The Ryen Russillo Podcast - 30 NBA Teams in 30(ish) Minutes! Eagles Tackle Lane Johnson, USMNT Talk, and Life Advice!

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

Russillo starts the pod by running through all 30 NBA teams and sharing his thoughts on their offseason so far (0:40). Then, Eagles tackle Lane Johnson comes on to discuss Nick Sirianni, what makes Jalen Hurts special, and his WrestleMania appearance (41:52). Finally, Life Advice and U.S. Soccer with Ceruti (66:59)! Is it weird to compliment another dude for non-traditional skills? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, live streams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out https://rg-help.com to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Lane Johnson Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

30 teams in under 30 minutes. I'm going to go through everybody's free agency and trade stuff to this point. Some of it will be interesting. Other teams won't be. But we tried. And a little Orlando magic minute and even some soccer talk somehow mixed into this before life advice and we've got Lane Johnson getting ready for his 12th season with the Eagles how his off-season is going what happened last year playing with injuries and Being a big guy from Texas Make your nights unforgettable with American Express Unmissable show coming up good Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event,

skip to the good bit using the card member entrance. Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card, other conditions apply. The plan is 30 teams in under 30 minutes will run through all the NBA off season stuff, free agency trades, a couple draft nuggets here or there.

But I'm just gonna summarize all the teams. Some of them will not be that in depth. And we start in order of where they're at in the standings and how it's listed on NBA.com. Just with the Celtics, pretty straightforward. They keep Cornett, Tillman, new deals for Tatum White, pretty drama free. Baylor Shireman, the draft pick, NBA ready in this rotation.

I don't know, maybe, but they want to bring everybody back and they should bring everybody back because they're better positioned than any other team in the NBA. Pull this off again. Uh, could you look at the Przingus part where Brad Stevens shared with us and said that he's obviously not going to be ready to start the season, the rehab for this injury seems to be significant, horror for a year older. So there's a few items that I'll bring up with each teams.

Like if you were being greedy, you would say they need to figure out another big that's higher up in the rotation to have insurance or surpass some of those minutes or fill in for those prusingus minutes. But that's probably what the Cornett-Tillman thing is and the likelihood that they were going to be able to add anybody of significance wasn't a reality with the restrictions financially. So that might be something to think about, but it doesn't, as I say it out loud, it's like, okay, well, how are they going to do that? So pretty standard, pretty straightforward and a total win, no drama. It's kind of nice win, no drama.

It's kind of nice, a no drama off season for a really good basketball team. Brooklyn, the drama leading up to the Bridges trade, wasn't sure if it would happen, a significant price paid by the Knicks and we'll get to it on the Knicks side of this thing, but it makes sense for Brooklyn to be able to do this. And also the other deal with Houston, where if we're doing this, we're going to full tank, we want control of our picks back, we're gonna give you those Phoenix picks, it could be really valuable moving forward, so it makes a lot of sense. The Nick Claxton deal, four years, 100 million,

I don't seem to like him as much as others do. I don't hate him. I just knew as soon as that deal was done, you're like, man, that's gonna be a big number. And sometimes there are teams that resign their own guy that's a higher draft pick, especially when they're not quite sure who they are as a team, and it's like, wow, I guess we'll just pay the guy that we drafted. And always remember this that's a higher draft pick, especially when they're not quite sure who they are as a team.

And it's like, wow, I guess we'll just pay the guy that we drafted. And always remember this, if a team drafts somebody and it's still the same front office, it means that front office still likes that player. And they probably still look at him in the most positive way. Is there the team that drafted him at some point? So is he a little limited? Yeah, I think so. And maybe they just look at it as like we have a value play here with him and

we had to pay somebody anyway. So it doesn't really matter. There's a Cam Johnson's decision to be made there as well. New York on the other side of the Brooklyn part of it, the Bridges trade. I do think it's a lot of draft picks, but I don't really know. Like if you could have unlimited draft picks traded for a player, would it change all of the pricing? Right?

If Kevin Durant were available two years ago to everybody, would it just be seven straight first rounders? If the rules were different? Is it 10 first rounders? If you could just do whatever you wanted with all your draft picks, is a player like that actually kind of worth that? So if you look at it that way,

knowing that that's not really the case because we have more restrictions on it. I don't hate it. I get it. And I actually really like what New York could potentially do here. The OG deal feels like a lot for five years, $212.5 million because of what you'll be asking them to do now offensively. That's a lot for that kind of player, but you knew they had to do it because if they had lost OG and then it's all the assets they did in the OG deal and all the assets they move in the Bridges deal, it's like this, it's unfair math, but you could look at it as, wait, all of this for just McHale Bridges? That doesn't make a ton of sense. I am excited about what they could potentially be as a small ball team.

I don't know if Tibbs will ever do it, but OG at the center. And then you run all the other wings out there and then figure out who you want to bring off the bench if it's not Mitchell Robinson. And obviously it hurts a lot to lose ever do it, but OG at the center. And then you run all the other wings out there and then figure out who you want to bring off the bench if it's not Mitchell Robinson. And obviously it hurts a lot to lose Hardenstein, but you were restricted by only being able to pay him four years to 78 million. OKC blows him out of the water,

it goes higher on money with one less year so they couldn't keep it. So yeah, I'm worried about Mitchell Robinson who's played 90 games combined the last two seasons. But if you wanted Bridges and you wanted OG back, that's the point is you're gonna have to to like kind of lose out on other guys. Philadelphia, maybe the headline winner of anybody in the offseason because they pulled off something that is really, really hard saving cap space and hoping it works on a high impact player.

Even with the flaws of somebody like Paul George at 34 years old, because I really think if they had completely whiffed on this, then it transitions into a whole nother conversation of like, how long is MB, even though their failures in the playoffs have as much to do with him as anybody else would MB. Because star players don't go like, actually it's me. And it's not all on him. But to that point, another year of stagnant behind a bunch of other teams in the East, even healthy, not healthy, I think that becomes a completely different challenging situation. And now you don't have to worry about that whatsoever.

The Maxi extension, no issues. Kelly Ubre, who I've never really loved, but I thought was terrific for them last year, that size, that kind of shooting, and really took on the challenges and things. So if you're getting that version back these next couple of years with him, that's a great number for him.

Drumming two years and 10 million. Now just a big physical backup option in the games where Embiid is probably being managed a little bit more. So this is just an absolute slam dunk in an off season. They also brought back Aaron Gordon. Toronto, not a slam dunk off season. Let's talk about some of these numbers. Scotty Barnes, five years, 225 million.

It was reported five years, 270 million, but that's if he qualifies for the Supermax by making one of the three all-MBA teams, wins the MVP or Defensive Player of the Year, the Rudy Supermax rule where you go, actually, should we have Defensive Player of the Year qualify for this for Supermax? I would say no, but as much as I love Scotty Barnes,

you're paying him, I know that's the deal that you had to do for him and that's fine. It's just always every now and then you go, could you just done 198 million for him? Cause he's not quite, but that's just not the way it worked. And it's not the way it worked when I was younger, when they just had the seven year max deals for players. And it was like, Hey, I'm the best player on this team. I get a seven year max and that's the way it works.

And you just hope that you're paying your seven year max back then, or in this case, the five year max, you're paying one of the 15 best players in the league, 20 best players in the league. And Scotty Barnes maybe flirts with that. And the thing is, again, I really like them. I do really like them, but I feel like for him, that's a huge number, but not as huge as the other numbers you start adding up because quickly gets five years. I had 175 million, so 35 million a year for him.

years, I had 175 million. So 35 million a year for him. Um, they added Davion Mitchell and. Let's say in cough and the trade was Sacramento. But when I look at them collectively going, all right, they turned the page on Siakam, they let Van Vliet leave. They trade OG and an OB. And now they've turned the page to paying 79 million this year to quickly RJ Barrett and Bruce Brown, who they picked up his $23 million team option,

which is just when that deal was done, the idea that he would have the second year option picked up and as nice as a player as Bruce Brown is, that's a staggering number. And then next year, it's gonna be about $99 million to Scotty Barnes quickly and RJ, for what? It feels like collectively the top three guys, whether it's this year or next year,

Toronto's paying the wrong guys. A hundred million combined Denver. Okay. Let's do the fair part of this. It's fair to say letting KCP go means they have absolutely no bench for a bench that was already one of the worst benches in the NBA Christian Brown, who I think we all like because of the activities, competitiveness, we don't like the shooting, but now he's the start.

So they add Ryan Dunn, the big defensive wing from Virginia who teams rave about him defensively, Strother, who they've already taken, Peyton Watson, whose energy is terrific. And then Hunter Tyson, who I kind of liked at the combine two years ago. But some of these guys are going to have to, they're just going to have to play. And we could say some of them are going to have to step up. Well, I don't know about that, but they're actually just going to have to play. They're just going to have to play. We could say some of them are going to have to step up. Well, I don't know about that, but they're actually just going to have to pay.

Now, here's what I think is kind of unfair about this because if you look at it collectively going, how are you letting this happen around Jokic, the best player in the world in his prime and not paying a little bit more? I don't really care about billionaires' tax savings. I don't. But if you look at each thing individually, and this is why I want to do Toronto into Denver, if you go back to Bruce Brown getting that contract, you can't pay him that if you're Denver. You can't. It worked out for Brown.

It worked out for the Pacers. I don't know that it works out for Toronto because it's such a big number, but if he's going to be getting two years, 48 million Toronto because it's such a big number, but if he's gonna be getting two years, 48 million second year, again, a team option, Denver, like, you can't add that to the list of going, I can't believe Denver's doing this because I completely believe Denver did that last year

and understand why they did it and I wouldn't have done it. Now, KCP, which version of the story do you wanna tell? You need him defensively, You don't have any bench. He hits three point shots. He spaces the floor a little bit. He's not that old. Um, okay.

But he's also the fifth option who you kind of don't notice sometimes. And are you supposed to pay him 22 million over the next three? So I think you can look at it two ways where if, if you go transaction by transaction with Denver, it can actually be positioned as a little unfair considering the players and the numbers that they're at. Some will disagree, certainly on the KCP part, Minnesota, pretty boring, pretty straightforward. This is what happens.

You're paying as many guys as they're paying. They lose Kyle Anderson. They brought back Lou Garza. Um, but you're just going to run it back and have a little patience and I love them getting back into the lottery to get Dillingham because I think they desperately needed another They lose Kyle Anderson, they brought back Luke Garza. But you're just going to run it back and have a little patience. And I love them getting back into the lottery to get Dillingham because I think they desperately needed another on-ball creator beyond Conley's limitations, McDaniel's limitations, and even with Kyle Anderson, who's down at his connector,

and we'll talk about him with Golden State a little bit later. That's just those kinds of guys like you're not going to be able to keep. So I thought it was very proactive, them getting back in the lottery and I like it. And I do think that as much as I'd love to see Kat away from Ant eventually, it may be about, look, if he had just been decent from three, maybe they're in the NBA finals and they're still built to beat Denver. Who knows what would happen against OKC. They're in the mix. And the same way that I talked about with Philadelphia bringing in Paul George at the beginning of the year,

they are in the mix. And maybe there's a patience lesson there post Boston and other people wondering how long they would run it with those two guys and obviously at work. OKC, probably in that Philly, New York range of winners in the off season. The Caruso trade makes a ton of sense. Hartenstein, it's a big number, but now they're everyone of winners in the off season, the Caruso trade makes a ton of sense.

Heart and Stein. It's a big number, but now they're everyone's favorites in the West because they address probably the most glaring need of having a real center option with the bad rebounding numbers last year and seeing them just having check, get his ass kicked in some of these matchups, which is him being younger body type and everything, but this is like huge news for Chet. They also kept Isaiah Joe at four years, 48 million total win, Aaron Wiggins five years, 47 million, really nice deals,

moving forward long-term deals on low numbers for players that are real contributors. Certainly Joe with his spacing on top of everything else and Wiggins like kind of does a lot of different things. Those are just going to be really, really nice numbers as the cap continues to go up. If I were adding to the greedy list, I'd say another on-ball creator.

And maybe that's just because Jalen Williams is disappointing in the playoffs in that Dallas series. I'd expect that he would be better. I'm gonna probably be saying this all off season and going into some of our preview stuff with him as well. And now having Caruso as a spacer and defender to take some of the burden off some of the other guys that are supposed to be scorers and not just defenders makes a lot of sense for them on top of the Ludo or part of it. So, um, huge,

huge win. I don't know what they're going to do with Hardenstein and Chet. I imagine there's going to be matchups. They're going to try them both. Maybe that's how they roll it out there and start them because they paid them so much and then they adjusted a little bit later on. But I think they have the options here to look differently against different matchups, which I think all of us love. Portland, pretty, pretty quiet. This is a tank team, a value buy on Denny Avdea.

Makes sense. If you look at the tanking odds, flattening, and we brought this up when the trade was tank team, a value buy on Denny Avdea makes sense. If you look at the tanking odds, flattening, and we brought this up when the trade was made during the draft, where you go, well, why would you make yourselves a little bit better than another team who now is in a full tank mode in Washington, like, aren't you kind of helping them and maybe getting in your own way? Well, with the odds flattening and you look at the latest 25 title odds, there's six teams that are a thousand to one payout.

Uh, that's the worst or the biggest payout you could actually get. So let's just say the six worst teams, according to Vegas, it's Brooklyn, it's Charlotte, it's Portland, it's Utah, Detroit, Washington. We could argue that maybe Washington should be lower than Utah. I would agree with you, but you get the point here. There's not a lot to dig in. Utah on the other side of it, they replaced year seven with Drew Eubanks.

I think it's a slight upgrade. And all of us are just waiting on marketing. Should the price be higher than Bridges? Yeah, I think so. Slightly higher. But then considering how high the price was on Bridges, but then you wonder wonder is the bridges price so high because the Knicks were paying a Knicks tax to do a deal with Brooklyn, which is probably a little bit of it. But here's the one thing I would wonder about marketing is can you really run if you don't get your price and this is the way Zanuck and Angel operate is they'll let you bid against yourselves. Um, and they're probably a team that will bid against themselves.

The Spurs are in a tricky spot because it's like, well, how much draft capital could we actually move? But then it's a bit like the Davion Mitchell deal with Cleveland, where you go, well, we can wait for the perfect guy, but marketing is really good. And ironically, marketing being in that original deal. I'd imagine they don't want to drag it out too much, though, because just be bad enough to be in the mix with Washington, with Portland, and see if you get into the Cooper flag sweepstakes. Chicago. All right.

I like the giddy trade more than social media did because I think he's a better player than social media does. Jaden Smith, three years of 27 million. That's a fully guaranteed deal of a guy that looks like he might be able to play in the league a long time, but wasn't part of the Pacers rotation really in the playoffs, but if you look at Jonah's Valence Unis at three years, 30 million guaranteed fully with Washington. You know, is that a lot for him considering the Valence Unis thing, or is

it just as simple as Smith is 24 and Valence Unis is 32? So what's, what's the problem? I think you get Chicago, obviously, a different look with Jadon, or just adding a backup big that they like instead of Vooch. And Jadon, in theory, is supposed to spread the floor a little bit, but I don't know that that's ever really happened for him.

But here's the however moment of the Chicago Bulls offseason. Patrick Williams at five years and 90 million, fully guaranteed. I don't know who you're bidding against there. Just because the Thunder may have had interest in him at some point. Well, you already did a deal with the Thunder. That's a big number for somebody that we're still TBD on. The offense hasn't really taken off. I know you can try to package them as the defensive stopper who can shoot threes because the numbers are right. But there's just not enough impact there and with the injury history, but

it could just get back to what does happen. You took them really high. You don't want to give up on him this soon. He's really young, but 90 million feels like a big number for somebody that you don't even notice sometimes and doesn't even close with the closing group for them a lot of. Cleveland, huge win. Another big winner. Uh, with Donovan Mitchell going for three years, 150 million third year player

option, uh, considering so many of us thought that he was gone. And I do wonder sometimes if we're guilty of just, we get it from somewhere. And then the rumor mill can maybe just go in a wheel where everybody's just kind of telling each other the same thing that they're hearing yet no one has anything specific about what he's going to do. And then you start to realize it was cooling, that it was cooling that he was just going to bounce or demand a trade. And we had Niang on who had said he thought he was staying. And then I kept pointing out, it was like, for a guy that would demand

and hate the place and want out, um, he's wearing the hat. So that is that a good sign? I think once Bickerstaff was out, they brought in Kenny Atkinson. They had a much better chance because I don't know that the team was responding to JB anymore, which happens in coaching. So that helped. Um, the money helps, which he would have gotten anywhere, but the structure of this deal works out because the player option, he can opt out in 27 and with 10 years of service time,

he's eligible for a new deal at five years and 380 million in 2027. So it's not the full length that maybe you would hope for, but it puts to bed something so many of us thought, like if you go back months ago, a lot of us didn't actually think this would end up happening because it felt like they thought, or all of us thought that Mitchell eventually kind of forced his way out of there because Cleveland wasn't really what was his destination to begin with. But now he doesn't want to go to Brooklyn because they're terrible, right? And he also, the Knicks, there's no spot for him anymore.

So they obviously have other things to do. I still wonder about the Mobley-Allen pairing long-term and even with Allen being out and kind of seeing a better version of Mobley in the playoffs despite losing itself in that series. That might be something. But as far as just what needed to be done right now, a Cleveland Cavs offseason, that was awesome.

And at least it just feels quiet now on the Mitchell front. Detroit, pretty low key. Cade deal five years, maxed at 226 million, fine with it. It's a bit like the Scotty Barnes conversation there a little bit, but I like Cade better, but I don't know if there's a huge gap between the two guys. Maybe I like the idea of what Cade could be a little bit better than Barnes offensively,

but then again, some night, Scotty Barnes has these huge offensive games too. So like, I know that's gonna get turned in me not liking him and I do really like him a lot, but as much as we could sit here and go like, could you just go down a little bit on the average annual salary because you're not actually this awesome yet? And it's like, no, that's just not the

way that it works. Added Tim Hardaway for Quinton Grimes, who never really got much of a chance for them. I don't like that. I know they desperately needed to add shooting, but I liked Grimes minutes that I saw back with the Knicks. And they got Wendell Moore for the 53rd pick that was Camp Spencer, And he never got a chance with Minnesota, big athletic wing from Duke, kind of liked him out of the draft. So I liked that part of it. Tobias Harris, two years full guarantee of 52 million. You have that much cap space, you're not a good team.

Nobody wants to go there. Those are the deals you end up kind of doing. None of us like it, but I totally understand why it happened. The Pacers did their work early, right? Like in the post doing your work early, they kept Siakam when the trade happened. I remember I had said, okay, but if he's a free agent, the Pacers did their work early, right? Like in the post doing your work early, they kept Siakam when the trade happened. I remember I had said, okay, but if he's a free agent, the Pacers is a place that he's going to want to stay. As soon as I had said in a podcast, somebody reached out to me, he's like, he's definitely staying. He is definitely staying.

So it changed my tune on what that trade was. And then the OB-Toppin deal bringing him back. Think about him. He was dumped for two second rounders in 28 and 29. And then they fit him in perfectly with this fast paced athletic pacer's team. And that number is really nice for him. And James Wiseman, old friend James Wiseman back in the picture, haven't totally given up on him yet. Probably have though. Milwaukee, I liked Alon Wright. So do a lot of teams. This is his ninth one.

Golden State, I love D'Anthony Melton, aka Mr. Do-Something. It's his fourth team. I love D Anthony Melton, AKA Mr. Do something. Uh, it's his 14th. He plays these 26, 37% from three, one year at just under $13 million. No brainer, no brainer. This guy's good. And Kyle Anderson, three years, 27 million, third years, non-guaranteed on this. He is a connector. I do wonder about defense is sagging off of him in certain matchups

and depending on how the minutes are staggered. Is that somebody you can play with Draymond or is it somebody that you never play with Draymond? How does that impact some of the spacing? Does Golden State have enough spacing now post-Klay? Because Klay still hit shots and it's like when Mons wasn't good as last year People still didn't want to throw them strikes And I'm not saying you would ever sag off a clay but you get the point like when it's clay Thompson open You're gonna run out there and look the numbers are actually still pretty good from three anyway, so maybe that's a bad comparison and I just think it's important to say this a lot. You cannot criticize them for not using the Chris Paul $30 million contract

because it was gonna become guaranteed if you were traded. Who and for what? What team was doing that and who are you getting for Chris Paul to be, as much as I love him, on the other team's roster for $30 million next year? I don't think that's a long list. Clippers, a lot to get to here. Got to keep it under 30 minutes.

Don't know if we'll get there. We spent a lot of time on this already. They feel a little golden, golden state ish for just kind of transitioning out of some of the things and then trying to pick up the pieces here. They added Batum, Derek Jones Jr. three years, 30 million in that Kyle Anderson range. I think that one's fully guaranteed though. Kevin Porter Jr. getting another chance at a Chris Dunn.

Mo Bamba, no one will ever give up on Mo Bamba. The James Harden deal, all right, two years, 70 million. The second year I still think is a player option. When it was first reported it was a player option, but now when it's in the salary database it says guaranteed. So I'm granted it's guaranteed to him if he wants to come back for that.

I don't know who else is paying James Harden 35 million. I don't know where else he's going for that 35 million. Maybe it felt like post-Paul George didn't want to screw around and they wanted to make sure they brought him back. Feels like a really high number for him, despite the productivity and the salary projections, because every single statistical model that says, okay, well, this is what you are and this is what you're worth. I mean, there are some models that said he was worth even more than 35 million a year,

but the reality of it is once Philly was gone, he wasn't going to Orlando, he wasn't going to Detroit, he wasn't going to Charlotte. Was there a way he was going to go to OKC or San Antonio or whatever? I never want to be arrogant enough to go, there is no one else they're bidding against because there's so many times that we don't know all the parts of it. That just felt like a high number in this market. So the second apron part of it with Paul George, as we talked about earlier this week, it really is about the fourth year, because if they wanted to, I mean, they still were going to give him the huge number for the first three years of whatever they wanted to give him.

And I kept thinking about Paul George and how impressionable he is and that he wanted to go to LA, but it's almost like he felt bad. So we didn't want to leave. Okay. See until he was like, okay, now you can get me out of, okay. See, once you get that extension and you know that Embiid is probably working it because he desperately needs Paul George and all that stuff. So I think that stuff works on Paul George and then the free agency meeting

where he's wearing an Allen Iverson t-shirt and all this stuff. The whole point, like whenever I was thinking about this stuff, I started thinking about Kawhi and how Kawhi's probably one of the worst guys you can have is the other guy to be like, hey dude, let's run this back. Everything will be fine. You'll probably get back to the States and go, what happened? Like, oh, Mo Bamba, nice to meet you.

How long have you been in the league? Lakers, a little bit like Denver. There's a fair and there's an unfair part of this. Just because they didn't use the future picks to find this mysterious third guy doesn't mean they did anything wrong. I like the Lakers off season, except for another part that we're gonna get to here

with some of the breaking news. So the big three thing, the model of it, it's basically an endangered species. Philly has it right now. But the big three that we all have almost required out of a contender, it doesn't, it does, it's just not going to exist as much as it used to. Phoenix has a big three right now, right? Um, but not wanting to move the picks in 27 and 29 post Anthony Davis.

And I would imagine at that point post LeBron and they, they keep Austin Reeves instead of what doing a Jante Murray deal. I don't mind the Lakers not doing this, but because it's the Lakers, because it's LeBron's timeline, because they got the pick back once the New Orleans part of it was decided and they didn't do anything at the Trey deadline. And then it's like, okay, well now they're in control of all these things.

So who are they adding? Who are they adding? And the Trey Young part of it, and we'll get to that with Atlanta a little bit later on, it would have been exciting. It would have been a big headline. It probably would have changed some media members like projection on who the Lakers are going to be.

Cause I think Trey Young would make more sense with the team that already has established people there than him just getting the keys to another franchise. But I don't have an issue with them having patience and not wanting to move these assets and I think those are real assets with the Lakers in 27, 29, because you have no idea what this team is going to look like. But we got breaking news from Woe just morning, LeBron, two years, $104 million player option in the second year. So a little less than the full of what had been thought he would need three

years, 160 just from the Lakers. So a little Boris magic on that one. It was like, Hey, we only paid him 104 million. What a discount. Um, however, if the current number projections are accurate on this, and this has already been touched on in the story in the reporting of this deal,

if they're one million over the second apron because of this number, then you can't complain if you're LeBron. You cannot complain all season long about the lack of activity or lack of options because your contract is the reason there's a lack of options. Now agents and the player side of it say, Hey, that's

bullshit. Like figure it out. There's not the figuring it out flexibility that we always kind of like there's times in the years past where I just got, they'll probably just kind of figure out third team it because so many times that actually ended up being the solution to thinking a team had no options. It's like, Oh, actually they could have done this and done the second apron stuff.

If this number puts them over the second apron and what if they're not good? What if they're six, seventh, eighth range or something like that? Maybe they're fourth. I don't know, but I'm open to it. But you get my point. If it's not really what you'd expect or maybe what LeBron expects, but then his contract is getting in the way, can he actually play the card of the passive aggressive team better do something because they haven't done anything in a while. So that number, it kind of needs to come under the second apron or you don't get to complain. But I also know this, that years past when LeBron,

it was like, I should never be taking a pay cut. And I would agree with him, okay? But now once the other numbers are established And then yours number your number is the last number Okay, well you got you no problem. You got your money, but now you cannot go. Hey, how come we're not doing anything Phoenix Royce O'Neill four years 44 million kind of stuck bird rights trap 4 million kind of stuck, bird rights trap, a bowl ball back. Monty Morris actually thrilled for Phoenix to be able to add any kind of rotational piece

considering their own restrictions right now. Sacramento, getting Malik Monk back in this market with the concern with Orlando, maybe some of the else. Paul George's day with the Clippers. Is there some DeRozan Monk thing that Philadelphia does going beyond the number that Sacramento was allowed to pay him kind of like the Hartstein rule there. Uh, it's, it's so big for Sacramento cause he's such a big part of what they do.

And they know exactly what they're getting. There's not going to be like new guys smell. And I'm wondering if he's somewhere else, if you're going to get the same kind of output. So I love that for them. And then adding Devin Carter kind of made Davion Mitchell, little redundant. Carter has more offense than Mitchell does for a different player and Jaylen McDaniels.

So cool with that. Atlanta, Murray out for Dyson Daniels who I still have some stock on because I just feel like he's so smart, was good defensively, but I just didn't really, he was kind of up and down hurt and then kind of out of the rotation with the Pelicans at times. Larry Nance who gives you a different look, but a real rotation guy, especially if you want to be smaller with the big player. Um, but they get the Lakers 25th or excuse me, the first in the, in year 25.

Um, and then the worst of the bucks, New Orleans pick in 27. So with the Murray, who he is as a player and because of the contract, you feel like you probably still could have gotten a little bit more. But I think the league likes him. I don't think the league loves him. And of course there was just no trade young market. And I think if they had forced themselves in a situation to go, okay, we're actually going to do this, whatever the package was coming back. Hawks fans would have gone, are you serious? Might as well just kept him. And that's kind of what I think happened there.

Charlotte, Reggie Jackson for three second routers. I think all unprotected, exciting. Um, might be worth something to someone else as an on-balk, but man, the numbers get really bad with him. He's basically even a net negative. Um, I remember there was this piece of shit media member in Detroit that called but man, the numbers get really bad with him. He's basically even a net negative. I remember there was this piece of shit media member in Detroit that called me out for not liking Reggie Jackson. He crossed the line.

We'll leave it at that. But he did play all 82 games last year. They just have to figure out who their draft picks are. They completely nail it on Miller. There's a lamello question later on. We'll worry about it later. Mark Williams, Salon. And then you've got this kind of Miles Bridges thing lingering where with all of his stuff, clearly the market is depressed, which totally understandable. But I wondered if a good

team would just go, all right, we'll bring them in because we're already kind of good and this makes us even better. And then that means the fans will just go, Oh, this guy sucks, but our team's a little bit better, which is kind of what happens. So we'll see what happens there. I don't know if the Clippers could do that and Kevin Porter Jr. that would probably be asking a lot of a team to sign off on that. Let's keep flying Miami, Kevin Love and three guys. I forgot about Orlando. All right. A lot of stuff here. They signed their own guys with cap space. That's what they were going to do. Didn't make it in under 30. That's all right. We're going to keep going here folks. Because Orlando is important. KCP.

I don't know if he's going to be your point guard in this, but maybe he and Suggs allow you to kind of change who starts the attack. And I kind of like not having a, I need the ball every single time, Rajon Rondo type point guard because of Ben Carrow. I do not want to take the ball out of Ben Carrow's hands initiating offense. So KCP being a non-traditional guy who's also comfortable off the ball, I think is a big win and on top you're adding another defensive guy to what is an incredible group here defensively. Batase three years, 25 million, maybe a little high for him.

Gary Harris, two years, 14 million. Mo Wagner, two years, 22 million. The Valance Unis is set in the market at 10 or the Jaden Smith deal we're talking about at nine. That's kind of where these players are going. I think 11 for Mo Wagner is totally reasonable. The Jonathan Isaac deal deals a little weird. It's five years, 84 million.

His career he's played per season, 27 games, 75 games, 34 games, zero games, zero games, 11 games, and then 58 where we all fell in love with him all over again because he became this defensive freak. Which I know he always kind of was, but now it was like really crazy offensively. I don't know that there's going to be anything there. The problem is it happened.

The good season happened right as he was going into the final year of a contract. There was a non-guaranteed number, like 17, $18 million. So basically they just kind of reset the whole thing, keeping with the same average annual salary, but it just with his injury history, as much as we all loved it last year, it feels like a big commitment, but maybe some of these guys that are still young south of 20 million annually is the new kind of normal for a guy where you're like, yeah, you know, he's all right. And we pay him 18 million bucks a year.

Uh, the wizards, they trade Avdya. We already mentioned balance Eunice. Maybe it's to help with SAR. I don't think mentor when I think balance Eunice, I could, I have no information on that. Maybe, maybe it's just protecting SAR a little bit, depending on how you want to use him, cause it feels like he's more pick and pop, which is also a little bit like Valence Yunis. They've got three more years of pool, which is great if you are a tanking team.

They have the Kuzma asset. Brogdon now on the roster as an asset potentially, and then they've got the Tyus Jones situation as an unrestricted free agent. I love Tyus Jones. I do, so I don't know if there's a sign of trade in there. Dallas, so think of it this way. You move out Derek Jones Jr. who was a revelation for them defensively,

but just not a safe bet offensively. If you got it one night, great. You didn't get the pencil in in for the next night. Tim Hardaway who was totally on the outs there. So you move that out for Klay Thompson and Najee Marshall who I love. And I'm telling you, there's a, there's a little bit of, uh, like, hey, they got crimes out of that. So Clay off the ball, whatever you think of Clay, Clay off the ball in how Dallas runs their offense is so much better than what they've already had.

It really is. I mean, beyond the Kyrie, Luka part of it. is so much better than what they've already had. It really is. I mean, beyond the Kyrie, Luka part of it. So I love it for them and I love that Najee can run your offense, play defense. He just do a lot of different things. I don't know that the stats are gonna wow you,

but when you watch him, he's just comfortable in a bunch of different scenarios. Houston, we already talked about the Brooklyn part of it with the picks, getting them back, but Phoenix 27 and 29, I love those picks. And you didn't really get to keep Brooklyn's picks in the tanking version of it because they weren't gonna do the bridges part

unless they were back in control of their stuff. And a little love for AJ Griffin. The lottery questions about him are about his injury history, not his actual playing ability. In Atlanta, he just got stuck, You get stuck behind all these other guys. So I think it's totally worth the flyer on him because he's really not had much of a chance to even play Aaron Holliday back two years, 10 million. Memphis holding pattern for Ja. Zach Hede stuff. Zach Hede is going to put up some numbers and some

games and it's going to be kind of funny because it's going to turn into like, whoa, it's not everybody thought this guy. And it's like, well, no, it's gonna turn into like, whoa, thought everybody thought this guy. And it's like, well, no, it's just, what are you going to actually wanna be as a basketball team? And if you're playing E with Ja, what's happening to some of his driving ones? New Orleans, two more teams.

Dejante Murray, it does make them better. Dyson, maybe him being included with the other two picks feels like you're getting three picks of your Atlanta. So now it's Herb Jones, Murphy and Murray. I think Deshonte Murray has this awesome defensive rep though. I didn't see it last year in Atlanta. I think Hawks fans and Quinn Snyder would agree. So maybe he was just so frustrated with Atlanta.

I think he was really frustrated with the Trey Young part of it. And now he's somewhere else. So now he's a little bit, now he's locking in a little bit more and you're not looking to be your defensive stopper with the wing stuff that you have on top's somewhere else. So now he's a little bit, now he's locking in a little bit more and you're not looking to be your offensive stopper with the wing stuff that you have on top of everything else. So it gets them away from the small, small guard

back court thing that they could run into a little bit. But I also think Zion should get point guard possessions because it's still when he's at his best, ball in his hand, side attack, gets a little momentum. I've yet to see anybody solve that one because he's actually a pretty good passer out of it too. But I think whatever the talent level was for New Orleans prior to the day to the Murray trade,

obviously this higher the day after. And the best for last, Chris Paul, the San Antonio Spurs. And maybe a trade piece if they want to. Okay, I want to bring in Saruti because we've got the magic did a lot of different things here. And look, if you have one or two or whatever of a few things that I said there that you disagree on, but let's start with the magic and give you the floor kind sir. Yeah, you know, one of the teams with cap space and everyone's I think everybody excited about the Paul George thing. I never really fell into that trap. You know, it was fun to play around with on Twitter, but I think it was just good

to be back in the next again with good players who potentially want to play there because theoretically in Florida, they throw it around there, no state tax, but it is a thing that matters. Is that no state tax down there? Yeah. What's up? You ever heard that before? Yeah.

It's a, it's fun. Um, I, it's just good to be back in the mix with some of these guys that are big names that actually want to play major relevant, competent franchise again, after a good season to have a good off season like this where you're in the mix. That's, that's kind of all I could ask for. I liked the KCP deal. I, it's probably a straight overpay. Um, but he's a clear upgrade on, on Gary Harris. And I think nobody's happier than Bill because Bill, I think was the most mad I've ever seen anyone at one player during a playoff series was he was that mad at Gary Harris last year.

I think Gary Harris got a little too much flack. He didn't shoot well in that series, but he was still good defensively. But KCP he's kind of like the perfect guy that you need if you're not getting like a bona fide dude star type player. So, you know, you probably do the Franz extension. We'll see what Suggs gets and Paolo takes another step. And I think they have the fifth best odds in the East this year. I like where we're at.

What do you think of the Isaac deal? I hear what you're saying, but. And like there were times last year, I think in, in, was it in the playoffs? I forget, or was it towards the end of the regular season where he like he did something to his knee and you're like, oh, here we go. It was fun for a couple of weeks. And then this is it. You're probably going to have that for every single season of whatever the rest of this contract is,

but I genuinely, I said this last off season, people laughed at me, but he's a genuine defensive player of the year candidate. He could potentially be the single best defensive player in the league, maybe not named when be just because of all the crazy stuff he could do. But I mean, Isaac is a true Ken Gard, all five positions guy and is a havoc wreaker. So I think he had to bring them back. I don't know what the numbers were. I'm not, I don't know.

Like you would probably know better than me. Were there other teams that would have given them that? I think he probably would want to stay there. I think he seems to like it there. And that's the thing about this magic team is they all like each other, man. It's like a good, it's like a good high school college team vibe.

And I'm glad they brought mo back because mo is awesome. Great number my only thing is they have a lot of dudes it just have too many guys so i wonder if there's like a trade coming i'd love market too much. Well i'm not not too much debt well i guess they have a young guys what what shit how are you gonna do they really like him in play really at all last year i like black. They really like him. He didn't play really at all last year. I like black. Well, yeah, of course. I mean, this goes back to your, Hey, they drafted him. After one year, they're not going to be like, actually we screwed up. What's that? Let's get rid of this guy. Um, but I like Anthony black. I thought he should have played more last year, but you know, if, if, who was he playing that up? I think, you know,

that's why I think it's that Cleveland thing. Are they gonna, is Garland going to be okay with Mitchell coming back? Cause it didn't seem like he was at the end of last season and if and if Mitchell's there Does that make Garland potentially available if I'm the magic that's the number one guy I'm going after Yeah, I think using the caps based on their own guys They're already like knowing that I mean who do they pass on right unless they wanted to add to Rosen to it, but I know I'm just the roser is gonna be fascinating like we'll see Where he actually ends up in all this.

Cause apparently he doesn't want to go back to Chicago after the Caruso thing, but it's his only landing spot. Okay. But what if like, okay, where else, where else are you going to go, dude? Unless he just won years at somewhere. But look at that age, maybe, maybe San Antonio would do it because look, they were pretty proactive about like being happy to have them. DeRozan has extended this beyond cause he's, he's not this modern player.

So there were kind of doubts about him and going to Chicago. I mean, it was a complete slam dunk and it'd been a great deal on their part. And it wasn't like highly praised when they did it at the time. But, uh, I, this LeBron second apron thing is fucking crazy though. Crazier than the Ronnie James contract. I, this LeBron second apron thing is fucking crazy though. Crazier than the Bronnie James contract. What do you get for years guaranteed? Almost a million dollars second round pick. Hey man, happy for you.

What do you think? Imagine if Bronnie's good. Like what if he just turns into Velets? Yeah, I'm not rude against the kid. It's just, man, like they just keep, these stories keep coming out one after another. And you're like, man, this is tough. This is tough.

I think my favorite part though of some of the Bronnie coverage, and I thought it was pretty fair about all of the pieces that go into it, is if you had to give me like, I don't know if a mock draft would be the right thing, or if there was just a back and forth snake draft with somebody else.

If I had to pick the media members that somehow love nepotism all of a sudden that also think that, Oh boy, Haitland Clark shouldn't be on the Olympic team. I'm, I just, I could just go like, okay, you'll say this and then you'll say, and look, making the Lakers is the 55th pick is not the same as being on the Olympic team and I don't know enough about women's hoops to fully like break it down, although I caught some of the fever and aces last night. Whoa, flight back. Yeah.

I caught a lot of it. It was on. Well, I'll admit I was shoulder watching the person next to me had it on and I was, I was watching Mary King's town and then I caught myself like watching possessions and watching it over and over again. I was like, oh, okay. So I would like, I don't know if that draft exists and it would probably hurt.

I just was weird that all of a sudden people, some people were like, no, no, nepotism's awesome now. Like, oh, is it? Or let me tell you why this isn't nepotism. That's a good one too. It's the mental gymnastics of some of this stuff. And here's the thing, I don't care. I like that Brian's in the league.

I think you do too. I don't have any, I really don't actually have an issue with it at all, but like, can we just call it what it is? It's okay, it's all right guys. Yeah, yeah, I think that's kind of where I'm at. All right, that was a little over 30 minutes. We tried, we lied to you.

It was fun. He's made a lot of Pro Bowls, even more impressive. He's made a lot of all pro teams and he's from the Philadelphia Eagles and he's a vet now. It's Lane Johnson. What's up? What's going on, man? Yeah, training camps right around the corner. So getting in shape the best I can and seeing the family.

So getting ready. Okay. And I say a vet because you know, people could talk about how the Kelsey's gone, you know, Lane's Lane's gonna have to be the guy and everything but you've been in the league now a bunch of years I just wonder how athletes operate in the offseason. Everybody's different. Do you go? Okay this year? I want to do this or I need to change this up or I actually need to keep it the same Like how do you approach this time doing the work before the work? Oh, yes So I think the offseason is probably the most important You know thing that translates to the season.

So for me, I got to be strong, I got to be quick, and I need to be flexible. So all those things I work on, usually Mondays and Tuesdays are like a max effort, like 90%, you know, lower body lift, upper body lift. And then Wednesdays is like conditioning. I do conditioning on the other days as well, but different style. Then Thursdays and Fridays are more like speed focused, so lighter weights, moving it fast.

And so do that. I do a lot of on-field drills, a lot of barefoot stuff. So yeah, for me, it's constantly assessing if I'm watching my film, is it, you know, my struggle with power, you know, do I need to improve this, improve that? So I just kind of pick apart kind of how I'm feeling from the previous season. But it's worked out well. I know one thing for me, you got to be strong to play and hold up in the trenches. You know, and as you get older, up in the trenches. You know, and as you get older,

you know, you might lose a little bit, but you can make up with timing and knowledge. But for me though, I feel good. I don't feel like I've lost a whole lot, you know, if any. And for me, it's really about short area quickness, so long as you don't lose that. I mean, for me, I have to be fast in a short box, so that helps. Yeah, I think that's fast in a short box, so that helps.

Yeah, I think that's always been one of the most impressive things about you is even going back to the draft, you're like, okay, this guy is a freak. And it's one thing to be a great athlete growing up, it's another thing to be somebody that stands out physically and athletically on a football field with a thousand plus other guys. When you're trying to maintain that,

like you just said, maybe I can make up for it with something else. But as people get older, you can still get stronger, but you worry about that quickness. How are you able to maintain as close as you possibly can to a guy that's a younger player in the league? I believe you got to train it. I think your body adapts. And as you get older, you become smarter. But a lot of it is your body's gonna adapt to the stress that you put on it. So for me, it's about plyometrics.

That's a big part of what I do. So kind of being elastic. There's times to be rigid and have to really engulf a person and there's times where you have to be fluid. So for me, I train year round and for me it's like I'm competing with my numbers, not really anybody else, I train really alone.

And so for me, I have numbers that I've previously said the years before and so I'm constantly competing with that. And then, yeah, for me, I've been, ever since I've had ankle surgery on my left ankle, for me doing a lot of barefoot stuff and really training that, I think what you'll find is whenever you do some barefoot,

you really run on your forefoot instead of a heel strike. And so I think a lot of damage done is from inefficiencies, we wear footwear and your heel striking instead of running on your forefoot absorbing the force correctly, it's getting translated in a bad way when you're heel striking. So when I do barefoot stuff it's all forefoot and after you get done doing it after a few days, your legs feel, you know, your calves, your quads, everything is, you can tell that it's

working differently. If we go back to last year, coming off of just an awesome Super Bowl, which I know is tough, but it's looking at the rest of the NFC and thinking like, who can compete with this talent on this Eagles roster? And Hertz clearly being like the number one guy in the NFC at the position. You start 10 and 1, I know you probably had to talk about this a million times. Did you, even with that great record start, did it feel different? Did it feel like, I know what our record is, but this just doesn't feel the same as last year? Yeah, there was a lot of close games and there's teams that you felt like talent wise couldn't match up with you and it was a closer game than it should have been. So, I think even after the 10-1 record, we still didn't feel satisfied. We didn't feel like we really optimized what we had.

There's teams that you play and you feel like, well, we should have put up 40 on them and we barely won. So, there were signs for that. And then after our first initial losses, it felt like the effort wasn't a problem. And obviously, it didn't translate to the field. So it was really frustrating, you know, just, you know, with all the, you know, leadership that we had on that team.

You know, it felt like it was just, yeah, we didn't have any answers. It was really a difficult spot to be in. But I know the effort wasn't a problem. That never was. The playing hard and the want to was never there, or never not there. So, you know, looking at that,

I was proud of how we battled, but I think we have the ability to right a lot of wrongs with how we start this season. So, you know, we had that taste in the mouth all off season, every coach, every player. And yeah, man, we've that taste in the mouth all off season, every coach, every player. And yeah, man, we've made a lot of moves as far as gaining guys and obviously getting guys in the draft. So, I'm excited where we're at and obviously a lot to prove.

I always kind of think about how we'll play the results of who's good or who isn't or what's right, what's the problem. And when I look at Sirianni, he's introduced and he wasn't great in the opening presser. So then people were like, who's this guy? And then you make it to a Superbowl and it's like, Hey, his loose attitude, this thing where he's one of the guys, like they respond and it's great. And then you have a disappointing season based on your standards. Cause it wasn't like this disastrous season. And all of a sudden it's like,

Oh, is he, is it really, how, maybe because you're older, you may not care as much, but I just wonder in a locker room, how frustrating that can be when the perceptions that things are totally different, that aren't different, that are actually blame. And it's just, it is more about the results and not any core issue.

Yeah, I mean, for any coach, they're never playing. It's always the players playing. So, you know, as I progress in this league, players will stick around. You know, coaches have to coach them. You know, they coach them hard, but a lot of it's in, you know, guys are internally motivated and really care about it a lot.

And what I like about, you know, Nick, is just him being authentic, even when he was talking about, hey guys, my first press conference here was shitty. I had a bad impression. When I like to have it back, hell yeah. But moving forward, he was just, fuck, he's very honest and authentic.

He would, stuff was portrayed in the media or there was something out. I mean, he would really discuss it in the meetings and, you know, there was never any wonder what was going on. So guys appreciate that. You know, I think he's very passionate about the game and he's told us, yeah, sometimes my emotions get the better of me, but I know like a player, he's, you know, he's working on it and becoming a better head coach.

But, you know, what I've always loved about him is he's authentic, he's passionate, and he's behind the OC and DC, and really into it. Far as in the meetings, the communication with the players, that's never been an issue. It's just maybe the emotions that the fans see, glimpses of some banter back and forth and they get the wrong impression.

But for me, I don't really care. I've been in the league. I'm not interested in the drama. But when I was younger, yeah, hell yeah, I was caught up in it. What does it mean not having Kelsey on that line with you? Yeah, just really, you know, every game I've ever played, he's been the center. So I'm just, I'm going to miss more the locker room, the, you know, the breakfast every day. We really, I mean, we are obviously very serious players together, but when we weren't playing,

you know, we kept it real light, a lot of laughter, and just a lot of fun. I think what I appreciated about Kel Samos was how passionate he was about it, the game of football, how much it meant to him. I would see him blow a gasket if he didn't feel the game plan was right on a Wednesday. So when you see guys that care about the game that much and you know that they care about performing well

and being a good teammate, I think that speaks volumes about a person. And so, yeah, for me, man, it's really about laughing. Usually when I'm around him, we're having a good time. Yeah, I mean, everybody raves about him. Anybody that I know that spent time with him or played with him just absolutely loves the guy. You said, though, like him not liking maybe where you are on a Wednesday and knowing because of his role he has to kind of

let everybody know. Is that something because you read about some of the previous like oh that means the lane is gonna have to start doing it. If it's not the way you want to do it or it's not in your personality then it's actually it doesn't work the way it would work for somebody else. Do you think about that in your responsibility? Yeah, I think you have to be yourself. Nothing can be forced. People are going to see through that. But for me, I've always been the vocal guy in my meeting room, you know, in the building. When we have meetings or, you know, there's lots of times where I break guys down in the tunnel. But for me, that's more game day, you know, part of the show. But for me,

I've always been vocal. I've always been, you know, tight with my teammates. A lot of it is keeping smiles on people's faces, train hard, you know, all the time, you know, take it serious, but you know, also enjoy the life that you're living. And for me, yeah, I like to, I think doing the work and being in early, that type of stuff can speak a lot more than what words can. So actions for me, I think, you know, all known as just,

hey, have a routine and stick to it. Your quarterback, Jalen, is just really good at kind of like presenting him, saying he feels like he's been in the league forever just the way he carries himself. And he's so good at it, Lane, that if I didn't know better, I'd be like, man, is this just guy so good at knowing exactly how he's supposed to sound? But I just remember with him at Bama and losing the job to Tua and the way he handled that, knowing it's a massive disappointment, but he's got a microphone in his face right after a game.

I was like, this guy's just different. He's just different in how he's able to kind of control his emotions and all that kind of stuff. What do you see for a dude that, you know, is basically the face of the franchise in a city like Philadelphia? Yeah, I think he's, you know, mostly mature. You know, he grew up around football. His dad was a coach.

So he's been around the game for, you know, a long time. And so he's seen, you know, what's good leadership, what's not, you know, what words need to be said, what actions need to be taken, you know, and he faces criticism because obviously he plays in Philly, but just the quarterback position in general is the most polarizing position in sports. But I think how he works, how he battles, he's gained a lot of respect from his teammates

and around the league. And yeah, I think it really started from that spot there with the national championship game. There's lots of guys you can obviously imagine they would have taken a different route if they got in the microphone. So I think it showed emotional intelligence, a maturity at early age.

And sometimes his quietness and his statements might be too little for people and they might take it as a thing of arrogance. But when you really get to know who Jalen is and what kind of person he is, he really cares a lot about his teammates, the game. And I think he has taken steps to really this off season, be more open to some of his guys. I think that's gone a long way, but he hears criticism. And for me, what I've noticed

through it all he doesn't he doesn't waiver there's never a time where I've seen him rattled or no really anything so very stoic and you know how he approaches everything and for me up you know that's how you got to be to make in this league you have to you have to bend when you have to and be strong when you have to. How hurt was he last year? I mean, he never, nothing was ever said in a meeting or anything. I think he took a shot, the helmet to the thigh. I forgot what game it was early in the year and I think he had a deep bone bruise. And so anybody that's had that that it's difficult to do a

lot of stuff with it as far as mobility and so yeah I think that may have hindered him early through midseason. Now speaking of playing her I remember there was one game was it I think you were we didn't know if you would be active the entire week it was a groin injury, right? Mm-hmm Yeah toward in Dallas toward both of them So, all right. I mean, it's just horrifying even to think about but then to play offensive tackle I'd noticed it wasn't so much the starting as it was the stopping right is that like how do you play with? both of your groins torn?

Well, I had the surgery and the initial weeks After were obviously painful, but once Or well, I'm saying after the tear not the surgery that I really didn't hurt as bad as what you think I think muscle started compensating and maybe Those muscles were strong in the first place. Obviously my groins are weak they tore so I had some compensation going on. I think the hardest hit for me was the first one against New York because that was the first time I had to be tested really from like a bull rush. You know obviously I was practicing but to take a bull rush with pads on and to feel that so So the first initial plays, it was like,

ah, okay, that's my testing ground. And so, yeah, I could feel it, but the New York game was the toughest game for me. And then 49ers didn't feel as bad. Super Bowl didn't feel bad. There was one play, it was towards the end. I don't know if it was the extra point. We went for two, but I went left and I just felt

Obviously whatever scar tissue started healing up just rip and I was I was going fuck man. If we go in overtime, it's There might be somebody going in and the Super Bowl is like a but the The New York game and then the Super Bowl's only times that I felt anything. The Super Bowl felt good the whole game except for the end of it, the two point conversion. The surgery, yeah, it was painful. Basically, they describe it as like you're getting a C-section. So a lot of respect for all the mothers out there

that had to go through that. But yeah, I mean, I wasn't in excruciating pain from really the New York Giants game on. It's like my muscles compensated, sounds worse than it is from a feeling aspect. I didn't feel it too much. So crazy to hear. The surgery obviously was difficult, but after the initial tear, it's like whatever was compensating,

I wasn't in too much pain. Were you about re aggravating in a WrestleMania no you know I think obviously I didn't want to be as I didn't want to be too physical out there and do something stupid you know I would love to but yeah let me just interrupt like because only because yeah right like I know you're not gonna get hurt at it But when that ass comes in, how does that happen? Yeah, it was you know something we obviously talked about for a couple years, but I Got the opportunity and Kels got the opportunity then

Kels had the idea to go to Monster Factory and try to Kelso had the idea to go to Monster Factory and try to film our week leading up to the wrestling match. So we actually went to Monster Factory, you know, learned the intros, you know, how to do our own intros, our own characters, how to do the ropes. And I think the first thing that popped off to me was that those ropes are steel cable. It's not like spongy springs that guys are spring off of. Those things mess up your back. So I was like, man, these guys doing all these years

and having to fill this. So much respect to them. And really, yeah, I mean, going into it, didn't know what to expect. Not a whole lot said, but got obviously a chance to wrestle Rey Mysterio and Dom Mysterio. So yeah, it was cool. It's one of those things that I always watched as a kid and always had admiration for.

So yeah, man, it's a big business. And yeah, they got to be on at all times. So it was amazing. I know that you're starting up the Mastermind Summit. That's in mid-July in Frisco, Texas. It's going to be 300-plus NFL and college offensive linemen. And you get a Hall of Fame panel and all this stuff. Like, what motivated you to try to do something like this

a little bit later in your career? Yeah, I think Vaughn Miller was kind of the genesis of all the, you know, getting guys together into one room and discussing ball. But for me, it was my partner now, Duke Maniweather, reached out after one of the top 100 interviews and said we should start something. Obviously, he trained guys in Frisco, has been training NFL guys for years. And our first year we had about 20 guys in, we didn't really know what we were doing, but we knew the idea and each year we just progressed.

We obviously got into better topics, the training, the nutrition, how we attacked the run game, the pass game. And then we started adding the Hall of Fame panel and guys that had just done it at the best of the best for anybody that's ever played in the league. And I think that attracted obviously college guys to come in and you can learn a lot from these guys

and gain a lot of wisdom in a short amount of time, but just having those guys in the room on the microphone and dial in how these guys tack the game. Obviously you can hear the intensity and passion in these guys voices and you can kind of understand okay I see why this guy was such a good player when you hear his mentality and really how he approached the game of football. But it's really just a tight brotherhood I think the O-line position is really unique because,

you know, we're all working together. We're all doing the same job. Not a whole lot of notoriety. So it's not a huge ego, you know, I think group. So we have, when you guys get in the room, it's like, you know, we've been watching everybody else on film and you get on this kind of like a long lost brother's convention.

You know, obviously you live in the lifestyles we watch your tape guys around the league week in and week out and so I think it's unique. It's a unique experience I think the timing is really good right before training camp to keep it fresh in guys minds so it's really really been cool a lot of fun. Okay multiple choice for you here this is an easy one. Toughest to go up against teammate or former teammate in drills. So we'll go with active guy Jordan Davis. We'll go Hasan Reddick or Chris Long. Uh, Jordan Davis, man. Tough guy to move. Uh, yeah, out of those three. Uh, if I'm just drive blocking,

pass blocking. Uh, yeah, as long as he's at DTAC, I'll be fine. He's running from 10 yards out at a four, seven, whatever he ran the combine, it'd be hard to stop. But no, I was, I mean, I remember going against Chris earlier in my career or about to go against him. I think he was injured, but I remember watching tape of him just annihilating guys. And obviously I think Hassan made me a lot better

just so there's different, you know, every rusher has a different style. So his lateral quickness is unique. And really, yeah, for me, I think it helped me a lot the past two years. But these guys kind of different stages in my career. Chris, I feel like got me a whole lot better. Chris and BG, it was who primarily who won against me in practice. And so yeah, I mean, Chris had a lot of strength, man.

These lower halves is obviously, you can see the Howie Long genetics. Yeah, just a guy that could run around you and then run through you. And so, and Andy played at a very high pace. So, but Jordan Davis, if I had to dry block somebody, it'd be very tough. So, because you have so many Georgia guys, and

this may sound like a stupid question, but I promise I'll land the plane here a little bit. But there's so many football players on a roster. You're all from different parts of the country. You all have different backgrounds, right? So then when you look at the Georgia guys, you're like, well, do all the Georgia guys hang around? And then as much as I, Chris was one of my favorite guys, but sometimes I think he

wishes he was from like Mississippi and not Virginia. And then I'll hear you talk lane. And all I can think about is like, granted, I wasn't going to be 300 pounds and as fast as you I'm like, what would the Texas version of me be? And there's also another thing that I've noticed as I've gotten older is that no one from the south really ever thinks I wonder what I'd be like if I were from Connecticut or Massachusetts But northern guys are really enamored with maybe it's too much Yellowstone. I don't know what's going on Like what would I be like if I grew up in Texas or would I just be like a? Shithead frat kid in the SEC, but his family came from like, EvanRude money.

I've just, whenever I think about the clicks on a team, is it tough geographically to break in at the beginning? I mean, I think initially just, you know, coming to league, people were kind of in shell shock, obviously that they're there in the first place, but you know, for us, I think it takes time, but really what I see, like far as people hanging out, smaller position groups. But, you know, for us, I think it takes time. But really what I see, like far as people hanging out, it's more position groups, not, you know, from the part of the region or from a smaller position group. So usually D lineman defense are eating

together. O lineman are eating with the tight ends and quarterbacks. But Chris was one of those guys that he would go to different, seemed like every male he would go to a different obviously group and that's what made him so fun but yeah that's what I noticed I think just in general football most most the time you're spending all your time with your position group anyway you know you're let out the meetings the same time sometimes the offense may stay in there an extra 30 minutes so that's that's kind of the reason to just because you're on the same time schedule yeah I mean that's that's kind of the reason to just because you're on the same time schedule. Yeah I mean that's that's the right answer but it is a great point about Chris very rarely have I ever seen a guy kind of jump from one

group to the next and everybody be excited. Yeah he was yeah just what you said he loves the I think he loves the idea of, obviously lives in Montana, but he loves kind of the, I think, mystique of the, obviously, the South isn't as populated, or at least the Western part of the United States. It's like 20% of the population, besides the coast where it has the most. But you just, I think it's a part of the world

where not a whole lot's going on. Yeah, you do have your people with status and money, but those are few and far between. So you just see ordinary people. They don't care about who you are or what you have. It's more of, I guess, how you treat a mutual respect thing. But yeah, it's pretty slow paced out here in Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, where Chris is at.

What I like about it is just you have more, I don't feel like you're obviously in as a confined space to some cities. So it's pretty free range, a lot more land. And for me, I love spending time outside, you know, fishing, whatever, but being outside is a must. Lane, really appreciate the time, man, and congrats and have fun later this month with the plan for everybody.

Back to work, but yeah, I know we're ready. Hopefully we go down to Brazil without too much trouble. Thanks, man. Have fun this season. Yeah, thank you. You want details? Buy. I drive a Ferrari.

355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.

Before we get to life advice, the email address is like advicerr at gmail.com. Little soccer talk. Whoa, I was surprised you, I didn't think you were watching the game. And I'm proud of you. I'm sad because it was a bummer, but it did seem like a lot of, and I don't mean this in like a, uh, and I'm proud of you. I'm sad because it was a bummer, but it did seem like a lot of, and I

don't mean this in like a bad way. A lot of the, like the casuals were really into that game and it's, and it sucks because we obviously sucked as a nation and the refereeing was a disaster. The camera angle was a disaster. So if that was your first dip into like, Hey, let me try soccer out. Probably wasn't great. Well, I don't think anybody's going to want to hear from me because I'm a Uruguay fan, but Copa games are physical, right?

You could say a little borderline dirty. Yeah, I would agree. They're they're tough. See, Caitlin Clark did again. Nice. She can smash across the head. Somebody's like, well, wherever these casuals don't realize how physical the WMBA is. This happens every night. That seems aggressive. That seems to be like a little targeted, I don't know. I was surprised that people were talking it up

as if they played well though. That seemed to be what was said on Twitter. Again, I don't know the game really well. I saw maybe two real scoring chances before garbage time when they needed two goals to get through. And it seems like I'll just, it seems like guys don't control the ball as well as other guys on the American side, uh, passes where guys are on completely different pages.

And just not a lot of moments where it felt like they were threatening, even if they had more possession or were positioned as it, like it just, I don't know, was it 85 minutes when it got kind of wild there at the end, because they were so desperate and there was more total chances, but it felt like maybe two real chances through the first 85 minutes of it.

And just little stuff where I felt like they just didn't control possession as well as you would expect from a team that I don't know. Like do people have real expectations that this team could do something in the World Cup? Well, that's the problem. And I'll just say to your point, they had one shot in the first half. Like they came out and they were flying around and they were physical and they were giving Uruguay problems. But at the end of the day, like there was no end product, there was no service to any of our strikers guys run an island.

I mean, the biggest issue, if you really want to get deep into it is I just don't think we have a lot of progressive pastors in the team. We've got a lot of like guys that play for decent clubs and play certain roles, but we really miss a guy who can kind of unlock a defense. We miss like, you know, Kevin De Bruyne is we miss, I mean, that's obviously insane. It's a world class player, but you know, they miss a guy like that who can kind of sit in the middle and ping passes and really threaten defenses. But to your point, the, the, the expectations versus the reality are, are, I

think most people like me who follow the team closely, enjoy it and have big aspirations for the team are still realistic in that, like we're not winning the world cup in 2026. If this team was to make the semi-finals, that would be the greatest achievement in the history of soccer on the men's side ever. Um, so I think like when people look at it and they're like, Hey, why aren't we, you know, we have this massive country, we're good at everything else. Like, why aren't we good at soccer?

The problem. I mean, there's a lot of problems. I think some of it is like the youth set up. I think some of it is just like, we're just not, we just don't have like the soccer DNA of a, you look at Uruguay, like though it's a tiny country. I think they have like 3 million people, but like, it's just in their blood. South American teams, you know, Argentina, Brazil, like they just, there's something that they have.

There's this type of player that they have that we just don't have or know how to produce. So the ceiling, like, that's why the last world this type of player that they have that we just don't have or know how to produce. So the ceiling, like that's why the last World Cup when they made out of the group stage, they should have, and then they lost to the Netherlands, the Netherlands are a better team than we are. So that's like basically par for the course. They did their job. It wasn't underachieving, it wasn't overachieving. And I think the thing for this Copa that I think even if you look and see the forest or the trees, yes, the results suck and we should have easily made it out of the group. But finally, we have something to made it out of the group.

But finally we have something to be like, this was unacceptable and now changes need to happen because this can't happen. You should never not make it out of the group and within a group of Panama and Bolivia, two teams that you are infinitely better than. So I think the expectations are a problem. We're not winning World Cups anytime soon,

but we are still like a good top 20 team in the world. And this is not obviously the way that we want to go out of a tournament that we're hosting, by the way. Hosting. Yeah, but it was just good to see everybody. Like, because I just think of soccer fans is every time I just peer into it's like, oh, this guy has to be fired now too. Where I think if you guys had a football team, like if you treated American football the way you treat soccer coaches, you'd want every guy fired on Monday. Like I cannot believe how often American soccer fans are just like fire him. Now it's not American soccer, but that's that's like in the premier league. I mean the guy who won the title with Leicester City,

which was the most improbable championship, maybe in the history of sports literally got fired the next season. Um, Jose Mourinho has been fired at Chelsea like multiple times that like after winning a title like it just that's the way the sport kind of is sometimes I don't know if it's like you lose the locker room faster in soccer than you do in other sports, but it just is the way the sport is. But for Greg Berhalter, who's the manager of the US men's national team, he's just, we're clearly regressing. He's clearly, there's something that he's not doing. The players and the players all like him, which I'm tired of hearing. I don't care if the players like you or not. Like, are you getting results or not? And he's not.

And you know, the world cup was fine, but I don't think anyone was like, Hey, we're really definitely heading in the right direction. And again, hosting the world cup in 2026, where it's going to be a big deal. If you're not, not only you not going forward, but if you're going to lose and not make it out of the group in a Copa group, that's very easy. He has to go. I don't even think that's controversial Somebody checking in a little heat for

You both your boy here you all whine about the humble brag But Ryan has said several times that he's quote too honest. Is that a complete lack of awareness or just monumental arrogance? Seems to be a little pointed. Uh, yeah, I said I've said it. I've said it. I never really thought of it as being arrogant. I don't say it as like, maybe it can come off as like I'm complimenting myself. I guess I just look at it as like in the approach

and how I try to deal with other people. Yeah, I think some people think that you're like cold and mean and scary because I think you're a little bit honest and you're not afraid to say like when something sucks which I actually don't mind some people can't really don't really like that but because I know there's so many people that when they first meet you they their perception of you is like hey he's just like mean scary dude and then like actually Ryan's like kind of kind he

gave me a gift like this is incredible I didn't expect that from you multiple people have said that so kind Ryan Sneaky kind guy, you know, maybe a good friend sneaky kid guy Yeah, sneaky kid guy big time on the kids actually brought gifts to kids recently Don't even know random ones. Yeah Out in the street like Santa Claus in July you want a sip of this soda that doesn't go over as well Yeah, I know I think guy must not like us. Yeah, it's tough crowd. Yep. Doesn't work out. Let's see here. We had a few. Oh, okay. Here we go. Big name athletes setting 36 years old, data three, no impressive gym stats, but I can hang with 21

year old camp counselors in a game of ultimate frisbee. That's awesome, man. They run some routes in that sport and they lay out at the higher levels, they'll lay out. I work full time at a summer camp and a big name pro athlete is sending his child to our camp, which we're all really excited about. The consensus approach has been to make it not a thing

as much as possible and treat his kid along with interactions with the athlete himself and his family as normal as possible. 90% of me believes this is the level headed approach and totally the right move. But I've also thought, is it weird as hell for him? So far, uh, he's been here for check in pickup, which is awesome. No one has made any acknowledgement of who he is as far as I know. And obviously most, if not all of us do know who he is. Does this kind of thing make an athlete feel weird or is it just refreshing?

Should we cut the shit and let him know how pumped we are that his kid is at our camp? And the guy does share the athletes with me but I'm not going to say who it is. It's really funny. Do you think like real big athlete or just like a casual? He's a big deal. No, he's a big deal. I mean it's not LeBron, because his kids at his work camp.

But this is a really well-known professional athlete currently playing right now. I think the list is longer of athletes that would love to be just left alone. Because for the most part, especially somebody like this, wherever he's playing, the person doesn't think they're necessarily interrupting, but they're still kind of interrupting. And for him to have a place that's revolving around his son, or he said kid, so I assume son, that still I don't think will give it away. I think there's plenty of pro athletes

that have both sons and daughters. And he's there with his wife and nobody's pulling him aside to like talk about some game or this or ask a question or hey, what do you think or whatever. I mean, it's happening to him all the time. So if you can actually provide this oasis of him feeling normal, I'm sure he would love it.

Now, if you think it's a little weird that no one acknowledges it the whole time, well certainly, yeah, that would probably be weird, but it wouldn't be wrong. I don't think it would bother him. Like the only time, you know, look, there's a couple of guys that I've hung out with, but like I've told that Wade Boggs story that Bill hated,

where it was really funny being with him, and I think he was more annoyed that nobody was paying attention to him. And once people started realizing that Wade Boggs is on the scene crowd gathered and he was into it and he was awesome. He was really just good at whatever that is, but he didn't want to be left alone. He wanted to interact with people. And I think there's some people that really like it, but that's also at a bar one night.

Yeah. This is a setting matters. A kids camp. So if you feel like it'll be weird to never say anything, maybe at the end of the summer session, you or whoever the people would be, because somebody is going to say something at some point, okay, you're not gonna make it through the entire summer,

every single pickup without somebody finally being like, Hey, you know, can I get a picture or an autograph or ask a stupid question about the schedule or whatever? Um, if you personally, the emailer wants to say at the end of it, like, you know, really excited and thanks for having your kid here and everybody's rooting for you or whatever. Like that's a really nice thing to say to somebody. So it's not like he's going to be ignored. And at that point, at that acknowledgement that wasn't happening, which is weird,

because look, somebody is going to say something to the guy. But if you personally, the person emailing into the whole thing wants to, at some point do something, maybe just wait until the entire summer session is up. And last, you know, one of the last times he would see him at pickup or whatever, just give him, give him a little bit of acknowledgement and give him a compliment. And there you go. And then that was, that was your moment because that's the thing about the people on the other side that have the fame, have the recognition is they have to understand that like that little interaction is a big,

big deal to the people that care about it. It's a huge deal. Like think about all the interactions that you've had in your life where maybe it's the two or three times you ever met somebody famous or whatever. It's also really hard for the person who's famous to nail every fucking one of us, but it's, it's a moment for the person on the other side of it that they're going to think about, they're going to share with their friends, you know, whatever. Like I used to hear about how like my mom danced with Stan Musial at some fucking

country club thing. I mean, the number of people that brought that story up when I was a kid, again, my mother's not the same age as Stan Musial. I think that's the story. I don't know. I've heard so many different versions of it over the years, but that's sort of the whole point. It's like this simple little thing. There was some function or whatever. Stan Musial was there and this entire side of my family, Stan Musial, Stan Musial, Stan Musial,

just over and over and over again. And it was like a lifelong thing of bringing back this memory. It was also in the middle of nowhere, Vermont. So that wasn't like a hotbed for people rolling through, although Donald Sutherland owned property up there. So, um, shout out to the passing of a legend, but yeah, I, there's not much. Maybe you see Buster only every once in a while too, right?

He's one of the more famous people in Vermont, you know? Yeah, he's more, I think he's more Southern Vermont. Okay. Not knocking it, just two different worlds. Yeah, I would say, I don't want to be like Debbie Downer here, but it probably doesn't matter either way to this guy. It sounds like, I feel like the 95% of athletes, if they, if he doesn't get recognized dropping his kid off at a camp, he's probably not going to be bothered one way or the other. I think you had mentioned like the setting and the Wade Boggs

story. Well, yeah, like Wade Boggs was a guy who, I mean, I've never met him, but I've heard he likes to have a good time. He likes to have a drink and and he's, drink and be merry kind of type guy, right? I think most people- He was great, by the way. It sounds weird for me to describe it as he was way more into it once everybody realized that he was there. We were at a country bar in Southington, Connecticut,

okay, the Cowboy Ranch, right next to that residence inn, and it was locked from the parking lot. You're talking about Cadillac Ranch? Cadillac Ranch? Yeah, Caddy Ranch. Wow, what a spot. Yeah, only been there once and I grew up there. But no, I'm not even, this isn't an anti-Wade Boggs thing. Not an anti-Wade Boggs thing, but I think if you're talking about with your kid in a camp, like I don't know that this guy's like looking to be like, Hey, look at me. You know, some guys might, but I don't know that this guy's like looking to be like, hey, look at me. You know, some guys might,

but I would assume most people are good people. And it's like, hey, it's not, it doesn't have to always be about you, especially when you're dropping your kid off at a camp. I will say you should have just said something at the start. Be like, hey man, like big fan of the team, like decided to have your kid here. And that's all you have to say.

You could certainly do it at the end of the thing too, like you suggested, but if you had done it at the beginning, I don't think it would have been a big deal at all. It's when you start asking them for things, keeping them for more than like two to three minutes at a time, you know, can I get an autograph? You got tickets, like that's where you start to cross a line, but I feel like chatting them up and then maybe talk about

the kid a little bit too, like how, what activities they did, how good of a kid they are. And like, that's going to make the guy, that's going to loosen, loosen the guy up and probably make them want to talk to you even more if that's what you want to do. So I, I think you're probably just all you and your coworkers, I could see, be like, what's the right angle into this guy? It's like, just talk to him for two seconds.

It's to say hi, to say, Hey, big fan, man. Good to have you here. Yeah. But it's hard to do it and not be weird. I don't think it is in this case. I don't think I really don't. That's why I think Tommy Alter is so popular with people because he's so good at being around famous people and never acting like he's around a famous person.

And then he becomes friends with everybody. Is he working for the Lakers now? Hey, what? No, I don't. I don't know. Are you serious? I don't know. I'm just wondering. Like I, I don't know Tommy at all, but you know, it seems like he does a lot of cool things and that would be the next one, I guess.

Who knows? Who knows what he's doing right now? Okay. This is good. It's very specific. It's unique. We haven't done one like this. Was this an acceptable time to give another man an unexpected compliment? Five nine, 200 pounds, no gym stats, pick up comparison to a 2020 Warriors Brad Wanamaker. Not really someone you want in your team, but I'm a nice guy. I hit my free throws. One of my favorite all time player comps of all, like that's just that this guy nailed, he fucking nailed the essence. This is the closest to a bullseye.

I think I've ever heard from somebody. She's like, you didn't want to make her go to school. I forget. Was it well, Westford, Pittsburgh, West Iowa? I almost said West Virginia. Yeah. He was Don some teams and they were like, oh cool. Was it West Virginia? Pittsburgh, West, I almost said West Virginia. Yeah, he was donned some teams and they were like, oh cool, and he had them.

He could use a little bit more. He could use just a little bit more. But look, if he was a little bit more, you know. Former main Red Club, nice. There you go. Yeah, huge numbers of Red Clubs. All right, so to give some background, I'm someone who takes organizational tasks

like packing your car, decanting pantry items and spices into consistent containers. And most important, this specific email, using the grocery store conveyor belt space effectively. I try to put the heavier items first. By the way, that's kind of just a wake up call to the world. Heavier items first because easier to get into the bag and then whatever. I think that could be- Yeah, solid base. Yeah, but from my experience with Checkout Line, they just kind of bundle there at the end

and then some other guy comes over and then it's kind of just so, but this is, look, if we're trying to shave milliseconds off the pit stops here, you're doing a good job, all right? So puts the heavier items up first. I try to make it all around easy on the person checking and bagging my groceries. I also try to maximize space so that people behind me

can get to the belt quicker as well. This guy's fucking, this guy's on. I like this guy, yeah. Yeah, yeah, this really goes into an overall philosophy of mine that people tend to only think of themselves in these situations. If we thought even a little bit about how we impact others, everything will be more efficient.

I also believe this to be true when merging lanes and traffic, but I digress. Yeah, that was like driving from San Diego to LA with Danny Cannell. I was like, if everybody drove like this, Danny, we'd all be dead. We'd all be dead. You know what he was like?

He doesn't care, Danny Cannell. Yeah,, he was like, care, Danny could out. Yeah. Cause I was like, well, I forget who's rental car it was. And he was like, well, I'm driving. And I was like, I don't mind driving. I've done this drive because I'm driving. And I was like, all right. And then he's like, I'm going to get us there. And this amount of them like, it was like, I don't really need to get there. Cause I'm checking into the hotel and I don't really have anything to do. So he's like, nope. And then we went for a ride. And I was just like,

you gotta be fucking kidding me dude. Like, what are you 16? So anyway, he was excited. Just passing everywhere, breakdown lanes, right, left, zig and zagging it. I feel like he's a big pass on the right guy, yeah. Fast and the furious fucking Tokyo drift. Just family, you know?

Right. And the rest of us in the car just going, what the family, you know? Right. And the rest of us in the car are just going, what the fuck are you doing? Anyway, I just had a flashback. Yesterday, the guy in front of me at the grocery store checkout clearly espoused the same spatial efficiency beliefs that I do. I was impressed.

And I'd say he even learned a thing or two. Now I do, this guy's on. This is such a good email. It's a great writer too. Man, I hope, can he land this email to be one of the great emails we've ever received? Maybe in mankind, the history of. I'd say I even learned a thing or two.

This is so funny. Now I do this not for recognition, but because it's what I believe to be the right way to approach being part of a shared society. Tell you who wouldn't take a bottle of hot sauce at Chipotle. It's this guy. However, he might add, yeah, it's just sort of fine. And about the people he might bring his own plastic ramekins and then just divvy

up a bottle in his spare time and then think, yeah. Uh, however, I'd be lying if there weren't times where I would love for a stranger to say they appreciated my approach to the grocery store conveyor belt efficiency. Yeah, you're not getting that praise. So here's the question. Would it have been weird to compliment this man on his organizational strategy?

I would have appreciated it. But as you can tell from the email up to this point, I'm kind of weird. He was with his wife and I can only imagine that if the compliment did go over well, he would have had a moment in the car where she said, where he said, quote, see, I'm not alone. There's also the possibility that he says, thanks guy. And it's totally weirded out.

So fellas, what's your take? Weird, acceptable. What's the general consensus? I'm complimenting other dudes for non-traditional skills. Thanks guys. Love the pot. I Think you do it. I you it's it's your right You have to share this you care about this so much now what I say in general do this to other people No, but I think you specifically you need To let people know this verbally when you see it. I don't know how it's going to be delivered. Your writing is impeccable. So maybe there would have

to be a little brisker way of doing it if you were doing it in person. If you were just to say, hey man, juice up front, eggs to the side on the inside, so no reaching over, leafy greens on top of the yogurt. It's not going to dent those up. You're not going to tear your basil before it needs to be teared. Incredible. It would be so funny. Now, if he doesn't get it, he doesn't get it. But I don't even care about him as much as I care about you rewarding yourself for just your appreciation of it. So I think you should have done it

and it would have been amazing if it went that way and then he's in the car with his wife being like, see who you're married to? You could have married a pharmacist. But here you are. Yeah, you're married to this guy. This guy is kind of like me, to be honest with you. I'm really, really specific about things like, you know, obviously the grocery store checkout

line. I'm really specific about how you load the dishwasher for maximum efficiency and space. Like if we're just putting plates in the middle of the dishwasher, like what are we doing? Like what are we doing? What if I have to put a big pot in there? Then all of a sudden there's a plate right in the middle of the dishwasher, like what are we doing? Like what are we doing? What if I have to put a big pot in there? Then all of a sudden there's a plate right in the middle of the dishwasher. Now I gotta move that thing around.

There's little racks for everything to go into. So I guess I also am weird. But I think that it's good to acknowledge that you're weird and have the self-awareness to be like, yeah, I'm a little off. I have a little OCD, it's okay. But that doesn't harm anybody. So I actually am with this guy.

I don't know that I would have said anything to him But I don't think it would have been weird at all for you to be like hey man Like what you're doing give it up simple something simple as that, you know, hopefully it doesn't have to be like you guys are gonna exchanging phone numbers or anything So I yeah, I think it'd be totally fine I don't see an issue with that at all and I actually respect that, you know guys that load the dishwasher correctly You know put their shopping cart back, you know, grocery store checkout line, help the personnel, put all the heavy stuff at the bottom.

Those people are good people in society. Maybe I'm biased because I try to be one of those guys, but I think those you need those guys. They're like glue guys for society. What if you were to watch it? Exhale hands on the hips and reach over small counterclockwise circle between his shoulder blades and go, I see what you're doing, man. You're an artist.

Well, we don't, we can't touch people. That's it's 2024. We don't, we don't touch strangers. Come on. Even in the checkout line, acknowledging greatness. Definitely. Especially in the checkout line, especially there. So no, but a nice, a nice, Hey man, keep, you know, keep doing you good stuff.

Just that's fine. So you, you think, you think there's a chance cause this guy was so good in front of him that he could just make that eye contact and they would be known. They would both know. Yes, I would know. I would know if somebody, if somebody said that to me after I put all, I don't know all the, if I put the orange, the OJ at the bottom and all the bread at the top. Keep doing you? Yeah, I don't know. I definitely wouldn't touch him. I'll tell you that right now.

I'll tell you that right now. Because that could go a whole other way. Go to the wife and be like, can I hug this guy? That's one of the greatest displays of unpacking onto a grocery belt that I've ever seen. Your husband is a great American. Vince Vaughn could get away with it. Yeah, that's true. That's true.

Vince Vaughn could hug a stranger and then check that line. Yeah. So not a long list. It's not a long list. Paul Rudd, another guy probably could get away with it. Jonas Valance Unis. No, probably not. Probably not.

What? Although if your kid, if he shows up to your summer camp with a kid, say hi to him, you know? Say hi to him. Okay, that'll do it for us. Thanks to Oregon. So Rudy, check out our YouTube page, the Ryan Russo podcast, bring her and spot her. and older. 18 plus in D. DC, and present in select states. Fandual is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under agreement with Kansas Star

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