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Tudor’s Spurs Host Arsenal | Who Had The Best NFL Head Coaching Hire? | KD’s Alleged Twitter Burner
17 Plays17 days ago
Episode 63 of Who’s Got The Ball? sees Michael return to join Shane and James for a packed sports breakdown. The lads analyse the biggest January transfer impacts and debate which signings have already transformed their teams. They also rank the best new NFL head coaching hires and question a few appointments they’re unsure about heading into next season.
Michael’s NBA round-up covers All-Star Weekend, the latest developments surrounding Kevin Durant’s alleged twitter burner, and the growing tanking debate centered on the Utah Jazz. The episode wraps up with Gan Seans updates and the latest Premier League and NBA power rankings.
🎧 Listen if you’re into:
- Football (soccer) analysis
- NBA previews & predictions
- Weekly NFL reactions
- Underdog betting tips
- Draft-style sports debates
- Power rankings across multiple sports
- Sports content from an Irish perspective with global takes
🔁 New episodes drop weekly!
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🌍 Based in Ireland | Talking global sports weekly
(0:00) Intro
(5:17) Most Impactful January Signing
(12:28) Spurs vs Arsenal Preview
(16:50) The Best NFL Head Coaching Hire
(18:13) Jesse Minter
(22:34) John Harbaugh
(25:26) Some Honorable Mentions
(32:48) Gan Seans: Our Underdog Picks
(36:46) Michael Joins the Show
(37:34) NBA All-Star Weekend: Best & Worst Moments
(45:35) KD’s Alleged Twitter Burner
(55:49) The NBA’s Tanking Problem
(1:05:25) NBA X Premier League Power Rankings
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Transcript
Introduction and Technical Issues
00:00:10
Speaker
Well lads this is James just adding this in here post episode recording. um After listening back there was a little issue with internet connection so if you do hear at times where just before Shane finishes a sentence I e begin speaking that's just down to the down to the uploading of the recordings there's nothing we can do it's very slight um it won't make much of a difference to your listening but just throwing that in there so enjoy
Welcome to 'Who's Got the Ball'
00:00:38
Speaker
the episode. all right, lads, welcome back to another episode of Who's Got the Ball. Myself and Shane here once again. Michael, of course, joins us for the and NBA section as he does every couple of weeks. But Shane, what is the crack?
00:00:50
Speaker
Not a whole lot, just living the dream down by the beach again for a couple of weeks now. So like my first one, I look like I'm doing one of those videos is where you're asking your family for money for a ransom with the way the light is shining in on my face. But I think we'll get over for a couple of weeks and I'll get back to normal when I'm back in Limerick. Yeah, yeah, all good with me. I saw when you first jumped onto the call, there was like a bit of sunshine on you and I was like, here, like, where is this fella
Ireland vs. England Rugby Analysis
00:01:15
Speaker
right now? Down in Le Hinge by the sea, like, and There's actually sun as well to make it even better. Like it's been nothing but dull in Dublin for the last like month. There was two little small bits of sunshine on two different days, but it's just like today was just nothing but gray.
00:01:31
Speaker
and But we did mention last week, We were like a bit nervous going into Ireland against Italy, and they somehow luckily got a win, just barely. And now they're playing England on Saturday, and I would have been really worried about this only for England, lots of Scotland, and kind of a bit of a blueprint about how you could beat them there. and But I'm still thinking Ireland are probably going to lose, but i'm I'm more hopeful than I would have been if if the results last week didn't go the way they did. How are you feeling going into it?
00:02:02
Speaker
I thought Scotland were exceptional against England, which made me worry for the Scotland game when we had to play them as well, because Ireland don't look really good at the moment. The style of play, if you want to call it a style, is just, there is none.
00:02:15
Speaker
There's nothing. It's all about just get the ball out, get a true printer gast, and he's really struggling as well. And there's been an upset out of him this week. I'm not going to go in at him anymore because I think there's other players who have been at fault as well.
00:02:26
Speaker
The scrum looks diabolical. But then Keller comes on and can't throw a line out. So his scrum might be better, but he can't throw line out. So he can't put the two of them on the pitch. So I don't know what we're going to do. I think England could be...
00:02:40
Speaker
It could be messy if Ireland don't start well. They're going to be on the bounce back because they hate losing to Scotland, they hate losing to Ireland more. not want to go out and back back losing those two. So I think it could be messy, but hopefully they can come away with something.
00:02:54
Speaker
But I don't see it, Yeah, it's going to be tough. Very, very tough, especially in the scrum, as you mentioned. I think... That was a great point. That's what something I said during the game. Move Kelleher in and you sacrifice the line out. He's supposed to help him to scrum, but we still got dominated in the scrum, so Sheehan can't come off from me as early as he did. and But we're decimated by injuries, looks so it's kind of it's a difficult one. and I hope to see...
00:03:16
Speaker
both Crowley and Gibson Park starting um in this game because I think it's a much better pairing and I would like to see a Harry Byrne get a look in as well a kicker at some stage as well just playing fly half maybe he's not up there with the things that Prendergast could do or the things that Crowley does do at times when he's in a flow but his kicking is very very good especially out of his hands which Crowley seems to struggle a little bit at times in Prendergast kicking off our team it's awful so we need a good kicker yeah and
00:03:50
Speaker
But yeah, let's see.
Episode Overview: Football, NFL, NBA
00:03:52
Speaker
Fingers crossed we get the win against England. That would be a very nice start to Saturday. But a massive episode again. So much stuff covered. and It's nice to kind of throw out some different topics now in the NFL because there's no games to focus on. So we can chat about a range of things and that will continue into the offseason. and But first we did start with football. and We talked about who would the be the best January sign and who has made the best impact so far in the January transfer window.
00:04:20
Speaker
um And we gave our picks there. And then we gave a preview of the Spurs and Arsenal game. Igor Trudor's first game in charge. and We gave a prediction for that game too, who we think is going to win and the score. Then we we did move
Impact of January Football Signings
00:04:32
Speaker
into the NFL. We looked at the best head coaching hire um of the recent cycle of 10 new head coaches.
00:04:38
Speaker
We both identified who we thought was the best and we chatted about some of the others as well. and be interesting see how that pans out in the new season then Michael joined after after the NFL we did have gone chance as usual before Michael joined but Michael jumped on then for the and NBA section we chatted about all-star weekend a bit of a recap there some of the best moments things that could change the KD Twitter burner leak apologies to you on that one Shane might not be good for the Rockets then the Jazz and the Wizards tanking debacle and what can be done about tanking in general in the NBA and and then we wrapped up with the power rankings at the end so plenty to get your tea into let's jump straight into the episode okay so jumping into football we want to take a quick look back at some of the january signings so there there wasn't too many but we want to look at who has made the biggest impact so far and my guess what can carry over as an impact into the rest of the season so um we've both made a pick each um throw to you first shane since you you posed this question in the group um what do you think is the is the biggest impact sign in January.
00:05:46
Speaker
So there was three that kind of jumped out to me straight away. There was one from West Ham, Yaman Tati, who's gone in up front for them. I think, well, he hasn't gotten a ton of goals. I think he's made a really, really positive impact on them and you can tell by their form.
00:06:00
Speaker
But the two from Man City, Guayy and Semenyo, have just been a bread of fresh air to him. And I want to focus on Guayy Mostly because this is what Liverpool could be having if they had just pulled a finger in the summer and they just stumped up the money before deadline day. They'd have him in their back line now making the difference he's making at City.
00:06:17
Speaker
I think I've watched nearly all of City's games since he's gone in there. And the difference he's making is it's ah's it's insane, I think, what he's doing. He's been an absolute rock at the back for He was playing this IQ off there for a lot of it before Diaz was back and he was leading them through games, guiding them on.
00:06:34
Speaker
The amount of blocks he makes, I couldn't actually find the number of blocks he's made for Man City, but his blocks across the season is 17. And it looks like he's made 14 of them since he went over to Man City in January. He's just in front of every single shot.
00:06:47
Speaker
City looks so much stronger at back with him in there now. They look a lot more of a challenge to Arsenal than they did to start of December. And then Semenyo up front as well is firing in goals, three and five league games well. so The main one for me is Mark Guay, but if you want to touch on the other two as well, then I'm happy to hear him because i think the three of them have made such a difference to the clubs they've gone to.
00:07:07
Speaker
um West Ham don't get enough credit for what they're doing at the moment. They've pulled Forest right back into trouble again, and I think Tati and the other lad they've signed the other striker as well the lads who were laughing they were a carbon copy of the two of each other when the picture went up on Fritzsche Romano and when they're out in the pitch they're both playing the exact same but Tati just looks like an absolute monster front from Gehi as your number one because I had him as well but I had a backup option who I'll focus on but just to add to the Gehi chat like
00:07:41
Speaker
I think his passing is so important to the team. Like the way that he's able to play out the back. I said in the last episode that he's almost like their they're new John Stones. I know Stones is still knocking around, but like he's the modern version of that for them. And he fits perfectly into the team. He's learned the system like so well, so quickly. And so, yeah, I agree with that as probably being in the biggest impact. Only 23 million euros as well, obviously because his contract was running out. But like, I think that could be the thing that drives City on to possibly win the title this year or at least get close to it. So that impact alone is massive. On my short or my long list almost, I had Tati as well, just because of the form that they're in. I think he gives them something different and he's like a dog up front. He fights so hard.
00:08:29
Speaker
He gets into tackles. Semenyo, of course. We all know about him. Strand Larsson is an interesting one. There's not enough we've seen yet, but he he did score two goals in his last game, but Palace fell apart in that. So maybe not the overall impact on winning, but I think, yeah, he will come good again.
00:08:48
Speaker
But the guy I'll focus on now is ah Ryan for Bournemouth. What a signing he looks to be. Bournemouth just continue to pull these out. Like, We talked, he had just got signed when we had Harry ah harry Bailey on a few weeks ago to talk about Bournemouth and were saying like, you know, surely they can't do it again where it's just another guy that comes out of the woodwork that they've signed and is unbelievably good. and Like Semenyo is the elite of the elite but we've seen so many others as well like Dango Atara looks great up at Brentford.
00:09:20
Speaker
And they've signed Kruppi, who looks brilliant. So now they've got Kruppi and they've got Ryan to go with him. 28.5 million from Vasco da Gama. I think he, yeah, he just looks exceptionally good. and He doesn't look like a 19 year old. He's physically built so well. He's so strong. and He's able to win a header. He can play off the right. He can play up front. Two starts so far.
00:09:46
Speaker
two goals, a goal in each game. In the sub-appearance he made in his first game, he got the assist. like He's contributed in every game so far. He's not obviously up to Semenyo's level, but to me, there doesn't look like any reason why he can't be the next Semenyo for his team.
Football Match Predictions: Spurs vs. Arsenal
00:10:03
Speaker
Perhaps a different player doesn't play off both feet as well as Semenyo does. Maybe he doesn't... get in with his dribbling as well as Semenyo does in that way where he's kind of shifty but he's powerful and he looks like a guy who's actually built perfectly for the Premier League already at such a young age so yeah Bournemouth have just done it again and I think he's he's definitely my second choice after Gehi and i'll I'll bump him up to first for the for the fact of this one since you had Gehi in there Yeah, I agree with everything you're saying. But one thing I would add to what you're saying about him becoming the next menu is yes.
00:10:38
Speaker
So he's not as good off both feet, yes. He's not as powerful at dribbling yet. As you said at the top, he's only 19. That goal is starting against Everton, although Luka Dean did completely forget where he was. if He kind of forgot he was on a football pitch. He's still...
00:10:52
Speaker
breezed past three or four Villa players before he even got to Luke Ydine and then just breezed past him and stuck it in the corner. And then he scored a header in the next game. His assist in his first game was brilliant as well. He's just another one, as you said, and the next cab off the rank for Bournemouth that is just going to go on and make him 70 or 80 million in two or three years time because he looks every bit a Premier League player.
00:11:14
Speaker
he's coming from brazil and like there's a lot of times the lads come from delhiate yes if i was hit the ground running as well but luke lewis glierma never hit the ground running at west ham and he was one of the shining lights as well so it's not like what he's doing is easy like that brazil you're coming from is not half as physical it's far more skillful and he's come in here and he's he's bulked up he's a tall lad he's well able to do everything as you said and he's making an impact and Bormund are just not missing a beat with Semenyo going, which is the strangest thing to see of all of us. Yeah, it is mad to see that happening. And the fact that he's impacting results as well. Like, they beat Wolves, Drew at Villa.
00:11:53
Speaker
They beat Everton. Like, it's not just coming in and... And doing well. But the team doesn't improve. They've they've actually looked very strong with him in there. So a really good signing. We want to shift to this weekend's football now. We're a recording this on on Wednesday this week. um So we don't know the result as of yet. In the Arsenal and Wolves game.
00:12:16
Speaker
We'll assume that Arsenal got the win. It was a one-all draw. Or we can take it as that. We can take it as that either. I wouldn't be surprised to see it the way Arsenal have gone down the years. But we've got Spurs hosting Arsenal this Sunday.
00:12:31
Speaker
It's Igor Tudor's first game in charge at Spurs. and It's hard to know what to expect. I don't know a whole lot about the guy. If you look at his background, the longest time he was in charge of a team was at Split back in 2013, where he was there for from 2013 to 2015. Every other one has been within the year or with or into the next year that he got fired and more walked away from the team all Reporting from those who know a lot about him is that he's quite volatile He can rub people up the wrong way and but that he plays a kind of very open style of football so as an interim manager I think it might work out because Spurs fans have been complaining about the way Frank plays and now they're gonna go back to kind of more open play
00:13:16
Speaker
But with the injuries they have, I don't know how much of that they can actually do. And to start off against Arsenal might instant instantly make this a bad omen for him. Like he might be all fire on the sideline and then on the pitch, there's nothing to go with it. So it'd be an interesting one to watch him and see how he handles his first game in the Premier League.
00:13:38
Speaker
Yeah, the funny thing about this appointment it's so spurs because Jermaine Paradisi, who was in there, he wanted Tudor in the summer and the club said, no, we're getting Thomas Frank. He was so against the appointment of Thomas Frank, so he quit.
00:13:52
Speaker
They brought in Frank. <unk>ve now Frank has been sacked. He's gone. And they brought in the man he wanted in the first place. So if they'd just done this in the summer, he'd still be there. Now, maybe Tudor would be out of a job now as well with the way Spurs have been going. But it's just so Spurs that theres so many people then of fell out over the signing of Frank because they wanted this fella. And now this fella has eventually shown up.
00:14:13
Speaker
i I fancy Spurs in this. And this isn't just down to my hatred of Arsenal. I just think Arsenal are coming off the back of a midweek game after playing a weekend game and a midweek game last week. So it's it's a long run of games for Arsenal now coming off. Brentford, it's tough game with Brentford.
00:14:30
Speaker
They did a very handy cup game against Wigan. Now this is their third game in seven days, I think. I think it was this day last week they played Brentford as well. Or maybe it was Thursday last week. So... It's like it's three games in seven days.
00:14:43
Speaker
Going into a
NFL Coaching Hires and Impacts
00:14:44
Speaker
derby, new manager bounce, all the hits. I could see Spurs turning over here and coming out with a 2-1 win. Xavi Seamans to finally play game of football where he looks like what everyone thinks he is and get man to match.
00:14:55
Speaker
Yeah, um they're going to have a tough one. I'll draw with Wolves tonight at Molyneux and they're going to go into Spurs and lose two. So you're laying it all on the table that Arsenal drop points in both games. That would be mad if they if they do that. i To be honest, I wouldn't be overly surprised because I have said multiple times that Arsenal hire a team that have done this over the years and everything points towards that. Somehow the gap is only four to City now. i'm After that Brentford game, which Arsenal didn't even deserve a point from that Brentford and Thiago missed so many chances.
00:15:26
Speaker
So they've been stumbling a little bit lately. I think Spurs fans will definitely get behind the team because it is at home. But I think that Spurs, while they do have a goal in them with Solange being back, I think that it will be quite difficult to get a win here because Arsenal have been great against Spurs recently. The last time Spurs beat them was in 2022.
00:15:49
Speaker
and So that's been eight games ago and of the seven in between, Arsenal have won six of them. So it's not been great for Spurs recently against Arsenal. I think if they do play open football, that will suit Arsenal to make this a little bit easier than if they did play maybe against Frank.
00:16:08
Speaker
His tactics might have actually worked like the way they played against and the City in that second half. But and i don't know. i don't I can't really see Spurs getting a win. I think that they will get a goal, but I think Arsenal get the win 2-1 and just about scrape it here.
00:16:24
Speaker
Yeah, fair enough. We're both gone either way, so get prepared for a 4-1 draw here because neither of us are ever right when it comes to our Premier League predictions. And it's not very often we go completely against each other, so it's definitely going to be a draw. Yeah, but every day it's going to be like 6-6 draw, never mind 4-4.
00:16:41
Speaker
The lower scoring we go, the higher it's going to actually be. yeah But yeah, that's it for the for the Premier League chat. We'll move into the NFL side of things. So... It was an absolute flurry of action like over the last few weeks because of the playoffs and everything that went on and kind of in the build up. Everyone was focused in on the Patriots and the Seahawks.
00:17:04
Speaker
We had a flurry of head coaching hires over the last month or so, and there was a massive 10 spots filled across the league, which is, it's a crazy number to think about that many coaches getting, getting in the sack or walking away. and then you've got 10 more guys coming in ready to prove their worth either for the first time or um coming back and trying to prove it again after not working out somewhere else. So We want to look at who do you think is the best head coach and hire so far this, not so far, but at all this offseason. So which team has done the best with their head coach and search and which team has done the best for their future?
00:17:45
Speaker
Not just for the season to come, but in the long term. I'll let you go first because you're going to pick John Harbaugh. So I have him as well on my list. I'm just thinking there now there was no one need for me to put him on my list because i knew you were going to talk about him. So I'll go and look for and another one in my top three while you start talking about John Harbaugh. Harbaugh is actually second on the list.
00:18:07
Speaker
I've got someone else at the top. Now, while I do have some thoughts on Harbaugh that we might come back to, I think the best hire of all is Jesse Minter for the Ravens.
00:18:18
Speaker
I think that pick is absolutely unbelievable. So maybe we'll we'll go in on him first and then we'll talk about Harbaugh because I think that could be the one too and for both of us. and But look, the pedigree he has, he was the Ravens DB coach. He went to Michigan as the DC, which was behind Jim Harbaugh.
00:18:41
Speaker
And now he's gone from there to the Chargers DC position and now back to the Ravens as head coach after John left. So I think there's a lot of reports out there that he has a good relationship with Lamar.
00:18:54
Speaker
The Ravens definitely needed to move back to focus on their defense. It's something that's fallen apart massively recently. Mm-hmm. They have so many good players there they could probably do with reinforcements, but they needed a better or a shift in the coaching on that side of the ball since they lost McDonald's. and Things have looked very, very shaky there for them. i think also making the move to Minter is quite interesting because McDonald was DB coach before Minter was in Baltimore.
00:19:26
Speaker
um He was also DC and Michigan before him. So it's kind of a similar path. He's a guy that he he probably he worked with at Baltimore. He's probably had plenty of discussions with him. And look how good McDonald did. And then to make a smart hire, like getting Declan Doyle he's a young guy, only 29.
00:19:43
Speaker
He worked his way up under Sean Payton. And then he got the opportunity to be the OC behind Ben Johnson in Chicago. And that's a perfect person to learn from. But he wasn't the play caller because Ben Johnson is there. Now you get the opportunity to call your own place, finally, at the Ravens with Lamar Jackson. So I think Minter, what he's done by getting him in, and also the Ravens by going back to Minter and getting a guy in who has a good relationship with Lamar, knows defense, knows the team. i don't think there could be a better hire out there because I can see...
00:20:16
Speaker
Yeah, Harbaugh might have a good impact and bring the Giants from like three or four wins to nine. This has the ability to bring the Ravens to a Super Bowl, I think. I think that this is that good of a hire.
00:20:27
Speaker
Yeah, so like nobody wants to follow on after Fergie. like No one wants to follow follow on after Harbrod. They're saying way no wants to follow on after Fergie at United. But that's why I think this is such a good appointment. And you've made a lot of the points I was going to make.
00:20:42
Speaker
What he did with that Chargers defense in the last two years, despite fact they were injury riddled every single year, he's he's still had him up towards the top of most metrics. And who knows how close they were to get into a Super Bowl this year without those injuries. He could have very easily led them the same way the new Raiders head coach has. I'm not going to try and butcher his name.
00:21:01
Speaker
and and I don't want to call him KK either because I could slip in the third one by accident. But... he's gone in like I just I think this is an unbelievable hire from Baltimore um if you are going to move on from Harborough this is the way to do it bring in someone who knows the mayor as you said knows the team knows everything there is possibly to know going in there and he could very easily bring him to a Super Bowl I've absolutely no issue with that I think he is going to be absolutely superb over there for him and they have so much money spent, so much of their cap space is spent on defense, that if they get in a lad who knows how to get this defense back working properly, then they'll be a match for anyone next year. And when we come around to me messing up all my picks the next year, they'll be right towards the top of my list for Super contender 100%. Yeah, think that they're definitely up there. And I was on the...
00:21:50
Speaker
Gaelic Gridiron podcast earlier in the week and i' made, we said like who's going to be around there next year to win each side, to win the NFC and the AFC and I gave my very, very early Super Bowl prediction as the Ravens and this and the Seahawks.
00:22:06
Speaker
That's how much I believe in in what Minter is going to do there and you said about the pieces they have like, I just think that he's, there's no way he doesn't do a good job. Like he did a great job with the Chargers defense but As you said, they had injuries and then they had so many injuries on offense that the offense couldn't stay on the field and that the defense kind of got to the point where they were a bit depleted and tired. So and I think he did the best job he could have. And I really, I really do think it's a good hire, but you did mention Harbaugh.
00:22:36
Speaker
I think he's up there as well as somebody who could do a really, really good job. I really liked the coaching staff. He's assembled. Some Giants fans have had questions about it, but I think getting Matt Nagy in as your offensive coordinator is a good move because he did very well with the Bears. Although people say, you know, he wasn't great there. Look at how poor they were after he left.
00:23:01
Speaker
Up until recently, obviously now they've turned things around, but at the time, He did such a good job there with Justin Fields and the best job anybody has done with him. He was a reason. There's a reason he was ah kind of one of the final options for the Titans as head coach before they went with Salah. And then to follow up from that, you not only have him, you go and get Willie Taggart as your running back coach, who,
00:23:25
Speaker
has been for years at at the Ravens and multiple other teams he knows exactly how to work with Harbaugh and he knows how to get the best out of the run game you get Greg Roman in as an offensive assistant who's worked with the Ravens and worked at so many big teams as offensive coordinator and then you get Brian Callaghan in who has just been a head coach with the Titans now that went completely badly but he's your QB coach now it's a completely different thing When he was with Burrow at the Bengals, he did so, so well. And now you're asking him to just be a QB coach. You're not asking him to call plays or do anything like that. And to get a guy who's just been a head coach in at that level, i think that that assembly of of talent on the offensive side of things was was absolutely perfect. And I think Harbaugh nailed it. And I think he'll bring that kind of militant attitude for this young core of Giants players that they need to fall in line.
00:24:22
Speaker
They've got a good special teams coordinator. Not sold on the DC yet, but we'll see. Harbaugh knows him. He was a DB coach at the Ravens, as was Minter and as was McDonald. So if he follows anything like them, it'll be pretty good.
00:24:35
Speaker
I just think Harbaugh is the type of guy that builds a great staff and he knows how to work with the players. So I think the Giants are going to push for playoffs this year, but maybe just end up just shy, which I would take any day because it's a huge improvement on what I've been watching recently as a fan.
00:24:52
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's one of these that almost kind of has to work out as they've given him a five-year deal for $100 million. So it's one of those that they have really they've really fully bought into him.
NFL Quarterback Concerns
00:25:02
Speaker
they've gotten in him They've gotten him in his staff.
00:25:05
Speaker
I think it was harsh enough that he got sacked out of Baltimore in the first place after what he'd done in there for 18 years. So I think he's on a man on a mission to prove himself once again. And I think that's a dangerous place for any team to have to deal with him when he's coming in with that kind of an attitude, getting paid that kind of money and being allowed to put together everything he could possibly want.
00:25:23
Speaker
So I think that's a really good appointment. The third one for me was someone who should still be in charge of the Jets. If I had my way, I want talk about Robert Sala and the Titans. um I think it's a great appointment.
00:25:35
Speaker
Brian Dayball going with him to be his offensive coordinator, well, it's another really good move. like the two It was Brian Dayball who kind of brought Josh Allen up from i from the draft to make him what he is today. And Cam Ward had a really solid season last year, although they did finish with a really dismal record. But he was good in patches and having someone like Brian Dayball now and Robert Salah there as his head coach is really going to help him.
00:26:00
Speaker
he's like He's one of the best leaders in the NFL. You could see it last year with the 49ers. Every time they got a play right, all the players over him. They all loved him. It was the same at the Jets for while as well when he was in there. He was really getting the defense going. Look how far defense the defense fell apart after he left as well.
00:26:17
Speaker
Just goes to show that he he was really unfairly treated in New York. I think he's going to be a massive success here as a Tennessee tournament coach. Yeah, I like the Salah one. I kind of rated... Each of the the hires with like ones that I think are really going to do well and then ones that I'm not sure and then ones I don't like.
00:26:35
Speaker
He was in the not sure just because of the way things ended with the Jets and that he said he's going to be the play caller. And for the defense in in Tennessee, that could work really well, like it did from like it does for McDonald with Seattle. And I think first head coach to call plays on the defensive side of the ball and win a Super Bowl. So look, if that's the formula, then it will work. That's but it's just one of the question marks I have. But I agree with what you say about him.
00:27:03
Speaker
Being a great leader and signing Dayball was brilliant because Dayball is a guy who I don't think is cut out for a head coach position unless he learns on his in-game management and the way that his players play without, you know, he allowed way too many penalties, which was also an issue with Salah when he was at the Jets. the The team had way too many penalties. There was no discipline and Dayball is the same. So the two of them need to work on that together i need to work on their game management decisions maybe together and i think two minds are better than one because they both have experienced that tough new york market and now they're together and salah is obviously leading the team so yeah i like that one the other one i had marked in in green is definitely a good hire is stefanski in atlanta but it's too much of a question mark to talk too much about that one because Yeah, they have a lot of talent, but we don't know what they have a quarterback.
NFL Free Agency and Future Planning
00:27:57
Speaker
Penix looks too injury ridden. um Cousins has walked away, but he might come back at a lower price, which I think would be smart and because he worked with Stefanski before. And I think if he does come back and they have him for at least a season and maybe two, then Stefanski could do a really good job early on before they move into the next quarterback of the future. But I think Penix may be write-off. It might be a hot take, but I think he's too injury-ridden. And also, he didn't get picked by any of the people left in the organization, apart from the owner, and who probably didn't have much of a say in it. So, yeah, it's it's an interesting one.
00:28:34
Speaker
Yeah, I 100% agree. I think on paper looks like a really, really good appointment. But as you said, there's so many question marks around it that it's one of those, we'll have to wait for the season to start it and see how they start in the first four or five weeks and work it out from there then if it's good or not. And if they don't get Kirk Cousins back, then what are they going to do? Because you can't rely on Michael Penix. The Vikings are going to have the same issue this year because you really cannot reply on jj rely on JJ McCarty to stay fit either. So...
00:29:03
Speaker
There's a couple of teams who thought they had their franchise quarterback that are looking back thinking, oh, we have made a bit of a mistake there. And I might say this every week for the rest of the season now, but Sam Darnold was there for all of these teams to look at and pick up.
00:29:17
Speaker
And that would have made their offseason a lot easier heading into now what of the are heading into. Yeah, think something we'll talk about throughout the offseason. But... um especially in free agency but I was looking at the cap space that the Seahawks have and it's crazy and Darnold is one of the reasons behind that and they have a lot of their players locked in so they're scary for the future and but that's a topic for another day I think that point about him being out there is massive though and Cousins is a guy that so a lot of these teams should probably look at including the Vikings
00:29:48
Speaker
Yeah, and you see Patrick Mahomes restructured his contract today as well to give the Chiefs an extra £45 million in cap space. So they're really looking for the next well. could a thing they want to go after Tyreek Hill because I don't think...
00:30:02
Speaker
and After he gets cut from the Dolphins, I don't think many other teams can take on his kind of diva ah mentality and stuff. But the the Chiefs are obviously well-abled for that. They've had it before, and Mahomes is is the leader there, as is Reid. So I think of all the teams in the league, they could probably handle it the best, and they could do with him the most. So I wouldn't be surprised to see that. I saw Chris Jones already calling for him to come back there.
00:30:26
Speaker
um But... Yeah, interesting takes on some of the head coaches and that went in. i Some of you think i are just not going to work out. Todd Monken at the Browns, they're just going to tank and he's just going to be blamed for it.
00:30:40
Speaker
And that's not his fault. He never really got a true chance. I don't think Michael floor with the Cardinals. While I do think he could be a decent offensive mind, like Sean McVay was calling the offensive plays there at the Rams. Now, a lot of guys who have worked under him have gone well, but the Cardinals are just such a joke. and their their QB situation is awful as well so I just can't see that going well and I also think McCarthy with the Steelers yeah they might if if things don't start off well they might just pull the pull the ripcord and throw everything out the pram and tank as well finally do a reset and trade some guys away and he'll be the one that's the fall guy so those are my three that I think are destined for failure
00:31:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's a lot of teams in quarterback issues this summer. and It might be something we might you'd actually bring up next week. It's just kind of clicked to me there. There's so many teams who have an issue with quarterback. But i agree. I think all those three you mentioned, they're all going into apprentices that have issues with quarterback.
00:31:39
Speaker
um I think that's going to be kind of the team of the summer is
Ganshan's Picks for Premier League and NBA
00:31:42
Speaker
who can start out their quarterback situation first and then kind of build around that. It won't be the Browns. They have no idea what they're doing. won't be the Cardinals because they still see the sun still shines through Kyler Murray somehow.
00:31:54
Speaker
And the Steelers, I don't know what they're going to do because Aaron Rodgers, I assume, is is done, finally. And if he comes back, then you also can't quit the season with him as your number one. So we'll have to wait and see if we point up where it all leads to. We might talk about that more detail. Yeah, good shout. I think that would be an interesting one. um And definitely around the Kyler Murray situation because I don't see how this can stick with him. But...
00:32:15
Speaker
Yeah, it seems like they don't want him, but they do at the same time. So this is something to watch. And two, yeah, two as in that situation too. So yeah, a lot of QB chats to be had. and Let's move into Ganshan's then. and Whoa, before we do, just want to say, I just got the notification there. There was rumors about it, but the Seahawks are officially for sale after just winning the Super Bowl. Pretty nuts. and Someone is going to bring them up straight away. Yeah.
00:32:44
Speaker
17 billion that's pretty mad that that's official right now but um gone chance let's jump into that last week uh bad week for me i didn't get any right of him the fa cup was pretty tough didn't get any of them correct you had one out of the three so i had leicester to beat southampton that didn't work out you also had that I had Brighton to beat Liverpool.
00:33:06
Speaker
That was not yeah close to happening. And I had Grimsby to beat Wolves, which did not work out despite the pitch being destroyed. um Grimsby group speed couldn't get it done against Wolves. Then you had Stoke to beat Fulham.
00:33:20
Speaker
A close one, but Fulham got the win at the end. And then the one winner was Wrexham to beat Ipswich. So you got that one in. That was at 12-5. So a nice pick there, Wrexham, to grab that win. you want throw out your three picks for this week? You're 23 points and I'm 25. So just two between us right now.
00:33:36
Speaker
Yeah, so I've gone for two Premier League and one NBA this week. Obviously now the NFL is finished, we'll be kind of chopping and changing between what we like. I've gone with the Pelicans at 15 and 41 to beat the Bucs, they were 23 and 30.
00:33:49
Speaker
This is a closer game on paper than it it' so this is closer than it looks on paper. I think the Pelicans could very easily turn them over with the way the Bucs are going as well, so I just fancy that. The other game I found was on Thursday night and the Friday, so no good for this. So I said to leave that one out.
00:34:07
Speaker
i' In the Premier League, I'm backing myself. I'm backing Spurs at 5-1 to beat Arsenal, who are And I'm back in Leeds at to go and win at Villa who are Villar 5-6.
00:34:18
Speaker
I just think Villar, at some point, are going to start falling. and They probably won't fall out of the top four, at top five, but I just think they got away with the XG for tink for too long. It always comes back and levels out. So I think it's starting already and I think it's going to continue. I am on the exact same wavelength as you with...
00:34:36
Speaker
with villa i think that we've been saying it kind of for a while that they are team that have been just like denying xg constantly and i think this could be one of those games where it might come back to bite them or leads like defend deep and then they grab like a couple of set piece goals because they're very very solid at set pieces so i have also got leads in for myself i've got them in to beat villa as you said saturday at three o'clock Second one I've got is Wolves to beat Palace.
00:35:04
Speaker
Palace look like ridiculously bad against Burnley. They look like anybody could beat them. Wolves have not been horrible. I know they're dead last, so it's funny to say that, but they've had a couple of good performances this season. And and if they, I don't know how it's going to go against Arsenal, but if they manage to to get a win against Villa or against Palace, that'll be another massive loss for Palace, who have...
NBA Segment Introduction
00:35:27
Speaker
taken something like six points from their last 10 or something like that. and They just look really, really bad. So that's Sunday at 2. Wolves are 19-4 and Palace are four to seven And then my last one is Sunday at 6pm in the NBA, the Cavs are playing OKC.
00:35:46
Speaker
Cavs 34-21, OKC 42-14. think this would be a statement for the Cavs. I kind of alluded to it last week how I think quite highly of them right now.
00:35:56
Speaker
and They seem to be a team that was kind of not taking the regular season seriously, had a lot of injuries, and now they're just balling up. And I wouldn't be surprised if they end up with the two seed in the East. And I think OKC have injuries of their own right now. And this would be a big statement for the Cavs to go to Oklahoma and grab that win.
00:36:13
Speaker
So that's my my third pick. So those are my three. Out of interest, which was your one on Thursday night that you thought might come up? It was... The Celtics and the Warriors. The Warriors beat the Celtics. That's a nice pick.
00:36:27
Speaker
i was looking at one I was looking at the Hornets to beat the Rockets and then it was like on Thursday night so I was like no, can't do that. And then I actually was interested in the Hornets to beat the Cavs the next night but it's on a back-to-back which is tough so I pivoted. But yeah, those are my three and Shane's three so those are our Ganshan's picks for this weekend.
NBA All-Star Weekend Review
00:36:46
Speaker
Okay, so our bi-weekly segment with Michael, he's back again. we had a special podcast, an extra one on the NBA trade deadline, just myself and Michael a couple of weeks back. So if you haven't listened to that, some good stuff in there, but he's back now for his usual bi-weekly segment. He's brought the topics. Mike, how are you?
00:37:04
Speaker
I'm pretty good. it was great great being on, talking about the NBA trade deadline. Felt like we got even more drama after All-Star break, but we'll we'll get into it. Yeah, yeah, so much stuff happening right now. So you've got like, usually we get like one big topic or like a couple of ones we can split up. But this one is kind of like three smaller ones that you've you've thrown together. So if you want to start and what is our first topic that we're going to be chatting about?
00:37:34
Speaker
Yeah, so as I said, i mean, NBA consistently showing us that it can be a full-on diva show. We've had headline after headline for the last week in the NBA. So we have to touch on the official event, the aftermath of the All-Star weekend.
00:37:51
Speaker
Full of excitement. You know, I want to hear your guys' most memorable moment for the weekend. It can be good or bad. And then one one change you guys are thinking of moving forward.
00:38:02
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah, so for me, the most memorableable most memorable moment for me was the Dunk contest becoming a layup contest because none of them were actually willing and able to go out there and throw Anton down. There was actually...
00:38:18
Speaker
really, really decent. it was a load of just lay up, just like the most basic slam dunks that if you give me two weeks on the basketball court, I might able to pull off one or two of them. So like that competition itself, we were talking about it before we went into it, that it has gone a bit stale.
00:38:34
Speaker
And like, I never thought I'd say this, but Mack McClung was properly missed from thisol second kind or say from this dunk contest. The rest, it was just awful, awful start to finish really and not rolling out. Matt McClellan like to do for Michael Bublé at Christmas is going to go down as one of the worst decisions they've made in quite a while now. So that that was my my big takeaway was this slam dunk contest might be done. It might be cooked.
00:39:00
Speaker
Yeah, i I had like, not as my most memorable best moment or most memorable mine thing to change was definitely the slam dunk contest. Like, it's just pointless. Like Johnson won it probably because he danced after everyone he did and tried to fuel everyone into thinking that he did a good job.
00:39:17
Speaker
And then you saw, like, was it Richardson that just smacked his head off the ground? like you know my god. What on earth are we doing here at this point? These guys don't even know how to dunk and they're in it. Like, McClung posted the three dunks he would have done, and they were all, like, way better than any other thing we saw. and we So my my new proposal would be...
00:39:40
Speaker
that it either becomes something that they get rid of and they do every like three years where like actual stars go and do it every few years and it's like a big thing or you do it in a way where it's like focused on the team instead of like a single player so you go next year three teams from the west two from the east are competing in it There's five rounds. You can do a different player every round. You can do two players doing a thing together, whatever you want to do.
00:40:10
Speaker
But you do it. And the lowest score in each round goes out until you have your final two. And then next year, the winner gets to stay on and be the extra team. So say a West team wins, they get to stay on. And then we have two new West teams and two new East teams come in. And we just do that every year. So you you have to win if you want to stay on or else you might not get to get in it again for like five years.
00:40:32
Speaker
um So that was just an idea I had because it's really stale. So it needs something a bit a bit juicy like that, I think, to get it going. Yeah, I actually have that written down as well. Some of my points is just Mac McClone should have won the dunk contest. seeing Seeing his dunks like on Instagram, they're already better than everyone else. Love the Jackson Hayes fast break dunk.
00:40:57
Speaker
Don't know if I want to see it on All-Star break, but... I find it interesting you guys have that. I feel like for me, the most memorable moment, it just had to be Wemby.
00:41:08
Speaker
Wemby in the all-star break. Like, as soon as he touched the court, yam on someone else. And then just showing he's too good for anybody to be playing half effort around him.
00:41:20
Speaker
Like, he's just sending the ball into the fourth row of the stands. You have to actually play around him if he's locked in. And I thought it was great. i actually enjoyed All-Star Break a lot more than I thought I was going to this year. I mean, the only thing that I really didn't like was the dunk contest, obviously. Like, even this the skills contest. The skills contest was okay.
00:41:43
Speaker
was kind of fun. Drewski was there. Rick Brunson was there. Like, it was fine. I didn't really care for it. I would have preferred a one-on-one contest. Yeah, like but in the WNBA, that's sick when they do the one-on-one. Like if the NBA players had the bottle to go one-on-one against someone and not be worried about getting shown up, that would be really good.
00:42:04
Speaker
Yeah. And that's that's my change as well, is just take out the skills contest, throw in a one-on-one contest, and let's just see people go at them. Even if, like, I don't even care about seeing the top 30 players in the and NBA go at each other. Give me the two tenth string players from, like, two random teams. Let me see these guys go at each other. It'll just be entertaining in and of itself.
00:42:27
Speaker
If we just got those two brothers, Pat, just get the two brothers to do half an hour where they play against each other, that would just be... That would be far more entertaining than anything else we saw.
00:42:38
Speaker
That would be unbelievable. Just throw the two at Mariton and say go, there's no rules, just play like you were playing and you were kids, when you were out in the front yard. Just go and do that there for 15 minutes and we'll see how you get on. That would be for so much better than that slam dunk layup contest that we were forced to watch instead. Like, it's...
00:42:55
Speaker
Yeah, the slam dunk contest is done. It is time to either change it up or get rid. And like if they did shelve it for two years and came back with a brilliant idea, nobody would be complaining. But putting it out again like this again next year, it to me, it makes absolutely no sense. I don't know how anyone enjoyed it.
00:43:12
Speaker
Unless you enjoy seeing a fella hit his head off the rim and then off the floor. It was kind of funny, but like it's it's mental that he like that that's what he came up with. Outrageous. It was just so bad.
00:43:24
Speaker
could have been like, he could have got seriously injured. Just ridiculous that he's in that situation. But and yeah, that was my thing to change. But in terms of best moment, I think you you're fairly spot on with Wemby at least bringing in the juice. And I think that led to Anthony Edwards bringing it, which leads then into my best moment. um And that was just seeing like actually young possible stars of the Sixers doing something on All-Star Weekend.
00:43:54
Speaker
like Tyrese is part of that winning team he had a nice like blow by layup and I think it was KD that was there and then straight away he got the the
Kevin Durant's Burner Accounts Allegations
00:44:03
Speaker
steal and hit a three and they had to call a timeout and it doesn't it doesn't matter it's all star weekend but it's just pretty cool to see a player on your team doing that and then Vijay won the MVP i'm on the rising stars game too so I think those were positives for Sixers fans but yeah that's my kind of best moment I guess did you have any like highlight moments yet?
00:44:23
Speaker
and The highlight moment, I honestly thought when Edwards was named MVP, his reaction was absolutely hilarious. He did not see coming at all. And then his in interview after was so, it was so anti-Edwards. Just most anti-Edwards thing of all time. I think he's he's such a good character. And if he goes on to become what we all think he'll become, he'll be the face that league more so than SGA or any the rest them because he clearly has the personality for it and the talent to do this. I know he's...
00:44:52
Speaker
off-court stuff isn't great either, but everyone kind of seems to push past it because he seems so sound. But I just thought his interview and his reaction to getting MVP was absolutely brilliant. I thought Wembrey, even though he didn't win, he was probably MVP of the night for the stuff he was doing in that game. He was absolutely incredible, as you've all said. And Kawhi Leonard really showed up as well for a change.
00:45:12
Speaker
so But I just thought Anthony Edwards was just said he took a shining life for the NBA at the moment. Yeah, it was pretty funny, the interview. He just names all the greats as if he's like paying homage to them. And then he's like, yeah, so it's fun to give them belt. And then you're on and it's like, right. What do I even say at this point? But ah Mike, what's your next topic that you've got for us? This one's a bit a bit of a mad one.
00:45:35
Speaker
Yeah, this this next topic, I had to bring it up with our resident Rockets fan right here. The KD files. Allegedly. I wasn't sure if this was going to be a main topic, but as the weekend went on, it felt like there was more and more screenshots being released over and over again. At first, I wasn't convinced either, but I'm almost 100% now. I saw a screenshot of that person saying, whoever leaked the the the group chat, your mom is a hoe.
00:46:04
Speaker
I don't know if I can say that or if that's going to get bleeped. But I'm like... we believe What's the outcome of this? I mean, we're talking about from talking badly about Sangoon, Steve Kerr, Draymond to calling Ross a triple double cocaine bear and saying that Jabari Smith is developmentally challenged.
00:46:26
Speaker
How do you expect this? Do you expect a KD trade at the end of the year? Is this it? Is there any way back from this? Shane, lead us off, please.
00:46:36
Speaker
it's like yeah If it is him, you're 37 years old. Go and talk to these people in person. like Why have you made a burner account and ah with a group chat on Twitter? like Someone is always going to find it comes out. It always comes out. No one has ever gotten away with talking rubbish in the background and just expect to get away with this.
00:46:57
Speaker
Barry Smith did put out an Instagram post the other day of himself being KD laughing, so maybe it's not that serious on the inside as... it is looking in or maybe they don't think it's him but I just I don't get it it's like you there's been a lot of issues this year with the Rockets and it's not all just down to them not having guards there's a lot of like glass shots of being thrown around left or and centre nobody seems to want to take him at times KD knocked down one sure we had that game won like the game was over he was thrown down just for fun anytime we're down by one and need a two-pointer three-pointer KD is nowhere to be seen or he'll throw it up and
00:47:33
Speaker
miss it or anything. So there is a lot of issues in the Rockets team. they're They're winning games in spite of him, not with him. I know he's putting up a lot of points and fair play to him, but there does seem to be a big kind of like this trade hasn't worked.
00:47:47
Speaker
And I think you said in the summer, James, that everywhere he goes, he kind of brings this this kind of glare with him where it's like, if I'm not the main man, then no one else is going to be either. So, or you want to give it Shingun? No, I'm just going to go talk everyone behind his back. T'Barry Smith has a couple of bad games, couple of good games. He's developmentally challenged. Like it's, this is the man you brought in to kind of lead this franchise to a chip, sorry, yeah a ring, where'd I get a chip from? This is the man you brought in to like lead him all the way. This one you were like, you've done it. This is such a young whore, clearly a really, really talented group.
00:48:20
Speaker
And if this is the example you're setting, then I don't see the point of it. You might as well just pack it in at the end the like it's it's It's a fail, obviously, if it does at the end of the season.
Rockets' Internal Issues and Trade Decisions
00:48:31
Speaker
And it's a bad fail for what you gave up as well. So we'll have to wait and see. But i would I'd be much happier with Dylan Brooks at the moment.
00:48:38
Speaker
Maybe not the other fella, Jalen Green, but definitely I'd like to have Dylan Brooks back. We just have to wait and have to ride it out to the end of the season and see how it goes. I just think it's it's madness. 37 years old. i so no i just I really want to stress that.
00:48:53
Speaker
On the Dylan Brooks point, I think it's actually a good point because you look at, apparently like he brings a good culture and yeah he left Memphis and it was just like a disaster. He did well at the Rockets. Look at the Suns now.
00:49:06
Speaker
You know, Clearly he he does bring a good culture and KD might be doing the opposite now. As we've said throughout this, none of this has confirmed or been investigated or anything like that as of this point. But...
00:49:20
Speaker
You would definitely like be well within your rights to think that this is very, very possible. Because if you read through the group chats that this burner account was in, some of the information in there is stuff that only Katie would be privy to.
00:49:36
Speaker
Unless the timelines are all messed up. But it doesn't look like that's the case because there's a lot of screenshots as well going to people replying to that account and saying like, this is KD, like I know you're KD, this is his burner. And then those tweets that they're replying to are deleted. Yeah. So it's like at times that he almost... responded as himself when he knew people knew and then deleted them now all of this is obviously allegations and it's not fact but like you know to be to be putting that together and for people to be able to read that you know there is going to be players on the rockets team whether if it's all of them or even just one someone is also going to be of that opinion and putting that together and going hold on a minute like this
00:50:21
Speaker
this can't be all untrue. And the look of fear in that man's face at the All-Star weekend when he was on his phone, like, he looked like he had seen a ghost. And we've never seen him like that before. So I think, judging by him, the way he speaks online, and the fact that it seemed like he knew a lot of information and spoke about so many players that he had played with, you know, to be already doing that about Rockets players. And like you said, Shane, like,
00:50:50
Speaker
taking that last shot there's i brought it up already on this podcast that there's a time where a couple of times where shangun took the last shot and kd is visually seen like throwing his arms and stuff and then the next game kd will have the last shot and he misses it but you don't see that from shangun so it's like it's not a thing a good teammate would do and funnily enough some of the tweets and replies were were about like shangun taking last shots too So it all kind of plays together quite well. I just think if he is doing this, yeah, it's not one bit surprising because of the way he's been throughout his time in the league.
00:51:25
Speaker
But the way he speaks online anyway, off his normal account is mad. He'd be like, I, i there's a thing on Twitter where it's just like all tweets about the Rockets, it's called Rockets Twitter, it just goes up as one of the feeds at the top.
00:51:37
Speaker
And he'd be replying to lads on that, just like cost cursing him out incon and calling him this, that and everything because they've said something he doesn't agree with. Or they'd be like, oh, we we really need Fred Van Vliet back. And he'd be like, he'd be back when he's back, what's the effing rush and stuff like that. And he'd be like,
00:51:53
Speaker
But no one said there was a rush. He was literally just making a point. We're losing here to the Jazz. He's saying that Fred Van Zee would make a difference. And you're coming on after the game. The first thing doing is getting on your phone. yeah Oh, I'm going to go find Shane Fleming and write back to that comment he said about Fred Van Police.
00:52:07
Speaker
Like, again, you're 37 years old. like It's just you're a multi, multi-millionaire. do you let these things affect you so much online? Just go and play your basketball and win the ring, which you were brought over here. You've been paid very handsomely to come over here and try to bring this young team towards winning a championship. And if anything, i think they look worse this year than they did last year.
00:52:29
Speaker
de might They probably won't win as many games this year as did it did last year either. So in that sense, this trade hasn't worked to one bit and not going for someone on the trade a deadline like Kobe Weiss is, is i'm I don't know if I'm ever going to get over it with how cheap he went then as well. like So don't know, there's a lot going on in the Rockets organization that needs sorting and that one now has just jumped to the very, very top of that Excel sheet for Raphael Stone.
NBA Tanking Controversies
00:52:55
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like the Rockets are definitely in a very so weird situation. Like some context, like Katie got outed for having burners a decade ago. Yeah, we're talking about this in 2013. So he clearly has not learned that anything about this situation. And like even the situation where they're at now, I saw I spent a lot of time on or slash NBA on the Reddit, right? There's a lot of Rockets fans saying, give me Dylan Brooks and give me a backup point guard because those are two things that I would prefer right now over KD because they seem convinced that it's him. Yeah. I mean, even if you don't like Jalen Green that much,
00:53:33
Speaker
You guys didn't even like the bulls from all reports were desperate to let go of one of these guys. They were looking for anything. And I mean, they were just over there collecting second round picks anyway.
00:53:45
Speaker
So, I mean, just chuck him another two and get Colin Sexton or whichever one year rental. I mean, even to this day, Lonzo Ball hasn't been picked up now, whether or not he wants to be bought is to be seen. But I feel like you guys are kind of stuck because you're saying this year we're going to see how it is and we'll decide at the end of the year. And I feel like if you're not proactively trying to get better the whole way through, you're getting worse. Exactly. What's the point? Yeah, exactly. 100%. Like when you look at what the Spurs have done this year with the core they put together, they've jumped from, did they make the playoffs last year? don't think they did. I think they just missed out on the playoffs last year.
00:54:28
Speaker
I don't think so, yeah. And now they're comfortably at least the second, sorry, they're at least the third, if not the second best team in the league now behind theundra the Thunder and the Pistons. Like, that's the kind of thing that the Rockets were expecting to happen when KD came in. It's like, oh, we won X amount of games last year. Let's go win 55 or 60 this year.
00:54:46
Speaker
And they've gone the other way. Like, they've already lost 20 games.
00:54:51
Speaker
It's just not what I was expecting coming into the season at all. I thought they would lose upwards of 20 or 25, but we still have a third of the season to go. It's very easy they could tag another 10 losses on to that and where does that put you then? I'm extremely disappointed with how it's gone and this is kind of... just the the the The nail in the coffin for me is like, this is what has been going on on the inside. This is why they're losing to the Jazz and the Kings and stuff like that. The games you should not be losing if you would do think you can win a championship.
00:55:19
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I think and another point on missing out on point guards is Jeremy Sohan, I think, was a good option. That either the Rockets or the Sixers should have went after him. Now he's on the Knicks.
00:55:32
Speaker
That was somebody who was out there as well as Ball. So I think that's another option. But yeah, overall disappointing considering where you thought the season would start. Now it's not over yet, but it's as you said, it's not really looking good. Let's fire through this third topic. Quick fire, Mike. What have you got for us on this last one?
00:55:48
Speaker
Yeah, ah Shane mentioned it when he mentioned the Jazz, but the tanking fiasco, very topical conversation right now, and especially with Adam Silver fining the Jazz half a million and the Pacers 100 grand for sitting their top stars in the fourth quarter of a couple games.
00:56:08
Speaker
A lot of fans are notable pointing out the Wizards rosters and other games from lower-seeded teams and the hypocrisy of those teams not getting fined, whereas these ones are.
00:56:19
Speaker
What do you guys think? Do you think the the tanking issue has gone too far? do you think, look, we'll just leave it, we'll see how it goes, we'll see how the draft lottery goes? Or do you think that you know the NBA and Adam Silver kind of have to step in and be a bit more proactive with the investigations and player a viability player availability and tanking attempts and such.
00:56:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think they probably do need to do something. I think the 500k on the Jazz was warranted and they could get worse than that because they're just like, it's not within the integrity of the league the way they're doing it because they're pulling out all their stars in the fourth quarter.
00:56:58
Speaker
when they're perfectly fine and they're playing well and they're losing games then because of it. Now, I know they won the heat game by some kind of miracle, but they lost that magic game when they should have won it. Cost me a fine pointer on gunshots. Yeah, and in turn, it can cost teams like seeding. A lot of things are at stake here, and especially when the league is so involved with gambling as well. It's not, you know, this this kind of stuff that the league doesn't want that for those reasons too.
00:57:25
Speaker
but in terms of the draft lottery i don't know what way they're going to do it they can't go about it in like a free agency kind of way with the with rookies i don't think that would ever work because they just end up on the big market teams or the teams that can push and then the further the other teams that get even further ostracized so maybe it could be a way that they go back to the worst seed gets the first pick um and if it's a to it's a tiebreaker reduced strength of schedule like the nfl and then if you had a pick in the top five next year even if you're the worst team again you can't have another pick in the top five yet you get pushed straight to six and then again if you're in the top 10 the next year you get pushed to 11 or something like that where
00:58:07
Speaker
basically is like you need to improve you can't just keep losing if you are bad you will still get another pick but it won't be the first pick again because we need to spread those out because in the and nba it's just a joke at this point and i think the pacers getting a fine is a bit of a joke because they're one of the teams that fights the hardest no matter what even though they are tanking they still play as hard as they can in a lot of games, whereas the Jazz do not. And I think the Wizards, they probably don't deserve it either because AD and Trey were injured before they got there.
00:58:37
Speaker
They were bad before those guys came and they traded away actual players for them too. So I don't think that's really a factor. But I think the Jazz, they're lucky to only get five hundred k I think they could get worse because they're really messing with the integrity of the league.
00:58:53
Speaker
Yeah, I think the thing with the Pacers is the Pacers are just crap. like it it know did turn us Like, they're not going out here purposely trying to lose every game every single week. As you said, they're going out there, they're actually playing.
00:59:04
Speaker
They're without their absolute superstar who led them to the title last year, or sorry, led them to finals last year. They're just a really, really bad basketball team. It happens. But the Jazz have gone and made a lot of moves, and now they're like, oh, we're just going to pull you all out and sit you for the fourth quarter, and we'll lose by four instead of starting everyone, starting you on the bench and losing by 50.
00:59:24
Speaker
What they were doing wasn't smart. Didn't look good. Like, you'd be better off putting out a team and saying, oh, our top five guys are injured. We just have to roll with the G League squad here for the rest of a the year instead of going out and putting them out of re retreat water then sitting them.
00:59:36
Speaker
Just nonsense. And I agree. i don't think the Wizards deserve... fine either. I think what they were trying to do is, say what they were trying to do was build for next year. So they have brought in a lot of players who were injured, but that will stand them good stead for next year. So the point this year is probably going to be a complete write-off. It already is a complete write-off. If they get fined half a million because they're sitting two injured players, then that's on the NBA to sort that out as well. I also like your idea of bringing it back to the lowest he gets the one pick.
01:00:06
Speaker
But my fear with that would be everyone trying to be lowest seed then as well. So it could lead to even worse thanking. Whereas like at the moment, the top three teams get a 14% chance each. So you don't have to finish bottom to have a hope of getting the first seed.
01:00:20
Speaker
But if the first seed is going to the worst team, we'd have teams going out and finishing the season like eight and 80 records or something like that. i Sorry, two and 80 records. So don't know what the middle ground is, but they really need to find it and and they need to do it soon because This tanking, and I know they do it would in the nba in the NFL as well. It almost feels like in a staple of American sports at this year at this stage that there's at least one team tanking to try and get the best player coming through. But something needs to be done about it because it's not good for the league. And as you said, there's so much betting in this.
01:00:53
Speaker
There's so much to play for the top 10 as well, where like when you look at how close between nine and 13 are on both sides, all have to is play the Jazz, you're guaranteed to win and kind of shoots you up there into the play-in or the play-off situation as well. So it's not just about them being down there, they're affecting the integrity of the whole league if they keep doing what they're doing.
01:01:12
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. Sorry, I went on for ages there. No, no good points made. Michael, do you have any closing thoughts on it? I just, I think the biggest thing for me and James, you know, this as Sixers fan, we had our GM fired for this.
01:01:29
Speaker
Yeah. Like what Danny Ainge is doing in the jazz is worse than what the Sixers were doing. We had the process and we were tanking for that. But the teams were bad.
01:01:39
Speaker
Like, it's not that we had Lowry Markkinen on the team for the last three or four years and are proceeding to do nothing, tease him on the trade deadline every single year, pretending that you're going to do something, continue tanking until you get Keontae George and Walker Kessler.
01:01:58
Speaker
And the reanimated corpse of Yusuf Nurkic, who wants to drop double-doubles now after three years. And you decide, like, oh, now we're a decent team. But this next draft class is so good that we're going to sit, like, four of these players in the fourth quarter.
01:02:14
Speaker
And the NBA office is going to come out and just be like, oh, here's half a million fine. Like, this is not... Sitting Luka at the end of that 2022-23 season. This is prolonged over a couple of years. And the Sixers got absolutely screwed for it.
01:02:33
Speaker
So, I mean, the fact that this is even sliding past is absolutely ridiculous. Yeah, I think that should be harsher, definitely. And taking and picks off people, that would be what would actually stop it.
01:02:48
Speaker
But... I know we are Sixers fans and we'll say like we did get done badly for that. But at the same time, we were intentionally signing the worst possible players.
01:03:00
Speaker
we weren't We were not signing good players on purpose. If there was a good player available, we would go, oh, you can't play, you don't know how to play. like although None of those guys played in the NBA the next season. So were...
01:03:12
Speaker
we were like on a dangerous road there but I agree that at least we didn't have someone good at our disposal that we weren't playing we just didn't have anyone good but that was on purpose we picked we literally signed bad players
Improving NBA Draft System
01:03:26
Speaker
Yeah, like, if we had, for example, Embiid. When we drafted Embiid, you know, he was injured for the first year. Imagine he wasn't injured.
01:03:35
Speaker
And we were just like, oh, yeah, he's going to play 10 games this season. And then we sit him for the rest. And then we'll play him, like, another 22 games next season. We'll sit him for the rest. Like... It would just be, and there would be fury around the league at anybody else.
01:03:52
Speaker
But I feel like Danny Ainge gets taught as this genius. And this has been his plan that he's been concocting in in Utah for the last couple of years. Hell no, man. This guy got locked into everything and is now trying to rope reap even more rewards off the end of it.
01:04:10
Speaker
On top of that, just to finish it off, and NBA Insiders reporting and over the last 24 hours that the only reason those two teams were fined was as a result of gambling companies pressuring Adam Silver because his losses on on returns. So, like...
01:04:28
Speaker
This whole thing seems like such a joke, honestly. Mark Cuban has come out and said there should be like pay scales depending on your pick and that college should turn into free agency.
01:04:41
Speaker
i don't know. i think you're on the money, James. I think letting teams have the higher picks and then restricting the amount of times they can get a top four or top eight pick is probably the way to go.
01:04:52
Speaker
Will Silver do it? Probably not. No, he's not there. Please don't. Yeah, we also, we wouldn't have that spurs team either if they did that because how lucky, lucky they got in all those draft lotteries to end up what they've ended up with is a bit mad as well. But I digress, that's for another show.
Updated Power Rankings and Episode Wrap-Up
01:05:09
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. Well, thanks again, Michael, for coming on. We appreciate it. We will have you back in two weeks with, I'm sure, more pressing topics that spark a lot of debate. So nice one. And we'll chat to you again soon. Thank you very much. I'll talk to you guys.
01:05:25
Speaker
All right, so let's wrap up with the power rankings. I'll go first here. Last week I had the Seahawks, Pistons, Cavs, Arsenal, United and the Knicks. So while the Seahawks have won the Super Bowl, they're obviously the most powerful team in the NFL, but it's time to pivot now to just Premier League and NBA. So I've got three for each. That's how we're going to do it for the rest of the season.
01:05:49
Speaker
I've moved Pistons into number one. Obviously, the NBA hasn't been played since we last recorded, so there's not much reason to change anything. and But I've got the Pistons in here. First, they move up from second. The Cavs move up from third to second then, so they're their number two. Third then is Arsenal. They move up. a spot man united then move up a spot as well so all i've done at first is just shift those four up after dropping out the seahawks and then my last two i know the knicks haven't played but i just really thought the hornets deserve to be in here you picked them last week and i should have picked them too so i put them in instead of the knicks they're fifth and then man city are in sixth i was between them and chelsea but
01:06:33
Speaker
City just look really solid and they might be pushing on a title charge. So I'm going to put them in in six for now. so Pistons, Cavs, Arsenal, United, Hornets and Man City. Nice. Yeah. So I've done the same as you with my top two. So I've taken out the Seahawks in last week and moved the Pistons and Hornets up to one and two. have a new NG3 I brought in Chelsea.
01:06:54
Speaker
They just look their team on really good form. I think they're four wins in a row now. To be honest, I didn't i was going to put in City and I kind of pivoted at the last second and put in Chelsea instead because I've had City in there on and off and every time I put them in they let me down and I want them to win the league. So if I don't put them in then they might become good again and keep winning games. So I put Chelsea in there third instead.
01:07:15
Speaker
The Spurs have moved up to fourth for me. They were fifth last week. United up to fifth from sixth last week. And I've dropped Arsenal to sixth because I don't like them. They drew up Brentford they're about to draw Wolves. So they're lucky that they're still in there. So I have the Pistons, the Hornets, Chelsea, the San Antonio Spurs, not to be confused with the bad one in the Premier League, Manchester United and Arsenal. Pretty similar on on some there. And I think Chelsea are definitely worth...
01:07:40
Speaker
thrown in at least in one because as I said as it as I said I kind of considered them and they are four wins and a draw in their last five in the Premier League so same as United and they drew their last but four wins before that so yeah that's another episode wrapped and plenty covered as usual hope you enjoyed it we'll be back next week again Shane I'll throw it to you to wrap it up Cheers lads just keep doing what you're doing we'll keep what doing what we're doing and we'll see you next week to talk about quarterbacks Welcome back to another episode of Who's Got the Ball with Shane and James.