The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Danny Green on the Simmons-Harden Trade and the 76ers’ Playoff Outlook, Plus Why the Russell Wilson Trade Really Went Down

Episode Date: March 10, 2022

Ryen opens with his thoughts on the Russell Wilson trade and why the Seahawks were ultimately OK with letting him go (0:32). Next he chats with 76ers guard Danny Green about how the team dealt with the Ben Simmons saga, what it’s been like playing with James Harden, and how he thinks Philly stacks up in the East (8:59). Finally, Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (41:05). Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Danny Green Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

today's podcast danny green from the sixers he's going to go deep with us on all the ben simmons timeline stuff and ben's return to philadelphia and the sixer season in general russell wilson i think everybody was just over, and that's why he's on another football team. Life advice, including some updates on other life advice. So get excited about that. I'm going to talk about my good friend, Russell Wilson. The trade happened a couple hours after we taped on Tuesday, and I've been able to see all the reaction and everything, and I'm just going to talk about it right now.

All right, the deal. Russell Wilson, 33 this year, 34 in November. He's got two more years of contract in the 20s. Great deal considering the top quarterbacks now are about $40 million. Denver has had 10 quarterbacks since Peyton Manning. The trade itself, you get two firsts, two seconds, a fifth. They get Noah Fant, the tight end, who I really like. They get Drew Locke as well.

Shelby Harris, a DN, is 30. Actually played all of his games this year and then coming back the other way is Russell Wilson and a pick back to Denver. I like to trade because it's Russell Wilson. Despite, as I've mentioned numerous times, I don't think there's a bigger gap between somebody that I've enjoyed watching

and just listening to more than Russell Wilson. It would be, the only thing that would be worse is if Skip Bayless got 28 a game for the Celtics. When I look at Russell Wilson, the quarterback, this is a no brainer. It really, to me, is a no brainer. Now we can get at some of the statistical stuff and say, well, you know, you want to dig in a little deeper, we can do it. I actually feel like we can do that almost with any quarterback, except for maybe a couple now, because Wilson statistically has had a bit of a drop off since the second half of the previous season. And then he had the finger injury this year, which is actually a big part of my opening.

I get to a little bit later. So yeah, like he's got the worst QBR of his career this year. All right, whatever. He averaged about 450 rushing yards per season, had 183 yards rushing in 14 games this season. Usually that does start to drop off a little bit, but at 33 going into a 34 year old season, the way these guys are playing, the way he takes care of his body, he's an absolute stud of an athlete,

which we already understand. Him being really good for another five years is a very likely outcome. And it's even more important for a Denver team that's in a division with Mahomes and Herber and Caro had a bit of a resurgence himself. So you can spend all this time hoping to draft the right guy,

hoping you get somebody. They've tried the retread thing with, hey, Case Keenum was pretty good there for a year. Let's try that. Oh, that didn't work. Hey, we've got a motivated Joe Flacco. That didn't work. We looked like I thought they had something maybe with Trevor Simeon. That didn't work.

Remember when Trevor Simeon was almost untouchable in the trade market? They even had, they brought Bridgewater in. They had Rippins, was was it nephew that was out there? And then Drew Locke, who had a couple moments, because like everybody now that plays quarterback in the NFL, you'll have like Sunday where you throw for 323 in a pick, and you're like, oh, you may have something. And then you kind of don't,

because a lot of guys are still capable of putting up big numbers. It's kind of like NBA scoring now on a bad basketball team, where you're like, oh, that guy had 26. You're like, yeah, he's not that good. So to solve that problem with Russell Wilson and the fact that I think market-wise,

two firsts, two seconds, maybe we can get caught up in the three first things that other quarterbacks have gotten. But, you know,

this league trades three firsts for somebody that we've never even seen play just because they're a draft pick and we are always in love with, especially when it comes

to athletes, we are always in love with new instead of the known. in this case it's the known and it solves a problem here that's almost a decade long so i love it for denver but why would again seattle do this now shilka potty the athletic who i really like we have on the show all the time he brought up some stuff and like i said you can kind of pick at numbers and find a way to argue against a lot of quarterbacks. I saw something the other day where somebody was trashing Kyler Murray, and I thought,

okay, fine. You want to find some bad Kyler stats? You can find them. You know what I would look at if I were Arizona? Hey, did we suck for a long time? Do we have a quarterback who we took number one, who has been in the MVP conversation back-to-back seasons despite kind of falling apart there? And yeah, he was terrible in the playoffs against the Rams. Isn't that a little bit better than your first down QBR or something?

I think that sometimes we can make it more complicated when the simple answer is that, yeah, I think we have a solution now to our problem at quarterback, and that's what Denver did. Now, some of the bullshit, let's get to that part of it because we can't help ourselves. The reports that this is what Russell Wilson wanted, he only wanted Denver, I don't believe that. Now, he may have wanted Denver because he trusts Elway.

It's an awesome city. It's a great fan base. I mean, it's an incredible city. Anyone that's ever played there or lived there, they're just like, this is great. It's almost underrated still, despite how many people seem to be moving there all the time.

But a year ago, we had that weird story about how Russell Wilson wasn't asking for a trade. It was that he wasn't asking for a trade. But if you were going to trade me, here's a bunch of cities that I would go to. New Orleans, Chicago, Las Vegas was involved. And I think what it was and what I had heard is that his wife felt like she could be a bigger deal. They could be a bigger deal collectively in a bigger market in Seattle. I don't know that Denver necessarily solves that problem. So maybe it wasn't as important now. Then the story about how Washington actually potentially made a better offer. Maybe he didn't want to go play for Dan

Snyder. I don't think that's a really hard thing to believe, but I don't think that it was only Denver, but that's part of the Russell Wilson package. It's the marketing package of every single sentence. Everything is crafted in a perfect way so that he's hopefully hitting a 10 out of 10 in every single statement. The problem is, is it becomes exhausting when that seems to be the structure of everything you're sharing with us publicly. We don't feel like we ever really get to know the real you, and that's why I always find his interviews nauseating. But I also think it's exhausting to have that be the face of your franchise. And I think that's what happened here.

I do. I think that's why they said, you know what? It's not about stats declining. It's not about getting two firsts and Noah Fant in a couple seconds. It's about, this guy's been kind of pissed now for a little while. There's evidence to prove this. There's another big piece on the athletic going back throughout this entire timeline. Mark Rogers is the agent for Russell Wilson.

He went to John Schneider a year or so ago and said, you know, we'd like to maybe kind of explore going another direction, not seeing eye to eye with Pete Carroll anymore, a little disappointed about the front office. Russell Wilson himself implied that the offensive line isn't doing a good enough job for him, which was kind of like a rare departure for Wilson to even express any negativity about any one on his team.

And that he wanted more say. And then I think, you know, look, I think the star quarterback always wants a little bit more say until you realize, you know, no one really wants to listen to any of these guys day to day because it's not really the job. And if you don't do something when the quarterback tells you, hey, will you do this? It's even worse than just sort of ignoring them. So this stuff had been bubbling up, been bubbling up a lot. And apparently Schneider told off Rogers,

the agent, and then Rogers went public with all this stuff to try to start to lay the bricks of the foundation of finding a way out. And there's also something that happened this year that's very specific. Whenever you look at some of the Russell Wilson content, if you can make your way through it,

there's sometimes like a goal of presenting himself as someone who's capable than just mere mortals. And be honest, this guy's crushed it. Doubted at NC State, gets drafted, middle rounds, takes over the gig, wins the Super Bowl, makes another one. He has been one of my favorite, like I've said, one of my favorite quarterbacks to watch. I usually argue him for the top five. I don't know. It's so crowded now. He's probably not there now, but you get the point. So I can understand anybody. It's kind of like the Isaiah Thomas thing. If Isaiah Thomas is a bit prickly at times, it's pretty understood because Isaiah Thomas,

again, who's playing for the Hornets now, has had to put up with a ton of shit. So I get it. There's part of that that I'll always kind of accept. But for Wilson, I think he kind of saw his role as a football player as a temporary step to whatever that next thing is. And that can be really frustrating. And when you go back to the hurt finger, he came back for the green banking. And I know that I've heard that the team was more like, is this because you want to prove you can play through injury? Or do you want to prove

that you're somehow immune to normal human beings timetable for this kind of surgery? And that's what he kept saying. Like, oh, you know, I'm unlimited. The doctor said this. And I said, no, we're going to do it this way. And he was going to do it that way.

And I think it pissed the team off because it felt like it was more about him proving that he could beat some timeline, even if he wasn't healthy or ready. And by the way, he was terrible in that game. And they weren't very good down the stretch. And that's what I think happened here. You can tell me I'm wrong.

I'm willing to believe I'm a little bit wrong here. But why do you trade a guy like Russell Wilson for this package now when he's still under contract for two more years? You probably get something close to it next year. You still have a chance for the playoffs, I'd imagine if you're Seattle, why would you do it now? I think it's because they just got tired of it. And I've got to be honest. I don't think that's hard to believe. Danny Green of the Sixers joins us. I was worried, man. I was watching you the other night and I thought, oh no, his finger's fingers all messed up like a vet doesn't cancel a rookie would be like i'm not doing this podcast no i had none i was gonna cancel because of a finger honestly i would have kept playing

or allowed me um but they didn't want the tissue to rip open again and tomorrow um i think listed as out of questionable because another situation of letting the tissue heal it uh it was uglier than it I mean it hurt it hurt but it looked worse than it kind of felt I would say yeah right because it was like you were you get hit and whatever I could hear the announcers going and then you were just you were in the back immediately which is never a good sign so look there's a million questions I can ask you here. I'll try my best here to not be repetitive because we've all been fascinated by the Sixers, the story, everything that's gone along.

So what's this season been like from the starting point of the uncertainty to Ben being in and out of the conversation to then the trade happens? What's the first half of the season been like for you and your teammates? It was a rollerco ride man it was a lot of ups and downs so we didn't know what to expect um you know we kind of wanted to we were last year we thought we had a great chance of making the finals um i believe that if i was if i were healthy um that would have helped but for sure i think we would have made it but you, you know, we were right there.

And I feel like we had everybody back and healthy that we could have did it this year. So we're coming in with a chip on our shoulder and the mindset of, you know, we're running it back. We got a good group. We were number one in the East. So, yeah, let's see what we can make out of this thing. And, you know, then we weren't sure how it was going to go with Ben.

We weren't sure if he was going to play. That happened, like, toward the end of the summer, closer to season time. Then we're like, okay, well, this is a waiting game. We're going to see if he shows up or not. We figured he'd show up and just not play and sit out or just wait to be traded. We didn't know how it was going to go. But obviously, Joel's playing an unbelievable level, playing well and felt like he had to carry more of the team's back.

Tyrese became who he is now, you know, the emergence of a young star. Had to learn a lot, was throwing a lot at him. Had to figure it out. We all had to figure out how to play out of position. Tyrese had to play in the dunker spot some. You know, the offense was falling a lot differently. So it was frustrating. But, you know, the offense is falling a lot differently. So it was frustrating. You know, obviously we came in with a great positive mindset.

We had won some games. We started eight and two. Then we started losing some games. We went two and eight. And it became real frustrating. We had guys out with COVID and injuries. And, you know, we didn't have Ben. So it was a, you know, tough time.

And trying to guys figure out, trying to grasp it. Going from last year being number one in the East and winning games, even without guys being in. Also, some guys getting the ball in spots they're used to getting them in. Myself included. I had a career-high three-point attempt last year. This year was not even close to that. And in some games, coming in, coming off the bench, not playing,

not knowing what the matchups are and who's going to do what where, it was confusing and frustrating. And then we weren't sure what was going to happen toward deadline, trying to see. To me, I thought we would never get a guy like James Hart. Once he was there, we thought he was locked in because we were like, who would we trade Ben for?

There's only guys we trade him for, guys that people don't want to give up and you know we got lucky to where he became available on the market and then it changed a lot of the narrative for us for the rest of the season i don't know if you can answer this honestly but would you guys actually debate different players that were rumored as if like, Hey, that would be a good trade or I don't want to do that one. Um, we'd actually throw out some ideas out there of what would happen or who we could get, who would we get,

who would you trade for? Um, cause we knew Ben wasn't happy there. So he wanted to find somewhere else and we're like, all right, well, who can we get for him? Uh,

we played a lot of different scenarios. Um, a lot of us, we did joke around, not some of us like, you know, I'm probably going to be in that package. We won't be here. It was good seeing you guys, that type of deal. But yeah, we just kept locked in and focused on what we needed to do.

We did have some fun with playing GM scenarios. We figured out, which some of us might be, but none of us are the GMs and don't make these decisions. But if we were, what would we try to get? Who would we try to get? And we also, you know, had some fun with seeing

or talking to each other throughout the year and coming together on the plane, but also joking about us probably being a part of the trade. You know, some guys lay off, probably be gone too, you know, if that happens.

But, you know, it's part of the business. I promise the whole interview won't be this, but I two other quick ones did you ever try just like have to have a heart to heart and say hey ben like i've been around a long time let's talk about this let's fix this come back i think we all tried at different times uh to reach out so yeah that time where we were supposed to we were supposed to fly to supposed to fly to la before the season where training camp started to talk to him and i was going back anyway it was my last weekend and i have my house there so i guess the other guys had other group of guys to that cancel but they just weren't going to be coming because the team that we're going to set up something for us all to go when they heard that he wasn't interested in having that meeting,

they kind of just let the plans die out. But I was going there anyway, so I did reach out. I don't know if his number had changed. I think his number might have changed at that point. I don't know. But I reached out on a personal level and said, look, man, I mean, we can turn this thing around. You know, let's just sit down and have a talk.

I'd send a couple of text messages different times throughout the couple of weeks of seeing where he was at. I hadn't talked to him in some months. The last time I spoke to him, I think I wished him either a happy birthday or a happy 4th of July

or something like that because his birthday is in July. And then from there, I didn't hear from him because I was checking on Joel in free agency, checking with Tobias. I talked to most guys

throughout the summer and I was checking with him, but I hadn't heard back. And then, of course, the rumors were out there then you try to check in with him but um the last few times that i reached out before he showed up i had uh reached out via text to try to have a sit down and talk to him and so he just never got back to you until you saw him in person yeah i didn't yeah i didn't i didn't get a response i think he might have changed his number at that point were you guys pissed when he showed up to the practice? It was like, all right, he showed up, but he clearly was doing it.

No, nobody was pissed. I mean, people were surprised. We didn't think, you know, he made it seem very much so. Just like, Darren, put your seatbelts on. This may take a while. And he made it very much seem like, put your seatbelts on. I'm not showing up. I'm going to stand on my ground and make this trade happen.

So we did not think that he was going to show up. So when he showed up, we were shocked to see him. I think a lot of guys were happy and excited to see him. Like, what's up? That type of deal. I don't know if he didn't give up that same energy of being, I guess, excited about it. But it is what it is because he was in a situation where he wasn't mentally ready, healthy, didn't want to play. Things weren't going the way, I guess excited about it, but it is what it is because he was in a situation where he wasn't mentally ready,

healthy, didn't want to play. Things weren't going the way, I guess, he planned them to. He was trying to get traded before the season. But he came and he did a couple days of training camp and that's the media, what you saw on the media. And then after that, I think he

was kicked out of practice and hadn't been with the team since then. So where were you when you found out the deal went through for Harden? I was at the facility. I had just said goodbye to Drum. So Drum had just left, and I was putting on my jacket and clothes and about to head to my car. Furkan came in and said, you know, the trade happened.

We got Harden. And I was like, okay, who do we give up for him? And they're like, Ben, Seth. I was like, damn, Seth. And he's like, and Drum. I was like, Drum? Like, wait. And he's like, and two picks.

I was like, whoa, okay. I said, that's a lot, but he's a great player. I mean, he's worth a lot. But I was like, damn, we lost Drum. Now we need to find a backup big. And obviously, we're going to miss Seth. Seth's a great two-guard,

great scorer, shooter. But having James is going to open up a lot of things. And then we're like, honestly, I'm going to be here for some of those picks. Who knows? I think one of them is 2027.

You're probably not worried about that right now. Yeah. We're not worried about the future. We're worried about right now. So it's like, all right, cool.

We got what we needed. I was like, damn, I really wish we didn't have to give up drunk, but we're lucky enough to get DeAndre on the market. So, you know, he's a great,

you know, backup center. You've gone up against Harden, you know, I'm sure numerous times, you know, you weren't always in the same conference, obviously,

but what is it about seeing it every day? What is it about him that you see every day that you've learned that maybe you didn't know about him his work ethic um you hear a little bit about it to see some of these guys operate some of these superstars they're all different um but you know if you hear a lot of the stories of Harden he likes to party like this and that um not it's not really true. It's not like he's a part. He's not out there like that. He is in the gym and he's working

out, probably overly doing it a lot of times. I'm like, save some for tomorrow. We have a game. I know you're a little younger than me, but this is year 13 for you too. We're not getting any younger. We're only getting older. Save your body. You see him and they have footage of NBC Sports

Philadelphia or the cameras of crew are following him and you see him doing carrying sleds or running with a bungee cord on him. He's doing a whole workout and then getting shots up after. He's a workaholic, man. I did not know

that about him. I didn't know how much of IQ he had, how serious he was about the game. I just thought he was a great he's a, he's a workaholic, man. I did not know that about him. I didn't know how, how much of IQ he had, how serious it was about the game. I just thought he was a great one-on-one talent, but he knows the game very well. I've noticed, and I always thought this was a bit of a struggle for Joel and I'm a huge Embiid fan. All right. But it's, I think in today's game, it's harder to just go to the post and be like, get us that end of a playoff game bucket, you know, four minutes or less because they're going to run a double. They're going to kind of run different doubles at him. And I think sometimes Joel gets dumped on because it's like, oh, cool.

He swings it through and tries to get through all this traffic and he loses the ball. And you're like, well, okay, but do you see what's happening here? And I think sometimes it could be lack of spacing. I think sometimes it could be, you know, a point guard that's totally like locked in on setting up the entry pass to him. Cause I think that's been a struggle. I think even times when Ben was there, sometimes it wasn't, it wasn't always that smooth, but now I would say even specific to the Chicago game, cause I've been trying to pay attention to kind of some of the things that you're doing. And it's almost like those first few weeks, you start to evolve more and more where people feel comfortable. Like you're running some old school, like two man

side of the court stuff now too. Like I'm noticing it where I'm like, they're running some old school two-man side of the court stuff now, too. I'm noticing it where I'm like, they're just running a two-man game and keeping three on the other side. And if it's spaced out with you, or obviously maybe Tybal isn't somebody who thought traditionally stretch the floor. Tobias can hit shots,

Herc can hit shots, Niang can hit shots. It reminds me, at least some of these early glimpses of it, I don't know if this is what you're going to do in the playoffs, but are you constantly still with Doc and the staff just trying to figure out ways to tweak how you can always have these two making the decisions? I'm not really in those meetings, man. They may throw to me defensive stuff. Dan Burke will come

to me like, what do you think about this? This and that, but offensively, they don't really come to me. I'm not really part of the coaching staff, but sometimes I'm there. Yeah, right. I'm there to help, you know, get some messages, help guys, you know, be in the right spots and understand. We did do a lot of two-man game with Seth and Joel. You know, our system, you know, we have some parts of our system are a little old school.

I think with James, it opens up and changes a little bit more, the dynamic of that. But, you know, we did leave a lot before James got here. We leave a lot on Joel's shoulders to make the right play. And it was whether he should still try to score for double team or kick it out. And, you know, he just started to begin to trust us more. You know, even if we're missing shots, you know, if the double team comes, he was playing the game, getting deep seals, getting to the rim.

But now he's rolling, but also kicking it out when the kickout is there and at the right time and finding guys to where it keeps the defense honest and balanced so they can't just keep doubling or they can't just go right away. They have to be hesitant because we've got a shootover. Our guy, Joel, fine. So, yeah, but with those two on the floor, I think it's pretty easy for them to figure it out.

James is a high IQ basketball player, great point guard. He's going to get us in sets or get us in positions to where it makes him effective and all of us to be effective. Now Tyrese can play off the ball. It just makes him extremely dangerous. It makes it easier for us guys around him to just be ready to catch and shoot. I was worried about Maxie because you just know how much isolation there is with Harden and his style.

It makes a ton of sense too because the actions that he has. I think that's a false. I think people think that he's not an ISO player as much. He's a hooper. He adapts to a scenario, to a situation. I think in Houston he did a lot of ISO ball, but I think because he had to. In Brooklyn, he didn't do all that. He does it sometimes in the clock if you need a basket or trying to get a three.

But most of the time, he's a pick-and-roll guy, and he's going to make the right play. And people, I think, misconstrue that he's going to kind of put everybody else on the island or just one-on-one and have everybody else watching. That's not the type of basketball he plays. As I said, that's one thing a lot of people are starting to learn now. Yeah, I especially think with the action of Embiid that you have to respect all the movements that Embiid,

he's not just a Capella roll guy, not knocking Capella, but you knew you could always stay back. With Embiid, it's like, all right, if you keep doing that, then he's going to figure you out and kill you from the mid-range. But the Maxey part of it, it's still, I was looking at it, like, look, he's just not going to have the ball in his hands as much with this. But then I think back to Kentucky and one of the cool things about watching him quickly were that I like guards that, you know, at times it's like, look, it's going to be my possession. You're going to play off of me.

That's what I've always kind of liked about CJ and Dame, even though, you know, we knew it was Dame's team at the time. But like CJ was good off the ball and they could kind of coexist. And seeing Maxie now, but these numbers are insane i mean he's not going to keep up this kind of three-point shooting but what well he's like 60 something percent i think since harden showed up uh what is it about maxie that that we would know if we were around him like you are every single day that you wouldn't know i think a lot of those numbers i mean it's hard to keep that up regardless of who you are but because the fact that james on the floor he doesn't have to operate with the ball.

It allows him to just run. He loves to get up and down. He loves to get to the rim. But he's a lot more open. So that's why he's knocking down. They shift off him. They go under. That's the only way to stop him from getting to the rim.

But because of those aspects of his game, it allows him to take his time and catch and shoot for three. And also with James and Joel, he's able to catch. Even Tobias is a lot more open than he thinks. He's not used to being that open because of the attention those guys draw. But James and Joel, he's able to catch it. Even Tobias is a lot more open than he thinks. He's not used to being that open because of the attention those guys draw. But Tyrese is a workaholic too. That guy had to force him to stay out the gym.

I'm like, bro, you're playing 40-minute games. This is before James got here. I'm like, you need to save your legs. I don't care how young you are. That's a lot of minutes on anybody. You've got to take your days off and relax because we're going to need you tomorrow. We don't need any injuries coming up. He's one of those type of kids. He's great, positive.

I don't think anybody else would be right for the position to be able to play with Ben out and playing for Doc with so much just thrown at him to be able to handle it the way he did. A lot of guys would fold. A lot of guys would take it negatively. A lot of guys wouldn't be able to take on that type of guys wouldn't be able to insane take take

on that type of pressure or to be able to perform the way he's performed with the same positive attitude so he was the perfect fit for for us and you know for the situation the scenario give me your favorite mb story uh just getting to know him you know you've been there a couple years maybe your buddies being like hey what's he like i mean we get a glimpse of it that he's he's a fun loving guy but i think he's become it kind of sucks for him because when when they look when they've lost then people get on his case about his personality and it's like until you win it's kind of like the dirk thing we had dirk on recently i was like you were soft and then as soon as you want to ring you weren't soft anymore automatically even though you're basically the same player but give me But give me one of your favorite Embiid stories. You're getting to know him.

You know, the first year, he wasn't really opening up and out of sight of his shell, but it was good to, you know, be around him, learn how he operated. I think the biggest thing, he loves old sports. So he, I wouldn't say he's a gambler either, but he likes to take on gentlemen's challenges when it comes to other sporting or just basically cards.

We play some cards, and that's where you get to know each other. So on the plane, that's where I've got a chance to know him better. This past year, I didn't play the cards last year, but this year we played quite a bit of some card games on the plane. It's where we get a chance to actually talk about personal things and learn about him on a personal level. And he's opened up a lot more. He has his fun.

He likes to joke around. He's a big goofball, man. When we play cards and we talk about life and other things, it's pretty fun to see. He likes to poke at you. He's one of those guys. He's going to challenge you, see likes to poke at you. You know what I'm saying? He's one of those guys. He's going to challenge you,

see what type of heart you have, see what type of competitor you are. He's obviously a troll. And he does that in all aspects of life, even when he's talking about other sports, other people's teams, other colleges, or even he's playing cards. And he's either winning big or losing.

He's going to talk trash to you and see if you're going to eat their skin. Is there anybody that he gets really up for to go up against? Is it Giannis? Is there somebody like when you know that game, regular season matchup? I think there's a lot of guys. There's a lot of guys he gets up for. And that's all the top guys.

Giannis is one of them, of course. Rudy Gobert, I'm sure. Jokic. All the top bigs that they consider or a guy they think is a defensive player to your camp. It could be Bam. They say he's a great defensive guy. He can be like, all right, he's a defensive

player to your camp. See what he's got. He likes to take on challenge from anybody that's got any good name or anybody that's got some type of edge, I think, that the media thinks or the coaching staff thinks they have an edge on him. It seems like

he's trying to get Carl Anthony Towns to retire whenever he plays him. They used to go at it, man. So they're both competitors. They respect each other now. Obviously, sometimes it takes a fight. Sometimes it shouldn't take something tragic to happen. But the things that

Cat went through during COVID allowed them to rekindle they because originally they were friends to begin with from my understanding i could be wrong don't quote me this but from my understanding i thought they were cool with joel just likes to troll and likes to compete and you know that on the court go at it and they got into a fight and I guess, you know, whatever the bygones be bygones, so be it. But then, you know, something like that can bring guys that are enemies together when you see, you know, the world or

families or people that you know in your fraternity going through something, even if you guys aren't on the same page, it allowed them to kind of, you know, now they talk, they speak, say hello, you know, not saying they didn't before, but they're definitely on a different wavelength now than they were prior to COVID. When you look at the East, and, you know, I've made this argument numerous times, like, there's a lot of teams I really like, but I'm not sure.

I mean, even Miami with the seed has missed their top three guys for over, I don't know, 25, 30% of the season. You have Milwaukee that feels like every time I watch them, I go, okay, they should still feel like the favorite because they just won. And they would argue low because they're just missing pieces all over the place. And you've had your own challenges. Brooklyn certainly had theirs. So I think the easy answer is, oh yeah, we're ready to compete with anybody because we see everyone else as equals. But do you have any sense, when you guys are talking about the East,

I imagine you probably argue about it, just like we argue about it, because there's still so much uncertainty even as we're getting close to the end of the regular season. I wouldn't say argue about it, but we definitely, we're aware, we're cognizant, we understand, we respect everybody, but we do know it's kind of wide open.

And we do think that we're one of the better teams in the East and have a really good chance. We see how the matchups go. We talk about, you know, obviously we first got James. You're like, you know, this James and Joel duo might be unstoppable.

What would teams do to try to stop this? How are they going to try to guard this? What teams have the capability or the potential or the personnel to even stop this pick and roll? When Joel's rolling to the basket or James is coming up to pick with him, you got to pick your poison. This guy's going to get a layup floater or a three.

Joel's going to be rolling to the basket. You got to foul him or get out of his way. It's tough to stop that. You got somebody big enough to protect the rim, finish the run, be able to guard both. You're going to switch on to James and be able to guard Joe on the post and also catch him at the rim.

What teams are able to do that? You know, there's very few. But so we believe that we're one of the better teams in the East when we're healthy and we're playing our best basketball. We don't think that there's anybody we can't beat. But, yeah, we have our, let me say, debates or arguments, but we definitely have our breakdowns, our GM talk where we think like, okay, what can we do here? How do we do this?

Or what do we need to beat this team? Or this team is good or this team is not as good as they look or seem to be. They really can't beat us. I'm not worried about them. Or this team will be a rough matchup in the first round. Or we'd rather see this team. Either way, you have to see the better team, so it don't matter when.

But yeah, we talk about those things quite often. Who would be the best GM out of the guys on the team? Oh, man. That's an interesting question. That's a tough one. We have a lot of high IQ guys. Yeah, who's the most on it where you're like, oh, all right, good point, or you always seem to be right. There's a lot of guys IQ guys. Yeah. Who's the most on it where you're like, all right,

you know, good point. Or you always seem to be right. There's a lot of guys that have good points, different times. I think, you know, George Yang is very smart.

High IQ has decent points. Sometimes Joel is pretty good. Um, he's pretty on it. Good amount of times. He has his opinion. It was very strong opinion. Tobias is very smart,

understands what's going on and how, how things work. Um, trying to think if there's anybody else outside of who's the worst, then it's really what I going on and how things work. Trying to think if there's anybody else outside of... Who's the worst then is really what I want to hear the answer to. You're like, okay, you're just wrong about stuff all the time. I wouldn't say the

worst. I would just say their opinion is in the minority more than his majority sometimes. It depends, but he also makes good points sometimes too. Probably George, maybe. Maybe George. i don't need tobias and george go go at it quite a bit and joel is usually the real ones playing cards um most of the time and actually talking about those type of things and i would say me and tobias are usually kind of similar on the same page george is usually on the outskirts uh joel

sometimes will agree with us it's it's it goes between us three a lot of times if you look back at the start of your career you know you can even go further high school huge deal unc and then it's always like a little tougher when a guy sticks around a little bit longer and then you're thinking oh wait like when is he is he going to be this pro and then the beginning of your career is obviously, I think you'd agree, very challenging. You're on the Spurs after just one year with Cleveland. And then you kind of find yourself a little bit. And we had Austin Rivers on last month, and it was interesting, which I expected him to say, you know, I'm at some ranks the number one high school player in my class.

I go to Duke, I score points, I'm a lottery pick, and now I'm regressing my second year. And all of a sudden now it's your role play or play defense and don't take any of these shots. How hard was it for you to figure out how you fit in? Because, you know, it's actually a credit to you that you adapted your game to go, these are the things that I'm going to have to do. And now, you know, you would say over the second half of your career, you became one of those coveted 3 and D guys that everybody seemed to want. Yeah, well, throughout most of my career, I've had to do that.

That's what's made it easy for me to adapt and adjust when I got to the league. Even in high school, I mean, I was very good, but we had a lot of great players on my high school team. I was never seen as the man. I'll get in the ball every time. I'll shoot every time. You know, I had to play my role on the team

and fit in and do what my coach asked me. He never allowed me to shoot 20, 30 shots a game. I think I maybe shot 15 to 18 shots a game, maybe 20 on career high, but it wasn't a bunch of shots. There's other guys that shot the ball too. I didn't take 30, 40 shots. I didn't take 30 shots a game.

And in college, of course, the same. I came in, I didn't start until my senior year. So that allowed me in playing around Tyler and then bringing in some of the top recruits each year. Ty, Wayne, Deion. We had five, six McDonald's All-Americans every year come in. You have to earn your spot. So to play with those guys, play around those guys, just adapt and adjust.

So it allowed me to see that at an early age in high school and in college to learn how to do that then. To know that in the next level, I'm going to have to do the same thing. I'm going to have to be able to adapt and adjust. What was it about the Spurs? Like, what was it about their approach, the staff and everything that finds a way, I would say consistently, it felt like there for a couple decades,

that found the way to unlock the best out of each player? Pop knew how to, he was, you know, all of their coaching staff was, you know, pretty much chess players. They knew the right ways to motivate guys or get the best out of them but they made it a very i wouldn't say militant atmosphere but similar to that it was a militant atmosphere where you obviously we had fun winning but you had to come and get your job done make sure you get your hours and did what they asked you to do and they knew what your strengths were find out what your

weaknesses are try to make those stronger but they knew your strengths and put you in a situation to where you can i guess showcase those things or just you know stick to your strengths or kind of just do your strengths on the court and you don't have to you know honestly have to worry but they put you in positions to where it can show or you just have to stick to your strengths basically on the court and it made it easy but we played basketball everybody got touched the ball everybody got to play european type style basketball they wanted humble guys first and so they made sure that you got your work and you did your job you know it was kind of a militant type atmosphere but they also knew how to mentally and emotionally manage egos to where

they made you have an edge or come out with some anger attitude whatever got to you whatever push your buttons to make you perform. They're going to find out what that is and make sure that, you know, they bring that to you every day. You know, some guys play better when they're encouraged. Some guys play better when they're mad. So they found out,

you know, what was the best ways to approach certain guys to get them to play their best basketball. That's what I've always heard about pop, you know, during the real peak years. And I would ask about it and this is years and years ago, because I was just always fascinated by it.

I'm like, what is it? And they'd be like this militant thing where there it's, it's us against everybody. You guys like, he gets you all pissed off and you're right. Cause some people respond to it. Some people don't.

So I can see how some people would have a hard time fitting in, but what was it like for you when you first experienced it, where you're like, wait a minute, this is totally different than every other place i wouldn't say totally different because coach williams i wouldn't say it was militant but it was uh some similarities you know and we had we got the same type of tough love we got you know pushed to a certain way he also i don't know if he did it purposely but he definitely found ways to get the best of guys. And it wasn't always in the most encouraging, loving way.

So, you know, I was kind of used to it being, you know, Carolina said four years with Coach Williams and then they'll pop. Obviously two different types of people, but similar styles of coaching and doing things the right way and, you know, being intense and motivating you in similar ways. So it wasn't that new to me. It was easier to adapt to coming from where I was

coming from in college. What do you think the Nets game is going to be like? I think that all depends on... I think it's going to be great either way. But I think it's depending on if he sits on the bench or not, it could be more hectic. But I think it's going to be great live games.

It's going to be fun. I wish I could play in it. This is one that I think everybody's circling on their calendar. But I think it's going to be an amazing atmosphere, man. Some good basketball play. So I'm excited to see it. Are you and your teammates surprised he's not playing?

I don't think anybody's surprised. I mean, not on the inside. Maybe some regular normal fans would be surprised, but I don't think any fans that actually watch the game study or understand or have been around Philly or been around long enough to understand certain personalities. But nobody in our organization was surprised, I don't think.

As Abhi said, I'd be surprised if he does sit on the sideline because I just don't think anybody would want to come to a game and watch the sidelines go to get that type of harassment. So we'll see what type of atmosphere it is. If he does sit on the sideline, I think it would be pretty hectic. Yeah, I was reading that story the other day about how it was strategic that they would have him show up. And then they could argue that that's how untenable the situation was because you know he's going to try to get some of his money back.

And I was like, oh, all right. That is next level stuff right there. Yeah, I don't know how that works. I don't really have much of a comment on that. You know what? Don't get in trouble. Don't worry about it. That's going to be interesting as well. I don't know much about the law, but I just know that

the opposing teams come in, they boo. They boo us. Everybody gets booed. Everybody gets heckled. It's kind of part of the job. But I don't know the law or what kind of stature. No, it would just be a grievance it would just be a players union thing it's about the fines

I actually did want to before I finish up ask you about that because Westbrook's going through it now with the Lakers you dealt with it a couple years ago in the finals the game 5 miss what was that like to have it get to that level where it would death threats to you and your family and get to that level where it would death threats to you and

your family and not to make light of it but you know gets the point maybe you can be dismissive of it until you can no longer be dismissive of it yeah i mean i just remember being when you're in it you're kind of not yourself you're not able to be yourself or you know it's just a strain on you you know mentally emotionally um i feel for him you know he's playing bad it's just a strain on you, you know, mentally, emotionally. I feel for him, you know, he's playing, it's a basketball game.

And to be, and I would say, you know, Philly fans are tougher, more, they're tougher to deal with more in person than internet. You know, LA is a more national scale to where all LA fans, not just in LA,

but all over the world are, you know, trying to harass you via social media, bullying you in every city you go to. We have a lot of LA fans in every town. So it's just more magnified on a social media sense. And, you know, kind of in person. So for him, he's probably going through it on both sides.

So it's rough when you're going through it, man. You kind of, I wouldn't say out-of-body experience, but I already know, like, it's hard for him to get back to a place where he feels comfortable being himself. Even playing his style of basketball because so much is on his shoulders, so much is on his mind, which is

a shame, man, because he's a great player. He's an unbelievable player. He deserves that. He's one of the top 75 for a reason. One of the greatest in history to ever do it. And, you know, it's not his fault that things don't go well. You know what I'm saying? Or things didn't match up or come out to what they expected to be. You know, he's still doing what he does,

maybe not at a level that he used to do in OKC, but he still, what he did in Washington, just because it doesn't fit. He didn't make those moves. He didn't say, you know, let me put this team together. He didn't put his team together. He was brought in to play with these guys, and sometimes it doesn't work out that way. And you can't

just blame, put it all on one person. And he's getting a lot of heat for it, which I think is unfair. And so even if he wasn't playing well, he's still a great player. And and top 75 end of the day people were disrespecting that that part of of his name danny green inside the green room is his podcast it comes out every wednesday and get that finger healthy i can't wait for the next game all right appreciate it man same um hopefully back in a couple of days.

You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could 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, I've got to share with you another bench save at Equinox recently. Saw this one coming from a mile away.

So, here's the situation. I'm getting loose, just doing a little incline on the Smith machine, which I know, save your jokes, but when you get a little bit older and you go heavy on the normal incline, you feel like stuff's just going to rip out of the socket. I don't know.

It's just an uncomfortable angle for me. So sometimes I do Smith and warm up if I want to go heavier. So I'm sitting and I'm watching a guy, and he's got twin fives on the flat bench. So 45 for the bar, a five and a five on one side, and then a five and a five on the other. So we're up to 65 pounds. And collars.

Double collars, just in case those fives get a little wobbly. It's like me in high school. Let's go. Yeah, and again, this is not a judgment zone here. This is, what our stance is very clear on this.

Our mission state, if you're in there and you're doing the work, nobody should be giving you shit about anything. So I was watching him. He was banging them out. He may have done 12 sets. And at one point, he's like, okay, this is light for me. I don't know what he does for a living.

He had an epic home over, but his girlfriend was there too. And I don't know if it's my old lifeguarding days just scanning the horizon something was a miss something and i watch him and he i go okay so this guy's banging out 12 reps of 65 here and he's not on the four set program this guy just go he's going to failure he's going to be there all day and then he said fuck it i'm going to throw on a couple 25s so i was like whoa he's going from 65 to 115 like this guy's really going for it i was like okay so maybe that's just an intense warm-up he gets he gets 80 so reps of of of 65 out and he's like all right now start let's start packing on the mass. And he brought it off and kind of held it. And that's when reality kicked in as he was holding it locked out over,

over his chest. Maintaining. Yeah. And he's like, this isn't going to go good. But my man went for that rep and that thing was never coming off of him. He'd still be there right now. And so I don't know why i did this asshole action hero move but i got up and threw my hat down

like that needed to happen and then i did step right over his chest, Iverson, Ty Lue style, and then while I'm straddling him over his body. You're facing him. You're facing him. Facing him. My groin is about his stomach area, and I one-armed it off of him. Oh, boy. And threw it back on the rack. Did you have to one-arm it and show him off?

I feel like you one-upped him there a little bit. I didn't go into it saying, I'm going to one-arm it and show him off on it that's i feel like you went up in there a little bit i didn't mean to i didn't go into it saying i'm gonna one-arm this guy but it was it was going bad and i i was like and i wished somebody else i don't know why other guys don't notice it but i i wish somebody else had seen it was pretty slow because i would have locked eyes with somebody else that would have been like yeah that was the most predictable thing that was ever going to happen in the state of California. So I one-armed it off him, rack it again, and

I give him a, hey. And he was a bit like, uh-uh, you know, but he was great about it. And I was like, hey, man, we got you, you know, positive because it's a horrible, horrible feeling. I had it happen to me when I was younger. You feel like the biggest fucking loser. Some guy you don't know has to because it's a horrible, horrible feeling. I had it happen to me when I was younger. You feel like the biggest fucking loser.

Some guy you don't know has to help it off of you. Yeah. And, you know, I'll tell you what, he was he went right back to twin fives. And I think he repped out another 50. So he found his comfort zone. You tell him like, hey, next time you're feeling this adventurous again, just like call me over. Don't don't go at it solo. No.

Don't be a hero. No, I didn't want to do it. But the problem is, is there's still the one guy that's the strongest guy in the gym, like easily reps 405, reps it. And he's just a really strong motherfucker. And he asked me to help him one day. And it's when I thought I had a sports hernia.

So anything I did that I pulled up in front of me felt like my my groin was ripping apart and so i was like hey i can't help you this is the one thing i can't do and he kind of gave me a look like huh all right i think you're better than me yeah like oh like i'm stronger than you you know that like because i'm stronger than you don't want to spot me and i'm thinking like no you don't want to help me get stronger than i already am yeah i. I was like, no way. I wanted to help. I wanted to be there for that. I would have been like even lying to you on the last one going, no, dude, I barely touched

it. Barely touched it. It was a good beers later. We could talk about how I barely touched it. Do we have something else that we want to do? Do we just do five minutes on Chet Holmgren? Because I watched both of the tournament games, back-to-back days. His first eight minutes against San Francisco, he plays drop coverage, shows on the screen,

drops defensively perfectly. A guy went left side, up and under, bringing it on the right side. He blocked it with his other hand after contesting it with his left hand. He then did a spin through the lane with the ball off a dribble, so not a full 360 dunk, then paused on a lane dive, dunked, then pulled up, hit like an NBA three, form was

perfect, then jumped a passing lane and led the fast break. We all know his body is weird. And I would admit there's a little hunch over this to him, which isn't really a word that I'm kind of like, why does he kind of move that way? But Saruti, I will pass the mic

to you. Your Chet Holmgren position today in early March is? Yeah, I mean, as a guy who Magic are going to be in the mix, dude. They're probably going to have the worst record. So there's a good chance they end up with the first pick. There's a good chance that they have to make this decision. I've dived into

the Chet thing a little bit definitely have watched some highlights and been like wow this guy's super skinny he checks off just about every like red flag box right skinny white guy from gonzaga uh the porzingis comp um you know what is he a center is it whatever but he fit me every time he fills up the stat sheet he's good defensively and i'm comparing to other guys in the class too. And I go, if you're talking about Jabari, you know, I've seen stats about how what he's got basically like he doesn't dribble. He doesn't dribble at all.

He's not a playmaker. I know he's good defensively and his comp is like Rashard Lewis. I just don't know. Do you take that guy with the first pick? So I lean towards Chet filling up the stat sheet. I know the body is weird. He also looks like a magic player. He just I just see him in a magic jersey, which probably might mean he's a bust. But I lean towards Chet just because I just sheet I know the body's weird he also looks like a magic player he just like I just see him in a magic jersey which probably might mean he's a bust but I lean towards Chet just because I just don't know that anybody in this class does all the shit that he does

and I'll deal with the body situation and hope he could just figure out playing center because I think that guy has obviously more upside than anybody in the draft and I just don't know I've heard a lot of smart guys talk about Jabari and why they like him I know Tate uh Tate Frazier loves him Kyle's guy but I don't know. I just worry about guys that can't play make if I'm taking that guy with the first pick. So I'm leaning Chet right now. I'm actually hard. I'm hard in Chet's corner for the first one.

I can't believe the Magic have this bad a record. It's great because they're actually fun to watch, but they're terrible. So yeah, so it's the best of both worlds. I mean now this is hopefully the last year, but if you get Chet added to that core, like, that team is ready to go. I mean, I'm not saying they're going to be like a,

you know, winning playoff series next year, but like, that's a squad if they get a guy like Chet in there. And I think he's a good fit for them too, man. I think he is, because they don't need another ball handler. I mean, maybe you could argue that Jabari would be good for the Magic

because he doesn't need the ball in his hands and he can impact plays that way, but... Jabari's going to be good at anywhere he goes, all right? Like, I think Jabari's the surest thing, but i don't think it's crazy to suggest that chet has the highest ceiling but no i don't be really hard it'd be really hard for me as a gm if i had the number one pick going you know if you get the chet thing wrong it's gonna be because hey this guy fucking broke down and i it's my long standing period i think some of these bodies have gotten too big for how amazing they move and that's why we have more injuries with some of these bigger

dudes, but I also think Jabari checks a lot of boxes and honestly the most frustrating part of his game is Auburn's guards ignoring him for long stretches. That's college hoops though, so there you go. And then you watch Bankero against you know, despite the North Carolina

game where they fell apart there at the end. I mean, he had stretches in that game where it's just, I can't wait for this draft. And I've talked to, you know, I've North Carolina game where they fell apart there at the end. I mean, he had stretches in that game where it's just, it's, I can't wait for this draft. And I've talked to, you know, I've talked to people that have said, hey, after number one, it's Ivy two. And I'm just like, all right.

Do you think it's team dependent? Do you think like, do you think there's going to be a consensus? Do you think it'll be chat once we get there? Or do you think like, based on whether the Magic, the Pistons, you know, Detroit, or I should say Houston, like, do you think it's going to be dependent on who has the first pick

for who goes number one? A little bit, but I do think the league... The reason people get mad about the mistakes, I think a lot of times, look, mistakes are going to happen in traffic. But what I'd say is that it's so hard to get somebody really special as it is that there are teams that are going to go, yeah, but we know who this guy is, and this guy's really good, and we love this guy.

But man, if Chet were to just put it all together, and he's going to fill out, just science, he's going to fill out, this is the guy that can be an absolute game changer. And that's why I would bet, I don't know, I was going to do it the other day. I was going to just start,, you know, it's so hard to get. Hey, can you send me your top five and tell me about one or tell me all

this stuff? It's too. It's still too early for me. The reverse of that, though, is true, right? Right. Too, though, because like if he busts, you go, oh, yeah, I mean, body type like what? Like I said, all the red flags that I pointed out before.

Like, I feel like either way you can convince yourself once we actually know if he's good or not, that, oh, this was a great pick or no, it was a bad pick based on what the evidence is. Yeah, no, I agree with you on that one. I mean, that's kind of like the Przingis thing. The reason why he went forth, even though other teams loved him, it's like, okay, but if I take

Przingis and he sucks, it's like, how could you take, yeah, how could you take him? Okay. All right. Life advice, lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. A couple follow-ups here. I think that are worth sharing with the community. The guy who left the eight-minute sex voicemail, he got the loan. He got the loan.

Nice. Wow. All right. Never now. Matt said it was never brought up, which he knows that's 100% chance that the guy listened to it and then proved the law. That was his theory. It was never discussed because that means he listened.

Another thing, we had a million people follow up. Millions a lot. Probably not a million, Kyle, but a million people follow up about the guy who was pissed about getting carded at 31 years old, I believe. And he had a couple of kids with him. A lot of people from the service industry chiming in saying, fuck that guy. They were upset. They were upset about me not understanding some of the bylaws. And I would, I I'll tell you, like, I've never worked. That's right. Yeah. I've never worked for a chain and I'm probably a little too influenced of the time of working mostly my years as a college bar guy although i did have a couple summers on martha's vineyard and it was incredibly

strict like we had to be really really strict about it so i should have thought of it that way a little bit but there were a lot of servers that go hey man check it out like we have whether they're called spotters or just people that come with a fake ID on purpose. One guy said there's a DEA people that come through his like tourist attraction area. Like a secret shopper or something. And then on top of that, if you're with one of these brands, like Applebee's doesn't fuck around, which I think everybody knew anyway, right? But when you go to these places, like that's the whole point. It's like they don't want to get busted.

And if they get busted, the liquor license. And then they said that some servers even get arrested. I mean, that would have been like the whole point. It's like, they don't want to get busted. And if they get busted, the liquor license. And then they said that some servers even get arrested. I mean, that would have been like the first time, the first one I read, I was like, all right, this is ridiculous.

And then I kept reading more and more of them that Kyle had sent in saying, no, no, like I've, there's somebody who got arrested here. Somebody got arrested at this other bar for serving somebody on her age with a fake ID. That was all a setup just to try to bust the place. Because we had liquor

inspectors and stuff, but everybody knew she went out once a month on Friday and didn't show up until 11. And sometimes she drank. So, you know. Disinspecting the liquor. Yeah, she would bust one place. Call it a day.

She must have had a cousin at town hall or something like that. So it wasn't the most locked in what a great gig you get to hang out in bars all day and then maybe maybe bust them or maybe just be cool we got in trouble at our house once she came by and she told us how she

mows her lawn and her tractor naked so we didn't really know where it was going yeah but we were like so does this mean she was like just have quieter parties, you idiots. All right. No problem. Okay. So, all right.

Good follow-up stuff there. We got a couple here. Brother-in-law with sticky fingers. Five, nine, 180. On most Sundays, we go to my wife's parents' house for cookouts and drinks. It's usually a great time. Yard games. The kids play with their cousins.

So on. I love a good cousin hang. I miss those. You know what I mean? Everybody's deep with the roster of cousins. My siblings and I, me like one kid. We like craft beer, but our parents don't, so we usually bring our own.

One of my wife's brothers, let's call him Frank, he's usually there. He's a beer drinker too. The problem is it's always our beer. Some context on Frank. He's a good guy, but he's definitely weird about money. He's in finance and earns almost twice as much as my wife and I. He's in his mid-20s, has little debt. He's already maxing out his retirement savings each year. All good things, just atypical for his age. When I read that one, I went, okay, that's good. Good

for you. Max out. Get those IRAs started, kids. Early 20s. Be fucking laughing at your buddies. It's just accruing wealth. All right. He only heats his house to 58 degrees in the winter. All right. Wow. And we've now pivoted to a different level. That's different. I love it.

All right. He'll refuse to run an errand down the street because he doesn't, quote, want to put miles on his paid-off truck. So this isn't even a lease situation. Paid-off truck. I remember there was a girl at ESPN, very attractive. And she was like, do you want to go to this thing in New York City with me? And I was like, you know what? I don't really like doing this after some experience

dating in-house, should we say? It's not always a great time. It's not so much the dating. It's when you're not dating and you still work together. but i thought you know what i go i'll i'll i'll head into the city to this event with the person picked her up drove her in didn't go anywhere and somebody was like she was over her miles and had to return her lease and i I was like, wow. Ouch. Wow. Fucking ouch. Wow. Incredible.

Again, I didn't think, I wasn't, my expectations were very, very low. But I was like, this is aggressive. Hey, do you want to go to this thing? Do you want to drive to the city together? Done. No problem.

Drop off. All right. See you around the shop. Somebody's like, yeah, our car was, her lease was due. She didn't want to pay for the extra miles. Okay. All right. So to sum it up in the email or he sees everything in dollar signs, it's happened repeatedly.

We'll bring a six pack and he'll help himself to a few. So we started just bringing two or four for us, but he still drinks a couple. He never asks. When my wife asked him to bring his own drinks, he did, but he still drank hours instead of the light beer that he brought. Jesus, this guy sucks. The 58 degrees thing. Once I read that, I was totally on your side. On another occasion, when she confronted him for drinking three of our four beers, he got defensive, citing a time when he gave us a few logs for a campfire.

Good trade. Fuck you, Frank. What's a cord of wood going for these days? That's probably what he said, too. I imagine it's with the lumber prices. You've been tracking that stuff. I hope, our guy says in parentheses, I'm not the snobby guy

that hoards beer. If someone asks, I'll gladly share with them. He doesn't, and it's starting to affect how much I enjoy the rest of the night. I'm stuck. I don't want to be possessive or react to something that's small in the grand scheme of things, but it happens so often that I think something needs to change. Should we stop bringing our drinks and just do sober cookouts? Some people can't handle stuff with the family

sober. If you're my family, nobody drinks at any of the things. It blows my mind when I'll be like, hey, what went on at Easter? He's like, oh, I got hammered and screamed at my uncle. I think that's normal. It blows my mind to think of my immediate family when we did see each other to say like, hey, what happened? I'd be like, oh, my brother blacked out, fucking screamed at my sister. Like, it's just it's it's an impossibility. sister like it's just it's it's an impossibility um so it sounds like you're like hey i could just show up and not bring drinks sunday it's overcooked out sounds like you can handle that other people can't i would think it's fine should we stop bringing our drinks and all right we already cover that one good stuff here should we continue ignoring knowing it isn't worth starting family drama should we throw down i have the pounds and reach but he has the quickness that's why he

pointed out oh wait excuse me this changes the entire email. His brother-in-law is 59180. Our emailer is 6321. Get her done! Normally I would say, hey, you're going to go with the brother. It's your sister, or excuse me, it's your wife's brother here. He's older, right? Is it worth it? Yeah. He said mid- mid-20s he's got to be older yeah he said the brother-in-law is mid-20s i'm guessing this guy's a little older yeah i would i would do something and i would do it once and i would make a show of it i wouldn't

fight okay but i would i would make a show of it like i would hook up a yeti cooler that's one of those six-pack ones and i'd put a sign on the front of it. Like I would hook up a Yeti cooler. That's one of those six pack ones. And I'd put a sign on the front of it saying, you know, you and your wife's name is beer. And just do an absolute like mental hazing. Fuck you to him in front of everybody else because he's wrong. There's no one that's listening to this right now. That's like, no, I can kind of see his point. All right. He's bringing his own cheap beer so he can drink your expensive beer. This guy is so fucked about the money thing

that he's leaving going, I came in with a $6 investment, had three IPAs. Those are about 18 bucks at a pub. I just made $12 in my head on that transaction. I'm up. And he's getting off on that. That's how fucked up super, super cheap people are about this stuff. And we all have friends that do it. You know, the bottle service in your twenties and thirties. And if you haven't figured out your life forties, where you, you're like, wait, somebody didn't kick in. And the guy know the guy who didn't kick in knows he didn't kick in, but he's kind of thinking like, wait, we got this amazing thing. I didn't even have to throw in a couple hundred bucks.

Then you're thinking like, Hey, this is per diem. It's free money. I'm going to get a hoodie at the gift shop. I'm going to do something to the airport I wouldn't normally do. I'm going to buy some AirPods. So this guy needs to be humiliated as strong, but there needs to be a reckoning because he's an asshole. He's an asshole. And again, if this helps

have them listen to this part of the podcast he's wrong he's wrong you don't get to go through life like you want to be cheap and max out everything in your life that affects you go ahead it's admirable more of us should do it but when you start to do it where you're like ahead of the game by fucking over somebody else and it's your family you're right to be annoyed because the annoyance chips are stacking up to the point you had to write us this email i would do something where maybe you put him in a cooler and you stand next to it when he comes over to grab one you just shout his name out be like hey he's grabbing one of our beers that's one like did you bring any oh you didn't bring and you can maybe laugh about it maybe it's a joke but it isn't a joke isn't deep down this isn't a joke so all right i've spoken enough kyle

i was gonna do the first of all it's not that thing where it's like i don't know is my wife gonna give me the eyes like his wife has already brought it up like this is you're already miles ahead of the part we were even wondering if you should do something the question is what the fuck are you gonna do because she's already brought it up to him multiple times and he's gotten defensive so it's not like she's like just don't we don't ever tell no you're gonna do something no you're gonna make it awkward yeah it's not that situation where it's like oh nobody tells frank no like it's not that she's already been like frank what the fuck you doing so i i thought it would be almost easy if you like name tagged his beer it's like all right we brought we

brought a sixer. We figured we could spare one for Frank. So everyone, this one's Frank's beer or something like, you know, you could put like a name tag on it or like the one, the one with the marker on it. We had to write Frank's name on his beer. He just has trouble remembering which ones he brought. So we, we budgeted one for Frank too.

Like it's, it's almost easier to, to do that as well. I just think, I think you have to do something and yeah, it's gotta be, he's the butt of the joke. It's not a terribly do that as well. I just think you have to do something and yeah, it's got to be, he's the butt of the joke. It's not a terribly mean joke, but everybody gets it. I think any version of that is good. He's that guy that,

especially because he's in his mid-20s as you were saying. Sometimes those guys, especially if you don't grow up with money, you're still kind of like, even if you have money when you're 20s, you're still like kind of like saving stuff you don't want to overextend yourself it's just kind of a habit that you're in but he seems like the guy who's like i have to win every transaction guy which if you have one of those guys in your friend group when it's like nickel and diamond bills and trying to like make money off of your

other friends bills and going out to dinner and stuff like that that guy is a shitty human being and absolutely needs to be put in his place. I'm with you guys. You got to confront him. It's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. It's more just like this guy needs to be knocked down a rung

more than it is about the money. So I would say find a way to... I'm wondering, what's he bringing? He's probably bringing Keystone Light to the party. What if you just didn't buy any beer and see what he did? Does he drink his own beer?

To bring his own cheap beer to show that he's like, no, I'm good, but now I'm going to drink the better stuff. Red flags all over the place here. Right? I mean, I'm sorry. I didn't know if you wanted me to answer that. You should use the bring beer to show what kind of cool beer you

like. Not to be like, well, here's some beer. Or you could bring the worst. How about this move? The worst beer. beer steel reserve go below what he's label red well maddie like red dog excuse me red dog now non-alcoholic oh duels of all duels in the party yeah let's get heineken 0.0 like yeah i wonder if yourself yeah does he know i wonder if he like knows the specific ipas or if he doesn't care like tell him maybe you buy him like a a six pack of something that's non-alcoholic and tell him it's like this really cool ipa and see how he reacts or the darkest wheat beer just

like cottage cheese yeah yeah newcastle some some honey cinnamon thing that they love in germany that you don't we don't quite get but when you're over there, it tastes good. All right. Okay. We don't have another life advice. We have something far more important. Kyle, Super Bowl fraud. All right.

Our guy's writing in. He said 6'7", 225. He knows who the Frolic Room fraudster is. Oh, nice. Our guy is a bartender. So we haven't said the guy's name. People have gotten the name right. We've had a lot of email.

People figured out who this person was. So he defrauded investors in New York in the 80s and 90s and changed his name around 2001 and then did the same thing in Maryland. He then got six and a half years of jail time in 2007 for Ponzi scheme. Here's a link to the article.

I can't find the picture anywhere. It's like he was able to scrub completely off the internet. If you want to send me a picture of one of your bars, I can confirm the age. Anyway, he goes, here's the point. In 2005, 2007, that time frame, he goes, I worked at a restaurant. I'm just not going to name it.

You know what I mean? We've already shared enough. Here it goes. And this quote art dealer would come in every day, literally every day and pound four glasses of wine. Then leave saying he had meetings with investors or clients. Normally he'd come in at 11 a.m. When we open, hang out for an hour, then sometimes come back later.

He'd buddy up to all the bartenders and servers and hung out with other alcoholics that work and drink there. He always tipped really well because we would only charge up one glass of wine, $10 check, $30 tip. So he could have run over someone in the parking lot. We wouldn't have cared as long as he kept tipping in cash. All right. I know some of you may not love that. I love the honesty with it.

Okay. So he always paid in cash every single time, not one credit card in two years. Credit cards, 2005, 2007. They were around. They were around. All right. So we're all degenerate.

So we get off work and he'd sidle up to our group and drink with us for hours. He was a smooth talker and seemed knowledgeable at different subjects. After hearing you describe him, Kyle, his behavior and mannerisms, I immediately thought it was this guy. He passed himself off as a high-class art dealer investor, but he really just seemed like

a lonely weirdo that wanted friends. Again, we were able to look past this oddness because he was funding our habits with his cash tips and we didn't friends again we were able to look past this oddness because he was funding our habits with his cash tips and we didn't know that we were indirectly taking grandma's 401k so i know there'll be a lot of judgment about this email just bear you got it this guy's not trying to say he sounds awesome with it he was younger he was bartending this guy tipped a lot all right uh he goes we stopped seeing him in 2007 and wonder what happened he just vanished a ghost a couple months afterwards we heard he'd been arrested and was awaiting sentencing.

And then we saw him in the newspapers. And he goes, one of the bartenders actually visited him in prison. Wow. So that's your guy. Any word? Any word on him? He hasn't been in. He even stopped going into some of the surrounding bars.

But, I mean, I was just in there a couple days ago and my guy's still behind the bar shout out to uh blade he still gets he still gets pictures he's like oh there he is he was on the street today and we all have a good laugh and uh we'll probably not see him and he's he stopped going to the the block the bars in a few block radius but um he's still he's still around i think he still lives around so i really don't know how this is gonna end i know how it's probably gonna end but uh maybe not with the frolic room specifically yeah some well i know somebody's been somebody actually did give him some money and uh we didn't even want to know how much it was oh no really but it wasn't for super bowl it was for something else and so i think there's like a couple,

there's a PI involved, like, and there's like maybe some people trying to, I think the cops were called and they were like, that's not enough money for us to really do anything. So I think they're trying to get, there's like stuff in the works,

but I mean, who knows? That's not great. Not great, Bob. Not great, Bob. I told you guys, I saw the not great Bob actor, right I told you guys I saw the not great Bob actor right we talking about Bob recently or yeah the guy that plays Bob oh wow

nice it took a lot I don't know what you think he is about like every time somebody sees him they say that exact line he's probably pretty annoyed by that at this point in his life yeah I would think I would think um he's probably pretty annoyed by that at this point in his life yeah i would think i would think um somebody else like do it do it do the thing do the thing yeah but he doesn't do the thing

pete campbell that's true he's just that's right yeah right so i just say not great i would um yeah bob benson and james wolk. James Wolk. I was thinking about this the other day. Would you want to be known as... So that guy's obviously famous for a very specific reason. I saw a video on Instagram of the Jake from State Farm guy and he's just Jake from State Farm now.

And that's what he's going to be for the rest of his life. He can't act in anything else because he's always going to be... It's like Flo from the Progressive commercials. Would you be cool with that? I'm sure they make a ton of money. But you're only known as one thing, Flo was a stand-up comedian.

Flo was a stand-up comedian and actress. And I actually think she did pretty well. And ironically enough, Flo was in Mad Men early on. She was somewhere. That's where I was. That's where I saw her. Right, right. She was one of the operators.

What about the first Jake from State Farm? That frumpy guy who just was like, I'm Jake from State Farm? He got the boot. I'll say this. I'll say this. I'll say this, and it's dangerous knowing State Farm's a sponsor. Is Jake from State Farm too jacked? People are asking.

The Smedium? Did it have to be a Smedium? State Farm's giving him custom t-shirts. Yeah, he might be a little... I don't know what to call... I'm not afraid of a small shirt, but I don't know if that's what I want out of my insurance guy. Like, wait, are you looking at my policy? Are you covering every angle? Are you keeping up to date with any of the stuff?

You seem real busy. Are you just doing buys and tries all the time? Yeah, I didn't say anything. I've imagined that old Jimmy Wolk here has had a few people say not great Bob to him, and it's so fucking annoying. And I did not say anything I didn't say anything I let it go now if it were

1.30 and he were out with other guys and we were with our buddies would somebody go up and be like hey how's the service and one of my friends screamed not great Bob you know like yeah there's a good chance that could have happened but this is the middle of the day go up and be like, hey, how's the service? And one of my friends screamed, not great, Bob. You know, like, yeah, there's a good chance that could have happened.

But this was the middle of the day. This guy was running his errands, waiting on a smoothie, just like I was. I was like, there's no way I'm going to do this. He's a really good actor, by the way. He nails that Bob Benson thing.

You just gave him a little head nod. You're like, you know, I know, I know the deal. Hey, 6'2", huh? Nice, buddy. A lot of people wish they were 6'2". Okay, that'll do it for the podcast today. Thanks to Kyle and Steve.

And make sure you subscribe to the Ryan Rosillo Podcast. Bring your Spotify. Sundays with Bill. We'll be back next tuesday you