← The Ryen Russillo Show
The Ryen Russillo Show
NBA Playoff Round 1 Exit Survey, Mike Breen Looks Ahead to Round 2, Plus a Vegas Recap
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Ryan Rosillo
Hey Priscilla listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. In sports, winning takes more than talent. It takes strength, reliability and the drive to go the distance. Sound familiar? That's the same DNA you'll find in a Chevy Silverado. As capable and dependable as a winning team, Chevy Silverado shows up and gets the job done. It won't flinch when the pressure's on. It doesn't take plays off when it comes to trucks. Chevy Silverado is football guy approved. To learn more About Silverado, visit chevy.com. The Ryan Rosillo show presented by DraftKings. On today's show, I'll run through just a bunch of different storylines, mostly focused on the teams that are no longer with us in the NBA playoffs. And then I'll bring down stuff all week. So I'm excited to get to the second round. I've also got some rapid fire stuff for you Mike Breen on all the teams and the East New York getting out. We do east west, don't worry west coast fans. So we hit on all the teams with him as well and also talk about his new broadcast team and how much fun it's been. And we've got life advice and a little bit of a Vegas recap. But the part of my take one is probably a lot better than mine is. There you go. The NBA playoffs are in full swing and the intensity isn't letting up. Every night delivers high stakes drama, clutch performances and unforgettable moments you'll be talking about for years. And with DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA, your winnings get a boost every single day. All playoffs long playoff stars turn it up round by round and DraftKings turns it up with them with a profit boost available every single game day from the first round all the way to the finals. Bet player Props bet live. From the opening tip to the final possession, every bucket, every dime, every clutch takeover matters. 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See terms@sportsbook.draftkings.com promos if I were producing a TV show today, recapping a bunch of stuff in the playoffs, I mean, granted you might want to just look ahead at the other series, but there's a bunch of these teams I want to talk about and kind of put it to bed as a topic until we get to the draft and free agency. So if we started with this question first, if you were looking at the panel and you said, what's the worst series loss in the first round? Rank EM1 through 8. Denver's clearly the worst one to lose to Minnesota. With Minnesota's injuries and the way we were starting to feel about Denver. You know, it's funny because going into last postseason you were like, I don't know about this Denver team. And then this year with the bench, even though there was some ups and downs with some of the pieces around Jokic and Murray, and as great as Murray had played in those games without Jokic, you're like, all right, well look, they'll get game five at home and then now IO's out like that's the worst series loss of all these teams that were limited this past week. I don't know that that one's up for debate. These next three, I could see all being interchangeable. I have Orlando, even though Boston also blew the 31 lead here just because of that game six, the second half, which I know is kind of what Orlando is. But even no matter what Orlando is like for it to be that bad and then to have him get eliminated yesterday, not shocking. Like the shooting variance shows up and I mean variance in the sense of Cade's getting everything going by everyone being open and Detroit hitting all those shots around him, which is not necessarily something that they had done in the series. We'll get to that a little bit later. And maybe it's because Orlando see, this is the thing is if I say Boston loses Tatum for seven, it's a well, Franz missed the second half of the series, so I could see people looking at Boston going 3. 1. But it really depends on what you Think about. About Detroit or Philadelphia. I'm totally open to everybody thinking Philadelphia. Well, I'm not saying everyone is, but if you were to say, hey, I think Philly might be the best team in the east right now, because this was the whole point of this team. This is what it was supposed to look like. Paul George like this. Embiid like this, at least offensively, and how he kind of changed that series. So it really depends on, like, what you think of the opponent. Maybe you think they're both the same, but that Orlando Game six is going to be tough for me to shake. I'm just glad I'm not a Magic fan, because if I was a Magic fan, I'd be haunted by that. If I were on the Magic, I'd be haunted by that. Even Anthony Black, after getting eliminated in game seven was like what we remember about the season. He was like, game six. So I have Boston third, worst loss, and then Houston again. You can make a compelling argument for them with no Luca Reeves coming back late in the series, but if Katie only plays one game. Like, I don't think any of us really liked Houston, but we liked him at least in the first round with the Lakers injuries. And next thing you know, they're down three zip. Atlanta I have is worse than Toronto just because of being at home and putting together maybe in real time, the worst hour of basketball I've seen in a really long time. Toronto, I think they deserve credit for getting it to a Game 7, especially with Ingram quickly not available for the entire series. Ingram obviously played. I'm talking about quickly being out. And then Portland. Phoenix are in their own little tier. Like, Portland even showed me some stuff. I was excited about Phoenix on the whole, I think the season's success based on the expectations and the turnover and no one thinking they were going to be any good and they make the playoffs, even if they were completely outmatched against OKC and had their own issues with health in that series. So I could switch some of this stuff around again. Orlando game 6 is just in my head, too much KD being available only for one game. And then again this version of Philadelphia where you're like, this was kind of the plan. I guess it just came together in the last week. And luckily the last week was during the first round of the playoffs. But there's also part of me that thinks with Boston not having Tatum for 7:2 is like, is this what was supposed to happen? And it isn't. I mean, you're up 3:1. You're supposed to Win. If you're Boston, you're supposed to win game five at home. But Detroit being this weird new 1 seed that has massive offensive limitations where they still, you know, other than Tobias Harris going, I don't know if you're going to count on that every single round. And he was terrific on the whole, I thought in this series. But you're still a little worried about that second guy outside of Cade. And then with KD only being available to one game, you're like, maybe this is what was supposed to happen, but it still feels pretty disappointing. And that's kind of like the general theme that I'm sitting here with on a Monday morning going, all right, if the teams that lost and the 2,3 1 leads that were blown, is there an argument to be like, yeah, but if Philly was going to turn into this and Detroit ultimately was a six to win team, like, how upset should you be? Because what happens when these teams are eliminated, and again, I'll raise my hand on this as well, is that you start to turn this into like this big version of money morning quarterback and you're doing it to all these teams that have been eliminated and you're starting to like trade all these players. And it's almost like looking at the first half of the first round of the NFL draft and saying five teams should move down. You're like, well, good luck because you're going to need some dance partners. And if you're these NBA teams that are pretty good and you still want to be competitive so you're not interested in young players or draft picks, like there's just not that many trades out there for, for a guy that's, that's really good on another team that's going to take you a notch higher than whatever your expectations were. So this is why with Orlando, I'll spend a little time on them after the game four win. I'd said they're the best or they're the most talented bad team I've seen in years, but their lack of shooting burns them again. They finished with the worst offensive rating in the playoffs of any team, 101.9 points per 100 possessions. So that's last 16 out of 16 teams that played in the playoffs. That number is so bad that it's six points worse than Brooklyn's regular season offensive rating. That was of course last in the NBA. The Franz thing, the Paolo thing long term because they didn't play a lot during the regular season. And there's a minutes number in here that's kind of nice for the Magic, if you want to buy into that. But maybe there's a longer term thing with Paolo and Franz. You're like, can we really have two six, ten kind of better on the ball who can't shoot off of it? I don't know if Powell is going to remain this poor of a shooter. Franz still seems to have this nasty hitch in his shot defensively. It was a huge loss for Orlando because at least with Franz in there you could go, hey, we put Paolo on Cade and Franz on Harris, at least size wise or Franz on Cade and go the other way. There's some size. Whoever Paolo wasn't playing on to close out this series, the other player was going to have a massive size advantage. And as soon as Cade has size advantage, it's over. And you know, Harris optimized every chance he had against a smaller defender. Franz would have changed that because we saw it when it was actually something was happening even, even if there were moments early, early in the season with Franz just getting back where he felt offensively. It's not him at his peak form, but I, I thought he was getting close to that as we saw him kind of get more comfortable in this. So in 61 minutes with Orlando's five guys, so it's Franz and Paulo, it's Suggs, it's Carter, it's Bain. In those 61 minutes in this series, Orlando was a plus 14.7 against Detroit. So you could sit there and say like, hey, that's a really good number. And now that they fired Mosley, it was early this morning, you could argue a surprise it took that long that there's something. And unfortunately I would say there's a lot of times I'll look at a team that I don't like and then somebody comes up with some like lineup where they go, well, look at this lineup. I remember the Trailblazers had one of these like six years ago. It's like, well, when the five guys are out there, it's actually the best net rating of any team in the NBA. It's like, yeah, but do you think that's actually who you are? Do you think that those five guys up against any other five guys, like, that's the best team in the NBA. There are plenty of examples of this. Milwaukee had like a really aggressive, impressive like five man lineup number in a year where I forget when they were eliminated in playoffs, but it was fairly early. But it was something that the media like, it becomes a local thing where you start banking on this number that looks so impressive. So it is a nice number. It tells you a little bit about this series and also what Franz meant in it. But to go, hey, we were plus 14.7 with our five guys in that series against the one seed and that's how we built a 31 lead. We're good. That would be a mistake. Because when it's bad and you're a Magic fan, the only thing you're thinking of offensively, like, I hope this is only a 120 run. I hope it's only 15 0. Like that's what you start rooting for. Like, I hope it's not like a 24 to 2 thing here. Can we just do a quick 12 zip run? So we're still back in this game, at least defensively. And you could also argue with Detroit's newness. Yeah, they were in the first round last year and their offensive limitations. We talked about the second option. Still not really being sure of who they want their closing five to be in the fourth quarter. That they were a perfect 18 matchup kind of victim for who Orlando is. Detroit shot it through the first six games. They shot 22% in the fourth quarter on three pointers. They shot 71% from three in the fourth quarter of yesterday's game. If you look at the financials here for the Magic, Paolo, Franz, Suggs, Bain, all making north of 32 million, they're the only team in the NBA with four players making 30 million or more. Mosley's out. They need to figure out a way to play faster. It makes zero sense. And it might be a Paolo thing, like whoever the new coach is, you're going to have to try to find a way to be like, hey, we need to go off of even some makes, but often misses. We need to go and look for an advantage. And if we don't, we can pull it back out and then figure out something. I don't know that a new coach is all of a sudden going to invent more shooting. Which is a problem here because if you look at the way Boston's been constructed with these two bigger wings who aren't even as big as, well, Tatum's as big as these guys, but he's not as stout as Paolo, obviously. But the Jalen Tatum taking turns thing can work if a defense is helping off of shooters, but then you're going to get burnt if you have shooting around you. Orlando's just not consistently had enough shooting around. And I think there's also maybe a conversation when all the guys are healthy. If this is the same group that they bring back next year is that there needs to be a little bit more trust in Bane, but maybe not having a SAR glued to him for seven games will make his life a little bit easier. So some minor things there because they don't have a ton of flexibility because of all the picks they've traded. And basically you have to give Paolo a chance with a new coach, hoping that whoever that guy is gets through to him a little bit more and convince Paolo some of the risk reward stuff that he's trended in the wrong direction with. On shot selection. Boston Missoula had his team read Sun Tzu, the Art of War, and one of the lines is if you see a weakness in your opponent, exploit it. Unless it's Embiid limping around in Game 7 on defense. I guess that message didn't get through. I don't want to be too harsh on this team because ultimately, like, this isn't what's supposed to happen. So I mean, you can chop it up into two different things. You can do a season long view and go, well, I mean, it's an incredible success considering the turnover, the expectations, the year Jalen Brown has, they get Tatum back. And then there's like this second part. It's like, yeah, well, they got Tatum back. They were the favorites to get out of the east because nobody seemed to really respect Detroit. You had a 31 lead against the Sixers, like, what the hell happened? What game five happened? I mean, game five, you lose the fourth quarter 28:11, that can't happen. I don't want to call them soft because they're not soft to make it through this regular season the way they did. There's a mental toughness to this team that has shown itself in the past, but they also have. Maybe it's an arrogance, an arrogance that happened in the Knicks series last year and blowing those 20 point leads and arrogance that when they're up 31 and they lose game five. Or maybe it's just the predictable nature of who they are and that when you're winning, you're commended for keeping it even, just being even keel all the time. But when you're losing, I'll admit, I'll be like, is this a collection of kind of reserve personalities where they needed somebody in some sort of leadership role to step up and go like, hey, we can't let this happen again in the fourth quarter. Excuse me, in the last five minutes of game two, game five and game seven, all games they lost, they were four of 29 from the fourth floor. And they can talk about open looks. Hey, we like our looks. You know, there's a lot of open looks for a lot of teams out there, but it also comes down to, like, who is taking that shot at that time. Orlando will talk to you about open looks. And it's like, yeah, okay, cool. We get a lot of open. It's just nobody's going to make any of these things. So I find them incredibly frustrating. I don't know if, like, arrogant feels more fair and there's an entitlement with them that is somewhat understandable. But when you start, like, mapping out their collapse here and Tatum not being available for game seven, it probably gets down to a little bit more of, like, who you feel is the better team right now, Is it? Detroit blowing a 31 lead to them isn't as bad as blowing it to Philadelphia. Because there's an argument to be made too, like, what if Philadelphia is everybody's favorite team in the East? Because collectively the east right now, which I'll finish with. I mean, I don't know how impressed you are, but
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Kyle
it.
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Ryan Rosillo
It's just an annoying team. Yeah, the Celtics are just an annoying team. And I don't want to be more harsh than that about it, but I. I just can't believe how many times you can watch them and go, so you guys are just going to do this again, huh? And then it just doesn't seem like anybody's, like, pulling everyone aside and going, hey, we. We are about to fuck this up, guys. Like, let's. Let's try something else. Toronto commendable season. To be honest with you, like I told you about the roster construction, I've never liked it because of how much money they've spent on all these guys. I mean, it is a ton of money on their five dudes. It's like 180 million bucks, right? And Brandon Ingram, you could sit there and say, well, if they had had him, if he'd been healthy, I don't even know if that's the case. I just don't like him in the playoffs. The quickly thing obviously hurts because it's asking everybody else to step up around him. But I would say, I feel better about Barnes. I feel better about RJ Barrett. I feel great about Murray Boyles. I feel better about Shed and Jacobe Walter. So I've just never liked. Liked it as much because of the spending. Because it's 165 million. That's right. For Barnes, Ingram, Quickley, RJ and Pell. But game seven versus Cleveland the bigs finally step up for Cleveland in the way that you would expect them to against this front line for Toronto, where it's Rookie and Purdle who they'd rather play the rookie than Pearl, who they spent money on. Allen had a terrific Game six and seven incredible third quarter yesterday and then Mobley's huge Game five and Game six. Mitchell and Harden, though, would you classify those as good series for either of those players? I would say no. There's also a segment idea here of who is at the party for best player in the east and what a Finals run will mean for that player. I think it's Cade, it's Brunson, it's Mitchell, it's Maxey, and I think you got to write Embiid down. I mean, could we be sitting here in a couple of weeks saying, hey, we think Embiid's the best player in the East? He's retaken the throne. I don't know if you would just hand it right back to him, but we know how much we overreact on all the playoff stuff. But he again really impressed me. Once he kind of decided to get a little bit more locked in offensively, I think it's going to be a problem for him defensively. I don't know what's going to happen in that New York series. As far as the defensive matchups, I'd imagine they probably don't want Embiid chasing Cat around all over the place. So maybe it turns into another thing where you have the big playing on Josh Hart, which means Josh Hart's going to get a million rebounds in this series if Embiid is playing him, because Embiid's just not going to pay attention to him the entire time. Or maybe Embiid, we're overrating him collectively because he was defended by Vuch, Garza and Keita. I can't wait to see what happens with the Mitchell Robinson matchups in this one. Donovan Mitchell had 62 points in the first two games, then he had a 6 or 24 and 11 to 26. So unless it's more of the same with a SAR against him, I'd have to imagine he's due for a bit of a breakout. All Brunson has to do is hit a few shots to close out the playoffs and then there'll be a reminder of he's actually the best player in the East. I think Cade probably is with whatever you want to say about Tatum at this point, but all of these guys are eligible for this. Just to remember the Halliburton rules. I don't think there was one national media member that suggested Halliburton was a top 10 player in the NBA. Which is why when we talked about the Pacers last year, I was like, okay, as remarkable as this run is, this is not what happens in this league. It's been like 40 years. Like, this is not what is supposed to happen with a roster making it to the NBA Finals or potentially winning a championship and they get the Game seven, and who knows if Halliburton was healthy for that one. But during that Eastern Conference finals run in that Knicks series, then it became kind of like maybe Halliburton is 10. So remember that. Rounding up math, we start discussing those five players, navigating the next couple rounds. Houston, simple question. Do you feel better or worse about your team after this year's exit or last year's exit? So let's go back. Let's take a look at your Houston rockets. So in 25, they finished with 52 wins, same as this year, 2 seed last year, 4 seed the year before, or excuse me, 2 seed last year, 4 Seed this year. Offensive rating went from 12th to 8th. Defensive rating went 5 to 6. Rebounding rating stayed number one in the NBA both seasons. The shooting percentage stuff on the advance, bottom third, 24th last year to 20th. Now in the clutch last year they were tied for the second most clutch wins, which kept hearing about all the time, but their overall net rating was like plus one. And I don't know that anybody that watched the Houston Rockets close games last year, I'm like, they're winning, but I don't know that I really like this. And I think this is going to be a problem in the playoffs. And then it turned into Van Vliet just being like the only guy that you could trust in the playoffs in that first round loss to Golden State. So they bring in Durant. You know, you switch out Dylan Brooks, who was a nice tone setter, but not really a number one option for a playoff team unless you're Phoenix and Booker's not playing. You trade Jalen Green, who you could tell with that contract they were indifferent with him. So, you know, I don't think that they were worried about like, oh my gosh, we're giving up all of this talent for Durant because Durant's going to come in and fix some of this stuff. However, when you look at the clutch net rating for the Rockets this year in 26, it went from 16th with a plus one to 24th in the NBA at minus nine. In the playoffs their clutch rating was minus 17. So you could sit there and say, hey, well you know they didn't have kd. Well with KD it actually was way worse than it was back in 25. The bigger rockets talking point is who of the young guys do you feel better about?
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Mike Breen
Amen.
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Ryan Rosillo
The shooting continues to be a huge like potential fatal flaw. I don't think you can play a guard that shoots this poorly. He's now taking 89% of his shots as twos and they tried it out of necessity. They tried it as maybe trying to have him develop as some sort of on ball guy. Right now it looks like a reach. You could argue that some of these numbers here are are still like just not good enough. Even though the on off stuff for him the regular scene was pretty good. Jabari has been a box score plus minus net negative 3 of 4 years including this year. You could say the earlier years, hey, they weren't that good. Okay, that's fine. Tari Eason, he's 35% from three his career first half of the season, 46% from three. I don't know that anybody really thought of him as a shooter. He is not defended that way in the playoffs. They're like, all right, cool numbers. He also shot 22% from three in the second half of the season. If you want to get into a post All Star, pre All Star all thing, it was 31 games for the All Star break, 29 games for him after the all Star break. So it's basically even. He fell off a cliff and he wants a new deal. Shingoon, five years in, he can't shoot and he's a liability on defense. And if you're playing him with a man, you're now playing two different guys that can't shoot. As talented as he is. And he's made two all star teams now. The advanced numbers absolutely love him. The on off stuff is really weird. Plus seven last year, minus six this year. But if he doesn't have shooters all around him to space it out for his terrific drives and great passing ability, those Amen Shingoon lineups that I would see out there and what other teams are doing to him defensively, you're like, this is a problem. So if you're looking at Houston, do you feel better about any of the young guys? Do you feel better about Reed simply because he actually played this year? And then you can throw in Durant in a new version of off ball contact where it doesn't seem like he loves it. I don't want to call him hall of Fame Brandon Ingram because I don't think that that would be fair to Durant. But you can make an argument you don't feel better about any of these guys and now you have contract decisions on Tari, who apparently was asking for the max. You can ask whatever you want for a man who's eligible for that monster deal, which I don't think Houston will do because we have some sort of thing to look at here. In the past with Jane Lynn Green's deal where he did three years, 105 million fully guaranteed with a player option for the third year, while Mobley and Cade were signing deals for five years and 269 million, this Rockets group was like, hey, we like you. You score a lot of points. We don't think you're that guy. And here's the offer that we're going to make you. And I imagine they'll try to do the same thing with a man. Atlanta, this is a good 10 months. You get the pick from New Orleans, which we still can't believe has the seventh best odds for the number one overall, 29% chance of a top four pick. You moved on from Trey. I think local radio guy in Atlanta who's being very difficult maybe doesn't have a ton of depth and I'm not even picking anyone in particular. But I know this argument exists because national NBA guy might do this too. Like, well, whatever. They traded Trey, but at least they made it to an Easter conference finals of Trey. I think it's too simple in grading who you are as a franchise by looking at this outlier year where you advance deeper into the playoffs than you expected to. I think it's incredibly misleading at times with teams. I think Atlanta's a prime example of that. You should be looking at your team in three to five year windows. They had trade there for a really long time. His trade value told you what the rest of the league thought about him, so they turned the page on him. The ricochet thing looks like an absolute bust. They have a stud in Jalen Johnson who got some playoff experience despite not looking comfortable throughout all of it. And they could be the rare team that has an incredible lottery value pick to trade to another team for somebody that they can plug in. But again, how many teams that are going to want to get better are ready to get better now? Like, which player is on a bad team that is going to make that trade before the draft? Unless Atlanta's like, hey, this is a great way to keep costs down and we think this guy's more ready to play for us now. All right, let's finish with a little rapid fire here. The Knicks clearly need it the most out of any team in the East. Could anything happen in San Antonio, Minnesota or okc, Louisiana for me to go San Antonio over okc? I know what the regular season stuff is going to be when those teams match up in the Western Conference finals. I think OKC punted on the fifth game, which is not an opinion, it's fact. You could also factor in that Wemby played such limited minutes against OKC and they still won four out of five. I'm not going to let myself fall into this trap of taking San Antonio. No matter what happens in the second round. If they match up in the Western Conference Finals, will Harden get a who are we bidding against? 3 year $100 million contract extension from Cleveland no matter what happens in the second round or in the Eastern Conference finals, the answer is yes, he does have a player option for 42.3 million. This finals run mean the most for anyone other than Embiid. If Embiid makes it to the NBA Finals, Buckle up Jokic fans. They're going to be back. They're going to be marching at you. Be like, I thought these guys were dead. They're not dead, they've just been lurking and if I set the over under at one and a half stars it will be injured between now and the end of the finals. You would hammer that over, unfortunately. Did you know Fast Growing Trees is America's largest and most trusted online nursery with thousands of trees and plants and over 2 million happy customers. They have all the plants your yard or home needs, including fruit trees, privacy trees, flowering trees, shrubs, houseplants, all grown with care and guaranteed to arrive healthy. Whatever you're looking for, Fast Growing Trees helps you find options that actually work for your climate, space and lifestyle. You don't need a big yard or a lot of space. You can grow lemon, avocado, olive or fig trees indoors, along with a wide variety of houseplants, all grown with care and hand selected to thrive in your home. 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Mike Breen
Hey, nice to be on. Thanks for having me. First round was wild. I'm hoping the second rounds is good.
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Ryan Rosillo
Wild. I think there's a bigger picture east thing that I want to get to. Kind of where you're at with the west, but I have to start with Orlando and Detroit and that series you had the call yesterday. It's very easy to forget these first rounds, right? Unless you're like a hardcore fan of one of those teams. But this one feels like I'm going to remember for a little while. The way I'll ask this then is if you're asked about this series in a couple years, if you can keep track of it, right, with all the stuff that you have to do, what will stand out as a memory for how many stories? This series kind of told two things.
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Mike Breen
Number one, that Cade Cunningham has a chance to be an all time great. He's just, he's got this obviously great skill, but he has this presence about him, this confidence. For a guy that's just 24 years old, his poise and maturity is off the charts and he is unguardable. One on one unguardable teams have to double team him. Otherwise they've got no chance of stopping them. So that's number one. And number two was one of the most inexplicable collapses and offensive displays I've ever seen. In, you know, 35 years of watching NBA basketball up close, that was. It was painful to watch. You actually felt for the Orlando Magic in that game six in the second half. And a lot of it had to do with spectacular defense from Detroit. But to see an NBA team go through that, I've never seen anything like it. And the ironic thing about it, Ryan, was their first half. Orlando's first half of Game 6 was probably the best half they played in the entire series. And then they followed it up with an historic collapse.
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Ryan Rosillo
I have been frustrated with Orlando all season because I like this group so much. I like Powell and A C. I think of doubt because of some of the inefficiency stuff, which is totally accurate. But in another way, what I loved about this series is that it was a true one on one at times. It's hey, our star. That's supposed to be at your level against your star. And I think Cage showed that there's probably a little bit of a gap just in the playmaking and when you consider the talent around Paolo. But clearly they've moved on from Mosley as that news broke this morning. Where would you put Orlando in the group of incredibly talented, frustrating teams?
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Mike Breen
Probably number one this year, but to give them an excuse, they don't have that complete meltdown if Ron Wagner is playing in the game and he's such an essential player on that team. And that's why I feel bad for Jamal Mosley, who I think is an excellent coach. Wagner had not been healthy. They have not been healthy the last three years. There's always guys missing big chunks. And for him to miss those last three games like that, that was a huge part of why they faltered down the stretch. So I feel bad for him from that standpoint. But as we know, that's now part of the game.
- [32:08]
Ryan Rosillo
There was a stretch where Embiid comes in in his first game back and he's getting his points, and I was loving it because I was just as frustrated as Legs and RJ were, where it's like, okay, but you're getting your points, but you're not. You're not really asserting yourself, which is to be understood because he's missing all this time after a serious surgery here. But what was it like sitting next to those guys once the light kind of went off for Embiid and how he changed his approach? Because you could sense that it was almost like Legs and RJ were getting what they wanted, even though there was some production when he first showed up.
- [32:45]
Mike Breen
You know what you say is one of the fun things of the job, whether it's Legs or rj, whether it's Eubie Brown or Doug Collins, whether it's Jeff or Mark, whether it's Dord or jj. When analysts see something beautiful happening all of a sudden, and it's almost like the light goes on in the team or in a certain player, they take such joy in it because it looks like, ah, he found it. He found what. What needs to be done. And they could tell that because they were frustrated by it. Embiid is. If Embiid is healthy all these years, he's going to go down as one of the great players of all time as well. But unfortunately, he hasn't been. And his presence changes the whole dynamic. And it was so evident that it changed the dynamic of the team and it affected some of the other players. Especially a player like Edgecombe still trying to figure out how to play with them. So when he started realizing, okay, I can defeat them doing some other things, it was. They were having. They enjoyed it immensely. And you could tell the difference in the. In the spirit of the way the Sixers are playing.
- [33:52]
Ryan Rosillo
I probably should ask this. At the end, we're running through the east, but I think it works here as well, because with Embiid's resurgence, you're like, is it crazy if they get out of the east with Cade getting through that first round and then being the 1 seed with all these wins? Even though I still think they're a little confused on who they want to be? The Knicks might be everybody's favorite just because we feel like they were just in the Eastern Conference finals last year. And then you go, well, look, Cleveland might have the best four out of any of these guys. Although as I say that, Mike, I'm wondering, are you collectively underwhelmed, maybe with the four east teams more so than you thought you would be two weeks ago? Underwhelmed, yes.
- [34:35]
Mike Breen
The only one that gives me pause is Cleveland, that they had so much trouble with the Raptors, Although, again, the Raptors are a team that got better as the season went along. But, no, I still think Detroit has a chance because of their defense and because of a special player. I think they have a chance to beat anybody. And the Knicks, they showed what we've seen in the last couple of games. Those last several games are some of the best basketball they've played in the last several years. And Philadelphia has always been, if healthy, and they are. They've got three great players, great players. And I put Paul George in there, who's to be the number three option on a team. Now you add the Kid Edgecomb and some of the bench players, so. No, not at all. I think what we're seeing is that there's a lot of good teams and there's a lot of talent, and you're not going to be able to impose your will on the opponent every single night. There's some nights you just don't have it. There are some nights the teams play great defense. So I think it's because of so many other talented teams make it harder to dominate in the league than it was, say, you know, several years ago.
- [35:48]
Ryan Rosillo
I may be thinking about the east end, because the way I frame that, it doesn't seem fair to say that about the Knicks. You're like, why were you underwhelmed because it went to City? Were they Supposed to sweep Atlanta like no, like you'd expect that. Atlanta was going to get a couple games, but as I match it up against the West. But I don't want to jump ahead to that, you know, I don't want to jump ahead of that. I guess two weeks in, after I look at the West, I'm like, I don't know how any of these teams have a chance in the finals with them, but I'm going to hold that thought because I want to stay on New York. What's different about this group, which is basically the same group except for some bench guys that are, that are playing more as opposed to the team that made it the Eastern Conference finals last
- [36:22]
Mike Breen
year under tips, I think the number one difference is OG Anunoby. When you have a third option offensively that can explode the way he can and playing with the confidence he's. That means the defense really now you've got three guys you really have to watch and three guys you might have to double team. And when you have have a defense that has to do that with three different guys, it just makes it so difficult to stop an opponent. So I think his surgeons on the offensive end has made an enormous difference in their potent offensive tackle already. And they've always been a really good defensive team. They've had good defensive principles. They're just up and down and some teams are just like that, like we want them to play great every single night. Well, they're not capable of doing it. Some teams just every once in a while lay an egg more than others and their defensive inconsistency was a part of that. But now that they're locked in and now they see their potential, I think their confidence skyrocketed with those last couple of games against Atlanta.
- [37:21]
Ryan Rosillo
Do you have to watch Hartford entire season to appreciate him enough?
- [37:26]
Mike Breen
Yeah, I think that's a great point. And I knew he was good. I remember there was Knicks were playing Portland when he was with Portland and I had seen them twice in a week and I remember saying on the air when he was a Trailblazers, every team needs a Josh Hart. That's how I felt to watch him a couple of times. And then when he came to the Knicks and you watch him every single night, it's so evident every team needs a Josh Hart. A guy that's willing to change the pace of the game does not care if he has a single shot. He would not care if he took a single shot and played 40 minutes as long as his team won. If he had to defend for 40 minutes. If he had to rebound, if he had to push the pace to. It doesn't matter. All the players say all I want to do is win. Most of them kind of believe it, but not 100%. That's all he cares about, is winning.
- [38:17]
Ryan Rosillo
That first round matchup between these two teams two years ago is one of my favorite first round series I've ever watched. And Embiid had huge moments and he also had a bunch of moments where, like, is he losing his mind out there? Just stuff that was absolutely crossing the line. And I think with him, it's even more frustrating for the opposing fan base because he's sort of pretending to play it off as if, like, oh, no, no, that didn't happen. You see the replay, you're like, oh, my God, like, this guy's. This guy's losing it. That feels like it's already nasty before it starts in the best way possible. Do you think there's anything from that series two years ago that you're going to apply to, like, how you think this would play out?
- [38:54]
Mike Breen
Well, I think for the fans, there's no question. There's no question. Embiid became a Garden villain because of the scraps that he had with Mitchell Robinson. Robinson got hurt on one of the plays that, that they felt was over the line. So that's going to be for the fans. But I think because of that, because of the scraps and because of it was a physical series and there was some great momentum, swinging plays and the emotional roller coaster, I think because a lot of guys are still there from those teams, it'll happen. And the thing that I remember the most about that series is how home court didn't mean a heck of a lot.
- [39:30]
Ryan Rosillo
And that's the.
- [39:31]
Mike Breen
That Ryan's a big change in the last several years. You know, home court advantage is great, but for example, this Knick team, all their signature wins this year or and in the playoffs in the previous years have all been on the road, whether It's Detroit Game 6, whether it was the Philly clincher that year in the series you're talking about. So it'll be interesting to see how the home court plays out, because I know in watching over all these years, there's no doubt in my mind that the opponents love playing at Madison Square Garden more than any other arena. They get so fired up for the electricity, for the show, for the Broadway stage feel of it. And that's going to be interesting to see because even though the Knicks have home court advantage, they played better on the road in the playoffs the last
- [40:15]
Ryan Rosillo
couple of years back to my east point, which I don't know that I'm getting full buy in from you, which I think is good because maybe I'm a little too negative after all the elimination talk that I had this morning. But if the Knicks, like, there's no 60 win Boston team like at the other side of the bracket here, it's still a Philly team. You're like, well that was a really impressive run they put together. Like, is Embiid even going to stay healthy through a seven game series, you know, which is a totally fair thing to have here. Cleveland's back court I felt like was underwhelming despite, you know, those two guys being the leading scorers, the Cavs, to me it just wasn't enough. If the Knicks don't get out of the east, how's that going to be received?
- [40:57]
Mike Breen
Oh, it's going to be a big disappointment, especially now that it's, it's not against the Celtics who everybody thought was going to have Tatum and it's not against the number one seed. So you know, they, they feel confident that, that they can get there. But it will be a big disappointment for them not to make it to the, at least not to the conference finals because they'll be favored. They have home court once again. Things are going in their way in terms of the path now, but Detroit, if they are fortunate to beat Philadelphia and Detroit fortunate to beat Cleveland, Detroit, it was a brutal matchup for them this year and they've got revenge on their minds. Talk about bad feelings from last year's playoff series. So that would be interesting going, but it would be a really tough way for the season to end.
- [41:45]
Ryan Rosillo
I've asked everyone this throughout the season, so I'll ask you as well. Were you ever tempted with San Antonio's run during the regular season and to see them have this thing that no one can really say, hey, we have a great plan against Wembanyama. Although I don't know that there's too many great plans against SGA either. Were you ever tempted to go like, hey, I think San Antonio will win the whole thing this year. I know that I was tempted at times. I just, I wouldn't let myself do it with the inexperience.
- [42:13]
Mike Breen
So you think no, definitely no.
- [42:17]
Ryan Rosillo
I know the four of the five in the regular season, but as I've said earlier and I remind everybody through this, like the spurs could say, sure, OKC punted on game five, but when Minyama, I think the most minutes he ever played in any of those games was 28 against OKC. And we'll get to kind of, you know, Minnesota and LA stories here a little bit, but. But I guess I'm making myself stay stubborn in that. No matter what happens in the second round, whether it's San Antonio looking more impressive than okc, don't let yourself pick San Antonio against okc. If that's the Western Conference finals matchup. And I just like asking any of the guys around it, because I was just so tempted. I was seeing it, it felt real. I was like, this is one of the few times I feel like OKCs had a hard time. Like the thing that OKC does to everybody else, where on offense you're like, this is going to be really hard. For about six minutes, San Antonio was doing that to the Thunder in a way that I just don't really ever see all that often. And as impressive as it was, I was like, don't fall for it. But I could understand why somebody would fall for it.
- [43:20]
Mike Breen
They could win it all, and I would not be shocked in the least. I get the whole experience thing, obviously, but this team is so much more than Wemby. And we're talking about a guy that can dominate a game of both ends without a problem. There are so many other good players. They have a great balance of some young, great athletes who play with hunger and some smart veterans and their head coach. I am so impressed with this man. He's done an unbelievable job. The respect factor he has in that locker room. So they can absolutely win. And with okc. And listen, OKC is still a favorite, but let's remember they had two seven game series last year in the semifinals and in the finals. And in the finals, Halliburton goes down in the first half of game seven. The Pacers led at halftime of game seven. And then obviously OKC turned it off. And I know, you know, you got to go the whole 48, but it wasn't as easy as everybody remembers. And, you know, to get to your point about teams that sometimes they can look. They can look bad. And you're like, I don't know about them. I have a stat, if you don't mind me reading, please. So last year, okc, in the conference finals, they lost a game to Minnesota by 42 points, 42 points. The year before Boston, when they won the title in the finals against Dallas, they lost a game in the finals by 38 points. Golden State in 22, when they won the title, they lost by 39 points in the second round. And when Milwaukee won in 2021 in the second round of Brooklyn, they lost the game by 39 points. So even the great teams, the champions have nights where they look like, oh my goodness, what is wrong with them? It just happens because there's so much talent in the league that on any given night you could win by 40 and you could lose by 40. Even great champions.
- [45:23]
Ryan Rosillo
Do you think that happens more now with the variance of the shooting? Yeah, because I don't pace of play. I'm sure there's some go ahead pace
- [45:36]
Mike Breen
of play and the three pointer change that. And that's why, you know, that's why teams every year franchise record for most points in a season. Franchise record for what they averaged franchise. Well, every team sets a franchise record with three pointers made and attempted now. But between the pace of play that has increased dramatically and with all the three pointers, those type of outcomes are much more frequent.
- [46:02]
Ryan Rosillo
I want to say something nice about Minnesota. I want to say I love their toughness. I love what they did. I think Denver losing that series is the worst first round loss of any of the teams that were eliminated this week. So I mean, I could sit there and be really nice, but nobody's picking them. So I don't know if you can you do a better job if you were hosting a show on what you would say about Minnesota's chances in this series?
- [46:27]
Mike Breen
Yes. I love the way they compete. Really well coached. I was happy for Rudy Gobert. You know, the defensive players never get the same credit as the offensive players. I'm so glad when a Hall of Famer, whether it's Dikembe Mutombo or Ben Wallace, they can win the hall of Fame because they were great defensive players. Because as Wemby certainly noted earlier this year, you do have to play at both ends of the floor. But I always feel that the defensive players never get the same credit. And Gobert, because he looks so awkward at times offensively and people like to make fun of him offensively, he is a great, great defensive player. He's one of the greatest of all time. So when you have that hub on defense like him, you know, you can always stop people and then you get all these other players who are strong defensively. McDaniels is such a strong defensive player that you give themselves a chance. Now, if ant plays, it's going to be a wild series because Edwards is capable of going off. But if he's not, if he's not healthy, they're going to have a really tough time.
- [47:33]
Ryan Rosillo
I know you can't answer this because it would cause all sorts of shit. Then why are you going to ask me? You were going to ask me a
- [47:39]
Mike Breen
question I can't answer?
- [47:42]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, I could just hear it in your voice. And I think it happens with guys that have a lot of experience, like yourself, where everybody loves beating up on Rudy. I have a hard time with Rudy sometimes where I let the bad parts probably overshadow all the good. And he was fantastic in the way he set the tone against Jokic and kind of made it hard. And Jokic got kind of a later start to the normal level of efficiency that we would expect from Jokic in this series. But my guess is that you hear so much of it and then you have access to the people that are with this guy all the time when you get assigned their games or you're on them for a series. And that. I think I've listened to you for quite a while. I think I have a little bit of a read on your personality that you then end up becoming. Not defensive and certainly not on the broadcast, but more appreciative. That would go against the tide of what the public sentiment is of some of these players. Is that fair? I can't answer that. Well, I was really going to ask you, do you ever lean over to legs off camera and go, this guy sucks?
- [48:50]
Mike Breen
No. Obviously, when you do talk to coaches and they tell you how important a player is, when you do talk to teammates and they tell you how important, it changes your mind. And then when you meet the player itself and you and he discusses his role and discusses how he approaches things, you have a whole different insight into them. And you have a whole different insight into the culture and the feelings in that organization and in that locker room. You know, a player like yesterday, Tobias Harris. Tobias Harris, when he was in Philadelphia, he seemed to take the fault for every loss that they had, or some of them. The guy's been nothing but a great pro. And if you ask the guys who play with him, they can't stop raving about a player like that. And the same thing with the Minnesota players. They can't stop raving about Gobert and what he does for them on the defensive end, how they can gamble so much more because he's back there. So to answer your question, because of that, yeah, you tend to understand the players a little bit better and what they mean to the team. Listen, there's no. I shouldn't say no, because there's probably been a few of Them. There's no perfect players. Every player has a flaw. Every player can be inconsistent. And I just. I've always tried to, throughout my career, focus on the positives. Yeah, sometimes I have to be critical, and sometimes you have to point out the weaknesses. But I've always liked to focus on the positives, on what they bring, and especially when you hear it from the people around them how important that is.
- [50:21]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I think that's part of the broadcast, too, in that I think it's always a good reminder that the NBA doesn't exactly want guys on the call being like, hey, I'll be at home going, well, how come they're not pointing out? And then it's just like, yeah, but that's not what they want. They don't want somebody to sit there and turn it into a podcast where then becomes being super critical. You can be critical of the play, you can be critical of the decision, but if it were like a bad Rudy game, I don't think anybody involved. And then you hear about it from the Timberwolves where if somebody on the broad, like, if Shaq were doing a game and doing the same studio stuff on the broadcast, that's just not what anybody would want on that side of it. So even if the fan wants it sometimes. I don't even mean to be specific, Rudy. I'm just using that one example of, like, clearly, here's somebody who doesn't like him. Although I don't think the list of centers that Shaq doesn't like today is a short list. It's just something for all of us as the audience to remember. Even if you're frustrated about at home, about a player, the way the story is told.
- [51:24]
Mike Breen
I always tell a story. Do you remember Snapper Jones?
- [51:28]
Ryan Rosillo
Oh, yeah, Steve.
- [51:29]
Mike Breen
Yeah. So Snapper was. He was a terrific player, but I thought he was one of the most underrated analysts ever. And we became great, great friends. And he would, after he retired, he would every once in a while, send me texts during the games and stuff. And one time the Knicks were playing and J.R. smith was having a miserable game, and I was pretty critical, pretty hard on him for me. And he calls me the next day and he said, hey, he says, I gotta let you know. Everything you said about J.R. smith last night, you were right, but it sounded personal. You sounded like a fan who was mad at him. He goes, you can't let it sound personal. And it was such a great lesson that, yeah, be critical, but don't make it sound personal. And I've never forgotten that.
- [52:22]
Ryan Rosillo
That was a local broadcast though, right?
- [52:24]
Mike Breen
Correct. Which sometimes you can be more.
- [52:29]
Ryan Rosillo
Sometimes advanced while you make a break.
- [52:31]
Mike Breen
Exactly, exactly. But it was a great lesson from a great man.
- [52:37]
Ryan Rosillo
All right, what's the best LeBron question to ask you? Because I could sit here and say, hey, how much you appreciate him? And you'll tell me a ton. I'll say, hey, does this surprise you? Say, yes, of course. We could all say selfishly, like, we're kind of excited just to get another round out of them, even though they feel like they're completely outmatched. So what would. If you were. If you were doing this, what would you ask yourself about LeBron to get your best LeBron anecdote out of this answer? Oh, wow.
- [53:04]
Mike Breen
I've never been asked that way.
- [53:06]
Ryan Rosillo
Some may say it's a terrible way to ask a question.
- [53:09]
Mike Breen
No, no, no, no. It makes you think. I would say, you know, two things for me stand out about him, and then I'll try and think of a question.
- [53:21]
Ryan Rosillo
We may just get what we need. We don't have to worry about that part of the assignment.
- [53:25]
Mike Breen
Number one to me, all right, he's the game's all time leading scorer. We know that. But his biggest strength has always been his passing. Always from day one, his passing is. Has been as good as anybody who's done it when he was in his prime. And number two, again, the game's all time leading scorer. The play he's most famous for is a defensive play. And I always found that ironic because there's this guy that points the crazy numbers. It's incredible that those other parts of the game are probably more important than in terms of his legacy. I hate that word, legacy, while somebody's still playing. But more important than his overall legacy, than other things. And I do think there was a stretch there. It was like, I'm going to say 10 of 12 years where his team was legitimately competing for a championship, and if they didn't win, they were probably the second best team. And those are the things that I always think about with him. Yeah, the numbers are incredible. And, you know, granted, he's played so many years, so the numbers are going to continue to climb. But it's for all the numbers that he had, the. To me, the biggest number was how many years his team had a chance
- [54:47]
Ryan Rosillo
to win a championship. I don't know what kind of access you've had throughout the season to him or what kind of access because I don't know all of your assignments here, but if you've had that access. Is there any help in us having him? Because he's always kind of like, let me rephrase this. He's talked about, like, oh, I could play forever. I mean, all these guys always do that. Like, I could be an elite player for the next five years. It's like, well, even with this, that's probably not true. But do you ever get the sense of, like, more like this final stage of appreciation? Like, yeah, it's about championships, but to be this productive. And I think at times it's still even hard for him. We can. We can pretend it looks easy, but I think the effort that he has to engage in, especially with this lineup, what he's tasking himself with offensively, that he can still do some of the things that he's doing when it's not just like, as easy as it's been through earlier years, there may be an appreciation that maybe he never expected to have for his own game at this stage of his career.
- [55:50]
Mike Breen
I think. I didn't think he had it early in the season because he was trying to come back from that injury after missing the early games. But I think as the season has worn on and I think having his son there with him has made it a little more impactful for him. There's no question the appreciation of what he's done. I mean, you think the guy's been an NBA player more than half of his life. We just got a kind of hard to believe. And I do believe he could play for another what's. He's 41. He could play for another eight, nine years. And, like, he could come off the bench and average 18 minutes a game and give you 12, 7 and 5. I think he's. Because of his mind, his brilliant basketball mind, he could still do that. But I have noticed and I have not had really any access to him at all this year. One of my regrets is that after Covid, a lot of the interactions with the players kind of went backwards a little bit. We didn't get to see them as much anymore. We used to get them before the games and all the national games. So I haven't had that with him. And I'm disappointed because whenever you sat down with him, it was so interesting on his takes on the game. But in watching him all these years, there's no question there's an appreciation knowing that it's near the end and what he's accomplished and what he's meant to the game.
- [57:15]
Ryan Rosillo
OKC treated that first round like an experiment. I think their head coach said before Game one, that game one was information gathering. Clearly Phoenix, not even at full strength, not a worthy opponent. They sweep him. OKC doesn't even shoot it that well. Jalen Williams, I think, misses two of the games on top. Everything else, when you look at OKC's adaptability, their, their options, how rare is it for a team that's this good to go? We still have 10 or 11 guys that we can throw at you.
- [57:52]
Mike Breen
Yeah, it's. What's rare is that those 10 or 11 guys, they're all satisfied in their role. That's to me, the rarity because a lot of teams have depth but they're not going to play that much. And the guys who aren't playing much, they want to play more and they want more minutes and they want more shots. These guys, the camaraderie on that team. And it's from a guy who plays every third game to a guy who averages 12 minutes a game to the starters who play 34 or 35 minutes a game. It's incredible how, and this is where I think Mark Degno has been so wonderful as a coach, how they've all bought into their roles and you know, I'm sure some of them wishes they
- [58:32]
Ryan Rosillo
could play a little more, but it
- [58:34]
Mike Breen
has no impact on their commitment to the team. That to me is obviously besides the talent, but that to me is the real key to the team. They have all bought into their roles and the team is all that matters with them. And he's done a great job of doing that with a lot of guys who would be playing 30 minutes for
- [58:51]
Ryan Rosillo
other teams the last couple years. Would you agree? If you're not prepared officiating for one, the screen fouls are out of control. Okay. That you have to tell your bigs. Like you can't give them anything to call on you because the guys are going to fall down. The off ball contact, which is always ramped up during the playoffs, but it's almost a bear hug to get from the opposite side back to the ball. And then the offensive player's advantage on the contact. Although I think they've been tightening up some of the off arm stuff a little bit more through the first round. I feel like I saw it called more regularly than I would in the playoffs. You're sitting there courtside. You've seen the evolution of how this moving target is always evolving in the way a game is officiated. How do those three factors, or maybe another factor that I'm not thinking about, impact. The way you can tell a game is Going to go well.
- [59:50]
Mike Breen
The screen setting is. It can be maddening. There are. I think the average is. There's 300 ball screens set per game.
- [59:59]
Ryan Rosillo
It's like.
- [59:59]
Mike Breen
It's a crazy number. And you know, like, what makes the extra make it illegal or not, you know, is the player fighting over hard or is he trying to flop? It's such a difficult thing to call because there's so many of them. And I think overall they've done a solid job on that because it's. Again, there's so many per game. The thing that I wish would. They would clean up is the ball handler impeding the progress of the ball handler. It's supposed to be an illegal. If you affect their speed, balance, quickness or rhythm. And almost every drive to the basket now, the speed, quickness, balance and rhythm is all.
- [60:39]
Ryan Rosillo
It's. It's.
- [60:40]
Mike Breen
I think it has some impact. Meanwhile, if you go to the basket, they allow a lot more contact with the basket. But on the perimeter, I think it's very, very difficult. And I know the NBA has said this a few years ago, they felt the offense had too many advantages, so they wanted to make it a little more equal and they wanted to give the defense a better chance. So when. When the player makes some contact with them, as long as the defender doesn't get in their path, it's not a foul. And I do like that. But I think what would change everything, what would help the defense where they didn't have to be as more physical, if they would call more. In the old days, we called it palming violations or carry every single player. Now the ball, the hand is under the ball. It used to be once your hand went under the ball on a dribble, that's a violation, and it is. It's a palming violation or a carry violation, and they don't call it anymore. And if you watch, players on offense can get such an advantage if they can have the hand under the ball and carry it over like that. I think if they really cut down on that and the players would adjust in a moment. The players are so incredible at how they adjust to how the game is called. But if they did it consistently, I think that would help the defense and there wouldn't be as much of the physical clutching and grabbing that goes on all the time.
- [61:56]
Ryan Rosillo
That was the big Jerry west thing. And he was absolutely right. You know, he was sitting there, he was a tad cantankerous about an ERA judgment thing. He's like. But it's a very. He goes of all the things that we're sitting here and debating because we had a dribble on top of the basketball and I don't mind that the NBA let it go because the Iverson stuff is fun, right? Like that's, that's fun. It allows your most, most athletic players to play with this incredible world class athleticism. That's why the travel and some of the gather stuff's never really bothered me. I never quite understood the gathering backwards and I texted somebody with officiate. I never heard back from them. I don't know when the pivot foot changing thing became legal. Is that one. It's not supposed to be legal. If you were stuck on your pivot foot and just going around, you weren't then allowed to escape with another step. I'm sure somebody will tell me, well, actually the rules and some of this is the rule bending that we've had. But there are, there are teams that you can see, like OKC is fine with it because they've gone through the playoffs here a couple times. San Antonio can match their physicality on the perimeter. If all you have to do is watch Castle off the ball to be like he is bought into being like, you can't call all of these against me, but if you are not and I look Minnesota's up for the physical challenge. The Lakers guys have been around for a long time. So out west, I don't know if that big of a deal. But if your team is not ready for that off ball stuff, if you just want to give up, you know, it, it can take some guys out of it. But as I'm running through all the teams that are left, I think a lot of these guys have been around long enough. It's not like Donovan Mitchell is going to be surprised when he's coming from the opposite corner that somebody's in his back pocket the whole way there, right? It's.
- [63:44]
Mike Breen
They've got to find a balance in there. And, and I think overall, I think the officiating in the first round has actually been really, really good. We haven't had games were like, oh my goodness, that was a disgrace. I think overall it's been really good. The other thing and Monty McCutcheon who's in charge of the referees, who is as good an official who ever called the game. He was brilliant, he's terrific. And he's one of my favorite people that I've met in 35 years. He's so smart and he's so great for the league. I have this constant argument with him so they call on the jump shot, the landing area, when the defender. So the shooter releases, the ball comes back down. Now the defender's in the landing area. They call a foul, the right thing to do. Sometimes a flagrant. Guys are getting hurt. My thing to him is on drives to the basket on a layup, guy goes up, releases, and the player can block it, but then goes plowing into the offensive player before he is back on the floor. That's just as dangerous, if not more. Yet that's not called ever. Ever. I've seen guys get completely destroyed driving to the basket on a blocked shot, but after the blocked shot, he just goes crashing into the player and the guys. Now he's impaled on the stanchion, for crying out loud. So that's another one that I'd like to see change, because I think guys can get hurt. We have a landing area on a jump shot. I think we need a landing area on a layup, too.
- [65:14]
Ryan Rosillo
I saw a hardened one, though, in game seven that I didn't love. So I was like, I don't want more of this. And I would say. Were you guys, like, 10ft away from Embiid's flop on the entry pass against Jaylen Brown? Yeah.
- [65:29]
Mike Breen
I think we even mentioned how much Embiid weighs. This is the 209th pound. But that's, you know, when it goes too much. And I think the flopping rules. And I credit Jeff Van Gundy. He. He railed on it for so many years that they finally started penalizing for it, and they backed off a little bit, and I think they could. They could do it again, but it's. It's been a part of the game forever. It's. It's, you know, if it gets you an advantage, I don't fault a player for doing it. If he's going to get the call, he's going to get the advantage.
- [66:03]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I mean, it worked all right. I just wanted to cover a little of that last thought here. You've had some change in a very short amount of time after having consistency with the team, and I'm enjoying this tremendously. I mean, I'm a huge fan of legs. RJ's my guy. How has this been different?
- [66:25]
Mike Breen
Well, Legs, if you've gotten to know him at all, he spent his whole life loving and following the game. And it's at a point where, like, when you go to dinner and he's talking strategy, you're like, all right, stop. Can we order? So stop talking basketball just for a minute. So you can order. I mean it's just non stop. His love of the game and he's waited for years and years to get to the level and show the people just how great he was. He always did it with Scott on SportsCenter and those were great segments. But now to see him get a chance to analyze the game, you know, he's like a kid on Christmas morning on every single game. His love of the game goes. Comes flying through the screen and I think he's been great and Richard has welcomed him with open arms and I think they're balanced. They're very two different type of analysts and I think it's been a really nice mesh. So I'm thrilled for legs and what he's been able to do and I think he's absolutely killing it.
- [67:28]
Ryan Rosillo
I'm loving it. I think it's great and I'm really happy for you guys who put so much time into the regular season and get to bring us the finals here in a few weeks. So enjoy the ride and we'll check in. Man. Thank you.
- [67:39]
Mike Breen
Ride anytime. It's an honor to be on.
- [67:43]
Ryan Rosillo
The alliance continues into the second round of the NBA playoffs. We are giving you out a play for Tuesday night. Although I'm just telling everybody pay attention to those Josh Hart rebound totals, especially if Embiid ends up on him. So that's a little, little teaser for you. All right. Whose board is it? Who won last week?
- [68:06]
Kevin
I think I was the only one last week. Had a little bit of a rough stretch here but you know, playoffs. Turn it around here. I'm gonna go. So we're gonna do Pistons Cavs. I was tempted to take the Pistons minus three and a half but I feel like it's like I don't know that. Just baiting me up for coming back from 3:1. I was tempted to take the over because I feel like the Pistons are going to be like, cool. We don't have to play the magic anymore. Like with this offense is easy now. I'm just going to take Cade's over. I think he's just kind of reached another level. I think he's awesome. He doesn't have, you know, the magic defenders like hounding him the entire time. As soon as Franz went out, he was a different player. So 28 and a half points. I'm taking the over for Cade.
- [68:44]
Ryan Rosillo
Okay, Kyle.
- [68:46]
Kyle
I'm not listening to Ryan anymore so I'm going to take a Harden over here. We're taking over six and a half assists for James Harden.
- [68:54]
Ryan Rosillo
I like that setting The Tone doesn't want to take a ton of shots early. Those drives, the basket, he's handing it off to somebody else. So, I mean, who do you think
- [69:03]
Kevin
is our guards in the series?
- [69:06]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, it's a really good question. I was thinking about that this morning because you could say, hey, do to Mitchell what he did to Bane. But they may say, you know, well, I think he's. I think they'll mix it up. I think they'll go, hey, maybe we want to cut off the head of the snake here. I mean, the thing is, if Harden can get left on you, he still has a really good chance because of the release on that floater. And then pass combo, stuff. Like he can get it. I just. I thought the way he was officiating Game seven was fucking disgusting. He had like four that were so bad. So I didn't think he was really all that good in Game seven. I don't think Mitchell's been really good in the series either. So that's kind of the alarming thing, is you go, hey, how come it took you seven games? Or they haven't even played that well. And if you have Mobley and Allen waking up, I mean, look at all four of them. It's not going to happen at the same time. The way defensive assignment stuff here, I imagine it's Wade against Cade, and then, You know, I mean, it has to be. But, yeah, I think I play both guys. I think he'll play both guys in the backcourt. Duran, I mean, good luck. I mean, a guy has not done really anything. Yeah, I would. I would.
- [70:26]
Kevin
We've already talked about this. I don't want to talk about my rankings anymore.
- [70:30]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, we're good. But now, I mean, he did almost nothing against only Wendell Carter and then Bataze, who, you know, looks going to fight and give you effort and everything, but now it's. It's Alan Mobley. And maybe they're not staggered as much, but, you know, the scary thing here for Detroit is Cleveland's deep. They're really deep. Wade, Struse, Merrill, Schroeder, Tyson, who looked completely out of sorts the beginning of the series and played some better minutes. But they like Wade's defense, so they may go back because they went back to Wade as the starter. All right, this is now another monologue, so I'll shut up. All right. Can I do an asar for points in Game one?
- [71:12]
Kevin
Eight and a half is the number
- [71:14]
Ryan Rosillo
you're actually on that under, because there's not going to be any perimeter shooting And I'll think, although there's probably some transition stuff that's a little spicy for him with Harden taken off the first half of not getting back on defense if there's some breaks off of misses. But Asar going up against the rim here when the point totals weren't that high. What did he average? 8.6 against Orlando. Last four games. Six. Six four and eight points. And he's not taking any free throws really. And he's shooting 50% from the free throw line in that first series as well. Not going to make a three. So I'm going to go under SARS eight and a half. What does that pay us?
- [71:53]
Kevin
That's plus 525.
- [71:55]
Ryan Rosillo
Whoa.
- [71:56]
Kevin
Decent payout there for the boys, Kyle.
- [71:58]
Ryan Rosillo
Magnum, man. Completely different week. Oh, man. All right, check out the latest odds sportsbook.draftkings.com you want details? Buy 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.
- [72:20]
Mike Breen
And best of all, kids, I am liquid.
- [72:23]
Ryan Rosillo
So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required today. Today's life advice is brought to you by Microsoft 365 copilot. What if you can add an AI assistant to your work without leaving your workflow built into Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook? Copilot works where you work, helping you do more. In the apps you already use. In Word, Copilot helps turn scatter notes into a first draft. In Excel, it generates insights from your data. And in Outlook, it cuts through the noise to get you up to speed faster. The apps, you know, go further with Copilot. Learn more@m365copilot.com work all right, we've got the gang here. Good to see everybody. I know it was less eventful than the others around me, that's for sure. Okay, some. Some questions of why Kyle wasn't at Max's bachelor party, but probably because we
- [73:13]
Kyle
don't know each other.
- [73:14]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, that was probably.
- [73:15]
Kyle
That'd be number one.
- [73:16]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. Not being invited. Number two. Yeah.
- [73:20]
Kevin
Yeah.
- [73:20]
Ryan Rosillo
Two related to number one. But yeah, I did 20 hours in Vegas. You know, it was. I told everybody. Like you will. I haven't listened to the episode. I don't imagine there's much to talk about with me in there because I was not exactly the life of the party.
- [73:40]
Kyle
Dude, 90% of that magic was just you going there. So, I mean, you could have done nothing and it was still like, it was massive.
- [73:48]
Kevin
Just to put it on the graphic. Exactly. Your face was there for Friday.
- [73:52]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah.
- [73:52]
Kyle
So Rudy couldn't pull that off, but you know, Max can, so.
- [73:54]
Mike Breen
That's awesome.
- [73:59]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, that's nasty. That's fair though. That's fair. I deserve that. Yeah. I got in I think like 7 or something o'. Clock. And they have it. I mean, they did a complete first class deal. Encore. They had a huge suite. Watching the games. A lot of bad food. A lot of bad food in the suite. And then right over Sphere. Sweet. There. See fish. Three and a half hours. You know, a lot of. A lot of new guys in the fish scene. And then
- [74:34]
Kyle
a lot of guys. First fish experience was at the. At the Sphere.
- [74:37]
Ryan Rosillo
That's nuts. That sounds crazy. I mean, the Spear experience is so incredible. Like, I would tell anyone if you have the chance to go see a concert and you're not even the biggest fan of that band, like, you'd have to like them a little bit or just appreciate live music. It is one of the all time live performance spectacles to see that screen.
- [74:57]
Kevin
Would you see Backstreet Boys at the Sphere just for the experience? Like how that one would be?
- [75:02]
Ryan Rosillo
That'd be a little tougher. Okay, Okay. I don't know though. That might be my heat zone right now though. Just show up single, maybe like do like a 10 pound cut. Just go in there. I love the no hair thing. Girls that like Backstreet Boys that are my age probably still like frosted.
- [75:22]
Kevin
So you might be put on a list.
- [75:23]
Ryan Rosillo
I don't know.
- [75:23]
Kyle
You see some of those Backstreet Boys, I think those fans would be pretty understandable. Some of those dudes are, you know, totally regular now.
- [75:29]
Ryan Rosillo
So yeah, I think the Backstreet Boys would be fine with it. But I'm just saying, women love the Backstreet Boys. So if you were having a really, really tough spell, would you just go like, I'm just going to get out on the floor and mix it up a little bit? Probably will never do that, but yeah, that's a good point. Sruti. Maybe the Backstreet Boys. There's a line where you're like, cool videos, man. I don't want to go to that. All right, so maybe not the Backstreet Boys, but I would say anything else. And the cool thing was just seeing how much everybody enjoyed it. Like guys that maybe don't even like fish all that much because it was that big of a spectacle table. And then we all changed. And then unfortunately someone made the call to get a table at Liv And I think it took us longer to get in than how long me, Big Cat, and PFT were in there. So I guess there's a connection to John Summit, because he's from Chicago or whatever. And his whole story, I guess he was like an accountant. And now he's just out there in a white tank top firing away jams, just surrounded by a sea of women. And then Dante was like, no, I'm texting with its manager. We're all supposed to go down there and hang out with him in the DJ booth. And you're looking down at the DJ booth and be like, I don't think they want us to hang out down there. And so there was nowhere to really stand at the table. And then I was like, all right, well, I might as well just get a drink if I'm waiting here. And I. That's the oldest, like, you know Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones?
- [77:00]
Kevin
Of course. Yeah.
- [77:01]
Ryan Rosillo
Like, he's in love with Daenerys the entire time. But it's like, who's this second son dickhead with the long hair? Although the second guy who replaced him was the same character, had short hair. And then, like, Jon Snow shows up, and it's just like. That's how I felt. Like, Jorah was just, like, looking around going, you're so old. You are so old. Your heart's in the right place. You're out of your element. Yep. You're so old. Although, you know, it's not that long ago. Went pretty late there with Chris Long. So I'm not saying, like, I don't have it in me, but right when we rolled in, I mean, right. Yeah. I was insecurity forever. And I also knew. I was like, I don't really want to. I don't want to feel terrible tomorrow because I'm flying back and I've got shit to do. And so any as friends? No, as Big Cat, like, as I waited to order a drink, Big Cat's like, we're out of here,
- [77:53]
Kyle
so just check the box. And he was like, all right, I'm allowed to just check the box.
- [77:57]
Ryan Rosillo
Cool.
- [77:57]
Kevin
So.
- [77:57]
Ryan Rosillo
Didn't even have a drink. Waited the whole time, pat down security. I mean, it took forever to get in there. And I was like, isn't the whole point of having a table is that it's not supposed to take forever to get inside?
- [78:07]
Kevin
Isn't the whole point of being famous? You're not supposed to have to wait? I mean, there's a lot of dudes that people know. I feel like it would be easier for you guys to move around and get a spot.
- [78:15]
Ryan Rosillo
They had the spot. Like, once we were in, we had the spot and the whole deal was fine. Like, I've done that part of it before and usually it's. It's somebody else. Somebody's like, hey, Versilos here. Part the seas start kicking people out. Yeah. So then the three of us went back to the casino and none of us even did anything then because I was like, are we going to do anything? And they're like, no.
- [78:34]
Kevin
I was like, what time was it?
- [78:36]
Ryan Rosillo
We were back at encore by two.
- [78:38]
Kevin
Oh, okay. Oh, so what time was fish?
- [78:41]
Ryan Rosillo
Like 98 to like 11:30.
- [78:45]
Kevin
Oh, that's not bad.
- [78:46]
Ryan Rosillo
That sounds short for fish show. No, that's. I mean, they're not going, like, crazy.
- [78:54]
Kyle
They don't have like 40 minute songs sometimes where everyone's looking around like, okay,
- [78:58]
Ryan Rosillo
that's what I thought I did about 30 minute talking heads cover.
- [79:02]
Kevin
Okay, can we get.
- [79:05]
Ryan Rosillo
So, yeah, is there.
- [79:07]
Kevin
We get like a. Do you make any friends? Like, is there. We get like, maybe a top five bottom three of dudes that you might want to.
- [79:15]
Ryan Rosillo
Like, there's nobody hanging out with all the. Honestly, all the guys were great. Max's brothers were great. So congrats to Max. Chef Diony and I bonded a little bit. He went to UVM for a year so that we had some. Although I think his experience was slightly different than mine based on the age gap. But, you know, we were talking up Vermont a little. Dante and I got along, but I think he was a little frustrated that I was. I was lame. And then there was. I'll tell you, like, it was nice. They were like, don't leave, don't leave. Like, stay for Game 7 Celtic Sixers. And they were like, are you. Do you not want to stay because of Max and his brothers and how annoying they're going to be? I'm like, I don't think I'm going to. You know, whatever happens, happens. Like, I'll be okay. But then the other guys weren't going to be okay, I don't think. And then big cats is going to sit there and make sure everybody's fighting with each other, just stirring the pot more and more. And Zach was really polite, incredibly polite.
- [80:11]
Kyle
I love that about him.
- [80:12]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. Yeah.
- [80:16]
Kevin
There's like a Zach Kyle spin off show that I feel like we could maybe get in the works here if we're just thinking for just spitballing.
- [80:22]
Kyle
Was.
- [80:22]
Ryan Rosillo
Was there like, maybe.
- [80:24]
Kyle
Were there any, like, hometown guys from Max There, or was it, like, besides his brothers, was it just work guys?
- [80:29]
Ryan Rosillo
Like, it was a work thing. Who knows? There may be, like, a secondary bachelor party for him. Yeah, this was just working. The two brothers. Yeah, that's what I.
- [80:37]
Kyle
That's what I gathered when I saw the graphic. I was like, does he have, like, his old friends here? But that must be a second. Second party sort of deal.
- [80:45]
Ryan Rosillo
Nice. Yeah. I might have been just so nice that they were like, we have to invite his brothers, because it was the suite. It was the show. It looked top shelf live. And then it was beach club the next day. And then I don't know what happened Saturday night. Like, I stopped paying attention to it. And then they golfed at the Wynn resort on Sunday, and then they taped the episode last night. So.
- [81:11]
Kevin
Yeah, I'm glad you got out there, you know, Shocked.
- [81:15]
Kyle
I was shocked.
- [81:16]
Ryan Rosillo
I was really cool.
- [81:18]
Kyle
You shocked the world, man.
- [81:19]
Ryan Rosillo
That was awesome. Awesome. That was really awesome. I don't know if I should. I think I let guys down, to be honest with you.
- [81:29]
Kevin
If Fish was not playing at the Sphere, would you have gone?
- [81:32]
Ryan Rosillo
Ooh, no comment. Okay, Read some emails.
- [81:39]
Kevin
Noted.
- [81:41]
Ryan Rosillo
Say less.
- [81:42]
Kevin
Yeah.
- [81:44]
Ryan Rosillo
All right. Is that fair? Yeah. No.
- [81:47]
Kevin
Hey, you got to. You got to miss the. The Orlando Collapse Live, so it's probably
- [81:51]
Ryan Rosillo
a win to go back and watch. Sucked just as bad on the rewatch.
- [81:56]
Kevin
Sure it did. Sure it did.
- [82:00]
Ryan Rosillo
Okay.
- [82:00]
Kevin
Part of my first ever selfie video, literally, of all time.
- [82:03]
Kyle
I saw that you.
- [82:04]
Ryan Rosillo
You went out there.
- [82:05]
Kyle
Just a shocking weekend.
- [82:06]
Kevin
Yeah, it was Friday night. I was also solo dadding that night, too. My wife went out to dinner, so it was just kind of like a little bit of a hectic situation, so I was already in a tense mood. And then.
- [82:17]
Ryan Rosillo
So they're.
- [82:18]
Kevin
They're what? Yeah, they're up at half, obviously. And I missed, like, kind of the beginning of the third quarter putting the kids to bed. And then it was. So it was 22, and then it was, I think, 10 or 12 or so, and I'm just like, I know where this is going. And I was just in a bad mood for a while, and then Kev texted me. Our social guy was like, hey, do you. No pressure, but do you want to do this? And I was like, yeah, I got some thoughts. I called Kevin Clark. We talked for a while.
- [82:40]
Ryan Rosillo
Oh, that's good.
- [82:40]
Kevin
It's kind of a venting session. And then. Yeah, then I put. Then we sent a selfie video over. So, you know, check that off the old bucket list. Good times.
- [82:48]
Ryan Rosillo
I'm glad you did it. I loved seeing it. I was like, he's gonna do this. It's almost like therapy for him. Yep. All right. Anyway, life advice, a couple emails here. Hmm. Which one do we go with? Do we go with this one? Yeah, let's do it. 64240.
- [83:05]
Mike Breen
Jim.
- [83:06]
Ryan Rosillo
Six, seven days a week. Wow. 100,000 steps a week.
- [83:12]
Kyle
What?
- [83:14]
Ryan Rosillo
Wow. Yeah. In 2026, player comp. Trey McBride. Even though I grew up playing hoops, I'm better at football. Moved to a big southwest city a year and a half ago. I really enjoyed a walk, as previously mentioned, but my walks frequently end at one of the local bars I become a regular at. On numerous occasions. I've either been hit on, talked to, offered a drink, or gawked at by males who can I. Who I can only assume are gay. I want to be clear. I have nothing wrong with or whatever sexuality folks choose, but this is starting to get weird. I'm confused as to why men love to talk to me but girls don't. Aside from the obvious idea of sitting with a girl, how do I stop attracting members of the same sex? Thanks. Love the pod. Kyle's number one on my list of guys to have a beer with.
- [83:58]
Kyle
Whoa.
- [83:59]
Ryan Rosillo
Kyle's straight too, so I would. That would change the dynamic here. So you're getting hit on by gay dudes a lot.
- [84:09]
Kevin
Let's start with the simple stuff, like, what are you wearing? What do you look like?
- [84:12]
Ryan Rosillo
I know.
- [84:12]
Kevin
Are you wearing, like, five inch shorts? Maybe in a tank? There's some confusion going on there. Is it a gay bar? Like, are you.
- [84:22]
Ryan Rosillo
Is it? Well, I think you probably would have figured that out.
- [84:24]
Kevin
I don't know.
- [84:25]
Ryan Rosillo
Imagine if that was the only thing.
- [84:26]
Kyle
Well, some bars aren't gay bars, but, like, you know, like, sometimes, like, this bar isn't a Patriots bar, but the Patriots guys decide that's where we're watching games on Sunday. You know what I mean? There's not a flag hanging up, but
- [84:36]
Ryan Rosillo
it's just like, why did you say pats, dude?
- [84:38]
Kyle
Because I'm always looking for a Pats bar.
- [84:40]
Ryan Rosillo
Oh, all right.
- [84:41]
Kyle
And it's just like, you know, it's kind of an unofficial, you know, we'll be here about 20 minutes before the games, get the good seats, stuff like that. So maybe. Maybe that's the case. Are you walking to different bars? Do you have, like, the best walking route? It's like, this is. This is my route and this is where I have to go. Have you, like, changed the variables in this experiment? I think what you're wearing possibly handsome too. I mean.
- [85:04]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. I mean, this guy's a grizzly bear. He's huge. And he's working out six, seven days a week. I don't know. Get in worse shape.
- [85:12]
Kyle
Yeah.
- [85:13]
Ryan Rosillo
Let yourself go. Yeah.
- [85:14]
Kyle
Knock it down to 70,000 steps a week.
- [85:16]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll tell you, your boys had this, but a couple times it was like 100% on me. Like, if you're wearing skin colored bathing suit, hiking through Greece by yourself with no shirt on, dudes on mopeds are going to check in. One night when I was walking around another Greek village, I ended up over at like a shed that there was stuff going on and there weren't any women. And so I was like, all right. And I was just like exploring and wandering. And then I was getting like, not chased, but it was like, no, no, you're good. Dude, come back. I was like, no, I'm not good. Like, do your thing. And then there was another time I was in Palm springs wearing the 5 inch inseams at legends Don Me with pink ones. And I walked. I just kept walking. I was like, oh, what's going on down here? Whatever. And then I was like, oh, oh, wait a minute. And it was like, hey. So sometimes it's sort of on you, on the vibe that you're putting out there. I had a Cabo thing where I went to this resort by myself and I was just by myself and I was super friendly with. I know that's shocking, but like, I was just friendly around the pool a couple different days. And then a couple guys were like, wait a minute, you're straight. They were like super disappointed. And then they actually started getting like, rude. That was always that. I think I've told that story where they were like, wait, this whole time they were like, did you know that we were. I was like, yeah, of course I did. You're like. And you just never said anything. I was like, what? So I was supposed to be a dick? I was supposed to treat you differently?
- [86:52]
Kyle
You let us buy you all those gnts. What the fuck, man?
- [86:55]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I love that in college, by the way.
- [86:58]
Kyle
I was just accepting plenty of. Plenty of shelf drinks. That was great for. For broke me. And. And honestly, it was like that happened
- [87:07]
Kevin
to you a lot in college.
- [87:08]
Kyle
Yeah, yeah, in college. And a lot of my boys were like, kind of weirded out, but I was like, like, dude, I mean, they're free drinks.
- [87:14]
Kevin
Free drinks.
- [87:14]
Kyle
They're friends with people I'd like to be friends with of the opposite sex. So this actually worked out right. It's just like, just not being weirded out, like, really went a long way for me.
- [87:25]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I would say that's. That's been the case a few times. Like, one of my serious, serious girlfriends, her roommate was gay. And, like, very, very. I'm talking like a couple weeks in, they were like, do you want to meet up? And I was like, yeah, sure. And then I was like, all right, let me handle this in a mature way. And then it was like, massive points afterwards. They're like, this guy's unbelievable. He came by and had a couple beers with us. So whatever. Just not. Look, there's probably just a lot of straight guys, like, I would never, ever do that. So. Look, I'm just saying the outfit thing that Kyle brought up is really smart. I think either Surudi or you did. That's. That's something to pay attention.
- [88:09]
Kyle
But I loved getting that credit.
- [88:10]
Kevin
Yeah.
- [88:12]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. It was Steve. Was Steve. I apologize.
- [88:15]
Kevin
I was thinking of you with the 5 inch inseams and the tag comment.
- [88:19]
Ryan Rosillo
Come on. Yeah.
- [88:20]
Kevin
Like, I did the first thing that came to my mind because, like, there's, you know, there is a look, and you do. It's like you are. There's a look and you're mysterious. So I totally understand, like, why. It's like, why is this guy in this situation right now? I feel like that happens to you a lot. And it's like, oh, maybe there's something else about him, you know, like. So are you putting out some to back to our email? Or, like, are you. You might just be putting out some sort of, like, vibe to the world that you don't know and, you know, do you have a bubbly personality? Like, I'm. I'm just trying to think of, like, what these things could be.
- [88:47]
Kyle
What kind of eyebrows do you have? Right?
- [88:49]
Ryan Rosillo
Are you. Are you.
- [88:49]
Kyle
Are they always you on fleek? Yeah, exactly.
- [88:53]
Ryan Rosillo
You know, how quick do you. How long does it take you to talk about lumber?
- [88:58]
Kevin
You know, Too long, apparently.
- [89:01]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I don't know that I have any advice for this other than, like, I had a guy, the hairdresser that was in my building in Boston, and, you know, we were friendly as it could be. And he could see, like, I was dating girls over the time that I lived there, and he just. Well, he wouldn't let it go. And then he stole like, 20 bucks from me. And so I was like, perfect, now I can just, you know. Under your door. And I was like, you definitely didn't slide it under my door. I was like, I don't have any money. Like, I would have seen it. He's like, no, I stood under your.
- [89:32]
Kyle
That would have been the highlight of my week.
- [89:33]
Ryan Rosillo
Dude, this is how it ends, man.
- [89:43]
Mike Breen
No advice.
- [89:44]
Ryan Rosillo
You know what? You may texted me at 3am asking if I have any wine. Like, dude, you trying to. Trying to use my heterosexual move on me?
- [89:53]
Kyle
Maybe what you could do is ask one of these dudes if they're like hitting on you. And actually they're sitting down at bars and having conversations. You could ask them this. It was like, hey, man, I was just wondering, why do you think I get so much attention from one side of the aisle and not necessarily the other?
- [90:09]
Ryan Rosillo
That's fascinating. Yeah, better than that. That's so good. I'm sorry I interrupted you. Keep going.
- [90:14]
Kyle
That's it. That's all I have. I mean, if they're just.
- [90:16]
Ryan Rosillo
If you're.
- [90:16]
Kevin
If you're.
- [90:17]
Kyle
You're sitting at the bar anyway. You know what I mean?
- [90:19]
Ryan Rosillo
And it's.
- [90:20]
Kyle
This is already underway. Just be like, you know what? I actually have a question, if you don't mind. It's a good one.
- [90:25]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, you could just have soft eyes, man. Kind, welcoming eyes.
- [90:32]
Kevin
Yeah, like if. If you. More again, if you moisturize, maybe you get a manicure. Like, you never know.
- [90:39]
Ryan Rosillo
Moisturize. Yeah, you never know.
- [90:41]
Kevin
Like, I mean, this is not a
- [90:42]
Ryan Rosillo
lot of how are you now?
- [90:43]
Kevin
Dudes are doing that.
- [90:45]
Kyle
I really forget a lot. Somebody just made comments about my elbows. I got to get going on that.
- [90:51]
Ryan Rosillo
Probably not our best one. Okay, guys, it's grit week. This is the part of the football calendar where nobody's watching, but everything gets built. Early mornings, pads back on, conditioning, film reps. Spring training in football is all about putting in the work when nobody's cheering yet. And honestly, that's the same mindset behind the Chevy Silverado. This is a truck that is the definition of grit. Long days, dirty work, and showing up day after day, no matter the conditions. Strong, dependable, and built for the grind. Because grit isn't about being flashy. It's about being ready when it's time to go. Check out the current offers and build your Silverado at Chevy. That's Silverado. All grit, no quit. And you can build your silverado@chevy.com today. Telling my daughter I have a girlfriend, 43 years old, retired U.S. special Ops combat vet. Well, thank you. Yeah, you have a girlfriend. Especially like badass dudes. 190cm tall, 82 kilogram heavy. Currently curling 4K 4 kilogram weights to muscle failure four times a week because heavy weights are stupid. Oh, that's right. That's the old Steve Weatherford thing. He had me on those German reps where it was like 10 second rest in between sets. Anyway, love the pod. Need some advice? I've been divorced five years and my daughter from that marriage is now 18 years old, graduating high school. I come from a big close family where divorce is both uncommon and not talked about. So I'm in unchartered waters. 1 1/2 years ago I started dating a game. Dating again after a long. Wow, that's a weird way of saying you weren't with anyone. So let's just say divorce five years, three and a half years. Just tapping out of the game. Yeah. One year ago I met a girl who I really like and now she's definitely my girlfriend. Well, yeah, it'd be great if you know that a year later I'd like to tell my daughter that I have a serious girlfriend, but don't know how to bring it up the subject. What are your suggestions? P.S. the magic are awesome, but Franz is the guy to trade this summer. Nah, that's no 365. Copilot offered a response. You remember what they said?
- [93:14]
Kyle
Yes, I actually do.
- [93:15]
Ryan Rosillo
Hey, not using his name. Congrats on finding someone you like for the talk with your daughter. Just be straightforward. She's 18. She gets it. Tell her you care about her and that this person makes you happy. That's usually enough. Good luck with the Wagner trade talk too.
- [93:32]
Kyle
That almost sounded like Ceruti until the end.
- [93:36]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, well, I mean, most of the.
- [93:38]
Kevin
Here's the thing, it's like most of these life advice things, it's like I get pegged. It's like, oh, you're just saying the obvious. It's just like. Just talk to the person that you're like. It's not that hard. Just like have a normal conversation. Like you're. You're too much in your head.
- [93:48]
Ryan Rosillo
So how does she not know it's serious if it's been a year? She's 18.
- [93:52]
Kyle
Well, sometimes 18 year olds are just like, I'm just going to hang out with my friends, you know?
- [93:57]
Kevin
Right.
- [93:57]
Kyle
That could be. That could totally, you know, not super plugged in, you know, But I, I
- [94:03]
Ryan Rosillo
would ask what kind of dude, Like, I get it. But a year? You don't think you'd figure it out? You might notice a few things.
- [94:09]
Kyle
Well, we're saying divorce roommate, she might only be there half the time. You know what I mean? What Year, they probably haven't moved in. Like, she might only be there half the time. He might be scheduling dates when she's away and then when she's there, she's also like, I'm going to the mall or whatever. The new 18 year old does this, this time of, you know, with their free time. So it could be that she's totally unplugged. He might, it sounds like he's not even ready to tell her. So he probably hasn't told her he's been dating. Like, I think some people can get really like overprotective when it actually isn't ever that serious. Like if she's, if she, you know, five year divorce, it's not like, are you going to get back with mom? It's like if you're 18 and divorced for five years, they'd love to know
- [94:49]
Kevin
boyfriend, his mom moved on. Like, are you the first one in this, in of either, on either side here to like have this? Is that part of like the trepidation of why you're scared about this? Because like it is totally normal for you to like, want to be love, have love, find someone. I think she will understand that, you know, whether or not she likes her, it's a whole other story.
- [95:07]
Ryan Rosillo
But
- [95:11]
Kevin
I'd be interested to know if like also have you told anybody else about this person or is she the first family member you're telling? And maybe that's obviously some of the fear too.
- [95:20]
Kyle
He didn't mention, like, I think she would be upset. Like he's just like, he might just be thinking of this as a whole. Yeah, but it's like if you know your daughter, it's like, does she want you? Does she care about your happiness at all? Like to just from off rip being like, oh, you have a new girlfriend. I don't like this. So I mean, I think you would know if she would have a problem with anybody or if you know. So I think this is totally easy. I mean, I hate to be the co pilot guy, but I think it kind of fucking nailed it.
- [95:49]
Ryan Rosillo
To add a little bit to this, I wonder if you're thinking about your daughter and you're looking at her, she's 18, but you're also thinking about this divorce happening when she was 13. And I imagine that you were this, you went this long without seriously dating anybody for basically four years. You didn't go on any dates for three and a half years. And my guess would be that you were prioritizing a traumatic time for your daughter and you didn't Want to invite something else in to fuck her up even more, which I think is commendable because. And I don't want to get on anybody's case that's going through divorce and then it's like, hey, I just got to get back out there and start dating. Because there's an element of balancing your happiness too, especially if you're somebody that maybe is just happier when they're in a relationship. I'm not calling you like, super, like, too dependent, but we all know what we're talking about here. Like, there's some people that cannot be alone, right? And there are other people that can be. So in this case, you may be thinking of her as the 13 year old and you're still being super protective after going through divorce of her parents. And you're like a little behind her maturity on this specific issue because even though she's now 18, you're still seeing your little girl and you're being perhaps like a little too protective of what her thoughts would be because you just don't want to have anything that's disruptive here. I'd also throw in that at different stages of your life as a child, you go through worshiping your parents to then questioning everything about them. And then, at least for me, unfortunately for whatever my first thing, maybe it was being the oldest was like, I can't wait to get out of here, you know? And then you then work through however many years it takes you to like, wanting a closer relationship with them. You'd hope, you know, you get to that point. But there's also something that happens to all of us, whether it's the parent dynamic or not. It's just crazy how well you can understand a person. I can have somebody who I haven't had any interactions with for 20 years, but now I'll think about things differently. Just because we've lived so much longer.
- [97:55]
Kevin
Longer.
- [97:55]
Ryan Rosillo
We've had all these experiences where you're like, now I totally understand this person. We're in the moment. I didn't understand it. So I think it might be a nice reminder for you that when you do have this conversation with her, that no matter what her reaction is, that you may want the goal of this, it may be, I want her to appreciate this conversation years from now if she's not ready for it now. And so that I'm totally straightforward. Straightforward. I explained to her, here are my reasons and this is why I didn't date or My number one thing is I want you to be happy, but I don't Want to also spend the rest of my life alone. So that even if the message isn't received the way you would hope, and I don't even know that that's the case, but we're just playing out all the scenarios if the message isn't received exactly the way that you're hoping that this could at least be the foundation to when she gets a little bit older and has more of a more mature relationship, experiences herself, she navigates her 20s or whatever, and that she'll look back at this time that you talked with each other and you'll go, oh, now I understand you better, dad.
- [99:01]
Kyle
And I also.
- [99:02]
Ryan Rosillo
Oh, go ahead. No, that's it. That's it.
- [99:04]
Kyle
I just would end on this. I also. If she's 18 and she's going a typical college route, it might be good to get this on the books before she goes away and comes back for, you know, Thanksgiving break and whatever.
- [99:14]
Ryan Rosillo
Like, might be.
- [99:16]
Kyle
Might be good to get this thing going while she's still living at home. If she's actually going to be taken off and going out of state, you know, next year or wherever, wherever kids go to college, it might be cool to, like, have a solid foundation instead of coming back after a couple months to be like, what the fuck's going on? Yeah, that could be cool.
- [99:32]
Kevin
Yeah, it could be good.
- [99:33]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. And honestly, then, if you're looking at a normal college schedule, like, I would do it before the summer. Like, you don't want to be dropping her off school again, you know, your daughter. We don't. Is like, it could go in a million different directions depending on what her personality is. There's some kids at 18 that want to use any kind of news as some sort of, oh, my God, I can't believe you did this or whatever. And they just become super dramatic about the whole thing, and it's like, well, now I can't even win. And that's why I kind of talked about whatever you do think of her having. If she doesn't understand it right now, will she appreciate the way you relayed the message to her years from now when she's maybe a little bit more mature, Maybe she's ready for it right now. And you're the one that's, like, underestimating her maturity on it. Okay, that'll do it for the show. Did you guys listen to part of my take last night?
- [100:26]
Kevin
I just saw a couple clips, but no.
- [100:29]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I'm. I'm still not a main character in any of the Vegas stuff, unfortunately, so I'm actually doing their live show. So if you're in the LA area Tuesday night, where am I going? Does anybody know that? What a promo. I know.
- [100:48]
Kevin
Netflix is a joke, right?
- [100:50]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. I mean, Netflix is a joke. Is only about 800 shows throughout Los Angeles over the next 10 days. So let's get the promo out there. Let's see. YouTube theater. Oh, that's right. Oh, perfect. I'm in Inglewood, so I don't even have to go that far. Jerry Oconnell's a special guest who I totally left out. He was. Within a minute, you're like, oh, this is why everybody loves Jerry. He showed up at the cabana. He tapped in as I tapped out. Full speedo, soaking wet. Glowing personality like Jerry. Incredible. Like, within a minute, you're like, oh, this is why all these guys love this dude. So he will be the special guest. I am going to be the less special guest, but I'll be up there tomorrow. If you're in the Englewood area, shout out Paul Pierce. All right, that'll do it for the show. Kevin, Tom Ceruti, Kyle. Please subscribe Ryan Rosilla Show Arsenal Sports. Sa.