5 Takeaways from the NBA Draft’s First Round, Plus Jay Bilas!

Summary

The Ryen Russillo Show – “5 Takeaways from the NBA Draft’s First Round, Plus Jay Bilas!”

Date: June 24, 2026
Host: Ryen Russillo (Barstool Sports)
Guests: Jay Bilas (ESPN), Panel: Kevin O'Connor, Kyle Brandt, Rudy
Main Theme: In-depth immediate reactions and analysis of the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft, Russillo’s personal five takeaways, and a draft conversation with ESPN’s Jay Bilas.

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Episode Overview

Ryen Russillo delivers his signature, deep-dive, highly opinionated analysis of the NBA Draft’s unpredictable first round—a class defined by its depth, unusual positional debates, and upsets. Supported by his usual crew and draft expert Jay Bilas, the show unpacks not just player fits, but also the changing nature of draft night itself. Plenty of laughs, nitty-gritty basketball scouting, and candid thoughts on media coverage.

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Key Segments & Analysis

I. Russillo’s Five Biggest Takeaways from the NBA Draft

[02:27–19:10]

1. The Top of the Draft Was Actually Chaotic

• Personal Board: Russillo shared his own big board: Peterson #1, AJ #2, Boozer #3, Wagler #4, Caleb Wilson #5.
  • “Peterson, shot making is just so absurd…if you want to tell me, hey, that's not the job man, the job is who’s the better player in three to five years…that’s why Winger and the Wizards went with Peterson. I couldn’t sit there and tell them they’re wrong.” (03:58)
• Ongoing Debate: Height measurements matter less now. Players previously listed as 6’6” now reduced on paper, changing perceptions.
  • “Six, four and a half, now everyone feels shorter. Eventually, every six, four and a half guy’s going to be listed at six, four and a half, just like they should.” (02:44)

2. Tricky Evaluations & Upsets

• Brooklyn’s Move: Mikel Brown going 6th to Brooklyn shifted things, despite mock projections trending that way.
  • “Mikel Brown going six to Brooklyn…I just thought his decision making drove me crazy…are you playing basketball or are you auditioning for a role to play basketball?" (05:03)
• Data Backing: Despite qualms, elite percentile stats on pick-and-roll ball-handling and spot-up shooting justified his value.

3. Teams Getting “Lucky” with Falls & Smart Fits

• Example: Atlanta landing Kingston Flemings felt like a steal.
  • “Some teams, you know, may have taken him fifth throughout this entire process.” (07:48)
• Morris Johnson Decision: Aggressive, elite cutter and rim-runner, drafted 9th. “He’s been living at the free throw line and he’s 78% on free throws…but that 34% from three is a bit of a lie.” (09:21)

4. Milwaukee’s Double-Dip & the Giannis Fallout

• Draft Haul: “Home run scenario at 10 and 13 for Milwaukee to get two young players…” (11:07)
• On Trading Giannis: “I thought it was a nice little night there for Milwaukee to grab Amen at 13…guys that size, the way they move, usually are going to go earlier, but not in a packed year like this.” (13:15)
• Jay Bilas later calls it “a great first step for a really good future.” (27:36)

5. OKC vs. San Antonio: An Arms (and Size) Race

• OKC Draft Logic: “If we have a 7'3" guy that’s going to be able to stretch the floor a bit, then we have to take him—because of that big dude from France down in San Antonio…” (13:53)
• Size & Fit: Both franchises prioritize frontcourt depth and versatility, prepping for inevitable playoff matchups.
• San Antonio’s JQ/Jaden Quaintance Pick: Concerns over knee, but massive potential. “If your team is already really good and you’re looking at this as a luxury item…it’s a good play.” (16:02)

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The Evolving Nature of NBA Draft Coverage

[17:07–19:10, 46:53–51:57]

• Russillo critiques the televised draft’s current “family-first” format, longing for more honest basketball disagreements and breakdowns.
  • “Maybe I sound like a dick…but I want breakdowns. How does this fit in? Is this a good pick or is this a bad pick?...Is there any disagreement ever again?” (17:47)
• Lisa Salters doing her job, but he finds the sameness of 30 “what does this mean to you” interviews stifling.
• Nostalgia for more argumentative, analytical coverage.

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Extended Conversation with Jay Bilas (ESPN)

[20:43–51:57]

The Talent at the Top

• Best Prospect Debate:

  • Bilas: “I think Peterson’s the best player and the best prospect, so I had him number one…I had Wilson number four.” (22:08)
  • “I can’t remember ever hearing more people I respect say ‘this guy could be the best player in the draft.’ The depth was extraordinary.” (22:05)
  • “If Cooper Flagg was in this draft, he would have gone number one.” (22:38)

• Draft Unpredictability:

  • “How many players is the cutoff for ‘could be the best player in five years?’…could be six or seven, maybe more.” (24:31, Bilas)

• Nate Amen’s Journey:

  • “He kind of signed up for the Navy Seals…Every team wanted to be ultra-physical with him, and he handled it. One of the highest draw-fouls rates in the country.” (28:02, Bilas)

Quick Assessments on Organizations and Players

• OKC’s Draft:
  • “Sam Presti is right almost every time…that’s their challenge: getting past San Antonio in the playoffs and having that long-arm rim protecting big guy who can really pass and hit a three.” (29:31, Bilas)
• Bennet Sturtz Pick:
  • “Great in pick and rolls. He knows how to play. I’m glad that’s trumping some of the question marks.” (30:45, Bilas)
• San Antonio’s Double Bigs:
  • “Jaden Quaintance—if he were healthy, would have been a lottery pick…insane physical profile.”
  • “Terrace Reed Jr. just carves out space—an immovable object, and he’s a really good rebounder…” (34:34, Bilas)

Standout/Memorable Player Observations

• Morris Johnson’s Fit:
  • “They don’t make him like him very often…ridiculous athlete, relentless motor…he can switch out on a point guard…flat out guard him.” (36:56, Bilas)
• Chicago’s Haul:
  • “Caleb Wilson and Dalen Swain—a good haul for the Bulls.”
• Why Boozer Isn’t Universally Loved by Scouts:
  • “He’s not a wow athlete that jumps out of the gym…neither does Jokic…he was the best pure basketball player in the draft. His processing skills are so advanced…he’s not going to fail. He’s a better athlete than he gets credit for.” (40:39, Bilas)

The Draft’s “Softening” & the Role of Criticism

• “I’ve softened on this over the years…our job is to say the right thing at the right time, in the right tone...why would I come across as angry if the Knicks take Ronaldo Balkman over Rajon Rondo?” (50:52, Bilas)
• Quote about live interviews and player “authenticity”:
  • “Things are scripted now…players know what to say. Sometimes you can tell, but mostly you see how they relate to teammates…Peterson, for example, is a quiet young man…his words got parsed...But he played more games than Mikel Brown Jr., and [yet] wasn't criticized as much.” (43:24–45:53, Bilas)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Peterson’s Reputation:
  • “He should have said introverted—take a thesaurus with him everywhere he goes…He’s not a nightclub comic.” (43:24, Bilas)
• On Mock Drafts’ Effects:
  • “If we didn’t have mocks, this whole process would be different. We’d be happier, especially guys waiting around.” (39:20, Russillo)
• On Family Moments/Televised Coverage:
  • “Who am I to sit here and say…‘I don’t want it to be about family’, but…is it a challenge where, on the desk, do we get less basketball disagreement?” (47:32)
• On the “Softening” of Draft Critique:
  • “I think as I get older, I feel sympathy for guys waiting around…I just know how I was in my 20s talking on the air…I think we all get a little softer.” (50:33)

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Other Segments

Life Advice

(Skipped per instructions, except for notable fun exchanges)

• Running Gag: On relationship “reachers,” jawlines, and draft comp of the listeners.

  • “Every guy wants to be the reacher in the relationship, as do I.” (62:00)
  • Lots of playful banter about listener-submitted relationship problems and self-image.

• Pet Ownership Quandaries:

  • Hilarious and relatable discourses about grown-up dilemmas like whether to re-home cats after kids (“Sounds like you got a couple dud cats, man.” - Rudy, 81:44) and the emotional toll that comes with such decisions.
  • “I think I’m one of those people, like, unless it’s a real need or danger or allergies…I don’t think you keep. You made this decision, you keep.” (85:19, Brandt)

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Final Thoughts

• The panel and Bilas agree: This was a genuinely fascinating, volatile draft—defined more by depth and difficult separation between prospects than by a single generational talent.
• “If you want to be wrong, be wrong big, be wrong with an athlete as opposed to the other way around.” (40:27, Russillo)
• Memorable for high uncertainty, the aftermath of the Milwaukee trade, and the rebalancing of power across franchises readying for an “arms race” in the West.
• Jay Bilas: “Boozer’s not going to fail...you’re not going to miss with him…he’s a better athlete than he gets credit for.” (41:59)
• Russillo closes with his signature blend of basketball nerdery, media critique, and banter—making the episode a must-listen for NBA junkies who want real basketball talk, not just televised pageantry.

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Transcript

[Ryan Ruocco]

Hey Resilo listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. What if your drive was fueled with more like More protection for more time on the road Shelby Power Nitro plus provides more protection for longer lasting engines, so it helps you keep your engine running like new for whatever drive is ahead. Shelby Power Nitro engine performance that lasts compared to minimum detergent gasoline with continuous use of Shelby Power Nitro plus and gasoline direct injection engines, effects and benefits may vary. See Shell US More Protection for more information. The Ryan Marcillo show is presented by DraftKings. It is the morning after the first round of the NBA Draft. I'm going to go through five things,

[Kevin O'Connor]

including how I thought the top of the order should go, some other observations.

[Ryan Ruocco]

We'll break it down in even greater

[Kevin O'Connor]

detail with J. Billis, who was on

[Ryan Ruocco]

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[Life Advice Caller]

I've got

[Ryan Ruocco]

five things for you from last night's

[Kevin O'Connor]

first round of the NBA Draft.

[Ryan Ruocco]

We'll run through them and then bring

[Kevin O'Connor]

in Jay Billis for more.

[Ryan Ruocco]

All right, my board, no one cares.

[Kevin O'Connor]

But for the record, Peterson 1, AJ 2, Boozer 3. I had Wagler 4, Caleb Willows, Caleb Wilson 5.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Peterson.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Shot making is just so absurd that I would probably prioritize that also being like in that 6, 4, 6, 5 range. This is what I hate about the combine measuring without shoes. Because Peterson would be a 6, 6 guy the old way where your measurement would come out measurement in shoes. But they changed it a few years ago. So now it just feels like everybody who's six, four and a half, it's like, that sucks because you used to be able to say that you were six, six based on NBA heights. And again, if you don't believe me, that's exactly what they used to do. And then they just said, all right, enough of this stuff. So I guess eventually it'll be all phased out and every six, four and a half guy will feel like another six, four and a half guy.

[Kyle Brandt]

All right.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Right now I think Peterson's a better player, too.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I think that DeBonsa, even though he was just physically overwhelming and then that's the frame that you want to bet on. Six, nine versus six, four and a half. Or I think he's six, eight and a half with his measurement with that, with those shoulders not doubling him, even though his teammate Saunders there the best scorer probably on byu other than him not being in the mix. And then debons had just like taken it. Two dudes in the big 12 tournament game.

[Ryan Ruocco]

So I was changing my mind constantly.

[Kevin O'Connor]

But I still think Peterson's a better player right now. If you want to tell me, hey, that's not the job, man. The job is who's the better player in three to five years. And that's why Winger and the group with the Wizards went with Peterson. I couldn't sit there and tell them that they were wrong. And I still somehow, like, wanted to be a boozer guy through all this because I think that pick may haunt

[Ryan Ruocco]

the two teams in front. Like, that's how much fun I think

[Kevin O'Connor]

this draft is because it was so hard.

[Ryan Ruocco]

It was really hard for me. And I think there's a lot of

[Kevin O'Connor]

things on the table with the end game for all this stuff. But, you know, if you're going to be wrong, teams are going to be wrong with height and hopefully with height and athleticism. That's why Caleb Wilson is for instead of Wagler, who I just think you are going to get a guy that can play on and off in a Way, you know, I don't want to call it SGA because that seems to be a little ridiculous. We're talking about potentially one of the best players in the world for Wagler. If you were that good, then he should just go one. But I'm just telling you, I think there's so much to Wagler and that's why I had him higher than the other guards and higher than Wilson, which I didn't see a lot of there the draft.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I don't know that it's really an upset because you started seeing it in the mox.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Mikel Brown going six to Brooklyn.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But I think that changed a lot

[Kevin O'Connor]

in the picks behind them with him moving up.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I did not like Brown as much

[Kevin O'Connor]

as other people because I just thought that his decision making drove me crazy.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Where I have this thing with certain players where I'm like, are you playing basketball or are you auditioning for a

[Kevin O'Connor]

role to play basketball where you're going to take these like absurd shots to show how cool it is. And the passing stuff with him is just. It was. I thought there were so many moments where I'm like, what are you doing? Tassels just have absolutely no chance, no chance whatsoever.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But his pick and roll ball handling as he is the ball handler in

[Kevin O'Connor]

the pick and roll. Cause there's two different variations of how you can look this stuff up. Pick and roll man, which is the man who's sending the screen. Then rolling pick and roll ball. That is the ball handler off the pick and roll.

[Ryan Ruocco]

He was in the 89th percentile for

[Kevin O'Connor]

points per possession on those and on

[Ryan Ruocco]

spot up shots he was in the 97th percentile. With that size and that athleticism, I

[Kevin O'Connor]

totally get why teams would have him.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I wouldn't have him ahead of Wagner,

[Kevin O'Connor]

but would have him ahead of Acuff and also Kingston Flemings, who I I really liked. Like I liked this group so much.

[Ryan Ruocco]

So that sets up sacrament was a

[Kevin O'Connor]

lock that it would be a cuff. I don't think that that ownership group was going to decide to go, hey, let's go with Kingston instead of like

[Ryan Ruocco]

the star potential with an empty pallet.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Considering all the off season stuff that could be happening, maybe that ends the idea that they were going to get job, which sounds like it was over anyway once they asked for compensation to take on Job Morant, although that felt like the most Sacramento Kings acquisition ever.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But acuff to Sacramento, kind of a layup.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Once you saw all that play out

[Ryan Ruocco]

front, that meant Atlanta and still having Kingston Flemings on the board. Had to have felt like a huge win for them because even though Mara

[Kevin O'Connor]

goes to Sacramento, which we're going to get to here, excuse me, goes to Oklahoma City, which we will get to here just four picks later.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Morrow with Atlanta, like you're providing yourself that big and that optionality, which maybe

[Kevin O'Connor]

is a little bit more important than

[Ryan Ruocco]

just the long term starter at the guard position with CJ McCollum being in his mid-30s. So me being critical of Atlanta going,

[Kevin O'Connor]

like, are you potentially just drafting a backup center at 7 foot 3 because you're not going to want to bench

[Ryan Ruocco]

a Kongwu or does it really even matter?

[Kevin O'Connor]

Or does that mean that Kongu gets

[Ryan Ruocco]

phased out as a starter or it's

[Kevin O'Connor]

matchup dependent and you have like two

[Ryan Ruocco]

really different looks that are kind of cool and maybe both guys that are going to be able to stretch the floor as fives, like, isn't that the goal?

[Kevin O'Connor]

And you could have two of them that are entirely different defensive matchups.

[Ryan Ruocco]

So I wonder how much internal debate they had about that.

[Kevin O'Connor]

But I'm sure once Kingston Flemings was still there, you're just kind of like, dude, some teams, you know, may have taken him fifth throughout this entire process.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Morris Johnson goes ninth.

[Kevin O'Connor]

My scattering report on him was just aggressive, aggressive, aggressive. When you watch him in transition, it's fantastic. 87% of his field goal attempts were at the rim, 22% of his percent of his possessions, which is the most of any of his possessions. So it's like, hey, how often is he ISO. How often is he posting up? It's nobody posts up anymore. Handoffs, all this kind of stuff. Pick and roll, ball handler, pick and roll, man.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Well, the most used possession for Mrez

[Kevin O'Connor]

is 22% of his plays were cuts and he was in the 91st percentile on points per possession. It's too bad Lucas isn't still there. I was thinking about this. I'm like, oh man, cutting off the ball, his aggressiveness, him running in transition,

[Ryan Ruocco]

him being a lob threat.

[Kevin O'Connor]

It'd be a perfect mav with Luca.

[Ryan Ruocco]

It's never going to stop. Sorry. I'm sorry.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Dallas fans. It's never going to stop.

[Ryan Ruocco]

And this is somebody with limited touches, limited minutes, but so incredibly aggressive.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And the crazy thing is too is

[Ryan Ruocco]

like he takes more shots than you would have thought at like only 20

[Kevin O'Connor]

plus minutes a game.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But even though people are selling him

[Kevin O'Connor]

as a three point shooter because he's

[Ryan Ruocco]

at 34%, I think that number's a

[Kevin O'Connor]

bit of a lie. I don't like the way the shot looks right now, but he's getting to

[Ryan Ruocco]

the free throw line because he's so

[Kevin O'Connor]

overwhelming in these college games. He's so ridiculous. So much to deal with, his energy and it's like, oh, shit, this guy's coming down.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Fill the lane.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Like, I'm out of here. He's been living at the free throw line and he's 78% on free throws.

[Ryan Ruocco]

So even though I think that 34 number from three is overselling who he

[Kevin O'Connor]

is as a spacer right now, and maybe it's entirely fixed, we all know the rule is if you can point to some sort of free throw number that gives you hope, that's an incredible free throw number. And he's taken a ton of free throws.

[Ryan Ruocco]

And to again, if you're taking Morris

[Kevin O'Connor]

Johnson ninth, you're going, we think he can defend. We think he's a freak on the baseline, and we think he's actually going to be able to space the floor out here a little bit. I don't know how much influence Dusty May has in this process, but if it were something where he comes in

[Ryan Ruocco]

and is like, hey, you're.

[Kevin O'Connor]

You're making a huge mistake, he'd probably have enough juice to pull this off. But that he was this excited about it, that I'm sure Dallas was thrilled before they even knew they were going to do the Dusty May thing. Or maybe they were talking the entire time and Dusty was a big part of this and it wasn't just technically a couple days ago.

[Ryan Ruocco]

All of it's on the table. All of it's possible.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I'm willing to believe anything. But what I did love is that

[Ryan Ruocco]

Yaxel and Mara are losing their minds

[Kevin O'Connor]

in the most genuine, passionate way when Morez gets picked before them.

[Ryan Ruocco]

And sometimes it's pretty clear, like, I

[Kevin O'Connor]

have no idea what kind of read I have on this. They're doing what they're supposed to be doing. Support of a teammate, happy despite this being a competitive moment. That was like Kobe White when Cam Johnson got drafted. Like Kobe White just being so pumped that Cam Johnson was drafted, even though I think everybody at the time was a little surprised at that pick. Going back to it.

[Ryan Ruocco]

All right, number three. So the Morez part of it pushes back buries to 10 some teams like Burry's as much as the rest of

[Kevin O'Connor]

these other guards that went ahead of him.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I like Boris more than Mrez.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Two entirely different players.

[Ryan Ruocco]

So I think this is a home run scenario at 10 and 13 for Milwaukee to get two young players like this and to grab Amen at 13, which is probably like you were wondering if 10 was going to be the

[Kevin O'Connor]

lowest he could go. I don't think there was going to

[Ryan Ruocco]

be Golden State, the Yaksel thing, I

[Kevin O'Connor]

don't know if there's any other decision

[Ryan Ruocco]

there for Golden State. The Yaksel thing makes a lot of

[Kevin O'Connor]

sense because of his ability to fit in right away and play in a bunch of different ways and just be a smart basketball player.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But I really wondered if there was

[Kevin O'Connor]

anybody else that would drop, if they'd have been tempted to go in a different direction or if it just all made too much sense with the way the board fell. The Golden State's like, well, we just have to go ahead and do this, but for Amen.

[Ryan Ruocco]

And because I'm still a little surprised

[Kevin O'Connor]

with my like 10 minutes on the Giannis trade yesterday, people being.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I guess I'm surprised that people think

[Kevin O'Connor]

I'm wrong about this package that they got for him.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I understand that Horse and Milwaukee were an impossible spot. They were an impossible spot by their own doing. And I couldn't help but laugh a little bit last night at the Shams Report during the broadcast of the draft. It's like Milwaukee is taking record breaking number of calls on all of these

[Kevin O'Connor]

assets that they brought in.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Yeah, it makes sense that Detroit would love a Tyler Heroes.

[Kevin O'Connor]

They may have an inexpensive.

[Ryan Ruocco]

They may have two inexpensive Tyler Heroes already on the team. Please release the Haquez offers. Leak the Haquez offers. I'd love to hear how intense those

[Kevin O'Connor]

are at this point. As if he wasn't available this whole fucking time. Like, all right, I know we got a pick in the lottery, but have we called Milwaukee seven times today to ask about Hawkeyes?

[Ryan Ruocco]

So that was a little.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I don't know, I thought that was a little creative in the storytelling there.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But for a night for as bummed

[Kevin O'Connor]

out as I think Milwaukee Bucks fans should be and how bummed out they should be, the way they handle this whole thing. And then when you look at the

[Ryan Ruocco]

entire palette of stuff that you have, I'm using that word twice now.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I thought it was nice. I thought it was a nice little night there for Milwaukee to grab. Amen. 13th.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Considering I just normally guys that size

[Kevin O'Connor]

that handle that just the way they move, those guys usually are going to go earlier in the lottery, but not in a packed year like this.

[Ryan Ruocco]

All right, number four, OKC in San Antonio, squaring off. I'll admit, Mara, the biggest thing with me is the passing. He did have over 100 blocks this

[Kevin O'Connor]

year, if you're going to have him

[Ryan Ruocco]

switch out on a really fast point guard, guess what's going to happen. That really fast point guard is probably

[Kevin O'Connor]

going to go around him.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But if you're talking about okc mapping this out, going, hey, if we have a 73 guy that's going to be able to stretch the floor a little bit, then we have to take him.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Because if things play out, which is

[Ryan Ruocco]

stupid, to round up and be like,

[Kevin O'Connor]

hey, it's going to be OKC in San Antonio every year for the next

[Ryan Ruocco]

five years, it's also not impossibility that

[Kevin O'Connor]

that could happen as well.

[Ryan Ruocco]

So that's the Hartenstein option, where I imagine he opts out and they bring him back. Because I couldn't think that they would

[Kevin O'Connor]

want to turn the page because of

[Ryan Ruocco]

money, because they've already paid Chet that

[Kevin O'Connor]

they want to turn the page on Hartstein.

[Ryan Ruocco]

And also Chet Sorber is still in play, who I love last year as

[Kevin O'Connor]

a draft prospect, I'm like, man, this guy's maybe nasty. And then you add Mara to the entire mixer.

[Ryan Ruocco]

So it may just be about them going, hey, we need to prioritize size

[Kevin O'Connor]

in a big way here because of that big dude from France down in San Antonio, Bennett Sturts, they took him

[Ryan Ruocco]

kid out of Iowa who used to

[Kevin O'Connor]

be a Drake, who used to be

[Ryan Ruocco]

an even smaller school before that, and I've liked him. I was arguing with the team and

[Kevin O'Connor]

they're like, oh, so you're going to

[Ryan Ruocco]

bank on the history of white point

[Kevin O'Connor]

guards in the NBA?

[Ryan Ruocco]

Good luck with that.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Rosillo. I was like, stings. That stings a little bit.

[Ryan Ruocco]

It's also not entirely inaccurate either.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And then OKC takes him. You're like, see, Just like. Just like Presti.

[Ryan Ruocco]

So that was kind of an interesting night from OKC where you were wondering

[Kevin O'Connor]

if they're going to try to trade out of these picks because of roster situation and instead they've added a 4 center that is supposed to be a playable center.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Then you have San Antonio on the other side going like, you want to go size okc?

[Kevin O'Connor]

We'll go size big time with you.

[Ryan Ruocco]

JQ Jaden Quaintance, the Kentucky prospect who

[Kevin O'Connor]

was at Arizona State, who is enormous.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I like this pick for San Antonio. I've heard it two different ways that the knee needs to be cleaned up and he'll be back, it'll be fine.

[Kevin O'Connor]

But he's going to miss some time. And then of course, I've heard that he could play through it. I'd imagine the agents would be pushing that he can play through this. And it's just like, just get him in. And they should be thrilled because their guys got some guaranteed years here as a first round pick.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But if you're looking at human beings that.

[Kevin O'Connor]

That check as many boxes as this guy do, it's. There's just not many people that can do it.

[Ryan Ruocco]

And if your team is already really

[Kevin O'Connor]

good and you're looking at this as

[Ryan Ruocco]

a luxury item, and you also know

[Kevin O'Connor]

you're probably going to be able to pick up Terrace Reed later on. I don't know if they knew that or not. It was only five picks later.

[Ryan Ruocco]

They probably had some inkling that there

[Kevin O'Connor]

could be a potential move with Denver

[Ryan Ruocco]

moving out of the first round. So I like what the spurs did. And even though Terrace Reed, I was like, hey, so they got another guy who can post up that they don't want to post. Okay, that's a finals joke there. I was even in my head going, like, oh, wow, that's going to be interesting.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Like, what are they going to do? Because it's.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Valance Unis is leaving Denver. You know, the same thing happened to Fran Fuchella last night. He's making Leon jokes about Luke in

[Kevin O'Connor]

Spain, and you're just like, yeah, he's not going there. Car.

[Ryan Ruocco]

That happens. And I hate that it happens to

[Kevin O'Connor]

broadcast every single year because it's super frustrating. But I'm like thinking about, well, if

[Ryan Ruocco]

Terrace Reed's coming from Hurley System, then maybe the Jokic stuff won't be as challenging for him.

[Kevin O'Connor]

But then it's like, oh, yeah, actually, he's just going to San Antonio. So San Antonio got bigger.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Final thought. And that's on the broadcast. I take this stuff personally because I

[Kevin O'Connor]

like it so much. Right.

[Ryan Ruocco]

And so if you're gonna do two different broadcasts on ABC and espn, I think those broadcasts should be different. And they're different to a degree. And I know this is probably not gonna be popular, but I'm just gonna say it. But Lisa Salter's asking 30 families in

[Kevin O'Connor]

a row what this moment means to

[Ryan Ruocco]

them when it's the same and it's not Lisa's fault. It's the right question to ask every single one of these families, but there seems to be, like, this hard, hard lean into. This is about the families. This is about the celebration.

[Kevin O'Connor]

This is about their moment.

[Ryan Ruocco]

And maybe I sound a little bit like a dick to go, I don't want to watch that for three hours. I want breakdowns.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I want.

[Ryan Ruocco]

How does this fit in?

[Kevin O'Connor]

Is this a good pick or is this a bad pick? Is there any disagreement ever again? Can anybody disagree and say, I actually don't think they should have gone this direction? I don't think we have those moments anymore.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I think the staffing is better than it's ever been.

[Kevin O'Connor]

But

[Ryan Ruocco]

again, I hope this isn't taken

[Kevin O'Connor]

as a criticism of Lisa's work at

[Ryan Ruocco]

all, because she's just a legend in this and she's asking the right question.

[Kevin O'Connor]

But if the right question is the

[Ryan Ruocco]

same question to 30 different draft picks, it can become a little repetitive. I might be wrong.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And if you want to go with, hey, it's about families, there's no way I even want to have the argument, nevermind win it. I'm just like, okay, fine, I lose.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But from a draft nerd perspective,

[Kevin O'Connor]

I

[Ryan Ruocco]

think we've gotten away from some of

[Kevin O'Connor]

the draft conversations

[Ryan Ruocco]

your group chat tries, but it could never keep up with Reddit during any sports season. Between rivalry games, rankings drama and late night chaos, the draft Reddit is always the first place to check was huge. Reddit was on one last night, first

[Kevin O'Connor]

round of the NBA draft.

[Ryan Ruocco]

On Reddit, you're plugged into millions of fans who are just as hopeful, dramatic, analytical and loyal as you are. Think of Reddit as your real time game day app, the place for inside scoops, a laugh, and the vital stuff. Broadcast times, where to stream the game,

[Kevin O'Connor]

how to snag a ticket.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Reddit has stepped up a bunch of

[Kevin O'Connor]

times this year for me in the basketball season.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Be like, where's Indiana, Purdue? From your favorite sports subreddits, fantasy subs in every team community you think of, Reddit is where the real conversations happen. You get the instant reactions, the overreactions, the theories, the trash talk, the heartbreak, the humor. Everything that makes being a fan so fun. And the best part? It's real fans, not analysts or talking heads breaking it all down in the most honest, entertaining way. Even if it's the off season, Reddit sports communities don't go quiet. Trades, drafts, and preseason discussions are always happening. I've been using Reddit more and more. Not only just travel prep, but it does seem to be like there was a time there where I'm like, is Reddit actually going to have the answer for when this starts tonight or where this is going to be on, especially with the World cup stuff and trying to figure out where the games are and am I deep down kind of a Portugal fan because of Porto?

[Kevin O'Connor]

Maybe.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I don't know. But like I'm in it and now I expect great things as opposed to

[Kevin O'Connor]

being scared of dipping my toes in there.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Reddit is where the real fans hang out. Download the Reddit app and dive into hot takes, fresh memes, and the group chat that never sleeps. Download the Reddit app today. Jay Bilis on the covers last night

[Kevin O'Connor]

for ESPN's Round 11 draft show for the NBA. My favorite day. So we get Jay on every year, so we appreciate the time. We know you're gearing up for round two, so thank you.

[Jay Bilas]

Thank you. Yeah, it used to be one day, six hours in the chair, not having to use the restroom, and now it's two. So I'm not sure which I like better.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I think two. I think it's two is so pointless. Like, it's like everybody looked at the NFL and said, oh, wow, look at this. And it's like, all right. But it's.

[Rudy]

I don't know.

[Jay Bilas]

That's why they did it. Ryan. I think my understanding is the NBA teams wanted the extra time because it goes from second round, as you know, it goes from five minutes to two minutes to make a pick, or used to, I should say. And they wanted more time. Like those things are valuable and, and you want to give it the appropriate amount of time and attention. So I, I understood the teams asked for more time.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I think we all found a way

[Kevin O'Connor]

to get it done, though. Like it happened. Yeah, I don't know.

[Rudy]

It's just.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I like the second round, but I,

[Kevin O'Connor]

I don't like the two days in a row.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But whatever. We'll, we'll file that in the complaint

[Kevin O'Connor]

box later on that nobody will listen to here.

[Ryan Ruocco]

At the end of, of all of my pre draft process, which is not

[Kevin O'Connor]

as extensive as others. So I, I offer that up.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I went Peterson 1, AJ 2, Boozer

[Kevin O'Connor]

3, and I had Wagler 4, and Wilson 5.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Where did you land on who should

[Kevin O'Connor]

have been the number one pick last night for yourself?

[Jay Bilas]

Well, I didn't, It's a good question. I didn't look at it that way. At least I don't. What I do is I put together this best available list and God, it's been 24 years now. When I first started, I kind of told people, look, I'll do the best prospects, but I'm not going to do a mock draft. Like, I'm not going to be wearing out NBA personnel and having them lie to me and all that stuff. And so I understand, like, I think it was a good first pick for, for Washington because Devonsa fits into that roster really well. And you could argue he's Just as good as. As Peterson, but I think Peterson's the best player and the best prospect, and so I had him number one. So my, My list went. Peterson, debon's a boozer kind of. I don't want to say interchangeable, but I wouldn't argue with anybody that if, If Washington taken boozer number one, I wouldn't argue with that. I think he's the best pure basketball player in the draft. I did have Wilson for. You know, I don't know what you thought, Ryan, but I don't. I can't remember ever hearing in a draft, more people that I respect talk about more different players, saying, this guy could wind up being the best player in the draft. I heard that about six or seven different guys this year, and I don't ever remember hearing that before. So the depth of talent was kind of extraordinary. I still think, and you may differ with this, but I still think, like, if Cooper Flagg was in this draft, he would have gone number one. We wouldn't have. We wouldn't have hesitated. But. But, you know, we can argue about that kind of. That's a bar room argument. But I, I had. I had Wilson number four.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Yeah, look, I was. I was a little surprised because I

[Kevin O'Connor]

did a draft thing last week where I said, if you were the Wizards and you were offering number one to San Antonio for Dylan Harper, who says no, and they both thought I was a little crazy to think San Antonio would say no. And I was like, I'm big on

[Ryan Ruocco]

proof of concept when I've already seen

[Kevin O'Connor]

it happen, and when I see what Dylan Harper does in the NBA Finals at that age, something that we haven't seen kind of ever, because even the Magic Johnson Finals comparison is not the same as what Dylan Harper was as far as seizing all that kind of stuff.

[Ryan Ruocco]

So I, I'm with you on the Cooper thing. Maybe a clean year from Peterson where there's no issues whatsoever, maybe that changes, like a Peterson Cooper.

[Kyle Brandt]

But I'm.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I'm with you in general in that because it's actually my second question. But I love this. I'll always love this draft because of the talent, but also how hard it was for me. It was hard for me to go, like, I'm. I'm definitively like, on this guy now. I was changing my mind constantly. I was changing my mind on Caleb Wilson. So let's do this exercise. Like, how many players do you think is, like, the cutoff of, hey, if in five years this player is the best player, like, do you think it's six or seven, because it might be. Which seems crazy.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Which, again, is, you know, look, we learned a lot of lessons through this process.

[Jay Bilas]

Might be more than that. You know, like, you got a guy from, like, Nate Amen from Tennessee, who has an extraordinary amount of talent. He just hasn't harnessed it all yet, and he needs to get stronger. But when you look at the body of work he's put together in a year, in another year, he would have been a top 10 pick. And, you know, he went, like, 13th to Milwaukee. Milwaukee got a pretty good haul getting Braden Buries and Nate Amen. But that's sort of the hard part. And I think I've softened on this over the years of doing this. It's, you know, when you put one player in front of another, it doesn't mean you believe in the second. You don't believe in the second player. It's just a question of who do you believe in most? And you got to list them out. And at some point, you know, teams have to make decisions, and it doesn't mean you don't like the other guy sometimes. And you go through this every bit as much as I do, if not more sometimes. When you say, well, I think so, and so is the best player, people hear, everybody else sucks. And that's not what you're saying.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Yeah, that's certainly true.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And I think you nailed it with Milwaukee, where even though I just look

[Ryan Ruocco]

at the hall, my biggest issue with

[Kevin O'Connor]

Giannis and the trade was you had 13, 14 months on this, probably even had a little bit longer. But we were at the combine in 25 hearing about all this stuff, and you were kind of in denial and trying to fix it on the fly,

[Ryan Ruocco]

and it's just that collection. But I would say, at least for last night, Burry's Landing 10 where I had teams going, like, how come it's Wagler, Acuff and Mikel and Kingston, like, why is there this gap that buries

[Kevin O'Connor]

isn't with those guys, you know, and

[Ryan Ruocco]

it was convenient for teams that weren't necessarily picking there, saying that to me

[Kevin O'Connor]

and time and time again.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But, like, Burry's is incredibly impressive. So for Burry's and amet, I think 10, 13, where you're thinking, hey, we got two young kids, highly regarded prospects come in.

[Life Advice Caller]

Amen.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I would say was maybe the most criticized lottery prospect of anybody that I would talk to teams about, but they weren't, like, dismissive or nasty about it. It was just more of, like, I wish I had seen a little bit more but the thing is, is once you, once you see what you're starting with at 6, 10 plus and that handle and that movement, and I think we all think the shot is far better than the numbers. And then maybe, you know, him being uncomfortable early, but then responding to Rick Barnes kind of challenging him and stuff. So I think that story got a lot better for Amen. And on a night where Milwaukee probably should have been, like, how do we. They didn't fix it last night, but I thought that was a really nice

[Kevin O'Connor]

night for the Bucks with those two picks.

[Jay Bilas]

Yeah. And they're, you know, Milwaukee's strategy has to be more long term here. Like, I tend to agree with you that, you know, we can argue about should they have done something different with Giannis and earlier and gotten a better haul or whatever. But they did get a number of players. I don't think it, I don't think the volume of players they got from Miami fixes anything. I think they need to do a lot more. But this was a great first step for a really good future. And your point on Amen, like, one of the things I give Nate aim at a lot of credit for is that, you know, Fran Fischola said something about the players Kingston Fleming's choosing to go to Houston, that he kind of signed up for the Navy Seals, you know, and I feel similar about Amed going to play for Rick, that he was signing up to really go into the fire. And one of the things that happened with Amed is because of his frame, every team they played against wanted to be ultra physical with him and he handled it. I mean, got to the free throw line a lot. He was one of the, you know, had the, one of the highest drawing draw fouls rate in the country and never backed down. You know, he had some good games, bad games and all that, but overall I thought he showed really well and played a different position. He was more on the perimeter instead of playing more inside. But you give him some time. He's got all the tools to be really good and look, it can go the other way. Maybe, maybe he won't turn out to be special. That's always part of this, is we'll look back in five years, doesn't matter the draft. We're going to look back in five years and we would have done it different.

[Ryan Ruocco]

What do you think when like OKC takes Mara and I don't know where you are on Mara, you know, I'm

[Kevin O'Connor]

sure you liked him. I'm sure you saw the vision of like, what teams would be thinking of. I also was like a little like, I'm not sure. And then when San Antonio has Wemby,

[Ryan Ruocco]

it just felt like, oh well, if OKC likes him then I have to like him more.

[Jay Bilas]

Yeah.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Jay Bilas]

Well, they're Sam Presti's right almost every time and maybe I shouldn't even use almost, but you know, that's their challenge in the future is getting past San Antonio in the playoffs and having that long arm rim protecting big guy that can really pass and mark and hit a three and he moves his feet pretty well. It's not like he. And you know you're going to put him in the game and he and Wembanyama are going to play one on one out of the perimeter for 48 minutes. But his passing is really, really impressive. And he's a smart kid. Like he spent, you know, he spent his first two years at UCLA and he didn't play all that much. And I think the way that that team went, you know, he kind of got beat down a little bit and he really emerged at Michigan and was a force and I mean he blocked over 100 shots. That was a Michigan record last year. So I think he's got a lot of, a lot of ability. And I think they also got Bennett Sturtz in that draft in the, in the first round last night. And you know, Sturtz is a, is a good get too. Like I, I spent a lot of time watching him not only throughout the year but after the, after the season because it reminded me of when Kyle Korver came out of Creighton and I learned a lot because I spent time, you know, talking to Dana Altman, his coach at the time and you know, you know this like you spent a lot of time, you know, on the negative, like who's he going to guard? You know, that kind of thing and that. I remember that being a big deal with Korver. Who's he going to guard? You know, he doesn't have lateral quickness. What he played 15 years in the league and Sturts can shoot it. He's great in picking roles. He knows how to play and, and I'm glad that's kind of trumping some of the question marks that you have with, with every player.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I loved him, so I think he can play more off the ball too.

[Kevin O'Connor]

But he just was basically in charge of every possession. I love the way he pushes. You know, you think about that Florida game and it's like this guy's totally

[Jay Bilas]

comfortable and threw a bounce pass for the game. Winner. A bounce pass in transition.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I also. I try to explain it, but it's almost like his feet are setting up. His feet and handle are setting you up, like, in different ways, where every single dribble or step is like, I

[Kevin O'Connor]

may go now, I may not go now. I may now.

[Ryan Ruocco]

It's almost like there's just no wasted movement from him, which makes him a lot harder to stay in front of than I think people realize, because there's just this fluidness to him. And again, like, once Memphis looks like they're taking him, and then they pick

[Kevin O'Connor]

up two seconds just to move back one, and then they move back again for all the five seconds. So shout out to Memphis. Tact on draft night.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But I'm sitting here, I remember arguing

[Kevin O'Connor]

with somebody about Sturts. And then who am I to argue with the scout who I think is terrific? And then it's like, okay, well, Presti just took him. So. Yeah, there was two moments last night with a Dai Morrow where I'm like,

[Ryan Ruocco]

I kind of like them.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And then you're thinking, okay, well, if

[Ryan Ruocco]

they've got Hartenstein, they have Chet.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I don't think they want to get away from that option, even though there's

[Ryan Ruocco]

a player option there with Hart Sorber,

[Kevin O'Connor]

who I think we all really liked at Georgetown, and then he's in the mix. And Mara, you're like, okay, well, this is a team that has this roster crunch.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Maybe, or maybe they're just trying to

[Kevin O'Connor]

come up with a bunch of different size combinations to deal with Wembanyama, who may be in their way for a bunch of Western Conference playoffs runs.

[Jay Bilas]

I think it's probably the latter. And you can put him in the game. It doesn't mean you have to start him. Sure, put him in the game whenever you want. And, you know, same thing with Sturts, like, if you do have some concerns about defense, I mean, he's got. He's going to be on the floor with, like, four other piranhas. I think he'll be fine. So I'm not. I'm not worried about that. I think those were both really good gets.

[Rudy]

Yeah.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Look, Isaiah Joe was the guy that was attacked.

[Kevin O'Connor]

If he's hitting 40% of his threes, it's fine.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I think Sturt's probably profiles initiate more

[Kevin O'Connor]

than Isaiah Joe does. So.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I love that you say that because I used to spend so much time watching defensive clips and possessions, and most everyone is not ready. So it's. It's. It's kind of, like, irrelevant.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Yeah, you're right. If you had Sturts next to, I

[Kevin O'Connor]

don't know,

[Ryan Ruocco]

like, yeah, right.

[Jay Bilas]

You know, Case and well is a better defender. I don't think anybody's going to argue that point.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Right. But the Clippers aren't taking him at

[Kevin O'Connor]

five, you know, saying like, all right,

[Ryan Ruocco]

Garland Sturts, let's roll the ball out there. So there are certain teams that can survive with the one target defensively, depending

[Kevin O'Connor]

on how your minutes are going. You know, look, some of the smart

[Ryan Ruocco]

teams prevent that from happening and sometimes

[Kevin O'Connor]

teams get desperate and they're, we have to put two guys out there we don't love on defense.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But I, I'm totally with you.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I think too much time is spent on some of these prospects where you're like, oh, who's he going to guard? And you just go, well, most of these guys are all clueless.

[Ryan Ruocco]

What did you think about San Antonio on the other side going with two bigs.

[Jay Bilas]

Terrace Reed Junior. Right. They got. And who was the other guy San Antonio got?

[Ryan Ruocco]

Oh, Quinton's.

[Jay Bilas]

Oh, Jaden Quinton. Yeah. I thought, I actually thought Jaden Quaint might slip into the second round. If he were healthy, he would have been a lottery pick, I think, you know, he's a, he's a defensive player that as you know, has like unbelievable size. Like, he's just freakishly large and his arms go forever. His hands are huge. And when he was at Arizona State, you know, shot blocker, offensive rebounder, defensive rebounder, you know, just affected the games at length and athleticism in so many ways. But he doesn't score, score like he shoots barely 45% from the free throw line and he's not going to score outside of the paint. So right now he's just a rebounder, you know, lob threat, all that. But the, the physical profile is undeniable. I just thought that knee, you know, he only played four games at Kentucky and was expected to get a whole season. Maybe, maybe a slow start at the beginning, but expected to get a whole season and he didn't. I think he's the first first round pick since, like Peyton Watson to average, you know, that few points. I think he, in four games he averaged, you know, right around five points a game. Peyton Watson, when he got came out of ucla, average three. And you know, it shows, like, you know, you sit there and go, productivity versus potential and all this stuff we do. And then Peyton Watson has turned out to be a, a really good player in the NBA. And I don't, I don't know that that quaintance Needs, like, he needs to develop some offense, but I don't know that he, you know, needs to turn into, you know, some offensive juggernaut in order for that to be worth it. And then Terrence Reed Jr. He's interesting because he doesn't score outside the paint, but, man, he's huge, and he just kind of carves out space and immovable object type of player. And he's a really good rebounder. He started out in Michigan, then transferred to UConn and had a good junior year. But he was. He was really good last year. And he can operate in systems where he has to set screens, roll, make multiple plays within multiple actions. So I like him. I think he's a good player.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Let's go up to Morris Johnson. I mean, you have to think that,

[Kevin O'Connor]

like, Dusty May getting the Mavs job, it is like, hey, are we sure here? But they probably had done the work and said, this is what we want to do. And then unless Dusty were like, absolutely not. He's the third prospect out of all my guys. And maybe that influences that a bit. But what did you think of Morris going to Dallas?

[Jay Bilas]

I thought that was. I thought he was the one that was going to break up the parade of guards. I thought it could have been to Atlanta at 8. I was, you know, certainly wasn't sure. But, you know, they don't make him like him very often. Like, he's just relentless. You know, started out at Illinois and didn't play a ton. He played. Didn't play a ton. Then he got hurt and transferred to Michigan. And, you know, you talk about a defensive weapon on the floor, not just sort of his length around the rim. And, you know, he's a. He's an excellent rebounder. He led Michigan in rebounding, but he can. He can switch out on a point guard in any sort of screen roll situation. And he can not only stay in front of him for a couple of dribbles, he can, he can flat out guard him, and so you don't have to worry about him. And I think his offense is, you know, he's lob threat. He can really run and all that, but, you know, he's got a good touch, and I think he's going to. Going to get better there. But, man, when he takes the ball of the basket, I mean, even that game against duke in Washington, D.C. he took a bump going up and went up and just jammed it with two hands. I think it was boozer, but just a ridiculous athlete, ridiculous length and a relentless, kind of relentless motor. So I really like him. I think he's. And that's one of the things, Ryan. Like, I probably softened on this over the years. Like, so the biggest surprise to me was DALE Swain going 15. You know, I had him in the 20s, mid-20s or something like that. You know, he's not a shooter, but slasher, good in transition. He checks a lot of boxes well. You know, he led Texas in scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals, I think. And, you know, but now you think about it and you're going, who cares where you rated him? If Chicago wanted him, you could argue they could have done what Memphis didn't trade it down, but maybe that wasn't available. Take the guy you want. And so they got, you know, Chicago at Caleb Wilson, Dalen Swain. That's a good. That's a good haul for the Bulls. But. But that's a. That's a different way that I've looked at it over the years.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Yeah, I. I think a lot of

[Kevin O'Connor]

times we kind of lose our minds with, like, mocks where we go, I really like him. It's like, okay, but he's. He's supposed to go 10th and you have the sixth pick. Like, you can't do that. Yeah, you're right. That'd be insane.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I really like this guy.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I can't. Can't possibly take him six or seven when he's projected to go 10th. I don't know.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I think we lose. There's too many smart people that have

[Kevin O'Connor]

convinced me over the years, especially when I was younger and so addicted to the mock drafts and everything. It's like, if we didn't have mock drafts, this whole process would be different. I believe that. And we'd be happier, probably. Yeah. Especially guys waiting around.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Can we. I have a couple other thoughts here to finish, but I feel like I owe Cam Boozer a little bit more

[Kevin O'Connor]

time here because, you know, when I

[Ryan Ruocco]

watch Caleb Wilson, it took a while for me. You know, it took a little while

[Kevin O'Connor]

because in the beginning, like, I don't know who. Which scout told David Aldridge that Caleb Wilson reminds him of Kevin Garnett with a jump shot where I'm like.

[Life Advice Caller]

Or.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Or Caleb, I would say, doesn't have the jump shot yet.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And Garnett was like, an incredible.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Like, his touch was unbelievable. But honestly, Garnett should have shot the

[Kevin O'Connor]

ball way more than he did.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But we kind of round up with the athletes, right? If you're not, like, a great shooter, we're like, oh, you know, there's some. The form looks okay.

[Kevin O'Connor]

There he's not a great handle.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Oh, you know, he's going to get better at that. And that whole, like, being, if I'm going to be wrong, I'm going to

[Kevin O'Connor]

be wrong big, and I'm going to be wrong with an athlete as opposed to the other way around.

[Ryan Ruocco]

What is it about Boozer that maybe visually doesn't appeal to us as much as it should?

[Jay Bilas]

Well, I think. I think it comes down to him not being one of these wow. Athletes that jumps out of the gym and plays above the rim all the time. He doesn't do that. But neither does Alperin Shengun or Nikola Jokic. I'm not saying he's like those guys. He's like him in some ways, but I felt like he was the best pure basketball player in the draft. You know, the productivity is undeniable, but he's such a good passer and his processing skills in real time are so advanced, not just for his age, but really for any age. And I think he's going to do extraordinarily well in the NBA. I think he's like Wilson, Caleb Wilson of North Carolina. He's more explosive and more wow. And they're both great boozers. The better overall player, in my view. The one thing about Caleb Wilson that you just kind of, when you watch them in practice or in games is like you can break down film to your earlier point. When you're. When you're going overboard and overthinking it, you can break down film and stop the film and go, look, he's out of position here. He doesn't have vision on the ball. He's not, you know, he's not where he's supposed to be. He's not in a stance and go through this coach speak deal, and then he winds up making the play anyway. He's got unbelievable hands and anticipation. He makes incredible recoveries. And then, you know, on the offensive end, he's got a really good shooting touch. He's a good passer, too. He's not the passer, in my view, that Boozer is, but like that turnaround jumper he's got. And when he. When he looks like he's stymied where 90% of players would be stopped, he'll just. He'll just find a way to. To get. To get up and punch it on. Just makes these explosive off the floor plays. So as he refines everything, he's got a chance to be great. I really believe that. But. But boozers, he's not going to fail. You're not Going to miss with him. And, and he's a better athlete than he gets credit for. Just because he's not a world class athlete doesn't mean he's not athletic. So he'll be, he'll be fine. He'll be really good in the league.

[Ryan Ruocco]

He was so clearly the best player

[Kevin O'Connor]

on the floor in that Michigan regular season game, you know, and that was great. He still went higher than all the mission guys and all that kind of stuff, but it was just like, man,

[Ryan Ruocco]

you know, there was times with all

[Kevin O'Connor]

three of these guys where I wanted to say, like, all right, now I, I like this guy the most. But it just came back to Peterson shot making for me where I'm like, they just don't.

[Ryan Ruocco]

There's just not a lot of guys

[Kevin O'Connor]

like this even in the NBA right now.

[Ryan Ruocco]

All right, couple thoughts on, on the broadcast. Can you, can you tell when a

[Kevin O'Connor]

player is full of shit anymore?

[Jay Bilas]

Yeah, I mean, I remember a buddy of mine that I used to work with when we were assistants at Duke saying, boy, at this time of the year, everybody's Eddie Haskell, you know, and that, that reference is getting old. You know, kind of the kiss up that says the right thing and then is lighting something on fire five minutes later behind his parents back. You know, like things are scripted now and kind of players know what to say. So when you ask them, okay, what is this team getting? I said, they're getting a winner and a worker and all this other stuff. A chip on their shoulder sometimes you can tell. But I think it's more watching them every day and seeing how, seeing how they relate to their teammates, their coaches, things like that, how they carry themselves. And you know, like to your point with Peterson, like, one of the things about Peterson is he's a quiet young man and his words started getting parsed in the last couple of days. Like he had said, so this one was a beauty. He had said somebody had asked him, you know, did he watch the NBA finals or something. He said, you know, I really didn't watch much of the playoffs live because I watch a lot of film. But he said, but I just got a new dog, you know, a Doberman pincher and I have a new dog. So I didn't really get a chance to watch the playoffs. And then you're starting to hear, well, he doesn't love basketball. Anthony. Remember Anthony Edwards said the same thing. He said he didn't, he didn't watch basketball, he watches football. Like he preferred to be an NFL player or something. And people were kind of losing their minds. And, you know, Edwards worked out pretty well, and I think it's kind of the same thing here. And he said. What other things did he say? Oh, he said. He said he was a loner. And. And, you know, a few people were kind of going crazy over that. That, oh, you don't want a loner on. In your locker room and all that. He should have said introverted. Like, take a thesaurus with him everywhere he goes. Like, Right. You know, like, so he's not a nightclub comic. Like when they played beat. When Kansas played byu. And it was. We. I did the game where we're trying to build it. Byu, Kansas, right. And it turned out to be Peterson, Debohnson. There was nothing we could do about it, and maybe we shouldn't have done anything about it. But in the first half of that game, Peterson had 18 points, three steals. He was 6 of 8 from the field at halftime. There was no debate who the better player on that day was. It was Peterson. And then with that cramping thing, he tapped out in the second half, didn't Play. Still, in 18 minutes of playing time, he outscored Devonza for his whole game. And. And. But he. He left you kind of wanting more. And I don't know whether part of it was selfish that we were thinking, God, I want to see more of it. And we didn't have a ton of information, and the guy kind of got killed. But he played more games than Mikel Brown Jr. Did at Louisville, and he had a back issue, and we didn't make that big of a deal out of it. You know, people were talking about Brown, that is he going to shut it down and all that stuff. Then he gets 45 against NC State. So you kind of have to look at the whole picture, and sometimes it's difficult.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah, that's some really good stuff on Peterson. And I remember, too, like, watching that game that day, because I'm like, all right, this is one versus two. And there's just those moments where you go, don't debate this when it's June. Do not debate this. Because this is an emphatic statement here. And then it unfortunately ends. It opens that window of like, okay, but if he's not going to come back and play in the second half, how do you take this guy, number one? And you'd have to be good with all that stuff.

[Ryan Ruocco]

All right, last thought on the broadcast. You know that I'm a huge nerd

[Kevin O'Connor]

about this stuff, so I don't know that I'm ever Going to be happy. Happy. All right. But I think that with you, Andrea with legs, with Bobby Marks and obviously Malika, like, manning the ship, I think we're in a better position now than. Than maybe some of the.

[Ryan Ruocco]

The staffing in the past, where I

[Kevin O'Connor]

think that, like, it'd be a bigger name, but then that bigger name may just straight up admit, like, hey, I didn't watch any of these guys, which would always, you know, I'd be like,

[Ryan Ruocco]

great, I can't wait to hang out

[Kevin O'Connor]

with you for six hours.

[Ryan Ruocco]

So I think that the people this is staffed the right way, and with Lisa, the priority seems to be on family, that this is a family moment

[Kevin O'Connor]

and we're going to do this.

[Ryan Ruocco]

And who am I to sit here and say that? It's like, I don't actually want to be raising my hand saying, you know what? I don't want it to be that. But is there. Is it a challenge at all for you? Because I'm thinking about you guys on the desk. Is it challenging for you at all to like, to go from, are we doing more on how this player fits with this team? Are we doing more that this is a surprise. Are we doing that they should have done this year? I don't know that there's as many, like, moments, and maybe it's all of us are nicer. So you don't want to be on

[Kevin O'Connor]

the desk going, I can't believe they took this guy. He stinks. There's seven better.

[Ryan Ruocco]

There's seven players better than you, and legs, like, start going at it. But I wonder with the structure of this first round now, if it goes

[Kevin O'Connor]

away from some of those, like, older

[Ryan Ruocco]

draft moments where you just have a

[Kevin O'Connor]

disagreement about basketball after a pick?

[Jay Bilas]

Yeah, it's kind of a balance. So, you know, I like all of it. Like, I like digging deep on the players and then the teams and how the player fits in and then, you know, within the draft, too, like. But I've softened on this, too. Like, I can't remember the year, but, you know, the Knicks took Ronaldo Bulkman, number 21 or something, and Rajan Rondo was still on the board. And I thought Rondo was the best guard in the draft. You know, Sebastian Kalfair had been taken to number 13, and I didn't think he was any. I didn't think he was better than Rondo. In fact, I thought Rondo was a lot better than him. And I kind of lost my mind on the air, and I've done that a few times over players, and I Would have done it differently now. I would have said, tried to convey the same point, but do it in a. In a better way. But I remember years ago, Jerry west coming to me saying, you know, why are you killing some of these guys when they get drafted? You know, this is the biggest night of their lives. And, you know, I kind of said, well, I get that. But at the same time, we can't say everybody's great when you don't think they are. And I remember a player from BYU got drafted, like number eight, Rafael Araujo. And honestly, Ryan, I didn't think he was an NBA player. And I said so at the time. And I think I said it in a better way that I said stuff about Ronaldo Balkman. But, you know, so there's that, and, you know, so you want to be. You want to strike the right tone. But one of the things I've enjoyed over the last few years is I've kind of softened on. I like the interviews, like, in the emotion of it, but it's like anything else. You don't want to take anything too far, all that stuff. But, like, they're, like when. When they're crying and their parents are crying. You know, my dad would. If. If we had cell phones, my. My dad would have cried if I got, you know, drafted in a position like that, that I'd finally be off his cell phone plan and I could pay for my own. My own stuff. But, you know, there is a dream come true aspect to it. And then tomorrow, you know, now it's business, and you gotta. You gotta prove yourself. And so you just try to balance it. It's a hard balance, but I think our crew does a pretty good job of it.

[Ryan Ruocco]

You're right.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Because as I get older, when there's a guy waiting around, I feel sympathy, you know, I've never felt before, you know, and I just know. I just know how I was in my 20s, talking on the air. I know, you know, 30, as you

[Ryan Ruocco]

get older, it's probably nicer that we

[Kevin O'Connor]

all get a little softer about the whole thing. But.

[Jay Bilas]

Well, it's just when I say softer, I don't mean. I don't mean I'm not conveying the same thoughts, you know, Like, I think our job is to say the right thing at the right time in the right tone. And. And the tone part is kind of what I'm talking about. Like, why would I. Why would I be angry or come across as angry if the Knicks take Ronaldo Bachmann over Rajan Rondo? I could just point out, look, Rondo's a better player. I don't think this was the right pick, but they must see something that I don't see. You know, you could, you could do it in a way that, that didn't, didn't make it look like I was personally affronted by the Knicks choice that year.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I enjoyed that Balkan breakdown. And then how about this? Like he ended up being okay. Yeah.

[Jay Bilas]

I mean, he was a good. But you could have gotten him in the second round was my choice or my point. And then, and then you're passing on Rondo, who I thought was a lottery pick and you know, stuff like that. But, you know, these days, maybe, maybe it's just because I'm older and I don't have the energy to do it, but I wouldn't lose my mind over it.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I can't wait for tonight. Day two. Let's get it.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And as always, appreciate you finding some time for us at a busy time of the year. Thanks.

[Jay Bilas]

No, it's my pleasure. Thanks for having me, brother.

[Ryan Ruocco]

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[Kevin O'Connor]

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[Ryan Ruocco]

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[Kevin O'Connor]

Nicole, Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

[Kyle Brandt]

You want details?

[Life Advice Caller]

Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Life advice.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Lifeadvice.rrmail.com. you get a little Freddie Gibbs in your check. Check. Do you know that, Kyle?

[Rudy]

Do I?

[Kevin O'Connor]

Oh, yeah, it's cool.

[Rudy]

I do. Go a little lower.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah, that's some off air right there, B Rabbit.

[Rudy]

Anyway, called me Cheddar Bob last week.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Now, B Rabbit, well, that was just based on the roster. Yeah, Cheddar Bob's not even an insult.

[Rudy]

Yeah, he did shoot himself.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Well, I'm not saying he was the coolest guy. Definitely was the coolest guy.

[Rudy]

He was a nice boy, though.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yes, he was, Kyle. Yes, he was.

[Ryan Ruocco]

The gear train rolls on for our guy Ceruti.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Fresh off the US Open, New lid,

[Ryan Ruocco]

fresh off of Mumford and Sons.

[Kevin O'Connor]

He was pumped.

[Kyle Brandt]

This is actually a great shirt. I think you would like this. It was at Fenway, so it's, you know, Mumford and Sons, Fenway Park.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Pretty good show.

[Kyle Brandt]

It was great. It's like the third or fourth time we've seen him. It was pouring basically the entire time until about an hour before the show started. Stopped. Actually met two different guys who stopped me and were like, hey, man, fan of the show. This is awesome. Love, Priscilla. Keep doing your thing. So it was good. It was fun.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Is that weird for you?

[Kyle Brandt]

No, not at all. I enjoy it. I'm sure we keep it moving. I try to have a little cordial conversation, chat them up a little bit, then keep it going. But, yeah, it was fun.

[Kevin O'Connor]

The wife, like, does she appreciate this?

[Ryan Ruocco]

Does she like this because you're on

[Kevin O'Connor]

camera just all the time?

[Kyle Brandt]

She's more shady than I am, so half the time I feel like she ends up talking to them more than I do. So. So it works out kind of.

[Rudy]

Well, it's cool being with your wife when that stuff happens. There's mostly enjoyed since la, I'll tell you. So you. You've been in the mix at the golf thing and then getting stopped at Mumford and Sons, like, Yeah, a little jealous. Good for you, though. I love that. Like some more points where you're walking with your wife and somebody. It's like, dude, you're the best. It's like, nah, you're the best.

[Kyle Brandt]

See?

[Jay Bilas]

Yeah,

[Kyle Brandt]

no, she knows. She knows. But. But no, I think she. She was definitely pumped. The US Open setup was great because, you know, it's like, you know, those guys hooked us up and we were. We were just, you know, regular. Just people in the stands of Fenway. I tell you what, though. Fenway, man. I hadn't been. I couldn't remember the last time I went. God, the place is awesome. The entire time I'm there, we're walking through, like, the under, you know, the underneath concourse. I'm like, I gotta watch the town again. I just have to rewatch it. It's Boston's cathedral. We got to do it.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Feeling it.

[Kyle Brandt]

Who's Kawi taking?

[Rudy]

Good.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Good use of car. I just got stuck on the wife thing. It must be really cool.

[Rudy]

Awesome.

[Kyle Brandt]

It is cool. Not to rub it in, but, yeah.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Walking around. I mean, it must be great if you're in an argument with your wife, which I know never happens to you guys, but if you be in an argument with your wife and then you're just randomly at lunch and somebody's like, serutti, you're the best. And they just go, what?

[Kyle Brandt]

See, he appreciates me. Yeah, no, it's not like that at all.

[Kevin O'Connor]

But, yeah, Kyle. Ever happened.

[Rudy]

I don't think those timelines have ever lined up.

[Kevin O'Connor]

No.

[Rudy]

That would be awesome, though.

[Kevin O'Connor]

That would be sweet. One day. Yeah.

[Kyle Brandt]

Nobody at Tosh stopped you?

[Rudy]

No, no. But Tosh did talk a bunch of shit about Munford and Sons, which is so funny. That's where you went.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, I get it. They're an easy target. It's fine.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Ryan Ruocco]

What's going on with them lately?

[Kevin O'Connor]

I've seen some criticism in the trades.

[Kyle Brandt]

No, I think. I don't know. In the trade. No, I think it's just more of, like, you know, that, like, millennial style of music. I don't think they're stomp clap. They're not stomp clap, but, like, I think they get into that. Thrown into that category. Like, it's just kind of, like, easy to dunk on now for, like, the Gen Z people when it's like, hey, man, I don't know. When you're selling out Fenway, I feel like you're doing all right. He. He lost a ton of weight, too. He's, like, really hot now. And he's also married to, like, a movie star, so he's got a good thing going. Kerry Mulligan, I believe, is his Wife.

[Kevin O'Connor]

He's really hot now.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah. He used to be kind of, like, chubby and, you know, just like a chubby British dude. And now he's, like, kind of hot. He lost a ton of weight. He's got a chiseled jawline. Looks good in a T shirt. It's pretty good.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Let's look this up.

[Rudy]

Who's he? Is it.

[Kyle Brandt]

Isn't it Marcus, the main guy? Well, yeah, the main guy is Marcus Martin Offer. Yeah.

[Rudy]

Oh, yeah, look, I saw a little

[Kevin O'Connor]

side by side there, right, and dropped 30 stones.

[Rudy]

He looks like he could be one of those werewolves in true blood.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Oh, I don't know. I think he looks. I think he'd look better thick.

[Kyle Brandt]

He was thick, boy. Yeah. He lost 66 pounds, it says. There you go.

[Rudy]

Right.

[Kyle Brandt]

Which is kind of crazy because, like. So one of his bits was. And he did this when we. I saw him at Forest Hills in Queensland. One of his bits for one of the songs. He basically, like, runs around the entire venue, right? And I'm like, you know, not. Not that he should have been in better shape, but it's like, man, you're, like, doing concerts, singing, jumping around, running around these stadiums. Like, that's a lot of work. Like, I feel like you should be ripped doing that so.

[Rudy]

Well, there's a calorie deficit now, but what happens after the show? That's the. You know, that's.

[Kyle Brandt]

That's. Yeah, he does. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure the pines start flowing. They were up in Boston, too. They were making Scotland jokes about, like, the Scots brought the rain and the English are here to make everybody happy again. It was pretty fun. Funny, because the World cup, they were obviously big England fans, so they were talking about the World cup the whole

[Rudy]

time, but, oh, they're English now. I'm out again.

[Kyle Brandt]

What do you think they were?

[Rudy]

I don't know. I had no idea. I thought they were from the 70s. Mumford and Sons. I don't. I don't actually know. It sounds like an old. It sounds like a classic rock. All right, I'll do a little digging.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Oh, you know what?

[Kevin O'Connor]

He wasn't. This picture tells me that he wasn't hotter then.

[Kyle Brandt]

So can you confirm he's hotter now?

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, there's a bunch of stuff. I'm reading all this stuff. There's a lot of decisions that went into it, so good for him. But this one where he swapped out sugary sweets to surf. I don't know that I buy that.

[Jay Bilas]

Like.

[Kevin O'Connor]

All right, Mambas got a Handful. Wait a minute. We get some left.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Nice left to rights out there.

[Rudy]

Gonna get in the water.

[Kevin O'Connor]

That just seems to be the.

[Kyle Brandt]

I don't know.

[Ryan Ruocco]

And I think everybody knows what's happening

[Kevin O'Connor]

with this weight loss thing. Significant, like, like massive weight loss. And so nobody wants to.

[Ryan Ruocco]

It's kind of like being in Silicon

[Kevin O'Connor]

Valley and all of a sudden being jacked in a Marvel movie and you're like, what, what happened? Be like, ah, I just worked in my core like crazy.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, no, I just, it's.

[Rudy]

We don't disc, we don't do that.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I don't think I missed anybody. I just think it's, I think it's

[Ryan Ruocco]

really misleading when people talk about like

[Kevin O'Connor]

either losing weight or getting jacked and they act like they just did it and you know. Yeah, there's a couple of mine for

[Kyle Brandt]

this very specifically, I will say we, we did when we stayed over at a, at a friend's place, my wife's friends in Long island for the U.S. open. It was a big like fitness household. Some military people that were there, really cool people, but they're like really into fitness and the diet thing and they're in on the cottage cheese, rough snacks, hard boiled eggs and Greek yogurt. And I just, My life would just be so much easier if I like cottage cheese and Greek yogurt. And I just don't. I just don't. Because now, like any recipe you look up now is just, all right, blend up cottage cheese and put it in the thing for more protein or like you have some Greek yogurt. And I just, I don't like either of them and it sucks.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Dump some honey on that.

[Kyle Brandt]

I guess I'm never going to be fit cottage cheese.

[Rudy]

Just a tough, tough branding, that's all.

[Kevin O'Connor]

All right, I think that took long enough.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Let's see here. Am I psyching myself out of a great relationship? 32 years old, 5' 8, 165.

[Kevin O'Connor]

My girlfriend and I have dated for. And I have dated for three months. Things are moving fast. First relationship where I can really see it going the distance. One thing that simmered under the surface

[Ryan Ruocco]

is if I'm hotter than my girlfriend

[Kevin O'Connor]

and if that even matters.

[Ryan Ruocco]

This thought loop was revived by one of Ryan's notoriously sudden episode enders when

[Kevin O'Connor]

he mentioned the emailer was hotter than his wife that gets hit on by the neighbor. We have not heard back from, from that guy at all. So we may have lost him all together, but really, why would he mad at us? Yeah, yeah. See, Serdes got Me here. I mean, he just wasn't Mumford and Sons.

[Kyle Brandt]

His wife wasn't like, like, you know.

[Ryan Ruocco]

No, she was attractive.

[Kyle Brandt]

She was no slouch. He was just kind of a good looking, sharp jawline.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I mean, Seruti's got a dial on the jawlines right now.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Every guy wants to be the reacher

[Kevin O'Connor]

in their relationship, as do I. I don't know if that's entirely true. I mean, yes, I get that. It's like, I'd rather. I don't know, I mean, maybe you'd rather be in a house where people are like, are you renting? And then when you tell them you bought it, they're like, damn it. All right.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I've had bouts of where I've out kicked my coverage despite my compact frame. I am left wondering if these thoughts

[Kevin O'Connor]

are a natural progression now that the chase is gone or something else.

[Ryan Ruocco]

As an aside, and we were getting a lot of these.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Ceruti is great on the. It's just soccer pod.

[Kyle Brandt]

Thanks, man. That's just a lot shopping today.

[Kevin O'Connor]

So what do you got?

[Kyle Brandt]

Basically, second round of group stage games. We did, like pretender contender situations and then we actually started, like, kind of. I don't know if you saw Dave Fortnoy's tweet about how, like, he thinks that he could score in his 20s, like a bunch of goals at the World cup because all they do is feed the strikers. So he's like, if I was in my 20s, I would score. So he spent a good amount of time on that, which was fun.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Well, that sounds exciting.

[Ryan Ruocco]

All right, check your emails because he's

[Kevin O'Connor]

sending some pictures of his significant himself and his significant other.

[Rudy]

Okay.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I think he's better looking than his girlfriend.

[Rudy]

Nice smile, though.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah, they're pretty close.

[Rudy]

Yeah, they're closer. I think they're closer than you think.

[Kyle Brandt]

He looks good. He looks good in that. In that third picture, I'll give him that. But again, it's not like we're not

[Kevin O'Connor]

talking about like four.

[Rudy]

Does he, though? Let me see. Yeah, he's got pretty good teeth, too.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I don't know.

[Rudy]

It's tough.

[Kyle Brandt]

He looks fit, too. Yeah, this is.

[Ryan Ruocco]

He looks like he's going in and

[Kevin O'Connor]

out of this mustache thing, which is just getting. This mustache thing is starting to really, like, take off.

[Rudy]

This is three months in, though. It's not like you woke up one day, you're like, oh, no, she's not. She has a different outlook on health and wellness than I do. Like, you're three months in. Like, this is good. This is Good enough for you, I think. Right. If you're happy, everything else is good. If you're just, like, wondering if. If you're a little bit further along than she is in the hotness scale. That's silly. It's not like you woke up one

[Ryan Ruocco]

day and

[Rudy]

we don't look like we used to, and I don't like the way you look now. It's not that.

[Kevin O'Connor]

It's like, you're just.

[Rudy]

You are in your own head, safe to say.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah. Like, you're in the same ballpark. Like, I wouldn't say that. Like, you know, you're a one seed and she's a 16. Like, it's like, it's. I don't know. Like, is it a 2, 3 situation? I don't know. It's not.

[Ryan Ruocco]

That is the bigger issue. Like, why are you sending this in?

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, it's a little.

[Rudy]

I try not to try to keep it surface level with our. Our friends, the listeners. But, yeah, that's a good point.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Like, you heard me say that about this other email, and you're like, damn it. This has been on my mind so long. So you sent us three pictures of you and your girlfriend who you've been dating three months, and what happens.

[Ryan Ruocco]

What if we're all like, oh, my

[Kevin O'Connor]

God, dude, you're so much hotter, you're gonna dump her Thursday.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Like, don't you think the bigger issue could be that that's, like, a thing

[Kevin O'Connor]

that you would do.

[Rudy]

You guys look pretty close in height, too. That's a nice thing to have. I'm just giving him pros here. I don't know. I'm trying to duct tape this thing together.

[Kevin O'Connor]

All right. Okay.

[Rudy]

If anyone else tells you this, then maybe wonder.

[Kevin O'Connor]

But I don't.

[Rudy]

I think it's like, in your own head.

[Ryan Ruocco]

This guy thinks it's significant and it's a problem.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And he's like, am I. Am I. Am I avoiding, like, a higher ceiling? That's what this guy is doing, clearly, because he's been thinking about this this much.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I don't think it's. I don't think anybody's going to stop

[Kevin O'Connor]

you in the street and go, oh, my God. What are you doing, man?

[Kyle Brandt]

What happened?

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah, yeah. She rich.

[Kyle Brandt]

I would agree. I would agree. Tough scene for her to be a bummer to happen. I mean, if it's in your head, it's not great. It's going to be in there probably forever. That isn't one of those things that just goes away. So I'm sorry to say I would

[Kevin O'Connor]

Delete this email too. I would definitely scrub.

[Kyle Brandt]

Scrub whatever evidence there is.

[Ryan Ruocco]

All right.

[Rudy]

There's your life.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Talk about people on the other end.

[Kyle Brandt]

Should we knock him down a peg, though? I mean, I guess, you know, hey, like, if he was 6, 2, maybe it'd be different. He's 5, 8.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Oh, wow. Let's see now.

[Kyle Brandt]

I can say this. I'm not. I'm the shortest guy on the pod. I could say this.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Well, he brought it up too. I'd say there's something about her. Like, the more you look at her,

[Kevin O'Connor]

the cuter she gets.

[Kyle Brandt]

She's cute.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Rudy]

First one. Yeah.

[Ryan Ruocco]

You're kind of like, what's going on there? But, yeah, I mean, he's got one

[Kevin O'Connor]

really good picture in there. All right, we can't keep doing this to the audience because they're like, all right.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Ex girlfriend holding my stuff hostage to pay for a hole in the wall. First time right in trying to get

[Kevin O'Connor]

into lifting, but mostly a runner.

[Ryan Ruocco]

1:35, half marathon, personal record, 26.

[Kevin O'Connor]

That's good age to be worrying about holes in the wall. I was just gonna say, yeah, it's

[Rudy]

kind of number one seed, honestly.

[Ryan Ruocco]

42.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And there's an issue here.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Living in Pacific Northwest city.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Just had a breakup after a three year relationship. Here's the situation. It was a mutual breakup just due to the timing and what we want,

[Ryan Ruocco]

wanted, where we are in life.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And while it was emotional, we ended on good terms. Suddenly, my ex has gone a little rogue.

[Ryan Ruocco]

About a year and a half ago, she had all my friends over at her apartment. After an afternoon of day drinking downtown, my ex had to leave for a friend's birthday, left with two of her

[Kevin O'Connor]

friends, and let me hold down the place with my group of friends.

[Ryan Ruocco]

We never lived together to meet up with her later. We were all pretty drunk, so it wasn't really dialed in on everything that was going on. Next morning, ex and I woke up at her place and her roommate texted

[Kevin O'Connor]

a picture of a massive hole in

[Ryan Ruocco]

the wall and immediately asked what happened

[Kevin O'Connor]

after she left and why I didn't tell her. I told her I had no idea. That didn't land well.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I FaceTimed my friends that were with

[Kevin O'Connor]

me on the spot to see if they had any clue about how a

[Ryan Ruocco]

one foot wide hole was created. Last night, two of my friends mentioned they were wrestling in the living room.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yep, yep.

[Kyle Brandt]

Not a good start.

[Rudy]

Case closed. I love case closed.

[Ryan Ruocco]

You know, we don't know, but there was an impromptu intercontinental belt matchup where we did build a ring. We were falling across the ring.

[Kyle Brandt]

I don't know.

[Rudy]

I think we were over near the coffee table though. I don't think that was us to.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Yeah, I mean we were wrestling, but a hole?

[Kevin O'Connor]

That doesn't sound like us.

[Kyle Brandt]

We would have Sheetrock of my T shirt.

[Kevin O'Connor]

So. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Ruocco]

You sure that hole wasn't there before? I thought. I remember. I remember seeing like I saw the crazy hole.

[Rudy]

Oh, this would have made me so sick to my stomach as the emailer just like God damn it.

[Kevin O'Connor]

This is my fault. All right, so

[Ryan Ruocco]

they mentioned they were. The sentence gets even worse. They mentioned they were wrestling in her

[Kevin O'Connor]

living room and might have smacked the

[Ryan Ruocco]

wall but could not convince confirm. I ended up patching the hole up

[Kevin O'Connor]

myself the next day.

[Ryan Ruocco]

It looked fine, but it never matched the original paint pattern. Anyway, fast forward to today. She texted me three weeks after the

[Kevin O'Connor]

breakup telling me she had my stuff, clothes, random things that I'd left there. Wanted to give it back but then dropped the text.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Also, if you could start planning the

[Kevin O'Connor]

wall repair, that would be appreciated.

[Ryan Ruocco]

The first thought I had was that I'd already fixed it.

[Kevin O'Connor]

At the time she had told me

[Ryan Ruocco]

not to worry about the paint part. I told her that.

[Kevin O'Connor]

She said she can figure it out. The problem is I quickly expressed that over text and haven't heard back.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I made a massive mistake. I followed a few days later to plan on picking up my clothes. She doesn't respond.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I try a few more times. Nothing. I'm worried if I'll never get my clothes back. Usually I wouldn't care, but I have

[Ryan Ruocco]

a couple hundred dollar plus items I'd

[Kevin O'Connor]

like to get back.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Hey man, that's a pricey item.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I'd want it back.

[Rudy]

It sounds like you had a whole drawer there.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah, you got to get back.

[Rudy]

That's not like a hoodie draped over a chair.

[Kevin O'Connor]

That's you got to get that some Banana Republic monogram button downs. Sounds like it, but I'd like to get back.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Plus a sentimental shirt from a deceased family member that she's 100% aware of. All right.

[Kevin O'Connor]

You know, sounds like a game day special.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I'm afraid she's holding my stuff hostage until I agree to pay to fix the paint pattern.

[Kevin O'Connor]

What should I do? I really want my stuff back but definitely do not want to pay for

[Ryan Ruocco]

the stupid paint pattern fix. By the way, shout out to Cerutty. It's just soccer pod has been awesome.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Two in a row, two in a

[Ryan Ruocco]

row, two in a row.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Sorry it's been long evening.

[Kyle Brandt]

That's awesome. Appreciate you guys, it's been a great work.

[Kevin O'Connor]

There's a million of them,

[Rudy]

huh?

[Kyle Brandt]

This is sweeping the nation.

[Rudy]

I thought I knew what this was. And the fact that she's gone silent makes me think that it's not. It's not like I want to string this attention thing along a little bit. Be happy to ruin your day for a little bit. Just want you to think about me, whether it's good or bad. You know what I mean? But he said amica will break up. And now that she's gone silent after he gave a little pushback on the repair fee, I'm not sure I know what this is anymore. You might just have to. Can you do that part yourself? The paint pattern, Is there a way that he could do it in one? Well, he said he didn't try the paint. He just said it didn't match. And she was like, don't worry about it. Now it's like, now the rules have changed. Fine. That's what you can expect when there's a breakup, even good or bad. But can you try to do this thing yourself and then maybe at least do a half ass job and then grab your stuff on the way out of there, you know, and not in a mad dash situation. Just sort of like, all right, here we go. The silence makes me think that, like, she's not fucking around. This isn't like a I want to

[Kevin O'Connor]

talk to you again. This is something else.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, this feels like her friend just in her ear, just being like, you can get this. You can hold this over his head. Like, you can get, you know, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, all right, cool. Like, we thought we were done with this, and now we're not done with this. Because you saw an advantage that you could take to get your wall fixed, which I get it. You, man, I'd be pissed too, if the thing didn't match. And, like, somebody came in, did a half ass job that you tried your best. I'm sorry, but, like, if it doesn't look the same, I'd be annoyed. Do you? I don't know, man. Do you? It seems like you're not getting your stuff without fixing this thing so looping your buddies at all and be like, hey, this is the situation I'm in. Like, I, I three months later being held hostage. And, like, you guys clearly did this. Like, could we just work something out where, like, maybe we split this or we tag team the paint situation. Like, what do we do? Because I don't think there's that, like, they have no reason to give you your clothes back. They hold all the power in this situation, so you kind of have to play their game.

[Rudy]

I can imagine asking my friends months later. It's like, hey, remember that thing that I told you was actually fine?

[Kevin O'Connor]

It's actually not.

[Rudy]

You guys want to kick it a couple bucks? No way. They would be like, no way.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But that sucks. I mean, I understand, like, being younger

[Kevin O'Connor]

and stupid and this is now half my age, but to go to guys

[Ryan Ruocco]

and be like, hey, the thing you broke I now have to pay for. So you're totally okay with that because of what? Timing? This isn't five years later. You all know the deal. We broke up. And chances are, if you're a guy at 26 that wanted different things than

[Kevin O'Connor]

what she wanted at 26, that means that she's annoyed with you. Okay? Most likely, you can say it's mutual, amicable, different places in our lives. But if she was, like, willing to be like, I could marry this guy. I want to have kids. And you're like, nah, I'm just going to chill and play video games until I'm 35, and then I'll lock in a waitress, you know? Like, what a line. Well, living the dream.

[Ryan Ruocco]

So my. My fear for you is, like, you're. You've actually, like, handled this thing the right way.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I don't know who your paint match guy is. And get over Sherman Williams. May not want to go. You might want to go to, like, a real mom and pop place. And, like, I got a dilemma. You know, it's a vintage brownstone. Walk up, and they go, oh, my God, Civil War yellow. They don't even make it anymore. So

[Ryan Ruocco]

I would explain to her, hey,

[Kevin O'Connor]

I want to make this happen. I want to get my stuff back. I would go to the guys, be like, hey, can you help me out here? I also think if you, like, handle the paint match the right way, you shouldn't be out, like, hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

[Rudy]

Right?

[Kevin O'Connor]

It should be, like, fairly. I think this is a $200 or

[Ryan Ruocco]

under thing, and I do think it sucks. Your friends were like, I don't know

[Kevin O'Connor]

if it's being hung over the next day with, like, oh, maybe I remember some roughhousing, but nothing. Nothing to that level.

[Ryan Ruocco]

It's like, Guys, you 100% did it. I wasn't even there when you did it.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Can you help me out here?

[Ryan Ruocco]

And if they say no because of timing of this whole thing?

[Rudy]

Well, it wouldn't be timing. It would be that you already said, and I fixed it. It's all right. You guys just. God, you almost really. You almost got me in hot water there. And then now it's going to be months later. But again, if they're all 26 dudes with their finances at 26 are, it's a, it's a wide berth. So, I mean, if they're. If they're good 26, you're like, yeah, of course. But if they're like, they're figuring out how to go to 26.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Where it's bad 26, it's like, hey,

[Kevin O'Connor]

I thought we were good. Like, I've already cleared my conscious of it.

[Rudy]

80 bucks is a lot for me to just hand over to you right now.

[Ryan Ruocco]

There's something to be said about after breakup of having a thing where the

[Kevin O'Connor]

person has to check in with you.

[Rudy]

I agree.

[Kevin O'Connor]

So that's probably what's happening here. Your friends should understand that. Maybe they don't understand it because they're 26.

[Rudy]

Do a nice text or maybe a voicemail, you know, where you don't seem unreasonable because the fact that she's gone silent and now you're thinking more and more about this stuff. Yeah, I try to at least keep it cordial till you can figure out where. We don't even know where we're standing right now. I think it'd be nice to know where we're standing. So, yeah, be nice. Be the nice boy.

[Kevin O'Connor]

You know, you can be my stuff at soldier. Yeah.

[Rudy]

And then just try to get lay

[Kevin O'Connor]

of the land here.

[Kyle Brandt]

Can I get a picture of today's newspaper?

[Kevin O'Connor]

And buy a hundred dollar shirt.

[Life Advice Caller]

You grind all year. Early mornings, late nights, fantasy drafts, hustle mode on. But when summer hits, it's time to chill. And Chevy Silverado makes that possible. We're talking towing the boat to the lake, off roading into the woods like a legend and still having room for the squad and all your gear. Inside, Silverado is comfy like a recliner. Outside, built like a linebacker. Chevy Silverado work hard, chill harder. Football guy approved. Head to chevy.com to check out more about the Chevy Silverado.

[Kevin O'Connor]

This is an interesting one, which I think I'm going to have to also send emails to dudes. Yeah. Very interactive life advice today has to do with cats, so don't worry about it, audience if you feel like you're being left out. Okay.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Cat versus toddler is rehoming a viable option.

[Kevin O'Connor]

This sounds like a Dave Ramsey email or something.

[Rudy]

No, we're watching a lot of his clips lately.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Are you?

[Rudy]

Yeah.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I see people make Fun of him all the time. I'm like, so this guy's just been bad at it for this many decades, or is everybody just being a prick? This is a different segment. I don't know if it's a July. What do people like anymore?

[Kyle Brandt]

Wow.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Right? I mean, I know you could say to a degree this has always been the case. I don't know that it's ever been

[Kevin O'Connor]

worse than right now.

[Ryan Ruocco]

You know, like, Dylan Harper can have

[Kevin O'Connor]

a huge finals game, and then somebody quote tweets, it's be like, yeah, too bad about his uncle being a war criminal in Bosnia. And you're like, what?

[Ryan Ruocco]

Fucking serious. I can't like Dylan Harper's finals right now. And by the way, that is not true. But, I mean, it's just unhinged.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Rudy]

Short windows for 100% approval, that's for sure.

[Kyle Brandt]

Oh, what's. Messi's pretty high right now, right? I feel like most people like Messi,

[Rudy]

unless you're a Ronaldo guy. I don't know.

[Kyle Brandt]

The Ronaldo guys are. I feel like those. Those are fake people on the Internet, though, those Ronaldo Stan dudes.

[Rudy]

I don't know.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I got a buddy yesterday.

[Kyle Brandt]

You're probably right. He doesn't have 100.

[Rudy]

I got a couple buddies that are definitely Ronaldo guys and not, you would even maybe say, anti Messi guys.

[Kyle Brandt]

So I don't know, because they feel

[Rudy]

like they have to be. They feel like they have to be.

[Kyle Brandt]

Do you, though?

[Ryan Ruocco]

Anyway, I think it's.

[Kevin O'Connor]

We're. We're all time lows of liking anything. As soon as, like, one little thing that happens, it's kind of like, nice. You're like. It also could be just the vague tweet move of, like, trying to then get somebody to click on your profile because you're like, is Dylan Harper's uncle a war criminal in Bosnia? Like, fuck. It wasn't.

[Ryan Ruocco]

That wasn't.

[Rudy]

By the way, there's been a little motion on that Freddie guy maybe being full of shit.

[Kyle Brandt]

I know.

[Rudy]

I sniffed that out right away. All right.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah, I was right about 2.0.

[Ryan Ruocco]

We're such dupes. We're such dupes. Ken Bones, on one show, he's got

[Kevin O'Connor]

a red sweater, and it's like, man, Ken Bones, the man.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Four days later, like, this guy sucks. And he had stopped, though.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah. He had some stuff that you were like, I do not want to be associated with Ken Bone.

[Ryan Ruocco]

But it's like, well, why did you

[Kevin O'Connor]

like him so much from one question? Because he was a little portly.

[Ryan Ruocco]

His Sweater looked like he'd had it a while and it was like, oh man. Ken Bones. Ken Bones.

[Kevin O'Connor]

All of us.

[Rudy]

Joe Plummer.

[Ryan Ruocco]

On second thought.

[Kevin O'Connor]

All right.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Cat versus toddler. Six, six, eight.

[Kevin O'Connor]

No, I'm just kidding.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Six one, 185.

[Kevin O'Connor]

No gym stats.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Currently have a one year old son and a wife who's 20 weeks pregnant. I'm happy to fit in 100 push ups and a two mile run a

[Kevin O'Connor]

few times a week. I'm happy that you get to do that. NBA comp Zaza Pachulia.

[Ryan Ruocco]

So about six months into our marriage, my wife's childhood cat died. I did not have any pets growing up, so I had no idea what

[Kevin O'Connor]

losing a pet was like. And frankly, I didn't see why it was a big deal for my wife. It was a huge deal. Wait, do I need to read that one again differently?

[Rudy]

No, no, I know exactly what he's talking about.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Done it a few times in the last couple years.

[Ryan Ruocco]

For my wife, it was a huge deal.

[Kevin O'Connor]

After a couple days of being distraught

[Ryan Ruocco]

over Charlie the cat dying, she decided

[Kevin O'Connor]

we needed a cat. Thinking this desire to be short lived, I passively hit her with the Whatever you want, sweetie. Football season is about to start and I was hoping she'd find something to entertain herself.

[Rudy]

Whatever would stop you from being bummed out every weekend, that'd be great. Whatever stops you from talking about this

[Kevin O'Connor]

again 20 hours a weekend?

[Ryan Ruocco]

Why don't you get a patent?

[Kevin O'Connor]

That'll keep you busy. I love you and I love football.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Two weeks later, she was sending me

[Kevin O'Connor]

photos of kittens for sale and I caved in. All right. In fact, I told her, if we're going to get the one cat, we may as well get two so they can have a buddy again.

[Kyle Brandt]

This guy has no idea about pets. He has zero idea. What two? Yeah, just throw in another one.

[Kevin O'Connor]

There you go. Well, Bogo, confirmation again.

[Ryan Ruocco]

I'd never owned a pet before, so

[Kevin O'Connor]

I had no clue what I was getting into.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Admittedly, the first year of having kittens was great.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Just about every photo of my camera

[Ryan Ruocco]

roll that year was of the kittens.

[Kevin O'Connor]

It was certainly a lot of work, but I had some fond memories watching Maction on a Tuesday night while two tiny kittens cuddled up on my chest.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Fast forward two years.

[Kevin O'Connor]

We now have a 12 month old son running around the house with another baby on the way in five months. Ever since we had a kid, the

[Ryan Ruocco]

cats have not been the priority.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Rightly so, but instead of a fun distraction and they become quite the burden.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Frankly, these cats are a pain in my ass. They tear up the furniture, shed fur everywhere, and track litter all across the house.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Now that my son is crawling, he

[Ryan Ruocco]

frequently has litter or fur on his

[Kevin O'Connor]

hands and has tried to eat cat food on multiple occasions.

[Ryan Ruocco]

On top of that, one of the cats has cost us 1,200 bucks this

[Kevin O'Connor]

year to treat his UTIs.

[Ryan Ruocco]

The other cat throws up on the

[Kevin O'Connor]

floor multiple times a week. Sounds like you get a couple dud cats, man.

[Rudy]

Or it sounds like your wife doesn't really have the understanding of a salary cap on a year for a cat. We're going 1200 on UTI, so I don't know. That's a tough. It's a tough one for a guy who's like, well, obviously we're not going to spend more than this. And the other person's like, what are you talking about? I'm going to open up a line of credit. There's two different kinds of people, and if they're together, that could be tough.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah, but I mean, you're talking about. This isn't about, like, getting waived and then the cat becomes a free agent somewhere else. This is sort of like, yeah, we are committed.

[Rudy]

We're pot committed.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Well, you can't be like, hey, if

[Kevin O'Connor]

it's north of three grand, we're putting it down.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, sorry. That's what we got.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah, you can't. Okay, well, that's what I'm thinking that Kyle's saying, and I was kind of

[Rudy]

like, I'm saying there's usually one guy that's thinking that way.

[Kyle Brandt]

You're out of yours on these rabbits.

[Kevin O'Connor]

You can't take the cap hit, hon. We're going to put us in the second apron. Oh, these analogies. We have very few options after that. All right, we're going to wave and stretch it.

[Ryan Ruocco]

What does that mean? All right, sure, they have their moments

[Kevin O'Connor]

where they nestle up next to you and you enjoy their presence, but it's pretty clear that the cons outweigh the pros. My wife came to me the other day and said, we should re home them. I didn't even know that was an option. But after looking at multiple humane societies in our area, it seems like a fairly normal thing to do.

[Rudy]

This guy doesn't know anything.

[Kevin O'Connor]

He doesn't know. Well, I didn't know that.

[Rudy]

I didn't know where you get him. I didn't know you could get rid of him.

[Kevin O'Connor]

That'd be great if you could just do it with people like, hey, can I kick it with you guys for like four months. I think we need that roommate, Brian.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, we just see a different.

[Rudy]

He keeps leaving sandwiches out.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Like seven of us stretch with us. Can we just.

[Ryan Ruocco]

We're not saying we'll never take them back.

[Rudy]

I don't know how he keeps getting

[Kyle Brandt]

two things somewhere else.

[Ryan Ruocco]

He just. You guys are closer to the park. That would be just the interview process. Hey, what's going on? Brian was a great name,

[Kevin O'Connor]

but would

[Ryan Ruocco]

your roommates have to bring you in, right? You couldn't do it on your own walking. They hand over your, like, birth certificate

[Kevin O'Connor]

like, this isn't the dentist office. Tell us a little bit about yourself, Brian.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Say it's been a rough year.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Putting it mild. All right, all right. I don't know that that was that funny, but now I have tears. My question is this, all right, do

[Ryan Ruocco]

we suck it up and give up these cats after three years, or are we smart to cut bait before our

[Kevin O'Connor]

kids have any emotional attachment? Appreciate any feedback. Love the show. Keep up the good work. If you want two cats, hit me up. Photos attached.

[Ryan Ruocco]

They're good looking cats.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I'll say that.

[Rudy]

One of those look like an absolute furball. I could see why he'd be a little bit annoyed with the fur. It's interesting that his wife, the cat person, is the one who pitched this idea. I thought it would have been his doing. Like, how do I, how do I get this across the finish line? But it sounds like,

[Kevin O'Connor]

I mean, this guy's ready to rock a bunch of different ways. Huh?

[Ryan Ruocco]

Get two.

[Rudy]

Yeah, that seems, seems tough.

[Kyle Brandt]

I, I gotta be honest, I, I hate this. I think I'm one of those people, like, unless it's like a real need, danger, allergies, kind of don't think you keep. Like, you, you made this decision, like, you keep, keep the animal, like, because you bring this thing to the humane society and they're just gonna sit in a, you know, in a cage for however long and, you know, I don't know. People do adopt, I guess, older cats, but usually it's the kitten situation that gets that, that gets taken first. So, like, I don't know, their situation is probably gonna suck. Are you gonna be able to live with yourself?

[Kevin O'Connor]

Probably.

[Kyle Brandt]

It seems like you don't really care. I just think it's kind of lame that you're ducking out of this responsibility. I'm gonna be honest.

[Rudy]

I mean, you got a couple.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Well said.

[Rudy]

Yeah, I think that's probably what we were all thinking. You got a couple. I mean, I don't want to.

[Kevin O'Connor]

If I wasn't I didn't want to think I wouldn't admit it different because Rudy was so good on that.

[Rudy]

Could you retrofit that? Not retrofit your house. That sounds crazy, but is there a place you could like make it more desirable for them to be and then maybe that's a room that gets the deep clean every once in a while. Like, you know, there's always the most. People would think this is crazy, but there's the inside outside cat option. I don't know what kind of what you're working with there. You know, can you guys just indoor

[Kyle Brandt]

cat for a little bit be like, hey, actually now you're an outdoor cat. Figure it out.

[Rudy]

Sometimes it takes a little while. Yeah. I mean if kittens usually grow up,

[Kevin O'Connor]

if they have to figure it out, they have to.

[Rudy]

That's what I mean. So I think there's a couple of options here outside of the drastic, you know, re home situation. So I don't know, I'd think about what kind of space you have and what you can do with it. There's ways to maybe not have them be in your face and make a mess all the time, but I don't know. Cats kind of do what the fuck they want.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, I will say, you know, obviously I've said I've got two dogs and a cat. The cat we don't really see a ton. It kind of is the lowest maintenance of the animals. Oh, dude.

[Rudy]

Maybe get a dog and the cats will be, you know.

[Kyle Brandt]

I would not do that. I would definitely not do that.

[Rudy]

Available.

[Kyle Brandt]

I would not do that. Love you, cow. Not, not, not your best idea throwing shit out there. But there is a, there is like when you have kids, so we had the two dogs before we had kids. And then when you have the kids, like it is kind of sad because you just. There is a neglection of the dogs and you can kind of see their eyes and you just have less time. Like it is what. It just sucks. Like you just have less time. Like, hey man, like I can't go for the amount of walks that we went for. Like I can't. You know, we're not gonna play fetch in the backyard all the time as we used to. And it is kind of like a bummer that no like new parents tell you. It's like if you do have pets like it does, it is kind of sad initially and then they just kind of get used to it, I think. And then they start playing with the kids and it becomes fun, fun again. So it comes around.

[Rudy]

It's got to be dark.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Your dog was like, hey, you're not really. We're not really putting in the numbers that we used to.

[Kyle Brandt]

We have one dog. One we have with dachshund who takes. He just. We always joke. He sucks the ear out of every room he's in because he's just, like, the most selfish dog. Selfish dog ever. Like, he just always will figure out a way to be next to you under a blanket and doesn't care. And the other one is, like, a little bit more timid. He's the bigger one, and he's the one you can tell, like, is kind of. He got a sad there for a year or two, but now the girls are, like, old enough where they can, like, mess around with him and play, and it's fun. And he. I think he's had, like, a. A second lease on life, I guess. He's 10. Like, it was even dark times. It's just different, man. Like, you could just tell. He kind of mopes around a little bit where it's like, hey, this is. We used dark times.

[Ryan Ruocco]

Maybe it wasn't Lowry with the heat.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Like, it's not over yet.

[Kyle Brandt]

It's like, yeah,

[Rudy]

all right, There are a couple options there then.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Yeah. Yeah. So, Rudy, that was some great delivery. That person did not compliment you on the podcast. Just for the record, I don't want Kyle to get freaked out. We went three for three on that. That'll do it for the show today. Thanks to Tom, thanks to Kevin, thanks to security, thanks to Kyle.

[Ryan Ruocco]

The Ryan Rossillo show.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Barstool sports. Sam.