The Right Time with Bomani Jones - Danny Parkins on Eagles put Jalen Hurts on notice. Wembanyama's MVP case, Lakers title chances | 04.02

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

Jalen Hurts just got put on notice by his own team – so what happens next? Bomani Jones and FS1’s Danny Parkins break down the explosive ESPN report on Hurts’ rigidity, his Jordan/Kobe self-image, and what it says about his leadership, coaching changes, and the Eagles’ future. Then they flip to the NBA: Victor Wembanyama’s terrifying rise, why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might still be MVP, how the Thunder and Spurs could own the West for the next decade, and whether the Celtics are simply inevitable in the East.  Finally,  they discuss the Lakers and the Rockets and why neither has a chance for an NBA title. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time, a wave original. My name is Beaumani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. It is Parko on a Thursday.

Man, I got to figure out something clever for this last day of the week. But Danny Parkins, FS1, first things first. What's going on, man? Chill and Bo. Always love to get the invite, man. good to hang out with you. And I feel like people talk about like this is a slow time

of the sports count. There's a ton of shit going on. No, no, no, no. This is not the slow time. This has been great. The slow time is July. Actually, it's August. July, at least at the beginning,

you get like NBA free agency. No, no, no, no. We got an NCAA tournament that's actually interesting. I'm not going to be here for this shit, but the Masters is coming up and for people who are able to talk about that on their shows,

depending on audience and format. You got that. Then after that, we go into the play-in tournament. And then after that, we go into two months of the NBA playoffs where we got something to talk about every night and we don't ever sleep. But even with all of that happening, the NFL still finds a way.

Oh, that's right. The draft is coming up for people who do that kind of thing. But first, did you see this story on ESPN.com? about Jalen Hertz that was written by Jeremy Fowler and Tim McManus, who is not to be confused with Tim McMahon. Now, they, you and I have talked many times about the interesting space that Jalen Hertz inhabits where neither of us think he's necessarily that good except for those two times that he outplay of Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl.

Okay, right? Like, was he that good in college? I don't know, except for when he was SEC player of the year as a freshman at high Hezman trophy runner up as a senior. We don't always know what to do with him. But the story was interesting because Dominic Foxworth, I think, said it best on his end where he was like, the Eagles are putting him on notice. That was a lot of people close to the Eagles who did a lot of talking about what they

don't like about him. And the big thing that came across to me was a certain rigidity in the way that he wants to play it as they try to add new things to the offense. And Jalen Hertz is like, nah, no, I don't do that. Like we goes keep doing the things that I do, changing plays that the coaches have called in the huddle, which some coaches have to me, some quarterbacks have the liberty to do. But so forth and so on, but it all felt to me in reading it like the Eagles are like, all right, we're going to try this one more year.

I agree with you. It's a lot of sourcing. They're good reporters. You first see a story like that drop. And, you know, the journalist in me is like, ooh, is this like Kevin Petulow sour grapes. He got fired and then he's like leaking some stuff. But then based on how some of those sources were described, they were still presently on the team. So I'm like, okay, this is, this was well reported and it's present and we should take it seriously.

I came out of it feeling worse about Jalen Hertz as a leader, but better about him as a player. Interesting. Yeah. And I did not expect that. And I was like, like, my perception of Jalen Hertz was 10 out of 10 leader. Like, gamer, Jordan Brand, said the right things, clutch, stoic. That was my perception before you read the article. But then when it's like, doesn't have great relationships with many people on the team and the people that he did have relationships with on the team have been frayed, that there's like observationally, not as many like postgame conversations

with his wide receivers or his offensive lineman, being resistant to motions and, you know, more modern NFL offensive trends, that he not only is a Jordan brand ambassador, but that he fancies himself a bit of a Jordan or Kobe-esque leader. And it's like, buddy, I'm sorry, but you're not Jordan or Kobe just because you have the one Super Bowl MVP. So that level of inflexibility in his leadership,

when you need to be a quarterback who is the leader to all people. I actually found myself downgrading the leadership side of it. But the reason why I upgraded the football side a little bit, and I've known this, and I've said this on first things first, and I've done the graphic with all of the names, and I know you know this. He literally has had more offensive coordinators and play callers than he has had years of college and NFL football.

This is true. It is a staggering thing because he had interims. He had guys fired in the year. Some guys get promoted to be head coaches. Other guys get fired. Sean Mannion will literally be his 13th play caller in 11 years. That is a mind-boggling thing. When you talk to like one of the big talking points in Chicago where I'm from this

offseason is like, we can't wait to see what Caleb Williams will do in year two of Ben Johnson. just having like two years of continuity. And Jalen Hertz, there was the source who talked about how he craves consistency. His best year came when it was year two of Shane Steichen, where he had the back-to-back years. And it does feel reasonable on a human level to if every single year of football, you're getting new ideas thrown at you. This is my system.

This is my way of doing things. this is my terminology, this is what I believe works. And you're Jalen Hurts and you're like, buddy, you might be gone in 10 months. And I have been SEC player of the year, Heisman runner up, Super Bowl MVP, have the best winning percentage in the history of the Philadelphia Eagles. I could see how even though it is like the correct thing to player listen to coach, I could see how you would have some rigidity to it in be resisted. to change when you are constantly being inundated with change.

So I think those all at the very least sound like fair points. Okay. Shoot it down, please. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm not here to shoot, right? But these are my questions about that. Because I also understand the idea of continuity, right? That having the same guy two years in a row goes a long way.

I don't know enough specifically about the changes from year to year. For example, with the Eagles, going from Doug Peterson to Siriani, yeah, you're going to have changes there, right? But if I'm not mistaken, is that not like Siriani's offense? And you call it, get the offense coordinator in there to run your offense. So I don't, you know what I mean? I don't know how much everything changes from year to year in terms of terminology and all that stuff.

Like I think some of that is nuanced, though the actual play caller part I do agree with. The question I have, though, is. part of the reason that there's a new play caller every year because he's the one getting him fired, right? Well, so we touched on that a little bit yesterday. It's a unique place in the football ecosystem where it's like, we all know Jalen Hertz is kind of limited. So if you have an awesome offensive year with Jalen Hertz, the coordinator gets credit. But then if you have a bad year with Jalen Hertz, everyone's like, well, Howie Roseman put together.

this awesome team. You underachieved coordinator gets fired. Yeah. And what if in part, coordinator gets fired? Because your quarterback can't be coached. And so, and so this,

this is where I throw this out and where I'm not, I'm not fully sure what to do with it in total. But if I am not mistaken, his first year at Alabama, Lane Kiffin was running the offense. And if I'm not mistaken,

that was the year that they had to send his ass home before the national championship game, 2016, right? Because he had taken the job at Florida, Atlantic. Okay. The next year, they brought in Brian Debole to run that offense. And it wasn't a goat, right? Like, it wasn't cracking. I'll just point out they put two in at halftime

in the national championship game and suddenly that offense, which had quite possibly the best set of wide receivers in the history of college football started looking like something. Right. Next year, it's a new offensive coordinator and a new play caller again that did not seem to bother to a tongue of Bialoa. A single bit, he had a season in which I think that he should have won the Hizman. Like, he was the he was the presumptive Hizman winner all the way up until the last game of the season. Then we just said, hey, Kyle of Murray, want to give it to him? Okay, cool. And then we went ahead. And we did that with Stuyken, I think it's a fair point. Two years of Stuyken.

second year, he gets there. Brian Johnson gets there to next year. Now it looks bad. Kellyn Moore comes in. It looks okay in part because they had an offensive line that was moving, furniture and a running back that ran for 2,000 yards. Is that what's going to be required to make it work for your quarterback? Ugh, not sure I blame that on changes in play calling.

Where I agree with you is the idea that I came away with a poor impression of him as a leader. and I think to me you can't lead doing this like other people like there was a portion in the article where they talked about Siriani saying that Jalen Hurd's leadership was in line with Michael Jordan's

only Michael Jordan could act like that and pass it off his leadership because he's Michael fucking Jordan okay Nicole Lynn, his agent in the same paragraph in the story she is cited as saying that he has the work ethic of Kobe Bryant.

Here's why I pushed back on that. I watch Kobe add to his game every single year. Kobe didn't have that post game when he first got into the league. That footwork got better. All these things that Kobe picked up and added once it hadn't been good enough another way. What this story is telling me is that they are asking Jalen Hertz to get better, right? we're asking you to do the things that are hard for you.

And he's like, nope, I'm going to do the thing that people do in high school now. I'm going to stand in the shotgun where I can see everything that's going on. They specifically cited he doesn't like to turn his back on the defense. And for all of our lives, until the spread got to be so prevalent, the separation of men and boys at quarterback is your confidence and willingness to turn your back to the defense, run some play action, turn around, and know what's going on. Kobe Bryant, I believe, after hearing people ask you to do this would be like, damn, I guess I need to go out there and add this piece to my game.

And he has not. And apparently the Eagles are sick of that shit. And the proof there is actually just straight up in the data. Like, Jalen Hertz has serious limitations as a passer. You and I have talked about that multiple times on this podcast and sitting on couch watching football. Like, you have AJ Brown. Why can't you throw intermediate routes? Like, that's weird. He's maybe the best intermediate middle of the field receiver in football. He was like made in a lab to do that stuff over the middle, and that's not consistent. He sometimes feels

like he's not willing to like just grip it and rip it. Doesn't fully trust what he's seeing. That, I think, could be tied somewhat to like mastery of an offense and consistency, but also, anticipatory throwing. The best of the best can do that. He, this is a baseball analogy, but a comparison, but I think you'll understand the point. I covered those Cubs teams, Javi Baez, wildly talented player, wildly flawed player. Joe Madden, the Cubs manager, used to say if Javi Baez could learn to lay off the slider away that looked like it was in the zone, but would be a ball every single time. So if he could lay off that pitch, he would be Mani Ramirez because like his ability to hit for power when the ball was in the zone was

unbelievable but he just couldn't lay off that pitch so he was frustrated he would make the same mistake same mistake same mistake same mistake and Havi never wanted to work on it and he's a flawed player but Havi Baez has also made over $200 million dollars playing baseball like you know what I mean like he's he's got one of the best gloves some of the best hands some great raw power he's a good enough athlete to be a shortstop, a second baseman, now a center fielder. It's like, you know what? Some people are just not perfect players and they're not going to be Kobe and add the footwork and they're not going to change because what they've done has gotten them to this incredible level. Yes. Jalen Hertz being Jalen Hertz has him a Super Bowl MVP and $250 million.

Yes, yes. You know, but this is why I'd say there's a difference. Harvey Baez is a better baseball player than Jalen Hertz is a football player. I agree. I agree. And I would ask this question. All these places that Jalen Hertz is gone. Is Jalen Hurts the SEC player of the year?

And is Jalen, if he is not at Alabama. Is Jalen Hertz the Heisman Trophy runner up? If he is not Oklahoma, at which the two previous guys who were there were Heisman Trophy winner and Heisman Trophy winner. Okay. And Philly, man. Yeah, it's, I'd say he has, my point I made when he came out of college was,

I've seen him not be good enough passing for two professional teams already. Right? Alabama and Oklahoma. I've already seen it. But what do you know? It looked basically exactly the same in the NFL as it had in college. I wonder, though, if outside of the fact that the Eagles, are saying, look, we're about to do some motion and we're about to do some play action,

and he's going to get on and get gone, right? I also came away from that feeling more convinced that they're not going to trade A.J. Brown, because as I have said from the beginning, trading A.J. Brown would be a loser move, and the Eagles do not strike me as being losers, right? I agree. If you trade A.J. Brown, you are worse immediately. And I agree that the Eagles seem to be in a win now mode and they are a great organization. I don't know if you put that toothpaste back in the tube, though. I'm just saying, I'm not trading somebody for being right.

And that's, and that's fair, but you've got a complicated cap situation with him and his contract and you can always extend him and there are ways to change it going forward if you, like, if you're going to choose A.J. Brown and the divorce, but are you really about to go through 17 more games with A.J. Brown and J.L. Hurts? I'm just saying they are clearly already put Jalen Hertz on the clock. And I don't know if A.J. Brown is it going to be the issue? Look, the story also got to a point that some of us knew and hadn't really talked about, which is they went and got Brandon Graham's old ass off the radio and brought him back on

the team just to have a conduit between Jalen Hertz and the rest of the team because he can't, he can't get it right with them. This is, I've never seen anything. like this before because again, it gets back to what you said a little earlier, though, it has gotten him to Super Bowl MVP, right? It has gotten him to play into Super Bowls. It's gotten him to play into national championship games. But it's not because of him that these things have happened. Yeah, but he doesn't believe that. I know. I know. How do you fix that? That's what I don't think you can. Like, you know people of, I mean, obviously he has a lot of

talent, like relative to the population. And so he's like, I'm the man. Of course he thinks he's the man. Yeah. He's friends with Michael Jordan. He wears Jordan brand on his chest. He has a Super Bowl trophy. He does it in the toughest sports city in America, and they largely back him.

Yeah. You know, of course, he's like, I won over Philadelphia sports fans and bested Patrick Mahomes in a Super Bowl. And Michael Jordan reinforces politics. positively my leadership style. Yeah. Does not care about Jeremy Fowler. Or, but does he care about the dozens of people who talk to Jeremy Fowler?

Okay, like, listen, and I, again, I was surprised that I, a very, like, Philly fans are not huge fans of my work. Like, they remind me of it all the time and the terrific first things, first videos. I was surprised at my own take with, like, all I was saying, I'm like, on a human level, he's like, well, I got 12 sources that tell me I'm doing it wrong. Yeah. And then I imagine he looks at his phone and he looks at a text from Michael Jordan that's just like, keep it up. And it's got to be a mind fuck for him to be like, why is what I'm doing not working when all we do is when?

Well, there's the other part too. I would be very curious to know what his dad thinks of all of this. And I say that for people who don't know his dad is a coach. I'm not mistaken, his dad was his coach. And the flip side of the coach's son thing is, he already got a coach. Right. Right.

And so if dad is saying, no, you okay, I would think that my dad would be like, all right, son, let's go out here and let's work on some of this stuff right here. Right. I don't know what his dad is saying, but I would be very curious to know how that goes. Like, look, Brian Johnson was his offensive coordinator in Philadelphia that one year.

Brian Johnson, they're from the same part of around Houston, right? That Goose Creek over there, Baytown, Channel View, all of that. They're from the same place. I don't know if Brian played for Jayland's father, but they're close. I guarantee you to Brian Johnson and Coach Hertz know each other and have known each other for a very long time, just because of the proximity of that area.

That dude got fired. Right. Like that dude got canned behind this. So I wish I had, and by the way, then that guy goes and works with Jane Daniels, when Jane Daniels thing starts taking off. So I don't know where, I don't know where exactly this goes. I don't know how it goes, but the Eagles are clearly saying now, it's on you.

And the person who has to feel the best about that is Nick Siriani, because we're always ready to fire him. At least I am. Yeah, no, I am too. And listen, you would like to think that if you were Nick Siriani and you are an offensive coach, he wouldn't need to have more than one offensive coordinator a year. It's like, funny, why don't you just call the place? Why don't you just be the thing that is consistent for Jalen Hertz?

But evidently that hasn't happened. Listen, I think that there is a chance that this ends with like Jalen Hertz being like, oh, they were right when in like two years he's the quarterback of the Titans. When we finally do see Jailen Hertz without a super team around him and everyone's like, Oh, yeah, of course he's a below average passer. We've known that for forever. Yeah. You didn't agree with that.

You just quoted win percentage to all of us. Look, you know what that thing is with him now wanting to run the kind of stuff that they want to do? Because that's not what he does. I don't know how much this comes up in your world. But in my world and people I'm around, people make a very good point that you can tell a lot

about somebody's lifestyle by eating chicken with them. But specifically, chicken that got a bone. What that bone looked like at the end will tell you a great deal about how it is that a person has lived, right? Them people that be shaving them things like bald all the way smooth. Hey man, they ain't never had the luxury or just being like, cool. Let me go get the next chicken piece of chicken right fast. They have not had it like that. Jalen Hertz is leaving that chicken on the bone. he has had the option and ability to not have to go down to the gristle.

He ain't never really had to do that. You ain't got to do that at Alabama. You ain't got to do that at Oklahoma. And he has not had to do that with the Eagles. And the Eagles are like, we are tired of wasting money on chicken. Like in the last year, there's like four buckets that you haven't eaten. And they just right there on the bone. If you'll just turn around a little bit and let us do some back and forth stuff to make it better.

and they're telling him, hey, man, eat the chicken dog, all of it. No, no, no, don't touch that one. Finish this one. That analogy hurts because I've been told that I am a privileged chicken eater. Same. Just so you know, I was realizing this as I was eating chicken last night or a couple nights ago with that measure of privilege. Yeah, that has been pointed out to me on more than one occasion that I'm a,

Where else in my life are you soft, Parkins, because you're eating that chicken like you have been silver spoon fed. I'm like, that's guilty. Yeah. That's guilty as charging.

You see me, sir. You see me. We've both been there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, like,

I'm not going to change now. 39 years old. I'm going to eat my chicken how I like to eat my chicken. Yeah, it's like, it's jailer hurts. That's what I'm saying.

That's what he's saying. That's why I can relate to him. Yeah. That's what. That's why I found myself sympathizing. But I think part of what's amazing to me about it is that he's gotten this far while being able to be this rigid because, as we said, he's not really that good, right? Like, normally the guys did you hear acting like this? And that sounds more loaded than I intended.

But carrying themselves in this fashion, comporting themselves as such, they're normally a little better than this, right? Like, I don't, it's never, sorry, nothing like it. Nothing like it. It is, yeah, it's delusional arrogance, which we've seen from athletes, but then you can like look through it a very specific prism of Oklahoma, Alabama, win percentage, Philly, Philly sports fans, two Super Bowls, besting the home, Super Bowl MVP, Jordan Brand would be like, yeah, I'd probably, I'd probably be pretty arrogant too.

Yeah, but I mean, I would have thought after you got parked in the middle of the national championship game and had to ride to Oak to hold next year, Yeah. I would have thought that that would have been the, oh, okay, apparently not. Apparently not. And it's a, like, what do you think that's going to look like this year? Like, do you think he has it, like, obviously he's not half as talented as Aaron Rogers. But like Aaron Rogers had some rigidity to him at the end with Mike McCarthy. And it was literally the same stuff. Like, yeah, did not like motion. and was kind of hesitant to that.

And Matt Lefleur was like, hey, just try it. You're really smart. You're really talented. Like, just try it my way. And then he ripped off two MVP's. You know, so like even the most talented ever can still get stuck in their ways and and then be exposed to new ideas and, you know, old dog, new tricks sort of thing. Like, does Jalen Hertz have it in him to if you put him in 10 out of 10 moderate,

an offense. Like what would he look like if he was coached by Sean McVey? What would he look like if he was coached by Kyle Shanahan? I still tend to think that there are limitations there with his throwing, but I'm open to the possibility that I'm wrong. You know what? I think the part that makes this interesting now that I think about it where it kind of washes over me is that he's all I go through this to a degree with certain things like when I think about with music, right? When I was younger, I had an old soul. When you're young, it's called an old soul. When you're middle age, you just seem old.

Right? He was an old soul, right? Like we thought of him as being, in every way, by the way, we have just thought of him as being a bit precocious. He's a little young to be that region, don't you think? Yes. I think that's the part that makes it so interesting is, again, we're not talking about Aaron Rogers at 36 or 37.

being like, no, that's not the way that I do things. We're talking about somebody at an age where you should be as malleable as one could ever expect you to be. And you're like, no, no. In a league, by the way, where most people understand that once you get to that place, the things that he's being asked to do are the things that you have to learn to do. And he's like, I don't do that. Right.

And the things that, like, objectively work. Yes. Like, like, you know, and it said in the article, he understands that pre-snap motions help quarterbacks. They don't do it because they want to, like, get the receiver extra cardio. Right. They do it to, like, tip the quarterback's hand as to what the defense is doing and give him more pre-snap information so that you are then able to, like, you don't have to be looking

at the defense the whole time to process it. You should know it ahead of time. You can turn your back to the defense, the whole thing. And, yeah, Rogers was like the anti-QB wins guy because everyone was like, man, it feels like you should have won more, but you're so clearly good. what's wrong with the rest of everyone else. Jalen Hertz is the poster child for the quarterback wins argument.

It's like, well, he's good because he wins. Yeah, but do they win because of him? Right. And people struggle with like separating those ideas. I'm going to throw this out here right quick too in terms of talking about him as being precocious. I will say this for the Eagles, though. Y'all better be careful.

Like, if something happened, y'all decide that y'all are going to you all are going to see in Jalen Hertz out there, shit, it's going to be a protest outside that facility. It's going to look like the Essence Fest with little John do the DJ set. Boy, sister's going to be out there ready to burn that bitch down. Y'all there, watch out.

I mean, I know where he is very popular. I know who his room is. I mean, some of Philadelphia got it, but, shit, they're going to be out there dressed in all mates like a Frankie Beverly concert. NFL, not for long, but in a certain segment of Philadelphia, they want it forever. Forever, forever.

Forever. That'll be him. But coming up next, change gears a little bit. Go get Parkinson's thoughts on what's going on with this end of the NBA season, which has been low-key incredible. It's time to slide your glass slippers over your lucky socks and hope for a fairy tale ending. It starts when you put in $10 on Fan Duel predicts,

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Terms and conditions may apply. All right, we're back with Danny Parkins, FS1. First things first. You know, I'm a big victory guy. Like, I'm totally there. I haven't bothered to ask Nick if he's come around on this one. It typically takes him a while. Like, I give Nick credit on that.

Nick going to stay in the pocket. until he absolutely cannot get rid of the ball, right? Like, like he's, he'll hold out as long as possible. But, um, Victor is, there wasn't no need to overthink this one. It is exactly what it is. And now this man is trying to talk himself into winning the MVP playing fewer than 30 minutes a game. Yeah, it's, it's wild.

Uh, I think this is one of the weird times where best player in the world, an MVP might not totally align. Like, my eyes can tell me that, yeah, he's the best player in the world. But I've never, ever, ever, ever heard or seen or even read about, other than that Bob Knight quote about Michael Jordan, like, best player in the world who has never even played in a playoff game. And when Bob Knight said that after the Team USA practices about Michael Jordan, that wasn't like a majority opinion.

it was just what Bob Knight said about him. So he's clearly the best defensive player in the league by a mile. And he's arguably the best defensive player I've ever seen play the sport. He's certainly the most singular. And last night, Bo, he had 41 and 18 in 28 minutes. Like, what the fuck am I supposed to do with 41 and 18 in 28 minutes? Like, that is just, it's incomprehensible. Now, is that a reason that he should be MVP of the league when Shea is doing exactly what he did last year?

32 and 6 on insane 55% efficiency, an all-time guard scoring season for the team with the best record in the league in the toughest conference with more wins than the spurs, albeit a bad head-to-head record with the spurs, when his second best. player Jalen Williams, who was an All-Star, who was all-N-Ba defense, who scored 40 in a finals game, has missed two-thirds of the games? Like, I think it's totally reasonable to split the baby and say, Shea would get my MVP vote, and Victor Wenbino was the best player in the world. I just want to remind you guys that there's a guy who's leading the league in rebounds and assist. I know. And averaging a triple bubble.

I'm scoring 27 points a game. Yeah. Yeah. He's also incredible. Like, this is a tough MVP year. Like, but where is, I'm pulling it up right now. I just want to have it exactly accurate. And this is how, why I said I would have given it to Shea last year.

Now, it's closer this year. But like, okay, so Yokic's numbers are ridiculous. We've never seen someone lead the league in points or excuse me, in rebounds. and assists. He is averaging a triple double again, which at one point got Russell Westbrook, the MVP is the sixth seed, and now we've become bored with it by Joker. But should it matter

that Shea's team has 11 more wins than him? Because last year he had 18 more wins than Joker. No, so I mean, I think that Shea is probably the most reasonable choice for MVP. Shea is weird because everything that Shea has done does not simply imply

a really good player. It implies one of the greatest basketball players of all time. And there has literally not been one time in my life that I have watched him and thought, holy shit, that's one of the best basketball players of all time. But the results absolutely indicate this about him. But what you just said is very important. Oklahoma City is still as good as they were last year without a guy that can give you 35 in the playoffs. Right?

Like once you get past shit. 40. Jalen Williams gave you, he went, he had three, he had a three game stretch games, three, four and five of the finals last year, I believe, where he was like 20. 25, 28, 40. It's like, okay, that guy fucking matters. Right. And once you get past Chet, like, who exactly are we talking about on this roster? He's that guy.

Yokic is that guy. Like, all of this, it's an amazing time right now at the top of the league. I think that is, in terms of like, who the top players are, you know, not as many Americans as we would probably like. Because the top four guys that we're talking about are these three guys and Luca Dajic. Luca just had a 600 point month. Yes, he did. 13 straight games of 30 plus, I think three straight games of 40 plus, like current active streak as you and I are recording this,

crazy efficiency, like an awesome win-loss record on a Lakers team that for, again, for a month was top 10 in points per game allowed and number one three-point defense allowed. Right. I didn't see that coming. And this season, he has been not in the same class as these other guys. And that's, and that's not about him. That is about the class of what the top has been. I also think that it's a little skewed the victor numbers thing because of the numbers

restriction that they had earlier in the year, you know, when he was, I forget which injury it was, like during the play in, when he was coming off the bench and doing stuff like that. And I think there are other years in which he would have won this, or perhaps if he were older, or perhaps if the Spurs had traded to get him. And what I mean by that is Steve Nash won that first MVP that led to the second MVP because they were so much better getting him than they were the year before.

I don't even know if he was the best. I think Amari Stademar, congratulations to him on the Hall of Fame, was probably a better player than Nash was, but Nash, NASS was like the swing voter, right? Nash's presence was the thing that elevated, that seemed that had been bad into being very good. Victor, it's a narrative sort of MVP. Russell Westbrook won a narrative MVP that year.

He won 47 games in a year where they lost Kevin Durant and we thought that they would be terrible. Victor's case is a narrative case. Look at what, look at what I've changed, just by being Victor went by Nyama. Look at these other dudes. You know their names? I know you don't.

It don't matter if they're good. You don't know who they are. You know who I am. You see I'm making your favorite player scared to shoot like he's playing against his big brother, all of this stuff. If he had just showed up on the Spurs and put in the same performance, the way MVP voting works, I bet he would have been more likely to get it. Yeah, and I love that he made his case. I loved it.

Like, talk your shit, man. And, you know, he said, I think it was to Van Pelt last night. about like, you know, I don't, I want to be an all-time grade. I'm paraphrasing. And so I'm not going to let any of these opportunities come. And he's like, he seems to have an understanding that like finishing second in MVP is not the type of thing we talk about when you go into the Hall of Fame. Or in Goat arguments.

But he's 22. Like, this is how it works in this league. He doesn't care. I know. Well, like, I, I have. to this idea, right? I think we have to be open to the possibility that the rules just do not apply to him. Yes.

Like, oh, Michael Jordan had to, like, lose to the Celtics and the Pistons before he could ultimately, you know, slay the dragon. And you got to crawl, then walk, then run. Maybe not when you are autographing your All-Star Game jersey for Joker, and he asks you to add a picture of an alien to it. That video, it was like an eight second clip. I'm like, that is on, like, Joker's the alien. And he's like in awe of Vic. Like Janice's kid is in awe of him because it's,

you watch a full game of the Spurs and you will see someone dribble towards the lane and then retreat. Yeah, like, oh, my bad, I didn't even see you there, big dogs. It's the damn, like, not like try to bite a foul, not like try to go around them. They like put it in reverse. That doesn't happen in the NBA.

So it's, it is a singular thing and it's wild and I don't really know. Like, is he going to have a 15 year prime? Like his body can hold up? I don't know. But if it is, he legitimately could win 15 defensive player of the year awards in 10 titles. Yeah, like I do think the playoffs are going to be interesting because I think, the argument against them, also against the Pistons, is worth noting. The argument against them is not simply that you have to go to the playoffs to win in the

playoffs, right? Like, yeah, I mean, okay, that sounds ridiculous, but you understand what I mean, right? Like, you're not just going to get there all the way in the first run. Experience. There's something to it. Right. But I think that we need to be a little clearer when we talk about it, about why the experience matters, and the experience matters because playoff basketball is not the same as regular season basketball. Like your ability to run through a regular season is correlated to your ability to win in the postseason, but not directly. It's not really the same game when you start playing against the same teams over and over again. And there are tricks that guys pick up and they learn as it goes. That's the reason why it's taking everybody a little

bit more time to make the climb because you're getting acclimated to a new type of basketball. And then by the time you do, your ass is home and you don't get to do it again for another year, right? Well, but, and sorry if I'm cutting you off here, but like, to me, I think that way more applies to the Pistons than the Spurs. Because, like, I have seen, I've been calling the Pistons the try hard pistons. Yeah. But, like, we see teams like this almost every year, like, my bulls under Tibado were the try hard bulls. the raptors, the hawks. Like we have seen like teams that basically treat the regular season like the postseason.

Yes. Because of a defensive mentality, because of youth, because of an insane coach, like whatever the reason. And then when everybody else ratchets up the intensity to playoff level, their edge goes away. Because now everyone is playing like that. And so to me, you saw it in like the All-Star game. Like Jalen Duren was like going insane and running all over the place. and they're playing deep. They're fouling in the All-Star game.

It's like, oh, like, the Pistons just are embracing Detroit basketball and J.B. Bickerstaff and they're playing their ass off all the time. I give the Pistons basically no chance. The Spurs, what if Victor Wampinyama, like, just plays 35 minutes a game in the playoffs? And they take the minutes restriction away. And so it's like, well, I'm able to get you 41 and 18 in 28 minutes. Now I'm going to start getting you 45. five and 20.

Like, I think that there's just like a clear other level that the spurs might be able to get to. And I have no idea what they're going to do on that front in the playoffs. Like there's another gear for them that I don't think exists for the Pistons. Yeah, I am curious to see also how the defense is against Victor change. Like what strategically teams are going to cook up. And I am, all right. So right now in the West, as we record this, the top 16. teams are the Thunder, the Spurs, the Lakers, the Nuggets, the Rockets, and the Timberwolves.

When I looked at it yesterday, the Rockets were in six and the Timberwolves were at five. Yeah, there's a half game separating each other right now. Right. The reason I point that out and find it to be important is I think most of us agree, the Rockets and the Lakers do not have a chance at winning the West. I know who does not agree with that about the Lakers, but I don't think that the Rockets and the Lakers. So the Rockets and the and the Lakers get to play against each other. To me, that's great news for San Antonio as they get to then go play against a team

that I don't think has a chance at winning. Oklahoma City, if it turned out, Oklahoma City could have a chance if it turned out that the Rockets went down to six. It's Oklahoma City playing the winner of Denver and Minnesota. This time, I would think that Denver would get that. If we get the Thunder, the Spurs, Laker Rocket, whichever one get, Lakers, I think, would probably be the team that I would pick in that

series. And the Nuggets as the semifinals in the West, who, that's going to be fun. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's, that is, I mean, it's always team no sleep, but that is like, that is, that is appointment viewing. Uh, I was saying, meanwhile, in the East, the Celtics have just decided, okay, we're here now. Yeah, yeah, don't ask us how Jason Statenham got back so fast. Shit, I don't know either, man. It's crazy. Anyway, they scored 53 points in the first quarter against Miami. Yeah. I mean, listen, the Celtics are, they're deep.

They shoot an insane number of threes. I don't really like watching them because of how many threes they shoot. It's a little offensive, but they are really, really good. And they definitely are probably the only team realistically that you can pick to come out of the east. I know we disagreed and I don't want to talk too much about it because it's a take that's not aging very well. But like, I actually liked the Hardin trade, and I was pretty intrigued by an Evan Mobley, Jared Allen, James Hardin, Donovan Mitchell, top four. And I still think that could end up being our Eastern Conference final. But the Celtics are clearly the best team in the East. The only thing I will say about the Lakers, because I have been a huge skeptic of them, the team that Luca carried to the finals a couple of years ago for the Mavericks. Was the supporting cast, like, you know, they had lively in Washington and Gafford and Kyrie Irving.

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. But at least Kyrie could be like, I mean, Austin Reeves and LeBron James are pretty good offensive players. Yeah. I don't know. Like, is this supporting cast much worse? I think you could argue certainly that the spurs and thunder are much better at the top than that Mavericks team had to go through, no question.

But is this Lakers supporting cast much worse than that Mavericks team? All I'm saying is I think that for them to win, it requires literally depending on DeAndre Aiton. And I've seen how that goes. Yeah. I agree. It's the same thing with the Rockets. The Rocket supporting cast isn't bad, but where it's flawed, it's fatal. Yes.

And listen, the Lakers are right now getting. a pretty incredible amount of like effort and production, but not necessarily statistical, but just like, like DeAndre Aten is playing hard. And Marcus Smart is healthy. I don't know that both of those things are going to survive two months of playoff basketball. Right. Like I, you know, I don't believe that they are a top 10 defensive team in the league. Like they have been for this stretch of time.

Yeah, no chance you can keep that. Not with your three best players being those guys. Right. So I don't believe that. But again, Luca is on a level right now where he can, he can, he can, he can win you some games. Yeah. He can win you some games on the offensive side of the floor. Well, he's also doing the thing that I think is in this day and age becoming a very underrated skill. It is one of the things that held me up in acknowledging some of the greatness of Steph Curry, which is in my world, great players get to the free throw line. right this dude Luca I think Luke is number one in free throw times per game and and and Shay is number two at 10 a game right like think about how crazy this is part of this is

because Luke can take all the shots but he shoots 11 3 is a game in 10 free throws a game right the best shot in basketball is a free throw yep that is the easy no defense you get to stand there it's a shot you get to practice it's the only shot that you really get to practice all the time under basically the same conditions he's shooting 10 of those. a game and he's shooting 11 threes and making four of them. Now, how are the reps going to whistle him and in the playoffs? Will that childish man be able to hold his shit together when he's not getting the calls that he wants and or expects? Yeah, we saw it with Shea a little bit last year. Like, Shea didn't get the exact, like the same number of free throw attempts per game in the

playoffs, but they are they are so good and so deep, they were able to eke it out. And listen, as a, as a I have picked the Thunder now three years in a row. Like I think that they are the best team. Part of it is a bias of doing reporting around Sam Presti for the book Pipeline to the pros. Like I, what I love about the Thunder is they don't put a single player who's bad at defense.

Every single player who gets minutes for them is a two-way basketball player. Or two-way is not the right way to say it. Yeah, but I see what you mean. Like if you can't guard, you can't play here. Right. guy, Austin Reeves is not a thunder guy. Right. Like, they go out and get Hartenstein. They go out and get Caruso. They go out,

like, their specialists tend to be more defensive oriented than offensive oriented. And then their players on offense are also really good and they're crazy deep. So there's not a single defensive liability on their roster. So I just love how the team is constructed. I think it's great. But I was surprised that Denver took them to seven and that the pace are obviously that was shocking, took him to seven. So like there is a possibility that some of what they do gets neutralized in the playoffs as it gets officiated differently and everyone else's defensive intensity ratchets up. But I do still think the Thunder are the clear best team in the sport by a comfortable

margin. And I just want to point out, and I think they'll have a boost for being champions because I think being champions matters. but they were Tyrese Halliburton Achilles away from potentially losing a game seven at home. And remember Denver pushed them all the way to the game seven, too. Yeah, no, that's what I said. I thought they were going to waltz through last year.

And they didn't. So I have to be open to the possibility that I am just wrong about that because I was last year. They just held the trophy up. But like, Chet is better. Chet is better and they still are the best team in the league, as I mentioned earlier, with getting basically nothing from Jalen Williams this year. Like they're going to be healthy going into the playoffs.

They are battle tested. And Chet Holmgren is significantly better this year than he was last year. We're going to learn a lot about the regions of the digital era because poor Adam Silver. You've got a potential 10-year rivalry with maybe your two worst markets in the whole league. It's going to suck for these NBA guys who're going to spend the next 10 years flying from San Antonio to Dallas and then Dallas to Oklahoma City.

That is exactly right. We're going to have to add some direct flights. Oh, let me tell you, man. If they add direct flights from Oklahoma City to San Antonio, they will just be for two weeks. Brian Windhorst is going to start booking that in April. Oh, my God, man.

That's where they are. But ladies and gentlemen, that is Danny Parkinson. Check him out. First things first. F.S.1. 5 o'clock Eastern. And do you get to revel in the Emmy nomination? You know, I'm, listen, I get to revel in it in that I get to work with all these people. They are amazing in front of the camera and especially behind. But I can tell you that the congratulations have been going to the people who have been there a lot longer than me. I understand this. I just want to let you guys know this in advance. And this is what's going to stink for those guys.

This became a very big controversy very recently. Although they made a chance of rule, I don't know. but at least it used to be back in the day that the host didn't get a trophy. Oh, really? You remember ESP ain't got in trouble because they were cooking up their fake trophies for people? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

And what they were doing was they were putting, as I'm not mistaken, they were putting on the list of producers. It would be like Schmurp Murb Street or whatever. Like, and so then the people would get trophies and then they got caught. So I don't know if you're going to be able to get you one of these, you know what I'm saying?

I know I won't be able to get one of these. But like if Nick doesn't get him won, if he wins, he will be low-key devastated. But it's, yeah, man, that was a very cool thing. You know, you followed the journey of the show. They are. It's a great show that I get to be a very small part of. And that's not like fake humility. I would tell you if I thought that I was the reason for it because the joke was made.

Like, oh, Parkins, you get added to the show and we finally get nominated. They've deserved it for a while. It's an incredible show. I'm just saying, I've put a show over the top before. You know what I'm saying? Like I've, I've, I've, I've, I've been in the position to do that, you know, just go ahead and let them tell you. You ain't got to correct them.

You know what I'm saying? That's what it is. You ain't got to say it, but you ain't got to correct them. That's right. And Nick knows. That's what really matters. As long as Nick knows the real difference. That's enough for me.

There it is, man. Appreciate your brother. Thanks, man. Talk to you soon. All right now, ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on the right time. We do this four days a week. Ryan Brumley handled everything behind the scenes. Thank you, sir.

Hit the voicemail line 3-2, 3-3-5-9-6-7-67-67. Remember, follow the right time. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. We'll talk you guys in a couple of days. Take it easy.