he hasn't done my Sharia Moore he hasn't done you know Sir Duke I mean just a bunch of randos and then he made us

for the longest time go and the crowd goes oh la la la la like I didn't pay a hundred dollars for this it's the R you got to interact with the crowd I don't need no damn or

I need music I need his hits The man's got four decades of hits I'll even listen to I just say I call to say I love you Which I don't like that much I can't believe you You should believe me

I shouldn't surprise you anything I say What else? Let's see you've got a fix for 2026 We should write these down You're right Let me go get a pen Talk for a second What else with Ross

All right hold on A little literal You know We got that off the way Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm writing it down. Hold on, hold on. I'm writing it down. Okay, I'm back on microphone here. Ross, for 2026. There's more must wins.

More must wins. More must wins. Two, admit that the Stevie Wonder concert sucked. Okay. Number three, be nicer to U of H fans. Oh, you know what? Yeah, put that down. I'm not talking about all of them.

Those douchebags at kookfangs.net Then go take a flying jump somewhere. I'm talking about normal U of H fans. Right, right. Let's see. What else do we? Oh, except the McRib for what it is, a delightful sandwich. Yeah, don't bring up the pork bumps, whatever.

Yeah, he calls it, yeah, pork gunk is what he calls it. Except the McRib. What else? Oh, do you think he's way too much? brings up with any crazy-ass stats less met I can value that a little bit I can accept that

what else do we and I argue about more than anything else I was going to say him doing believe it or not earlier oh yeah how about prepping believe it or not earlier earlier this is a good list this can be a segment on the show next week

let's see what else is he hate me for oh except my moniker of mr texas no see it because people call me all the time mr texas people call the show they do they do they know the bit that's why no no no there's not a bit it's a reality i think there's one person that calls that actually believes in mr texas everybody else just calls you that just no no no no no no you don't know no no caseo might believe that for real caseo's is going to spread the word for us but his name is casso there's no way he don't like tamales

enchiladas you don't even like any of that i like fajitas no I like casso. I like hot salsa. You don't even like spice. I love spice. My body doesn't like spice. You don't even like brisket. What are we talking about here?

Now I'm remembering all this. Yeah, brisket's fine. You said tri-tip was better than... Tri-tip's delicious. I had tri-tip in California on the trip. It could be the best thing on earth, but you're saying... If I get you a good piece of tri-tip over a good piece of brisket, you're going to be in my side. It's not going to win.

It's not going to win. I know. Oh, you know what for you and Ross. Waterburger is better than in an ice. That's ridiculous. That ain't going to change. Y'all have to come to go to Waterburger. I did not stutter.

The best burger, fast food burger, period in his story, in and out. I can't. Here's the problem with Waterburger. I love you, Waterburger. You guys are great. Big problem. You drive-through sucks. It takes forever to get to food.

It's because they're making it right there. Yeah, but every, and it does the same thing. If I want no pickles, extra onions, lettuce, I mean, they'll take care of me too. But you only get the burger. You're not getting them nasty fries. Waterburger's fries are better. I'll give you that. The whole selection's better.

No. The Waterburger double, double, I mean, the in-and-out water burger double animal style is the best fast food burger out there, period, in a story. I can't feel that. It's just so rude. This is, I'm never going to agree with that. That's fine. I don't need you to agree. I'm not asking you to chat.

I'm asking for Ross. Is there anything else? I'm trying to think of anything else we need. Here's our list. Okay, okay. More must wins. He must accept more must wins. It met Stephen C.B. Wonder concerts sucked.

Be nicer to U of H fans. Except the McRibb. Prep, believe it or not earlier, except my moniker, Mr. Texas. Do you think he uses point spreads too much? Or is it just a gay? That's a metric, right? That's okay.

I don't think it's too serious. This is, I'm really thinking about this. Hmm. You've been around the show long enough to know. Let's see here. Maybe something about baseball? What do he's doing? baseball all the time.

He predicts the Texans to win every game. Right. What's some of your predictions? No, actually, did he pick the Chargers to win? Did he not? Oh, he did 2418. Okay, so he's more human. I appreciate that a little bit. Oh, by the way, Jackie sent me a tweet. It says technically BBW stands for Big Beautiful women. Oh. But if he's a black guy, the beautiful might also be easily interchangeable with black.

I did look up BBW on AI. Yeah. And BBW stood for big black women. And then I went to his Twitter account, this guy, and it backed it up as well. Oh, he's black. Okay. Yeah. All right.

Hey, everybody have a very happy, relaxing new year. The show will be in good hands tomorrow. And then we're going to take the next day, the two days off, and then back for year number 17 of the Matt Thomas show at Ross, Monday, January. 5th, 10 a.m. We will know who the Texans will be playing come playoff time. And I think it's going to be a night game or an early Sunday game. I think we're out of the

330 spot against the Baltimore Ravens. Up next. What? It's the Steelers. Whatever. Wex. Jeff Blum the A team on 7.90.