← The Ryen Russillo Show
The Ryen Russillo Show
Is Kyler Worth a Shot? Plus the Lakers’ Luka Shift w/ Jovan Buha, Rockets w/ Vanessa Richardson & Warriors w/ Anthony Slater
01:33:55
Loading summary
Transcript360 lines
- [00:00]
A
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 Brazilo show presented by DraftKings. We're going to treat this one like a radio show here today. I'm going to talk some Kyler Murray market that did didn't exist but what could potentially be next for him? And we're talking with Anthony Slater, Vanessa Richardson and Jovan Buha on the Warriors, Rockets and Lakers. We've got an alliance after a historic night. King of the court never been done before and life advice With Cerutty back In the mix, DraftKings sportsbook puts you right in the middle of basketball's biggest star driven moments. The moments when the ball finds the 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 a 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 Sports Week app. Use the Code Ryan so you're ready for the moment. That's code Ryan. R Y E N turn five 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 wire text hope and why Connecticut? Call 888-789 visit ccpg.org on behalf of Boot Hill 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 offer. Before we start our radio Wednesdays here, I want to talk about Kyler Murray just a little bit. The news that came out this week that Kyler will be released next week. He's owed $37 million by Arizona in 26. They're paying him that. And had he been on the roster post March 15, that would have triggered 19.5 million guaranteed for 2027. So it makes all the sense in the world. Hey, they're going to get this over with quickly, move on. New coach, new everything. Number one overall pick didn't work out right. There's some other parts of this, too. You know, Kyler had a statement that was nice. You know, he's just like, hey, thanks, everybody in Arizona that supported me wasn't able to get it done. And by other reports you read is that he's thrilled with this option because now he's essentially going to be a free agent. Then he can figure out where he wants to go ahead and play. But I can't help but think a little bit about the market. I'll say this a lot about certain players where, you know, we'll argue about who they are, who they aren't, and you're. You'll have this moment. It's kind of like the Cam Thomas moment, right? Cam Thomas is a terrific score. All right, Nets fans, you get it. That first year where he took a million shots, I think he had, like, the third highest shot ratio of any player in the NBA before the season started. I think that was in 24. I remember doing a pod, and I was like, you know, who shouldn't have the third, like, highest shot rate in the league is Cam Thomas. And then he comes in and he's just making ridiculous shots. He's an unbelievable shot maker. But clearly something was a little off because even Brooklyn had kind of given up on it. And in a season where Brooklyn is probably one of the worst teams in the league, they still didn't even want to play him, right? And I don't think they want to play him because of his defense or whatever. So then it comes up on the trade deadline, you're like, oh, is Cam Thomas available? Yeah. We're like, what could you get for this guy? Like, he's a bucket. And then it's like, nothing. You're like, you're not going to get anything. Like, you're not going to get anything for that guy. And the line that I've used really, throughout my career with some of these players is that the league, not like the league can't be wrong about things. The league. Whatever league you like, right. They can be collectively wrong about something. But there's also a lot of times the league's right, and the league goes, yeah, this is kind of what we think of this guy. And so it's important to remind everyone that a trade for Kyler also means that you're trading for the contract, and then you're trading likely for the trigger for next year, I believe. So there's a. There's a really easy out to go, like, well, hey, you know, I don't. I like them, but I don't want to trade for that contract. So that's why there's no trade market, because that was apparently the word out of the combine is that they talked to every single team that would be in the market for a quarterback, and every team was like, no, we're good. And they probably have some understanding through the agent, like, hey, if they end up cutting you, which probably makes a little bit more sense, so they can turn the page, then we can talk. But if you're thinking about it depend really, it depends on what you think of Kyler Murray. But if you're thinking about this draft and how bad the depth is at quarterback and that free agents, like quarterbacks, don't make it to free agency if they're any good. I mean, Daniel Jones has got the transition tag after blowing out his Achilles, which I actually understand for the Colts, because they're looking at it, like, one year going, all right, this is, you know, 11% of our cap for one year. And we kind of liked him when he was here. And the Colts have their own issues, as they had given Anthony Richardson permission to seek a trade, which, you know, good luck with that. But if you're. If you're a front office, you're a coaching staff, you're like, you know what? There's a lot of the Kyler stuff that we liked. And if we get him in here with the way the cap is going to hit $300 million, making sure that you're controlling the transaction by trading barely anything for Kyler and taking on that kind of money, like, I understand the end. The NFL can be really weird sometimes where it be like, well, I don't want to take on any of that kind of stuff. And then it's like, well, what do you think you're going to pay him in the open market, because there's a way. And this will be what happens when the new team has Kyler Murray. They're going to hit on all the stuff that I just hit on. He made two Pro Bowls, I believe. If you look at NFL starters that have started more than five games in a season, going back to the data in 2003, 48% of quarterbacks have made a Pro Bowl. I just made that up. It's not true at all, but that's what it feels like. All right, so it's like, hey, he made two Pro Bowls. He actually has a couple years in there. The second or third years, they're. Statistically, when you look at it, you're like, you know what? That was pretty good. And he played in more games his first four years than you would probably realize. He missed six games, then he missed nine games, then he played a full season, then he missed 12 games last year. But he could have played, I think, last year. But it was pretty clear. When Gannon just announces, like, hey, Brissette's going to be the start of the rest of the way. And if Kyler were ready to go, it's still going to be Brissette. So they put him on ir, you. You'd have to think that they probably could have started him. They wanted to and they didn't want to. Right? They. They'd already kind of decided as a franchise, they're going to turn the page on him. But I'm just telling you, like, when you go back and look at some of the numbers where it's over 20 touchdowns, it's a more than 2 to 1 ratio of touchdowns, interceptions. I think early on there was some of the peak athleticism from him, where you're like, this is some spectacular shit this guy is doing. I think there was even a stretch, maybe like in the second or third year or felt like he was carrying this team a little bit. How about this number for quarterbacks to Pass for over 20,000 yards and Rush for over 3,000 yards the first seven years of their career? Here's the list. Josh Allen, Lamar Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, and Kyler Murray. So in the lack of QB talent that is available for the teams that need a guy like the rest of the league still was like, yeah, I don't like the contract. Like, I don't. I don't like it. I don't want to do this. And I think this might be an example of when the league kind of tells us how they feel about somebody, because I'll tell you, like, Looking at the numbers again this morning, I'm like, man, they look way better than the experience because the year to year experience on the whole, all seven years didn't feel great. And granted the last three are much worse than the first four. And the biggest thing working against Kyler is I don't know that I've seen a quarterback in, I don't want to say ever, but it's not a long list of quarterbacks that when he went down on something that didn't even seem like there was that much contact and then you're like, he's still down, but he got hurt there. Like, how did that happen? So how's that going to look like the next five years as he gets a little bit older? I mean, usually it's the kind of stuff when you're young, you're invincible and you get popped, you get right back up. And there are plays with him where I'm like, he's. How come he's still down? Like, where did. Where was the hit? And it would be like something really slight. And because he's a smaller guy, it's just harder for him. It's going to be harder for him. So if you look at the quarterback, needy teams, I think there's 22 teams that are locks, like, they're like, we're good, right? And that's including Vegas with the number one overall pick. You take Arizona out of this because they've moved on. So the rest of the teams we're looking at here, it seems like the two of them, we're going to try it one more time. Indies get Daniel Jones. We've already mentioned the Anthony Richardson part of this. This feels like such a Jets move to wait, then sign Kyler, have everybody get excited. He'll probably have like an awesome game. I don't know if it'll be Justin Fields Week one where you're like, all right, jets nailed. Also feels a little bit like a Pittsburgh move, but maybe post Tomlin and everything. And then we're still trying to figure out what's going to happen with Rogers, which I'm sure he's going to take forever to do and have some awesome quotes along the way. And then you've got like Cleveland, who I have no idea what they're doing. Minnesota, I think they get to give nine another year. Carolina, they made it to the playoffs with Bryce Young. I just don't think he was necessarily all that good. But clearly they're not going to do anything different. Atlanta's already invested resources even after Cousins So there's a lot of teams that are even if we don't love their quarterback situation, you can understand we're like, we kind of have to give this another year. That's probably what Carolina has to do. Like we got to get just another year here. Minnesota, the same thing. We spent this pick like, let's just make sure that we don't have the right guy. And again, the Carolina, Minnesota discussions are completely different so can kind of be whittled down to a much smaller list of teams that are sitting there today going, we have no idea what we're going to do. And we also love Kyler Murray, but we don't want to do all the contract because after 27 you're out. It doesn't feel like a ton of money for quarterbacks. But still no one was willing to do it because again, the reports are during the combine there was zero market for him. And I'd have to think if he was thought of the way we used to think about him, you know, when it was exciting and you're like, can he kind of be this guy? And it just hasn't been. But if you're still banking on like those really good years, you know, all right, look, I'll get him out as Arizona. I'll bring him in with our guy. We love our ocr. OC is going to design all this stuff. It's going to be terrific. It's going to be great. Then you're probably still on top of everything else going like, yeah, is he actually going to stay healthy? So I don't know if this is the best example of my rule of Sometimes the league lets us know that they're done with a player because of all these factors and limited landing spots, but it does still feel a little crazy. Number one overall pick. I'm not even mentioning the two Pro Bowls. Other people can do that. But the peaks with him and knowing with that he's with kind of a traditionally bad franchise that, you know, we'll see, we'll see what happens. He's going to get another shot, clearly. And I kind of hope it's the Jets. Get in the game of the college branded Venmo debit card and earn up to 5% cash back at some of your favorite brands with Venmo Stash Rewards. Upgrade your Superfan status with special edition School design so you can pay for your game day wings and rep your team at the same time. You can add your Venmo debit card to your mobile wallet as soon as you sign up and pay online and in store right from your phone. And the best part, the card is tied right to your Venmo account. Got paid back for dinner. Immediately access the money in your Venmo balance and spend it on what you want. Game day, snacks, tickets, new merch. You can easily split the purchases in the app and there's no monthly fee or minimum balance. Score more with the college branded Venmo debit card and get up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash. Sign up@venmo.com collegecard the Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp NA Select Schools available Venmo Stash Bundle Terms and exclusions apply at venmo.me forward/stash terms max 100 cash back per month. Lakers get a win last night at home against the Pelicans. But it's always bigger picture stuff when you're talking Lakers. And we were excited to have Yovon Buha on who you can check out his YouTube page, which I was watching this morning, recapping the win against the Pelicans. And of course Buha's block, his podcast as well. All right, I don't know, maybe it was last week or something like that. I kind of just had this epiphany with the Lakers and I'm like, look, they're above average team. They're pretty good. I don't know that I'd pick them against any team in the first round. Maybe if the matchups break the right way, you know, with Denver kind of falling apart here too, knowing the seating, things can change and all that kind of different stuff. We know they're bad defensively, but then to be fair, it's like, okay, but let them have their three guys. If their three guys are all playing together. And you know, it hasn't been as many games. I know you have the numbers. Like, you have to have an open mind about what's possible on their best healthy path of getting into the playoffs. So where are you with like the bigger picture expectations of what this Lakers team can achieve?
- [14:25]
B
I think you nailed it. I think they're a good team that's probably going to lose in round one, maybe if things break right and Luka is just that dominant and that special in a series, they get the right matchup, maybe they can make round two. But I think that the most concerning thing with them, like they've been a confounding team this season for me because there are like, you look at the record, they're right there. They're tied With Denver in the lost column. And there are some things that you can extrapolate out and be like, okay, like, to your point, they haven't really had the big three this season. They're right there behind Denver and OKC in terms of most missed games from, like, the top 10 in their rotation. At the same time, you look at the defense, you look at the record against teams above.500, worst among that top six. You look at the record against the top 10 in the NBA, you know, factoring in the east, and they're also sixth among the top, excuse me, top six in the West. So it's just like some of those things that you would want to see from them in a playoff context you haven't really seen yet. Six of their next eight games are going to be Denver twice, Houston twice, Minnesota and New York. So I think we'll have a better sense over the next couple of weeks where they're actually at. But I think the most concerning thing up to this point is, like, they just don't really have any statement wins every time they've played. They just played Boston. They got their ass kicked in that game. But you look at, you know, San Antonio, okc, Houston on Christmas, like, they've always lost these big games that. I think that's the thing that, for me, for now, indicates they're probably losing in round one.
- [16:02]
A
Yeah, I mean, it's three in a row, and it's like, oh, they've righted this a bit after losing three in a row. And it's Golden State, Sacramento, New Orleans. Before that, it's Dallas and the Clippers, Golden State, Philly, Brooklyn. And I think that was a Philly game where, you know, and B did play, so he ended up in that one. So maybe that's the last win that you're excited about with this entire profile. I guess the other thing that I'd said, I kind of cut myself off on. The epiphany part of it was that when you look at how great the clutch record had been, at one point, it was 16 and three. They're winning 80% of their clutch games. And it almost felt like because whenever I'd have a Lakers game on, I'd look at the record, be like, God, that's like a nice record. Like, that's like, not that I'm on it every single day, but there'd be these reminders a couple times a week of like, yeah, it's still a really good record. And, like, what's possible there in the seating? I wonder if maybe it's just the Luca part of it. It's like we know we are what we want to close offensively, even with our defensive deficiencies, but it was such a ridiculous rate of games that they were winning that maybe it was skewing who they actually were. But again, the 5 seed still very much in play. You could even argue the four seed is in play. I mean, if it shakes out where Minnesota and Denver's playing in the first round. You just feel like this is, this is a ridiculous first round matchup and maybe the Clippers are not the Clippers. The Lakers are in that 6, 3 matchup. Let's, let's speak more to that big three part of it though, because if, if that's what you're banking on, do the numbers back up that that is actually this really dominant group together?
- [17:35]
B
No, they don't. So up to this point in the season, they've played 17 games together. They're 11 and six. But you look at the teams that they've beaten, it's like Utah twice, Brooklyn. They've beaten the Clippers a couple times. Like, I don't. There's no statement or standout win in that group. And they have a -0.4 net rating together. And I think that's been the challenge. Like, even going back to last season, I believe in the regular season they were plus one together. After the Minnesota series, it dropped to minus one. And then now again, we're at minus 0.4. So I think you just have this sample size of those guys being at best, pedestrian. When you look at the other top teams in the west, then you put Gordon, Jokic and Murray out there, or you put Shea, Chet and J Dub out there. There's going to be a certain standard with those three together that the Lakers just haven't, you know, been able to figure out yet. So I think the biggest thing is really the defensive side, right? Like, there's no surprise there that if you're putting those three together, you have to nail the other two spots. And when your options are deandre Ayton or Jackson Hayes at the five and then Marcus Smart, Jake Laravia, Jared Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura at the other perimeter spot, like, it just hasn't really worked up to this point of the season. So, I mean, the new starting group with DeAndre Ayton and Marcus Smart has been better than the original one with Rui Hachimura. I think Marcus has definitely been the fourth best perimeter guy. I would argue probably their fourth best player overall. But the Laker like, if we look at a, a potential playoff series here, the big three are going to be playing 38 to 42 minutes a night. So even if you try to stagger them, which JJ has tried to do a little bit more of, you look at some of like the two man data. Austin has fit well with both, but LeBron has been better by himself. So JJ has been trying to do more Luka and Austin and then more LeBron by himself. But even if you do that, you're still going to get those guys playing at least like half the game together, you know, 20 minutes or so. So if you're treading water during those shifts, you have to crush it in the bench shifts. And the Lakers don't have the best bench, especially compared to the top of the West. So that's where I think they're in a, you know, a bit of a tough situation here of trying to figure this out.
- [19:51]
A
Okay, Luca, it's entirely different when you're playing for the Lakers and it feels like the conversation has shifted on him a bit. And it's not so much even the production. It's probably just more eyes are on him going, like, what's up with this guy? Like, it's. I know he leads the league in scoring, but is he. Is. You know, I don't know that anybody's ready to do the. Like, did Nico have some, like, was he on to some things here?
- [20:17]
B
Some people are doing it.
- [20:18]
A
Some people are doing it. Okay, so, so do you think it's happening because it's Luca with more eyes now nationally, or do you think it's happening more locally where Lakers fans like, and again, my default thing is like, there's not as many people watching as many games as, as you would think. And once you start there, then you'll understand a lot of conclusions. But are they now turning on him? Like, what do you think is happening here? More where it's a, a local awakening with Luca or a national awakening where it just feels. Look, I think it's gotten to the point where it feels like way too negative in the way that he's being talked about based on like what he is in this game, even with the wards.
- [21:04]
B
I, I totally agree with you and you know, a big part of my post game shows are doing a Q and A with the audience and I've seen the shift over the past few weeks where it's been a lot more negativity from Lakers fans toward Luka and a lot more just not liking the aesthetics of his game or the shot selection. Or just the heliocentric nature. So I think it's been both. From the national perspective, I think this had been brewing since the 2024 finals, right? Like, you had the windhorst moment, and then you also had post Dallas trade. Just a lot of the narrative coming out from the Dallas side. So I think this has been brewing, and there's been a little bit of a narrative around Luca. And to be clear, like, a lot of it's fair. I don't like. I think the shot selection, the turnovers.
- [21:55]
A
Last night was rough. Like, last night was. Last night was a. Like, I watched the whole game. He gets mad. He's trying to figure out what he's going to be mad about. Right? And part of what makes him great is he's one of the most arrogant professional athletes I've ever seen in my entire life. All right? And I. I probably rather have that, but he was looking for a fight last night, and he has. I think it's DeAndre Jordan on the first free throw attempt, steps in, and he was a beat early. I'd also tell every single NBA viewer, if you actually want to watch when guys get in early in the free throw attempts, it's. I don't know what happens, why you're. I don't know why you're allowed to line up with your foot into the paint. I don't know when this happened. Every single guy is stepping over the line, and he's a little bit early, and Luca loses his shit about it. He misses the first free throw, and he doesn't let it go. He doesn't let it go. He gets the technical, and then he's still mad about it while there's a drive to the right side of the paint, and he's kind of, like, indifferently going, like, maybe I should step over here a little bit. But he's still so focused on the official in the left corner that he's not even in the defensive play. And, like, that's the part of stuff where it becomes inexcusable. And again, now I'm kind of going on my ramp. But, like, last night was a really, really rough one for them in a game that they closed with their superior talent and because they have a guy like him and he was great. But that.
- [23:20]
B
That sums up the. The Lakers season, I think, up to this point, like, last night to me, was the most Lakers win or one of their most, like, Lakers wins of the season. Like, they're down eight with seven minutes left. To a Pelicans team and to your point about the clutch record. I think if you go back and look at a lot, like, they definitely have some nice, clutch wins against Philly and Toronto and the Clippers and, you know, a few others. But, like, about half of those are situations where they were kind of messing around with a subpar team and either blew a lead that technically went into the clutch, or they were down and had a late rally. So I think part of it's been propped up by that.
- [23:58]
A
Yeah, the JJ thing with him. Let me start here. How would you compare JJ Redick to other coaches that you've been covering? What stands out about jj?
- [24:09]
B
I, I think no surprise, but just how media savvy he is. And he certainly lost his cool if you go back to, like, pre game five in the Minnesota series when he got upset about being asked about his substitution pattern in the second half of game four. But I think there's a. There's a genuine, like, thoughtfulness with him that I think it. I mean, it's again, no surprise that he's a former podcaster and TV guy, but I think the thing that's been tough for him, I mean, there's been several things, but, like, he's had so many different iterations of this team, and it is just different coaching the Lakers than, you know, I would talk about it during the Darvin Ham era, but we're talking about, like, Darvin's bench substitutions on first take. And like, you're not talking about that about, like, most other teams. Right. So that there's just a level of scrutiny that you deal with as the Lakers head coach. But I think the big thing for. For him has been trying to balance the big three offensively. And just like you have these three guys who are all best with the ball in their hands, and it is Luca's team, he is going to be the primary guy. But then how do you fit LeBron and Austin around that? And I mean, really, if you look at kind of the breakdown of their season, they've kind of been better when one of the big three has been out. Like, they had the 15 and four start. LeBron missed most of that. Then Austin got injured. They had a stretch there with Luka and LeBron leading them where they were better. So, like, it's kind of been easier when it's been two of the three guys. But I think this has been the central challenge is like, you have three guys who you could all argue deserve to have the ball in their hands. Only one of them is going to have it. And primarily it's going to be Luka. So it's like, how do you fit in LeBron and Austin? You're also dealing with, like, you're trying to win now for LeBron, but you're also looking to the future for Luka. So there's just a lot of different components that I think it's been a pretty tough job. I think he's done a solid job overall, and especially more like the last 15, 20 games, I think it's been better.
- [26:08]
A
So Luca coming off towards the bench and being pissed the other night in that clip that made the rounds, level of concern,
- [26:16]
B
I mean, 1 out of 10, I think that stuff happens. And if anything, like, I think there's been the sentiment out there that JJ isn't hard enough on the guys or that because he has a preexisting relationship with Luka or LeBron, that he just lets those guys do whatever they want. And I like to see that, like, those are two fiery guys. They both love to talk and just going back and forth. Like, I, I, I don't think it's a big deal.
- [26:41]
A
Look at being pissed. It, Yeah, I, first of all, we agree. I might even give it half a point, you know, because it's like, hey, Luke is mad at somebody. No way.
- [26:51]
B
Oh, that's, yeah.
- [26:53]
A
So in the course of a game, him being frustrated, him, him kind of looking for all these battles that are out there, would you close a playoff game with DeAndre Ayton or Jackson Hayes?
- [27:03]
B
Jackson Hayes.
- [27:06]
A
I don't even think no.
- [27:08]
C
How about this?
- [27:09]
B
I would start a playoff game with Jackson Hayes.
- [27:13]
A
That pass that he made to the corner to, was it Laravia? I think it was. In the first half last night, I was like, I'm not even the biggest Jackson Hayes guy, but I'm like, that's a play. Ayton doesn't make that play. Yeah, Aiden's not a no.
- [27:28]
B
I got, I gotta give you your flowers.
- [27:29]
A
You, you deserve it.
- [27:30]
B
You, you were on the Ayton thing from, like, I, I was more on your side, but I, I was like, okay, $8 million. Like, I think he's lived up to
- [27:38]
A
the contract, but I don't even mind the transaction. Yeah, we're, yeah, it's more so like
- [27:43]
B
starting level center on a team with playoff ambitions. I, I, it, especially the last couple months have been rough, to say the least.
- [27:50]
A
The last couple weeks where it's like, so now I gotta manage you, dude. And then you go up against Phoenix, the team that drafted you and traded you, and you drop a 2 and 4. So after that, I mean, you can't
- [28:03]
B
do that after that story.
- [28:05]
A
You can't. You can't be on Clint Capella and doing this feature with McMenamin and then like, all right, big boy, like, let's go. I mean, the Mark Williams thing, it is kind of crazy to think, like, if they had just done the Mark Williams deal, they're a different team. Yeah.
- [28:24]
B
No, I mean, if they had Prime, Clint Capella, they're a different team. Like, Prime.
- [28:30]
A
Amazing.
- [28:30]
B
Yeah, even. I mean, I wouldn't go as far as this version of Clint Capella, but, like, I mean, Prime Click Capella was really good. That was a good player. Like a perfect Luca fit.
- [28:39]
A
Perfect Luca fit. Right. Because, I mean, old Jim H. Turned him into one of the best lob threats in the league. Yovon Buha, you can check out his YouTube page. Just type in his name and. Or you can check out Buhas block, his podcast as well. Yovon, thank you. Appreciate it. Ryan. 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 m365copilot Part of the Houston Rockets broadcast, which is actually one of my favorite broadcast teams in the NBA league, pass approval here. Vanessa Richardson joins us. Yes. That's not a lie. It's not a lie.
- [29:40]
D
Thank you, Ryan.
- [29:42]
A
I think you guys are terrific. I have a lot of fun.
- [29:45]
D
We have a lot of fun. We do.
- [29:48]
A
There's internal rankings that I update weekly and you guys are near the top all the time. Let's talk about this Rockets team because I feel like I was leaning towards being a little dismissive. Dismissive through the idea that can this team actually win an NBA championship. And I know it was a tough February, but I think the Reed shepherd thing, the closing group and him getting more minutes here at least opens me to the idea of like, maybe something really special happening for this team. I'm not quite there yet. So this, this month to month journey of who this team has been, like, how do you feel about them right now is maybe.
- [30:21]
D
Oh, my gosh, I think. I think they're in a good space. And it's. The word that Reed shepherd uses when I talk to him is just like confidence. And when, when you're a guy that is a shooter, you need, you need to shoot and you need to have opportunities to shoot and you need to see them fall to feel confident. And so, I mean, the boost that he's given this team, like when he and Kevin have both been going like they were against the Washington Wizards, it has been so fun to watch. And then he's, he's really improved a lot off the ball, like, and I get people aren't ever going to pay as much attention to that, which I understand. But his defense has gotten a lot better. He's got a lot of steals. And so to watch his game evolve has been really fun. And you know, him only being in his second year, man, like, the potential is just off the charts.
- [31:09]
A
So do you think that this is now like, there's buy in from ime and you're right about the defense, like, he's a really athletic player.
- [31:15]
C
Right.
- [31:16]
A
He broke up in alley OOP the other day that I couldn't believe. Like it was a transition play. I was like, damn. And look, there's some of the stuff that he had at Kentucky where, where it was really, really impressive. But I guess I'm just wondering and you would know is like, is this what it is now? Like, this is the group, this is the buy in from ime. Because it certainly felt like a trial throughout the first few months of the season, if that's fair.
- [31:39]
D
Yeah, I mean, you have to go back to when he was drafted. He was drafted number three overall in a very unique situation. Most people that are drafted that high, the teams are that high for a reason in the draft and they're not trying to win immediately. He was drafted to a team that wanted to win now. And you know, he didn't get a lot of playing time last year just because the Rockets were so deep and all of that. He actually, like went to the G League last year for three games and was excited to go to the G League because he wanted to play so badly. Seriously, I'm not making that up. He was like, yes. So this year now obviously Fred goes down and a lot of things happen and the, the team dynamic is different. So he's getting, he's getting serious minutes. And I'm going to like, say something that might be the most obvious thing that's ever been stated. In order to earn IME's trust, you must play defense. And he made that clear when he became coach three years ago. There is not a single guy on the roster that doesn't get that. And so I think Reed's defensive improvement has been a really pivotal part of him getting more minutes and just so fun to watch him gain that confidence and continue to make an impact. It's really fun.
- [32:49]
A
IMEI's been on the scene now for a few seasons here and one of the things that I really enjoyed about him in Boston is that he is just not afraid he will go at anyone. And then once you kind of know that, then I think you almost stop wondering if you're going to get preferential treatment. How do you think this group has responded to his approach?
- [33:09]
D
I think it's been great. I mean, you have to think he's had like Jabari and Tari most of their career. He's had a Min Thompson, a men's entire career and then the veterans that have been brought in have all like Kevin worked with him at Team USA when IME was an assistant and Brooklyn when IME was an assistant. So I don't think there's anybody that, that didn't know what they were getting. Definitely a tough nose approach. Definitely no nonsense. As a player, you can say whatever you want to the media because he doesn't really care. He any conversation he has with the media or that you have with the media, he'll have. So I think that that's really important. It's just like full transparency, not holding back. It's a very organized approach and it's been really cool to watch him transform this team. Like there are certain teams that are stuck in rebuilds or stuck at 500 and just feel like they're not going anywhere. The Rockets had everything come together perfectly. Like what the Fertittas and Rafael Stone's vision was. And then there had to be some lean years for that vision to come true. But their vision matching with like hiring the right coach and then last year they bring in or two years ago, Fred and Dylan. That helped just completely revamp the team. And it's been really fun to watch. But yeah, ime's been great and you can tell the guys really respect him, as do the other players around the league.
- [34:34]
A
I have an amend theory.
- [34:36]
D
Oh, I love it.
- [34:37]
A
And it is. I remember doing the draft prep for him and, and with that league I was like, I don't know. I don't know what to do with any of this. Like, he and his brother are clearly the 1% of 1% of athletes, but I'm not. And then it's like, oh, okay, these guys are going to be around. But then, okay. Amanda has kind of this breakout stretch last year where like this guy can do things on the court like almost no one else can do. And then he's tasked with playing point guard and the shooting hasn't improved. You see how defenders sag off of him. So now it's like if you have your initiator with the ball and then everybody's backed up, it's like nothing is ever as bad as like the Ben Simmons entry pass stuff where it's like, well, if Embiid is on it, Simmons side and then Simmons defenders glued to Embiid, like, guess what? That's going to suck. I'm not calling it that.
- [35:26]
D
No, no.
- [35:26]
A
But, yeah, but there's certainly something for like the anticipation of the national NBA commentary of like being in love with him. And then going into this year where now it feels way more about scrutiny in a spot that was going to take a lot of time if he was ever going to figure it out as your main on ball guy in
- [35:47]
D
love, like the national media. Look, everybody was in love with him and Anna Sar. And for good reason. I don't feel like I have to remind you of this, but I do feel like with certain people that just, I mean, like, you're watching the games. Like, I feel like with people that aren't watching the games and you and I know that there are people like that in this industry or maybe they look at a clip every now and then, I feel like I have to remind them he's literally playing a different position. I mean, he is. He is in his third year and he and Asar played point guard at overtime. Elite. But it's obviously not the same thing as playing point guard in the NBA. I have no doubt he's going to figure it out. But even better than that, I think Fred's going to return and look great. Reed continues to evolve, but for now he has a massive responsibility and it's not easy. I mean, he was the guy that was defending the team, the opposing team's best player every night and putting precious Achu on skates and like just all these plays that were unbelievable. And then he's, you know, Fred gets injured pretty close to when the season starts and they have to flip everything around. And so I have no doubt Amin is figuring out will figure it out. I don't. I know this sounds so cliche and trite, but I don't think the stat sheet always tells the story either with the impact that he's making and the way that he, you know, gets other people involved. So it's a balance, you know, it's a balance of this position that he's playing. And I've got so much belief in him because of his talent, because of his work ethic. But yeah, to your point, everybody falls in love with him last year, and then he has to assimilate and play a different position this year. And like anybody doing something new, there are challenges that come with that.
- [37:30]
A
Can you just give us an update, though, on the Van Vliet part of it? Because there was a report in February that said he's. He's basically done for the year. So I just wanted to clarify that. When you said he was going to be coming back, do you mean like long term or there's still some wind?
- [37:45]
D
No, long term. When he comes back. When he comes back. Yeah, like when he comes back, the Rock. Yeah, like the Rockets, I think, will be fine. And I know Fred and I know how hard he's rehabbing and I know how much, you know, how intentional he's being. He's still around the team, right? Like, he's still on the bench leading the guys at practice when there aren't cameras around, you know, making sure that guys are getting what they need. So, yeah, I mean, but. But for right now, Amin is. Is playing point guard, and that would be hard for anybody to their third year in the league start playing a new position
- [38:17]
A
because you had hit me up early in the year, which I think is. It's okay to share like some of these fourth quarter struggles where you were like, yeah, so they missed because you told me before the season, like, the no Fred thing's going to be a problem. And then it was like, well, I.
- [38:32]
D
What I said was people didn't understand the impact Fred has. Yeah, like that's. Yeah, that's what, what I said. People don't understand that. Like how what Fred did off the court, first of all, which I get that because I there, I watch every practice, I watch every shoot around. I'm very lucky Rafelani may allow me to do that. So I kind of get people not understanding his impact off the court, but it felt like maybe it was an under talked about story of everything Fred did on the court, calming things down around young guys. Experience matters. Like, I literally just interviewed CJ McCollum who's with the Hawks now because I'm doing sideline for Hawks Bucks tonight on espn. And like CJ was talking about how experience matters in big moments. Fred was the one that had won a championship and he had the experience. So losing him, you know, and him. Him getting hurt was, was a really big deal for the team. And I, I didn't feel like people were. I don't want to say that they should give the Rockets grace. I'm not saying that because I know everybody has a job to do. But when people are like, oh, the wow, the Rockets can't Rocket. Rockets are struggling to figure it out in the fourth quarter. It's like, yeah, their. Their point guard is, is on, is out. So, yeah, Fred had a big impact on the team, and I'm definitely excited for him to return.
- [39:48]
A
Yeah. And I'm definitely one of those guys that are doing the fourth quarter thing because I look at it again, I understand, like, they've had a year. I think their clutch offense was way better than I thought it was. I think it was just last year I'd look at the clutch offense and be like, my God, like, that's an awesome rating. And then sometimes the clutch stuff can be a little weird. But I looked at it again this morning. November, they were really good offensively closing. And then December, January's 24th and 20th. So I felt like even with February's record, that it was 11th and my eyes backed up. Like, I think this is a little bit better because I would say to you that the times where I, I become dismissive of this is about them only competing with the OKCS in the dentures.
- [40:29]
D
Yeah, that's fair. I get that there are tears.
- [40:31]
A
Everybody else.
- [40:32]
E
Yeah.
- [40:33]
A
And I'll see like, they'll initiate maybe with a men and then maybe he gets clogged up in. In what he wants to do because somebody's helping. And then Shingoon, with all of his talent, he could take guys from 30ft away from the basket, but that's not necessari something you want to do. It's like, hey, back down. Dribble from 30, way 30ft away. And that's going to be our primary number one thing that we get into. And then you can see KD get incredibly like, I've seen it so many times where he throws his arms up, he's mad about somebody on a screen or bringing a second defender over to him. And then there'll be times where it's like, hey, Katie, here's the ball 35 away, feet away from the hoop. And now you go solve our offensive possession. So I think the read part of it has gotten better. But did. Did you sense that, like, as you were watching it, where it was like, dude, are they really. I guess the best way to ask it is have they actually figured out who they want to be on those critical possessions because I feel like they had a lot where they weren't sure. And that's what led to Durant, like
- [41:30]
D
Ime Udoka, like, to be fair, like, said that to the media. He was like, yeah, we need to, we need to. We need to figure out better close games. Or, you know, I'm paraphrasing, but it was like that was the thing that they, that they said to the media that the Rockets players said was that they wanted to, you know, be great in late game situations. I also think it's cool when they, when they share the sugar. Right? Like, Jabari Smith Jr. Might have had a rough start to the year. He has been sensational since mid January. And when he's, you know, when they're double teaming Alperin or when they're blitzing or double teaming Kevin, they're going to. They're leaving Jabari or is Reed on the floor? Reed. They're leaving, essentially leaving them open. And so I think one of the things that I've enjoyed watching is in those high pressure moments, if they are going to double Albie or Kevin, the younger guys taking, taking matters into their own hands and, and the Rockets figuring out like if they're going to blitz or if they're going to double or triple team the two main scorers. And especially if it's a game where the Rockets are playing through Shagoon and it's Shinhub, you know, if they're going to block them out from scoring when you have other options. So it's a really good thing. It's a really good recipe for winning. So I definitely think that they're figuring out those late fourth quarter situations for sure.
- [42:45]
A
So I guess I'd end on this because it is an odd team in the structure of it because you have these high lottery picks. You've got a Jabari, you've got a Reed.
- [42:54]
D
Yeah.
- [42:54]
A
Easton's a little bit later, amends a higher pick. And yet there's championship aspirations because has been so terrific. And then Durant comes in and I think the Durant part of it has been everything you could hope for, from to be healthy to putting up these kinds of numbers. But you know, basketball, the NBA teams, I mean, this is not specific to the Houston Rockets, but you can have a bunch of individuals at times, and I'd say the Lakers are like a good example of that at times. It feels like is everybody on their own plan over there? What's going on? Like from a connection standpoint with everything that's Gone on this year. Like, how connected do you feel this team is heading into the final stretch of the regular season?
- [43:31]
D
I think they're really connected. Anytime you make a roster change, there's, you know, significant roster changes. There's going to be a period of time where everybody's assimilating, but I have seen, I am at every practice, I am at every shoot round, I'm in the locker room, I'm on the team playing. This is a very connected team. It just is. And it's been really cool to watch, you know, Jabari learn from Kevin and Reid just light up when the veterans are on the bench and encouraging him. And so it is a very uniquely made up team. There's no doubt about it. And, you know, when they traded Dylan, you know, for who is, of course, part of the deal to bring over Kevin Durant, I mean, Dylan was a massive part of the team's identity. Again, something that IME and the guys have said publicly. So, yeah, of course, I mean, when you add new pieces, there's going to be a time of where everybody's assimilating, but the team chemistry is great and the guys get along and, you know, the Western Conference, Ryan, what are you going to do? It's kind of a bloodbath every year, so we'll see what happens. But I have faith. I'm excited.
- [44:41]
A
Yeah, you could have a couple teams that have title aspirations. They feel like they're worthy if a couple of things break right and they could be losing in the first round. I mean, you start mapping out some of these matchups.
- [44:50]
D
Can the Nuggets stay healthy? What. What will the Spurs? I mean, it's. It really is interesting.
- [44:56]
A
Yeah, I can't wait. I can't wait for it. And I love that you got in the ESPN plug, because I forgot it at the very top. She's doing national stuff now, guys, so working with espn. Yeah. Well, there you go. And then you can check her out on the Houston broadcast where she puts up with Ryan Hollins and somebody who had to put up with Ryan while He was at ESPN, hell of a nice guy, but 82 games, that's a long stretch.
- [45:22]
D
Me, me, Craig, Ryan, we have a good time and our bosses give us freedom to have fun, so it makes it enjoyable.
- [45:31]
A
Well, I hope they keep doing it and Craig is great, too, so let's get his name in there. Thanks, Ryan, as well.
- [45:35]
F
All right.
- [45:36]
A
Well, thanks, Vanessa. 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 earn. 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, tastytrade has dozens of educational courses you can access for free with your account. Get Live stellar support from tastytrade's Deep Bench of experienced trade desk reps during trading hours. Visit tastytrade.com Barstool today tastytrade Inc. Is a registered broker, dealer and member of FINRA, NFA and SIPC. Anthony Slater, who has joined us over the years, now joins us from ESPN. Okay, this is a Warriors team that's 31 and 30 today. I selfishly watch and want it to be something else, but because of injuries and because of just the normal transition of things, this is the way sports work. I guess I want Steph in meaningful basketball. You reported on March 1st the knee would be looked at again in 10 days from March 1st. So I mean this is a team that is probably lucky to even be a.500 team with some of the names that are running out there. So what are we supposed to do? Those of us that are holding out any kind of hope for them to be fully healthy for the playoffs?
- [47:21]
E
Fully healthy can't happen because of Butler, right? I mean he tears his ACL in January. I don't think we'll see him again until maybe January of next season somewhere around there. But just Steph getting back from this runners and Chris Ops Forzing is somehow, you know, getting a full Runway of games. He's played one out of the first nine since he's been traded. 17 total minutes. So so there's a world I could see them on play in week having Porzingis and Steph on the floor that week. Their whole season will be that week trying to fight their way into the playoffs. They can't go up, they can't go down because of what 11 through 15 in the west looks like. So I just pretty much think we could pencil them in for the 9:10 against Portland is my guess at this point and I guess that's is that meaningful enough like a Tuesday night 9:10 Portland Trailblazers warriors playing Game.
- [48:11]
A
Yeah, probably. And what I'm saying here is, is, like, when I watch their games, I'm both amazed at how great of a job the front office has done with all these role players on the margins. You know, the top five scores in February were Moody, gi, Santos, Melton, Pajemski, and then Porzingis, technically, in the one game that he played there any night. Like, if you go back to, I don't know, February, the start of February, they've had seven different leading scorers. So there's a lot of things where you go, hey, that's a nice rotational piece. That's a nice rotational piece. And I guess I'm just sitting there, like, probably a lot of warriors fans are going, yeah, great job. Like, but this sucks. Like, it's going nowhere. This isn't. This isn't what I want.
- [48:53]
E
No, it's going nowhere. I mean, look, if you add Draymond Green, who's had a really down month, down season, you're kind of starting to see a little bit of the decline. He turned 36 today. If you add him in and then the three I mentioned who aren't playing, Porzingis, Butler, Steph, that's 170, $70 million of, like, either inactivity, 3/4 of it, or with Draymond, just at times, they're better without him right now because I think he's pretty tied to Steph as far as, like, you know, particularly offensively. You know, the success of Draymond Green, I think is tied to Steph, where they've closed better at times with Al Horford and G. Santos, you know, in the front court. So it's. Yeah. I mean, G League roster, minimum type roster. I mean, Moses Moody's, what, their highest paid player that's been active, you know, most of the time lately at 13 million. So you mentioned. I mean, they've had some nice wins, the Denver one at home on. On espn. Like, that was. It was a nice moment for some of their role guys. But this is not, you know, a playoff product right now, and unless Steph Curry gets back, it really just won't be.
- [49:52]
A
What is the difference in, like, okay, so his Last game was January 30th. Maybe this is one of those things with an older player, and we've seen teams do this in the past, but it's like, oh, it'll be fine. I'll be fine. It's be fine. You know, it's. We're now heading into a month and a half. So how is the. The health update or understanding of his knee injury changed over that time.
- [50:13]
E
Yeah. So you remember the game they had postponed in Minneapolis with. With everything that was going on in that city, he went and worked out in the arena that day. It was January 24th, and this popped up, you know, after the workout. It's like some swellings, you know, and the kind of like the kneecap areas, what they call runner's knee. It's a. It's in like a overuse type injury. He played through it some. He played one of the Minnesota games, played a game against Utah. They were playing Detroit. You mentioned it, January 30th. Last game he's played, he had like an and one in the third quarter, and it was just bothering him too much. So going into the break, they decided, hey, shut him down for three, four games, bring him out of the break with Porzingis. That was the plan. But he worked out over All Star Weekend, and it just didn't feel right. It's. It's just, you know, particularly during court workouts, it's swelling and it's like kind of dull pain. And just. They decided he came out of the break, they thought he was going to scrimmage on the Wednesday before the Boston game. Coming out of the break, and he just told him, I'm not ready for live. And they just shut him down. And he's just remained shut down. And I do think I do know, you know, talking behind the scenes, there is a hope they can ramp him up in this month, month of March, get him back on the court, see how the knee responds. He's called it unpredictable. So I don't think anybody's guaranteeing he's, you're going to see him necessarily this season, but that's the plan. And, you know, if he gets out there, there'll at least be a few more fun, you know, nights of basketball to watch. But he turns 38 on PI Day in 10 days from. From when we're speaking, I mean, I think that's the. The bigger picture view of this is. Is the age of the roster and the age of Steph Curry and the concern that this is an overuse injury on a knee that runs the most miles in the league when he's on the
- [51:51]
A
Przingis. Hey, welcome to those warriors fans that were like, is this. Is this how it works with him? He had the mysterious illness going back to last year's playoff run with the Celtics. They just couldn't quite figure it out. They tried to get him out of the court. It just wasn't Working. Atlanta is excited because of the idea, the idea of this stretch five that can shoot it as well as he can shoot it and also give you the rim protection when he's playing. I mean, this is. These guys don't even have to be great and they make a ton of money and yet he's played in one game. So I don't know if it's anything to do with the frustration of, like, this is all the Kaminga shit for two plus years and this is what we get for. So I don't know if it makes the Porzingis acquisition seem that much worse, even though to me that tells you there was no market for Kaminga. Really, on top of everything else, if this is what they could do.
- [52:42]
E
Yeah, I mean, yeah, there's two parts of it, the Kabinga part, but also the Porzingis tease part, which you mentioned. I mean, even you talk Atlanta people, the 17 games he played, it was like what they thought it was going to be, but it was like it was only 17. That was the problem with the Warriors. You know, they, they, they thought he was going to play in that Denver game and he called in and he was sick prior. They, they, he practiced on a Friday and got upgraded recently and then called it again and wasn't able to play. So it's, it's been like fits and starts. And you mentioned it. I think part of their, I know part of their strategy besides trying to go big fish hunting with Giannis at the deadline was expirings. And, you know, when they were talking to Sacramento who was trying to get in on the Kaminga front, and we're, you know, it's a monk, it's a DeRozan. They were telling Sack, go get an expiring if you want to get in the conversation. And, you know, perhaps that becomes a money saving thing. But the big thing with Porzingis right now, it's $31 million of expiring. It'll probably help with some flexibility if they just let him walk this summer. But when it comes to Christoph Sportsing is, I think part of their thought was, you get Porzingis in for the last two months and his career's on the line right now. Right. Because if he could put together 15 to 20 productive games and look like a real piece that the warriors need stretch five who can rim protect next to Draymond, they'd give him a nice little contract. Not 31 million, but I think they would. They. You know, I talked to Mike Dunleav, he said he's not viewed as a rental, but if he just can't even get on the floor barely in the next couple months, like, what is his market this summer? Is he a minimum guy? Is he out of the league? I mean, at this point, this is three straight franchises that just can't seem to solve whatever he's dealing with fatigue wise.
- [54:15]
C
And.
- [54:16]
E
And with this issue. And so I don't know how you can rely on him more than a. Necessarily a minimum unless he proves otherwise.
- [54:23]
A
You've done an awesome job just kind of educating us on the Kaminga disconnect there. Because I think if you just, you know, take a. A blank shot of the whole thing and, you know it's the right night, you go, like, who. Who wouldn't want this kind of dynamic guy, this size, this wing, he's young and all the different things. And I think one time you had explained and you were nice about it, you're like, here's an example. He's out there with Stephen Clay. Clay's absolutely cooking. They're running him off of these screens. Everything's supposed to, let's just have some fun with Clay. Clay's having one of those moments. And then Kaminga dribbled into the corner and took a pull up from 18ft on his own away from the play. And it was just. I don't know if I'm getting that right, but that was something you were explaining to us where it's just, you know, whether I don't know that Wiseman's even fair to bring up in this. But, like, Steve is trying to win championships, and it was pretty clear he's like, those developmental minutes, like, they're not going to happen here. And I don't know if Steve totally believes, like, hey, I didn't do a great job with Kamiga. Maybe there's parts of him that believes that because he was going to be just really restrictive with the mistakes he was going to allow to make, allow these young guys to make, because it's like, hey, we also have all these hall of Famers over here that are still like. Like competing at a really high level. So I can't just give you all these developmental minutes. So maybe that's what he means. Maybe Steve actually just knows that it sounds good. It's just kind of a nice way to put a bow on the whole thing, so there's no hard feelings, even though there's probably always going to be hard feelings. But, you know, then he goes off in a game with the Hawks. I mean, just goes off the Other night, do warriors fans like, is there anyone with golden states? It's like, oh no, he might be good. I mean, or I would, I would
- [56:05]
E
go, I would point at the direct top of the organization right at this point and go, somebody who's like, you know, kind of always believe, right. Joe Lacob, certainly. But you know, it was not good optics when Dominique Wilkins, a well respected hall of Famer is like screaming into the microphone the other night. As you know, Kaminga's wimmel dunking. Thank you Warriors. Thank you, Steve Kerr. You know, I mean that's, it's not a good look, particularly as you mentioned, when the guy they got him for has played 17 minutes since, since he's been acquired. You know, the coming.
- [56:34]
A
Yeah, that, I mean that framing makes it, it makes it tough because yeah,
- [56:38]
E
the crowd was chanting it too. But you know, with the Kaminga stuff, I think if Steve Kerr goes back, you could say, you know, why wasn't he playing more over Anthony Lamb in year two? Why was J. Michael Green, you know, getting minutes over him? And, and you know, you mentioned that there was the nightly motives of Steve Kerr and I think one of the problems with people just say, you know, he was on a championship team, right? Kamingo was he actually started three playoff games in that 2022 title run. But generally it wasn't just that it was a title team. It was that in those seasons they actually got very behind during the year and they were chasing every night felt important standings wise if they were just a one seed like Thunder wise where you could be like, you know, the Thunder could throw a bunch of developmental minutes out to like topics or whoever right now because every regular season night doesn't matter for the Warriors. And I think in important moments in Kaminga's career, Steve Kerr just needed to win on that Thursday and at times didn't feel like Kaminga was like a great seventh, eighth man over a GI Santos over an Anthony Lamb on that particular night. I mean you mentioned the, some of the pull up stuff. I remember a play in Detroit that was pointed out to me this was probably year two or three where they put him in fresh off the bench to guard Bogdanovich. It's in the wintertime, the arena is kind of cold and that coming is blowing on his hands when he gets in the game, right? Like trying to warm himself up. He's guarding Bogdanovich. Bogdanovich just goes quick pin down three. And Kerr was like so frustrated with it. But they came to realize he wasn't a 12 minute player, he wasn't a role guy. GI Santos is, has always been kind of the, I guess, juxtaposition guy they've used because he is the energy guy. You put him on the floor three of the highest energy minutes you can get, he's going to salute to the coach, go right back to the bench. And like, by the end, by year three, four, five, Kaminga was just sitting there saying, like, either platform, me, give me 30 minutes at night. It doesn't have to be 25 type shots, but it has to be a level of nightly trust where he knows he can make mistakes and won't get yanked around the rotation. Or if you don't believe in me that way, if the coach doesn't believe in me, Trey, you know, get me out of here. And then, you know, I've written about it, that that's where the disconnect was, where management wouldn't part with him because of the tantalizing talent, but the head coach, which they wouldn't part with, understandably, just could never believe in him the way Kaminga wanted. And in sports, when you know your coach does not believe in you the way you do, the way Kaminga clearly does, it's just going to inevitably lead to these issues that, that boiled and boiled and boiled to the point that what happened, happened.
- [59:06]
A
Is there any chance for a major shake up this offseason?
- [59:09]
E
Yes, certainly. You know, I, I, you wonder about Draymond's future. He's, I would expect him to pick up his player option, but, you know, he was at least depending on who you ask, they fought back against it, but it was at least made relatively available in the right deal at the deadline. So you wonder about his future. Poor Zingis. You wonder about his future. Steve Kerr, obviously, you know, he's on the last year of his deal. That's going to be a major talking point. And I just think how it feels that it heading into the off season, how they feel like they can rearrange the roster will dictate whether Steve Kerr necessarily wants to be back. And then, you know, if, if there's suddenly no Steve Kerr and Draymond Green next season, it feels completely different. Right.
- [59:48]
A
You think Steph would ever play somewhere else?
- [59:50]
E
No, I don't. I think, I think his view of his Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant style career matters a lot to him. I mean, his life is very settled in the Bay. I think that unlike other stars who maybe have never won a title, like, he's not, obviously he wants number five, but it's not like he needs it to cement the legacy. He retires tomorrow. He's What, a top 10, top 15, top player of all time? I just. I don't think he views himself going ring chasing that 39, 40 elsewhere, personally.
- [60:21]
A
Anthony Slater, ESPN. Thanks, man.
- [60:24]
E
Yep.
- [60:25]
A
Before we get to life advice, the alliance marches on. We have picks for you, but something that's never been done in the history of gaming. That's what our researchers are telling us. King of the core. It's never been done. So what happened?
- [60:41]
C
We hit the top three. So basically how I understand it was the top. There's. There's 3 million in prize money for yesterday's king of the court. And, you know, basically, if you make it in the top three, I had Ant, you had Paulo, and Kyle had Luca, and they were 1, 2, and 3. So we've literally approached a place that no man has ever gone before.
- [61:03]
A
Best ever do it. That's what they're saying.
- [61:06]
C
We are literally the kings of the court.
- [61:10]
A
Yeah.
- [61:12]
C
What's up?
- [61:13]
A
Yeah, Nothing else to say.
- [61:15]
C
It is funny because you'll see, like, you know, Kev will send the tweet out, and it's like, well, just throwing money down the toilet. You know, people just on us, because they just on everything all the time. It's like, nope, three for three, actually. So there you go. What's up?
- [61:27]
A
Yeah, I see it all the time. I'm just like, yep, cool. Nobody likes anything. There were some people who had our basketball established.
- [61:34]
F
Jay with a nice little note today.
- [61:36]
C
What's that?
- [61:37]
F
Jay with a nice little note today. That was cool.
- [61:39]
C
Yep. Yeah. Jack, our guy hit us up.
- [61:41]
B
I mean, people, I think.
- [61:42]
F
People.
- [61:42]
A
The Boston wine guy.
- [61:44]
C
Yeah. Somali Che.
- [61:47]
F
The New York financier.
- [61:52]
C
No, there was actually a lot of dudes have been hitting us up left and right about this. I think it's a big deal. Like, I don't think people are like, how the hell did you guys.
- [61:57]
F
No, I feel pretty good today. They boosted me.
- [61:59]
A
That's for sure. Changing my week.
- [62:04]
C
It's great. Yeah.
- [62:06]
A
All right, well, stay hot.
- [62:09]
C
Well, I screwed us last week at the alliance, so that's my bad. Jalen Brown did not go over points, but you guys hit your bets, so let me bring up the records.
- [62:16]
A
We're still.
- [62:17]
C
We're still all right, though, I think.
- [62:18]
E
Let's see. Ryan.
- [62:19]
F
Yeah. I do want to say, just for. For, you know, clarity's sake. For clarity's sake, you know, I picked Harded. And before the. The thumb thing came out, I switched to my boy Ty Jerome, two plus threes.
- [62:28]
E
He delivered four of eight. So.
- [62:32]
C
Yeah. Always loved Hydra.
- [62:35]
A
That Memphis roster's fun. You've been watching them?
- [62:40]
C
Not a ton, no. You're gonna be honest?
- [62:43]
E
Yeah,
- [62:46]
A
no, no. I just. I'm just like looking at the 10 guys they sent out last night in the Minnesota game, I was like, damn.
- [62:53]
F
I was more of a Kyle guy guy than a Ty Jerome guy. But just thinking back to that run, I was like, yeah, I remember those guys.
- [63:00]
E
So what.
- [63:00]
F
What are the stats now? He retired from basketball last year, I think.
- [63:04]
E
Oh, all right.
- [63:05]
C
Well, good for him.
- [63:05]
A
I loved Kyle guy in college. Yeah, greedy guy.
- [63:10]
C
Ryan is seven and nine. Kyle ten and six. And I am eight and six with two. My God. Two pushes.
- [63:18]
A
Two pushes. Okay.
- [63:20]
C
Yeah. Kyle's in the. In the lead, so why don't lead us off, Kyle. What do we got?
- [63:25]
F
Sure, sure. I've used my king of the court bonus bet already on this. It came through not too long ago. Thank you. DraftKings. I was worried about that. Antsy.
- [63:33]
C
I was getting like, when does it come out? We were like, you know, give it a. Give it a little bit. You gotta get. You know, they gotta verify stuff.
- [63:38]
F
Yeah, I agree, I agree, but. So I'm taking the adjusted spread. Knicks plus seven and a half versus the Thunder tonight.
- [63:45]
A
I think they've got some adjusted spread. You added three points. I did, I did, I did.
- [63:51]
F
Hey, it's getting us right into the sweet zone, so whatever. I use my winnings on that, so. Trust it, book it.
- [63:57]
C
It's just my bet and Ryan's betting, putting the parlay on our back. But it's okay. We'll do it.
- [64:02]
E
No big deal.
- [64:03]
F
All right, Mr. Push,
- [64:05]
A
how many have I used this year? Zero.
- [64:07]
C
I think I've also used zero.
- [64:09]
F
Yeah, what's your record, buddy? For the record, it's funny you say that.
- [64:13]
C
Some of us like to do it harder. No worries. Anyway.
- [64:16]
A
Ooh.
- [64:17]
C
Ryan, you're up.
- [64:18]
A
Portland, Memphis under 235 and a half. Some of these Portland totals have been huge. Huge. I tell you, I wanted to go scoot over. 12 and a half points. It came in at 14 and a half points by the time we wanted to do it. So I don't know what happened there.
- [64:31]
F
Couldn't have a little.
- [64:32]
C
That was minus 200. So we weren't going to do that.
- [64:34]
A
Yeah, Memphis is running out these guys playing defense like two way players. So I just think there's a lot of guards like. Pippin's back. Wells is back. I don't know it's just. There's just too much. I can't ty. Jerome is back. Javon Small in the cut. You guys watch any Javon Small. It's like, hey, did they make your look how small John Moran is now? Like. Nope. Different cat altogether. Under under. Although Portland's been putting up some massive totals lately and they're playing for something. But I don't. I don't want to do a scoot over against these just Hounds of Memphis that are going to be unleashed on the backcourt. Maybe a little underplay.
- [65:23]
C
I'm going to go back to the money line. Well, this is. The Hawks are actually underdogs one and a half points, but I think they win outright at Milwaukee tonight. Bucks, I know Giannis is back. Still don't trust them, don't like them. And I like the Hawks team in this spot. So I'm going to take them on the money line. I think that's like minus 105 by its by itself. So those three together Knicks plus seven and a half alt spread the under in.
- [65:45]
A
I just want to make sure we note it. Blazers, Grizzlies. Oh, it's noted.
- [65:51]
C
And Hawks money line is almost plus 500. So good money there.
- [65:54]
F
Right where you want to be. How about that?
- [65:56]
A
Yeah, right. Exactly where you want to be. Right here with my friends back on the show. Let's do life advice. You want details?
- [66:03]
C
Bye.
- [66:04]
A
I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine and best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. LifeAdvice. LifeAdvice rrmail.com cerutty Back in the mix. Yo, how was the Bahamas? Or how were the Bahamas?
- [66:31]
C
They were great. I like first time I did first time in the Caribbean. Although Bermuda is not the Caribbean. Right? I don't think. I think I have my.
- [66:41]
A
Wait, Bermuda?
- [66:43]
E
Yeah.
- [66:44]
A
Oh, no, no.
- [66:45]
C
I. I'm saying it was the first time I was in the Caribbean. I've been to Bermuda. Bermuda is not the Caribbean.
- [66:51]
F
You guys are Caribbean guys in Rhode Island.
- [66:54]
A
I think.
- [66:55]
C
Yeah. It's basically off the coast of like North Carolina, right? Essentially.
- [66:58]
E
Yeah.
- [66:59]
A
I'll be honest with you. Like the first time I actually saw that, I went what the is that like? Because just as a kid you're like be muted triangle and you're like this is. It's like near Africa. You're like, no, it's like Delaware, I
- [67:11]
C
think we talked about this, but yeah, the thought of Bermuda Triangle would be more of a hindrance to my life, but it just like.
- [67:17]
F
I guess it's like quicksand.
- [67:18]
A
Yeah, that thing haunted me. I'm just like, why is anyone flying over it? You know, you're at lunch break out a juice box. Like, I don't.
- [67:25]
F
Have you guys heard about this?
- [67:26]
C
Yeah, I think like one of every six planes was gone based on how the people talked about it.
- [67:30]
A
But yeah, we just didn't have a lot of stuff when I was a little kid, you know, so stuff stayed with you a lot longer. But Adam, that movie where he gets kidnapped.
- [67:41]
F
Nope, lost me.
- [67:42]
C
Don't. Don't know. Yeah, sorry.
- [67:44]
A
I think like 70 million people watched it. You're just walking around, going to grocery stores, being like, if I'm away from my mom for two seconds, I'm gonna end up in a van.
- [67:53]
F
Yeah, that was the propaganda for me too.
- [67:55]
A
But that was without the movie, you guys.
- [67:57]
C
10:00pm where you know, where your children are. Does that have to do with that situation?
- [68:02]
A
No. I mean, it's an awful story. You have to look it up. But this kid was abducted and then it was John Walsh. I think it was his son. Who FBI. America's Most Wanted thing. So there was this whole movie about it and the movie kept re airing because we only had like three channels on top of everything else. So every single person walking around knew about this story. And then it led to this hysteria of like if you're a Bradley's and you get lost in Star wars, figures your mother would come over. Like there'd just be moms everywhere just freaking out because of this movie.
- [68:38]
F
Yeah, they said my name on the Kmart intercom once or twice. And I tell you, I've never been more scared.
- [68:42]
A
Yeah, that's a lot.
- [68:43]
F
I've never been more scared.
- [68:46]
C
Shout out to Kmart, though. It's Kmart.
- [68:48]
A
Yeah. Anyway, Bermuda Triangle. So you didn't.
- [68:52]
C
Anyway, Bahamas was great.
- [68:54]
A
Everything was great.
- [68:55]
C
Other than man, I. I kind of took a beating on the blackjack tables. I have never seen more 3, 4, 5 card 21s in like a 48 hour span.
- [69:03]
A
Wow.
- [69:03]
C
But we survived. Beach was great. Dak Prescott was apparently there. Not at the same sort of resort, different section. We weren't that cool to get in
- [69:11]
A
that part of it, but.
- [69:12]
C
But that's a good time.
- [69:14]
A
Yeah, I'm a big Dax Fun and his brother. I use a big Will Kane fan.
- [69:21]
C
Yeah. What was his name? Oh, I forget his name. He used to call into Will show all the time.
- [69:26]
A
But I ran into those guys one night when I was with some other guys, and they were. They were great. So shout out to dad.
- [69:32]
F
You know who? I've run into a couple places, one being, like, a tropical location. Donovan McNapple. He's like, I just places
- [69:42]
C
Donovan McNabb. Yeah, yeah.
- [69:44]
F
Played beer pong with him.
- [69:45]
A
And did he twist your nipples off?
- [69:47]
C
He has a tough around the.
- [69:50]
B
Yeah, he.
- [69:51]
F
He went from kind of hot to cold, and I was just like, yeah, sure, I'm done. But, yeah, I've seen him a couple places. Saw him at super bowl, just randomly on the street. Didn't, like, ask if you remember me, but, yeah, he's just, like, popped up several places that I've been. Not really during a football thing, so it's just me and him. Got like a weird, weird thing.
- [70:08]
A
Yeah, that's great, man. Yeah. All right.
- [70:14]
C
Tad Prescott. By the way, shout out to Tad.
- [70:18]
A
Is there any. I'm not saying this as if I want to get off anything. I just feel like we didn't really get a deep dive in the Bahamas.
- [70:24]
C
No, it wasn't. I mean, you know, it was just. It's one of those things where, like, in the Northeast, you got to do the. Kyle, you'll know this now. You gotta do the January, like, February. Just, like, get out of here for, like, a long weekend thing. Get warm weather. And I didn't. I just wasn't good enough at doing that. I'm not a good planner. It's part of the reason why being married's awesome.
- [70:44]
F
Now that you have two kids, you're like, yeah, let's tackle this.
- [70:47]
C
And, dude, let me tell you, not changing diapers, not having to wake up with the butt crack at dawn to do something to go sleep in her bed or whatever. Pretty awesome.
- [70:56]
A
Oh, no.
- [70:56]
F
Came back on the trip.
- [70:58]
E
No.
- [70:59]
A
Grandparent.
- [70:59]
C
No.
- [71:00]
E
Sound bad?
- [71:01]
C
Nope. Grandparents shout out to them. They stayed at our place, took care of the things. But then last night, right in the thick of things, slept in my daughter's bed for about five hours last night, back hurts. 6am Bluey session. So we're back at it.
- [71:19]
A
Yeah, that sounds awesome.
- [71:21]
E
Yeah.
- [71:22]
A
No, I. Look, I get it. Sort of. Not really.
- [71:29]
B
There were times.
- [71:30]
C
There were times on the trip, though, where, like, because it was. There's, like, a water park there, and you're like, oh, man, this would be cool to do with, like, with, like, my, you know, daughters or whatever.
- [71:37]
A
I mean, one of my daughters.
- [71:38]
C
1. So it's like, not yet, but you're thinking that in your head, but you're like, yeah, but then like 90% of the rest of this would be horrible. Essentially it's like, can I, can I hang out with the kid for like an hour a day at the resort and then they can just go to some camp. That's kind of what they do. There's like these kids that they just go to camp all day when you're at these resorts. So maybe that's the future. Play.
- [71:56]
A
I think it's nice he even thought about it. How about that?
- [71:59]
C
Try to be a good dad. Yeah.
- [72:01]
A
Okay. Got some emails here. This one's a little time sensitive, so he sent it twice and I think we'll just try to help him out. Pirate optional party. 26, 6 foot 1, 190, no gym stats, 10,000 steps a day, including sprinting home from the bar. Sometimes player comp, Marcin Gore Tot, but not fully bald yet.
- [72:23]
C
Dwight Howard.
- [72:25]
B
Am I right?
- [72:28]
A
That is really good.
- [72:29]
C
It's one of the best nicknames ever. Yeah.
- [72:31]
A
Sprinting home from the bar, that's like that old Jeremy Shockey. Remember reading that profile? He's like out all night in Vegas and then like went back to his hotel room and did 500 crunches and he was like, I gotta sweat it out. Like, I don't know if you can keep doing it.
- [72:44]
F
Feel worth it at that point.
- [72:45]
A
Yeah. Some guy like 41, like, what are you doing? Oh, burpees. All right. I don't know why the 41 year olds would have the roommate, but I'm reaching out. Maybe it would be a woman. Because it is interesting you said that about being married and the planning thing. Because I remember when Van Pelt first, first got married, right? And I was there. So I felt like I can, I can share this a little bit. Like, he comes to the show, he's so happy. He's so fucking happy. New wife, happy new. He just comes in the studio. He's like, man. He's like, some of the being married stuff is awesome. And I was like, what's going on? Tell me about it. Oh, great one. He's like, there's cold cuts. Like, there's deli meat in the fridge and all my sodas are cold. He's like, so I could just. I just come home and there's like stuff to make. He's like, this is ridiculous. I was like, you know you could have done that before though, right? He was like, no, no. Anyway, so a little marriage lesson for the guys on the fence about that today. Ceruti approves. Van Pelt approves. All right, so I'm reaching out with a pirate theme predicament. I live in North Carolina. It's a big pirate. Pirates are huge in North Carolina. Most of my friends from college live in New York City. I haven't visited there before. Ooh, first time to the big city. Little country mouse action here. But I'm flying there in a few weeks as two of the core group are celebrating birthdays. The plan of the trip is a party where they're renting out a Guys are doing it upright. The invite, screenshot included. It just says beer on it.
- [74:22]
C
Yeah. Nothing else serious.
- [74:23]
A
There's a. There's a couple other factors that it.
- [74:26]
C
It says, is there a location, time?
- [74:28]
A
Some of it's redacted, right? So it appears to be a big ACC game. Beer seems to be a focal point of it. The beer font is like 40 and every other font might be.
- [74:41]
C
Are we sure we're emphasizing the beer enough? Should we make it bigger?
- [74:44]
A
Do people know they'll be there? Well, they sure do. It also says pirate optional in about a 6 font.
- [74:54]
F
Pretty small disclaimer at the bottom. Or is it somewhere in the middle that you'd expect it to be seen?
- [74:59]
A
It's pretty well done. I think it's a grassy knoll background here, but it says who it's hosted by. Then some other stuff's redacted, and then it just has a little shirt emoji and says pirate optional. So let's keep reading this, right? The invite, screenshot included, list attire as pirate optional. I keep close in touch with these guys. Group chat is active daily, at least Monthly phone calls. Monthly phone calls in your 20s. That's amazing for dudes. And this is the core friend group. Every single one of them is insisting they're wearing full pirate attire and it's going to be completely normal and a sick party. Here's the thing. We've never done anything like this in all the years I've known these guys. I'm the out of town guy, flying every weekend, and I genuinely cannot tell if I'm being set up to walk into a rented bar in Manhattan dressed like a pirate while everyone else is in normal clothes and becoming forever known as Steve the Pirate.
- [75:49]
C
Love that.
- [75:50]
F
Oh, man. That's exactly what it is.
- [75:52]
A
Oh, shit. So my question is, how do I actually feel out whether this is real without tipping my hand? If I can't know for sure, do I commit to the bit or show up in normal? Show up normal and hedge PS the eye patch is already in the mail.
- [76:07]
F
It sucks because there's like, as I get older, there's less and less stuff that I would be excited to dress for, but pirates are still up there. I really like the. The puffy shirt Seinfeld episode.
- [76:18]
A
You've always loved pirates.
- [76:20]
F
Yeah, I thought that was a great shirt, honestly. And since I was like, the Will Turner, puffy shirts from Pirates of the Caribbean, like, I still like that stuff. Unfortunately, that wouldn't go with. My advice is like, can you go pirate light? Is there anything you could quickly get, like, change, change out of. If you're like, oh, they got me.
- [76:38]
C
Keep the eye patch in your pocket. What would pirate light be?
- [76:42]
F
I don't know. Maybe you have a puffy shirt, but there's like a jacket sort of blazer thing that could go over it and where it wouldn't look so ridiculous. I don't. I don't actually know. But the more information I have that you're the one guy who's out of town, they're very excited to get you up in their neck of the woods. It sounds like this is going to be a pirate ambush where no one actually is going to be a pirate, but because, like, you want to fucking roll with the punches a little bit. I don't know. I might actually. If I found a, like, sexy Halloween costume pirate, I think I might do that. If I'm like, you know what?
- [77:12]
A
I might actually look.
- [77:14]
F
I might just, like, I could pull this off, and this is the only time I'm really going to get to do this. I might still do it. I don't know. Is the hotel close? Could you keep a go bag with you where it's like, all right, if we're going out after this, this does seem the further away from 12 o' clock noon. It seems like it's more and more stupid. There might be something you could just back up with. I don't know.
- [77:37]
C
Yeah. Is there a way that you could, like, I don't know, be like, hey, what, you know, where you guys getting your stuff from? Get some more background information from those guys about, like, is it a Party Depot center situation? Like, what's. What's. Where's everybody getting their supplies?
- [77:48]
F
Taylor made?
- [77:49]
C
If it's. If it's really sketchy, then you kind of know. And if they're being, you know, they're not. If you're pulling a lot of punches, then you probably know this. Maybe it's just you. I don't know. Sometimes, though, like, if you show up at this thing. Like, it could be a good thing for you. It's a good conversation starter for the girls. Like, I. I don't. I don't actually hate you just being the solo pirate guy. Like, you know, if you could pull it off and you're confident with it, like, I actually think this could be a good thing for you, regardless.
- [78:16]
A
Yeah, I. I think Steve nailed it in a way. Because it depends on your personality, right? Yeah. Like, I personally wouldn't want to be the only pirate. I don't think. I. I don't.
- [78:27]
C
I wouldn't either.
- [78:28]
A
Yeah, I would. I'd show up and I'd be like, are you guys fucking serious? I'd be salty for like an hour. Again. That's a knock on me. I'm not proud of that, but I know myself.
- [78:38]
F
Does the pirate optional make you feel any different? That it's not mandatory? You know what I mean? That he might not even take the bait. Like, do you think they maybe left too much on the bone there if they really wanted this to work out, that they said optional?
- [78:53]
A
It does feel a little weird maybe. Like, if you're gonna go pirate, go pirate, you know? But maybe they're afraid there's a bunch of girls that aren't gonna want to dress like pirates in March.
- [79:04]
F
Okay.
- [79:05]
C
I don't know. You know, I guess Halloween back in the day, it didn't matter what the temperature was.
- [79:10]
A
Girls were.
- [79:10]
C
If it was an excuse to get dressed up, they were gonna dress up, you know?
- [79:13]
A
Yeah, there's probably here. Here's what you really need to do, though, before all this, because I think Steve nailed something in that if you have the personality for it and you show up as the only pilot, it's the best Icebreaker ever. Like, you're the new guy. Right? But do your friends do stuff like this? Okay, and you said they've never done, like, a dress up thing, but do they. Do they mess? Do you guys mess with each other? Pick a guy who's gonna get a native level, right? Because a couple guys that I can think of, I think we probably all have a couple friends. You're like, that guy would never do this. He would never put in this, ever. He wouldn't even think of it. That doesn't mean he's dumb, but it's just. That's not necessarily anything that he's not his bag. Yeah, right. So the pirate thing is throwing you off, but you have to separate the pirate from this and go into, has there been other stuff? Like, one time we stole one of Our roommate's car the night of his first date and parked it at the girl's house. And he was so stupid. And then he asked for a ride to her house, and then we brought him to her house and his car was there.
- [80:24]
F
So pretty low stakes. A little confusing, but, yeah, he was
- [80:28]
A
pretty confused by the whole thing. And then he was trying to confuse her. Yeah. And she wasn't really in the circle, so she was like, what did they do? They took your car and parked it at my house. And it's our first date. We're like, yeah, that didn't work out. Yeah, we did some other stuff, I think, too, to the car. But you. You just have to kind of go, like, is this completely unprecedented from your group of friends that would spend time, coordinate this, invite you up, put it on the invite and the whole thing if you want to cover your bases. But the fact that you said PS Eyepatch is already in the mail or it's already been ordered, it tells me you, You're a fun guy, you know, And I think if you're the fun guy, you can end up winning the night, even though it was the prank on you. Yeah.
- [81:13]
C
Maybe bummed if it. If it wasn't, you know? Although maybe if he's the solo pirate, he actually wants that. That responsibility for a guy. If your personality is like that, that's. Yeah, maybe he wants that.
- [81:22]
A
Talk about the Alpha. Some girls like, hey, did you think it was a costume party? And just go, what are you talking about? Yeah, that's.
- [81:28]
F
That's all good. I think you could totally pull that off. I'd say maybe don't spend too much on the props. If you got like a rep to Met Replica Blunderbuss and you got to leave that when you guys go to the next.
- [81:38]
A
Is there a weak link in the friend group? You know, you hit them up and be like, hey, who's your pirate guy up in New York City? And he's like, what are you talking about? Or he just gives it away. There's always a bad actor. If the group is big enough, there's a bad actor where you'd be able to figure out, okay, this guy's. This guy's bad at it. It's like that guy in your fraternity. Like, you can't do the fake stuff with the pledges because you. You're terrible at it. You're acting so bad that you're just going to give way. All right, all right.
- [82:08]
C
I want to hopefully get a follow up. I. I want to know if this
- [82:11]
A
Actually goes down a lot of Brady hat response followup.
- [82:16]
F
Oh yeah.
- [82:16]
A
Every single person to the guy who emailed, you're screwed.
- [82:20]
C
The hat.
- [82:20]
A
No one is on your side. The hat is gone.
- [82:23]
C
I listen on the plane yesterday. Yeah, that's. It's. You're talking about kids. Like you're not getting this hat back from a kid.
- [82:29]
E
Like they all.
- [82:30]
A
All adding haha stamp. Like look,
- [82:35]
F
it's all adding up to.
- [82:36]
E
No.
- [82:37]
A
No way. Yeah. Okay. I think we had. All right, this one was a little. Little tough. A lot of people fascinate with Kyle's schedule. Didn't we already do that?
- [82:51]
F
What?
- [82:53]
A
People want to know more about your schedule. They. They feel like my work schedule. Yeah. Geez. God, I don't know why that was so funny. That God was funny. This isn't HR buddy. It's just an email.
- [83:15]
F
Yeah, just go back and listen, man.
- [83:17]
A
I don't know.
- [83:18]
F
What do you want?
- [83:19]
A
They want a weekly breakdown of where all your hours are. It's like bam. I need you to just keep track of what Michael's doing. Yeah, right. Write it down. Send it to me. All right. I want to get back together with my ex, but she's gained weight. This one's going to go over well. What's up, crew? Big fan of the show. Longtime listener, 6 foot 180. Mostly stick to the machines of the gym. So I don't have great data on one rep max. Now you don't. Player comp. Quentin Jackson. We're not going to win a lot of games if I have the ball in my hands too much. But if you squint, you may just end up giving me a three year deal. That's good. Mid 20s, live in Chicago. Broke up with my long term girlfriend seven years. So wait. Okay, so you probably miss college. About a year and a half ago, broke up for a variety of issues that we had. I've dated around since then. I do pretty well for myself. Humble bragging. But I've yet to find a girl I've connected with quite like her. The more time passes, the more I think maybe I had what I was looking for all along. Anyway, this past weekend, one of our mutual friends hosts a birthday party. She's there. First time I've seen her in quite a while. The only problem is she appears to have gained 10 to 15 pounds and certainly does not look like her peak self. However, I had 15 beverages. That's not insane. That evening and was willing to look past that. We hook up. Great night. Had a lot of fun with her and We've been texting ever since. I would consider working on trying to solve our issues and give it another shot due to the connection I feel with her, but I'm simply not as attracted to her as I once was. My question is, is there any way that I can ask her to attempt to lose the extra weight she gained if we were to give it another shot? Is there a way to do that without sounding like a complete and total asshole and potentially ruining the chance of making it work? Thanks, guys. Look forward to hearing back. What are we talking about here, like a clause? Hey, here's the deal. You get down to 121, 122. I'm. I'm all the way back in.
- [85:25]
C
Get Albert Haynesworth's lawyer in the mix. You know,
- [85:29]
A
that's good. Not.
- [85:32]
F
Not unless you guys, like, join a fucking run club together or something where it's like, me, too. There's no fucking way, man. I think we've answered this type of shit before. There's a way to do it, but there's not a way to do it where both of you or one of you don't hate you, or it's really sad or there's tears involved or like, you know, it's almost like bullying at a certain. At a certain point. So I don't. Unless it's like a joint thing. I don't know. Don't know how to.
- [86:03]
A
Diplo run club.
- [86:07]
F
It's not like you guys are living together, so it's not like you can control the intake or like, we're doing a juice cleanse this week. Mixing in greens. Like, there's.
- [86:14]
E
There's you.
- [86:15]
F
You guys aren't together like you used to be. So you guys are going back to your own lifestyles after every meetup, right? So I don't think it's. I don't think there's a way to pull it off unless you guys are, you know, going on hikes every week or something.
- [86:29]
A
I don't know you ever.
- [86:32]
C
Reminds me of. You probably have not seen this movie, but I saw this on a first date when this movie came out. How to Lose a guy in 10 days. Kay Hudson McConaughey. It's not bad, but there's always this one line that. This one scene that, like, stick. I think it's that movie that sticks in my mind when I forget what's happening. But basically they're trying to tell, like, this model to, like, lose weight, but they can't actually tell her to lose weight, so they're like, they're not telling you to lose weight. Just, like, go on the scale and subtract 10. I'm not saying lose weight, Just like, get on the scale, subtract him. Can't do that. Unfortunately, as well.
- [87:07]
F
Could you return some of her old clothes?
- [87:11]
A
Oh, there's no way to do it now. So we could just.
- [87:14]
C
There isn't.
- [87:15]
A
Probably. Yeah. Like, think about what you're saying. Think about what you're saying to her. She's probably been upset this entire time that you've been broken up, and maybe that's part of the weight gain. I also think 10 to 15 pounds is like, like not that big of a deal. I guess we could get into the frame and. Sure. If, like, if you girl weighs 130 and then she weighs 120, personally, like, whatever, you know.
- [87:39]
F
Oh, no, look, stick on this. I'm just.
- [87:41]
A
I'm just kidding. No, it just, it doesn't. I mean, look, there's obviously scenarios where you go, oh, my God, you know, But I. I have no idea what her frame is. So 10 to 15 pounds may be a big deal. It may not be. The guy said he's not as attracted to it. Right. So you're going to be the dick. No one's going to like you. Just a heads up because of that email and the way that you said everything. But there's also a very real part of it of, like, you're attracted to what you're attracted to. I think. I think you're 26 and being stupid. Right. Nice. You dated her for this long, you have this connection with her. You clearly miss her and you hook up with her again and you say you have this great night. So there's probably a more valuable thing that's happening with this. This woman. Not to say that it can't ever happen. Right now, this is kind of making you feel like this is the right thing. And look, we can all be shallow, some more than others. I can be shallow about some stuff, but. But you're going to let £10 get in the way of that. And you don't know, like, maybe when she's back together with you, she's happier, more motivated. Maybe she was upset about all this thing and then it just all kind of works itself out. If this is that big of a fucking deal. But what I would tell you is that prioritizing a slight weight gain over all the other things that you've pointed out yourself that are really valuable in a relationship.
- [89:14]
F
Yep.
- [89:16]
A
Feels stupid.
- [89:17]
F
Also, it's March 4th, dude. This is when People decide to ramp up, you know.
- [89:22]
A
Great call. There's a little blip. There's.
- [89:24]
F
Yeah, there's a little blip. Jan.1. And then, you know, March is when people are like, all right, gonna take these clothes out of the. The box under the stairs. And we gotta make sure we fit in there. So, you know, you don't know. You don't know what the next two months are gonna bring. Anyway, be positive.
- [89:37]
A
These heavy cashmere numbers box.
- [89:41]
F
These dropped over me.
- [89:42]
A
Yeah. Yeah. So I think that's the part you should focus on. You're really going to let £10 get in the way of a soulmate?
- [89:53]
C
Well said T shirt.
- [89:57]
A
God damn it.
- [89:58]
F
Another good one.
- [90:01]
A
I don't know who's buying that shirt.
- [90:03]
F
That dude that you told us about off air that you met.
- [90:09]
A
Huge fan. All right, I think we have time for one more. Yeah, it's quick. 510. Recently ran a 129 half marathon pickup game mid 2000s. Reggie Evans. Reggie Evans. I think he's another one of those guys. Like some 12 year old has an account. He's like, reggie Evans is a problem. You're like, yeah, these seven donkey. He was aggressive and difficult. I'm a guidance counselor in middle school. A new substitute teacher just started. Apparently he looks exactly like me. I'm bald with a beard. The new guy, also bald with a beard. Outside of that, we look nothing alike. Hey, welcome. Welcome to the game.
- [90:48]
F
Check my DMs. Like, yo, come get your boy. Rosilla. There was a funny one.
- [90:52]
A
They are pretty funny.
- [90:53]
F
There was one that was. Usually they're like, come on. I get I gas ball with a beer. But there was one guy. I don't know if you guys seen it. It's like a guy who's like going to jail for 15 years tomorrow and he's drinking a beer and it's like more, more close than any of the other doppelgangers anyone sent to me.
- [91:09]
A
It's like, oh, you mean it looks like me? It looks like you more than any of the other ones that have been said.
- [91:14]
F
He's like drinking a beer like, like a bottle of whiskey. It's like going away for 15 years tomorrow. It's the closest to you any of those event. I'll see if I can find.
- [91:24]
A
I don't think I drink the night before I was going away for 15 years.
- [91:27]
F
Probably not, but I mean, it's hard to say.
- [91:28]
A
I don't think I'd want to be hungover that day.
- [91:30]
F
Yeah, it's hard to Say anyway. Continue. That one was funny.
- [91:39]
A
Ever since he started, every staff members felt the need to tell me. We look the same every day for a week. Straight jokes. Like, you didn't tell me you had a brother. Why don't you tell us you cloned yourself for Constant? At first I figured it would die down. It hasn't. I get that it's harmless, but it's kind of annoying how society casually lumps all bald guys with a beard together. Hey, when I had hair, people used to think I looked like A.J. przinski. Then it switched over to Matt Nagy. Two Chicago legends.
- [92:05]
C
Yeah,
- [92:08]
A
if it were about weight or a big nose, making constant comments would be a problem. You're right. Hey, did you see that other guy with a huge schnoz just like yours?
- [92:16]
C
What?
- [92:16]
A
Are you guys related?
- [92:19]
C
Kyle just sent the.
- [92:20]
F
Did you see it?
- [92:23]
A
It's the best. Doesn't look like me.
- [92:28]
F
Dude, I said it to you.
- [92:29]
A
You did.
- [92:30]
F
That's the closest it's ever been
- [92:35]
A
I've seen this one. I think I have been sitting closely. I don't look like this.
- [92:38]
F
It's the closest one. I've received a lot. I've received a lot of.
- [92:44]
B
It's pretty good.
- [92:46]
A
It's good because it's like if went real bad for me.
- [92:50]
E
Yeah, yeah.
- [92:50]
C
If you were working outside, that's what you would.
- [92:56]
A
Sometimes I wish I was working outside.
- [92:58]
F
Oh, me too, man.
- [92:59]
A
I was out on the boat the other day polishing the rails. I was like, you know what?
- [93:03]
F
Nobody be questioning my hours then. See it all over me.
- [93:08]
C
Yeah.
- [93:09]
A
Look, unfortunately, whatever happens is how we're all allowed to group each other or not. Like, you can't say, hey, this nationality seems to look similar. Right. Like, because that doesn't work. Nope. But if you're a bald guy with a beard, you're just not protected by whatever fair game, for some reason laws there are. Right? Like, hey, did you see the new fat manager? He's disgusting. He's the same size as you. You guys on the same. Same program. You know you wouldn't do that. It's kind of like the other thing is, like, you weren't supposed to make fun of fat when you were a kid, but you could make fun of skinny again as a skinny kid was just like, oh, so I just. I'm not protected by whatever Geneva thing.
- [93:54]
C
Nope.
- [93:55]
A
The only way he then look, he goes, my question is, am I being overly sensitive here? Is it fair to be annoyed as being reduced to ball guy number one? I guess it's better than being ball guy number two. What's the adult move? Lean into it with jokes, Shut it down suddenly or just accept this? You said he was a substitute teacher, right? Those guys don't stay long. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [94:14]
F
He looks like I was here first.
- [94:15]
E
There you go.
- [94:17]
A
You're always going to be bald with a beard. Number one man.
- [94:19]
F
That's what I say to my Luca comps. I'm like he looks like me. I'm way older.
- [94:23]
A
Anyway, dude, you get compared to Luca. You guys just sent me a guy who's going away for 15 years.
- [94:31]
F
Yeah, not saying I hate it. Just saying you just got to come back with like a one liner that you just say don't think about it too much.
- [94:40]
A
That'll do it for the show today. Thanks to Tom. Thanks to Kevin. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Trudy. Abrupt ending the Ryan Rosillo show. Barstool sports.
- [95:03]
F
Sam.