The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Last Year’s QBs and Everything Inside the NBA Bubble With Malika Andrews

Episode Date: July 21, 2020

Russillo goes through Mike Sando’s "QB Tiers" from 2019 (04:45) before ESPN’s Malika Andrews joins the show to discuss the ever-changing NBA bubble (20:00), the arrogance of the Clippers (30:00), the Lakers’ hotel decoration controversy (43:00), Dwight Howard partying (47:00), and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

today's episode of the ryan rossillo podcast on the ringer podcast network is brought to you by state farm just like basketball the game of life is unpredictable talk to the state farm agent and get a teammate who can help you navigate unexpected I cannot wait to give you an unpredictable NBA game result. I don't have one yet, folks, but I'm telling you, no one's going to be happier than me, followed by State Farm, when we have one of those results, because it's going to be unpredictable and it's going to be real. Get a teammate who can help you navigate the unexpected.

Talk to a State Farm agent today. So we have a good show for you today. Malika Andrews is going to join us from the bubble. She's been there, I believe, three weeks already down in Orlando. She's going to talk to us about the different classifications for access, and then we're going to get some practice notes from her. She's been Milwaukee, Lakers, I think Toronto, checking on Boston, talked to her about Philadelphia as well. We're going to get to a bunch of the top playoff teams because here we go.

We're just about a week away from this stuff actually being real. The baseball ratings have been incredible. Is baseball back? I'm not going to say they're not back. And then I have something on my favorite, one of my favorite things. I don't want to rank it number one because we don't know how official any of these rankings are.

But Mike Sando, who's with The Athletic, worked with him at ESPN for a long time, did his QB tiers. Van Pelt and I used to do tiers with NFL teams, but Sando actually got real information where he pulls real NFL people. And I want to look back at his 2019 tiers because I was texting with Sando. We're to have him on hopefully right around when the new

one comes out because he's with the athletic now and it's something that I wish I did more of I think it'd be fun for all of us now you guys that don't work in sports you know going back and researching previous articles probably isn't on the top of your to-do list but I like to do it because you just go back and you don't do it because you just go back and you don't do it enough and you're like, man, that's what people actually thought. And this isn't even us.

These are the executives and what they thought about the different quarterbacks. So I'm going to revisit some of that stuff and then try to predict what I think some of the movement will be for Sandoz Peace. And I have his permission to go ahead and do that because I want to make sure we weren't biting any rhymes here. All right.

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We also will have a life advice pertaining to home improvements. A lot of relationship stuff lately. A lot of you guys are sending in the same life advice email. Hey, I'm dating somebody. I'm not sure if this is for me. Yeah, no shit.

Welcome to life. So there you go. I just answered all of those. Again, you can hit us up lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. Okay. The Mike Sando QB tier. I love it. I can't wait for the new one to come out. And I want to revisit 2019 and then try to guess some things. So let's go over all of the tiers, all four of them, from 2019.

I had way too much fun reading this. Hopefully you guys enjoy this as much. Now, a Tier 1 quarterback from the piece is described this way. A Tier 1 quarterback can carry his team each week. The team wins because of him. He expertly handles pure passing situations. Now, again, this is 55 coaches and 55, well, 55 total coaches and NFL executives voting on all of the starting quarterbacks. And if there's anything that I've learned from this exercise over the years is that these guys are just like us. stuff and they still see these players as as different as we see them which is really not surprising like it should be tighter you think these guys are going to be right about stuff all

the time but they aren't uh doesn't mean that we're the same as them it's certainly not the case but um you know even if you have a coaching job in the nfl you may think the quarterback sucks that we all think is awesome and reversed. Okay, so Tier 1 last year, eight quarterbacks. That's a lot. I feel like that should be a shorter list all the time. Aaron Rodgers had only two votes outside of Tier 1. So that means 53 votes for Tier 1, two outside of that.

Brady had three Tier 2 votes. So Rodgers and Brady, then Breeze, Mahomes. Mahomes actually going into last year had seven Tier two votes. So Rogers and Brady, then Breeze, Mahomes. Mahomes actually going into last year had seven tier two votes. He will not have one tier two vote. I can't fathom that would happen. Andrew Luck was tier one. Phillip Rivers was tier one. Ben Roethlisberger was tier one. And Russell Wilson, who I think is just too low to be at the bottom of tier one, was your last tier one guy. Roethlisberger, remember in 2018, he was a monster. Now, he barely played last year, technically two games. But in 2018, his touchdown interception split was incredible.

Completion percentage was great, career high in yards. And I think touchdown passes. And so he's going to be 38 this year. So I'm going to table that one when we revisit what I think will happen with some of these other tiers. Hey, what's a tier two quarterback? A tier two quarterback can carry his team sometimes, but not as consistently. He can handle pure passing situations and doses and or possesses other dimensions that are special enough to elevate him above tier three. He has a hole or two in his game. Tier two, Matt Ryan, who was tier one the year before, dipped down

a year removed from Shanahan. He had 13 tier one votes, 39 tier two votes, and then three guys actually voted him tier three, probably Atlanta fans. Carson Wentz behind him, 16 tier three votes. Wentz behind him, 16 tier three votes. Now I'm going to share a Wentz thing with you, which I think summarizes why so many of you watch pro Wentz people. Now, now I'm not positioning myself as an anti Wentz guy. My boy, Chris Long every week, you know, it was brutal. I mean, they had a couple extras from the last boy scout playing receiver for the Eagles towards the end of the year, but Wentz as impressed as I am with him, like if it's not awesome this year for him, I think a lot of people

that are frustrated about hearing how great Wentz all the time are going to go, all right, enough of this stuff. Like I understand how talented he is. And this quote, I think sums him up perfectly. And that's why you see all of these,

these quarterbacks talking about Wentz. I'm talking about the guys that are on TV now. This quote from last year, he's a one, an offensive coordinator said. We played them. He made four to five throws I really did not think he could make. He has great confidence, great stature, big arm, competitive. He gets hit more than he should, but he played young and should grow out of that. Andy Benoit, who we've had on, who we love his film breakdowns. He's taught us so many things. He loves Wentz. He puts Wentz, I think, in a group with maybe prime Aaron Rodgers, where it's like, hey, there's two guys that can make that throw. That specific throw, there's only two guys that can do it. And it's Peek Rogers and it's Carson Wentz.

So the other guys that have actually thrown a football for their career, like that's their job that are on TV now, I always think those guys are going to defer to Wentz being incredibly talented because it's fairly obvious the guy is incredibly talented. But I think the whole package needs to come together here for an entire season. And injuries are part of that, the knee and the back injury. But it needs to come together for an entire season. And injuries are part of that, the knee and the back injury. But it needs to come together for an entire season of him just playing steady football and putting up big numbers for everybody to kind of sign off on what I think all the eyes have shown people that have just fallen in love with Wentz and can't fall out of love

with him. OK, Stafford, tier two, the talent of a tier one. We all know this, but it's just kind of hard to put him up there in a tier one. There was one voter in 2019 that did put Stafford in tier one, and Sando even points out the piece that that guy's a notorious easy grader. Deshaun Watson in tier two. He had 17 tier three votes going into last year. That seems bad. Goff in tier two. I don't even know if he'll be in tier two this year.

He had one tier one vote. What? All right. Baker Mayfield. I would still put that in the TBD. That was just a year off, but everybody loved the Browns because they beat all these bad teams

at the end of the season. Let's look at tier three, because this one's fun. We start with Cam Newton at the top of Tier 3. Now, remember, he was coming off in 2018 where the shoulder was an issue. I still think some of the mistakes he makes are not just because of injuries, but let's face it, Pats fans, you thought the same thing, and now it's only because of injuries

because he's on your team. In 2018, he completed only nine passes, 20 or more yards down the field. So 20 plus yards down the field, nine completions, and only one touchdown on those throws. One touchdown pass, 20 plus yards down the field. Both career lows. That's not good. Now, I'm curious how much of a Belichick-Pats bump he'll get, or depending on when Sando kind of put this list together, because I don't know that it'd be as interesting with Stidham. I'd still have a hard time believing you just put Cam up to tier two, but maybe people will just because of Belichick. All right, who else is in tier three? Right behind Cam, it's Kirk Cousins in Tier 3, who should actually get Tier 3 tattooed across his neck,

like an area code. Fine with that one. Dak, Tier 3. He had one Tier 4 vote. That seems bad. Nick Foles, Tier 3. No problem with that. Jimmy G.

He'd been kind of up and then down again. 2018, he only played those three games. I'm, I guess it's Super Bowl, but I don't know. I don't know if they're going to put him in tier two. I really don't. I mean, I know where I'm leaning. I lean more towards tier three with him. who in years previous to this one had ranked as high as the very top of Tier 2. He might be in Tier 4 this time around. I'm serious. Benoit came on and talked about some of the things that Carr just keeps doing that are a problem. He had six Tier 2 votes, 47 Tier 3, and two votes for tier four, which is the bottom rung.

As I mentioned, in 2017, he was like at the top of tier two. And this is three different voters talking about Derek Carr. I thought this was all really interesting from the piece. Voter number one, he throws, these are all like different voters. Again, personnel people, coaches pointing all like different voters, again, personnel people, coaches, pointing out things they don't like about Carr's game. Quote, he throws one against the Chargers, fourth down, he threw the ball away, just gave them the ball. It was the darndest thing I've ever seen, and that drives Gruden crazy, and he misses way

too many throws. Voter number two, watch the last 2.30 of their game against Indy. He was just flinching in the pockets. The Colts weren't even pressuring. It was like he conceded the game. Voter number three, the Chiefs game. He throws a pick six and the guy Jared Cook is even running the route. What the fuck? His average tier in 17 was 1.9 and then 2.4 and now 2.9 now. Those are really specific things that people saw in film in 2018 that should make you worry about Carr. Flacco, check out this array of voting. Flacco, nine votes in tier two, 39 votes tier three, six votes for tier four. There was even a tier five magic voting here where he ended up not having enough people to even be in tier five. But Flacco was getting twos, threes, fours, and fives.

And then of course, like a lot of people, and I had heard, hey, Flacco's ready. He's mad. He's going to, nope, nope, not going to happen and did not make it happen. By the way, do you know where your Joe Flacco is right now? The Jets. I forgot too. Don't worry about it. Flacco going into last season was one of 16 quarterbacks with 60 or more career starts. I was like, man, that number seems low.

That's 16. That's half the league, folks. We know there's 32 teams. That's why you listen to this podcast, information like that. And I thought, you know, I bet you it's 16. That's half the league, folks. We know there's 32 teams. That's why you listen to this podcast, information like that. And I thought, I bet you it's lower. I went through it. The projected starters, 14 quarterbacks going into 2020 will have played or started 60 or more games. So that means there's 18 that haven't even started that many. Okay, let's stay with tier three as we almost finish up here. Andy Dalton, he had Tier 3 through 5 votes. Wait a minute.

No, he also had... Oh, Andy Dalton had a Tier 2 vote? God, that blows my mind. Here's a quote about Dalton. He's Tier 3, 365 days a year. What does that mean? I actually think he's had moments where he was really good in some regular season games and then prime time and in playoff games he wasn't as good so I think he's the opposite of that imagine like

hey Andy how you doing you know me Mr. 365 every single day I thought it was a really good like man football guy quote 365 days a year. He's a tier three guy. That was the whole problem. He wasn't. He was like tier 17 on certain games. He's like tier one other games. Finishing out tier three.

Jameis Winston, Eli Manning and Mitch Trubisky who actually received a year ago six tier two votes. Wow. Sam Darnold, Marcus Mariota, tier four. All right. You ready to get mad, folks? Therees, 35 tier fours, and actually had two tier five votes. The quotes were all over the place on him. But there was one guy that was really good. He's like, look, this guy's just a baller. He's different. He's going to win games and get out of his way. I was like, all right, that worked.

And the rest of tier four, Josh Allen, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Case Keenan, and Josh Rosen. If we just, I just feel like if Rosen were in the right system, though, I'm going to say that for 10 years, just to be funny. And I don't even think it's that funny right now, so maybe there's a stop.

Your tier one has to be smaller when this comes out. I don't know what you do with Roethlisberger. We're coming off two games, turning 38 despite the monster 2018. I don't know what you do with Roethlisberger. We're coming off two games, turning 38, despite the monster 2018. I don't think he'll be in it. Rivers is out. Luck is out. Brady's probably out.

And what do you do with Aaron Rodgers? I've been an Aaron Rodgers defender, but it is very tough when you dig into a lot of the stats that he's just not the same guy. Now, it doesn't mean he sucks. People that haven't liked Rodgers the whole time are like, oh, he's not the same. The negative Rodgers media members out there that have just been anti him. I always found that interesting. Like, wait, you always thought he kind of sucked.

And so now you're saying he's not the same guy. Like, God, he must really think he's terrible now. But the accuracy issues are real. He was 12th in passer rating okay whatever but he was 13th in football outsiders dvoa okay he was 21st in qbr where he was actually behind daniel jones ahead of brady but brady i don't know if he's locked tier one anymore. There's another number here that I found from this Bleacher Report piece where if you look at pro football reference, Rodgers led the NFL with bad throw percentage of 21.2%, but actually had an incredibly low drop rate, but a really high throwaway rate. So then you look deeper and he was off the charts great in the first quarter

and then sucked in the second quarter. And I don't know if that's mapping things out. And then once he freelances, the offense actually shuts down. I think the biggest anti-Rogers thing I could come up with was like, you're the guy that just doesn't want to practice ever now. And that was your big CBA thing like you've been around you're older you know what you're doing but you're going to think about like the other 16 to 2000 players that need to get some reps in but again look if we've learned anything about the nfl if you could say hey do you guys want to take less money and get yourself to the game sunday morning and you don't even have to like stay with the team in a hotel or anything like it we'll never practice like it's just one day a week it's like hosting Saturday Night Live

most NFL players would vote for that they'd be like yeah definitely that sounds like a great idea so Rodgers is probably still based on this voting like are 53 people going to change their votes so again Brady I don't know we know Luck's's out. We know Rivers is out. Ben, probably out after playing two games at 37. Wilson in. Watson in. I don't think Kirk Cousins is going to move. I don't think Goff is going to get any more Tier 1 votes. I don't think that Lamar Jackson is going to get a Tier 5 vote.

And I'm pretty sure one person will still vote Flacco at tier two. I know a lot of you guys are going, wait a minute, we've gone 30 minutes. You haven't talked about Miller Lite yet. Well, don't worry about it because during this time of social distancing, connecting with friends over beer today looks pretty different. As the original light beer, Miller Lite has always been there to bring people together in real life through Miller Time. Miller Time is a moment for people to come together in real life to connect over a few beers, but having Miller Time is tough when you can't be with your people. Everyone is in the same boat.

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but this piece of cardboard and I are getting pretty close, and we took a couple selfies together. So, you know, who knows? I'm not saying the cardboard's going to move in, but I'm not going to rule anything out. Everyone has a group of drinking companions they can't get together with, but Miller Lite is the beer that makes Miller time possible. Miller Lite is the original light beer that tastes great and is less filling, which means it won't get in the way of enjoying time with your people.

The reason I like Miller Lite is that I think if I were on a boat, whether or not the guy owned the boat or not, and I knew if he has a Miller Lite in his hand, he's got enough life preservers for everybody. I'm pretty sure that's true. I don't think there's any reason to think like, oh, wait, are they going to be, oh, he's got a Miller Lite?

Yeah, sure, there's plenty of Lite vests. Miller Lite, the original Lite beer. While you're home, enjoy a classic available for delivery today. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Let's talk some hoops.

Live from Orlando, she's one of the lead NBA reporters for ESPN. And she is in her hotel room post-quarantine, daily COVID test. Malika Andrews. The first time I had heard about your deal, Malika, Woj and I were chatting because I was thinking about going and then Woj and I were talking a little bit about what was up and he was like, Malika is headed down so early. Have you been there? How long have you been there? Because I think you were an early pioneer throughout this. I have already.

Like, I have to. The only thing that is keeping me straight on what day it is is when I go to get tested for COVID every morning. And they make me check that the information is correct, my name, my birthday. And it shows me the date. And I'm always like, no, that's wrong. It's not already July 20th. It's not already July 19th. I've been here since June 29th. So it has already been an eternity. And it's like,

we're not even, we're not even a quarter of the way there yet. Okay. So let's do a little of that for people that, that haven't read up on all of it. What is the day to day like for you and kind of expanding on how much that's changed from when you first got there three weeks ago? Maybe it hasn't changed, but just kind of take us through the entire experience. Well, it's changed a lot. I mean, when I first got here, I am now at the Coronado, where I will be for the duration. Before, when I got here on the 29th, I was staying at an off-site hotel for the first three nights I was there with other NBA staff and then one other reporter who was permitted to come

down early. And that feels like the wild, wild west compared to here, right? I mean, I could go to the gym. I could walk around to go to the pool if I so chose. I could go to the restaurants there. I just had to get tested every day. And then on the 2nd of July, when I moved to Coronado, that's when lockdown began. That was the four days to complete a week-long testing, returning seven negative tests. But that was the four days where they brought the food to my door three times a day at 8 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. They were bringing me not just one meal, but five because they didn't want to ruffle through all the food and have someone touching it and choosing which I wanted. So even though I don't like peanut butter,

I would still get the peanut butter and jelly option. And that lasted for four days with that daily testing. And then it feels like, gosh, it was so long ago. And then we finally got out of quarantine. That was two days before teams even got to Orlando. And so then we started to see teams arrive. I kind of was able to roam all over campus wherever we wanted to. And then a week later, that's when the rest of the media arrived. And then one week after that, when the rest of the reporters got out of quarantine, that's when they kind of shut down campus a little bit. So I can no longer just walk around in the lobby and say,

what's up to LeBron James. That is something that is much more orchestrated now. So it's become, every time I get used to something, something else changes. And then that is like the cycle that happens over and over again. So the way I understood it, and that could have perhaps changed, and this is when it was first kind of being discussed, and I think that was always the thing that I found.

I was frustrated on the NBA's behalf and that people wanted answers to these things that were impossible to answer. Like there's certain things that are constantly evolving. Like there are tier one media members, correct. And then there are tier two. And so the way it's been explained to me, like tier one is a very,

are you in tier one or are you in tier two? I'm in tier one. And at some point they shifted to calling it green and yellow which is still confusing to me which sounds nicer right it's like a stoplight i am green one which is the equivalent of tier one there are uh 20 ish people in here five from espn five from turner including producers and then 10 from other outlets around the country um and then in tier two you have the there can't be any sets in tier one so a whole lot of broadcasting sets any show that requires a set that would be tier two we have a couple of reporters coming down to report from tier two in tier, there is no in-person interaction with anybody. So it's only that group that's in tier one or green, if you will, that has interactions in person with coaches

that can actually attend practices that could sit anywhere near the court in games. Tier two, you can be in the arena, but you're up much higher and you're tested every couple of days as opposed to every day. Right. That's how it was explained to me because there was a chance it was going to go, but then it was like, well, if you're tier two, you can't talk to the GMs. You can't talk to any personnel people. It's not so much for me and the players, but I was like, all right, well, you know, as much as I'd love to be around the basketball, you, you can't, you're just not going to be talking to the guys that you know. So, you know, there's really, for you, it makes a lot of sense because you're a reporter. I'm not a reporter. I just would have been doing a

podcast in the morning after watching a ton of games. All right. So what is the access like now? Cause you, like we said, you have as much access as anyone on the media side of things. So what are the practices like? Well, it's, it's changed. Um, so like I said, there's no longer that organic walking around campus, just getting to chat with someone, running into someone, getting to get dinner with someone on the player's side, if you will, of campus. That's kind of completely been eliminated. So now what it looks like is I get to go to practices. I have to RSVP to which practices I will attend. There's a capacity of 10 people per practice.

So if you are not one of those 10, maybe you'll get it the next day. The more popular practice is Bucks, Lakers. I was at both of their practices today. You kind of file in along the side, and they ask you to make sure you're not on top of anybody else. But the actual talking to players, the rules are kind of fast and loose. I'm still getting used to them a little bit. You can't stop someone from approaching you, but you are discouraged from approaching people off of your area in practice. And I still, when I'm talking to players, it's a lot of it is

still through Zoom. So I'm standing behind the Zoom screen as a player is in front of it doing its media. It's funny to see them staring at the screen, listening to someone who isn't here ask a question. And then the moderator will say, Malika Andrews, who's on site, I'll be on their right. They'll turn their head. And then the moderator will say, well, what can you answer to the camera? And they are thinking, well, but it's my nature to look at her when she's talking off to the left or to the right. So it was the first day today on Monday of the week, is it Monday? There's some kinks to work out. There's some kinks to work out. day-to-day and let me let me at least start with because i know you had a piece up on espn.com how impressed are some of the people that run these teams that their priority is how well their team is doing but understanding what the nba just put together here in a very short amount of time well you know like one executive was one executive was quoted in the piece saying you know

it's a big expletive undertaking that they're trying to do. And in light of all that, it's actually fairly impressive, right, what the league has been able to put together, the fact that they are testing people every day, the fact that they've been able to, up to this point, yes, you know, this is still, things haven't started yet, really, have been able to keep the virus out of this clean site, as Adam Silver prefers to call it, over the bubble. So in that way, they're largely impressed. There have been small hiccups. There have been things like chargers for the proximity devices that are supposed to be

from here within 60 minutes of a person. Those not being delivered to teams. There's like little things like that, little kinks to iron out. There was no signage for the boundaries of what is the bubble and what is just the public um but by and large it's actually the most executives i've talked to have said it's actually running pretty smoothly it's almost like you don't want to you don't want to jinx it right now the teams themselves um it appears like i feel like this time off a lot of us that just talk about this league for a living and as i mentioned before on this podcast like it was it was this

it wasn't a hurry it was downtime it's like hey can i pick anybody else so how do the players how do the coaches front office whoever you've talked to how do they feel like this impacts the outcome if it changes it at all because i think from from those of us on the outside have wondered if this could give us an ending that we didn't expect where i still kind of default to like why am i going to pick against the better teams just because the location is different i don't think it's the location so much it's just the health and that's the same i mean that's the same in any season but of course now you have the added and that's the same I mean that's the same in any season but of course now you have the added caveat that health doesn't just mean not having a torn hamstring or a tweaked

ankle but it also means staying healthy and not having COVID so right now I'm looking at sort of the depletion of some teams I'm looking at the Milwaukee Bucks and see they don't have their starting point guard and they don't have one of the first players that comes off the bench Pat Connaughton either so if they are able to get them back which they expect to do then they're going to be or should be perfectly fine so it's teams like that and those same sort of injuries but then also coronavirus that I'm looking at when I'm thinking okay how are these teams affected you could get into an argument right about home court advantage whether or not that matters now that it's taken away you could talk about the philadelphia 76ers and how they just had these violent mood swings where

they're very very good at home and not so good away but i'm kind of with you ryan i i don't think it's going to be massively different just because they're in a different site these guys are kind of used to rolling with the punches it's much more about who's going to be on the floor than it is where they're playing i'm not there but it feels like every piece of lakers information is is i don't want to say it's like 2009 kobe focused where kobe was just mad at everybody leading to that win against the orlando magic but there's a very there's a seriousness i'm sensing from the lakers that is either them understanding the opportunity and lebron being like i'm not going to have any more opportunities knowing that lebron also it can be theatrical at times but like what are you sensing from the lakers that maybe is a

little bit deeper because you're around it well i think it's twofold i think one there was just a sense of things were kind of strange for the first couple of days here because there was this decision that the league and the MDPA needed not to address who is and is not in Orlando, regardless of the reason. They decided that's not something that they were going to readily share. And so the Lakers were a little bit on information lockdown because they're missing Marquise Morris. I think that was something that they didn't necessarily want the public to know for as long as they possibly could. So I think that lended itself a little bit to that lockdown of information, that tightness, that, you know, that's kind of what I was sensing from them. And then now going there today, I mean, of course, you have LeBron saying that he's walked in, that mentality, all of that.

I don't know that it's different, though. It feels like LeBron is gearing up for playoffs LeBron. It feels like it's the same thing kind of again, just this time with the caveat of who's there, who isn't there, is being added on top of it. And I think they took that kind of privacy that the league has said they should be implementing very seriously. And that was the vibe I was getting from that.

They were more closed off because they were trying to do this thing that they thought was right versus that they were trying to lock down because it's almost game time. I think that's still yet to be to be sort of discovered and uncovered. I can't wait though for the 30 for 30

that if the Lakers win this whole thing, it'll be the for the 30 for 30 that if the lakers win this whole thing it'll be the the privacy of right period right just right on the whole thing but just be like well it all started when we didn't tell anybody what everybody knew when marquis morris wasn't here and be like yeah that really set the tone uh the clippers i feel like and i don't mean this as a knock i I think they're arrogant. Usually arrogance is reserved for teams that have a resume. Individuals have a resume. Doc has a resume. We know what the roster is. But I think they're arrogant in this sense of like,

look how good we've been and we haven't really played together yet. So the Clippers feel different in that. Usually to be that way, to carry yourself that way, there's something I can point to, except I don't want to tell them they're wrong either. But don't you think maybe there's a little bit of taking the lead? Like the teams that I've been around take their cues from their stars. And Kawhi has that air about him. Don't you think?

Like he doesn't have to talk about it to be about it kind of. And it seems like that's sort of what what is seeped in in in the Clippers organization it seems like Kawhi is so good he is so good I mean that shot against the Sixers he is just such a good player and he doesn't have to say anything and he doesn't have to play all the regular season games to prove it. He just comes out and is like, yeah, you know what, I'll show you. I do think there's a little bit of quibbling, though, right? I mean, you see Patrick Beverly kind of coming out, giving his sauce everywhere.

So I don't know that I totally think it's an arrogance, but I think some of it just comes from Kawhi is just quietly good. So the Clippers can be quietly good because that's him. That's what he did last year with the Raptors. Why should they change anything now? Yeah, I'm not telling anybody that they should be doubting themselves, but it's just something I pick up on from them. I feel like the Clippers, like the staff, the sense I get is that that team is like, if we have everybody playing, we're going to beat everybody.

So we're not really that worried about it. Well, I also think there's a sense of if we have everybody, you're able to say that also when you haven't had everybody play and haven't failed, right? So you can, it's kind of like, that's, that's two sides of that same coin. You can, you can be saying that because you still have all these secrets up your sleeve. There is no telling whether or not it's going to be actually coming to fruition. But the fact that they have that, you know, we could. You guys don't know.

We could. So they're able to say that because there's no one to say, well, actually, what about this game and this game and this game? Because they still have so much up their sleeve to kind of throw out at people. So much ammo. Do you have any visits with teams that have made a big impression one way or the other? Is there something like when you immediately think about the practice, like, oh, wow, this surprised me, or that was predictable, or somebody that you don't feel like you didn't leave feeling that great about? I think a lot of people forget, and obviously it's a small blip on the radar that Giannis was injured right before this

this whole shutdown happened he tweaked his knee um and it's something where for Giannis he takes so many hits on his body throughout the course of the season that when it comes time for the playoffs sometimes Bud is like Budenholzer is strategically looking to where he can kind of give him a little bit of extra rest because he's just such a physical player. And Giannis the other day came out and said, yeah, I sucked at practice today. From the videos coming out of practice, from the shooting competition I watched them do tonight in practice,

it certainly doesn't look like it. It does not look like he missed a beat. And if anything, I mean, this time allowed him to get healthy and rest. And, you know, we saw the image of LeBron in the tank kind of fueling up. I kind of think you could put Giannis in the tank right next to him. But in terms of practice surprises, I mean, it's not so much the players. Actually, Ryan, the basketball looks, I'm sure it'll be sloppier to begin with because there's been a time off. It's everything surrounding the basketball that looks different. The actual basketball doesn't look all that different.

off. It's everything surrounding the basketball that looks different. The actual basketball doesn't look all that different. It's the strangeness of watching a SWAT team of five cleanup crew people coming through afterwards to wipe down after the players. It's the PR staff walking around and asking different coaches, hey, do you have to be wearing your mask around your chin right now or can you actually put it on? It's those things that are kind of jarring where covid meets basketball versus the actual basketball that looks different and then the question of i'm watching these guys completely entangled on the court just on the ground fighting for these balls and then when they get up and they walk off the court the chairs around the outside of the court are all set up six feet apart from each other and it's's like, but two seconds ago, they were just all on top of each other. So it's those things that strike me as more different and kind of raise my

eyebrow versus the actual basketball that's happening on the floor. Philadelphia. That team is hard to buy into when everything's normal. I can't fathom going, you know, I really like them in a completely different situation like this. They're just, you know, right now they're still like, Houston and Philly are those two teams where I go, for all the love that we have about potentially what they could be,

we're looking at two six seeds. You're not a little bit intrigued though? Just a little bit? Like they seem, like I said earlier they've just had these violent swings and I just am so curious to see and again maybe this is me being I like to be a glass half full person but maybe this is me thinking that way but I just am curious just how much that changes things for them in a way that I think could potentially be for the better. And then also, I mean, talk about health issues.

They have just had such a hard time keeping all of their guys on the floor. And I'm afraid to say that they seem to be all healthy right now because the way that the luck has gone for that team. It's one minute Benton's fine. The next minute his back is spazzing out. One minute Joel Embiid's fine. The next minute he's back is spazzing out. One minute, Joel Embiid's fine. The next minute, he's missing a couple of games. The problem for the Sixers is they have such a short window to lock this in. Eight games is not that long to figure it out.

But I am curious how much it's going to matter to them that they don't have these violent away home swings. Because that's the one team that I think has just been so clear that that's a pattern for them. And that's completely eliminated. We get some more thoughts from Malika here in a second, but first sports are back and you can find all the action on FanDuel. We've got baseball getting ready here very shortly and basketball starting July 30th.

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Download the FanDuel Sportsbook app to get started and be sure to sign up with promo code Ryan, R-Y-E-N, so they know I sent you. That's promo code Ryan. 21 or older, present New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Colorado. Offer ends August 2nd, 2020.

$100 max refund issued in site credit expires in seven days. $10 bonus issued on non-withdrawable site credit that expires on 8-2-20. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Colorado 1-800-522-4700. Indiana 1-800-9-WITH-IT. West Virginia 1-800- 1 800 gambler.net. One of the parts of the story that I really liked was just high school all over again is because different,

like we just know how teams are. They're not all the same. And some teams are like taking it to another level of decorating their team designated rooms where there was some controversy of the Lakers putting up too many decals that infringed upon the nuggets area. And then other guys looking at some teams would be like, I can't believe those guys have all that cool stuff. of the Lakers putting up too many decals that infringe upon the Nuggets area. And then other guys looking at some teams would be like, I can't believe those guys have all that cool stuff. So what has stood out in the battle of who has the coolest staff to set up the team rooms?

I mean, poor Nuggets, man. They already are missing so many players. And then their team room is being encroached on with photos of lebron james but i mean there's the meal rooms which is you know the heat have put up photos of their families and of the players and the bucks have put a pinball machine in their room which they don't even go to that often because it's so far away from their actual hotel rooms the furthest right they have the bucks have the furthest because i'm just trying to factor that into the playoff outcomes that they have the furthest team. All the way out there.

I mean, definitely Vegas should take that into consideration. I'm not a betting woman. Don't do anything I say about betting. But then you have the Raptors. And the Raptors, it's not just their media,

their eating room across from where they do media after practice. It's not just that. You open the doors to their floor. First off, the elevators have their logos on them. They made sure that that was there. And then the wallpaper is just these enormous We Are the North signs. is just these enormous We Are the North signs. They've decked out the entire floor to be photos of the Raptors and stanchions with Raptors symbols on it.

And they've put wallpaper of Raptors, and they have Drake sending them candles for each of the players' rooms. I mean, that's why Toronto's a sleeper team but toronto's a sleeper team in both the east and with their comfort levels in the bubble because they have they look like they're moving in for the long haul they look like they're planning to be here a while that that wallpaper doesn't look like it's coming down in the first round all right last uh last two things the celtics kemba says he's good to go i don't i mean unless it were a far more significant injury which would not be the first time somebody was more hurt than we realized but kemba said no i'm fine i'm fine

um do you have any read on the celtics in this young group down there i mean kemba i i've gone to the celtics practices a couple of times the one I was at most recently, Kemba wasn't participating in that practice because Brad Stevens said, look, we're kind of doing this one day off, one day on thing with him. We're trying to be really careful. I think you're probably going to see that continue into the scrimmages. They're going to place three scrimmages over the next week and a half or so. I think you're going to see that carry into that. But I tend to believe Kemba.

I mean, he says he's fine. You know, he gets on the court. I've seen him run up and down. The day that he didn't participate in practice when I was there, he said that he'd had an extremely hard workout in practice the day before that. I think Boston, you know, as a healthy team, you know, they're young, they're interesting. They have these complimentary stars in Jalen Brown. I just, andason katum and i believe that kemba is the breath of fresh air leader in a lot of ways that they needed that just it's kind of unforeseen box i think that's what it is i think

they're going to be able to get over that hurdle they're going to be a really interesting team to watch i think um he seems to mesh really well with the pre-existing guys they had there. And so, you know, I think all is well in Boston. From what I've seen, it's exactly what he has said. I have no reason to believe that it's going to be something more severe than that. Okay, last thing, socializing.

We saw the Mavericks have just gone full tilt spring break. But the fact that the first weekend there was a DJ and Dwight Howard was the only one that showed up. I actually think that Dwight was probably psyched. He was the only one there. I'm not going to be as nice as you were about it in your report. But Dwight rolled in. Like, Dwight every day is news.

Like, he's an anti-masker now, too. I don't know what's going on with Dwight. There's a lot of free time there. I think there's maybe a lack of information on the mask front, because one thing is, you know, he pointed to the masks as an antithesis to drawing attention to Black Lives Matter, which is something

that he said he was passionate about bringing up. The thing about that is you can't talk about one in many ways without the other because coronavirus is disproportionately killing Black and brown people. And so I think it's just a lack of research and understanding that those two things are inherently intertwined but in terms of the party which is just something i was doing laps that night around the property this was still when we were allowed to walk around the lake walking or were you you running you were just checking it out or lord lord lord knows i was not running i mean i i wish i could say i was running i was i was walking it was for exercise purposes i hadn't met my steps

that day i was walking i hadn't really heard that this party was happening but you start hearing this like and you're kind of like wow what's what's that you see these purple lights kind of going over the top of something that you can't really. And then you get closer and you see it's this replica of a Mesoamerican pyramid, kind of Mayan decorations. And nobody's in there. They have like five lifeguards all with their floaters. They're walking around.

They're looking like they're patrolling for something. There's bartenders ready and waiting. Nobody's there. I walk around the next time. Still, nobody's there. But I'm like, okay, like I'm kind of feeling this music. And then I get a text from one of my coworkers and says, hey, it looks like Dwight Howard's doing an Instagram live from a pool party.

Like what's going on there? So this is my third lap by this time. And there he is. He's chilling by the pool there's nobody else there he's just hanging out by the pool which they didn't really advertise very well it's all all very confusing but of course Dwight Howard is the only person there so I saw the players I was like all right this is gonna be the end of my life let's go back to my room and then i hear from talking to folks who you know the bartenders those people the gms walked through to grab some drinks but at the end of the night dj goes shout out dwight howard for

being a real one and actually showing up and it's just like of course that's perfect that's a perfect way to end it okay you still have despite three weeks of the books you have a ways to go here Malika that's at Malika underscore Andrews one of the lead NBA reporters for ESPN and I would say have fun but

you'll make the most of it down there I know so thanks the bubble is what you make it we're using. So thanks. The bubble is what you make it. We're using the words of Patrick Brewer. The bubble is what you make it. Perfect. Thank you. Awesome.

Thank you so much. I will talk to you soon. Bye. All right, cool. Big thanks to Malika Andrews for doing that, and she's going to be in Orlando for the next seven years. Life advice. It is lifeadvicerr at gmail..com we put these at the end you like them

some of them get real serious like i am uh i'm not qualified to do any of this necessarily but again who is who is qualified right who is who are they all right let's move on let's something less serious they say money can't buy happiness Look at the fucking smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby. 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. Hey, this is Anthony. Guys, just bought a house.

It was a bit of a fixer-upper, not turnkey. We were able to figure that out. You said fixer-upper, but appreciate the clarification. I knew that going in and not afraid to fix it up. But how do you go about putting money into the house, figuring out what to do first and creating a list? I'm at the point where I don't know if this is my forever house and don't want to dump too much money into it and then move at some point and never collect that money back.

I get wanting to live in something you love and are proud of, but I would also like to live in comfort and have some capital moving forward. I know I can't be the only one in this conundrum, right? Great question. Smart question. Okay. It's probably notrum right? Great question. Smart question. Okay. It's probably not your forever house. Okay.

Forever houses. That, that stuff is, that ship has sailed, especially with the way they have changed the financing. Now, some people are out there still doing the 30 years. That's what I used to do.

Um, but you move to different areas and you start getting a little bit more creative with, um, with how financing works and stuff. And I've been through it enough now. I'm certainly not an expert, but I at least have my own experiences on what the different products and the options are. A lot of it's where you move.

When you're from the East or the Midwest, I think we've all grown up with the plan of like, oh, our parents do the 30-year mortgage. You pay it off. You get your house clear and free at 60, maybe 70 years old. All right. Whatever. So I don't know what your finances were. I don't know how much you put down. I mean, it's probably 20. I think finances have become a little bit harder lately, even though the rates have been down. And we had a massive, massive run on low rates there as everything was all over the place. But you don't want to look at this as your forever house. I mean, if you're emailing the show, chances are you're not 50. Okay. So let's point that out. Now, the biggest mistake you're going to make whenever you have a new house, when it's your house, and it can be even a nice new

apartment that you feel like, oh my gosh, I finally moved to this nice apartment because I've done this too. But when I bought my first house that was just me, it was just me buying the house. It wasn't that long ago. It was less than 10 years ago. And I bought a townhouse in West Hartford, Connecticut. And I wanted everything to be perfect. And it was actually pretty new. It was only a couple of years old.

But I wanted all to be perfect. And it was actually pretty new. It was only a couple years old. But I wanted all sorts of stuff. So like I put in a fire pit. Stupid. Outdoor seating. Stupid. I made sure I had a full office. Stupid. Okay.

And let's go over why these things are stupid. The fire pit thing looks fucking sick on restoration hardware. All right. But they're also shooting that from like Malibu, not West Hartford. So when I bought it, I'm like, this thing is so awesome. And I didn't go direct gas line on it, which was a mistake. I bought like the fuel and then you'd have to light that on fire. And we had a little party and man, I'm telling you that night, it looked awesome. You know, when it doesn't look awesome, when it's sitting there rusting every day in new England weather and it weighs so much.

And I don't even know, I don't even know what the current status of that fire pit is right now. But what I'm telling you is it was way too expensive and it was some accessory that I put on a back brick patio in a condominium neighborhood. That means I have a plastic divider to the house to the left and right of me. And it's not like I'm going to be back there entertaining Chablis, Aperol, Spritzers. It's not happening. It just wasn't going to. I never went back there. Never. Because if I were going to go hang out outside somewhere, I would have gone somewhere and actually hung out outside because it was just me. Outdoor couching, had to get a power washer to come in and clean it, make it right. And then I didn't buy the cover at the right time and all that stuff. Waste of money. Upstairs office, waste of money. Put all this

stuff in, got a fancy desk, the rolling leather chair, all of this stuff. Stupid. You know why? Because I sit in front of my TV and watch thousands of hours of games with a laptop right next to me. So I wasn't going to be upstairs. And when I write, because I am a writer, I sit at my dining room table and look outside while I do it because I don't want to be in some office with no windows. So all of these little things that you're going to want to do, everybody does this. You're like, oh, I need, oh, I definitely need, oh, here's a perfect one. When I moved into my first apartment solo, and it was considered like a good apartment. And now looking back on it, it definitely wasn't a good apartment, but at the time it was considered a good apartment. It was right in church street, Burlington, right above this restaurant, looked out over everything, but it was a loft studio. Like I didn't have a bed and there was actually a platform loft with storage underneath it. And I thought it was sick. And I was, uh, 24 and I was like, this is killer. So you know what I did? Entertainment center, full stereo rack, tape cassette. Yes. CD. Um, not just a CD player, but like I could make my own

CDs. Yeah. All right. Huge mix guy over here was making mixes for people left and right. You don't even know. And because I had my huge console with that Trinitron in the middle of it, I had to put up plants and I didn't want fake plants. I'm a real guy. So I got real plants and I put them in and then I put those spotlights that I stuck into the plant potter that would shine up and I go dimmer switch and then hit the lights on the plants and it was on. Plants died immediately. I think I almost set one on fire with the spotlight itself. Never used the dimmer after that. So don't do this massive to-do list and all of the stuff that you want to have done at your house immediately. Just don't. And the other problem is when you put so much money in your house,

make it so you feel good about coming home every day if you have the means. But by the way, when I was doing the plant thing, I was broke. I'm like, oh man, this plant's 40 bucks for a plant. Are you kidding me? When you're doing all the different little things that you want to do to your house to fix it up, yes, there's plenty that you can do to increase the value, but you can also go past that line. And I've seen people do that where if you live in, let's say, the townhouse community that I lived in, if you start upgrading too much, there's a cap on how much somebody's going to actually pay for a condo. Like, yeah, but I have marble everywhere. Yeah, but I mean, it's still a condo in Hartford. There's a cap on what somebody's going to do and what people do

because you're the one that has made these financial decisions and the upgrade decisions. You think it's important. The money came out of your pocket. So when you go to sell the place, you're like, well, what are you talking? You tell the realtor, you'll be like, are you kidding me? We have brass fixtures everywhere. Are you seeing this track lighting? Have you seen the track lighting? We're not running on 24 inches here. We're 12 inches on each track. Are you seeing this? No one's going to care about it as much as you did because you're the one that put all the stuff in. So don't put so much money into the place that you end up just costing yourself money. Every dollar you put in doesn't exactly mean it's going to be a dollar coming out. And then you always

have to worry about property taxes because some places, like one place I live, decided with all their mistakes to just bill everybody their property tax and they ruined everybody's equity in their homes and basically ruined an entire area's real estate market. But again, talking about taxes is apparently not cool. So there you go. That was a really, really in-depth answer. And I hope you hold off on the Sub-Zero fridge in your one, not even full bedroom locked. Please subscribe, rate, and review to the Ryan Rosillo Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. We'll check in with you in a couple days. Thank you. you