The Ryen Russillo Podcast - The Market for Kyrie, Steph's Injury, and the Trade Deadline With Anthony Slater. Plus, Mahomes Stories and Super Bowl Picks With Mitchell Schwartz.

Episode Date: February 6, 2023

Russillo shares his thoughts on the rapid development of Kyrie Irving's trade to the Mavericks, what the trade market was, and what the future may hold (0:37). Then Ryen is joined by The Athletic's Anthony Slater to discuss Steph Curry's injury and its impact on the Warriors, the prospects for the Warriors' young players, possible trade deadline moves, the future of Warriors GM Bob Myers, and more (16:07). Then Ryen talks with Super Bowl champion Mitchell Schwartz about the Super Bowl matchup between the Chiefs and Eagles, some clear advantages and disadvantages, the leadership of Patrick Mahomes, and more (44:09). Finally, Ceruti is back! Ryen, Kyle, and Ceruti answer some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:09:38). Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Anthony Slater and Mitchell Schwartz Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

you got a lot going on the podcast today anthony slater little trade deadline stuff what is going on with the warriors now that maybe you have to look at this a little differently with the curry injury that could be maybe a month mitchell schwartz who won a super bowl with the kansas city chiefs he's going to preview the super Bowl and talk a little Mahomes as well. I have an open on Kyrie as we learn some of the pricing stuff that was actually pretty revealing just hours after he was traded and then life advice. So Rudy's back.

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 in select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. I taped for over an hour yesterday with Bill Simmons in-house, and I didn't know how much would be left on the Kyrie thing because eventually I was going to be like, okay, well, there's

my open. Friday, he demands a trade. Sunday, he's actually traded. So I was like, there's your open, stupid. And then Bill and I in-house did an hour plus. But the thing is, is after we taped, a lot more information came out about the trade market, who was involved, the parameters on different deals from all these different teams. So I think there is enough to at least talk about it again.

All right. So the first question you have is why for Dallas? We're hearing a lot of the same very predictable things that he loves Jason Kidd. Okay. Nico Harrison, who was with Nike, who's running the basketball ops side of it, that there's a great relationship there, and that Luka signed off on this, and that Cuban signed off on it. And then, of course, this is an actual quote where they referenced that they have a different culture

than the Nets. Okay. He also said that he's ecstatic. He said that about going to Boston as well. Here's my question to all that. Maybe it's all true. Maybe it is a different culture that's somehow better.

I don't know. But if he couldn't buy in with Durant, if he didn't feel like he owed Durant just something, at least for the end of this stretch, I mean, do you realize they were like, right before Durant got hurt again, they were 18-2.

Like, Durant was going to start for the All-Star East. I don't know who would have been left out with all of that. He was going to, you know to be in the MVP conversation. I mean, unfortunately, particularly during it got hurt again, but they had kind of figured it out. They weren't overwhelming favorites,

but it started to feel like maybe Brooklyn can be good enough to come out of a packed East, the top of the East at least staff, right? So if Kyrie didn't have some element of like, this is a guy that we set out on this plan to try to figure out, you know, four years ago, if he didn't feel some, some level of like, Hey, I owe Durant something. Can anybody feel like because of some relationship, minor or major one, because a lot of these are passing, right? Like, oh yeah, he loves Jason Kidd.

How long have you guys hung out? Oh, never? Okay. Got it. Then if he's willing to move on from Durant this quickly, and again, the report on Friday was that there was a principal issue. I think it was very clear that kairi was upset that the contract offer which by the way the contract offer was stacked they just wanted you know playing fucking basketball games i know which is that's just a

crazy thought and kairi didn't want to do it so he didn't sign it and then he threatened to opt out and sign the mid-level so that he'd go to the lakers and then that was weird because on monday they were saying he was definitely going to do it, and then he didn't do it on Tuesday. I mean, I went back over the timeline of just the Nets stuff alone, like just going AWOL, not telling anybody where he is, saying that he didn't want to get vaccinated, which is a whole other dispute through all sorts of people on social media

that I'm not even interested in taking either side with that one. And then just straight up missing, not telling anybody what was going on. They get Nash fired. Jacques Vaughn saying they allowed me to coach them, which is like the biggest self-own ever, and then just decides again on Friday. As you would think this team would be gearing up for some kind of run,

he wasn't interested. He wasn't interested in being a part of it because of his contract situation and his contract situation alone. He can be about all these other things and this enlightened dude that none of us can understand. He's smarter than the rest of us. The guy wanted to make sure he was in a better position to go ahead and get

his money. All right. And that's why I thought maybe this, the next level of drama would be avoided for Kyrie, you know, in a weird way. I was like, man,

it's been kind of quiet lately. It's been kind of quiet for a while and he's playing really well and now he's going to be an all-star starter. Maybe he can ride this out, see what happens with the team, and it hits the market because it's weird how quickly we can forget and how quickly things can change. Now Dallas is saying a lot

of the same things that you've heard elsewhere. It'd be different here. Let's look in the market. Apparently the Lakers did offer up the 27 and 29 first round picks. I haven't heard whether reading it or anything else on what was involved with the protection. Because if they're protected, then this is different. Because then it was like, wait, the Lakers actually did make that offer? Well, the problem is if there wasn't a third team, I don't think you could bring Westbrook back and play with Durant. There's a whole reason he ended up leaving in the first place in Oklahoma City.

He didn't want to play with him anymore. So I don't know that you can do that to Durant because then you still have now a Durant issue. Although you'd have to think that even Durant, as faithful as he was to the friendship with Kyrie, even he at this point would be like, okay, this dude wanted out. All right, let me just try to see what happens this season.

We've got these other pieces with Dinwiddie, with Dorian Finney-Smith. Durant's not going to care about the draft picks or whatever, but they get the one pick in the two seconds. Did the Lakers actually offer up unprotected first in 27-29 and Westbrook, or was

Westbrook on its own just not enough because they couldn't find the third team to facilitate that too because they didn't want Westbrook back with Durant? I know there was also reports that they wanted Max Christie and Austin Reeves in this, but I've got to know the protection on those. Because then I'd be a little surprised if the Lakers just went straight up unprotected. amount of time about what everybody else's offers were, which I think for the Lakers, it may have been motivated to like, let's make sure we get this out there. So LeBron and the players, because apparently the divide was the players wanted to trade for Kyrie, LeBron specifically, and the front office didn't actually want to do that, which I can understand not wanting to give up unprotected in 27-29 for a guy that doesn't guarantee you anything. As well as Kyrie has played, we're just going through this again. I don't think that's a great bet to make that kind of investment with.

And if you're the Lakers too, you're one of the few franchises that probably wants to keep some of these picks after getting ready so many in the New Orleans deal for AD because that next guy that's upset, that's a major player that decides he wants to follow in the LeBron void and be the marquee for the Lakers in the next half of this decade, you may go like, why don't we get rid of our picks for somebody that's a bad bet? However, LeBron tweeted out, maybe it's me, which the translation is, it's definitely not me because he wanted everybody to know that.

But he's been doing this a bit more where he's trying to separate himself from the influence of the front office. He was asked about Kyrie on Saturday, and part of the quote was, I don't speak for the front office. I think a lot of that has to do with the Westbrook trade, to be honest with you. So then Phoenix apparently was interested. interested uh they offered chris paul which if you look at the contract after this year it's 60 million 30 and 30 but only 15 million of it's guaranteed for the following season not this season and then that has to be decided on in june of this year june of 23 and then the next 30 million for the fourth year of that deal is june of 24 so it was like through it was four years 120 which was a lot more than people thought that Sarver would go with Paul,

but the back years weren't guaranteed. The problem is if you're trading for Chris Paul, even if you think he's declining a bit, you have to figure at least guaranteeing the first of those two years. Right. Um, and then it's Jay Crowder, but then it was only one pick. And then the conversation apparently was they wanted the three picks from Phoenix. I don't care what you think of Kyrie at this point. He's not a three unprotected first guy.

He just isn't. So Phoenix apparently was out very quickly after making that offer. Apparently the Clippers were in on this. Luke Kennard's deal and Terrence Mann. I've liked Terrence Mann at times. You're not trading Norman Powell at all. I'd rather have Norman Powell just straight up than Kyrie. I know he's not as good of a player, but it's just way less of a hassle.

I guess a first and two swaps from the Clippers, but that wasn't enough. Now, the other element of the story that made it public of why the Lakers deal with the unprotections may not have happened anyway and didn't have as much to do with Westbrook is that Josiah, the owner of the Nets, was like, look, I don't want him to go to LA. Now, there were different descriptions of how this did or didn't go down. I had read straight up he didn't want it to happen. There was also other people reported he preferred not to send him to the Lakers. I have to think as upset as you could be at Kyrie, and I think there's no one more justified in being annoyed with a basketball player than Josiah I'd have to imagine that you wouldn't be so spiteful that you would

cost your franchise an extra asset just because you wanted to send them to Dallas instead of the Lakers I'm sure it was part of it if it was a cherry on top type of thing fine but I still would have to know what the protections were. And again, I just thought this was really interesting

that all of us had this information hours after the trade actually happened, which is kind of strange that it was that thorough. So back to the Mavericks. You know, a lot of the Mavs fans, I know what you're doing. every other fan base has done it too is you're just going to lie to yourself and be like this is going to be awesome maybe it will be for a little while right i mean that's the whole point it's the reason we had all

these teams even trying is that the guy is still really good uh maybe they owed it to luca promised luca something i don't know the perfect fit with Luka. Sometimes when I watch them, I go, it's clear there's a massive talent drop-off, and he needs that next guy. And Brunson was really good, was really good in the minutes where Luka wasn't in there, but was also good at creating off of Luka, which is also what you need in today's game.

Christian Wood, I'm not necessarily a huge fan, but then at other times, it's like these long shooting options, guys that can switch defensively. So maybe that was like, maybe they actually were creating the best four around Luka for what you needed with him. But then you'd be like, okay, well, how talented are they? Their big turnaround last year was their defense just became incredible in like the second half of the season. This year has not been the same. Probably a couple of different reasons for that one. So when you look at Luka,

you're like, okay, well, you've got to do something for him. You've got to add something else. And I guess that's what they just tried to do here. But I wouldn't ever do it with Kyrie. Now, I've also heard, well, worst case scenario is it doesn't work out

and he just walks. Now, granted, they could do a two-year extension of around 80 million Kyrie actually gets a two million dollar trade kicker in all this like there should be some rule against that like oh and you get a two million dollar bonus as if that's written into the contract if the team trades you like well if you trade me you gotta do a 15 kicker and it's like what if you are just a massive distraction for every month you're with the organization and you want out multiple times and we still have to trade you or give you that trade bonus? Yep, that's what that's what happened there. Now, a player can turn that down if he wants, but I don't think he's going to with that.

So because Anthony Davis did after reports that he wasn't going to, which was weird that he just magically let four and a half million dollars go away. So there was a thought here with Dallas when again, mass fans are going to talk themselves into this. This is not new here where it's like, okay, well, if it doesn't work out and I don't know what doesn't work out means just

losing basketball games and not advancing in the West, that would be like the best case scenario of this not working out because he's just a bad bet. It's a bad bet. It's a bad partnership. I mean, maybe he keeps his shit together for the next 30 plus games because he wants a four year max contract. Now, again, he can do a two year extension with Dallas now where you do four years this

summer. But if he walks, then I've seen because of the Finney Smith trade and because of Dinwiddie that they have max slot space, max salary cap space. Dallas, you've done this before. And here's the weird thing. Dallas has whiffed historically in the past, whether it was Darren Williams or Dwight Howard, or we had eight years ago, a DeAndre Jordan hostage situation. I was going back and reading this stuff this morning. It was like one guy described DeAndre Jordan's like setting the franchise back years. That ended up being one of those deals where like, thank God we didn't get him that year. Because when it went south for him, it went south

pretty quickly towards the end of the contract. So Dallas, who you would think would actually always be a really good free agent destination for a bunch of different reasons, no state taxes. Remember Cuban, who used to be like the guy was like i want the visitor's locker room to be awesome he was putting xboxes in each and every locker for the visiting guys because he wanted to use it as a recruiting tool to show you how much basketball mattered to the organization and none of that shit ever worked like they actually have a really bad track record with cap space because i don't know why because cap space is the most overrated asset that everybody talks about in the nba i used to believe in it all the time i'd look at every single

contract and be like oh they made this trade and now they're gonna have all this cap space and cap space is stupid because you don't know who's going to take it for most of the teams that have it and hoard it they end up not getting to use it on the guys they're actually targeting and dallas for whatever reason i wouldn't even like i don't look at dallas as like 20 to 15 other franchises where it's like you can have all the cap space you want. Nobody's going to go there. Dallas, you would think, would be a destination. It's not a great free agent class. Maybe you can do some other flexible stuff, but that's not how you should be doing the math on this.

When you give up a pick and you give up two good rotation players where it's like, well, if he walks, we have cap space. The weirdest thing out of this whole deal is what if they go to the Western Conference Finals and Kyrie's terrific and there's no issues and there's no issues enough where then you have a front office going, it is us. Because that way you're like, we figured it out. We're the guys. The worst case could actually be that it goes really well this year and you give him four years because then it's not going to be smooth sailing

the next four years. I will bet any amount of any fucking money with anybody that that's not going to be smooth sailing for four years because he's incapable of it. But again, we just had what? The Mavs, the Lakers, the Clippers, the Suns. And that's just what we know of in the matter of a couple of days. There's clearly more teams that were in on this that we don't know about. There's plenty of stuff I know I don't know. And so I'm sitting here going. I can't believe there'd be a market for him. And yet there's like a handful of teams. That wanted this guy immediately.

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See full terms at FanDuel.com forward slash sportsbook. Anthony Slater of The Athletic covers the Warriors. I guess some Kings too. We wouldn't be giving the full resume, right, without the Kings love. Did a Thunder story the other day. Also, you know, I'm trying to find the teams on the rise because the team I cover, you know, as we're looking at stock reports, is kind of on the downturn.

Okay, so let's start there. You know, the Curry injury, I felt like, was it the Minnesota game where he kicked out his leg hunting for the foul, which I feel like he's doing a little bit more now. Denver, Zeke Najee on the wing. He kind of, he got a four. He got a four-point play. Right, but it's one of those calls like,

hey, and so he did it, and then he got a real knee-to-knee. So that was the Minnesota-Denver game. They lost back-to-back. They didn't play Draymond. They didn't play Clay in the second game. And I was like, that probably wasn't worth it. And then you see the injury Saturday,

and he's out a month again. So what's up? Yeah, it's a very weird injury. They were having trouble not only identifying it, but they still don't know exact timetable because it's not common in the league. It is the ligament that

strengthens and stabilizes the tibia to the fibula. Again, I'm very amateur at this. I think I saw Jeff Stotts is the only one I I've seen that has found a comparative injury and it was Marcus smart in 2016 and he missed, uh, 37 days, 18 games. Um, I, I know, you know, they've kind of messaged out maybe a hope that it's just through the all-star break, which is only five more games and they have an eight day break. I think it's going to be longer than that.

I think that there's going to be a pretty substantial amount of missed time coming up for Steph. And, you know, so that makes this stretch probably the pivotal stretch of their season. I kept saying, you know, all they need to do is everybody back and put together two good weeks.

You're going to look up at the standings going, okay, you know, we have to take them seriously again. Now it's, it's the reverse. You you know i'd still watch him quite a bit i would say there's some great clay moments but it still doesn't feel like it's all the way there um certain nights with draymond i have no idea what he's doing um and certain nights he's he's a dominant force again too um you know I like some versions of the bench,

but then there's other nights where I don't. I think Poole's completely out of control more often than he's locked in. So feel free to correct me. You're seeing it every single night. But even the collective of them, they're still not close. They're still not close to being as good

as they were last year. No. I would throw Andrew Wiggins in that boat of what's going on because he was better than he was even in the playoffs probably the first month. He was shooting 45% from three, kind of giving you that two-way ability. Then he strains a groin,

which he's never missed in a significant amount of time in his career. He missed his 15 games, gets very sick within that. And since he's been back, he's been pretty bad, honestly. And he's, at this point, probably their second best or at least second most important player. And then you mentioned Poole. Last year, they lost Curry. Remember when Marcus Smart falls on him?

This was early March. There was concern they would really tumble down the standings. They held on for the three seed late last year because Jordan Poole turned into Damian Lillard for a month. If you just look numbers wise, he averaged 25 per game. I think he hit 42% of his threes

in March and April on nine per game. I'm talking high volume. He led the entire NBA in March and April with 85 threes over a 21-game stretch. That guy is not there this year. You mentioned out of control, high-level turnovers. I don't know if he still is, but he was leading the NBA in total turnovers at one point. He gets blocked at the rim a lot. He's scattered. Maybe the fact that he is now going to be

handed the ball, starting point guard, will jolt him to life again. They tried to put him in the starting lineup recently because their belief is he's just more focused when he's starting. You know, he's one of those young guys. He signed a big deal. It's like, why am I not starting? Well, they tried it. So maybe he can come to life and they can do what they did late last season,

which included, you know, at the end of late last season, it was Clay had a 35-point game, a 41-point game. Like, they do need some of that, but if not, then they could be in danger of being like the 11th seed by the time Steph gets back. Yeah, the Clay thing, you know,

I think he's been better than he was at the close of last year, and he has these moments where you, like, get really excited, but I still feel like there are stretches when he's in the game where he's more invisible than he was ever in previous years like you were still always freaked out about him and now i you know it's not like people just don't want to guard clay anymore but i i feel like he goes missing a little bit more on the

court than any time i can ever remember well He's 32, 33. He's coming off an Achilles in an ACL. This is just the stage of his career he's at. I think he wants that all-star version of himself back. It's, I think, led to, at times, bad shot selection because he's trying to summon who he used

to be. But I think the realistic part of us should just understand that's never coming back. And he should be the fifth best player on this team, even if he's being paid like the second most. But to me, it's more on Wiggins. It's more on pool. They matter more

in the stretch coming up because I think they have a level that they haven't got to. I think what you're saying about Clay is correct, but it's also understandable. This is who Clay should be. Steve Kersey even talks about it. He views Clay as a three four now not like you know he used to be maybe the best two guard in the league now he's like a kind of an undersized like wing like you can maybe even downsize them into a power forward because he doesn't guard you know scores anymore like you know elite level guys on the wing that's wiggins that's dante diva and chenso that's even cominga

some yeah it's funny with Kaminga. When he is into it, I still have these moments where I'm like, I don't know if you can give up on him yet as we look ahead at the deadline just a couple days away and trying to figure out what they're going to do. Give us your now, past the halfway part of another season

with Kaminga, Wiseman, and I don't even know if we put Moody in this group, but go ahead. Yeah, I mean lottery pick. Kaminga is the one they seem to have hit on, and I would agree with you. I think he's done a lot of really good stuff starting. I remember there was a game in Dallas, maybe

20 games into the season. They told him pregame, pick up Luka full court, and he did, pick up Luka full court. And he did. He bothered Luka much more than Wiggins did in that game or anybody else. And he scored a little bit. They are second to last in the league

in paint points per game. And he's the one guy on their team because Wiseman's unusable at this point to them that pressures the rim. And I don't want to say he's untouchable at the deadline. Cause I think it was like some home run deal was, was put at their doorstep because some other franchise was like, you know,

we think Jonathan can make a, will be Paul George in three years. And we just want that. So here's, you know, whatever this package. Sure. I'm sure he could be pried away,

but he is the one young guy that even the veterans believe, yeah, he could be in a playoff rotation. Draymond has talked about his point of attack defense, which they're missing without Gary Payton this season. It's like a weapon. Go pick up LaMelo Ball when we're playing the Hornets at half court and just throttle their offense

a little bit. I like what he's doing and what he's becoming. The other two, I mean, look, you saw it the other night. They played a 10-man rotation, which included Ty Jerome on a two-way. You've seen Anthony Lamb has been a heavy part of the rotation. And still, Moses Moody and James Wiseman are getting DMPs. Just don't have trust of the coaching staff. I mean, the front office still wants to believe from what I've gathered. If you give them an incoming call and want to talk Wiseman and Moody at the deadline, they will answer. They will discuss it.

But from what I've heard, the offers have been like, hey, we'll take them off your hands. Maybe we'll toss you a second round pick. And they're like, no. They drafted these guys high. They're not going to give up so quick. So I think there's just such a troubling imbalance for them at the deadline of they value the young guys much more than the market does. So how does a deal fit? Yeah. Just, just pun on the guy you took number two,

who's in a more difficult situation. You know, I watched the Denver game when he finally gets some run and he's kind of like an almost alert for me where I'll be like, okay, you know, let me, let me lock into his his sub patterns here and uh given this he tries like it's not him not trying you know it's just that when he tries he's late he's he just still thinks he's still out there thinking instead of playing instinctively and it's a i don't know you start you wonder if like hey maybe it's just who he's going to be but if it means you're getting

a second rounder from somebody for him and we had hollinger on was like i'll be shocked if they don't trade him because of the tax bill but if there's one team i don't think you ever worry about with the tax bill it's this team so i just don't know how you pun on this three years in which was going to be a challenging situation anyway but yeah i mean I'm getting to the point now with him as a player where I go, I know what he's capable of. And if he could just have anybody, I'm sure they talked to him about it, stop bringing the ball down, getting stripped by him. That guy has more stuff at the rim that doesn't get done.

Like for somebody that should never have that challenge because of his size and athleticism, whatever his ratio would be for having stuff just swatted at the rim or people stripping him it's it's awful so it doesn't seem like it takes a lot to strip him you know it seems like if you touch the ball it can like slip out of the hands and i mean that comes on rebounds too right when a rebound will hit it it'll just bounce off i mean the number of times where it's like he'll look like he has some seal and a great entry pass and it's like a one step or one dribble and then up to the rim,

and you're like, nope, he got stripped again. And it's bad. I mean, it's just the one against Denver, he brought the ball down again. It's like, why are you doing this? Like, stop bringing the ball down. But he can't seem to take it out of his game. I don't know. Yeah, so he's played like 50 games in the NBA, like that,

like 50-something, might be up at 60. Like, Keegan Murray's played like 50 games in the NBA. Like that, like 50 something. Might be up at 60. Like he's played, like Keegan Murray's played 50 games. Like he's still, you know, a rookie in a lot of ways. And I think that leads to like what you're talking about. You throw him out against Denver. Well, he hasn't been in an NBA rotation in a month and a half. So yeah, he is slow. He does, I will say over the course of his career,

when he does get a eight, nine game stretch, typically he looks a little bit better towards the course of his career, when he does get an eight, nine-game stretch, typically he looks a little bit better towards the end of it. But the body has not held up well. Some of them are just freak accidents, but that is what it is. Over three years, if you're only healthy enough to play about half an NBA season, that's not a good sign. And then the coaching staff has just been unwilling to play. I'm unwilling to trust them.

And that's a very difficult thing for a young guy on a win-now team. And really, I think we could say now it's bad that he went to the Warriors. I think early in, when he got drafted, we all thought, maybe this is very good for a young, raw prospect center, getting a winning environment, learn a lot of the stuff you need to learn. Maybe it'll materialize into something good. I would say it would have been better for him if charlotte got him let's say warriors took lamello charlotte took wiseman and then he just he played a bunch you know in in a losing environment you could say but at least he just played i think he'd be better

in year three personally yeah well i think we've done this segment probably three times already so we don't need to spend more time on it uh so what do you think happens here before the deadline not much um you know i think anthony lamb is probably converted at some point uh and you know there was a thought maybe they'd move off the jim michael green contract just it saves tax it would open up a roster spot for for a lamb but jim michael green's been pretty good in their rotation recently. So I'm not even sure that happens. If a team wants... I could see... Biggest thing I could see happen is maybe a young guy

for a young guy swap. Let's say Detroit wanted to throw a Sadiq Bey for Moody or Wiseman or PJ Washington from Charlotte. Maybe something like that if teams just want to swap disappointing rookie contract guy but i don't i don't see some big swing like oh suddenly they're getting og and an ob for

for a big package of young guys and picks yeah the og and an ob market man i mean again i don't know if he gets traded or not but the number of teams that i've heard in on him and it's they're pretty substantial offers like two firsts in a player like okay this team is in on him two firsts a player two firsts a player so it sounds like Toronto can sort through a lot um what do you think I mean people are acting like he is like the missing piece for Memphis the missing piece for the Pelicans like the are you of that belief I like him I've always liked him but I don I don't think he's that. I get why Cleveland wants to figure out that wing spot of that closing group. Chetty's probably the best player out of... I like him better than Levert and Okoro, although if you look at Levert and Okoro's game logs, it would trick you into thinking that those guys are knockdown three-point shooters. because it would trick you into thinking that those guys are knocked down three-point shooters.

Because the last two months, because again, the only reason I knew is because I was looking it up the other day, and I talked about it on the podcast, but I don't think, I think for a Cleveland team, like I have real hopes for it, you know, they're young, they're new, so usually that doesn't work out in the playoffs. But that third guy is going to have wide open shots during the playoff games. Like that's the shot that you're giving up. And if you can upgrade that, is OG worth two firsts and a player that maybe you don't really like? But it just feels like so many different teams are in on him.

And that would be also upgrading the Dylan Brooks thing, which I think is becoming a real problem for Memphis. And I think Memphis could probably throw you a player from somebody that you've recently drafted that might be more appealing than the player that Cleveland would be flipping to you. Because I just don't know that Toronto would want Levert. Memphis is thinner than last season. And I've had this discussion with Warriors people, but it's like, you know, you trade Melton,

who even during the playoff series last year, a lot of Warriors people were like, well, they should be playing him more. Like, he's been good on staff. He bothers Poole. They gave him away for almost nothing. And then Kyle Anderson leaving. So I just think they're at the point, if they really want to contend this season,

they do need to upgrade. I don't know if that's Ananobi, but I'd agree with you, especially with the Dylan Brooks contract this summer, too. You could get off that if you're the Grizzlies. Yeah, I think the part that's kind of funny about Memphis

is the Danny Green updates. Oh, when they get Danny Green back. I don't know. I would say when I watched the Philly games the last couple years, maybe it's enough shooting. Maybe the shooting splits enough that it doesn't really matter, but I thought he looked pretty limited in

comparison to earlier versions of Danny Green. He's also 35 and he pretty devastatingly ripped his knee up. I mean, that was a really bad playoff injury, and he came back after, what was it? It's only been 10 months. 35-year-old who 10 months ago really ripped his knee up.

It's so unwise to believe that's the rotation piece that changes the puzzle. Yeah, it feels like of all the names, you'll hear like, okay, a bunch of guys from Atlanta could be possibilities for a bunch of different reasons. Some wanting contracts, some not wanting to play there. Collins, I don't think that's really any wrongdoing of his own. He's just been available forever. But yeah, I mentioned it with Bill.

I think it was on the Sunday pod when we did the Kyrie stuff. It just was weird if you kind of go through. And again, I'm not a reporter, so I defer to you guys. But in just BSing with people with people it's like oh man you know like toronto's gonna have its its selection of offers because people are so hot on og and you know i don't even think golden state could i don't know it depends if you want to go to another pick but then you start talking about like hey usually it's three first for somebody who's at a different tier. You know, even DeJounte is at a higher tier than OG and Anobi.

And you're telling me I got to give you three firsts for OG and Anobi to beat the market? Like, I'll just go, all right, then I'm good. I'm not interested. Yeah. And if I'm roping it back to the Warriors, one of their issues in any type of potential trade is the future money. They don't want to add some big contract that is committed beyond the season because, look, they're going to have to get off a contract this summer. I mean, they're trying to shed money for next season.

So they're just not in the market to complicate their tax situation more. Yeah. And this is also somebody as well that doesn't have a great history of health and is owed, although that number's fine, you know, 18-6 and 19-2, or excuse me, I should say 20-9. It's part of why he's appealing. It's people, you know, it's like Pascal Siakam, for example,

is like double that money. Yeah, that's not bad at all. I mean, especially where this whole thing's going to go, but his history of games played is alarming. So then I'm factoring that in going, why am I giving up? So, all right. I want to do two more things before we go. We're good on that.

I think we covered the OG and an OB topic. What do you think happens to Draymond this offseason? Where do you think the Draymond story has gone from the beginning of the year, punching pool, to the way he's played this year, to everything, the whole Draymond big picture thing on the future? really good behind the scenes. He's been getting his leadership voice back. He's admitted that it was difficult for him early in the season to yell at anybody or do his

normal Draymond stuff because he just kind of lost that. But he has gotten that back. There's been a few situations recently where he has kind of lit the team up on the bench, in the locker room, all that. He's played pretty well. I'd say he's in. If they were better,

he'd probably be a top-tier defensive player of the year candidate. He isn't what he used to be, but I think he's still worth the money considering all he does. He has the player option. I think it's going to matter. How does this season end?

Does this core look like they're still able to compete for titles? And it does seem like ownership front office is going to look at that as a more skeptical view than maybe the unbiased observer. And then also, and I'm sure we're about to get into this, but where does Bob Myers go, I think, has a domino effect to a Draymond,

to a Steve Kerr, maybe down the line, and to others. So I think just so much of what's about to happen matters. Like, how does this season end? Okay, so that's my next question, kind of my final one. So you, along with Marcus Thompson and Sam Amick, for The Athletic, a deep dive on the future of Bob Myers, whose contract is up this summer. There I've been. I would say of the big, big rumors that I've heard over my career,

the ones that are always wrong are the ones where it's like, this guy's actually going down there to run that whole thing. And this guy, they're recruiting him to go down there. And that'll never happen. It's like some ex-player or coach that already has a relationship with this organization, and you'll hear about how this guy's going to get this sweetheart deal and kind of repair it. And the biggest one you've always heard is Bob Myers. Go back to L.A.

Eventually, he'll run the Lakers and this whole thing. So take us through the technical stuff, his contract and all that, and a big decision for somebody who's as good at this as I've ever seen. Yeah, so, I mean, if we put put in there, there's been somewhat of a divide or dispute, if you want to call it that, at the top level of these salaries, which as you know, this isn't... You just looked up OGN and OB salary by typing like,

OGN and OB salary in Google, I'm sure. You cannot do that with executives. So, it's a little bit more of a secretive world with incentives and reasons for people to artificially pump up what they may or may not make. Joe Lacob is on record saying that Bob is a top three GM in the league. Bob Myers is in the group around Bob Myers. He does not believe that. They believe he's in like 6, 7, 8 range behind some of the guys who... He's pretty clearly outperformed over the last decade. You could easily argue he should be the top paid GM in the league. So that is the salary divide. And then beyond that, I would also say vision of the franchise is up in the air as this pivot to the next era is pretty obviously going on behind the scenes. And Bob was part of what I think was general consensus on some of these draft picks that were taken.

But I'm talking more about the idea of let's use the draft picks. Let's have five basically teenagers or lower 20-year-olds with this roster transition toward the next era. And I think it's just Bob trying to decide, does he want to be part of what's going to go on down the line, which also probably includes trading away or at least letting walk some of these franchise legends. We'll see. And I think that's what Bob is deciding

this season. And all he's saying now is the decision's not made. They're not very active negotiations right now. I think Bob just wants to see how this plays out and then he's going to decide. And part of that is, does Joe at the end of the day say,

you know what, boom, here is the type of money that only Masai Ujiri makes? Yeah, I think the part about Bob, it's not just the evaluations and, you know, he'd be the first person to say he got lucky with some of it too because it's just, I mean, when it comes to the first person to say he got lucky with some of it too because it's just i mean when it comes to the draft a lot of this stuff like you can have everybody that you trust and hey we're great at this but you know sometimes you just have the

wrong picks in the wrong years and uh i think his whole demeanor his whole demeanor for a place you know it's not new york it's not the lakers it's not the Lakers, it's not even Boston, but it's a franchise that's mattered here for a really long time. And so with that, you're going to have drama. And he's just drama free. He doesn't add to your drama. He's somehow like a drama vacuum. He takes it away because his whole demeanor is perfect for this job.

And that's the part of him on top of all the other stuff, like I think is so valuable when you have this person that's in charge, the face of the entire thing. As long as there's no animosity from like ownership at times where they can be like, hey, we're the ones all signing the checks. He's the one who's getting credit. And, you know, you never know how that's happened. I know that with other franchise too, there's the younger generation of positioning themselves. But I've heard that Lake Up's son is actually great to work with

and that it's not. Both of them. There's two of them. That's right. Yeah. And I would agree. They're well-liked and pretty well-respected by people who work with them in the industry.

I only hear good things about both. You're right. I should have made sure I mentioned both. So I would say I don't hear the same with other franchises where there appears to be. It is not Atlanta. Yeah. I'll just say that. Yeah. It's not Atlanta. So I don't know, man. I mean, it comes down to it. Like Laker, whenever I started thinking about like which way the decision would go, unless Bob wants a new challenge, which I would think at his age, he's still relatively young for this. I could see him going, give me a year to reset and then I'd want a new challenge because I think he's kind of built that way too. But I just have a hard time believing that Lakob was going to lose him over money.

I just, I would. Yeah, I would. Some people who, you know, we talked to tons of people for this story, but some of the people predicted like, look, Joe is like the hard line negotiator. It's how he's become who he's become just in the business world. So he's going to hardball as much as he can. Bob on the other side, that's his specialty too, is hard line negotiating when it comes to money. So their belief was at the end of the day, when it comes down to it, Joe will pay because Joe has always paid when it has mattered. But I just think if they flame out in the first round, if Steph's injury really lingers

and maybe they go to the play-in and it's just exit from there, it could just feel like the end of an era. And I do know just part of what Bob is contemplating right now, and I think stretch it beyond Bob, part of what I think everybody around this organization is contemplating right now, it's just like might be kind of towards the end of times. I mean, Steve's been on the record talking about like, you know, not to everyone kind of uses that last dance term, but they kind of already got the cherry on top title, right?

Last year was the legacy to finance cemented in. Nobody thought it was coming. Like every, I think all their main players, you finance, cemented in. Nobody thought it was coming. I think all their main players stamped their Hall of Fame credential with that. Not to say you don't want to keep winning them if you can, but I do think there's a walk away point

at some time. I do think a lot of the people within this ride are wondering if it is soon. Okay. Anthony Slater, the Athletic. Check out that piece on Bob Myers if you get a chance. And I guess we didn't do any Kings.

I mean, we could. They lost two in a row. I mean... No, give me being around them. We should do them. We should give them a little bit of love here. Yeah. It's been really, honestly, refreshing.

I remember I went to the Kings-Nets TNT game, and it was their first TNT game since 2018. And they were like... Anybody in the organization you talked to was puffing their chest out like, TNT is in the building tonight. And it was just fun. I was laughing to their face. Like, look, if I'm at a Warriors game, I have to tell them they're on TNT tonight. Like, oh, we got a TNT game? Didn't know that tonight. And it was just like the difference and just... I've been to 20 arenas probably this year

and they have the best atmosphere on a nightly basis. It's like they're playing the Nuggets on a Tuesday night and it's like right when tip-off goes and a guy hits a three to open the game. It's an explosion in the arena. And it's like... Usually a lot of these regular season arenas, you need a close fourth quarter to bring that

almost playoff-level vibe in an arena. They have it in the first quarter, which I've really enjoyed. The beam stuff, it's corny, but it's really fun. The Mike Brown just coaching resurgence, I think taking so much of what he got from the Warriors, not even stylistically, but I think just the vibe that Steve Kerr brings, the way he deals with the media, deals with

players. I think he's at such a good place in his career and his profession. And he's putting that into place in Sacramento and it's working. And it's unlocked a lot of the players, which I don't know if you want to get into any of the players, but I think Monty McNair and Wes Wilcox did a really good job building with what their mission was,

which was to win now, build around Sabonis and Fox. I mean, they made really good moves to, I guess, do that. Yeah, I think that covers it. Would you pick them in the first round? No, but I wouldn't pick anybody in the West in the first round. I'm down on the entire West at this point. Well, not Denver. Yeah, I've long been a Denver skeptic,

but even the other... I'm watching Jamal Murray look good the other day. I like the Bruce Brown, Caldwell Pope additions. I'm like, all right, I'm starting to... Especially looking around, I'm starting to believe, yeah, I guess they could come out of the West. Yeah, I think it would say whatever snapshot of the season we're in right now,

like all of us that are watching everything, you have to feel good about Denver, especially with the defensive stats backing it up too. Like that was the big thing for me that I was always reluctant with. And now you compare them to the uncertainty

with everybody else behind them. Like they're the best bet at this point. And I don't know, maybe that would change Memphis comes back and put together a run having everybody healthy.

Now we can say goodbye to Anthony Slater because I want to make sure we get some Sacramento in there. Thanks, man. Next time we'll talk Thunder. Perfect. Mitchell Schwartz joins us, former NFL offensive lineman, specifically with the Kansas City Chiefs in that first Super Bowl run.

What's up, man? Good to see you. Good to see you too. to see you, too. Going back and looking at it, we can go in a few different directions here, but how do you feel about the strengths, the weaknesses of Kansas City for your win against San Francisco? Granted, you weren't healthy and Fisher wasn't healthy in the Tampa game and kind of who they are now headed back to the third super bowl with this group yeah i think looking back and and having that perspective the offensive and defensive lines are such a big matchup and so looking to this specific one you know i think on paper philadelphia has the advantage on both sides

of the ball um you know kansas city's greatest advantage is obviously Mahomes and pairing that with Kelsey. And so you can overcome a little bit of a downside. But we've seen in that Tampa Super Bowl in particular, if your offensive line isn't able to hold up to defensive pressure, things can go south and they can go south really quickly. And so probably on paper in the San Francisco Super Bowl, their defensive line would have had a slight advantage. We had a pretty good offensive line, but they kind of dominated the NFL slight advantage. We had a pretty good offensive line, but they kind of dominated the NFL that year. They were the best defense,

and they had, similar to what Philly has, waves of guys. It's not just the starting four. And we were able to hold up pretty well. They did some good things early on. We gave a couple sacks, forced some turnovers that were uncharacteristic, and eventually we kind of got our footing

and were able to make hay in the fourth quarter. And I think this Super Bowl comes down to those matchups. And I think if Kansas City is able to kind of get to a stasis where you walk away and you don't say, well, Philly dominated up front, either defensively or offensively, I think the advantage swings way in advantage of Kansas City. And so that's going to be the biggest thing for me to watch this week.

What was it about the beginning of a game against the Niners front that obviously is really talented? What happens in the beginning of a game that's this big where you're trying to go, okay, are we just losing? Or are we confused? Or is Mahomes not connected to us? What happens when you feel like it's not going your way to start a game? Well, it's tricky because you only kind of know how you feel, how your

individual matchup is going. And whenever there's disjointed offensive football, it's not that everybody's getting beat and that we all suck. It's usually one guy gets beat and then a different guy gets beat and then a different guy gets beat. And so over 10 plays, you maybe think to yourself, I only had one bad play, but we're not doing anything offensively and everyone feels that way. So you don't really feel like you're the problem or that you're the one that's causing things to go bad. But there's definitely like a feeling out period because obviously seeing friends in the other conference, and so you don't play them a ton and you go up against, you know, Nick Bosa and Eric Armstead and DeForest Buckner, Dee Ford, all these guys, and you almost have to get used to their speed and their physicality. You'd like to think that they have to get used to yours, but them being that good,

you know, you kind of have to get used to how quick is he getting off the ball? Where are my angles going to be? How deep do I need to set? How much do I need to, you know, kind of anchor down and expect the bull rush? And you don't want to have a bad staff and you don't want to come out not firing. But, you know, luckily, the coaching staff kind of trust the guys to self adjust. And, you know, there are a couple times where you get beat and you go to the line of scrimmage, or you go back to the sideline and your coach isn't cussing you out. But he's saying like, Hey, what happened? I just want to know, like, all right, he beat you with a swim move. Uh, maybe you can be a little better

with your feet this time. Maybe you can do this. And so, um, it takes a little bit of skill to, you know, kind of self adjust on the fly, uh, throughout the course of a game and especially against guys that good and in a matchup that, you know, if you lose, uh, you know, it's pretty damaging. So it's, it's difficult. And one of the cool things, I think after the fact after the fact that you saw um you know pat going up and down the sidelines throughout the game just like hey guys let's keep going let's stick together let's trust each other um just kind of having that other guy pick you up so you don't kind of retreat into a bit of a shell when uh you saw some of the stuff going around because i was looking specific for the uh the bosa lane johnson matchup.

And then all of a sudden, everybody had these slow motions of Lane Johnson, where I still think slow motion is the worst thing to look at when you're looking for penalties. Because in slow motion, it looks like he is getting... I don't think this is that rare. I don't think it's that unique to Lane Johnson as somebody knowing his quarterback's cadence better than the defensive line. So he's getting off early. In slow motion, it looks like he's getting off early in slow motion. It looks like he's getting off a week early, but in real time, it's kind of this,

like this isn't a marching band. It's usually the old line is kind of collectively like somebody sneaking a little early here and the rest just allowed all the time. And people felt like they discovered this brand new flaw with offensive line play that I thought was totally overrated because of the slow motion yeah it's been a bad few weeks for offensive line play on social media uh with the false start stuff and withholding and people don't necessarily know what to look for i mean like you said if you go slow-mo yeah maybe lane's leaving like a tick early uh they also haven't called it in five years so maybe it's not a penalty if the

refs don't ever call it you know maybe that's possibly how it goes if it was illegal and they determined it was illegal they would call it illegal but they're not and so they're allowing offensive linemen to do it and it's always the offensive tackle you know we're the ones that kind of need to kick out and we're the ones that need to get some depth and we want to time up the snap count as good as possible in Cleveland with Joe you know we tried to do it the snap count as good as possible. In Cleveland with Joe, we tried to do it where we were leaving at the same time. So if we were both slightly early, it didn't necessarily look slightly early because you had two guys doing it. So the rest could be like, yeah, well, it's synchronized. So they must be onto something. Same with Philly. Lane does it

a little bit better than Milata does, but they both do it to a good advantage. When one guy does it, and this is the jacksonville uh chargers game that bosa was freaking out about you know it was just the right tackle and so it looks a little bit dramatic when it's just one guy um but i would just encounter like i said the refs aren't calling it so we can slow things down we can say whatever we want i guarantee that opposing coaches are sending in the film and saying these guys are offsides i guarantee going into the week the opposing coaches are telling in the film and saying, these guys are offsides. I guarantee going into the week, the opposing coaches are telling the refs, hey, watch out for 65 on Philly. He's going to be a little bit offsides. And if the refs thought that he was

offsides, they would call the flag. So they're not. And I think we need to turn the page and just accept that this is legal and it's allowed. Yeah. It just looks way worse in slow motion. And so I felt like, I don don't know it's weird when people think they've discovered this thing and then it's like i'm this i'm this person that discovered it now everybody's going to like retweet these videos whatever it's like the same thing it actually happens way more with the zero clock and i don't know why this needs to be explained anymore but like when the clock is at zero the ump then looks down and if the ball isn't snapped, it's that extra beat and they'll call it. But if the ball

is snapped after the zero and it's kind of like this grace period, which Cannell explained to me years ago, he goes, they just tell you, hey, this is how we're going to call it. If you get it off at zero, we're not calling it and then everybody wants to screen grab double zeros and the ball not being snapped and think they found something where it's like

that's just not the way that it's called. So anyway anyway i'm spending too much time on some of the officiating stuff playing out on social media so i will move on uh so you think it's it's a significant advantage of philadelphia's d line against this whole line because i think that's one of the most impressive things i've seen from a front office is rebuilding this offensive line for kansas city in such a short amount of time you know know, post you and Eric and having like unbelievable talent and then finding a way to like build it back up again in a really quick way. Like that's not normally what happens and they've invested a lot. And I think all those guys are pretty good. So I think that particular matchup is just an advantage in Philadelphia's favor.

I don't think it's a significant one, but I think when you add on the Philly O-line versus the Kansas City D-line, that's when both those matchups combined become a distinct advantage for Philly. But no, I mean, if you looked at the individual matchups of Andrew Wiley and Orlando Brown against Hassan Redick,

Brandon Graham, Josh Swett, potentially, you know, Quinn if he's healthy, I think you would say you'd probably like all those defensive ends against the Kansas City guys.

You know, when you're looking on the inside, obviously, Tooney is a good player. Creed Humphrey has become a really good center. Trey Smith is a right guard, has played some good ball. Probably better as a run blocker than a pass blocker. But again, you look at Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Linval Joseph, and Dominick Nsou. Those are all really good players. And so you could say that it's even. I personally wouldn't give that advantage strictly to the chiefs.

I think the best case scenario in the chiefs direction is that's even, and then Philadelphia's defensive ends have the advantage over Casey's offensive tackles. Um, so that's where I lean, uh, at least on paper. And,

you know, this gets into the kind of the fun thing for me to watch, which is what does coach read to give help? Um, he did an awesome job when I was there, especially our Super Bowl run of scheming and help for us at tackle. And it doesn't have to be, you know, chip help, but doesn't have to be a guy hitting your guy all the time. But there's a lot of ways to make defensive ends feel uncomfortable. You know,

those kind of squeeze formations where there's a tight end who's aligned right next to the defensive end. Now he's got to worry, is he going to chip me? Is it going to be a toss-crack play? Is he going to get in the way? You know, maybe Philly goes into the game, kind of leans into more of a Belichick style or what Cincinnati was doing last week as well and says, all right, well, you know, Redick,

I don't want you to let Kelsey get a free run on his route. So I want you to hit Kelsey before you get into your pass rush. Well, advantage Chiefs. And you can't do that if Kelsey's split 10 yards away from the line of scrimmage. And so there's a lot of fun and interesting stuff that is going to go on in that specific battle. And I think, like I said, the interior matchup is relatively even, but the exterior one, I think, tilts in Philly's advantage. And so whether coach can scheme in the requisite help, and then obviously whether the Kansas City guys step up and win their one-on-ones is going to go a long way

to determining what Kansas City's offense is able to do against Philly's defense. When you have, well, you didn't play in that game against San Francisco. I was always shocked in the, excuse me, in the Tampa Super Bowl. I was shocked that it went that bad for that long. That there wasn't...

Maybe that's my being spoiled Dante Skarnecchi and whatever and being like, okay, if this is what we can't do, then we need to do something a little different. I was surprised that they just let it be that bad for that long in that entire game. Yeah, that game was just weird. It just, like you said, it got out of hand and it got

out of hand so fast. Obviously, going into that game, you're going to try to protect your guys. You're going to scheme in some help. I would say the worst thing that a coach can do is just think his O-line is going to suck and scheme a game assuming that your O-line is going to suck. Because all you're doing is you're forcing third and eight, third and 10, third and 12 when you go run, run or run screen or screen run, basically kind of what New England's offense looked like this year,

just not trusting everybody. And then all of a sudden it's third and eight every time. And what's the worst case scenario for your offensive line? Long third downs. So coach is smart enough to know we can't just go into a game and basically concede the matchup up front. You do have scheme help. You do plan for it. But if you're already accounting for it and the

matchup isn't going in that direction, you either lean in full bore and every single time you just got two guys lined up right outside each tackle, you give them help every single time. You allow the inside to kind of try to block three on two in their own right. And then you're just compromising what the passing game looks like. And especially, you know, you're probably chipping with a tight end. And if you have one tight end on the field, that's Travis Kelsey. So now you're taking away your best advantage and you're forcing him to have to help out the offensive line. So it's difficult. It's tricky when things start getting out of hand. All you can do is kind of go into the depths of your playbook and run really basic, you know, we would call them seven-man protections where you have the five-offense linemen and two other guys protecting and just stack those guys right next to your tackles and say, all right, we're going to have two or three-man route concepts and we're going to hope that it becomes available.

But yeah, like you said, that Tampa Super Bowl got out of hand, got out of hand quick and stayed out of hand for the whole time, which was unfortunate to see. Right. So health-wise, it's not even close. O-line going into this one, even though you're right, when you think about Philadelphia and their options, that's like Bama at peak D-line talent, where it's like, wait, you guys can go four in? Like, this is ridiculous.

What is Mahomes like on the sideline early in a big spot when you're trying to collectively like okay all right you know we have our game plan we have our script we have the things that we think we match up well with here but this is this is something that's presenting itself what are those conversations like with him so there's a few different ways they can present there's one which is kind of that like excitement that like, hey guys, they're doing something. I know what they're doing. Like, let's get to it. We can shred them. Which that one's awesome because if he's got a feeling like it's going to happen and you know, like, hey, if we just do what he's telling us, like we're going to

absolutely shred him. There's the one where he can kind of sense that frustration is piling up and, you know, there's an urgency to, hey guys, let's do this. You know, come on, let's keep fighting. And that urgency kind of, you know, you get picked up by because you can also sense that like he senses something in that moment. And then there's the one where it's more frustration. And that's where he as a leader is so good

is turning that frustration into kind of positive reinforcement and a trust with everybody else because i mean we've seen he's uber competitive i mean being able to play last week i don't know exactly how bad that injury was but i can't imagine it was feeling that great um and he doesn't care like again when he got hurt originally they had to like drag him off the field to go get an x-ray um he doesn't care how he feels. And he's the kind of guy that doesn't tell you how bad he feels, which is also awesome. So in those tough moments on the sideline, you can sense frustration or you can sense

the team being in a spot where everybody's in an area where no one knows exactly what to do. And he's coming up on the sidelines. He's giving them encouragement. And he's banked so much equity at this point that you know when he's coming up on the sidelines he's given them encouragement and he's banked so much equity at this point um did you know when he's leading in that manner like yeah i gotta pick it up like i know we're all frustrated i know i am again i just gave up a sack i feel like shit i want to just like sit in a corner and be miserable but like i need to be better for that guy because

if i'm better for him like everything's gonna to work. You know what I loved about that win against Cincinnati was you could see once they were down to the receivers, you could see, okay, all right, well, they're going to try to line up Kelsey. They're going to try to get him out wide now. But then it's like, okay, but you might have been doing the defense a favor by being like, okay, he has less space to kind of operate if he wants to come across the entire field. The other guys weren't getting open.

You could just see there was no separation. Now Mahomes is going through the progressions. He's like, there's nothing really here. He converted some big third downs. Then they had three possession stretch where they weren't doing anything. You're going, this is so hard for him right now. This is so hard. Cincinnati has a good defense.

That defense shouldn't feel bad about being in Kansas City, only giving up that many points. Seriously, when it's going south against the Chiefs, it usually gets a lot uglier than that. But then just finding a way, finding a way outside of whatever it is your plan was a couple hours before. I just wasn't really rooting for one team or the other. You know how I feel about Mahomes, and it's just fun all the time. But it was just kind of one of those moments where it's like there's just not a lot of

guys that would be comfortable in that spot and he still was comfortable like this is going to be really hard it's not going to work we're going to have to punt a few times but you just stay the course stay the course and you know finds a way on that one scramble yeah and you bring up a really good point with the comfortability in those tough spots. You know, he was throwing passes to Marcus Kemp, who no one outside of Kansas City really knows who that is. He's an awesome dude. He's been on the roster, off the roster, on the roster, off the roster. Like the worst, honestly, lifestyle to live in the NFL when you're kind of that last guy

that like the team trusts, you're a special teamer, but you're not really like a core player for the offense. So they feel like you're expendable and you keep coming back, you keep leaving and like, you feel like you're not valued. And here he is in the AFC championship game as like the sixth receiver. And all of a sudden he's running big routes at the end of a game. And Pat has the trust to throw to him. And it's not like, all right, well, three guys are down, Kelsey's on the field and these other schmucks are out here. Like, I'm not going to throw them the ball. It's like, no, three guys are down, Kelsey's on the field, and these other schmucks are out here, I'm not going to throw them the ball. It's like, no, I've been with all these guys before,

I've practiced with them, I know who they are, and I'm still going to trust them in a big moment. I'm still going to throw them the ball over the middle in the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship game, we need to go to the Super Bowl. And that's a rare ability to, like you said, trust everything that's going on around the field, having that kind of command of the field, having that kind

of command of the offense, command of the field. And it was kind of a masterclass in what a quarterback is supposed to look like. And then you add in the ankle injury and it becomes even more incredible. Okay. Is he never a prick to you guys in the sideline? No, that's the thing. He's exactly what he looks like like there's no oh he's different behind the scenes or he seems like a cool guy but he actually thinks he's better than you like he's stayed the same the whole time and as i mean we see these you know competitors and the guys who hate losing like that can turn into being a dick like you're talking about but that i've never seen it that's never happened like he just has that ability to lead. And I don't know if, you know, when he first started playing,

there was all the stories of, you know, his dad played baseball and he grew up in locker rooms and, you know, that kind of narrative. And I don't know if there's just something that you pick up on, you know, subconsciously being in those scenarios where you can maybe see things that you like or you don't like, and you kind of conceptualize those. And then it becomes part of your program later on in life when you do become a leader. But no, he legitimately, he gets pissed at himself. And, you know, there are times where he, I think in the 49er Super Bowl, he throws a pick or maybe a second one. The quarterback's coach comes up to him, tries to start talking to him and basically trying to encourage him like, yeah, keep going, keep firing.

And Pat's like, yeah, I know I'm going to keep firing. What else am I going to do? I'm going to keep going. So yeah, he's like, you don't really need to coach him because the expectations are so high, the competitiveness is so high. And it just, it doesn't turn into negativity and especially negativity towards, you know, people who aren't on your level, which it very easily could. And we see it, you know, from most of the top athletes yeah the reason i knew the i already knew the answer that like because it doesn't feel like it's ever like you know i think some quarterbacks have enough equity where they can turn into a dick every now and then you know if they feel like it i mean look brady lets guys have it all the time but the thing is there's such a buy-in over the course of brady's career that if you're the

old lineman it's like okay he's also doing it if you get to know him like he's doing it to actually fire himself up but it doesn't look great if you don't know the deal or if you're a younger player you might be like what is this and i never ever really see that with mahomes uh maybe it is the locker room thing of growing up around around guys but it is just something i've always noticed with him uh because he like you said he's earned the right to do that sure he can pretty much act in any way he wants and it can be okay I mean what two years ago last year we watched the last dance thing and all of a sudden Jordan being an asshole to everybody's being celebrated like if you're that good you have the ability to lead in whatever way you think is right but Pat just doesn't lean into the negativity at all right Draymond's like, I thought this was cool.

Like, what are you guys? Did you see the last dance? Because, you know, there's been a thing that I've noticed more and more. I think it's happening with like colleges or whatever. But it happened on the late hit on Mahomes, Osai, who played a hell of a game. A hell of a game for a young kid. And now it's like it happened with purdue basketball the other day where if if a guy's made a mistake and then he's being asked

about it in the locker room or in the postgame presser the teammate knows it's a huge win to grab he just now dudes are just grabbing the microphone answering for the guy and then everybody gives that guy be like man what a leader like what a teammate like no i actually just wanted to ask the person that screwed up a play what happened on the play they screwed up like this isn't every so we're just seeing like more and more of this the entire time so i just kind of made me laugh and it's like imagine being a position coach and going up to patrick mahomes in a playoff game after an interception trying to think like hey i know what to say I know what to say to him and it's like no I don't like if I were a kicker and missed three extra points I don't want guys coming over to encourage me like let me sulk and be miserable

and I'll get through this uh on my own okay so are you surprised the Chiefs are dogs in this one I mean I know it's only a point and a half but that's what it's at. No, again, I think when you look at the matchups and when you look at those offensive defensive lines, I think those determine playoff football so strongly that if it wasn't Mahomes, it would probably be a 3, 4, 5 point line, but

having Pat brings things back towards even. Now you get into the advanced data a little bit, and we've kind of seen this floating around. The Philadelphia defense as good as they've looked, as good as the numbers are against the top offenses have given up points. They obviously haven't seen the best offense in the NFL

this year. They haven't seen Mahomes. There could be hay to be made. I started this off with especially if you're able to block up front a little bit because passing defense is stronger than the running defense, which a good thing because kansas city is not really gonna you know run the ball efficiently and set up the run and all that stuff you know they're gonna lean into the passing game um but you can get to them on the back end and especially if

you're able to you know block for three seconds instead of 2.25 seconds like that doesn't seem like much but that's a huge thing in the uh nfl world and in the offensive line rooms we always say protection beats coverage you know if you're able to block up front guys will get open as good as defensive backs are um it's just really difficult to cover a guy for four or five seconds and so um doing that from the online perspective so i'm not surprised to see that the line favored philly coming out um you know haven't really looked at it over the last week i'm not sure which direction it's moved, if any. But again, on paper, I do think this one leans a little bit in Philly's advantage. It's just when you go into these matchups, you just think quarterbacks. And it's just it's so hard to kind of conceptualize that Mahomes is an

underdog against Hurts, who as good as he's been, has admitted over the past few weeks, he's not 100%. He's not firing on all cylinders. And so, you know, that brings their ceiling down just a little bit as well. Yeah, that's kind of where I'm at with it, is that Hurts kind of conceding something and the tape probably backing it up a little

where you're like, all right, and then you're going into a matchup with Mahomes. Look, I get it, the Kansas City defense, but they stepped up big against Cincinnati late there when it felt like, okay, Cincinnati's going to figure this one out. Kansas City gets them off the field there twice late, especially after Burrow converted that third and 16. I was like, oh, here we go.

Here we go. It's like, no, they got them off the field. With the Kansas City defense, I think every season the defense kind of starts slow, and whether that's having guys who are kind of older and maybe, you know, kind of ramp up their game as the season goes along. This season in particular, basically the whole secondary

are rookies or young guys, and so there's a learning curve there. And then McDuffie, the first rounder, missed the first month or two, I think, with a hamstring injury. And so the first month, month and a half of the season happens. Kansas City defense looks like crap. Everyone just says, oh, the defense is shitty again. The offense is going to have to run it.

And then you kind of forget to check back in. You kind of forget to see the progress. And so these defenses tend to get better throughout the season. We just get so used to like, well, in October, they were still really bad. And we just kind of assume that they're going to stay that way um but we have seen over the past few years with spags especially that the defenses do trend in the right direction come the playoff time and he's able to kind of get the best out of them and i think the best example is frank clark you know i think he's like second all-time in playoff sacks or something like he just turns it on at the end of the season

and the playoffs and when you've got a defensive end who can do that and then you combo him with Chris and now all of a sudden you've got a two-sided rushing attack where you can attack inside and outside that can you know play big for your defense and so I think that we tend to underplay Kansas City's defense you know if we just looked at them from November on and we would think they're probably a lot better than most people tend to think it at first thought. Yeah, no, it's fair. It's just it's just hard when you're comparing it to like the final four group that we had and you're going, all right, one that's that's way worse.

But I the weird thing is, is I feel like I like the personnel and then the numbers. I'd go, oh, why do I like so much of this personnel so much? But I do think what they were trying to do was they were trying to get younger. They were going to deal with the young mistakes and be positioned better as opposed to the other side of that bet is do we stay with guys that we trust? But the thing is, you were going to get older and worse. So they were at least like, let's be younger and not as good as some of the other top defenses because the stats weren't really, you know, since Mahomes has been on this run, the statistical stuff on the defense has been, you know, the weak link the entire time.

All right, well, hey, man, enjoy the week. I know it's always kind of a cool spot for you for a team that you played with and won a Super Bowl with, but that was some good stuff, so thanks. Yeah, I appreciate it. It's going to be a fun one. You want details? Bye. 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. Life advice.

Life advice. RR at gmail.com and boys and girls. We have an announcement. So Rudy is back in the building. What's up? Chilling. I missed you guys. What's going on?

What I miss. Did you? I don't feel like you. I don't feel like you missed us that much. I know I did. I did. Because here's the thing. Having a kid's awesome.

I was really pumped to have these three months because at first, in the first month, it's kind of like you're just new and everything's crazy. And you're just kind of hopped upon adrenaline and you're just waking up in the middle of the night. I was fine, but I wasn't sleeping a ton. But then the next couple of months, she kind of changes. And like the last month in particular, she's become like really aware. And she's like aware of her hands and she's grabbing stuff. And she laughs now when you like mess around with her, which is funny. So I've been really pumped to have that time.

But also, I've kind of had a lot of downtime. Like the weird thing about having a kid, it's like you have a lot of downtime, but you have to be available 24-7, like at the drop of a hat whenever anything happens. So I've been just like watching a lot of shit. I've been, you know, I've probably watched more games than I ever have. You know, I'm watching like every Premier League game

during the day, a ton of Magic basketball. Yes, I've watched a lot of Laurie Marketing for those that are asking. So I've had a lot of downtime and I'm ready to be back, man. I'm excited. So, uh, happy to see you guys. And you know, you guys look good. I thought you were going to zag on parenting for a second, but you pulled it back. Well, I kind of did that in the pre show with Kyle. I was like, I don't want to say it's not that hard, uh, because it is hard, but you know, it's mostly just like, it's one of three

things. She either has a diaper, she's hungry or she's tired. It's pretty much it, man. Like I picture like a year from now when she's like walking around and she has stuff to say and she's eating different food. She doesn't want to eat this. She's throwing stuff on the floor. That seems like more of a nightmare than a newborn. But, hey, I'll let you guys know when I when I cross that bridge. You'll save the other couple months of your Spotify paternity for that time when you're like, well, that's that's the thing, too, is like, you know, we obviously get six months. I had a lot of guys tweeting at me being like,

when the hell are you coming back? You just like quit. Like, what are you doing? And, you know, I did kind of feel bad towards the end. Like, all right, it's been three months. Like, it's time to come back. But again, I am pumped that I got this last month in particular because, again, I probably sound like a sap, but she really did change a ton. And it was cool to see that. So the problem is now she doesn't start daycare for another month. So I got to figure out what to do in the meantime. But my mom's here. So what's up, mom?

You got that neighbor that you guys are friends with, too. Maybe he will step up. I'm kidding. No, I haven't seen him once. It's been a great time. Yeah, look, I mean, as the oldest and being stuck babysitting quite a bit. And I know everybody wants to pretend that has gives me no perspective whatsoever. And I understand there's a detachment that I did not have as a non-parent but once the kids were mobile it was

a whole new ball game because you're just constantly being like where is so-and-so especially when you're me and I'm probably watching a game or whatever like I remember that first time I came back to live with my parents I was 23 so my youngest brother was only like a year old. And, oh wait, I wasn't, I was 20, I was 25. And he was, I think, two. So I remember they were like, hey, if you're around, like you're going to watch him on Saturday. And I was like, here we go again.

I'm like this fucking thing. I was like, I spent my whole childhood until I was ready to bounce and then hand it off to the next sibling that was like due up, which is, you know, no offense, kind of bullshit about the way it all worked. Where as soon as like the next one of us is ready, it was like next man up, Baltimore Raven style, where you just were like, okay, we're solo. I like, I finally was like, I'm done with this. I'm done with this. And then my poor sister and then the other sister. And then it just went on and on.

And so that first weekend when I was back, I was like, I'm not fucking doing this. I moved to Burlington within a week. I moved right back. I was like, I'm not doing this because you're right. Like, hey, where's so-and-so? I don't know. He's two. He's probably in the playroom or whatever.

He's busy. Yeah. And then it's like, no, no. He knows how to unlock the door from the inside now. Like, he's probably in the playroom or whatever. He's busy. Yeah. Yeah, and then it's like, no, no, we didn't... He knows how to unlock the door from the inside now. And I was like, oh, he's in the driveway. And you're like, oh, shit. I'm like, so I got to, like, worry about him being at driveway level?

Like, I didn't... Why does he want to go in the driveway? You got to get zip ties for everything. Yeah. You got to plug up the electrical outlets. Every, like, sharp corner of anything has to be, like, smoothed out with some plastic thing that you can buy. I saw those on Amazon. That's just I mean, there's just so much more that goes into it. I feel like again, it's it's it is nice that it kind of is like a gradual step, right?

Because like you think, okay, I have this kid, I'm like trying to keep her alive. That's kind of what you're doing for the first month. And, you know, every little thing you think is like the end of the world to it is really true. Like by the time me, dad from like week one to like month two is totally different. Like now I'm just like, God doesn't matter. She's fine. And the first week I'd be like, Oh my God,

like call the pediatrician. Like she's, we need to figure something out right now. Uh, but once they're like mobile and you don't have, and then if there's multiple of them, like that's when Maddie and I have talked about my wife to be like, imagine having another one.

Imagine having a baby while you have a toddler like that's that's insanity I don't know I don't know that that's we have to rethink our plans potentially for what's going to happen here because that sounds like a disaster but all in all like I said I'm happy to be back she's super cool she's super chill she sleeps

she's up 10 hours last night so it's like she sleeps pretty well too so like I'm sitting here going alright I need to get back into it plus Franz Wagner's been balling out. Here we go. We've got a lot of things that I need to get off my chest here pretty soon. So here we are. Okay. And you've got to make your picks.

You've got to make your picks. You've got to make all the Super Bowl press. People got mad about that. They're like, why can't Sruti send in his pick? I'm like, does it really matter? Like, who cares? Like, all right, I guess I can if I will. Well, you are back this week.

So we thought maybe you'd have to. We could discuss it on the pick segment. That's my record. I think I'm 500, so this is for all the marbles. You're like 57%. Crazy. Perfect. What I missed, all is gone.

I mean, I tried to listen to most shows. It seems like everything went well, you know? Yeah, I went to NASCAR race last night. That was cool. NASCAR in LA, yeah. Oh, that's why you were off. Yeah. Did you do that? I didn't do it on purpose but on Friday

when the rumblies came out I was like this seems like a great Sunday to take off just in case some shit goes down so that was awesome I've talked to multiple guys who are not into NASCAR and are like NASCAR races are the fucking shit this one was small it was a quarter track so it was just and apparently like theCAR races are the fucking shit. This one was small. It was a quarter track.

So it was just, and apparently like you, the yellow flags, normally you just kind of race with caution. Like the, the safety car came out and we left actually before the end. Cause it was like, it just kept like five,

we'd go five laps. And then it's like, Oh, a guy spun out. Cause there's like, I don't know. There's like 27 cars on a quarter mile track. It's nuts.

But it's not even about the, isn't it just like, you're just drinking on the infield kind of thing? Like, it's just sort of like a... I mean, this one was the Coliseum. There was no infield. It was like, yeah, it was different. Everyone just kept saying, it's different, man.

It's different. It's like, hey, it's all right. But if you keep telling me it's different, I'm going to get bummed out. You got a hat from it, though. I just realized that. Let's go. Clash, baby. Did you use the Kinect that wanted us to go as a show?

No, I didn't do it last year because I had to work. And my old guy, my veteran buddy was the guy who was like, you guys want to go to the Coliseum? And I was like, not really. And then my other buddy said yes. And I was like, I changed my mind. I do want to go. So it was me, this like 40, my 42 year old buddy and a 73 year old buddy. And we just, we were just different generations at the Coliseum.

Are these frolic room guys? Yeah, it was sort of like going with your work friend somewhere. That's kind of our home base. So it was sort of like, I'm not so sure, but it went well. All right. We have a couple follow-ups. The Wall Street Journal thing has not been solved. But then people, of course, were like, you're wrong. There is no Sunday. Yes, it is Saturday slash Sunday. So you got me. Jesus, how could you? How could you overlook that one?

Right, right, right. Because I was like, wait, I remember what I ordered. I remember what it said. I remember what day it said it would be delivered. And then I was like, let me look at the one that I have. And I was like, oh, it's Saturday, Sunday. And people thought they cracked the case because I had the day wrong. You were reading your own fake. Yeah, I know.

Right. I bought the wrong paper and didn't realize it. No. Guy's still stealing it. So I just need to go back and look at all the camera stuff. Just haven't had enough time. We had a lot of Doc follow-ups. So Rudy, if you don't know about Doc,

that was Kyle's paroled buddy who was a 30-year-old black guy that hung out with teenagers as if that wasn't sketchy enough. He was placed in our dorm. Right. So everybody wanted to believe that he was a narc. out with teenagers as if that wasn't sketchy enough. He was placed in our dorm. Everybody wanted to believe that he was a narc and I said there's no way Kyle

a seasoned expert in deviant behavior wouldn't figure out who a narc was. We had a lot of follow up and somebody chimed in who knows him. I doubt it.

I went to school at SUNY Potsdam a few years before Kyle also knew Doc. He was always keenly aware of when to bounce when shit was going down. I can confirm he's not a cop, though. I lived in Potsdam for about six years and knew a few locals very well and actually asked that same question. And if you know Potsdam, you know there's no black guys in the police force so there's no way he was undercover just to just to clear doc's good name well thanks dude maybe he did though it sounds like he did okay all right let's get to a couple emails here denying a kid in need good transition off a little parenting update uh

this one's kind of weird so i think it's worth a read. 24 years old, 6 feet, 180, not a huge gym guy, so I don't have any personal records. That's okay. Now, the subject doesn't make me sound like the greatest guy in the world, and maybe that's true, but if anyone had to make a ruling on it, it's the brain trust. Some context that may be helpful. I'm a very laid-back person who does not love confrontation. I've only been in one fight, and that was to defend a roommate with a loud mouth. Yes, by getting into that fight, I was really trying to avoid future confrontation with my roommate. He understandably would not have been happy if I didn't have his back. Chestnut checkers. I live on the East Coast

and like most places, there are very nice areas of town and then there is the opposite. There's a smoothie shop in a bad part of town that I go to every now and then. This event in question takes place there. It was nighttime, which I think matters, and I was ordering a smoothie after a long day of work. After I ordered, I noticed a kid, probably 14 to 16 years old, outside of the store. He was cupping his eyes so he could see the people on the inside and make a weird counting motion. Now, there's no nice way to put this, but something was off. I got my smoothie, turned around, and the kid was gone. I went to my car, parked a decent way from the store, and there he

was. He was kind of hiding behind a light pole, not saying anything. So I proceeded to just get my car. After doing so, he holds out a dollar bill trying to get my attention. His other hand was in his pocket, and we definitely made eye contact contact instead of rolling the window down and seeing what if anything he needed i just drove off there's not some crazy climax to the story but i'd be lying if i hadn't been stuck in my head for a few weeks now as i typed this out i'm getting the feeling i probably should have seen when he needed however my paranoia got the best of me and there's nothing i can do about it now so my question is i an asshole for it was i an asshole for just driving away from this kid who appeared to have been in need?

Thanks for taking the time. Sorry if it went long. I don't think anybody's really going to blame you here for going. I don't know. Now, I mean, yes. Can we play out the scenarios of this kid that maybe had something going on with him where there was an awkwardness, some anxiety to him actually going into a smoothie shop and then ordering a smoothie for himself and that that's what he was trying to do like so i'm not trying to make you feel worse but like as i'm playing it out going what could it have been that he wanted to do what was he holding out a dollar saying like hey i wanted something in there and that's why he was looking in but he wasn't

comfortable ordering or he didn't know how to order um a dollar is not going to cover a smoothie anyway so i don't know if there's some part of that where he wanted you to then pay for the rest of it i don't know man um i think it's I think it's cool that you cared enough to even write the email, but I would guess most people presented with that scenario and you're not even quite sure what the hell's going on. And as you're driving away, I don't think many people are getting out of the car to reassess and going, let me make sure I've checked in on everything here. So I don't think many people are getting out of the car to like reassess going like, let me make sure I've checked in on everything here. So I don't think you should feel bad about it. If you want, you know, go back again.

If you feel that bad, go back again and see if the dude's around. I don't know. Sure. I mean, listen, I'm just thinking if I'm like in the 7-Eleven waiting to check out and I just see somebody's like, you know, facing the window counting who's in there. I'm like, I might not even fit. I might not even buy what I came to buy. My point is like, it's just somebody who's counting the people in a shop like that. Um, I'm definitely, I'm definitely out of there. And I mean, here's the other thing. Maybe, maybe you don't live in the, in the shitty part of town.

I do live in the shitty part of town. So my answer is probably different than yours. I'm just, I mean, I'm eyes front and I'm kind of moving, you know, there know, there's very few things that'll shake me out of that mode. I could see how you'd be like, oh, you know, maybe they get the 16-year-old kid, perhaps. I don't know. I don't know. I've seen some guys up to no good that are probably 16 years old. I'm not into that. So, I mean, if you're not, like, if you don't live in that part of town, maybe, like, you know,

you got a little shocked and you're like, oh, wow, this is different. It's not different for me. I could tell you without a doubt, I probably would have just kept it pushing. Um, so, uh, just, it's different strokes. Uh, I think it's good. It's good that you're human and you, and you do care not to say that I wouldn't care. It's just, you know, if it happens often enough, you're, you're kind of just like, yeah, we know the answer to this question and it's, I don't know.

Let's just keep going. It kind of reminds me it's kind of like when you go to europe and like the uh the locals can sort of tell that you're a tourist so they like do fucked up shit to you like and they'll try to scam you or they'll you know all this different stuff they'll start stealing from you what it seems like is maybe this guy picked you out as like a not local guy or not from this part of town he was like hey like i'm gonna pull that's kind of what it seems like to me. And if the worst thing that happened in the scenario is you didn't buy this

guy a smoothie on the inside of this shop. And like, I don't think anybody was really harmed in this situation. So it is nice that you worry about it and you're like, you care about your fellow man, but I really, I don't know. Chances are somebody else helped this guy.

And if not, somebody else probably got scammed, which is probably what really happened. Yeah. I, I don't think you should feel bad man i'm just telling you like you just it's uh not super comfortable surroundings you don't even know what the hell is going on so like you've basically convinced yourself in the head if you feel bad about this you've convinced yourself that it was only something that you did wrong you know i just don't think most people are going to go wait a

minute let me stop get out of the car just grab my smoothie let me check with the stranger see what's going on see what he needs see how i can offer to help uh you know it was a guy maybe trying to buy a smoothie this wasn't like somebody laying in the street when we had the uber thing right yeah yeah the next thing you know he's like hey could i could i just borrow your cell phone i gotta make a phone call and then you're in then And then you're in this situation and then it's just hard to get out of it. Yeah. The cell phone one is like the all-timer. Like I was in Atlanta

and I took the train to go to the gym. As soon as I get off the train, I got like three dudes around me being like, hey, just let my cell phone. I have to call somebody real quick. I was like, are you guys? Yeah, I was like, are you guys fucking serious? And it was just like immediately like, oh, he he's not gonna let us run away with a

cell phone i gave some dude directions like a month ago when i was pumping gas and i was originally like you know probably the guy wasn't gonna strike up a conversation with but he's like i could see him diagonally walking across the thing i'm like oh shit he's like i gotta get to the dmv man and i'm like i actually know where that is it's just this way it's on will coxwell and he's like you won't give me a ride and i was like no he was like come on man you know i was like just giving a guy directions he's trying to you know yeah he's trying to make me feel bad because i'm not gonna like you know give this dude a ride to the dmv i was like no way dude that backpack's way too big i don't know what you got in there yeah this isn't this isn't like none of, no one should feel bad about these transactions of like, you know, I don't know, man.

Look, I remember one time in Boston, I totally got like, I first moved there. I wasn't seasoned enough. And a guy like stops me frantically in the middle of the street. And I was driving, I forget, it was later at night, you know, so I was driving like, I must have been doing TV that night or something. And it was like going through town to get home. And a guy like comes around, because it wasn't like a main spot. He's like, just comes running, darting out, right? He's waving his arms, waving his arms. And he's like, hey, my car, whatever, whatever. car whatever whatever and i was in a good mood and he only needed like 10 bucks and i was like that's fine and then i like replayed everything that he said to me in his head is like i'm like driving away feeling good about myself and then i'm like wait you asshole like none of that made any sense he's like oh i work at the airport he's like i'm at the legal seafood at the airport and if you need it like i can give you the 10 bucks back i'm like wait i could never get through

security just to get 10 bucks back from a guy if I don't have a flight. I was like, 10 bucks. I was like, I know what that number's for. And so the car that didn't have gas was actually down the street. And he was like, he didn't need a ride back to the car. He didn't need a ride to the gas station. Just needed the 10 bucks. He had it down. He he fucking had it down like he blitzed me like blitzed me and i'm in my car and he's like all over it and i was like all right whatever i was like i can give this guy 10 bucks and then yeah after i was done and driving away like once the first two minutes of being like you're a great guy and then i'm like that's the thing is they're running plates like they're there's a playbook and they're running plates right in front of you yeah he i had no i was just i mean they were

he was one minute drill not two minute drill that's how fast he was going i had no timeouts left i was fucking lost i'm running around it all yeah i'm looking at the sideline and then i'm driving away and it was like i seriously was like a two minute thing where i'm like no wait you're a dick i'm like you just fell for that i'm like, no, wait, you're a dick. I'm like, you just fell for that. I'm like, think about everything he just said. And I think you have to have that happen to you a couple of times before you go like, oh yeah, I'm, I'm out on most of these almost situations. All of them. Yeah. Uh, and that's also living in a city for a while. Like I hadn't, I hadn't lived in the city and not a real city. That's the first time I'd lived in like a city city.

And so at first I was like, oh, wait. And then you're like, okay, you know, I'll never forget the guys outside of Fenway, man. The guys outside of Fenway, like they get these badges on that are totally fake and a clipboard. And they're like, hey, we want to sign you up for all this stuff or whatever. I'm like, how come you guys are always out here when no one else is around?

Like, you don't do it. You don't do it like an hour before the first pitch right because you're gonna get in trouble you kind of do this lingering sixth inning thing where if somebody's leaving early or showing up or whatever like you guys kind of play it a certain way and then you know there was always these articles about like do not sign up or give money or for this youth group thing and these badges are fake whatever so i don't know that's good you feel something man i know that's all i mean don't lose that try not to all right let's do another one of our wheelhouse ones am i overreacting is my girlfriend cheating on me 27 64 95 kilograms it was going to be 95 pounds because you're going to say yes.

Keep moving. What's the math on that? Do we know? What is that in pounds? I don't know. Is that 180? What was the weight again? 95. 95. That's two pounds.

That can't be right. Are you doing this on the fly? Oh, 210. It can't be right. No, it's 210. All right. I'll buy it. I can just see fucking people freaking out

for me getting it wrong by 30 pounds. I apologize to you and a nation. G'day from Australia. My girlfriend and I have been together for just over two years. He said g'day, not me. We live together on an investment property and we own a puppy. My girlfriend's 22 and attracts a bit of attention on social media

because she's gorgeous. I gotta tell you, just dabbling in the Australian posts, holy shit. I don't have any social media and it has been that way since before we started dating. While using my girlfriend's phone

to cast to the TV one night. Oh, isn't that what always happens? You don't cast either? You don't got broadcast on your phone either? Come on. He actually opens the dms yeah i noticed next to my contact icon was an instagram contact for another guy i asked her who is that to which he responds he messaged me saying polly our puppy is cute after she posted

on her story all right well if anybody's actually fucking yeah like i have one thing on my mind if i'm asking about your dog uh i asked her if she responded she said quote no he just reached uh reacted to my photo which confused me because at first she said he messaged her right and and in the context which is strange too why would it be in the context after some discussion i asked if i could see the message and she said quote we need to trust each other that's good that's very good she's 22 she then said uh she quote had deleted instagram and after more discussion she agreed to redownload instagram when she did so you want to snoop around in there right so she what she at that moment took it off

her home screen and this problem solved and then very shortly after a hot 22 year old from australia was like you know i think i'm actually just gonna fire the app back up right because when you do delete it you don't like delete it it's just not there and then when you reload it it like automatically puts you back like at least twitter i think you have to like resign and do everything again instagram you're just immediately back in shout out to meta right which is actually probably not as cool but um she she agreed to re-download instagram when she did there was no message in her inbox. She said the guy must have gotten embarrassed and deleted his message.

Does that make any sense? There's too much narrative here. You're trying too hard, miss. During our two years, we've never fought, had great communication and conflict resolution. I want to trust my girlfriend apart from the situation. I've never had a reason to doubt her, but her responses were often out of character. Once or twice she's asked who I'm

texting and I've been open, honest, and shown my phone even if she didn't ask as I'm usually texting the mom-aged people from work or the front office ladies. I'm a teacher. Am I overreacting? Should I dig a little deeper? Love the pot. Thanks, Ryan Powell. I don't know. I mean, I don't know if you're overreacting. I would say that the path of stuff here isn't great um i don't it could be a simple confusion and he messaged me or he posted a comment 22 you probably wouldn't make that mistake um and then when you asked to see it she said we need to trust each other and then she decides to delete it but the thing is like i don't know if you guys can help me with this. If you're deleting it, it doesn't delete all the messages.

And if you send a message at your end, that's not received. I don't think by you deleting it on your end, that you can then delete it on their end. Yeah. I can't understand. No, I don't.

Yeah. Like once it's sent, it's sent. So you can delete all you want, but once it's over there, it's there. So I think delete all you want. But once it's over there, it's there. So I think, I don't know. I think it's a little sketchy, but she, you know,

she may not have been doing anything sketchier than the guy messaged about the puppy. She said, hey, how's it going? Cool. I mean, look, people are going to fucking flirt with each other, man. I mean, it's still kind of happiness. I know not for everybody, but like, you know, depending on how flirty you can be or the attention that you're getting. I mean, shit, not that long ago, somebody was confusing me with a completely different group of people. It was the most attention I've ever had in my entire life.

And I was like, yeah, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not any of those people. And boy, were they disappointed by the large number so anyway uh just to put it this way I mean it's how crazy you want to drive yourself you know what I mean like if everything else checks out and everything's pretty good this seems to be one mishap and she doesn't want to share this she actually did message a guy but it's you know I don't know just just be more aware but i wouldn't go through shit i just i'm very anti that i don't i think it comes a point maybe when you have to i'd understand it but uh i would say it's a little dicey but not enough to drive yourself crazy you know if everything else has been really good kyle i think the facts are the facts don't say that she cheated on you.

I think the facts say that she definitely accepted a flirt or maybe even flirted herself. Like, I think that's just what we kind of have out here. And that's, and like you said, it's like you go through life. It's, you know, it's going to happen. Sometimes it's, you know, it's who you work with. Sometimes, I don't know.

Sometimes it's just on the train or something. Somebody looked at you, you look back and you're like, oh, it was nice. Sometimes it's just nice to be wanted. So I don't know what happened. I don't know. Sometimes it's just on the train or something. Somebody looked at you, you look back and you're like, oh, that was nice. Sometimes it's just nice to be wanted. So I don't know what happened. I just know the facts don't say that the facts don't say

that she cheated on you. I think the facts do kind of point into her being at least one half of a flirt here. uh and i and i i wouldn't doubt that she didn't start it i don't think she started it you know i think somebody else probably started it up um and you know i don't think anybody ever wants to admit that so i guess i can understand why she you know said all these weird things but i mean it's i mean i guess you boil it down you kind of get to a lie at the bottom so that that that could definitely

bother you but i mean what what was she supposed to do in the reverse of that? Just be like, yeah, you know, this dude did say something and I hearted his message that he said I'm hot or whatever. You know, I don't know. It's just, it's all uncomfortable. I think everyone in a relationship hopes so badly that we're not getting cheated on that, you know, maybe some of us start to wonder out loud. I try not to do that. But I don't know. All I have to say is I don't think you got cheated on. I do think you got flirted on.

And that's not too uncommon. I wish we could know what like her her page was like or her follower count was like, because is like, is she just a hot person that has like a few thousand followers? Or is she like running an account that is, you know know her in a bikini or her like at the gym do we know you know i mean like an account that like is garnering some attention right does she have codes for water bottles and and usually those never have a dude in them even on the tags like yeah because they know it's so bad for business to be like and here's seth well that's all i was gonna ask next is are you in any of her photos and the answer is probably no and but here's the thing like if you're dating

someone like that i wouldn't expect her to put you in her photos if this is like a page that she's trying to like make money off of or like become famous from so like yeah all right i don't think she'd be offended that you're not any of the pictures um but it's also just kind of like part of dating someone like that is that yeah dudes are gonna hit on her and she's gonna maybe entertain one or two and if she if she doesn't act on them i think obviously it's everything kind of totally fine if you're not comfortable with her even going back and forth with like a couple dms here and there then you know well i don't know that i'd be psyched about that becoming a habit to be honest but if she's reacting to a story and it's like one or two things like again i'm not not like, you know, I'm not advising that you go and, you know, sniff around and see what the DMs look like, because then you're probably really not going to like it.

I like it. I'm not going to like it. But like, yeah, but do we all do we agree that her story doesn't really check out? It does. It's a little something's wrong. No, it's a little it boils down to a lie. It must. It must.

But, you know, she's probably just trying to hide the fact that she responds to a couple here and there. And to me, you know, it's easy for me to say I'm not dating this person. You know, my wife isn't an Instagram person. So it's easy for me to be like, oh, don't worry about it. Like this comes with territory, but it kind of comes with the territory, dude. If your girl is a significant person in the Instagram space, she's going to get people firing at her.

Yeah. Yeah. That's something, you know, I mean, if the message is something like there's dog food cans everywhere, speaking of cans, and you're just like, oh, this is horrifying.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, perhaps a real life version of this shit happens at the gym too. Like maybe just a version with no DMs happens at the gym too. Like she's a person in the world. I don't know.

Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, if you don'tms happens at the gym too like she's a person in the world i don't know yeah yeah but you know if you don't see it at the gym and you're not there with her then there's nothing for her to come clean on right i don't know i don't think it's the end of the world i think you know and the other problem that will happen to somebody that's in a relationship depending on kind of what you want to allow yourself to do to yourself is then you can start going down this road where you start creating all sorts of scenarios that aren't even fucking true. So I would just say, get in front of that. If everything else has been really good about this, it may have just been this quick little back and forth. I think as we've all agreed on here, and if nothing else comes up that falls into this category, then I would say keep it moving and don't worry about it a ton. But look, if she is about DMing a million guys

and is entertaining a bunch of different things, she's going to get caught again. Like something else will happen. Yeah. Contacts thing is weird. You're right, Kyle. It being in her contacts

is very strange. I mean, the whole story is like fucking bonkers. But yeah, that's the one that's like actually there's no connection that leads to why is there somebody in your contacts

that deleted a message that messaged you one time? I don't know know so i'd say keep your eyes peeled for any weird trips but otherwise i think if everything's good you know yeah yeah good luck yeah good luck dude good luck sorry good luck sorry you're dating a hot person yeah okay um and yes not 95 pounds Sorry you're dating a hot person. Okay. And yes, not 95 pounds. It's good to have Cerruti back in the mix. We'll be back on Wednesday.

Be in Arizona for a couple days there. Not quite sure. Probably just going to do normal shows for the most part. Then we have the trade deadline stuff with Bill on Thursday. I don't know. Maybe I won't even do a Friday show. I don't have the trade deadline stuff with Bill on Thursday. So, um, I don't know. Maybe I won't even do a Friday show. I don't know.

Now that I'm thinking about it, cause usually Thursday is like a million shows. So we'll, uh, we'll see. But again, good to everybody back here. Thanks to Kyle.

Thanks to Rudy, uh, the Ryan Russell podcast for your Spotify. Outro Music you