The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Sorting Through the Five Teams That Can Win the Super Bowl. Plus Best Young NBA Talent With Chris Mannix.

Episode Date: November 17, 2023

Russillo opens the show by making the case for the five teams he thinks are capable of winning the Super Bowl and discussing each team's fatal flaw (1:00). Then, he’s joined by Sports Illustrated senior writer Chris Mannix to discuss the Timberwolves and Anthony Edwards taking the next step this year, select the top young players in the league, and predict players' trade value (16:00). Finally, Kyle joins the show to make this week’s Alliance Parlay (54:00) before closing the show with some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (58:00). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Chris Mannix Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

on today's pod i'm gonna go through the five nfl teams that i still think today after the elimination of cincinnati that can win a super bowl and then we'll look at resumes and fatal flaws for all of the top contenders chris manix we we do a ton on Minnesota, Dallas, Philadelphia, little Zach Levine, and then an awesome ant conversation that I'm a big fan of right now. Where does he rank among the dudes? The Alliance pick and life advice with a troll. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Winter is here, so be prepared and get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost anything? Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah. And a snow day,

again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. I want to talk a little NFL before we do NBA with Chris Mannix here. And the way they teach you to do this when you're on TV or radio is you say the thing and then you describe the thing you're talking about. And I agree about podcasting. You have a lot more room, a lot more space. Not really changing the channel.

And it's just like, hey, this topic sucks. I'm going to check out what those finance guys are saying again. So here is the overall headline of this. And do I really believe it? Because I could have tiered this out, right? We love tiers now. I was big on tiers early on. Tier me that CD. But I don't know if I wanted to just go tier with this. So here's the definitive statement. There are five teams that can win the Super Bowl this year. Last night, I think there was still hope there was a sixth with Cincinnati. But with the Burrow injury, with their schedule, with everything mixed in, it seems really unlikely that Cincinnati, I mean, they got to worry about getting in the playoffs

as opposed to just making another Super Bowl run at this like they have in the past. And shout out my guy, Chris Long, Greenlight Podcast, who was all over this. You want to talk about grinding the tape? He saw the Burrow hand sling then went back and looked at the all 22 and then found the play what Burrow was her and he had it out there before I think I saw it anywhere else so that's the good stuff when you're doing all that work you're taking the notes you're looking at it you're seeing a different thing than everybody else and you go hey I'm going to share this with everybody and then Burrow the hand we saw it on the sid on the sideline, Kaylee Hartung with that. She's like, I saw him throw the first ball. He couldn't even grip to just look back. And then we had the camera shot of him

shaking his head going like, this isn't going to happen. Back in the tunnel, Jake Browning time. So if I think it's now five teams that can win the Super Bowl, let's go through them. Let's do a little college football best win, worst loss scenario stuff. But I'm not going to do the college football playoff committee ranking for NFL teams until a little college football best win, worst loss scenario stuff, but I'm not going to do the college football playoff committee ranking for NFL teams until a little bit later. And then perhaps one fatal flaw, because that's another thing that's very easy to do this time of year. Different guys are at different desks.

They're talking about who they think can win the Superbowl. And then the guys around and be like, I don't like that they have this. And then somebody else will say this, be like every team is flawed this year as if it's the most insightful thing. When in fact it is not insightful because almost every single team that wins the Super Bowl you can point to one thing that they don't do well and that's football so and because it's football this could end up being surprising that we have this team outside of this five but I don't really see it as of today especially with

Cincinnati even being eliminated from this conversation so the one seed in the AFC today is Kansas City their best wins are at Jacksonville. It was a low-scoring game where we actually started realizing the KCD was going to be pretty good. The Miami win, neutral field, sort of. More Chiefs fans in Germany, certainly, than Dolphins fans. And their bad loss would be at Denver, who Denver, defensively, actually playing a little bit better.

You could also throw in a little flu game there if you were in the committee room and arguing that Kansas City should have the one seed. But they're the one seed and clearly still, despite some of the offensive deficiencies and concerns that we have about what is usually the scariest team every single week to try to defend, no one's going to argue with that. Number two seed is Baltimore. Maybe the best team in the NFL. The best wins. They've got Cincinnati twice. If you wanted to knock it, you could say, well, Burrow goes out. wins. They've got Cincinnati twice. If you wanted to knock it, you could say, well, Burrow goes out.

And then early, they got preseason Cincinnati, where Cincinnati treated September like a different month and then turned things around. But you can't do it to Baltimore twice. You can't say both of those wins actually don't mean anything. Their bad losses, I don't really know that they have one. When you lose an overtime in the NFL to a team that's worse than you in Indianapolis, although the Colts are a little feisty, week to week with this league, an overtime loss is not that big of a deal unless that team is absolutely dreadful. So if you were going college football resume with the Ravens, you go, I'd be in the room, the 12 of us. I'd go, I don't really think they have a bad loss. 3C Jacksonville.

Am I including them in my Super Bowl potential winners? I'm not. I've been up and down with Jacksonville, and then I felt like I had this realization of going, man, we really don't talk about them all that much. There's a lot of bad numbers in there. Their best win is in London against Buffalo 25-20, where it was the first sign of like, hey, what the hell's wrong with Buffalo here? I don't think it's a bad loss, obviously, to lose to Kansas City. It's not a bad loss to lose to Houston. It's a bad loss to get smoked at home 34-3 against the Niners. As great as I think the Niners can be, that's one of those losses you're like, wait, what do I do with them? So I'm actually not including Jacksonville in this. So that's two teams from the AFC. the AFC. If we want to play out the rest of the seeding with the AFC, we can do it. Four seed Miami. Their best win is at the

Chargers week one. And I thought that was a good win. Whatever we want to talk about the Chargers, talent jokes and all the different stuff of how disappointing they've been watching that game week one, that was a good win. Across the country, shooting it out with them. So I wouldn't look at their resume and go the whole thing

is fraudulent. Although there's a really bad number for them. If you were to look at their strength of victory, which in college football, they have the strength of record. In the NFL, there's a strength of victory number. Theirs is at 263, which is the lowest of any team in the NFL. Their bad losses are what we perceived at the time, really good teams, a healthy Buffalo, which was better than when they got bounced by him in the second half. And Philadelphia was really discouraging because it was one good offensive drive the entire game. And then Kansas City where they were down so big at the half, but we're still talking about three teams we all thought could win their own Super Bowl. As far as the rest of the AFC teams, I don't know what to do with Pittsburgh. I know what the record

is. Their 20th and point differential was the same as the Titans. They're probably going to be eight and three because they got DTR with Cleveland, then Browning back-to-back weeks. They're also plus 10 in the turnover margin, which is tied with Cincinnati for number one in the league. But the rest of the numbers, I didn't need to do the fatal flaw thing with them, which I'll get to with the other teams here in a second. There's so many bad Pittsburgh numbers. There's just so many bad ones. As far as the AFC teams that we thought were still in this conversation that are out, Cincinnati's a 10 seed today. They're five and five. There's not as many bad losses as you would think, but with the Burrow questions with the hand and the number one toughest remaining strength, the schedule, the Super Bowl seems completely out of the conversation if they even were to get into the playoffs.

11 seed Buffalo. And yeah, if they snuck in, got the seven, and they have Burrow back, then we can talk about it then. But this morning, doesn't feel great. 11 seed Buffalo. Their best wins, the Miami win. Their bad losses. Their resume'd be tough.

You'd be like, what do I do with this team? They've got losses to the Jets, Pats, and Denver. Their strength, the schedule's pretty tough. I think it's the fourth toughest remaining. They have a four-week stretch where they have Philadelphia up by, then at Kansas City, then versus Dallas. Then they still got at the Chargers and then Miami. They could still win the division if they were going to catch Miami. I think they're a game and a half out now, but the way this is trending and everything else that's going on, firing the offensive coordinator, the mistakes from Allen, the defensive injuries, and again, the fourth toughest remaining strength of the schedule. Let's go to the NFC. So if I have five teams, that's only two from the AFC that I put in. I didn't put in Jacksonville. I didn't

put in Miami. I didn't put in Cincinnati or Pittsburgh or Buffalo, knowing the Buffalo could still find a way maybe if the division thing were to fall apart with Miami. But Miami's schedule is actually pretty easy. Their remaining strength of schedule is 14th. All right. So as I finish that up, NFC here, let's take a look. Philadelphia is the one seed. Clearly could win a Super Bowl. Best wins Dallas, Miami, just because I thought the Miami thing was pure domination. And there was a couple mistakes that led some points for Miami. Bad loss to Jets, but I think they had five turnovers in that one. The two seed Detroit. Best

wins Kansas City, granted without Kelsey and Chris Jones. Bad loss. Baltimore may be the class of the NFL, but 38-6 at Baltimore, where I think Baltimore had 28 points before Detroit had a first down. That was humiliating. And that's a bit like the Dallas San Francisco thing where you go,

wait, am I supposed to do this with this team? But in this league, I think you should. I think it would be wrong. It'd be irresponsible. It'd be overreaction just to go, hey, remember that week? I don't even forget the week it was. That week seven game. Remember that week seven game? And you're predicting the playoffs. We're into January and you're going, hey, remember that week seven game? I think every team, even the great ones, are going to have a week or two where you're like, what's wrong with you guys? That's football. I'm including San Francisco

as the fifth team that can win a Super Bowl today. Their best wins are Dallas where they smoked them again to the Detroit point that we just made against Baltimore. It feels a bit like the bad loss thing for them is maybe their bad stretch that goes a little bit longer. The Minnesota game, Kirk Cousins looked like the best quarterback in the NFL. So I don't really look at that one as a bad loss. The Browns loss was weird. And then Cincinnati

kind of needed that one. And they were at home, even though Cincinnati totally dominated. So if you want to say, Hey, the Browns, that's a bad law. Okay, fine. You want to, but there's not something as egregious as say the Buffalo resume that I just ran for you. Four seed New Orleans. I was a big New Orleans guy because I thought Derek Carr would bring their floor up a bit. I still love the defense despite being older, and I love the opposing schedule, especially when you looked at the names of quarterbacks that they were going to be going up against. However, we talked about that strength of victory stuff with Miami. The second worst one in the NFL is New Orleans. Dallas is actually the third worst. There are some surprisingly decent to mediocre offensive

numbers for the Saints that I don't think any of us would expect. And I noticed it last week when I was just going over the numbers again, because I was like, well, where are they in some of these things? And the offense, strangely enough, because of the work the last few weeks has ticked up to where it's probably positioned better than how it feels. But there's a general thing with New Orleans where I go, that team's not winning a Super Bowl, and I don't think that's actually a huge breakout.

We probably won't do a breakout video of Rosillo says Saints can't win the Super Bowl. Final team that I want to address, the 6C Dallas Cowboys. Wins. Giants, Jets, New England, Chargers, Rams, Giants. Not exciting. Bad losses. The Arizona loss was bad. It was a bad game. San Francisco, they got humiliated and everybody saw it. But this is one of the occasions I allow myself to do it where I can see a team lose and go, I'm not writing them off. Although I'm writing them off from the Super Bowl conversation. although I'm writing them off from the Super Bowl conversation. I was impressed with Dallas after the loss against Philly,

but there's just got to be more of a body of work with better wins than where we're at now going into this part of the season for me to go Dallas. Yes, of course, Dallas is still alive. They've done nothing where any of us should be saying, hey, that's my Super Bowl pick, even though it would be far less surprising for them than, say, a team in front of them in the fourth seed with the Saints. Real quick, fatal flaws. Kansas City, do you know who their leading wide receiver is in yards? Receiver. Not Travis Kelsey. He has the most yards, but receiver, it's rookie Rasheed Rice,

who I do like, 378 yards. It's starting to feel like it's a bit of a problem now, this receiver group, where you just were like, whatever, Mahomes will figure it out. But it hasn't really clicked yet. Baltimore, they blew that lead against the Browns, 14 points in the fourth quarter. It's Baltimore's ninth loss in the last three years with a lead of at least seven points in the fourth quarter,

which is the most losses in those situations in a three-season span in NFL history. Can the Ravens not close? That'll come up again if they do it again. Jacksonville, a lot of bad numbers, a lot of bad numbers. So as much as I was telling everybody a couple of weeks ago, like, hey, Jacksonville's kind of drafting behind all these other teams in the AFC. We may have lost two of those teams that we cared about and everybody's writing Miami off. So that's three that were ahead of them. So I was like, look at Jacksonville, man, there's so many bad numbers in there though. They're 25th in offense, uh, or an opposing yards per play, right? 25th defensively is what I should be saying. And opponents yards per play Pittsburgh,

by the way, is 27. Almost every one of these numbers that I'd look in the bad area and be like, Hey, there's Pittsburgh again. Pittsburgh feels a bit like a Big Ten West team that has a good record. And we're like, okay, cool. Cool record, bro. Jacksonville is 25th in their own third down conversion rate, which is just ahead of New England. So with Trevor Lawrence, you're like, wait, where are you on converting on third downs? You're one of the worst.

You're right there with the Pats. So that doesn't make a ton of sense. Miami's fatal flaw may not just be the resume and the lack of wind that gets us excited again, is that they're tied for 24th in the NFL with a minus.04 turnover margin per game. Cincy, Buffalo, we've covered it. NFC. Philadelphia is 25th in opponents' third down conversion rate. So it was 43% conversion rate.

I'm like, man, they're really not getting off the field. Even with all those guys, the pass rush, the whole thing, they must have been really good last year. Let me look it up. Nope, not really. Not a huge drop. They were better, but it was only 39% conversion against them, so 4% difference there.

The other problem for Philly this year is their 26th in red zone touchdown percentage. Only getting those done at 65%. Detroit, speaking of red zone touchdown percentage, their defense is giving up the third worst number of touchdowns in the red zone, 69%. San Francisco, let's talk about Purdy's tight window throw percentage. He is throwing tight window throws at just under 11% of his throws, which is the third lowest in the NFL. Now, part of that, the concern is that he's only throwing to wide open guys. That's not entirely true, but the fact is that as the playoffs stakes keep being raised and if San Francisco is still around, he's going to have

to start making those throws that I love that some quarterbacks just avoid and put up numbers and we're like, oh, this guy's awesome. I'm like, yeah, but I don't think he raises his ceiling of risk when the game needs it. That's going to be a question for Purdy. Maybe not a fatal flaw, but that number exists. And with Dallas, the last one, well, we could do New Orleans, the five wins are Tennessee, Carolina, New England, Indianapolis, and Chicago. Well, we could do New Orleans. The five wins are Tennessee, Carolina, New England, Indianapolis, and Chicago. Enjoy. But Dallas, the run-stop win rate, 27.

But the pass rush win rate is number one. And then you've got the legacy updates with Dak every four days on television. I still think it's five. I'd be surprised if there was a six team outside of that group that won this year's Super Bowl. Score early this NFL season with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets

when your first $5 money line bet wins. I'm going to give you one right now. Arizona plus 5.5 at Houston. The Texans favored by 5.5 in this game. Houston is a good team. Kyler Murray got it going against Atlanta, who I think we've all kind of... How about that team

with the offensive talent? It's like, oh, wait, you got drafted the Falcons? Have fun, dude. But I just kind of like... I just feel like that's a chunk of points for Arizona that has been competitive all season in a way that no one ever really expected, but

hasn't really led to the wins. So, why don't you just give me all those points against the Houston Texans, who've been one of the best stories in the NFL this season. If you've been thinking about joining FanDuel, there's no better time to get into the action. The app is so easy to use,

and there are so many different ways to bet. Live same-game parlays, find bets in the new Explore tab, dive into the Parlay Hub, the best way to find popular parlays and more. So, visit FanDuel.com slash Ryan R-Y-E-N and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, official partner of the NFL.

Must be 21 and older and present in select states. $5 pregame money line wager required. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets. Expires seven days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Okay, let's talk some hoops.

Senior NBA writer from Sports Illustrated is Chris Mannix. I don't know where I want to start. I think I want to start with Anthony Edwards. I want to start with Minnesota. So let's do that because Minnesota, I think coming into the year, you're like, okay, do we put them down in the contender list? It's usually a pretty short list. The teams are fairly obvious. And then every now and then we have some surprises. And in the aftermath of the Gobert trade, where now we have to kind of look at it as how it looks now versus what the price was, the price none of us will ever get over. But Gobert does look better. And I think Ant's taking it to another level and with their

defense and kind of seeing who they would be. And I don't know that I'm picking them to beat Denver here, but at least it's a few weeks in of, at least for me, feeling a little bit differently about their ceiling. You? A lot differently. I remember in the preseason, I was doing some TV in Boston, and they have that Strat-O-Matic machine that they use to predict the NBA Finals. And the Strat-O-Matic machine picked the Celtics against the Timberwolves. And at that time, it was wild.

It's like, you know, this is just proof that this stuff is stupid. It doesn't really work. And maybe it'll turn out to be that way. We're still, you know, a dozen games into the season. But they're a lot better than I thought they were going to be. And, you know, one thing that Timberwolves people told me, you know, for months, really, even going back to the end of last season when it was all kind of unraveling, they said, we got to see what this team looks like fully healthy. We haven't seen, you know, Rudy and Towns playing together. We haven't seen, you know, Towns much at all, you know, last season. We haven't just seen this group as it could be.

You couple that with Edwards being significantly better than last year. I expected him to take a leap offensively. I don't think I anticipated him being this good defensively. You go back to that Boston game they played a week

or so ago. Just being able to play the kind of defense he did against Jason Tatum and a little bit against Jalen Brown in that game. I mean, he's as good a two-way player as we're seeing in the league right now. So I didn't see that leap coming. Jaden McDaniels, another

guy taking a step forward. As we record this, I don't know where they are defensively, what top three are right there in that, in that mix in efficiency, but you know, what they're doing just feels kind of sustainable because I think Rudy can be this kind of player for a while. You've finally seen towns start to play well over the last, you know, week, 10 days and Edwards is only going to keep getting better. So my opinion of them has changed a lot in the last couple of weeks. They look like a real contender. Yeah, they're still

number one. And they're number one in pro 100 possessions. I completely agree with Ant. And when I look at the wins against Denver, and then that Boston win in particular, where you can make all sorts of excuses for result. But if there's a horror movie season coming around for Jalen Brown, all they'd have to do is show up a trailer that says Jaden McDaniels because the way he attacks people trying to bring the ball up, and it's not just Jalen Brown. When he decides he's going to get into you and he's in your jersey and you're like, I can't even get set up. I can't even get in my move. I can't even get an angle to the screen. It's almost like a one-man pressure where the

whole purpose is for the other team to start their possession at like 12 in the shot clock as opposed to just bringing it across at 16 or 17. And with Anthony Edwards going at Tatum on that last possession late and tying him up and then looking like he just wanted to tackle him through his breastbone, like he just went into him and there was an attitude that you have to have. You know, defense is a prideful thing. There's people with amazing physical traits and athleticism, but a lot of it is a decision on how bad you want to play it because it's such a long season. And I've seen that jump from Ant. And the other thing I think with him is his drive and kick playmaking. He did it the other night against Golden State for the biggest shot of the game where he brought everybody with him, but then was still aware.

And usually a young guy, it takes him a lot longer to understand, Hey, all this attention is coming to you. Your teammates have easier options. So it's not a negative despite what talk shows will do with LeBron 20 years in, when he decides to make the right pass, which is his own topic. Like seeing some of that stuff from Anthony Edwards gets me excited, but I still would go like, look, there's going to be the cat moments I'm not going to like, but it's funny. Cause I think if you were looking at Minnesota without Carl Anthony towns, you'd say, well, what would be a really nice pairing with Anthony Edwards? And you'd be like a big guy that could shoot, you know? Right. And then I'm like, well, they kind of, they kind of have that. There's always a handful of Towns drives

where I think he's just bored and is upset. He hasn't had a bigger hand in the offense, and then he'll just kind of plod through everybody, and hell, he probably gets a foul enough for it to be worth it. I still wonder about Gobert in a playoff series against another guard bringing him out. I also worry about some of the spacing stuff. Is Gobert worth it on defense to avoid some of the five-out stuff?

But here's what I do like, is that at least with their roster looking, nobody's stopping Jokic, but impeding it. If the Lakers and Anthony Davis are rolling late and he's healthy and seeing how helpless Golden State was against it, when I watch them, I go, I can see them having options for Chris Finch, who's a really good coach of adapting to what their playoff matchup is. And that's what gets me excited beyond all the other stuff. Yeah. Mike Conley too, you know, talking to some of the coaches that have gone up against the Wolves in the last couple of weeks, Mike's never going to be a great defensive player. But the one thing I've heard repeatedly is that he's giving maximum effort on that end. Like

you're getting the best out of him defensively so far during the season. If Mike Conley can just be credible, average on that end defensively, that's a big, big plus for Minnesota. Keeping Chris Finch, I thought, was a move that I probably wouldn't have done. I didn't think that Chris Finch was the right fit for this roster. You go back two years ago before the Gobert trade, they were top 15 in defensive efficiency,

but that was because Chris Finch is smoke and mirrors defense. He was doing a lot of trapping, pressing, just a whole bunch of gimmicky stuff. When you bring a true paint protector like Rudy Gobert in, you're going to try to pair him with Towns. I was among the people beating the drum for going to try to pair him with Towns. I was among

the people beating the drum for them to go after Frank Vogel last year, because Frank Vogel was a coach that had succeeded with multiple bigs. He knew how to coach that type of team. But Chris Finch has done an unbelievable job of incorporating all these guys together and making it work early in the season. And look, not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but I do agree with you that get to the playoffs and I'm going to consistently wonder, can you play Towns and go bear together, especially in the fourth quarter of games? That's the multi-million dollar question. Do you have to bench one of those two guys for the last 10, 11 minutes of the fourth quarter? because smaller, quicker, better teams

are going to make you pay for having those two guys on the floor. No matter what happens during the regular season, that's going to be a lingering question until we get to the playoffs. Finch would do it, though. I mean, I've already seen times in just regular season games,

depending on kind of how a game is going, where I believe I'd have to go back and kind of look at like, hey, when did he sub Rudy out or that kind of thing? Like, was it one of those games where like, you know what, let's try to get a and kind of look at like, Hey, when did he sub Rudy out or that kind of thing? Like, what was one of those games? You're like, you know what, let's try to get a few minutes here without Rudy here in the fourth and see what happens. But I do think his personality is, is that way. So, all right. So I think we're kind of on the same page with this. Let's see, let's see in the rare hyperbole area that, that I don't visit all

that often, but I'm such an Edwards fan. I tweeted out out he's my favorite player to watch now he's my number one option league pass like if i'm rolling around all right we got the screens up and i go okay what time do the timberwolves tipping off i'm like okay let's make sure it's like my homes now uh when that first started happening we're like gonna have a tv screen on kansas city if i said i would only take three players ahead of him right now moving forward okay not for the season just you know we're talking the rest of their careers is three too short of a list is that list longer in your opinion because Jokic is the no-brainer because on top of everything he's going to age great I'm not worried about that I feel like Luka was on sale in a way he'll never be on sale again this

offseason because of how their season ended and some of the dings with him like luca still might be the best single option in the nba of i need a bucket man so okay cool the ball's in my hand like i'm just i'm just gonna go ahead and get you one because no one can really do with anything with me as great as sga is on his drives luca is still scarier because physically there's just a really hard you just can't match what he's doing so then it becomes becomes a Giannis thing where if somebody said Giannis ahead of Ant, and I'm talking about moving forward, not right now, I'm not going to tell them they're wrong. And then I think SGA has brought up a little bit, but I think I'd rather have Ant, which may be wrong, but is there anyone else? Is that list too short? Is it like seven or

eight for you? Is it five or six? Tatum probably should be brought up. I think it's under five because unless you're talking about Jokic, and I agree with you, Jokic is going to play this way for you? Is it five or six? Tatum probably should be brought up. I think it's under five. Because unless you're talking about Jokic, and I agree with you, Jokic is going to play this way if he wants to play this way until he's 38. My fear with Jokic is he decides at 32, he wants to go race horses and doesn't want to play professional basketball anymore. Less money in it. I don't think that's outside the realm of possibility, though. They win a couple of championships and he's like you know what i'm good um besides yokich you want to try to keep that list of guys like 26 and under 25 and under whatever you know benchmark you want to make that i think luca is there you know even though he's not the two-way player aunt is he's just so

insanely good offensively that you you have to him on that list. SGA is interesting because SGA is also a two-way player. But I think Ant's athleticism, a little bit more versatility maybe, I would put him slightly above SGA on that list. The other guy I'd put up on that list is Tatum because he just keeps getting better. He's not where Ant is defensively, but I don't think he's done growing in that respect. I think I see signs

every year that he's getting a little bit better in that. He certainly has the physical tools to be a really good defensive player. Offensively, I think he's closer to Luka than he is to Anthony Edwards. I think he's got more in his bag

offensively than Edwards does and maybe ever will because of his size and his length. So, you know, for me, it's Luka. You know, putting Jokic on a shelf here, it's Luka, it's Tatum, and then SGA kind of neck and neck. I'm like Giannis, love him now, but I'm not convinced he's going to age tremendously, though, because he plays so hard and plays so physically. neck and neck. I'm like Giannis, love him now, but I'm not convinced he's going to age tremendously though, because he plays so hard and plays so physically. I wonder if that body starts to break

down, you know, when he gets into his thirties. So I'd probably just put, you know, those three guys in the mix over Edwards. Tatum's better this year. You're right. It's crazy. He's, he's even more aggressive. And I remember the very beginning of last year, that was the big thing coming in. You got to find a way, get the angles down, attack more at the hoop. You could see it immediately. I'd say it. We are very visual. If Derek White looked like Cam Reddish, he'd be making multiple all-star teams. I mean, we just would. You wouldn't trade Derek White if he looked like Cam Reddish. Tatum can feel at times like he's settling, which I think is fair. And it's a nitpicking for a guy that can get 30 a game. And we've also seen with Tatum too. I think the argument for Tatum against Anthony Edwards, there's a little bit of an age gap there. But whatever people want to talk about like tatum or the failure of the

celtics it's like they're failing in the nba finals failure for them is blowing uh getting down three nothing to miami heat they were the better team then and then losing in game seven and then you know throwing all these things in so like their level of failure is far better than some of the ways we talk about them or Or at least I think the way that people process their last couple of years, you're like, you think that's like 20 teams would love to fail the way they're failing. So there's an aggressiveness with Edwards that could be just, well,

part of it's true, but I think it's so visually appealing to me that it makes me kind of buy into being like, I think I love the way he's wired as much as any player in the NBA. Yeah, I can buy that. Um, you know, on the subject of failing, like, I mean, I wonder what the conversation would be if Jason Tatum didn't get hurt on like that first play in game seven against Miami, like the Celtics were rolling up until that point. Maybe they still would have lost the game, lost the series, but Jason Tatum was completely taken out of that game on like the very first

possession because of the foot injury. Look, I'm with you. I just see his game evolving a little bit more every single year. And this year I give him even more credit because he's still putting up the numbers and he's doing it at a reduced number of shots. Only a couple, but he's taken a few less shots per game, and he's still able to kind of stay involved in every single possession, still be the MVP candidate that we're seeing right now.

So his ability to still get his numbers, still do his thing, even surrounded by the great talent the Celtics have offensively now with KP and with Jalen and all that group, that to me is an even stronger case for Jason Tatum. So Philly and Boston have interchanged spots, top of the Eastern Conference right now. So Boston's there today. Philly was there the other day, but lost a couple in a row.

But really the story for them is the continued domination from Embiid, sign you up, you know exactly what you're getting. You're getting it every single night. And now a maxi that it shouldn't be shocking because we saw how dynamic he was but now that you've cranked up his usage now that he's the one initiating all these pick and rolls with an bead now you're like wait is this guy an all star this year or is he an all-star for like the next five years because clearly hard moving on has unlocked a maxi that maybe would we would seen last year and Harden's whole style was getting in his way.

But it changes at least like, hey, you take Harden out, whatever you think of him, where's the rest of this stuff coming? It hasn't even mattered and it's looked better. Yeah. I spent a lot of time this offseason talking to Drew Hanlon, who's a personal trainer, as you know, for a lot of guys in the league. He's got a hell of a sizzle reel right now because he worked with Tatum, with Tyrese Halliburton, and with Tyrese Maxey.

What he'd say about Maxey all the time was like, it's coming. It's coming this year. You could see it in the work ethic and the way he put in the time this past offseason, the way his confidence has grown over the first two years that something big was coming. I don't know if we expected 50 spots on teams in games, but you knew that a significant leap for Tyrese Maxey was coming. And now I think you're at the point in Philadelphia where you've got the MVP and every passing week, it seems like you're getting closer and closer

to having an elite two guy. All you want from Tyrese Maxey is more of a body of work, right? Like you want to see him do this over three weeks, then four weeks, and then two months, like just more time to make sure this is real. And every game I watch of Philadelphia,

it just looks more and more real. So I think they've got something, you know, and that that's their number two guy. That is a championship level, or at least it looks like a championship level. Number two guy, equally impressing about Philadelphia is Tobias Harris. Like, you know, I, I wrote this a lot coming into the season, like contract year, Tobias Harris is a real thing. You go back to his last contract year.

Was it the Clippers? I think, uh, shot the lights out. Like when he's in a contract year, he's awesome. And sure, some of his play this year has had to do with Harden being gone, more opportunity, yada, yada, yada. But when money's on the line, Tobias Harris shows out. And Tobias Harris this

year, his numbers are outstanding overall on the season. If he can be that guy at number three, that's a good number three. he can be that guy, a number three, that's a good number three. That's like an Aaron Gordon type number three on your team there. You've got the pieces right now

to make a real run with this group. I mean, I thought after the Harden trade, we might be looking at a gap year for Philadelphia where they're a good team, but now you can't really count them as threats to Boston, Milwaukee, and Eastern Conference. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I still need to see more, but you know, the, the pieces they have right now, they look like the real thing. Maxie. If you look back at it all too, you could say,

well, now he's getting five more shots. Like once you start getting to that 20 shot attempt per game category, like that's actually a very low number. And I, you know, again, there's plenty of guys in the league where I'm like,

I know how talented this guy is, but look at his opportunities. Look how many shots he's getting. And I, you know, again, there's plenty of guys in the league where I'm like, I know how talented this guy is, but look at his opportunities. Look how many shots he's getting. And with Maxie though, like there's two things. This is three straight years where he's over 40% from three. He comes in as a rookie, hits 30%. You know, he's playing 15 minutes a game. Since then, 43%, 43%, 43% for three years as a starter. That's incredible consistency. And despite Kyrie's the best small finisher I've ever seen in the history of this game, Maxie does not have the finishing package. No one's ever had the finishing package that Kyrie does at the rim. It's still stuff of legend. In a way, I'm glad the video exists because it's that impressive.

legend. Like in a way, I'm glad the video exists because it's that impressive. But Maxie has this burst. Like we know he's small, but there are times where there's like six, six, six, seven guys closing on him in transition. And I'll think from like the starting point at the top of the key, the free throw line, I'm like, is he going to try to finish this? And he, he finds a way he beats them. He seems to have this extra burst with the ball that makes him look fast in comparison to other fast, incredible athletic guys in the NBA. And that, at least at this age, you get him out in transition, let him run on top of the shooting. It's crazy if he doesn't score 20 points with the way he's got the tools to be a really, really good defensive player. He's already a good defensive player. But you look at the quickness, the wingspan, the size, he's only going to get better on that side of the floor as well. So he's not, we just talked about the list of guys under 25 or whatever you'd make franchise

players. Not there yet, but a year, two years, still developing. You could certainly get there. I think the question I now have with Philadelphia is, what does Daryl do here with this group? Daryl's sitting there and anxious as all hell, armed with assets once again, and finally out of get rid of Ben Simmons mode,

get rid of James Harden mode. Now it's acquisition mode with this group, multiple draft picks, movable contracts, all the things that, that makes Daryl smile in the morning when he wakes up. Um, I just like how he balances that against, you know, doing a deal now against having all that cap flexibility and keeping your powder dry and being able to sign one of these guys, whether it's Ananobi, Siakam, Klay Thompson could be available this offseason.

What he does in the next couple of months, I think it's going to be fascinating to watch because this team certainly could go out and make a play for an Ananobi, make a play for a Siakam, make a play for a Zach Levine. But is that the smart thing to do? Because right now you have a team that looks like it's able to compete, and you might be able to get one of those guys next summer for nothing. So to me, they're the most interesting team to watch

because we know Daryl's instinct is to make deals, but maybe not making one might be the most crude move. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because there's a couple of things that I'd like to dig deeper on this. Daryl is patient, and I admire his patience. I think he can be more patient than other general managers. It was the Ben Simmons transaction where he was like, I'm just going to wait. I'm just going to wait. I don't like what's out there. be part of a closing five for a team in the playoffs, right? We're not talking an all-star. Like I wouldn't trade you Norman Powell straight up for James Harden. You know, the fact he couldn't get Terrence Mann out of the deal just tells you how bad the market is. In a way, I think Daryl did probably better than he could have

considering there really wasn't much competition for Harden. But I wonder if he would have liked to have been even more patient for the Harden deal, just going, is there anyone, you know, other than like a Covington and Batum? I mean, guys are like actually in the rotation, especially with this Oubre situation. Harden deal just going is there anyone you know other than like a Covington and Batum and we guys are like actually in the rotation especially with this uber situation but I'm wondering if there was any chance like if you'd held out another month or two there's a name that pops up somewhere else it's like that's somebody who I can see on the floor as the closing five group and he didn't

get that right he got the draft picks I also wonder if there was maybe an ownership push to turn the page on this I'm sure I don't think this a guess, that Embiid was so overhardened that it was like, I don't want to deal with this stuff. And so maybe it was just an organizational thing to kind of turn the page on the whole thing. But speaking to the trade, keep the powder dry in his patience, because I've seen some arguments for what better way to preserve the Embiid thing by going, let's see what happens with this year. Let's not overreact. Let's not rush into something. Let's see what's

available. And then you feel like the Embiid Knicks stuff is all solved, which was like picking up in New York for a couple of weeks, which may have been a little, little exaggerated, but you'll know this because you covered the Celtics so closely. I remember one time Ainge, you know, back when I would talk to him when I was living in Boston, and he changed my thinking on stuff. He goes, you guys in the media are so obsessed with cap space. All you guys do is talk about, oh, they're going to have this much cap space, then they'll have this much cap space. He's like, I would rather trade every time than wait on cap space for somebody who's probably going to say no to me, no matter which franchise you are. So I wonder if Daryl looks at it as going,

oh, sure, I have the cap space on paper. I could, in theory, do something. But Ainge's rule is, I'd rather trade for the player I know I'm getting than wait to find out I didn't get anybody. I think there's merit to that. And I've had a similar conversation, actually, with Danny. I say all the time like my

lens on how to build a team is often viewed through danny age's eyes because i you know saw him the most and saw how he did business in boston for so many years and just as an aside he whenever and i was lucky enough like you were because you were more reported but i i'd be around i'd be doing the comp cast stuff and then if he'd see me at the waltham facility the fact that he would even take the time to talk to me back then, but I'm just sharing this with all of you, Chris and I understand this when you had those conversations with him, you never left going, Oh wow, this guy doesn't know what he's doing. Like you were always, it was always the other way where you're like, I can see it's not just a life in basketball, but I can see why as an executive, he does as well as he does,

despite everybody turning on him towards the end there in Boston. Go ahead. I do like, you know, when, when Danny and I would not be able to reach agreement on anything, the conversation would often end with, well, with him going, well, well, you don't know what you're talking about. And then that would be the end of the phone call or the conversation. So you would get to a point where he's like, you know what, forget it. I'm right. You're wrong. And we're both going to move on. I've had that happen a couple of times.

Look, acquiring the guy, bird in the hand. Yeah, I get that. Because free agency can be a crapshoot. I think it's a little bit different, though, this offseason for a couple of reasons. couple of reasons. One, there are not a lot of contenders that have the cap flexibility that Philadelphia is going to have. I mean, it's projected to be north of $50 million. You don't have a lot of teams, period, but certainly not contenders that are going to have that kind of flexibility. And you're going be able to dangle, not just money, but opportunity to play and to win with the currently reigning MVP with a guy that looks like a 10 time all-star and, you know, a coach that a lot of players seem to like to play with, maybe not so much in Toronto anymore, but you know,

Nick Nurse was was pretty good out there for a while. So I think they've just got a – maybe it's not unique, but they've got a rare opportunity here to be like the go-to destination for these 3&D guys, the Siakams, the Ananobis, who could be looking for a big payday and a chance to win. Very rarely do you get both those things on the free agent market, in a big market, alongside a guy in Embiid that everybody seems to love. Again, normally I would agree with Danny on that one. You go make the deal and you get your guy now, but this might be the exception to that rule given the circumstances in Philadelphia. And understanding how things work, where there's a hint there, there's an understanding, and that may impact any kind of decision before the trade deadline.

Speaking of the deadline, Zach Levine's name is coming up again. If you watch Chicago, it's just not going to happen. There was a number I saw the other day of the highest reliancy of twos and how poor it was affecting their offensive efficiency. It's a carryover of what we've seen from last year. I was wrong about the DeRozan contract.

They want to re-sign him apparently. He's a carry over what we've seen from last year. I was wrong about the DeRozan contract. They want to resign him apparently. I mean, he's been terrific. Caruso's great. Vooch is a numbers guy. Doesn't mean anything. Patrick Williams, that one's not looking all that great. I focus in. That guy has unbelievable confidence. There is a Kobe move I remember from back in the day, and I'm embarrassed to admit this because I practiced it at a gym in Watertown, Mass for I think two years, practiced it at a gym in watertown mass for i think two years where you would be on the left baseline of the hoop so you'd be baseline figure 10 feet out think of like classic kobe position where he turned away from the ball so he like left the ball like almost like a physics experiment where the ball was still there and he moved his body as if he was turning the other way to take

the turnaround jumper and then just came back and came back for the basketball and started his drive that way and he did it i think he might have only done it like one time and granted you know whatever i was like yeah let me try to figure that one out it didn't look the same i'll admit i saw patrick williams do something like that it was like everything was so nice until it hit the rim so anyway there's your bulls there's your quick 60 on the Bulls. I don't need you to add more to that. It's just that the Levine market, and like all the big market teams,

the Knicks, the Lakers, they all get brought up in this aggregation world. But I don't know what you're getting if you're getting Levine. He is one of the most talented players in the league. I think at times he's the quickest first step maybe I've ever seen. In a way, I wonder if he's too physically gifted. He's so physically gifted that he can kind of go, well, I don't need to do some of these other things because I think there's big moments in games where I'm not sure that I entirely trust him. I know I don't, so let me not even be nice about it. What do you think the trade market would actually be for him if Chicago says, let's do it? Go ahead. the trade market would actually be for him uh if chicago says let's do it go ahead well i mean first of all chicago should say let's do i don't know what they're waiting for i really don't you

know this is two years running you know really ever since lonzo ball's injury looked like it was as serious as as it is they they you know i i don't i don't know what they're waiting for like that nobody could have nobody looked at this roster and said it was a threat to do anything but get into the play-in. You can't. It's no disrespect to guys like DeRozan and Vucevic, but they had the lowest ceiling of any would-be playoff team in the Eastern Conference. Full stop. I think it's an inevitability that Zach Levine is traded. The market's interesting. You have to really need his skill set. Let's use Philadelphia, for example. I could see Philadelphia liking his skill set. It adds not only another score

into that mix, but also another guy that can handle the ball a little bit. Right now in Philly, you've got Maxie, and when he's healthy and good, he's great, but he's kind of it when it comes to your primary ball handler. Zach Levine's not a playmaker, but he can handle the ball a little bit. So I can see why Philadelphia would like him. I don't see why the Lakers would like him. That makes zero sense to me. Like why you'd want to add a guy like that into the mix. If you're the Lakers, you know,

if Chicago and Arturis Karnasovich calls about Zach Levine, you should say, well, how about our old friend Alex Caruso? Like that's the guy I'd want if I was the Lakers in that mix. So I think it's tricky. I think you've got to really need that specific Zach Levine skill set. And of the contenders out there, you know, again, Philadelphia makes some sense. The Knicks might just decide that like we can't get left out in the cold

anymore. Like we can't keep holding on hoping that Giannis wants out. Well, he doesn't. Joel Embiid wants out. Embiid seems pretty happy right now. The Knicks are just keeping all their assets in protection for that next big available guy. Meanwhile, they just look like they're chugging along

as the annual four or five seed that's going to get beat in the first or second round of the playoffs. So maybe the Knicks get antsy and they make a move. But given Zach Levine's kind's one-dimensional skill set, given his contract, three years and a boatload of money left on it, given the fact that he's been healthy this year, but that knee that has given him problems in the past would worry me if I'm a team taking on that many years left on his contract.

I think it's a more robust market for Alex Caruso, and I think it might be a more robust market for DeMar DeRozan as well. The Lakers part of it's also challenging, too, because of which draft picks they'll ultimately own, what Chicago will be looking for. But then kind of the other point with the contract, I mean, it's between $40 and $50 million the next four years, that $50 million player option.

He's probably picking that one up. So you're right. If the Lakers go, well, there's probably picking that one up so you're right like if the lakers go well this is not even that much competition for this guy so the price isn't that much the contract's bad we'll do it i wonder how much of a motivation could be coming from the clutch side of things i know in the past lebron did like levine so i don't know if lebron the gm has how does but does that make any sense to you with with that team like do they it didn't when i heard it and it doesn't now i just i think you're getting a more athletic okay you kind of already have one of these super talented not trustworthy guys and d'angelo russell now granted that would be a big part of the trade

to switch it out levine's better than d'angelo russell i'm not i'm not making that argument here um that's not that's not their need list part of it is i think it's the lakers the rumor part of it they can't help it and then all sorts of just whether it's fans and it just all kind of gets funneled into one thing where it's like oh the lakers have interest in this guy and i don't i think lebron has had interest in the past but that when i watch them i don't go man they need zach levine no no they've got, I think they've got enough score. Like their, their biggest problem obviously right now is getting Anthony Davis right. Getting him to be Anthony Davis every single game and not be inconsistent, be in better

shape. Not just kind of disappear in some of the ways that he has, but you know, I love that Darvin Ham moved Austin Reeves back to the bench. That move has paid off in the short term. Russell is who he's going to be. He's going to have some nights where he's awesome, and he's going to have some nights where he's 2 for 10 from three-point range. That's kind of the way it is. I don't look at Zach Levine as being a cure-all for that team. He's a guy that needs the ball in his hands, needs to shoot, not a playmaker.

I don't know. I think you can get by with the Rui Hashimuras and D'Angelo Russells and some of the guys they have on that roster in that role. Again, I'd be way more aggressive on Alex Caruso. I think that's the guy the Bulls want to hold on to because he's got a great contract and you

don't want to give up Alex Caruso until you can get multiple first-round picks back in return because for championship-level teams teams that's the guy that you can see being a plug and play type of player just put him into whatever team you that acquires him and he can give you a 30 minutes a night as a two-way player that's the guy i'd be most interested in that bulls roster yeah and a lot of these teams like i don't care what denver does the next month you know i don't care i don't care that some of these games might be close

uh closer than you expect with jamal murray out you know golden state now care I don't care that some of these games might be close uh closer than you expect with Jamal Murray out you know Golden State now it's kind of a wash I mean it's it looked really ugly again last night for them after the ejection game and then no dream on it and when the Lakers don't have Anthony Davis right there's not really an interesting evaluation for me like I'll watch the games but I know I'm not going to come to any like conclusion with some of the teams that are already very ongoing. With Phoenix, I don't really care what their record is. I mean, it's a little annoying that the one night we thought we were getting the Beal return, and you're like,

oh, wait, he's out again. But I think when those three guys are going, then I'll look at that team and I'll make some sort of conclusion, which I think is a good segue into bringing us into Dallas because this offseason, it's not like i was saying hey they can win the west but it just felt like there was a massive shift of almost being too dismissive of them they're nine and three they're the two seed behind denver so you know real likely here they could go a couple couple weeks being the number one seed in the west. I'm not saying they're winning the West,

but what are you seeing from a team where Luka, I think, is very early on here, reminded everybody and be like, did you guys really want to doubt me? Do you really want to move on from me? And maybe it's just some pockets here or there. I still know defensively, though, it's like the rankings aren't good. They're 25th in defense. They were 25th in defense last year,

but the Luka playoff part of it is what scares the shit out of you. The seed may be irrelevant, but if they get the right matchup and then you've got to face that guy, he might be at the top of the list of the one player you're most scared of in a series.

Absolutely, but they have the potential to be so bad defensively, like so bad. There's no stopper on that team. There are some good to better than good defensive players. Tim Hardaway Jr. is okay. Grant is a good defensive player, but there's no stoppers there, especially in that backcourt. And when you

get to the playoffs and you're trading buckets, that's eventually going to kill you if you're the team that can't get any stops. I mean, one thing that made me more optimistic about Dallas early in the season was Derek Lively. Like, did not expect Derek Lively to be this good. Like, Derek Lively. Did not expect Derek Lively to be this good. Active. Shooting like 70% from the floor. Just kind of the perfect compliment in a big man to Luka and Kyrie

because all he does is set screens and dives and winds up with offensive rebound opportunities, lob opportunities. He's the guy that I think has the potential as the season goes on to make a difference. But right now they're 24th in defensive rating. How many teams do you know that are in the bottom third of the NBA advance past the second round? There's just not many that can get that far. And as much as

I love Luka, and you're right, he's the most dangerous guy in a postseason series because the kind of shots he can make and the kind of plays he can create. Kyrie, for all his flaws, is still a closer. He is an absolute closer in the postseason. I just don't trust their ability to get stops. I really don't. I know that's something that's been a concern of that

team internally for months now. I don't know how they resolve it because I don't think they have the assets to go and do something that will bring in a defensive type player. And as much as I like Grant Williams, and I do, I don't think just him out there

playing multiple positions is going to get it done. No, and I felt that was part of the minute juggle from Missoula with Grant last year was that there were certain matchups where if it felt like he had to be further out on the perimeter, they're like, you know, we don't really know that we trust him this way against ball handlers. And you're right. Like, look, it's kind of like the Pacers. I enjoy watching the Pacers, Halliburton's that guy. It's incredible,

but they're 28th in defensive rating. So can't win like that. I know you're a four seed today Pacers fans and it's exciting. It's fun. But now this is, and this is the example I use all the time. When the Chicago Bulls got off to the incredible start two years ago, we changed the way we talked about the Bulls because then we started going, wait, now we're going to start comparing you to Milwaukee. We're going to compare you to Boston. We're going to compare you to Miami and Philly and all this stuff. And then it's like, okay, yeah. And that's the same thing with now that like Dallas, I think with the Murray injury, they're probably going to have some time here as a one seat. And you're going to go, that's awesome. But I don't, I don't know if you really are the one

seat on the West, despite what the standings say. I remember asking whenever I think about what a team needs to be defensively. and I actually had this conversation with Mike Brown the other day when Sacramento was in LA, because that's another team that like, all right, when De'Aaron Fox is right, they're awesome offensively. They blitz the Lakers for like 40 points in the first quarter. They are just explosive offensively, but they continue to be bottom third in the NBA in most defensive metrics. So I was just talking to Mike Brown about kind of what you need to be defensively and where that team needs to improve. And I go back to something Mike D'Antoni told me years ago when he was coaching in Houston.

That was just a top three offensive team every single year that he was there. And he said to me, he's like, look, if we're outside or if we're in the bottom half of the NBA in defensive efficiency, we're not going to win anything. If we're between 10 and 15, we've got a shot. If we're inside 10, we're going to win the whole thing. Like that was his belief. Like you've got to be at least in the upper half of the NBA to win in the post season. And I just don't see Dallas getting there. And again, I don't know what the deal is that would make them any better, given that their entire team is basically built around

two guys who are incredible offensive players, but at best, below average defensive players. Yeah, I'm with you on it. I think there's some great starts, some awesome stories, some great records, but then once we start looking at you with a different lens

and going, okay, now I have to look at you as who are you going to beat? Who are the favorites could you actually hang with and get four out of seven? Then it becomes

a little bit more challenging to kind of come to that where I'm like, yeah, I'm going to pick the Pacers against this team. I'm going to pick Dallas against this team in the series.

Chris, thanks for getting up this morning, man. I appreciate it. Sorry about that fight last night, but we'll do it again soon. All right. Enjoy the F1, man. I will. Take it easy. The Alliance. You can check out all the odds on sportsbook.fanduel.com. We went two for three last week and Cer rudy was the weak link correct yeah you guys start going at it a little bit no i just said oof that's all and uh i don't know because that's because the one guy was just like uh you know shout out to you like that that um nc state pick wasn't like a fucking sure thing and And, you know, the history would suggest otherwise.

And I just, you know, felt the fire in my belly for that. And I was just like, yeah, we're going NC State. So they pulled that one off. And then Cerruti's was the last game of the day. So I'd already seen a couple like messages like, yeah, man, you guys, you boys were fucking we're going because one guy, oh, you know what it was? That guy was like, I can I can cash this out for like a 60 payout instead of 100 he was like forget that i'm rolling and then i think when i when the game was over i

just tweeted back i was like oof and then saruti didn't love it yeah saruti didn't like it i like it i like the edge though you know i like i like you guys just sharpen each other up uh all right you're our acc guys so i'm curious where you're gonna go uh this week we have saruti's picks so you can go first, Kyle. I'll get Cerruti's, and I'll give you mine. Okay, I'm actually going to stay out of the ACC. What I'm going to do, I'm looking at UCLA-USC. Tate and I are thinking about switching our allegiance this year,

college basketball-wise, to USC. I know we're both public school guys, but we just like to look at USC. We think Isaiah Collier is probably a draft guy. And then the Bronny James is a fun wrinkle as well. So I'm going to take USC minus six and a half at home versus UCLA. It looks like Caleb Williams is not going to hang up the pads, and he feels like he owes this team and the fans something. So I'm loving it.

That's what we're taking, USC minus six and a half. That's going to get you minus 105 odds. Okay. I have Cerruti's pick. He is going to Knoxville, Tennessee, number one Georgia, taking on 21 Tennessee, Georgia's favorite by 10.5. He likes the under, which has moved from 59.5 to 58.5. We're going to give it to him at 59.5 because that's when he gave us the pick.

It's true. I think that's fair. Yep. Yep. No, we're going to hook our guy up here. Our guy us the pick. I think that's fair. Yep. Yep. No, we're going to, we're going to hook our guy up here. Yeah. He needs it. There's a couple games here that I was excited about.

This new look, Illinois offense plus three at Iowa. Don't want to do that against their defense. Never know. I just don't even know how you bet any of the Iowa games. The totals are just total traps and all that kind of stuff. Some tasty stuff going on here, maybe with Washington. Because I think people are just looking at that being like, the Huskies are getting a point and a half,

but Oregon State's been good this year. There's also a Washington State-Colorado play I was thinking about. CU's getting four and a half points. They actually do for a win in the Pac-12 with those two teams bottoming out in conference play. But I'm going to go a bit with as great as I thought Missouri has looked here, and I do think they're really good. I'm going to go Florida plus 10 and a half at Mizzou. Just finding a way, keeping it close, late score down 14, they get a garbage touchdown,

maybe something like that. So I like the 10 and a half points from Florida. That's not necessarily overwhelming, but it just still feels like a lot of points for a team that I've watched enough this year to kind of just shrug my shoulders on. And it really has nothing to do with Missouri because I really, really am impressed with Missouri. I just think it's a ton of points. So I wanted to pick a dog this week too, because I think we've been on a favorite fest. So there you go. The Alliance. You can check those odds out at sportsbook.fantool.com. 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. Okay, it's Life Advice with Just Kyle.

We have lost Saruti to the wilderness. He's hiking out in the mountains of Vegas, I believe. And Kyle's back in L.A. So, what's up, Kyle? Just you and I, buddy, just you and I are going to do this today. Remember that that was all right. That's all right. Um, a lot of people are wondering, we should get you a bath bomb for Christmas after admitting during the live show that you took a bath in Las Vegas for the first time in many years,

not a high, I'm not a high bath rotation guy myself. So you shouldn't be getting any kind of heat for that. Although they are relaxing. Yeah, they are. I just, you know, I've lived in several apartments and there was just, you take one look at the shower tub situation and you're like, no way I'm not getting in there. My knees will be out. You know, my shoulders will be out. It's like, this won't even be a bath. It'll be cold half the time. And it just won't be, you know, you have to shower after a bath anyway. And if the bath didn't feel good, just don't do it. So I wouldn't get me a bath bomb because I won't remember to bring it the next time I go to a hotel. So, and I only took the bath because I was suffering so badly. I was like, maybe, maybe this will help. I don't know. I think I've tried everything else. So,

so I was just like, it was a, it was a last ditch effort to try to be okay by the show. Not to get into it too, but just the weirds kicked in a bit and you were like, maybe a bath will help. yes absolutely i don't like that that happened to my friend kyle but you know sometimes you know you know the game that you're playing yeah it wasn't it wasn't much longer after the bat that it went away and i think that's the last hangover in my 20s because your boy turns 30 on sunday and i think we squeezed one last terrible one and i even threw up i was like i was trying to do the math like when did i throw up last um so yeah that was just we're leaving with a bang and hopefully uh i got to work sunday so i don't think i'll be banged up on sunday yeah we'll probably uh advise you to

avoid that on a work day uh so no one came with you to vegas though right no they were gonna and then it was like your crew of guys they drove to utah they drove to denver yeah and yet no one went to new york and no one went to vegas you know it's just like you guys maybe we just have to go obscure places like i don't know maybe maybe an iowa show we'll get them out i don't know i don't know we'll do it live inloo. I'm so mad I lost my Waterloo t-shirt. I think somebody at ESPN stole it. But I think somebody from the Chamber of Commerce sent it to me because I would shout out Waterloo all the time. Iowa people are the best, but there's some fragile times with our relationship where they were certainly upset that I was being a little dismissive of the football program.

And just where they were in the national championship race a bunch of years ago. So you did the solo Vegas thing and then a solo Vegas hotel day the next day, which is not, I wouldn't wish that on people I hated. So yeah. And I wasn't gonna either. I've been there so many times and I was just thinking it was like eight o'clock and I was like, I didn't have dinner. And then I was like, you know what? I like, I want, i want to have dinner on the company dime let me just go down there and see what there is and then i think i looked up it was like 1 30 i was like wow wow like get out of here and so then i i went back to sleep fine but i woke up in the morning like this is insane what the hell happened to you so um yeah we'll

leave it at that we don't need it we don't need a full timeline. We don't need to dig in, but we're glad your spirits are much lifted. And I felt like you brought it. You brought it to the live show, as you always do. Okay, let's get to a Vegas-related life advice. Kyle, I think I'm going to tee you up on this one. Here we go.

Reaching out to you guys on the matter, while seemingly trivial in the grand scheme of things, has caused a significant rift among friends and myself. So here's the deal. Myself and two buddies took a weekend trip to Vegas. The plan was we'd all arrive on Friday. trivial in the grand scheme of things has caused a significant rift among friends and myself. So here's the deal. Myself and two buddies took a weekend trip to Vegas. The plan was we'd all arrive on Friday. I'd make my exit on Sunday and the other two would depart on Monday at 5 p.m. Perfectly coordinated, right? No. The Monday leave, when you're planning it, you're like, what a great idea. It'll be like a mellow Sunday. It'll be like a mellow Sunday and then it's like a later Monday and I'm not rushing back and And my work allows me to do like whatever you're doing.

I'm just telling you, if you're in your twenties and you go that hard on Friday, Saturday, this is not where you want to stay. You don't, you want to get out of here. You want to leave the scene of the crime. So the, the younger buffer book on the back end of a place, if you're in the French Quarter, you probably don't want to just chill on that Sunday into Monday. Even when I do my SEC trips, and we don't even really do all that much, and I'm still in some weird town at a residence inn taking notes, getting ready to tape the next morning. I'm like, I want to be home. I know it sounds great on paper. I know it looks great when you're plugging in the stuff and you save a little bit on the flight. More often than not, that Sunday, everybody actually wants to get out of Dodge. Okay. So now for the twist, one of my buddies, let's call him Steve,

decided to throw a curve ball into our plan. The day before the trip, Steve changed his return flight from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Monday. This left my other buddy, let's call him Larry, alone in Vegas for the day. This isn't a movie, right, Kyle? No, it didn't feel very cinematic to me. I don't know what happened to me. It happens to dudes. Steve and Larry on Vegas, right to DVD.

Now the disagreement. Larry's pissed off that Steve changed his flight last minute. On the flip side, Steve believes he's done nothing wrong by changing his flight and is calling Larry selfish for suggesting he should stay. Keep in mind, Steve was the architect of the entire trip, and the reason for his last-minute flight change is the classic get-home-early-to-prep-for-work-on-Tuesday maneuver. Well, that's what he said to you, But what it is, it's the classic,

I can't do this anymore. I want to leave. I will say it a third time. On paper, the extended stay always feels like a great move when you're younger. When you're older, it can be a little different. Maybe you've got a lifestyle that allows you this. And maybe you're here with your wife or your girlfriend and you're like, hey, let's do this restaurant on Sunday or whatever. But if you're younger dudes, Vegas-ing it out hard for a couple of nights, you're here with your wife or your girlfriend. You're like, hey, let's do this restaurant on Sunday or whatever. But if you're younger dudes Vegasing it out hard for a couple nights, you're not going to want to be here more than 48 hours. You're just not going to want to be. So Steve decided I've had it, but he still stayed on Sunday night, despite the fact he

probably had to be up at like 3.30, 4 a.m. to make it to a 6 a.m. flight. So I get Larry being annoyed. But if you guys are actually closer friends, Larry has to understand the game. He has to understand the rules and Steve couldn't take it anymore and needed to leave. And Steve cared about Steve in that moment. And I think Larry should allow it. Yeah. I think you got to look at like Vegas is a special place. Like I could see it. I've never been to new Orleans, but I could see how maybe that's a similar, similar sort of deal. But I don't think it's like,

it's like, and I don't think it's like leaving the bachelor party, you know, early in, in, in Myrtle beach or something. I think it's a little different. I think like,

you don't know what that guy's been through unless you've really taken the time. Like maybe he has, maybe he was just going to the bathroom and he sat down at a table and then there's, there goes 200 or something like you don't know what's happened. And so, I mean, like maybe he smoked way too many cigarettes inside because you just don't know how to act when somebody tells you you can smoke inside. I don't know what happened to this dude, but I think you have to really consider like what's

going on inside for him to actually go through the trouble of, you know, redoing the flight and, you know, maybe not even getting as good a seat for your trip home or whatever. Like something probably happened because it's Vegas. Like I said, if this was a different town, I think you could be like, all right, we're going to give him some shit. And I think it's okay to give him some shit for this too, but I wouldn't be super upset because

it's Vegas and you don't know what that guy's been through. And unless you took the time to find out, he might have had his own adventure that you don't even know about. Yeah, and tell Larry, as you get older, there may not even be another Steve. So be happy Steve exists and that he wanted to go to Vegas. And what you should be focused on more in the future is getting over it and understanding that, you know, one day Steve's not ever going to plan anything and Steve's not going to want to go with Larry and Larry is going to be desperately needing a Steve in his life.

And Steve is married with a couple of kids prepping for work all the time. So enjoy the Steve's now would be the overriding message. Yeah. And by the way, what were you guys going to do on Monday? Go for a walk. Check out the shops. Check out the palms. I heard it looks nice now.

Just go look at the sphere and then grab a book or a People magazine and sit at the pool. Yeah. Grab yourself a chicken wrap for 30 bucks. When I rolled in after the live show, which was a disastrous travel day for me, uh, after the live show, which was a disastrous travel day for me, it was, I was so excited to drive cause I wanted my car and it took eight hours to get from that's unreal. Yeah. Well, as soon as I left LA, it was rain and I went, this is going to be a problem. And then there was another massive rain story, a storm outside of San Berdu, I believe. And then, then there was like a pretty bad tractor trailer thing

just east of, you know, I would say west of the Nevada border to the eastern part of California. And it was so bad, I was texting Cerruti going, there's a chance like Kyle's going to have to do a monologue. Kyle Monag. So I rolled in and then from the time I got my car back to the hotel I was at, from the event to walking into my room was an hour and a half. And I texted, I hadn't hung out with McShay in years. And he was like, we're both here for the night. And I was like, look,

I still have a ton of stuff to do. But I was like, if we go downstairs and just sit in a lobby bar, it'd be great to catch up. And he's like's like yeah maybe we can do something like that and then he texted me he goes i'm out that was it and then i texted him at one i got to my room at 1 16 a.m 1 16 a.m and i left the event i think before midnight and when I went to check in, they were like, you, your reservation is canceled. I was like, why? They're like, you didn't check in in time. And then she like rounded up. You didn't check in on the day of.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then she like tried to round up. She's like, well now, sir, you're actually two days out. I was like, why? Because it's 40 minutes past midnight. You're just counting that as an extra day.

I was still trying to be nice. Cause I was like, what's going to happen here? Cause you know, you're sitting there with all your luggage and it took forever to park and the whole deal and i'm like i really don't feel like packing a car back up and getting on my phone to try to figure out where the hotels are at i was going to be out in boulder city who knows great views out there though i checked it out yesterday i went to boulder city went to the hoover dam shut up yeah i never i never been i'll send you a picture impressive huh pretty impressive yeah it's pretty impressive do you think it would have been more impressive in like 1930 way more impressive yeah free internet would have blown my mind in the 30s

that would have been my yearly deal i'm like yeah i check out the hoover dam i walk it every year it's spectacular engineering bringing the kids next year. It's going to be great. The kids love it. They go, they walk across it. There's a bathroom there. And then you see the bridge. And then we'll go up on the bridge. We look back out of the dam.

Sometimes we'll do both in the same day. Every April. Because what you just said is a totally like, yeah,'ll admit when i saw it i was like wow that's that's pretty crazy like look how crazy that is and i was like wait am i like disappointed so i was wondering yeah no it's a really good it's actually in just a great like inquisitive good instincts there kyle because yeah i checked it i sent the picture to my dad and he was like what'd you think i was like well i don't know my life's not gonna fucking change but it's pretty impressive damn all right yeah we're you know we're conditioned to think it's one of the like seven wonders of

america and maybe it is i don't know but i could i could see it definitely being up there in the 30s but i don't know about now anymore so it's worth seeing and it wasn't that bad of a drive and i got to check out boulder city which you know i not looking, I'm not in Zillow at Boulder City, Nevada, but look, if you ever got stuck, there was no hotel rooms anywhere. Nice little community out there in Boulder City. It works. And then if the traffic isn't bad,

30 minutes right on the strip. Okay, let's finish up here. This is an incredible one. It's very, I love when we can get ones that are very rare. Retired Twitter troll, am I an asshole or am I talented? Hey guys, big fan of the show. I've been listening since Rosillo and Connell radio days. Stats are 6'3", 220. Hoops comp would be a suburban J.R. Smith. I could pop off 25 points with six threes, pop off four, 25 points makes more sense. Or I could

shoot two for nine and forget the score of the game in crunch time. Let's get right to the point. I've been a troll on the internet now for 10 years. I'm currently in my mid twenties and I was- Before troll? This is all present tense though. He's going, I have been, right? Okay. Over 10 years. I'm currently in my mid twenties. I was blessed and cursed to be a part of the generation that was given an iPhone way too early in life.

In middle school, my friends and I thought it'd be fun to troll athletes on Twitter when we were bored in class. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was really fucking good at this. Within a week of trolling, Kevin Durant responded back in the Instagram comment section, and I became an absolute legend for this in middle school. Kevin Durant, coming off of his MVP season, told an 8th grader and then tweeted about it. After this happened, the floodgates opened. I started receiving requests from friends to get blocked from certain athlete celebrities, and I usually got it done within the week.

These dudes are trying to get blocked by this guy. While I've lost track over the years, I can confirm I've been blocked, got a response, I've been cursed out by over 50 high-level celebrities

or across major sports, including guys like Nick Bosa, Lamar Jackson, Paul George, Michael Thomas, Frank Thomas, Kendrick Perkins, De'Aaron Fox,

and the list goes on. Pictures attached. He has all these pictures of all of these accounts that have blocked him. I have no doubt. I'm sure he's got a physical photo album

of him somewhere, too. Seems really important to him. think I'm a complete piece of shit. I don't say anything ridiculously offensive. I just troll. For example, I told Bosa during the 2019 AFC championship game that his brother was soft and he didn't show up for the game. And I got blocked by one of my favorite players. Now that I'm adult and Twitter has become overrun with trolling burner accounts, I've retired the Twitter fingers. Okay, well, maybe we have a happy ending here. But my friends love hearing my trolling stories, and it's usually a successful conversation starter. But I've matured since and can acknowledge how all of this was extremely immature.

The reason I'm writing in is because I need some closure on all this. One, should I act as if this never happened and refuse to acknowledge this era ever happened? Two, am I just a complete asshole or is this talent? I would love to hear you guys discuss this. So this was in middle school. He went at Kevin Durant, and Durant said to him, LOL, you kids make me laugh. I got two gold ones,

meaning, I guess, two championships. Tell me what you've done for your country besides run your mouth or maybe two gold medals. Hall of Fame. Yeah, right.

You're 13. What have you done for your country? I have a lot of thoughts, but I've talked a bit. Kyle? I don't think it's talent um and i think it's sort of like i wouldn't brag about it like i think it's sort of like

throwing rocks at cars and you know i don't know smashing mailboxes it's like you look back and you're like jesus you know if that happened to me that would really fucking suck now but you know i don't know i can't explain why i did it but it seemed seemed like the right thing to do when we were when we were 15 so i think it's i guess you were you know people love to blame the generation of like oh my parents gave me a phone too early and it fucked me up and i don't know if he was joking when he said that but i've just i've seen that a lot lately but i think that's that's what happens and you stop vandalizing mailboxes and throwing rocks at cars and you just uh you go at celebrities on twitter and you know you wait till you piss them off and you're like haha i won so i don't know i

think it's it's the same sort of like makes you cringe when you think looking back on it but i don't think it's that much different than you know just being a menace to society like most teenage boys are yeah instead of burning down i remember the big thing in our town when guys were in junior high was there was a the newspaper box was made of plastic and if you could put enough stuff in it and light on fire it would melt it but it would the melting would put the fire out in theory um good safe fun then yeah it always did and guys called them toasties that's fucking hilarious and so then the next morning if you saw like a street get hit with a bunch of kids setting off some toasties it would just be these it would be almost like hippie candle wax dripping down on the on the piece of metal that was holding because the whole thing was sort

of flimsy but all you needed was just for the local paper right the daily paper being delivered every single day and you'd see like you know you'd be on the bus and guys would be losing their minds to be like oh my god there's eight toasties in a row or something like that it would be these these things now you know we can laugh about it now but if you were a parent you wouldn't be like oh my kid is awesome at toasties yeah you get to meet him jack he's 14 you know so i wouldn't say hey this is cool but i think you'd have to be like a really really weird adult to be mad at you for doing this while you were in middle school you weren't making toasties for 10 years that's the one difference here you started young and you just kept it going um So this means what he's 25,

26 now. And if he started in middle school, he said, he just said he doesn't do it anymore. So it took him maybe to what? 23. Is that what we're talking about? Yeah,

I think so. So yeah, if you're, you know, if you're, if you're toasting up those things at 23, I think your friends would be like, Jesus,

like, but, but it's one of those things you can do by yourself and, you know, no one has to really know. Yeah, I think it's 90% throwing rocks at cars and pulling a toasty. I'm just never going to stop loving that sound of that.

The t-shirt options for this podcast just keep growing. But I think it's like that, except for you did it a little too long. So I would be a little more embarrassed than I probably am about the dumb shit I did. The fact is the guy said he stopped. Yes. Now now if he said he still does it all the time then yes i would think you're an asshole yeah okay and i am probably the wrong person to talk to because i'll admit when i see somebody that does this and i know this is kind of their lane to do it all the time i i immediately think like this person's a loser. Like they don't really have a ton going on.

So I think anybody that's upset at you for doing this when you were a young kid and yeah, you probably should have stopped. But the fact is that you stopped. I mean, there's people my age that can't help themselves. You know, they just like everybody knows the tweet to send to try to start shit to people and whatever that little endorphin rush is like you'd have to think it goes away after a little while but if you're still excited about it like you just like hey i'm just gonna go at everybody that's um in the public eye like any public figure i'm just

gonna keep just fine like cool and then the thing that sucks for the person that's that's being targeted with this stuff all the time and yeah i'm a little bit more sensitive to it than maybe the average person because i see what it's like every single day even though i feel like for the most part like whatever i get fan bases that don't like me every now and then it's not that big of a deal but then you decide like hey today's not the day and then you go back at the person and then the person that was addicted to you the whole time somehow wins the game because you went back at them yeah then they retweeted they're like yes right like the person that said something shitty to you is the winner because you're the person that's likely more successful in this this arrangement

and decides that like hey i don't feel like hearing it from you today so i'm going to tell you off and then you can go back so there's an age and it clearly seems like you figured this out young enough where I wouldn't judge you. But I think there's an age post a certain number, kind of in that mid to late twenties where it's like, you're still doing this all the time. Like I will never ever see that and go, that's a successful person. That's somebody that's crushing it. And sure, there's probably some examples of some people that have a lot of money that think this is really fun and continue to do it all the time i'm probably the wrong person to ask about it because i just i see it from the group of people that are far less represented than anybody else going to just sign up for the stuff knowing full

well that me personally like i've had a couple times where i was like this is not the day for it but i rarely will sit there and just go let me interact with this person i will never meet to counter their point so as far as bringing it up though to people would just know your audience yeah you think wait you think not at all because i think it's kind of funny like he sent me this whole thing and all of these people that have blocked him um i would i would make sure this should be a core conversation thing yeah and then right the guy's like i hate james harden he's like you know what i got something to show you here's what james harden said to me in 2017 like i don't know right but but if all of he can show you is james harden blocked your account then whatever you know like

that's that's not that exciting i would keep this to core and core approved i wouldn't be doing this upon introductions because if I, let's just say if I randomly met you and never read this email and you were like, man, I've been blocked by like 50 athletes. There's no way I think you were cool and be like, hang out with us.

Yeah. Just to be clear, this is not a talent. I just to get that out of your head. This is not a talent. Well, to do with that well in junior high, but it also just can mean,

you know, which buttons push so yeah because we've been over this the the worst the worst guys are usually in high school middle school we've we've been over this and they've they've got that little shroud of immunity over them you know i guess you can call them virgins we weren't really 100 on that but like they've got this they're this weird demographic where you're not you know they're gonna suck and you don't really have a great way to do it to combat that. But I think there's something about that demographic

that actually knows how to really, really make you feel bad. So you just never lost it. Yeah, no, that's a really good observation. There's something about that 12 to 15-year-old boy that knows what to say. What's that on your face, dude? Come on, dude.

Hey, I'm bad with that. It's a pimple. We all get them. You have them. Why are we talking about mine? I'm not great with it, though. If I see a mole on somebody's face, I look at it.

Just go Austin Powers on it? Yeah, I really do go Austin Powers. I'll be like, I'm going to stare at that mole on your face for the first minute. Have you thought about how much it costs it to get rid of that?

No, I don't even do that. I just am like, I can't, you know, I'm just an observer. I'm just constantly scouting. I'm just out there putting them in the face so happy birthday kyle how bad if i called you late sunday night said hey let's let's let's get some toasties going you and me one last time one last time one last ride i feel like you'd be in you may not want to admit it. You can call me for anything. I'm pretty much going to be in.

That would be incredible. Ryan Rosillo and nephew Kyle arrested for toasties in Encino. Yeah, we'd have to go out of bounds, though. They wouldn't understand. Yeah, they wouldn't call them. The newspaper would get that wrong. They wouldn't know they were called toasties. All right.

Thank you to happy birthday, Kyle, and Steve for his Alliance pick. Oregon taking care of all the editing for us today. The Ryan Rosillo Podcast back on Monday, recapping all the football stuff, getting ready for College Football Conference Championships, more NBA, and we'll talk to you then. Please subscribe. Ryan Rosillo Podcast, bring your Spotify. Must be 21 and older We'll be right back. Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona.

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