Peter Lambert has been a bright spot for the Astros this season

Summary

Payne & Pendergast Episode: “Peter Lambert has been a bright spot for the Astros this season” Date: July 23, 2026 Hosts: Sean Pendergast & (guest co-host) Brandon Scott

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into three primary subjects:

• The Houston Astros’ recent performance with a focus on pitcher Peter Lambert’s emergence
• NBA free agency rumors, including the LeBron James-to-Miami Heat speculation and broader implications for the league’s landscape
• A candid discussion about team chemistry, leadership, and lessons from high-profile situations (like Kevin Durant’s tenure with the Warriors and recent events with the Houston Rockets)

The show maintains its signature blend of sharp, accessible sports analysis and H-Town flavor, tackling the biggest questions facing Houston sports fans right now.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The LeBron James “Accidental” Miami Heat Post (04:21 – 13:13)

• Miami Heat LeBron Press Conference Leak
  • The hosts discuss a post from the Miami Heat’s YouTube page publicizing a “LeBron James introductory press conference,” which was quickly deleted.
  • Brandon Scott provides a behind-the-scenes look at digital content management:

    “This is a very unfortunate but easy, easy, easy mistake to make... I know literally exactly what happened here, because this is easy to do where you plan out something that’s supposed to publish later, but you accidentally make it public.” (06:02)

  • There’s speculation about whether the leak indicates insider knowledge about LeBron’s choice. Both hosts agree it’s likely just prep work from Miami’s social team.
    • Sean Pendergast: “Are you buying that they were just doing this preemptively... or are they lying about that?” (07:18)
    • Brandon Scott: “The timing just tells me they are informed. Maybe they know a decision will be made by a set amount of time... All of that is completely normal.” (08:00)
• LeBron’s Delayed Decision
  • The hosts note fan frustration and league pressure on LeBron to decide.
  • Rich Paul (LeBron’s agent, audio clip):

    “None of these people know anything. Nobody knows nothing. I say that respectfully... Why is it an athlete has to rush his choice?” (11:21)

  • Family factors and franchise impact are discussed.
    • Sean Pendergast: “This is his last chance to let the entire league dangle on a string.” (09:49)
• Where Should LeBron Go? (13:13 – 16:56)
  • Lively debate on the best team fit for LeBron, between Philadelphia (now with Jalen Brown), Miami (now with Giannis), Golden State, and Cleveland.
    • Brandon Scott: “You can get LeBron James now at the ultimate discount... Normally, by the time somebody’s 41, 42 years old, no one really cares where they go to play.” (14:05)
    • He’d choose Steph and the Warriors, with reservations about fit and age.
    • Sean Pendergast: “The one I want to see as a fan would be Harden. Purely for the theater...” (17:03)

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2. Astros Check-In: Peter Lambert and the Trade Deadline (18:59 – 29:28)

• Big Wins, Tight Deadlines
  • Sean sets the stage: Astros beat Miami Marlins 5-2, Jordan Alvarez key home run, but focus is on Peter Lambert:

    “Peter Lambert with another really good start. Literally another quality start. Six innings, two earned runs.” (19:59)

  • Manager Joe Espada’s praise:

    “He has stepped up and been our ace... he is, he’s been really, really good.” (20:08)

  • Both hosts mull over Espada calling Lambert “our ace” despite starting the year as a DFA:
    • Sean: “It says a lot about Peter Lambert, and also, I think it says a lot about Hunter Brown, too. Yeah, the opposite direction.” (21:12)
    • Brandon: “The term ace is just being used a little bit too liberally… He’s been our best pitcher this year, our most consistent, our most reliable.” (21:47)
• Lambert’s Unexpected Rise
  • Lambert was “cut” (DFA’d), but returned and has outperformed offseason pitching additions.
  • Brandon: “There’s no way [Dana Brown, Astros GM] thought this is the Peter Lambert that he was getting. Otherwise, he would have never cut him.” (23:37)
• Trade Deadline Speculation
  • Sean cites Buster Olney and Jeff Passan: Astros could be the “keys to the trade deadline,” given their assets and ambiguity between buying and selling.
  • Houston’s right-handed hitters (Jeremy Peña, Isak Paredes, Christian Walker, José Abreu) could “crush” the market if made available. (25:31)
  • Astros currently 6 games under .500; playoff odds at 16%.
  • Discussion of how far the 2026 Astros have fallen from their 2019 peak:
    • Sean: “If you want to gauge for how far apart we are... They would have to win the rest of their games this year to match the record of the 2019 Houston Astros.” (27:14)
  • Wildcard races and the AL West landscape means Astros must win at least 85-87 games, “be the best of the mediocre.” (28:42)

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3. Team Chemistry & Leadership: Warriors & Rockets Parallels (30:00 – 42:41)

• Durant, Draymond & the Warriors’ Internal Rift (KD on Draymond, “The Last Dance” lessons)
  • Kevin Durant (audio):

    “It wasn’t the argument, it was the way that everybody... tried to just discipline you and think that would put the mask over everything. I really felt like that was such a big situation... we didn’t show [family, communication]. And that’s what rubbed me the wrong way.” (34:34)

  • Brandon: “That would be unforgivable to me... it surprises me that Steve Kerr, Bob Myers, Steph Curry... that there wouldn’t be enough leadership to say, ‘let’s go ahead and nip this in the bud.’” (36:31)
  • Sean: “You’re an adult. You’re talking like a kid who’s waiting for the adults to discipline you.” (37:30)
• Rockets’ “Burnergate” Parallel
  • The discussion shifts to the Houston Rockets’ chemistry struggles and leadership after “Burnergate” with Durant joining Houston.
  • Brandon: “He is Kevin Durant and everybody else is kind of... you’re the leader... So, yeah, that would bother me a little bit because it felt a little hypocritical in terms of how [KD] handled Burner Gate.” (39:39)
  • Rockets brushed the issue aside quickly at press conferences; the need for an apology or real closure is discussed.
• Potential Impact on Free Agency & Houston’s Image
  • Segment closes with speculation on why LeBron isn’t considering Houston, including possible issues with Rockets’ coach Ime Udoka (who called LeBron a slur years ago), and LeBron’s likely preference for the weaker Eastern Conference.
    • Brandon (humorous hyperbole): “I would fire Ime Udoka. Not just fire him from the job, but I would fire him into outer space… to bring in LeBron at this price.” (44:05)

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4. Rapid-Fire & Reader Questions (47:20 – End)

• Sports Talk Nostalgia: Most Discussed Figure
  • The hosts ask, “Who’s the most discussed sports figure in the history of this station?” with nominations including Deshaun Watson, Jack Easterby, Bill O’Brien, and Roger Clemens.
  • Notable for showing the evolution (and sometimes absurdity!) of Houston sports culture.

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Notable Quotes

• On Peter Lambert (“Ace” status):
  • Joe Espada: “He has stepped up and he’s been our ace... he doesn’t back down from a challenge.” (20:08)
  • Sean Pendergast: “That says a lot about Peter Lambert, and also... about Hunter Brown, too. Yeah, the opposite direction.” (21:12)
  • Brandon Scott: “The term ace is being used a little too liberally... but [Lambert] has been our best and most consistent pitcher.” (21:47)
• On LeBron’s Decision Frustration:
  • Sean: “This is his last chance to let the entire league dangle on a string.” (09:49)
  • Rich Paul: “He has a business choice to make. We’re not going to sit here and decide or allow someone else to decide when he makes that decision.” (11:21)
• On Durant–Draymond–Warriors Drama:
  • Kevin Durant: “It wasn’t the argument, it was... the way everybody... tried to just discipline you and think that would put the mask over everything... We didn’t show that [family, communication].” (34:34)
  • Sean: “You’re an adult. You’re talking like a kid who’s waiting for the adults to discipline you.” (37:30)
• On Rockets’ Free Agency Woes:
  • Brandon (on firing Udoka to get LeBron): “I would fire him into outer space... to bring in LeBron at this price.” (44:05)

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Segment Timestamps

• LeBron Heat Post, Free Agency Insight: 04:21 – 16:56
• Astros, Peter Lambert & Trade Deadline: 18:59 – 29:28
• Warriors & Rockets Team Chemistry: 30:00 – 46:54
• Houston Talk Nostalgia & Q&A: 47:20 – End

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Episode Tone & Style

• Conversational, accessible, and humorous with lively back-and-forth and real insider perspective.
• Plenty of classic Houston sports banter: candid, opinionated, and relatable.
• Equally at home discussing advanced baseball stats and the drama of NBA superstar movement.

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This episode is a must-listen for Houston sports fans wanting a pulse on the state of the Astros and Rockets, insight into how digital rumors start and spread, and what they reveal about locker room leadership—and for anyone who loves spirited, unfiltered sports talk.

Transcript

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[Brandon Scott]

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[Sean Pendergast]

Give a two hour speech about the difference between AM and fm. I would say no. He could barely give a one minute speech about the season starting with his football team. So no, say he can't.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, no, he. That that would go something like this is the beginning.

[Sean Pendergast]

This is the beginning.

[Brandon Scott]

This is the start.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hey, the start was with this am.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Now you're moving over to fm on

[Brandon Scott]

this FM station it's going to be

[Sean Pendergast]

clear, which means that the signal is clearer to easier to hear on your radio dial. On your radio.

[Brandon Scott]

Turn us on.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh my God. Listen, people are just dogging him right now. That sounds like Michael Scott as a football coach.

[Brandon Scott]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

That would be great to reenact it but with Steve Carell as Michael Scott.

[Brandon Scott]

Oh, that. He should do it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, he should.

[Brandon Scott]

So Steve Carell should spoof this.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes.

[Brandon Scott]

Or somebody. Somebody funny should spoof this.

[Sean Pendergast]

Somebody funny. Yep, yep. A lot of people. We get this quite a bit. I don't want to delve into the political thing. This is purely. This guy's voice sounds like X. Yeah. People point this out. John Harbaugh does sound a little like Joe Biden.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, he does.

[Sean Pendergast]

He sounds. He does sound like Joe Biden. He sounds even more like Joe Biden when he's giving a speech like that. Yeah, he's just kind of, like, meandering a little bit.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, no, he sounds like. Like he's closer in age to Joe Biden.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right, right. Byron, do you still have that speech handy? The John Harbaugh speech? Okay. Yeah. Byron will go find it. Yeah. So. And now we know why the Ravens sucked. That's a text. That's a text message. It could very well be. They were really good when John Harbaugh first got there, and they, you know, they. Then they had some other moments. Yeah, I just want to play, like, a few seconds of it. Does John Harbaugh sound like Joe Biden?

[Brandon Scott]

Welcome, man. Good to see everybody here.

[Sean Pendergast]

Excited. Yes, sir.

[Brandon Scott]

A little nervous. No.

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[Brandon Scott]

Nervous, Excited, nervous. You know, nervous like a full of dame, almost.

[Sean Pendergast]

Mason, give us a kick off standing up here in front of the New York Giants. The New York Giants.

[Brandon Scott]

It's a New York Giants sitting in this room.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, you can stop there.

[Ad Voice]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

I can't see Biden doing the screaming part at the end.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah. Not at this stage, but now I can't unhear it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Brandon Scott]

I can't unheard.

[Ad Voice]

Exactly.

[Brandon Scott]

Like, he sounds like him to a tee. Like, he almost sounds like he's spoofing Joe Biden a little bit. Like he might be doing.

[Sean Pendergast]

I was thinking the same.

[Brandon Scott]

A Joe Biden impersonation.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep.

[Brandon Scott]

Yep. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right, so I want to get. I definitely wanted to get Brandon Scott's thoughts on this, because I think, as most of our listeners know, in addition to your voice frequently being on the station, you are responsible for all of our social media and digital platforms.

[Brandon Scott]

Yes, in one way or another. Yes, I am.

[Sean Pendergast]

Your fingerprints on our. Are on all of that. Our Twitter, our Facebook, our Instagram, our YouTube, our Twitch.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah. I always say I either am doing it or I'm allowing it to be done.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, there you go. You're overseeing it at the very least.

[Brandon Scott]

Correct.

[Sean Pendergast]

So. So I'm definitely curious. This LeBron James situation where there was a post, a link posted to the Miami Heats YouTube page, and the link was for a LeBron James introductory press conference a couple of, like, overnight, like in the evening, I think, like a couple of days ago.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

It came to light. Like, I first heard about it yesterday morning, listening to a show, driving in.

[Brandon Scott]

It happened Tuesday.

[Sean Pendergast]

It happened Tuesday. Okay, so today's Thursday. So it happened on Tuesday. And it was quickly deleted. The Miami Heat went asked about it. They responded by saying it was a mistake from their social media team in preparation for a potential LeBron James signing.

[Brandon Scott]

I feel for these people, okay?

[Sean Pendergast]

And. And the Twitter account I'm looking at says, absolute madness. All right, so you're in your highly educated digital platform opinion, is LeBron James gonna become a member of the Miami Heat? Should this be sending me, Sean Pendergast, running to the windows at the betting kiosks to bet on LeBron James becoming a member of the Miami Heat? Is this accidental thing just some sort of subterfuge to throw people off the scent?

[Brandon Scott]

Well, so I don't think it's to throw people off the scent, but I would absolutely not do that. I would not run to bet on this just based off of what happened here. Like, if you already thought that LeBron was going to Miami, by all means, go with it.

[Sean Pendergast]

He was the. Miami was the favorite as of before this happened.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So even money favorite.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah. So I. I don't think that however you felt before, I don't think that this should impact it one way or another. Either you believed it in or you didn't make your bet. However you're going to make it, this has nothing to do with it. This is a very unfortunate but easy, easy, easy mistake to make almost feel like I know ex literally exactly what happened here. Because this is easy to do where you plan out something that is supposed to publish later, but you accidentally make it public. So. So here's the simple thing. When you schedule out a YouTube video, schedule to go live or just schedule it to post. What you want to do is check the public slash privacy settings. Every video that we have here at Sports Radio 16 that y' all see on our. On our YouTube page has an option. When we publish it, the producers and myself, all of us, we have an option to either make it private or make it public. And so obviously, we make ours public because it's already happened. It's a. It's a replay of a video. But say we were doing a press conference, an introductory press conference, or something that we wanted to plan for. We absolutely would want to check the settings and make sure it is not public yet. So we didn't do that.

[Sean Pendergast]

Are you buying. Are you buying that they were just doing this? We don't know what LeBron's doing, but we're Creating this link for next Monday, because that's when the press conference in this mythical world where that link would get activated, it would be Monday, the 27th. This coming Monday.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Are you buying that? It was. We were just doing this preemptively just to get this work out of the way and we don't know where he's going or are they lying about that? Does his LeBron, in your opinion, like, is that something that you would do as a, as a, A, A digital expert would be. You know what? We're not sure what LeBron's decision is, but just in case, let's create this link and then it's done and it's out of the way.

[Brandon Scott]

The timing just tells me that they are informed. So here's what I would say. Maybe there they are informed that a decision will be made by a set amount of time. Right. Like we're all just on LeBron James watch. We have no idea when this is actually going to happen. I would say that the, the closest thing I would get to intel on this or this appearing to be intel is they have a sense for one way or another. If it's going to happen, it'll happen by said time. Or at least I'm gonna schedule this out so far in advance that I know that it's not gonna happen after this.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

Or I can also go in and just re. Change, reschedule. The timing changes. So, yeah, that all of that is completely normal. This is definitely something that I would have done. I just hope that I would have known to put it on prior.

[Sean Pendergast]

There are reports that LeBron James, in this particular ramp up to a decision, is not liking being rushed by people. And his behavior would seem to indicate that, like the fact that we're three weeks removed from the start of free agency. I mean, free agency begins on June 30th. Yeah, it's. It's. What is it today? July 23rd. So we're over three weeks removed from the free agency. The window opening.

[Brandon Scott]

I thought we were going to get something within a week and maybe, maybe not even that long. I'm shocked that it is played and

[Sean Pendergast]

I saw reports yesterday and again it's on Twitter. So you never know if it's one of these troll accounts or whatever. But I saw multiple people and I thought I saw it from reputable places that LeBron didn't really like Adam Silver. Kind of Adam Silver did publicly say, like, yeah, we, we kind of need him to make a decision to put our schedule together. You know, we'd like to know what team he's going to be on so we can have him play on Christmas.

[Brandon Scott]

Right. I mean, but that's real. And LeBron knows this. He's. I mean, he's only been in the NBA for what feels like a thousand years, but this is 20 plus.

[Sean Pendergast]

This is his last chance to let the entire league dangle on a string off of his fingers right now.

[Brandon Scott]

It is insane.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's. Savor it right now, man.

[Brandon Scott]

But. But this is very relatable for me. I was telling you about this story. So when. When George Bush passed away several years ago, I believe I was 2018. Now, if I'm. If I'm remembering right, maybe 20. But yeah, 2018. I was working at KHOU at the time, and we had a little bit of intel that things weren't going great. That, you know, it was close to the end and we had obituaries and things ready to go for. For the George Bush passing that we were anticipating. This would have been like. If I had published George Bush. Not exactly like. Cause death is involved. But this would have been similar to publishing the George Bush obituary before the man dies.

[Sean Pendergast]

It would have been way worse. Right, but it's in the same neighbor. I get what you're saying.

[Brandon Scott]

It's in the same neighborhood. And then it also would have. I mean, we're talking about a former president, so that would have raised red flags. What's wrong with you? Is George Bush about to die? What are they doing? That kind of thing?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

So it's very, very, very important that all of that stuff stays close to the vest. And it's very clear that they had somebody working on this that was not familiar with the public versus private YouTube settings.

[Sean Pendergast]

Here was Rich Paul. This is LeBron James, agent Rich Paul, and longtime friend with Max Kellerman. He's on Max Kellerman's show and talking about how all the reports out there, all the shifting odds of where LeBron could end up. Nobody knows anything.

[Brandon Scott]

I'll say it again. None of these people know anything. Nobody knows nothing. And I say that respectfully because we haven't made it to where anybody knows anything. But let me take your temperature on something. Sure. But no, let me finish first. Let me finish. So I think it's important for people to understand we're not making this about attention and a spectacle. It's not about a decision or anything like that. He has a choice to make. He has a business choice to make. We're not going to sit here and decide or allow someone else to decide when he makes that decision or that choice. It's a business choice that he's making. And I think as an athlete, why is it that an athlete has to rush his choice? Okay, I want to answer that from a business perspective. From a business perspective, you are making a choice between jobs, high level jobs, and you have the. And you've earned the right. You're a big time executive. That's with a unbelievable. Arguably the best resume in the history of your job. Who's rushing you? Okay. Nobody.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay. Well, the commissioner's kind of trying to rush him a little bit. I guess my question would be, and maybe Max Kellerman asked this. I obviously pulled that clip from social media there because I thought it was good. What's left? You know, what's. And I'm not asking. I know my tone is kind of dismissive when I say that. Like, I'm asking for. I would be asking LeBron, what is left for you to have to vet in order to make a decision? And the fact of the matter is he still has a daughter who's, I think, in high school or something like that. So maybe that's factoring. Maybe there's family things factoring in. One of the options is Cleveland, which is where he's from originally. Another one is Miami, where he played a bunch of years. So maybe he is struggling somewhat with some of that. But I. I could see where people are getting some fatigue over this in those cities. Like, come on, man, let's go make a decision.

[Brandon Scott]

So I thought he was going to make a decision very early on in the process. This is before Jalen Brown gets traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. So I thought there was going to be a decision before that. Once Jaylen Brown got traded to the 76ers, I actually thought that the answer for him was very clear. Like, it immediately took. Like, I thought there was a discussion to be had about go to Philly or something. Yeah, I thought there was a discussion to be had about Miami versus Cleveland versus that long shot idea of going to the Golden State warriors and doing like an ARP type of thing where everybody's 40 years old and they go for broke for the last couple of years of their careers. I thought that was a legitimate option once Jaylen Brown goes to Philly and joins Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. But, oh, by the way, they can also bring in LeBron James on the cheap, which is actually what makes this round of it so fascinating and so much more interesting. It's not just that. It's LeBron James, but it's that you can get LeBron James now at the ultimate discount, because we've never seen anybody be this great or this good at this age. Normally, by the time somebody's 41, 42 years old, no one really cares where they go to play.

[Sean Pendergast]

We. We are. We are in a unicorn territory now.

[Brandon Scott]

Absolutely. So this is unprecedented. It's arguably the greatest player of his, certainly of his generation, and still good in, like, the next generation. What does that even look like? So you can just plop LeBron James on any team. He's affordable in that way. So the fact that that's even possible made to me, Philly, the obvious and clear choice. He hasn't made that choice, so I don't know what it is that he's evaluating.

[Sean Pendergast]

That would be a hell of a starting five in Philly, man. I mean, a front line of LeBron James, Jalen Brown, and if healthy, which is a huge if size 72 font. If healthy, Joel Embiid with a backcourt of Tyrese Maxey in and in Edgecombe. Yeah. Baylor kid.

[Brandon Scott]

I mean, otherwise, you're doing the if healthy thing with Miami. If Giannis is healthy.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

Right. You're certainly doing that in Golden State. To some degree. You'll be doing it with Cleveland because, I don't know, the James Harden things. A weird fit.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

So, yeah, I mean, there's a risk everywhere, but that's the team.

[Sean Pendergast]

I asked. I asked Seth this yesterday, and I'm curious your take on this. If you were making the decision for LeBron and you had to pick based on the. Based on the following marquee player for each of the teams. Okay. And I'm. I'm. I'm citing specific players. You're. You are making your decision based on playing with the following. Giannis in Miami, Embiid in Philly. I know Jalen Brown's there, but I'm basing on. Basing it on Embiid in Philly, Stephen, Golden State, and Harden in Cleveland. You're basing your decision on playing with that guy at that place. Who would your decision be?

[Brandon Scott]

So just the way you framed it, it'd probably still be Steph, which is which. Which hurts me to say as a Rockets fan, and obviously, Steph has heard a lot of dreams here in Houston, but it would probably be Steph, and I only say probably just because of the age factor. If he was obviously younger, it would be easily.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's had some. He's been banged up the last couple

[Brandon Scott]

years, but three of them have.

[Sean Pendergast]

I mean, Giannis. Steph. Yeah, Giannis. Stefan Harden is the safest choice, just from purely an availability standpoint.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sean Pendergast]

James plays.

[Brandon Scott]

But. But he would be the oddest fit, I think, because him and LeBron kind of have a lot of crossover in terms of what their actual game is, and I think Giannis is a little bit of that as well. So. Yeah, I think the. The answer. I would rank the answers as Stephen Embiid and Giannis actually last.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay. See, I had Giannis. I think Seth had Giannis. I had Giannis.

[Brandon Scott]

He's the best player.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

Of the group.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes. Yeah. Yeah, right. He's healthy. He's a top five player.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah. He's easily the best player of the group. I. I do wonder about the fit, and I would be concerned about the injury.

[Sean Pendergast]

I would, too. The one I want to see as a fan would be Harden. Just purely for the theater of the whole.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, the. You know whats and giggles.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes. Yes. Yes. All right, coming up next, do the Astros hold the key to the trade deadline?

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[Brandon Scott]

I remember telling my boss, it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it wasn't.

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[Sean Pendergast]

apply in Major League Baseball. We will Discuss Sports Radio 610 presents live from the West Point Lincoln and West West Point Lincoln of Sugarland Studios. Here's Bain and Pendergast. Big things looming on the horizon, obviously. We got training camp starting next Wednesday with the Texans. We've got the trade deadline coming up on August 3rd with the Astros. We've got our own big stuff coming up here at the station. August 13th is when we make the move over to FM will be 95. 7 the fans. We got some big things coming up on the calendar. It's a really exciting time of year. Just to dial in on the Astros for a little bit, let's start with last night. They beat the Miami Marlins 5 to 2 last night. Jordan Alvarez with the big hit, a tie breaking two run home run in the eighth inning to make it four to two. Esac Paredes hits a home run the very next at bat. And the big story I think in addition to Jordan Alvarez is Peter Lambert with another really good start. Literally another quality start. Six innings, two earned runs. Here was Joe Espada following last night's game on Lambert.

[Brandon Scott]

No, you know, and there's always someone

[Sean Pendergast]

during the season in the years that I've been doing this, that there's someone, this one pitcher that gets an opportunity and just runs with it. Last year was Jason Alexander and Peter has kind of been that guy for us. He has stepped up and he's been our ace and, and he doesn't back down from for a challenge. He goes after these hitters, he throws strikes. He's very competitive and he is, he's, he's been really, really good boy B Scott that sailed past me the first time we played that audio earlier today, earlier in the show I think we played it in headlines. A spot of talking about Peter Lambert. Because when a spot has started in on that quote, I started going in trivia mode in my head. I'm like, yeah, there have been a lot of guys like that. So I was only half listening to him. He called Peter Lambert their ace. That cut right there, he said he's

[Brandon Scott]

been, he has been our ace. Yeah, I caught on that the first time too. And I actually, I think I just Skipped over it because I agreed so much, so wholeheartedly. But it is noteworthy and worth sitting

[Sean Pendergast]

with for a second on a staff with the guy who finished third in the Cy Young last year. The manager just called a guy they DFA'd at the start of the season.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And he decided. Lambert, he decided to come back to the Astros to pitch in their system for whatever reason. And obviously, it's worked out tremendously for him. He's put himself in real good position to hopefully continue to be an Astro or whatever the case may be. I have no idea what his contractual situation is, but that just hit me that second time listening to him, like, wow. I mean, it says a lot about Peter Lambert, and also, I think it says a lot about Hunter Brown, too. Yeah, the opposite direction.

[Brandon Scott]

I also think that the term ace is just being used a little bit too liberally. But I don't want to go through the semantics of the term ace. I understand his point. His point is he's been our best pitcher this year, our most consistent, our most reliable. And I think Hunter Brown, honestly, if he doesn't have the injury, the hiccup there where he's not playing for a while and he's back pitching and he's just trying to find his fastball. I mean, Hunter Brown, we got to be real about it. His deadliest pitches, forcing fastball is the one that he's having the most trouble commanding. And that's just not a way to live. And so that completely changes what Hunter Brown is. Meanwhile, Peter Lambert has just been a model of consistency all the way through. We've had Hunter Brown for a minute, right? To start the season. He's the ace to start, right? Spencer Arrogetti had the month where he wins AL Pitcher of the Month. He's pitching at a Cy Young level at one point, right?

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

Tatsuya Imai is struggling to adjust to the American lifestyle and pitching in the big leagues in America, and he's tired, he's fatigued, and then he gets it back. But nobody, everybody, don't even get me started on Burrows. Oh, and he's just a complete guy. I mean, a complete fail, complete waste. You know what's funny about that, that you mentioned it? Burrows and Tatsui. My as well. But those two were supposed to be Dana Brown's crowning achievements of the off season in terms of bringing in the pitching. He also kind of has to get credit for the Peter Lambert thing, even though that's lightning in a bottle. I don't think of.

[Sean Pendergast]

I Mean, he cut the guy.

[Brandon Scott]

Right? He cut the guy, but he brought him in to begin with. Right.

[Ad Voice]

So.

[Brandon Scott]

So I mean, Peter Lambert, partial credit, partial only partial credit. Not just because he cut him, but because there's no way. And I guess because he cut him, this is obvious of or evidence of that. There's no way he thought that this is the Peter Lambert that he was getting.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Brandon Scott]

Otherwise he would have never cut him and he would have probably signed him to more money. Yeah.

[Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

So. So when you think about like just all of that and what you've got from your pitching staff, Peter Lambert, calling him an ace is a stretch, but he has been your best and most consistent pitcher.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's, that's, that's undeniable. That's just. That's stats. Yeah, that's the numbers. No question.

[Brandon Scott]

Team leading eight quality starts.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. Yep.

[Brandon Scott]

Speaks for itself.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, so Buster Only and Jeff Passon did kind of an overview of the trade deadline. Boy, maybe I'm just being biased because the Astros are such an intriguing trade deadline team. Because I think on paper, I think you could go either way. They could be a buyer or a seller. You can make a case for either one. And I think Dana Brown is probably conducting himself like a buyer, but maybe getting approached like a seller by some teams, which makes it very busy for him for sure. And it's new territory for the Astros, definitely. But Buster Only and Jeff Pass and did kind of an overview, sort of a superlatives, I guess, of the trade deadline. And my question in reading what I'm about to read to you would be, do the Astros hold the keys to the trade deadline? The weakest position available is, and Buster only says lists a bunch of teams that are in the playoff hunt. Good teams could all use a right handed hitter. But even as more teams drop out of contention, it doesn't appear many options will emerge. The one team that could change that equation dramatically would be the Houston Astros, who have a bunch of interesting players who would shift everything. These are Buster Olney's words. Some rival executives believe Houston would absolutely crush it in this market if they dangled Jeremy Pena, Isak Paredes and others. I guess I would add, if I were to add others in there, I would add Christian Walker in there would be the others.

[Brandon Scott]

Brian and Bray, you potentially.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right, but as far as right handed hitters.

[Brandon Scott]

Oh yeah, that's right, of course. Just stay on topic. Right handed hitters, yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right handed hitters, yeah. But I think a Bray use the name worth dangling to. No question.

[Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Houston went into play on Tuesday. Six games under.500. And according to fan graphs, the Astros odds for making the playoffs stand at 16%. But so far, all the rhetoric coming out of Houston is about charging ahead, which is 100% true. Rhetoric would imply that it's. There's an emptiness to it. I don't think there's an emptiness to it. I think that this team legitimately thinks that even at 50 and 54, that they envision a path to contention. Here's the crazy thing. They're off today, if I'm not mistaken. The Astros, I think, are off today.

[Brandon Scott]

Wednesday. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

They're headed to Chicago. And the White Sox are a much better team this year, so that'll be a challenge. It's in Chicago. When the Astros lose their next game, they'll be. They'll be whatever and 55 at that point. If you want to feel how big the gap is between the peak of the Astros golden era and now, I view the peak as 2019, because I think that was the. I know they didn't win the title that year, but that was the best team I've ever seen. This most stacked team I've ever seen.

[Brandon Scott]

Definitely the best Astros team I've ever seen.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's what I mean. Astros, for sure. Yeah, the best. Yeah. Sorry. Not the best team, although really talented.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah. Certainly one of the best. To never win a World. To not win the World Series.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. That's the articles that I've seen. Yes. Yes. So. But if you want. If you want to gauge for how far apart we are, how distant we are from that era of Astros baseball, the. The next time the ass. Let's say the Astros lose on Friday for the White Sox. Not out of the realm of possibility. They would have to win the rest of their games this year to match the record of the 2019 Houston Astros.

[Brandon Scott]

Be quite a run. Be quite a win streak.

[Sean Pendergast]

Could take.

[Brandon Scott]

Yes, it would be quite a run.

[Sean Pendergast]

It would. But how about that?

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's how good that team was. You would have to. Starting on July 25th or whatever it is, you'd have to win out in. In late July. You would have to start a streak where you went out to be the same record as that 2019 ash.

[Brandon Scott]

That's team. That's how good that team was. That's how good that team was. And that's how far we fallen.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's exactly right.

[Ad Voice]

That's. Yeah, that's.

[Brandon Scott]

That's how far we fallen because that's very much in play, as you laid out. That could absolutely happen. Friday or this. Sometime this weekend.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, even to get halfway there, to get to 87 wins or whatever, like the. I mean, I don't know if people have looked like the record the Astros are gonna have to put together just to. Just to be in an 87 win conversation. And I bring up 87 wins because they won 87 last year and lost out on a tiebreaker.

[Ad Voice]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

That it may take 87 wins again. Because I know the AL is very janky right now, but the teams that are in the running for the wild card are really starting to crystallize here, and they're all going to be above.500.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know, there was a point a couple weeks ago where, you know, 40 and 42 has you in the playoffs. There's too many teams for a couple of them not to start to distance themselves. The Astros have to be one of those teams.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

If you're going to make it, you probably have to win at least 85 games at a minimum to get in.

[Brandon Scott]

If your eye is on the prize, your eye needs to be on the division. Sure, you could get a wild card, but like you mentioned.

[Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

That field is much more crowded and it's literally a wild card because now you're throwing in, like, who's that going to be? The Yankees could be in the mix for that because the Rays could win their division. Right. So, like, there's all these different teams that are going to be in the mix, whereas the AL west, there is no hodgepodge. You know what that is? That is a bunch of. And you're part of this. So I don't want to exclude the Astros, but that's just a bunch of mediocre baseball at best. So can you be the best of the mediocre? Is a much better question to ask. As opposed to like, you know, can we be better than the Yankees or whoever doesn't win the AL Central?

[Sean Pendergast]

I want to circle back to one of the Rockets thing with you and Brandon Scott in for Seth Payne. B. Scott will be in with me tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday. But just some audio that Seth and I played yesterday. I want to get your take on Kevin Durant sitting down with Draymond Green talking about 2018 with the Warriors. Does this draw concern for the 20, 26, 27 Houston Rockets? We will do that. We'll find out what the guy's got going on on in the Loop as well. We'll do all of that. Sports Radio 610 presents live from the

[Brandon Scott]

West Point Lincoln and West Point Lincoln

[Sean Pendergast]

of Sugarland Studios here's Pain and Pendergast. All right. Pain and Pendergast. I was gonna say with you, the show. Payne and Pendergast is with you. The show name never leaves. But Seth has left on vacation. I just, I wanted to let that dangle out there. Seth and I were talking yesterday. Brandon Scott in for Seth today, Tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday, Seth will be back for training camp, the start of training camp, Texans training camp next week. And we've got you covered all week long for that. Seth was joking during one of the breaks. He's like, I wonder if people, when I'm gone on vacation tomorrow, if people's, if there's anybody that's going to read into it, like that's the next big announcement going on. Like something happened with Seth.

[Brandon Scott]

Somebody actually did make that comment on one of the chats. They're like, oh, the big news is actually that Seth is taking time off.

[Sean Pendergast]

He was fired. Seth hardly ever takes time off, right? Hardly ever. So this is rare. Brandon Scott in for Seth. All right, so we played this yesterday, but I wanted to get B. Scott's take on this bit of audio. And, and tomorrow we'll do all our Friday stuff. We'll do Take a mania. We'll do our question number four of our countdown to training camp in the six o' clock hour. We'll do everything normal tomorrow on the show here. So this was Kevin Durant. You got it? Ready to go, Byron? Kevin Durant. This is Kevin Durant sitting down with Draymond Green and the two of them, well, really it's Kevin Durant you're going to hear mostly back In November of 2018, the two of them had a big dust up in a game against the Clippers where early in the season, in November, coming off of two straight championships, by the way, Draymond kind of went into business for himself and tried to hit a game winning shot. Well, Kevin Durant standing, clapping, wanting the ball. I would give the ball to Kevin Durant in that situation.

[Ad Voice]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

And maybe that's me.

[Brandon Scott]

And so should have Draymond Gray.

[Sean Pendergast]

She should have. And it turned into a big thing on the bench, on the court, in the locker room afterwards. And at least according to Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, they didn't think the whole thing got handled properly. It was toxic enough to affect them the entire season, to affect the team and for it to be a driving reason behind Kevin Durant choosing to take his talents out.

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opened my dashboard for the only positive

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sounding metric I had.

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[Sean Pendergast]

He gets a patent one month before the Wright brothers. Oh my God.

[Brandon Scott]

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[Brandon Scott]

I remember telling my boss it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it wasn't Cut the bull spend.

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[Sean Pendergast]

apply elsewhere after the season. So this is Kevin Durant essentially saying management should have done better.

[Brandon Scott]

It wasn't the argument, it was the the way that everybody Steve Kerr act like it didn't happen. Bob Myers and tried to just discipline you and think that that would put the mask over everything. I really felt like that was such a big situation for us as a group. The first time we went through something like that, we had to get that all out. I remember watching the last dance, and when Scottie didn't go into the game, the whole team in the locker room said, scotty, that was up that you did that. We needed that. We just needed to throw all of that table and say, yo, Dre K. Like that up that. We even had to go through that. Let's just wipe our hands with that and go finish the task. I don't think we did that. And we tried to dance around it. I just didn't like how all of that. Just the vibe of the. Between all of that, it just made weird to me. And I'd rather us be who we say we are. Family first, communication is key. We didn't show that. And that's what rubbed me the wrong way more than anything. That is surprising to me, though, like, that a team that by that point had accomplished as much as it had would three championships. I mean, three championships. Two back to back with Kevin Durant

[Sean Pendergast]

when they didn't win. They won 73 games that year.

[Brandon Scott]

Right. And they. And they beat Kevin Durant just to get to that finals. Right. Came back from down 31 just to do that. So. So when you consider the pelts on the wall that that team had at that point and the just kind of the. The high that they were on at that point, it surprises me that Steve Kerr, Bob Myers, Steph Curry, let's even throw him in there in the mix. That between the mix of them, the three of them, that there wouldn't be enough leadership in the building or at the facility to say, hey, let's go ahead and nip this in the bud. The fact that it would linger throughout the entire season and even factor into his departure, that part to me is like, if I was a Warriors fan, that would be unforgivable to me. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I can't tell from that cut. You know, that cuts about a minute long. And that's the. It's the fourth or fifth time I've listened. It's the second time I've listened on air. It's a little like the Sopranos when you rewatch it, you notice new things every time.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And the part that struck me there is that I can't determine if Kevin Durant, because he changes tenses in that answer right there. I can't determine if he. If he's saying that at the time he was surprised that Steve Kerr and Bob Myers were just trying to sweep it under the rug and ignore that it happened, or if, in retrospect, that's what we needed at the time. Because I'll tell you this. And I. And I feel this way either way to an extent, but especially if Kevin Durant saying, boy, at the time, I felt like Steve Kerr and Bob Myers really should have, you know, handled this differently. That part, to me, that would bother me. It bothers me kind of as a Rockets fan like that. That. That you're. You think that at the time, like, bro, you're an adult.

[Brandon Scott]

You're.

[Sean Pendergast]

You're talking like a kid who's waiting for the adults to discipline you.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know. Yeah. Right. It's on the. On the last dance. The reason why I think it's in retrospect is because the last dance that he's talking about, the documentary on the Bulls, came out during. That came out during COVID Yeah. So. So I tend to think he's saying, looking back now, they should have handled it that way. But even that is a bad look to me that, like, oh, it got so toxic, and we argued and it was so bad. And, well, what would have been the right solution for the. For. For management to handle it better? Like, you're. You guys are the ones that did it. You guys are the ones that got into it with each other. You were the one yelling at Draymond. Draymond's the one going into business for himself, trying to win a game when he's got the best scorer on the planet on his team. And it's. And it's Steve. I mean, I guess ultimately it does fall on Steve Kerr and Bob Myers, because your management, ultimately, anything that happens on your watch. But that just felt like a real cop out to me by Kevin Durant.

[Brandon Scott]

Well, he also mentions, and forgive me for not remembering this part of it, like, Draymond was disciplined in some form or fashion, got suspended.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Brandon Scott]

And so, I mean, yeah, what else? Like, he. He said that. That doing that was, like, not enough. And that was still kind of sweeping it under the rug. I would love to follow up with him about that. Like. So why was the suspension not an adequate enough addressing of the situation and what needed to be done aside from the two of you working out your own issues? Yes, what needed to be done above you guys, beyond simply that. Now, I just said earlier, I mean, you can hold the leaders accountable for a crises in leadership if you want, but after you talk it out and say hey, there was a punishment. I am curious on what else does he feel like needed to be done?

[Sean Pendergast]

So that's the first you've listened to that?

[Brandon Scott]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

You'd seen of it, but I've seen it.

[Brandon Scott]

I've seen it transcribed, but I hadn't heard him actually say it until just now.

[Sean Pendergast]

So here's what I want to ask you, Brandon Scott, is does that bit of audio at all affect the way you look at how things unfolded with the Rockets the second half of last season after Burnergate with Kevin Durant and, and, and a team that looked to have some chemistry issues in the second half of this?

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, I, I would say a hundred percent because like, to me it's just, it, it almost sounds like hypocritical a little bit because it's like, okay, well, I mean, I know you're not the coach or management, but over in Golden State, Draymond, Steph, all those guys are his peers. He comes over here to Houston, he's peerless. He is Kevin Durant and everybody else is kind of. So like you're the leader, you know, whether you're an outspoken leader or leader by example, whatever your leadership style is, like it or not, coming over here, you the leader, you're Kevin Durant. So, yeah, that would kind of bother me a little bit because if it felt a little hypocritical in terms of how they handled the Burner gate, if you will.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

Like, they, it seemed like they were very quick to not seem like, because I was there, they swept that thing under the rug very, very quickly. Now I also don't.

[Sean Pendergast]

You're at the press conferences and things like that.

[Brandon Scott]

I was at the press. Now, I wasn't at the first press conference after Bernie Gate, but of course I was locked in and I knew everybody who was there.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

So I basically might as well have been there. And I was surprised. A little bit surprised. Especially since Kevin Durant is such a candid individual. Like, I'll give him credit for that. Dude, you typically says what's on his mind and gives you, for the most part the real.

[Sean Pendergast]

I think he's a very thoughtful interview.

[Brandon Scott]

Very much so. I've enjoyed covering Kevin Durant. I thought it was so. So it surprised me and threw me off that they kind of brushed the question aside and then brushed the follow up question aside and then it was. If not spoken, there was definitely an understanding that this. The last. We gonna talk about this.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

You know, it's kind of. You get that vibe when you go to a press conference. You know, you're there, you know, they're kind of controlling a little bit of what the narrative is and how. How many questions you get to ask, how long you get to ask.

[Sean Pendergast]

And it's the same people at every press conference.

[Brandon Scott]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know what I mean?

[Brandon Scott]

Yes. And so I think we all kind of got that feel that actually is fine. I question, like, what did the team. How did the team address it? That was the part that I think is still unclear and probably an unsatisfactory, like, resolution to that about, like, how the team addressed it. I don't buy into Burnergate, like, just nose diving their season or anything, because I thought the chemistry issues that we saw after Buregate quite frankly, really existed before it. Like, they. They were a flawed basketball team before and after. But this thing did still happen, and I feel like that. That there was more to be said about it or addressed. Maybe an apology, you know, something. Yeah, I feel like an apology would have been order in an order, especially. I feel like an apology would have been in order, especially after it became clear, I think, by their own lack of answering the question, that this was Kevin Durant.

[Sean Pendergast]

Something was there.

[Brandon Scott]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah. Because if it wasn't him, you can just flat out deny it and say that. Yeah, they never did that.

[Sean Pendergast]

So I saw a post yesterday. As long as we're talking about the Rockets and Durant here for a minute, we'll talk to the guys on in the Loop in just a second. I saw a proposal where, you know, obviously hypothetical, where it was the Rockets trading for Kyrie Irving as a. As a sort of a chip to try to lure LeBron here. And so you wind up. And the. The trade they laid out looked like a perfectly good trade that still left you with a bunch of assets. So you're not gutting everything just to get Kyrie Irving. But. But it plays into a question. There's a question on the text page. Why isn't someone's asking, why isn't LeBron considering the Rockets in all this? Is it because some of the stuff you and I were just talking about for the last five minutes, you think? I think LeBron looks at it like a lot of people do. Like, why would I put myself into a soap opera?

[Brandon Scott]

Well, it could be.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'd rather be in my own documentary about winning a title one more time.

[Brandon Scott]

I don't think that the soap opera stuff helps, but I also think what really hurts is that the head coach of the basketball team once called him the B word.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

And in front of God and everybody else, like, for the whole world to see. He didn't just do it, you know, in the behind the scenes.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Brandon Scott]

Did it. And LeBron addressed. Hey, man, don't use that word like it was a thing. And so that's an issue. There have also been people that said that LeBron has expressed, like, maybe not liking the city of Houston. I can't imagine that being true. Because he's not an idiot.

[Sean Pendergast]

Why would anybody not like the city of Houston?

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, no, he's not an idiot. So I don't believe that. But, but the Udoka thing, like, if that's a hang up. I've said it before, I'll say it again. I would fire Emma Udoka. Not just fire him from the job, but I would fire him into outer space.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes. Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

On a rocket ship. Now, I would want to guarantee his safety. We got to send him up here with astronauts.

[Sean Pendergast]

You'd have to be an Apollo 13 situation.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, yeah. No, I'm not trying to kill anybody, but assuming that you could ensure me his safety, I would send him into space for LeBron James.

[Sean Pendergast]

LeBron James.

[Brandon Scott]

Outer space.

[Sean Pendergast]

I wonder how the fertitas feel about that.

[Brandon Scott]

To a different galaxy.

[Sean Pendergast]

They really like him for LeBron James.

[Brandon Scott]

Outer space. And I know Tillman's. Where is he? Where is he?

[Sean Pendergast]

In Italy.

[Brandon Scott]

He's in Italy. Yeah, I know he's. I would send him further than that. Outer space.

[Sean Pendergast]

You would send him further than Italy.

[Brandon Scott]

You would send into outer space Udoka further than Italy. Outer space. To bring in. To get LeBron at this price, to be clear, not max contract LeBron, but at this price, he's affordable and still very good. Yeah. Into the Milky Way.

[Sean Pendergast]

Would you fire LeBron into outer space for LeBron James or fire. I caught the meaning. You said LeBron, but I understood what you meant. Yeah, yeah. Probably because I already have a particular issue with IME that is festering under the skin for me.

[Brandon Scott]

Can I.

[Sean Pendergast]

Can I come back to the actual decision? Yeah. Festering is not a good word.

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[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Can we come back to one of the reasons that I think LeBron isn't coming to Houston? That is a lot more simple. Like it's Occam's razor here. Okay.

[Brandon Scott]

LeBron clearly wants to go to the east. Like, he clearly just wants to get

[Sean Pendergast]

away from a lot of the morass over here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He had his best success over there.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I mean, and then you could just. I mean, you could. Look, as you mentioned, he's not an Idiot. You could look at the landscape and go, hey, the west is a mess right now. Yeah. Kind of want to go over to that other side. It's tough.

[Brandon Scott]

Well, two of the most improved teams in the offseason, like east, west aside, preference aside, I should say, are two east teams. Right. Like Miami just got Giannis. And I told you earlier, Sean, the Jalen Brown trade to Philly would have made the decision for me. I would have, I would have been in Philly later that day.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's a little. With him, it's like a legit All Star starting five. I know Edgecombe, maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Good young player, though.

[Brandon Scott]

Edgecombe is a blur. I watched him and Tyrese Maxey run circles around the Rockets.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes. The other three guys, the other three guys are literal All Stars. You know, Jalen Brown, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah. So, yeah, that, that to me seems like a no brainer, but I don't know what LeBron is factoring into his decision.

[Sean Pendergast]

And the only other thing that I think about the Philly thing is that we do the, hey, man, look at all these players. And then the inevitable question that you always have to talk about is how many basketballs are they going to play with? Like, I, I am very intrigued to see how Philly figures out the hierarchy thing, even without LeBron. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty wild.

[Brandon Scott]

But great players figured out. Typically. Typically. Not to say that fit doesn't matter. It definitely does, but great players tend to figure it out. Those are no less than three great players.

[Sean Pendergast]

You're listening to KLT AM, K I L T, F M, HD2. Houston, An Odyssey sports station for at least a few more weeks. K I L T know we're still being honest sports station, but the call letters are going to change. And crosstalk. Brought to you by DNM Auto Leasing. Question for you, John.

[Brandon Scott]

Yes, sir.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm here for you. So Brandon and I did a segment earlier. You know, today is we've been getting a little nostalgic over the last 24 hours. And that'll continue the big announcement. Absolutely. Which, because you've been here longer than any of us, which sports figure has been the most discussed sports figure in the history of this station, talked about the most we could quantify, talk about this person in some way.

[Brandon Scott]

I'm sure you guys said to Sean

[Sean Pendergast]

Watson, he was up there.

[Brandon Scott]

I'm sure you said Jack Easterby, he made the. Because those were months on end.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

Being Discussed literally every day.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes. Like, literally every day. Yeah. They may not have had the, the longevity, the notoriety, but their notoriety had a higher spike. Right.

[Brandon Scott]

They definitely put up numbers. So I'm going to try to go back to the early days and, and you know, something that was talked about an awful lot. Roger Clemens, steroid era,

[Sean Pendergast]

you know, so not him as a player.

[Brandon Scott]

The Mitchell Report. Yeah, the Brian Rusty Harden. Yeah, the Mitchell Report was an everyday topic.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

I know the top two would probably be. Or maybe not. But you know, desean and Easter B. Bill o' Brien is one of the ones that got a lot of love. Discussed the most. But I'm trying to, I'm trying to go back like, oh, you know, nine all the way through the early days. I, I would say Clemens was a

[Sean Pendergast]

hot, hot topic, like a very everyday

[Brandon Scott]

kind of thing for the Clemens and the Mitchell Report.

[Sean Pendergast]

So you're talking about steroid era.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Specific topics. Yeah. I say we just took top.

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