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Ryan Rosillo
Hey Priscilla Listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. At Bumble, we're all about helping you find someone who vibes with the real you this year. Meet real people on Bumble who actually want you for you. Whether you're looking for big soul shaking, love or fun casual dates on Bumble, clear and honest intentions lead to better matches. When you say what you're looking for up front, you get more aligned in meaningful connections. With features like photo and ID verification, you feel more confident the person you're talking to is real. Start your year off with real connections on Bumble. Download Bumble Today. The Ryan Rosillo show is presented by DraftKings. I'm talking about the Hornets again. They beat on Boston last night, but there is another NBA team that did something kind of similar. I'm going to try to make the case. We also have Jay King who's going to talk about the return of Tatum. Breaking news right before the podcast taped and more importantly, no offense to Jay, Diana Rossini fresh off the combine. We have moves, we have trades, we have DJ Moore, we have the Max Crosby market, AJ Brown, Kyler Murray where he's going. Even more on all the latest stuff from the NFL off season with Diana Rossini and life advice. Draft Kings Sportsbook puts you right in the middle of basketball's biggest star driven moments. The moments when the ball finds a superstar and the game turns in a heartbeat. Stars heat up. Stars take over. With DraftKings, you're ready to move when they do. Bet player props bet live. From the opening tip to the final possession, every bucket, every dime, every takeover matters. And DraftKings sportsbook keeps you connected as the action unfolds. And when the game turns fast, DraftKings has your back with early exit. If your player gets injured anytime in the first half, your bet stays alive and once it settles, you still get paid in cash. That's built in protection for star driven bets backed by DraftKings. New customers bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you get $200 in bonus bets instantly. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use the code RYAN so you're ready for the moment. That's Code Ryan. R Y e n turn 5 bucks into $200 in bonus bets. If your bet wins in partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours. Gambling problem call 1-800-Gambler. New York call 877-8-HOPE and why or text HOPE and why Connecticut. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org on behalf of Boothill Casino in Kansas. Wager tax pass through May apply in Illinois 21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required for additional terms and responsible gaming resources see DKNG Co Audio limited Time offering a great time with this part of the NFL off season right now to catch up with the Athletics. Diana Rossini, you have to read her column on Saturdays. I enjoyed it throughout the season and I will enjoy it during the off season. Full of nuggets. So we have a bunch of breaking news stuff that I want to get to maybe some post combine. So whatever you feel is worth sharing with us, Diana. But let's start with the DJ Moore trade. So we found out today the Bears are going to move him to the Bills. I can understand the Bills side of this. Maybe it's a financial thing with how they've drafted the position for Chicago. So just kind of give us all the angles on this deal.
Diana Rossini
Yeah, well, for Chicago, he was a DJ Moore was kind of just like a little bit of a gift for them to have. They don't necessarily need him. He cost a lot of money. If you've noticed, they're moving a lot of money around right now, which of course puts up the flags of. Okay, well who they looking to go get right? Dom in their center retires unexpectedly. I say unexpectedly. I think people in the Bears are heard some, some whispers about it. But officially he has stepped away at 27 years old. Right. And so they're able to, as an
Ryan Rosillo
aside, by the way, I need to dig into it. Do Stanford guys retire earlier than expected? Maybe a column. But anyway, great headlines.
Diana Rossini
Smart people leave the game early for their brains. I'm working on that story too, though, to see if there's a little bit more. Right now, right now I think everyone is just assuming why he's doing it because of probably making the decision that he doesn't want to put himself in a position where he could maybe get injured. But, but we'll, we'll see what's to come of that. But that being said, Chicago's in a position now where, look, they're, they're, they're trying to go all in here. They know they've got a, a rookie quarterback or excuse me, quarterback on a, on a rookie deal here. So this, this made sense. DJ Moore, you know, not by the way, Chicago was paying him a lot of money on their, on this deal and Then Buffalo trades for him, and they're giving him even more guaranteed money. So this says to me, too, from the Buffalo side, like Brandon Beans up there going, I am going to do everything I possibly can, so. So nobody can take a shot at me that I did not do enough for Josh Allen and this team to get back to the super bowl, because that's what it is. Like, they don't even. It's not even slightly hinted at that this team is trying to go to the Super Bowl. Even being at the combine and talking to some people associated with the Bills, it's like they are focused on going to the super bowl more than any other team right now. Like, just knowing what they're coming off here and how close they were and. And the changes that they made and also, like, the PR pressure of it, right? They fire their head coach. Brandon Bean gets a. Gets a new title. He gets a promotion. So he had to do this. They were in on A.J. brown. So I knew once they. I mean, once they did this deal, obviously they're not in on the A.J. brown chase anymore. But, you know, you've got one receiver off the board and in Buffalo has this connection, obviously, to North Carolina. Excuse me, to the Carolina Panthers all the time. So that's also something that kind of came to mind. It makes sense when you start thinking about it. And Joe Brady's coached him before.
Ryan Rosillo
Okay, so this is every. I know how much the Philly fans love you for the A.J. brown saga, so.
Diana Rossini
Really?
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, they do. They're very supportive. You mentioned his name then. So is there anything to this offseason?
Diana Rossini
According to Philly, I can't go a day without doing, like bothers them. It's like. It is the story. It's my job to do the biggest story in football. It is the story. AJ Brown does not want to be in Philadelphia. We have known this. We've known this for a year. And Howie Roseman is sitting there going, okay, cool. I'm aware. I know my player well. I know the dynamics of this team. I think that Howie Roseman is probably also aware that it's probably not good to have AJ Brown still on the team. I know he's out there going, you don't give up great players. You don't just move guys like this who can make your team better. I get it. Unfortunately, that's not the reality of the way this works. It's not a good fit anymore. Okay, so we're in a position now where you've got teams like the New England Patriots hovering You've got the Chargers keeping an eye on this. The Bills were in it. The Rams were poking around on it about 48 hours ago from today. They were. That's cooled off now. So I think for right now, I look at it like this, right? Howie Roseman's going up there and he's putting out through other reporters that we know A.J. brown could be on the team. Right. And, and of course that's always a possibility, but he's playing from a position of power right now. And what nobody knows is what could happen if AJ Is a little bit more vocal about how he feels about it. Because he's kept. When I say quiet. He's done a couple passive aggressive things. I think we've all seen. We all kind of know the social media things. It's, it's not a secret anymore. And it's really one of these situations where until AJ Brown comes out, this is my opinion, till AJ Comes out and is like strong about it, like, I don't want to be here. That is the only way the value is going to change. Because right now, how he wants a first and a second for him, teams are not going to do that. I, I have a very hard time imagining the teams that are looking at this going, that's what we're going to do for him. So they're hoping this price drops and I think Philly is going to stay stubborn in this until they, they really feel like they can get the best deal for them. And, and by the way, I'm sure we'll talk about Max here, Max Crosby, in a second. It's kind of the same scenario where Max is playing this really nicely. But the only way a team will move you is if you cause a problem and you start making noise and it's either you or the agent. So someone's got to do something. Otherwise then we're going to get into conversations of are these guys willing to sit out? Right. They're both rich. They don't need to play if they don't really want. If they don't want to be there.
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. If you want out, you can't be nice about it. Yeah, you see that all the time in the NBA where you have to kind of become the guy that sometimes you don't want to become because you care about the fans. I mean, some people don't care about the fans, but I think there are a lot of people that are like, look, I'm out here. I love the way I was treated in the city, the franchise. You know, there's a lot of stuff that I really like. So I'd like to not be the enemy, but you kind of have to become the enemy to get your way. Like, because the team's just going to go, well, if he's not going to be that much of a problem. And we like the talent. We don't like the return that's out there. Like, we can make this work.
Diana Rossini
But everybody go ahead, go ahead about it. It sucks because they don't want to be. And I can tell you from being around A.J. brown for years and Max Crosby for years, that is not their thing. Like, they. They're really kind people who just love to play football and are appreciative of their cities and their fans. Like, they've always operated that way. And when you put the caliber of player and even just you tag along with some of the respect that they bring to their organization, and then you have to force them to turn into the. To the enemy. Like that. That stinks. But. But here's how I see it. If I'm them, Philly's gonna hate you anyway if you leave. Right? Like, for now. Right. The fans are going to be so mad if AJ Pushes his way out of here. The Vegas Raiders fans that love acts will turn on them, and then time will heal and everyone will remember, especially in the AJ Situation, he won a Super bowl with them. You can't erase that. And they'll get over it. So I think for now, like, the state of the situations is both s. Both teams, both the. And I apologize for mixing both these situations, but they. They're just so similar. It's easy to just talk about it this way. Both the Raiders and the Eagles are sitting here going, come get them. Give us your best price. Because we don't need to move. We're willing to sit in this. That's why you're hearing a little bit of blurred and maybe mixed messages coming out of Vegas where teams are like, I don't really know what they want to do. I don't think they want to move. Max. Max Crosby needs to get out of Vegas. A.J. brown needs to get out of Philly. I just don't know how we're going to get there. I can just tell you that both situations, both players, it's not going to work well.
Ryan Rosillo
What do you mean by that? What do you mean it's not going to work well?
Diana Rossini
They're not happy.
Ryan Rosillo
Right?
Diana Rossini
Right. And these are leaders of teams. These are the. The voices of a locker room. These are guys that have, like, legit Reason for why they don't want to be there anymore. Max probably has the best case. Right. He's been there through six different regimes, if you count Bashia. Right. When, when he was there as the interim for a while. He is given his time. Right. He is at a point where he needs. He deserves to go win somewhere. He's like a legacy guy, too. He wants to go out there and know what it's like. Feels like what it's like to win a Super Bowl. Not on a team that's rebuilding essentially and a bit lost as they're trying to figure out what they're going to do. Yes, they have the number one overall pick and every organization is going to want a guy like Max Crosby on their team. But I think he's done. I think he's done enough. And just even the way they handled the end of the season, if you remember. And just to remind those that don't remember, they shut him down. And my colleague Mike Silver actually just wrote a piece about it. Essentially, Alex Guerrero is really involved behind the scenes making comments about Max. We're shutting you down because we're trying to get the number one overall pick. Like just things that it's. It's lingo, language, vibe, culture that does not fit with Max Crosby. That is not what he wants to be a part of.
Ryan Rosillo
Is there anything to like looking at the pricing now, it could just be as simple as, like, hey, as great as AJ Edits, he's probably not. I don't know, Maybe that's his whole frustration is that he is a top five receiver. He doesn't get to play like one. But, you know, one guy's coming off not that far removed from his team winning a Super Bowl. He still seemed to be miserable the entire time. I think I've watched enough Jalen Hurst to understand why he's also miserable about it. But then there may be people going, okay, but what are we trading for? Like, if he's been this unhappy when they were winning, as opposed to Max, who is it A position that's probably when you have a difference maker there, a higher prioritized thing. So again, I'm talking about pricing here a little bit. Is, is this something if Max, like, it sounds like he's available, maybe it's a ploy by Vegas to go if we're just vague about the whole thing. Maybe that's a tactic to drive up pricing here. But I imagine, like, if he really is in play, there's teams that are going to be willing to unload for Somebody like him being a little bit more sympathetic to his situation than A.J. brown's.
Diana Rossini
The Dallas Cowboys and the Baltimore Ravens, the New England Patriots are circling. They are waiting for someone to blink here and to make a move to, to get Max on their roster. I think New England would probably be the least likely of those three teams only because they, they need to get better on the offensive side of the ball. They cut Stefon Diggs about 24 hours ago. They're a team in on E.J. brown, the Chargers are in on E.J. brown. And you look at the teams that are in on these guys and most of them have a quarterback. The teams like Dallas and Baltimore, I mean, that fits perfect in my mind for Max Crosby, you know, and it's funny, Baltimore has been quiet. I don't know if you've noticed this. They haven't been making a lot of moves. There hasn't been a lot going on. And outside of maybe the Lamar Jackson contract that they need to get done, I think this would be a pretty tremendous fit. And I have a hard time believing Max Crosby doesn't want to play in Baltimore where it's all about defense. But, but going back to your original kind of point about price, the Max Crosby asking price as of last night was essentially the Micah Parsons deal. Right. So I, I think there's teams willing to do that. I still think he's going to go for less. I do, I think it's a little much for, for Max, especially with, with some injury here. He's worn a little bit. Mike is younger. And I, I think the same thing for AJ I still think that Price is going to drop. They want it. I just don't think that's going to be where what they wind up getting. Although Howie, I have a. How he likes to win the GM of the year every year. And it's sure we look good if he gets a return of a first rounder, you know, for A.J. brown. And by the way, I'm just glad you said it very fast and I'm going to just pin you down a little bit on it. You quickly mentioned that you understood why A.J. brown is so frustrated and upset and it's. Why are you able to see it so clearly and so many other people struggle with this and why do the Eagles struggle with seeing some of the things that you're mentioning?
Ryan Rosillo
Well, I think the Eagles see it and it's their guy, it's their franchise guy. They want a Super bowl with them. He's got the contract. They're never going to say anything about it. And I understand that, but the rules are pretty simple. We have a hard time saying that a quarterback is average after the team just played in two Super Bowls and they beat the Chiefs in another one. So I, you know, it's.
Diana Rossini
I had a player on the Eagles ask me after they lost to San Francisco, and this was not AJ at all. Do. Do you think that will move on from AJ Or Jalen? I'm like, what. What kind of question is that? What do you think? You don't move on from the quarterback. Like, but just the fact that that was even, like, a thought that maybe that's what they need to do. I don't know. I just. I've been having this conversation with a couple of decision makers this last week about making mistakes or perhaps moving on from something faster than you would have liked and what it takes as a decision maker, what it takes as a person to go, I didn't get this right. And how quick you can move on. And I think there's a lot of organizations right now guilty of doing that. And you're going to see some of these organizations in on the quarterback mix, which is the next big story I think we should probably get into about how is this quarterback carousel going to work.
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I do. But I also think, like, in fairness, and I know you. You understand this is that you can think like, hey, I don't know. Our ceilings too low. I mean, even if you want to make this about Jalen, hurts. Okay, but then what are my options? Oh, these Kirk Cousins and Kyler Murray and trading Jalen to get back into the draft in a bad. And, you know, now I've probably taken it a little bit too far here.
Diana Rossini
But not even that's reality. It's true.
Ryan Rosillo
Right. But we just removed the Philly part of this, which, you know, again, I probably spent too much time on it, but I. I can imagine running a football team and going, yeah, cool. I don't like my quarterback that much either, but now what do you want me to do? It's like we. I think we give teams way too hard of a time about criticizing them for not doing something when we're not being fair about. Do you understand how limited the options are? Like, you want something to be different without any information on what different actually looks like.
Diana Rossini
You so obviously have talked to general managers in your life, because that's what they say is like. Cause I'm sure you've gotten into some disagreements with them the way I have, which is they're always like, what what do you want me to do? Like, where do you think the quarterback? And, you know, I'm probably doing the invitation spot on because that's what it sounds like to me when I'm listening to them yell at me about it, because they're right. And, and look, I, I think there's a million layers to Philadelphia outside of just the fact that that city is what it is. But they're going through a lot of change this year and a lot of turnover and, you know, you have a play caller that's never called plays before. I, I also think that there's a point to be made that maybe they don't realize how good they have it sometimes. Right. Because they just want so much all the time and the bar so high. And I do wonder about A.J. brown sometimes. Like, hey, like, you may get shipped off to another team and go, all right, maybe it wasn't so bad there. You know, like it's, guess what, guess what's awful? Losing. Losing stinks, you know, and, and he tasted it a little bit when he was with Tennessee. So either way, I think in his mind it's, I'm not going to be able to produce the way I want to produce in an offense that I prefer if Jalen is the quarterback. And I think he's at peace with that. And so now it's just, how do I get out of here?
Ryan Rosillo
Okay, so before we get to Kyler, which I, I know we need to do, and then we'll kind of do all the quarterback stuff. You did say the Pats being in on Both Crosby and A.J. brown, and you're right to bring up the Parsons part of it, but I mean, the Parsons pricing is tough when it's a 27 first, it's a 26 first. And then it's also Kenny Clark. So there's like a player with real value that like the. Everybody around the league I think was generally like, hey, Kenny Clark's a good player. Like, that's a nice, that's a nice gift for the Cowboys. So then you're like, okay, well which player matches that? And then the two first. Like, you know, good luck, Vegas. Is what I would say to that. The Diggs release, the way that contract was structured, it was basically a fake three year deal. It was a one year deal. So none of this is shocking when you look at the way it was structured. But does that tell you that the Pats like, what their options are outside of even an A.J. brown?
Diana Rossini
It does. They're in on a receiver, whether that's going to be Alec Pierce. Whether that's going to be A.J. brown. The digs thing surprised me slightly and, and the money makes sense. Like, like I get why they did it.
Ryan Rosillo
No, but I know what you're going to say like, like it's already position of weakness.
Diana Rossini
It's yes, but also there's there, there is a important factor that Diggs does bring. Actually he was a really good leader. Like he was very good at carrying that message of whatever Rabes was doing up there. Like he was bought in in the summer and, and Steph was pretty new to the organization and I was like these two I watching them and their dynamic, they seem like they had been together for years and, and, and that's powerful when you're a first time head coach in it. Well, you're not first time I catch but it's your first year as a head coach in a new organization. So from that standpoint I was like man, I'm surprised that they're moving on from someone that was kind of carrying that message so well. But they must feel pretty good that, that they've got something here to make up and give Drake May some options because even with Steph on it, I mean that's what they needed we saw in the Super Bowl. I mean they had nobody. So we'll see. Look, they're going to do what they did last year. They're going to overspend for somebody like a Milton Williams but except this time will probably be on the offensive side of the ball because that's what they have to do. They, they, they have no choice. And, and especially with a, with a quarterback on, on this rookie deal. Now's the time, now's the time to go. And now by the way standards are different there now. Like I think this is going to be a hard offseason for New England. Everything's changed. This is not the, the, the cute team that maybe can get it right in few years. They just went to the Super Bowl. Everyone thinks they're back to the Brady Day. It's not. There's still so many holes on that team. That's why I mean I'm not trying to be negative Patriot fans that are listening but like I, I, I think you better buckle up. I don't think we're to be talking about New England winning that many games this year. God, I'm so negative. I don't mean to be but you know, just being realistic.
Ryan Rosillo
Well, what is not that many games. Like are you talking below 500?
Diana Rossini
No, no. I think they're always going to be good with Drake Mace or quarterback and Josh is calling plays and Mike Rabel coach the year is leading them that they they're always going. I just think this was a magical season worth a lot of things fell their way and it, it was quite stunning. I mean I spent a lot of time with them in the summer and I was like, this team stinks. Like, I could not believe how good they they sort of came about as the year went on. When they lost to Pittsburgh, I'm like, this is going to be a long hair. This is bad. But even against the Raiders, when they opened up like, yep, that's what I saw this summer. Not surprising, you know, and then they, they kind of found little ways to win. It was awesome. I just think a lot of, you know, there's, I don't I really feel like I'm taking a hammer to them, but it's like, you know, the schedule obviously was in their favor. I do think they got a jolt of just kind of surprising everybody that they were as good as they were. It's just I think they've got a lot of roster need and I'm interested to see what Elliott Wolf's going to do this year.
Ryan Rosillo
All right, before we move on, a quick word on the tool that keeps people's workflow tighter than my takes Microsoft 365 copilot the world moves fast your workday even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create and summarize so you can cut through the clutter and clear a path to your best work. Learn more@Microsoft.com M3 65 copilot let's talk Kyler. I did an open on him this week where I'm like, if I wanted to present the case because I already know what's going to happen. Like if it's local radio, whatever the new team he's on, it's like, hey, made two Pro Bowls. Like, look at these numbers. Look at him being one of like four guys this many years in with 20,000 passing yards, 3,000 rushing yards. He's he has a couple seasons on there where it looks on Pro Football Reference. You're like, that was a pretty good quarterback and all that. And you'll also be probably overlooking some of the injury history the last four years. But it's a lot like the Russell Wilson deal after Denver, where The money's going to be offset, so he's not going to make a dollar more anywhere else because he's already making north of 30 million. So that's when the team's like, hey, sign for 1 million. Because it doesn't change anything except for how much more we can add around you. So that's always going to be part of the pitch for whatever the new team is. So we know that officially, like the release would happen next week, so there could be a couple days here where a trade would happen that doesn't seem like the way this league ever works. And just having the certainty of like, hey, here's a fifth rounder now I don't have to worry about it, but you would be working on all this stuff behind the scenes with his agent and him anyway. But I still don't know, like, you get to tell me what is the real demand? Like, what's the market?
Diana Rossini
Where do you. Let's. Let's start there. What you. Where do you want to see?
Ryan Rosillo
It feels like the perfect Jet.
Diana Rossini
I think it would make sense for the Jets. Look at him. I look, they're definitely reach. They've reached out to his side to get a feel. For sure.
Ryan Rosillo
I would like to. I'd like to see him in Minnesota, but I also can't guarantee his health.
Diana Rossini
So. So, okay, let's. Let's unpack a little bit of that. Like, initially my thought on Minnesota was he's not the type of quarterback for Kevin o'. Connell. Like, it doesn't make sense to me when you see the type of quarterbacks he's had success with. But I don't think that that's going to be a problem. I think that's a, that's an organization where I can tell you from talking to some players there, they want Kyler
Ryan Rosillo
there, but Kyler just to jump in though, like, Kyler reminds me of the NBA guy that all the NBA players love that I'm kind of like, could it be that the guys that do this every night are actually wrong because they're so enamored with the high end, like athleticism and the possibilities, like, the arm is there. We know how great of a runner he is when he can actually stay healthy. So I wonder if that's just players that are just enamored by his physical attributes and the wow factor, while they are ignoring like the reality that there's a reason they shut this guy down last year and they were totally okay with it and ready to turn the page.
Diana Rossini
See, I look at it differently Because I. I think I've told you before on the show that I have a vote in. In the AP end of the year stuff, you know, MVP and coach of the year and all that stuff. And I, I'm always a little surprised when I call players to get their thoughts because I like to like, just, hey, who would you pick for MVP if you were me? You know, and you're right, like, they. It's always the ones with like the most ridiculous natural skill that like the characteristics of just like, like almost they're enamored by that talent that was God given versus the makeup stuff that coaches tend to lean towards. You know what I mean? So I hear what you're saying, but look, the Minnesota situation to me in general is. Is, gosh, very interesting from. I mean, I. We got to flip the page on whatever the heck that just was this year. It was just a pile of bad decisions and obviously a gamble on somebody that wasn't really ready to be in that role that maybe the franchise actually already knew. But they had to roll him out there to see what he had. And, and look, it was hard for JJ to stay healthy, so I don't want to hold that against them because it happens. But it's obvious if they're going after Kyler Murray, let's say they're not bringing Kyler Murray in here to support JJ and teach him how to play quarterback. He's coming in there to win the job. There, there. The. I don't think that there's some outrageous amount of belief that JJ McCarthy can help this team get into the playoffs next year. I think they're hoping some competition will breed success here between both these guys. You have caught think about from the Kyle Murray situation, right? You. You basically were just paid a boatload of money, but shown the door and now you're getting paid nothing. I kind of feel like you've got everything approved, like, in a good way. Like he's going to come in here and probably ready to show everyone that, like, he's a stud. And I think that's a cool flyer to take if. If you're the Vikings and if you're the Jets. But if you're Kyler, where do you want to go, right? Like, who do you want to play for? Do you want to play for Aaron Glenn or do you want to play for Kevin o'? Connell?
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, and I also, as bad as the JJ stuff was last year, whenever you spend a top pick like that on a quarterback, and the fact that he was coming off the injury out of college. And then, you know, there's this kind of gap year, and then they make the Donald decision. So, like, I understand all the hysteria around the whole thing, but I still think it'd be incredibly unfair to not give him another chance.
Diana Rossini
Would you trade him?
Ryan Rosillo
I don't know what the market is on. I mean, I would have to know inside the building, hey, we screwed this up. Because it's not just the former GM doing this. Clearly the coaching staff watched JJ and all the tape and they loved him.
Diana Rossini
I can't stand some narrative out there that, like, this was all quasi stop.
Ryan Rosillo
That's such. I read that too. And KOC probably has.
Diana Rossini
And stand up there when things are good and go, I'm coach of the year. And then when the quarterback stinks, go,
Kyle
I didn't do it.
Diana Rossini
Like, of course, Kevin was part of it. And I don't think they were wrong in selecting him. But going back to the conversation we had before about. And I actually had very similar conversation with the head coach about, can you. What is the best way out from a mistake? And I swear it applies to life. I don't think people care if you make a mistake if you've got the solution right, if you can figure out a way around it. And there was a time when Minnesota had the solution. He won the Super Bowl. You know what I mean? He was there. And it just makes you wonder how much they knew. Did they not know enough before last free agency to say, okay, we probably. J.J. needs more time after, you know, this first year. He definitely. It was. It's just hard. They didn't see enough from him. So here they are now, a team that I think is still really talented. Last year, I thought if they had the right quarterback, they probably could have gone to the super bowl themselves. This year, I think they're just as good. If anything, they just need decent quarterback play. And I mean, I like the Kyler Murray fit there. So what does that leave the Jets? Where do they go if Minnesota gets Kyler?
Ryan Rosillo
Is Russell Wilson gonna get signed by anybody?
Diana Rossini
No, but did you see his interview recently about talking about the whole Sean Payton thing? He's good.
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, look, he's really. He's really good at that stuff. But he also, like, I don't think Peyton just decided to be a dick for no reason to him either. Oh, you think. You think he would or wouldn't.
Diana Rossini
No, I think Sean Payton is very opinionated. And if you can have success under Sean, I think he takes it personally. I think he. If you're not going to run the offense the way you want, the way he wants that thing run. You're dead to him. I've been around him enough, and I don't think. I think taking the sacks that he took drove that man nuts. And I do think Sean took cheap shots. And it was. There were moments of just pettiness that just weren't. I didn't think were very fair. Everyone in football kind of knows what Russ comes with. I didn't need Sean Payton to tell me that. And, you know, but it happens. You over talk. I've done it. You know, we've all done it. And I'm curious if he would take. I don't know if he'd take back the things he said about Russ, but at this point, just let it go, you know? So good for Russ for speaking up for himself a bit. Not. Not saying, like, I think Russ is some amazing dude, but I thought a lot of that was. Was very unfair.
Ryan Rosillo
What are the Giants doing? Yeah, I. I get the sense that you're like. You can tell it's so different already.
Diana Rossini
I'm so entertained by them. And I say that in a. In a loving way because it is so different. And this John Harbaugh perfume that is floating around this city, I mean, first of all, I saw him at Newark Airport when I was flying to the combine. I mean, people are running up to him, he's doing autographs, he's doing pictures, and he looks like he loves it, like. And I'm okay with, like, no judgment. Good for you. You are the coach of the New York damn Giants. You deserve to, you know, take all the love and support you're getting right now because you haven't played a game yet. And we. The city loves you at this moment, you know, And I just wonder if it's just probably like, getting out of a relationship when you've been with the same person for so long, you got the new hot chick, and you're like, this is great. Like, I bet you that's what it feels like, right? Because he's been. He was in Baltimore for so long and just have the juice that he has right now. And when I say juice, I mean, like, it's all about John Harbaugh. He calls all the shots there. And I know Joe Shane is there, and Joe Shane is the general manager, but you've got Donna Ponte in there now, and I don't want to get in the weeds too much, but Don is a bad bitch. And I say that as a compliment. Like, I.
Kyle
She.
Diana Rossini
She Is one of those. She's like one of my role models in football. She is so smart and decisive and tough. And she is there for a reason. She is there to clean up any garbage that is floating around that Giants building. And the stuff that you heard last year about players being laid and naps, I don't know all that. That's not going to happen on Dawn's watch. I will be shocked if that stuff happens because she is not going to allow it. And I think the relationship she has with ownership and even with John Harbaugh, I think is going to be a powerful one. That's going to be very good and work in the benefit of New York.
Ryan Rosillo
The last thing that I have. And then you can kind of take it wherever you want here. The Trent McDuffie bad.
Diana Rossini
I didn't mean it like that.
Ryan Rosillo
I think you can get away. If I had said it, if I had done open, you know, like, is so and so a bad bitch.
Diana Rossini
Like, she's so, like, I can talk. I go up to anyone. I don't care. It took me five years to go up to dawn, like, just to get the courage to be like, hi, I'm tight. You know? And then once you talk to. She's wonderful. But
Ryan Rosillo
I understood it was a compliment. I imagine she will. But I just never. Like, I always go back to, like, when Van Pelt called Bud Seal like a pimp when they found out what he actually made every year. And it was like, in 2008. And then I think Van Pelt end up getting suspended because Celia didn't understand that Van Pelt melting is a compliment. And, like, Van Pelt had to actually talk to Bud Selig and, you know, like, no, I didn't think you were actually in the sex trade. I meant it in, like, a modern version of, like, man, this guy's like a pimp. You know, because he was complimenting. And Bud Selig still did not think it was cool. And I think. I think old Scotty missed a shift or two after that convo. One of my many Bud Selig stories that I would always find out about after the fact and be like, how could you not like Scott, I am not in. I do not employ sex workers. I don't. I don't know that he actually said that part.
Diana Rossini
People get upset about the weirdest things. So it's like, we know what you're. First of all, it's not.
Ryan Rosillo
Bubba's a little older, so maybe, you know, maybe there.
Diana Rossini
Am I going to get suspended from your Show.
Ryan Rosillo
You'll never be suspended from our show. I don't think you have to worry about that.
Diana Rossini
I don't think he doesn't. Please.
Ryan Rosillo
I have to ask you about the McDuffie trade because, like, Trent McDuffie's a stud. And I was surprised at the characterization of this a little bit. Maybe it's because Spagnolo is like, hey, we move on from corners all the time. We're fin. I think the dawning of, like, the Kansas City roster this year, you're like, this team has some problems, but they also have another corner. They have to make a decision on. On top of everything else. So if you think of it as okay, you get. What is it, the 29th pick this year, and then you get first round.
Diana Rossini
Yeah, yeah, they have. Yep.
Ryan Rosillo
So I. I look at the Rams, and less need going. Okay, so we have some, like, no one's Sir Tan. Okay. Nobody is him. But McDuffie in a volatile position has been steady and steady to a level of like a top five guy. So I'm the Rams on the other side of it going, like, all right, well, as good as we think we can be at drafting, we could still screw it up. And so now we plug in a top five corner over there. I was surprised, and I know there's a new deal coming on top of this with everything else. I guess I was kind of surprised both ways because I understand Kansas City's motivation. Just trying to figure out a way to kind of get this roster right.
Diana Rossini
Yep.
Ryan Rosillo
Again, in a. In a quick way. So they. They move on from one of their guys. I. I like it more for the Rams than I think I felt like
Diana Rossini
I've read on the Kansas City side, and I like to always compare Kansas City to Cincinnati. And when you take a look over since I guess I'd say 20, 19, 20, 20, and you look at how many times Kansas City has sort of reworked their defense compared to, let's say, a Cincinnati who we know have been horrendous on the defensive side of the ball. Kansas City has been able to find ways to almost like reinventing their defense every few years and making moves like this. And they always figure it out. They're okay with it. And I do think Spags is a gigantic part of that, but they're always trying to push it forward where Cincy sits in here. And I know Cincy has nothing to do with this, but they're always the ones I compare to. That being said, the Rams, that was the buzz at the combine anyways. Like, the Rams know that this is the. This is it for Stafford, right? Like, they're going to probably readjust his contract here and give him some more money. Damn. Guy deserves it. When he got called up for mvp, Sean mcvation just had the contract in his hand and just like, ripped it up and just wrote him a new one, you know, because he's underpaid for what he does, in my opinion, and I think most people believe that. But I mentioned earlier before we were talking to AJ The Rams were in on AJ Brown as of a few days ago. Like, that just says to me, they're. They're going now, right now. We need to make these moves. And so, I mean, once. Sometimes these. This. These teams do things that you go, why isn't everyone else doing this? Like, why are they played by these roles or. And get away with it? Right? I mean, they were this close to getting to the super bowl. And you could make an argument maybe they were the better team, you know,
Ryan Rosillo
And I'd be thinking about it all off season. Blowing that game on Thursday night in Seattle. Painful, right?
Diana Rossini
Painful for them. I've been waiting to hear a story of, like, you know, Sean McVeigh was so depressed this off season about it all, or sat. I haven't heard anything. I think he's fine. But there's some losses in some seasons where coaches take so hard because they know. And I think this Rams team was that team, in my opinion, where it was like, oh, my God, you guys could have won the Super Bowl. So I think. I think that was maybe probably good for them. Because I bet you that sucker is feeling this right now, you know, I bet you that's where this is all coming from. Of. Okay, we're not messing around. We gotta go. We gotta go now. We've got the best quarterback in football outside, you know, Mahomes and I guess Joe, we do quarterback tears right now.
Ryan Rosillo
We'll save that for Sando.
Diana Rossini
Yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah. So this, this. And I don't think they're done yet either.
Ryan Rosillo
Not done yet. That is a tease. Diana Rossini. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Jay King
Well, I'm sorry.
Ryan Rosillo
I feel like.
Diana Rossini
No, that's it. I'm good.
Ryan Rosillo
All right.
Diana Rossini
Stuff is all heating up for next week. I gotta keep. I gotta keep some stuff in my pocket.
Ryan Rosillo
I know. I know you do.
Jay King
I know.
Ryan Rosillo
I'm not going to get all the A plus stuff. That's cool. I. I'll take you on a B plus day. Big cup of coffee.
Diana Rossini
I thought you'd like the long hair. Got rid of the mom.
Ryan Rosillo
Bob, I wasn't talking about your appearance. Your husband likes me. I would never. I would never betray our trust.
Diana Rossini
Any girl likes to compliment, married or not. You just go.
Kyle
You know what?
Diana Rossini
You are one smart, good looking lady. Just. Just pile it on.
Ryan Rosillo
You look way better this time than you did last time.
Diana Rossini
There you go. Yay. He can do it, folks. He can connect.
Ryan Rosillo
Thank you, Diana. Appreciate it.
Diana Rossini
You're the best.
Ryan Rosillo
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The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp NA Select Schools available Venmo Stash bundle terms and exclusions apply at Venmo me terms max $100 cash back per month. We're starting the pod with Charlotte today. An ass kicking in Boston and another statement win from this team that is kind of everybody's darling right now. And there's a bunch of reasons to love them and who they've been since that tough start where granted, you know, there's some injuries, but I don't know that anybody expected this. And now I kind of want to get into like something that happened last year and then kind of maybe what's possible the rest of the way here. I have maybe a Couple thoughts on OKC's win at New York. That was kind of the headliner game. I just don't want to argue about free throws, at least not right now. Maybe in 10 minutes. I'll do it. Look, Charlotte, so we know that they were 11 and 22 at the turn of the year, right? So January 1st, I think their first game was like January 2nd, they were 12th on offense. I'm going to throw a bunch of like Rankings at you, but there's, there's a point for this. All right, so 12th on offense, 26th on defense. Their net rating was minus three, which was 21st in the NBA. The rebounding was really good, though. Third best rebounding rate of any team. And so since that stretch, 11 and 22, they've gone 21 and 9, which is, I think, tied for the fifth best winning percentage in the NBA over these last 30 games. Some teams have played 31, some teams like 28. Right. So they're winning it like 70% of their games. And so they put this together and I'm going to get you the January 1st profile of those same numbers here in a second. But I guess I've said for probably a really long time, it's just when something's new, you're like, what is. What am I even willing to let myself do here? And a much higher stakes version of this. I've already talked about it with San Antonio going like, do I actually think this team, the first time through with this young group, like, they're going to win an NBA title? And it's just kind of a hard thing to land on. I'm not saying the Hornets are going to win a title, but if you think of the Pacers last year and who they were before January 1st and who they became after January 1st, there's some similarities here that I started thinking about a little bit last night. Because the Pacers run, there still was a part of me before the playoffs started. I'm like, yeah, okay, but you know, they're. They're the four seed. I know they've been paying really well. I know that the defense has gotten a lot better here because that was always the thing with the Pacers. Like, I just think they're going to try to outscore everybody, but they can't really stop anyone. And then their defense became really, really strong. And then you started identifying like, hey, they're playing with depth, they're playing with all this pace. They're going to run you to death. But that their defense is like, solid enough to get through a bunch of these teams. And you could say like, hey, they lucked out a little bit when the injury path we'll go through almost every NBA championship team and there's going to be some round, if not multiple rounds, where it's like, well, you know, part of this is just staying healthy while the others fail to stay healthy around you. So if you look at the Pacers, who again missed N. Smith for a bunch of time, Nem Hart missed a lot of November, almost all of it. I think they were 16 and 18 before January 1st. Their offense was 10th. Their defense was 23rd. So again, you want me to do like side by side here again. Charlotte's offense, 12th. Pacers 10th. Defense, Charlotte 26. Pacers 23rd. Net rating, 21st for Charlotte. Net rating for the Pacers last year, 19th at minus 2.6. And actually the Pacers were just an abysmal rebounding team. Their rebounding rate was 24. So January 1 on, we've already covered that. The Hornets are 21 and 9 during that stretch. From January 1 on, the Pacers went 34 and 14. Want to do the side by side? Let's do it. The Hornets, the number one offense in the NBA since January 1st. The Pacers were seventh. Defense. Hornets are number five in total defense since January. Like, that's just an unbelievable number for the Charlotte group.
Jay King
Right?
Ryan Rosillo
The Pacers last year got it to 9th as they closed again. 34 14. The net rating. The number one net rating in the NBA since January 1st. The Hornets at almost 12 points a game. Net rating for the Pacers, 6th rebounding rate. The best rebounding team in the NBA since January 1. The Charlotte Hornets and the Pacers were from January 1st on last year, 26th. It was an incredible. Of all the teams that had 34 or more wins after that January 1st mark last year, the next worst rebounding rate team were the Celtics at 12th. And again the Pacers were 26th. So what am I saying? Like, hey, they're going to go to the NBA Finals because their numbers are actually better. But it was just something like, what is something that's happened that's recent, that's kind of out of nowhere. We've already covered this with the Pacers part of it because it's like they're going to like game seven. They're in game seven. Who knows what happens if Halliburton doesn't go down with an injury. You know, the Thunder feeling it for the first time. House money for the Pacers on that side of it. I don't know that I'm going to pick the Hornets to get to the NBA Finals. But what I'm telling you is that there's similarities here. Closing the way that they've done. To get to 50 wins, the Hornets would have to go 18 and 1. That's not going to happen. But they're both at like this, this clip of winning 70% of their games after the all star break. And granted, the Hornets had so many more losses like 5, 6 more losses than the Pacers did. It's, it's just going to be hard to match that 50 win total there. But then you take it further out and say, all right, forget four seeded in the 50 win part of this, because that seems impossible, especially with the Hornets having I think the 10th toughest schedule to close the rest of the season. But what is possible here? Like, if you look at where they're at right now and the other teams that they're going to have to battle with in the plan and maybe even Getting to the sixth seed, Miami since January 1st has gone 15 and 14. Orlando's gone 13 and 13, Philly 17 and 14. You never know what lineups coming out of the Sixers. And Toronto's 15 and 11. Toronto, they're four games behind them in the overall Eastern Conference standings. Not impossible, but that's still a decent enough gap. But like the sixth seed is a real possibility for this Horns team. Barkley, I think a month and a half ago when he was on inside the NBA had said at the desk, like after another nice Hornets win, he's like, hey, that team's playing in the playing. And everyone laughed at him about them playing in the play in. What I'm telling you is like, forget the playing. The six seed could be in play. And if you were to allow yourself of like forgetting about the history, forgetting that it's a young group, the profile of who they have been for two plus months tells you that this is a team that you don't even want to play in the first round. Like, they're not going to be in the 18 matchup. If it's the 27 and it's Boston trying to reincorporate Tatum. If it's the Knicks, the Knicks have them two. Oh, in the season series, but the games were in November and December when it's like, you know, this should be BC Hornets. None of that stuff even counts. They're unbelievable. They have four guys with their best lineup that are all terrific on the ball and they're all really good passers and they move, you know, they set these flare screens where they get it going left and the whole play this, this concept where it's almost like a lead pass into the end zone to the other side of the three point line and then you're scrambling and then you're in rotation, you know, mellow. It was a little tough in some of the Vuch minutes when Kada left the game, but Vuch is supposedly in drop. And then Mellow at like six eights, coming off of the screen downhill. And he's like, which of the three things do I want to do right now? Canipple is a com. Not. Not only is he shooting 40% in threes and he's gonna set all these records, he's a connector. He's not just somebody you're sticking in the corner and going, hey, make 40% of your threes as a rookie and we're good. It's like, no, we trust you. The offense, Brandon Miller, you forget about him and then he'll have a stretch where, you know, he comes down off of a screen and then crosses over a defender who actually got back into the action against him, shakes him, hits a three. There was an inbound with two seconds left on the shot clock. He catches it flat footed, just goes straight up and hits it from the free throw line, which is usually a really hard shot to make. And with Diabod's rebounding and C. Brenner coming off the bench, see on James, who, they could just say, hey, do you want to just attack the other guy off the ball all night long? The stuff they did to Steph in that game way earlier in the year, the Seon James stuff on him off the ball, like he was like, all right, I know my role is. And now you throw Kobe White into this stuff. Josh Green's hitting threes. You know, they're not even playing Trey Mann, who I still hold out a little hope for. So it's, it's four really big perimeter guys with their best group with other scoring possibilities, and they're the number three shooting team from three in the NBA. You know, even last night too. Like, they get up 20 in the first half. Jalen Brown has like an all time poster highlight dunk. Shireman hits a three. Hornets call timeout. It's like, ooh, you know, they cut it to 49, 32. And then from that point on, a few minutes later, they go right back up 20, 59, 39, like completely unfazed by it. Like, you're playing the Celtics at their place. They're up for you because everyone's aware of how well you've played. And you know, you get a 20 point lead, they get a little momentum and they're completely unfazed by all this stuff. So it's hard to sit here and say, hey, historically this is the kind of team that makes a deep run. But forget like playoff seating. I'm wondering if I'm going to pick them in the first round. Depending on who they land on in a 2, 7, or possibly even a 3, 6 matchup. I don't have a ton on OKC New York, other than Chet was just fantastic in the first half. 22 points. He was six, eight on threes in the first half. One of those was a grenade three. So he, you know, six of seven is really what it was. And the thing is, is it was so easy. It was incredibly easy because SGA is getting everyone to just collapse and crumble. And all Chad has to do is move around, get to an open slot and he's gonna be hitting threes like you're not even running plays for him. And he has 22 points in the first half. Brunson only had two at the half. Not a huge deal. His passing was terrific. I thought the Knicks did some really good two man stuff, that if this were, if this were an NBA Finals preview, that they're going to want to go back to that second half and look at some of the smart stuff that they were doing because Chet's not going to play Cat. So you're not going to be able to pull Chet away from the rim. Having Cat out the way Cat exposes other opposing centers. And I think you're just seeing more and more of this stuff where teams are like, you know, what if we have somebody at least physically and you know, this is maybe part of the Cat conversation where it's just such a weird player to get mad at, but then also feel like, hey, is he not shooting enough? Like, I think there's times where I watch Cat on some offensive rebounds. I'm like, just go back up with it, man. Like you're too talented offensively. I know the thing is to throw it back out to the three point line, but just go, you're probably going to get fouled. And there was some stuff that OKC was doing there or they had small guys around Cat. And that's why I ended up. I, I think the final number maybe was 17 rebounds by the time he filed out, nine offensive rebounds. I could be off by one on all that stuff. But Cat's just beasting down there because of the way that OKC is trying to align its defense. And that was something that I was like, okay, this, this could be something that would if they stayed with these kinds of lineups. But again, Har Stein leaves the game. So, you know, there was some, some stuff happening there. But I thought Brunson got into some really two man, some really good two man stuff. I did say last year when you had the conference finals, the final four matchup of it. I was like, if it ends up as OKC in New York, the number of people. Because you just always have to remind yourself of this. The number of people that are really going to be locked in for like the first time all year. I'll never forget, like, the first James Harden playoff series with Houston where you could just tell how many people hadn't really watched what Houston was doing and how they were running their offense through Harden. It was like, wait, this is what they do every single time down. You're like, yeah, welcome to the league. Let's go. If it had been Brunson against SGA with the foul baiting, it was going to be. I was like, man, that's going to be. This is going to be like a referendum on the sport. And that didn't happen. Although it did happen after this game. Knicks fans are upset. Obviously. SGA had a couple real, real special ones in there where you're like, are you fucking kidding me? And Mike Brown couldn't help himself after the fact, where he's like, yeah, you know, he's. He's really good. Great talent. He's really good at deceiving the officials. It's almost like Skip Bayless and Overman getting in an argument where I'm like, I think I might just watch. I don't know that I have a. I want to take a side here. I think I'm just going to hang out and just let that happen over there. But when you come down to like the raw free throw rate numbers here, Brunson's not at SGA's level. It's. It's. I've looked at it again this morning. It's like, not even close. However, I don't always think it's about free throw attempts through the course of a game. So part of me is like, I don't know. I've watched enough Knicks games to know, like, you're not getting the short end of the whistle here with your main guy. But look, when it's a one possession game, it comes down to that. You're going to find something to complain about. And getting mad at the coaches defending their teams after the fact, like, sure, I've gotten mad about it too. I've not liked things coaches have said, but what are they going to do? And we get up there and go like, hey, you know what? I'd complain about sga, but our guy gets some free throws, too. Our guy gets some calls, so he initiates a lot of contact. That he's rewarded with so I'm just going to lay out and appreciate the loss that's not going to happen. Tastytrade has a suite of probability tools so you can make smarter picks for your portfolio. Though it can't help you fill out your NCAA bracket, you can trade stocks, options, futures and more all in one platform. Tastytrade offers low commissions including zero commission on stocks so you can keep more of what you earned. The platform is packed with trading features like backtesting, which lets you simulate your trading strategies using 10 plus years of data so you can test your ideas about potential Cinderella stocks. Active traders can use features like Ladder trading mode, one click Trading and smart order tracking to manage their positions during crunch time. If you want to learn to trade or discover new strategies, Tasty Trade has dozens of educational courses you can access for free with your account. Get live stellar support from tastytrade's Deep Bench of Experience trade desk reps during trading hours. Visit tastytrade.com Barstool today tastytrade Inc. Is a registered broker, dealer and a member of finra, NFA and sipc. Breaking news out of the NBA Jason Tatum listed as questionable for the Celtics Friday game against the Mavericks. And joining us from Dorchester, he does a great job with the Celtics. For the athletic it's J. King. So there's a lot of different stuff about Tatum coming back that I want to get to bigger picture, weighing all the things that they'd have to weigh. But now that we know that he's listed as questionable, something that felt like it was building towards this moment is that looks like Tatum's going to be back. So I don't know if we know anything more other than just the injury status part of this. Jay.
Jay King
He I mean all all signs point to him playing against the Mavericks. All signs point to him playing assuming that Cooper Flag is available against a fellow former Duke Blue Devil in a big showdown. And for the Celtics, the the rest of the season they'll get a month to reincorporate Tatum, learn how to or relearn how to use him. You know, around a team that has found found ways to thrive without him. Obviously Jalen Brown has has taken a step forward, Derrick White and Peyton Pritchard stepped into bigger roles. That's all going to change a little bit with Tatum coming back, but obviously he's Jason Tatum. He can do just about everything on the court and he should only amplify things for them as as long as he's back and physically ready.
Ryan Rosillo
Did you Think they'd be this good without him?
Jay King
No, no, but I, I did think they would be good.
Ryan Rosillo
And long as what, like over 505
Jay King
seed good, I think, I guess they would win 45 games. The lost in the wonder and the amazement of everything that they've done is that they've been like remarkably healthy outside of Tatum. And I think if we had seen Jalen deal with a significant injury or Derrick White or Peyton Pritchard, this year could have gone a lot differently. Instead, those guys have been available every night. They've fought to do that like they should be praised for doing that. On top of them being healthy, everything else that could go right and they needed to go right has gone right. Namias K is a solid starting center. Luka Garza, when they needed him to play, was capable of playing backup minutes and doing a solid job. All the young wings who nobody knew if they'd be all right, they can all help out. From Ugo Gonzalez to Baylor, Shireman to Jordan Walsh, even Josh Minot, before they salary dumped him to the Nets at the trade deadline, had a few weeks where he was a starter and contributing. So Brad Stevens has done a great job. Joe Missoula deserves to be in the consideration for coach of the year. They've all pressed the right buttons. They brought in a lot of competitive people and what really has powered it, I think, is the competitiveness and the will to win of Missoula, Brown, White, Pritchard, those guys are really proud and they weren't going to accept a gap year or whatever people wanted to call it.
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, because I think even the debate before the season started is like, you know, is there, is there some almost Pacers esque approach of like, you know, year? I always like to think of it as, it's just not that long of a time. Is it a reset? Do you end up getting a terrific pick and then you come back in 26, 27? And it's just, I don't know if it's a culture thing because like, sometimes that'll happen with teams. It's like when our standard is that we're so used to winning, even with losing a top, you know, whatever you want to do with Tatum, at worst he's a top seven player. I think there have been times where he's clearly a top five player in the league and you go, all right, well, just because he's gone, like there's still an expectation, there's still a standard that a team can hold itself to. And whether it's Missoula Pushing the right buttons, whether it's the three party where that neutralizes some deficiencies. But then again, when you look around the rest of the east, like you can make an argument that now 50, 60 games in, this kind of makes sense because Cleveland's been a mess, Orlando's a mess. The Pacers are obviously a different story altogether. You know, there's just so many average teams here. And I wouldn't call the Knicks an average team by, by any stretch because they've been far more consistent. I know exactly kind of what to expect from them. I think there's probably an Eastern Conference ceiling on them, but, you know, it kind of makes sense in the sense that this is an east that's just not that formidable after Detroit.
Jay King
Yeah, I see that as a huge opportunity for Boston. Like, who's out there that, that they couldn't beat in a playoff series even without Jason Tatum? Like, let's put him aside for a second. If they went into the playoffs as currently constituted, would they have a chance to win the East? I think the answer is yes. And what, what's been really impressive to me is how they've sort of pivoted from the team they used to be, which was, you know, the most polished team in the league. They could beat you with precision play after play after play. Always in the half court to like this energy team where they thrive. Like, they're one of the best offensive rebounding teams in basketball. Just a couple years ago, they totally ignored the offensive class. Now they have Ugo Gonzalez and Jordan Walsh and Baylor Shireman just out there going crazy, crashing from the corners every possession and that's a big deal. Like, they still take care of the ball. They still do have a level of polish. Their, their best guys, for the most part really do a good job of valuing the basketball. Joe Missoula stresses the possession game as much as anything else. But, but the way that they've sort of transitioned from, you know, super veteran team that knows how to beat you with their minds to. They still have some of that, but they also have these, these crazy young kids who are coming in and, and Joe yanking them in and out of the lineup, using different ones on different nights, and sort of breeding a culture where everybody knows if, if they're not on top of their game, especially with their energy, like they just won't be on the court that night.
Ryan Rosillo
There's of course going to be like, is Tatum now going from the savior to potentially disrupting him? Conversation P. This. It's already happening. Yeah. There was A Whose team is it? This morning on first take, which I. I didn't. I only saw the clip because everybody immediately was like, well, here we go. I mean, that's just. That's just producing 101 is. You're sitting there pre show and you're going, how do we talk about his return? And we're like, whose team is it? Let's do it. I think we did it for four years with the Miami Heat, where it was like, whose team is it? It's like, probably the best player in the world's team, probably his team. But, you know, I think this is kind of like where some of the historical stuff where Eastern Conference Finals MVP can drive me crazy going back to 24, because, you know, there's. There's a difference between who has the counting numbers and then who is actually the guy everybody's freaking out about. And that's the part where Tatum. And then in the NBA Finals, it kind of drives me crazy because you're just like, hey, Tatum's playing point guard on offense, and then he's playing center on defense. In some of these Mavericks matchups, everything is really about him. It also is like my 2015 NBA Finals, which drives me crazy that Iguodala won MVP over Steph when it's like, Steph is. It's so bad. And it was. I think it was nine votes, and it was five to four for Igodala
Jay King
because he held LeBron to like, 35, 12, and 10.
Ryan Rosillo
LeBron did have a lot of opportunities to score with all the injuries to that Cavs team. But, you know, you're watching it going, there's one guy that is dictating everything that is happening here, and that is the most valuable guy. And I think that's the level that Tatum is at. You know, it's different now because Brown's playing by himself and he's. He's having the best season of his career, and he's been everything you could ever hope for. But when I look at that 24 team, it's like, yeah, Jalen was fantastic, but, like, Tatum's the driving engine to all of this stuff. So, you know, talking about. I don't even like to say. Let's just say his. His re entry into this group, it really shouldn't be that big of a deal because guess what? They've all played with him for a bunch of years. And so, sure, other guys are going to have less opportunities, but at the same time, it should make their life easier. So Jalen may not have as many shots. But it's probably going to be nice for him in a bunch of possessions now where it's like, oh, my God, not everyone is collapsing on me every single time because we've got a first team, all NBA guy back here.
Jay King
Yeah. And the unspoken thing a lot of the time about Tatum is that he can literally fill any role for you. Like you said, he's guarding big men, he's playing point guard, he's a distributor. He can be the screener in the roller, he can be the pick and popper, he can be in the post, he can be spotting up, he can be the ISO guy. He can literally do whatever you need him to do. The big question, obviously, is what he'll look like physically when he comes back. Is he going to be capable of. Of even approaching the level that he used to be at? Like, that's going to be a tough ask. We haven't seen somebody, like, I look through the list of all the guys who have torn their Achilles, all the guys of his stature who have had that injury, I couldn't find one who returned this late in the season, and especially one that returned this late in the season to a team that has a chance to, to win a title. And so the pressure on him is going to be different. Probably the closest comparison was Klay Thompson in 2022. He came back in January. Obviously they won the title with him. He had some ups, some downs during that run, but at the end of the day, he was able to find what it took to give the warriors what they needed. And that's what the Celtics will be hoping for from Tatum. I think there's a chance for him to do something pretty epic. If you come back from a torn Achilles and win a championship your first year back, that's the notch in your resume. That's it. But also, I do think, you know, if he's not right, then it's going to be tough to fit him in because he is going to be such a big piece of what they do. He's going to be part of everything. And if he's not capable of doing the stuff that he normally does, then it would be tough to kind of fit him back in and rearrange everything around him. If he's not capable of all the stuff that he used to do, it
Ryan Rosillo
goes without saying, like, if they're a marginal playing team, you know, maybe there's not the priority of, like, getting him back this year. I mean, who knows? Maybe. I don't know. Maybe if they were like the seven seed or something like that, going like, hey, all we've got to do is win one playing and then look at the rest of the east, like, who are we? You know, we're not playing Detroit in the first round if we get through this thing, so why not? And I think we've all become, like, probably overly sensitive to players coming back where we just completely always default to, like, don't come back, don't come back. Like, you need to protect yourself. But I just can't imagine in like 2026, especially with Tatum with such a long Runway of a career ahead of him, that he'd be doing this for any other reason than one, everyone is okay with it. And number two, like, he desperately just wants to get out and play basketball. Like, believe it or not, like, sometimes athletes actually want to after the hurt, come back and play the thing they love doing. So I also think, like, the ownership part of it this, and I know it's new ownership, but you know, Wick still being around and then also the Brad Stevens element of. And just. I don't know. I can't maybe I'm having a hard time even thinking of the team that would be like, let's rush our guy back. I'm sure there's probably some examples, but I just don't see Boston being the kind of team unless every single person feels great about him coming back 10 months later. I don't know why, why this would be happening unless everybody's like, this is. This is absolutely the right thing to do.
Jay King
Yeah, there's just no chance they're going
Ryan Rosillo
to rush him back.
Jay King
There's no chance they will let him out there before he checks every single box physically, before he feels totally okay with everything mentally, before he's ready. And he's. He's said, like on his documentary, he said, I ain't coming back to be
Ryan Rosillo
a role player, Doc.
Jay King
And I think that was pretty significant about his mentality. Like, I don't want to come back and I'm diminished. I want to come back when I'm right. And that should be the case whether it's now, whether it's next season, whatever. Like, priority number one should be getting him back healthy. This team as constructed like they got out of the tax, they're out of that hell. They all their main guys are in their 20s for the most part. Like, this is a team that should have staying power. They replenish their support and cast with a bunch of young guys who have upside down and so there could be another level for them to reach, even disregarding Tatum. And then you bring him back if he's fully healthy. That's the most important thing. So there should be no rush to capitalize on this window this year. Window. Because I think the window is going to be longer now and, and they should have some, some sort of staying power where in this east especially like they'll be around, they'll have a chance. And maybe you want to rush it because, oh, Wembanyama, like, watch out. You better try to get your titles before Wembanyama is really ready because man, that dude is ridiculous already. And he's only in year three. But, but I don't think there should be any pressure on Tatum other than just, just get back fully healthy and whenever you are, go play basketball because that's what you love to do.
Ryan Rosillo
The timing of this is not great considering what Charlotte did to him last night. I've already talked about Charlotte a bunch of times. Spent a lot of time on the open today. Wow. They're the best. All right, so your impressions from last night's game?
Jay King
They are the best. They're just so much fun to watch. Like the pace they play with, there's like a, a controlled chaos to them where they have ultimate freedom. You got lamelo ball shooting one legged threes from 35ft. But at the same time they're a super disciplined team that sort of like the Celtics always wins the possession game. Like Musa Diabate just kills people on the glass. They get a ton of offensive rebounds. They win the turnover battle. Like they're just so much fun to watch. I love the Hornets. Everybody just launches threes. Con Knippel is ridiculous for a rookie. Brandon Miller, like, it was a hilarious moment in Boston last night. The ball got stuck on the top of the backboard and the ball boy like couldn't reach it with the mop and Brandon Miller grabbed the mop, he got the ball off. And in Boston he like raised raised his arms to the crowd and the whole crowd just started cheering for him and it was like, like just a hilarious moment. There's just a lovable team.
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I look out, I, you know, I don't know. I don't know. Whoever plays them in the first round is going to love the experience because they're just like. It's crazy to say it out loud, but it's true. They're one of the five or six best teams in the NBA since January 1st. And this has been a really long stretch of terrific basketball from him. You can read Jay's piece Up on the athletic. I imagine he'll be covering the team throughout the rest of the season in the playoffs. Thanks, man.
Jay King
Thank you for having me.
Ryan Rosillo
That segment was sponsored by Microsoft copilot, the AI assistant that actually helps you get stuff done. CoPilot works across Microsoft 365 Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Turning chaos into productivity. Need a presentation, Copilot builds it. Need a summary of a meeting. You definitely zoned out in. Copilot's got you. Let copilot do the heavy lifting. You just take the credit. Learn more@Microsoft.com M365 copilot you want details? Bye. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the south fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid.
Rudy
So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.
Ryan Rosillo
Life Advice, lifeadvice, rr, gmail.com. we've got Rudy, we've got Kyle. We've got some emails for you as well. Real quick.
Kyle
The boys stay hot. By the way, alliance hit last night. Where, I mean like, listen, got to take the wins when you can and was the first one of the season. So we're back.
Ryan Rosillo
Nice week. I gotta just call myself out though. So what happened on the over under for Memphis Portland? Because I thought I gave it out at 2:35 and a half and it was 2:36 and a half.
Jay King
Yeah.
Kyle
Sometimes, you know, you're at the grace of what the, the, the graphic gods give us and they gave you the extra point. So that's what everybody was able to bet and we did it. So we'll take it. Right.
Ryan Rosillo
Because there was a GG3 with 12 seconds left. That game was on pace for like 280 at one point. So I was like, okay, this isn't happening. Still high scoring game. But I just want to ask so that nobody's wondering because I purposely was like, oh, I lost on that. Cool. And then I thought I cost the alliance and then everybody's like, now the number came out at 236. So I just don't want anyone to accuse us of anything. Uncords. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, when you're hot, you're hot.
Kyle
You know, yesterday was. Yeah.
Rudy
And then shout out to the Internet somebody commented, you guys have a worse record than the Jets. The alliance has a worse record than the Jets. I was like, all right. Right back to earth.
Ryan Rosillo
Anyway, sorry, it was a funny one. The people are generally pretty neutral and Supportive, that kind of stuff. So I just thought the wording was funny. Right? Like, even when you're red hot winning, it's like, oh, yeah. But that's so I. That'd be the first thing if I did. Like if I were sitting around in between jobs, I'd be like, I'm going to point out that it was 235 versus 235 or 236 and a half. All right, this one hits a little close to home. Carpenter pants, stolen valor. 57131. No gym stats, but I did run my first and only half marathon in one hour and 53 minutes. God. This is where we're going. We get so many half marathon times in here now. It just fucking sucks that he's dead. Player comp Current.
Kyle
He texted us the other day.
Ryan Rosillo
Did he? He didn't text me.
Kyle
No, it's just Kyle and I.
Rudy
It was sort of an east coast boys chat, you know.
Ryan Rosillo
Oh, was it?
Kyle
Yeah. You wouldn't know about that yet. No, just to check in on like, hey, if you guys are in the city, I thought, you know, he just wants to hang out and I do too, and told him we'd meet him at an. At an airport, at jfk, maybe at the. At the lounge or something, grab a couple martinis.
Rudy
I get you guys in the Sky Club. I have passes.
Kyle
Yeah.
Ryan Rosillo
Who knows? Imagine the lounge stuff he probably has access to some of like every time. You'll see. Like, what airline is that? Dubai.
Rudy
Well, you know they got beds in this one, right?
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, he's just in there getting a massage. Hey, gents. He probably says something like that when he sees friends. Yeah. Trying to think of other things that he would say.
Kyle
Howdy.
Ryan Rosillo
Well, look at these guys.
Kyle
Here comes bad news. Just like generic white dude sayings. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ryan Rosillo
I wonder if there'll be a generation of people that just not understand. Look at cat dragged in because cats are just dragging in less stuff.
Diana Rossini
Yeah.
Rudy
I think we're getting out. Yeah.
Ryan Rosillo
Is that true? The numbers are way down.
Kyle
Production is down. No. Yeah, I haven't seen that.
Rudy
Oh, they served a real need advanced at the time. And now they're like, you know. Yeah, they're causing more problems than they're. They're saving these days. Anyway.
Ryan Rosillo
London used to hire cats, right?
Rudy
Yeah, we did this.
Ryan Rosillo
They were paid employees by the government. Brought that up in the travel pod. Yep. No one ever talks about the declining cat employment numbers, but what do they do now? That's what I'm saying.
Kyle
Replaced their jobs are Being replaced.
Ryan Rosillo
Oh, you guys are going to be grandparents. You can just say, look what the cat dragged in. And the kids are going to be like, what? Or what is grandpa talking about?
Kyle
About.
Ryan Rosillo
Heard it here first. All right. Was tempted to email in about the new romantic relationship I'm in, but I'll spare you with something a bit more trivial. Well, thanks for having a list of things that you could have asked us about. Since high school, I have worn skinny jeans. Yeah, you have. They're never skin tight. And as a skinny guy, the fit was natural. But now, after recently witnessing my own reflection in a public bathroom, I've decided to wear something more age appropriate. I settled on a pair of carpenter pants for an American company that are tapered so they fit incredibly well. I especially adore the extra pockets, but my worry is that this might be stolen valor. I do have some bonafides. I work for carpet. I worked for a carpenter when I was 18 and 19. I started remodeling a house before termite damage Forbes forced me to sell. I've built several privacy fences. Dude, you're fine. In my book. I designed and built my own shed. Yeah, this isn't. This is like a guy wearing an army hat being like, I've only done special Forces. I've done various DIY projects on my current home. I love working with tools. I love it. But I'm worried that since I do not actively work in a trade, wearing carpenter pants would offend those that do. I'm currently in healthcare and about to get back into ems where extra pockets are important. Is that a good enough excuse? I'm very curious to know what Ryan thinks of this. As a former tradesman, God bless. And I basically only wear one pair of pants, so this is a big decision. Sounds like it's a huge decision. I think you're fine. That was. That was a great. Yeah.
Rudy
This isn't like cowboy boots, where we had to think about it for a little bit. You know, if you start walking around with, like, that wood pencil behind your ear, you know, that flat one, I could see maybe, like, you might be veering into guys doing that besides Matt.
Ryan Rosillo
Patricia.
Rudy
I don't know. I don't know, but I just. I don't think, like, you know, I've dabbled with this. I, you know, dip my toe in that Harley Davidson pond a couple of times, and, you know, we're at a flea market and there's a guy with a bunch of old Harley's shirts. You know, I'll. I'll peruse, but I think that's sort of near the line because I, you know, every once in a while I have to be like, no, I actually don't have a Harley, but just a big fan. So I don't. I don't think this is even near that. Especially that, you know, you've got glory days that you can, you know. You know the jargon.
Kyle
Yeah. I feel like carpenter pants, though, that could be totally off base on this. But carpenter pants are like boat shoes and that. Like, not. They're not exclusive to just carpenters. Like, you don't need to own a
Ryan Rosillo
boat to wear boat shoes.
Kyle
They're just, like, a thing that people wear. They're carpenter pants. They're not like a. I think I got a pair has to be in the train.
Rudy
I had a pair when I was, like, on sale, like, you know, at Kohl's when I was, like, 10. Like, I was given to me because it's like, there was a big, you know, big markdowns, cold cash. Like, I think I. I had it with the big, like, loop on the side.
Ryan Rosillo
The hook.
Rudy
Yeah, you put the hammer in or whatever. I mean, I. I had those when I was, you know, a preteen just because, you know, it was on sale.
Ryan Rosillo
So you got to wonder if the people in the kids production of trade clothing, they're like, let's not go overboard with inventory here.
Kyle
And my daughter has a Carhartt beanie. She's never. She's never worked outside before. Come on.
Jay King
Yeah.
Ryan Rosillo
You know, slow.
Rudy
I think also as a kid, I don't know if they do this anymore. There was something called, like, the husky section, you know, and it was just called husky.
Jay King
You know what I mean?
Rudy
It was like, you know, that kid's right.
Ryan Rosillo
There's no way anybody does that anymore.
Rudy
Got a little meat on his bones. And I think maybe you had a certain style of pants and shirts in that husky section that you wouldn't find in the gen pop. So maybe I had a couple pairs of those.
Ryan Rosillo
I have a pair belt loop get made fun of.
Rudy
That was awesome.
Ryan Rosillo
I don't care. I love the way they fit. I love these jeans. They're kind of really not jeans. And then I went even further where I bought another pair, and they're. They might even be welding pants. I like that. Yeah, it's like another patch over the front of it. I have not launched those yet. I imagine there'll be some commentary, and I think you just go, all right, you know, what's the right moment for
Kyle
the launch of those?
Rudy
Montana at night.
Ryan Rosillo
At night, Yeah. So I have, I have a pair of John Elliott's that have a belt loop and I think there's a pencil pocket or whatever. There's even some stolen valor splattered paint on them. They're pretty aggressive at my age, but I love the way they feel. They're comfortable as hell. They're kind of my go tos. And every time somebody chirps and you just go, okay.
Rudy
Every time.
Ryan Rosillo
Damn. I really didn't think it would be that out there. I guess it is a rough group of friends. Yeah. Good for you. Iron sharpens iron. Yeah.
Kyle
You got a solid group. Yeah, yeah.
Ryan Rosillo
I just don't. I'm like, say whatever you want. Say whatever you want. Don't care. All right. Undefeated versus an NBA player. This is a new one. 5, 11, 171. Faster than war God is his only stat. Can I technically say I'm undefeated? One verse, one. One on one against an NBA player. I grew up going to elementary school with the plum le. At the start of basketball season, our coach paired us off daily for one on one games. Mason and I were matched up and I never lost all season, every practice. Five years later, after I continue reminding him he'd never beat me, he challenged me again at our old elementary school. By then he was about 6, 7 and much improved. I won again, still undefeated. He went on to play at Duke University, then in the NBA. I retired from organized basketball in the sixth grade. Here's the catch. I was three years older than him at the time of our rivalry. I was 12 and he was 9. Later I was 17 and he was 14. You beat a 6, 7, 14 year old though.
Rudy
Yeah, that one, that one counts for sure.
Ryan Rosillo
I always disclose this. Yeah, just I beat up on Leinert's kid Cole when he was 14. I went to the Clippers game with Leiner, as you all saw not that long ago, third wheeling it with Matt and his wife. That was better than when I had the whole section of myself and it was just like, are you serious? I don't know if we'll post that pic, but yeah, Cole. I was in a pickup game. I didn't even know it was Matt's son and I had kind of just. I don't know. So it was like five years ago. I was probably still playing a little bit more and I I him up pretty good in a couple things. How old? I like 14. I think I was like 45. I think I remember one of the kids saying like high school age. I don't want to have to guard him anymore. And then I played him, I think, when he was 18, and it was bad. It was. It was like, it was pretty bad. He and his buddy, two on two, both in high school seniors, played me and some other old guy and it was. We got worked. So not undefeated against Matt Leonard's son.
Rudy
So a success story for that guy.
Ryan Rosillo
That's awesome.
Jay King
Yeah.
Ryan Rosillo
But I'm just trying to figure out like, that I'm. I'm giving the emailer credit here because at 14,
Rudy
you know, size of size.
Ryan Rosillo
Right. So I always disclose this as a way of making fun of myself, but eventually it started to feel less like fun trivia and more like I was bragging about dominating a little kid. Yeah, no one sound like I'm going to get shit for what I just said, but for what it's worth, I think he's a great guy. And when he challenged me again during his Duke years, I wisely declined undefeated. Sounds better than 22. 1. So should I keep this as a lighthearted fun fact or retire the story for good?
Rudy
Keep that for you too. That's great.
Kyle
Always lead with it when meeting new people. But yeah, like, if it comes up, like, it's, It's. I think it's fair game to be like, oh, yeah, you know, it's your little fun fact about your boy.
Rudy
Yeah, don't scare the hoes with it, as they say. But, like, that's impressive. It's just a term for, like, exactly what that would be if you're like, you know, in a group of people. But, you know, it's a fun thing that you guys will have together.
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I think Sir Rudy nailed it. Like, you don't. Maybe Kyle did as well. It's. I think everyone here is on the same page that you don't want to introduce yourself at work meetings with this. And you clearly don't actually believe it because there's other guys that have the same version of things that, like, think this is cool. Like, you know, you know, watching. Watching whatever game Plumlee was playing in and then thinking, couldn't beat me.
Kyle
Well, you know what?
Ryan Rosillo
You know what this would be perfect
Kyle
for is like, you know, when you, like, start a new thing or something? Like, we used to do this at the old place. It'd be like, hey, like, give me true. What is it? Two truths and a lie. And one of your truths is, hey, yeah, I beat me.
Rudy
Oh, my God.
Kyle
In a thing. Like, that's a perfect use for it. And then, you know, people could decide if they feel like it's true or not. But that's. That's like. That's the kind of scenario where I would use this. This isn't like, hey, this isn't like my. My Instagram bio.
Ryan Rosillo
We had to do two truths and a lie at orientation in college.
Jay King
What'd you pick?
Ryan Rosillo
Do you remember I used to always say I live on an island, and everybody always picked that one as a lie.
Jay King
That's awesome.
Ryan Rosillo
Dominated that game. 14. Everybody else is 14, but, you know, advanced program. All right, 40th birthday party featuring the sister. Hello, Kyle, Stephen and Ryan. 6 foot 2, 190 player comp is the white kid who only made the team because he tried really hard. Could shoot absolutely no handle, high effort, low ceiling. Every year on my birthday for the last 20 years, I put the treadmill on 12 miles an hour and sprint for three minutes. Why three? No idea. It felt right at 20, and I never questioned it. My theory is the day I cannot finish it is the day I officially retire from calling myself an athlete. The entirety of the sprint. I repeat, I'm an athlete. Over and over and over again. Do you want to hang out? Do you want to be friends? I love that. You know, there's not enough people doing that. 12 miles an hour for three minutes. Do you guys think you could do that right now?
Rudy
I'll say yes.
Diana Rossini
12.
Rudy
I don't understand.
Ryan Rosillo
How fast is that a 12 on the treadmill?
Kyle
I think so, right?
Rudy
That would make sense.
Ryan Rosillo
No. All right, we need to see Oregon.
Kyle
Yeah, he would know this.
Ryan Rosillo
Can we just type that in as I meander around the rest of this? Okay. So anyway, my best buddy from college turning 40, his wife reached out of nowhere. Reached out out of nowhere. That makes more sense. First time we've spoken in 15 plus years. She said, quote, I know this is a long shot, but would love to have you there. I love when people do this for 40s and 50s. You know, they don't do it a lot for 30s. Not a lot of dudes out there being like, hey, it's Steve's 30th. Gonna fly some guys in. I love this guy. One of the best people I've ever known. He had a kid right out of college, took a serious job, then had two more kids. Are serious jobs. Life and distance did their thing. I was on planes constantly for work, and in no rush to settle down, we just never reconnected. Complication. Bold font. For about 10 to 12 years, on and off, I was hooking up with his younger sister. Started in college and continued randomly into our late twenties. Different cities, random meetups. Good times. He never knew. So tough. I'm doing the theatrical read of this one. It's a good email. He never knew. I'm very confident in that. I'm now married with a child. The sister does not know that. Yes, she does. We have not spoken since I met my wife. Look, there's enough technology now where if you were hooking up with her on and off for a decade plus, unless you're completely off the grid. But Mountain man, you know, there's a couple late night sobs in a Google search and you might be like, whatever happened to Deb?
Jay King
Totally.
Ryan Rosillo
I just picked a random name that I could not be connected to. So do I go to the 40th knowing she will be there? Bring my wife and risk awkward tension? Go alone and risk even more awkward tension, or send my best and leave the past where it is?
Kyle
Well, do you want to go? If you.
Ryan Rosillo
Sounds like he wants to go.
Kyle
I don't think there's any reason you
Ryan Rosillo
should be weird about this. Do you tell your wife
Rudy
about what?
Kyle
Sense the. The energy.
Ryan Rosillo
Sexual tension.
Kyle
Sometimes they. They. Yeah, they can do that.
Ryan Rosillo
They can tell so fast. Comes over and hugs. Be like, you hooked up with her, didn't you? You're like, that wouldn't. I don't even have a drink yet.
Rudy
Yeah, it wouldn't be damaged if that happened, though. You know, 15 years is a long time to then just like, pop back up. So easy to say, like, thanks, I'll send a gift or something. Like, I don't know. I'm trying to think 15 years, would I jump back in there, both feet, flight and all. I don't know if I would. I'd like to think I'm a good friend. But if it's been 15 years. That's what he said, right?
Kyle
Yeah, I think so. But there's no. There's no shame in this, though. Like, if you don't want to go, don't go.
Ryan Rosillo
But.
Rudy
Right.
Kyle
It's. Things happen in people's past. Like, this isn't. You're allowed to have a different life before you meet whoever your. Your permanent partner is. Like, this isn't like something where it's like, wow, you're a bad person. Like, I. I don't know why it has to be uncomfortable. I mean, if you would know, I guess your wife better. If she is kind of weird about this stuff, maybe you do avoid the situation. But if you want to go and you think it's gonna be Cool. Like, you're not doing a bad thing by not disclosing this information.
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, yeah.
Rudy
He, like, built a wall. He got married, and nothing bad happened. So it's not like there's anything that, like, you know, timelines aren't matching up here. You know, if you brought the whole thing, honestly, it sounds like if.
Kyle
If you.
Rudy
If your wife went with, you'd be like, hey, this guy you've never met, like, it's his 40th. We're just in and out of there. Do you want to come and, like, we'll. I'll introduce you to everyone, and then we probably won't get together again. I don't know. I honestly think I probably wouldn't go. Not because I'm weird, like, worried about what could or couldn't transpire, just like, that's a long time to then just, like, drop everything for the 40th. Nice. Video message by a cameo.
Ryan Rosillo
I don't know. Cameo
Kyle
in person. Yeah.
Ryan Rosillo
I think there are two very specific questions, though, that we need the guy to ask himself because we're not going to know the answer. How cool is your wife and how cool is the guy? Right. So if anything is picked up on by the wife, is your wife somebody who understands that, you know, this is the way life works, or would she be a little tougher to deal with being like, I can't believe you haven't talked to this guy in forever. And then you. You put me in this awkward situation, and I can already tell what's going on. And then on the other side, like, I get it, you know? Like, brothers can be very different. Like, I remember when I was, like, in high school or something, and there was a guy that I knew, and, you know, all of a sudden his sister was dating somebody, and I was like, oh, aren't you mad about that? And he was like, why would I be mad? You know, he's like, according to, like, that, like, rule, then none of us would be around, like, eventually. Like, somebody's like, I'd rather her date somebody who I know because at least I know the guy than opposed to some complete stranger. So there's some back story. There's some history here. So. Yeah, I mean, I don't want it to be necessarily my best friend that's dating my sister, but, you know, there's. There's a lot of mature people out there, man, and you'd be surprised at times, but there's also a chance. I mean, the. The disparity of how nothing could happen versus, like, a doomsday scenario depends on all the different characters involved with this. Like, how intense is your wife about your past history? How understanding is she about this stuff? What is the sister like? Like, did it end bad? Where she's going to make some sort of statement?
Kyle
Wait, did he say if she has any. He could do some Internet sleuthing. Could he find out if she's got somebody, if she's married and, like, then you're good. Like, it doesn't. Like, again, that's further proof. It doesn't matter at all. She's, like, single and is looking for this as an opportunity potentially to. To rekindle.
Rudy
Yeah, he has no idea. He doesn't know.
Ryan Rosillo
He is a little in his head on it. And, you know, I don't want to use the. It's going to frame that differently, the narcissism word here sometimes. And I. Look, I have no idea. That's not what I'm doing. Everybody's getting called a narcissist now left and right here. But there can be, like, an ego of, like, everything is about you. And it could just be an awesome party to rekindle with a friend. And when you roll in with your wife, like, I don't. Chances are in most therapy, right?
Rudy
Yeah.
Ryan Rosillo
Like, there's not gonna be like, hey, can I talk to you while she's ripping a Parliament light? You know? Are they Parliament lights? Yeah, those are the parts.
Rudy
Those are the blues ones?
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, Yeah, I think they're Parliament. What's the.
Kyle
Kyle. What? What's the Parliament vibe? Because I.
Ryan Rosillo
There.
Kyle
So I. This is a quick aside, but there was like, this guy in the Bahamas at the beach resort who was smoking Parliaments, full beard, kind of bigger, was wearing a CCCP shirt. So he was. Whoa. Big Soviet Union guy, apparently just ripping darts, ripping Parliaments at the resort. And I was like, is that. I thought Parliaments were, like, kind of frowned upon, but maybe it's not for Russians. I don't really know.
Rudy
They're more expensive than you think. You know, they got that little, like, you know, whatever that little cavern is. In the cavern, you decide which. You decide what you're gonna do with it. I don't know, but I don't know. It was always, like, one of the more expensive cigarettes. And, you know, you got your brand. You know, I went from cool XLS to. To Newports to Reds, and that's where I got off the bus. So I don't know. That's just. Dudes got brands. I got a friend who only wants Parliament. He says lights and I'm like, what color is that? They all, they all have these weird. It's like either blue or green or whatever. I don't know. It's just some people like it. Dudes out there still smoking. Paul Malls, you know, to each their own
Ryan Rosillo
good clarification.
Kyle
Thank you.
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. All right. That'll do it for the show today. Thanks to Kyle, thanks to Steve, thanks to Kevin, thanks to Tom. And please subscribe and check us out on Netflix as well. The Ryan Rosillo Show Barstool Sports.
Diana Rossini
Sa.
This episode centers on major NFL offseason moves—particularly the blockbuster DJ Moore trade to the Buffalo Bills—as well as the dynamics around the futures of star players AJ Brown (Eagles) and Maxx Crosby (Raiders) who are both pushing for trades. Dianna Russini brings inside reporting from the NFL combine and around the league, breaking down the many factors in play, including team chemistry, locker-room politics, and shifting priorities across franchises. The episode also features a detailed breakdown of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets’ surprise rise, and a discussion about Jayson Tatum’s imminent return to the Celtics after injury with Jay King.
The episode is rich in insider detail, features playful back-and-forths (particularly between Ryen and his guests), and balances deep X’s and O’s with franchise-level narratives. Dianna Russini brings league-wide perspective and locker-room nuance; Jay King brings a blend of technical basketball analysis and emotional intelligence regarding player/team dynamics.
This episode is essential listening for NFL fans keen on the offseason chess game between GMs, insight into player power on both sides of trades, and implications for some of the league’s most storied franchises as they pivot to future championship attempts. NBA fans get a detailed, stat-driven appreciation for the Hornets’ surge, plus context on Boston’s resilience in Tatum’s absence and the big questions around his return.
For more sports insight and locker-room stories, catch The Ryen Russillo Show every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!