Fred Warner on Purdy, His Toughest Opponent & AFC Contenders + NBA Christmas Preview w/ PJ Carlesimo

What this episode is about

Fred Warner discusses his perspectives on recent NFL games, including his thoughts on the Niners' performance and key opponents, while also sharing insights about tackling and notable players. Additionally, PJ Carlesimo analyzes NBA strategies ahead of holiday matchups, particularly focusing on challenges posed by the Thunder, alongside ongoing discussions about different generational truths in the league.

Key takeaways

• Brock Purdy's career game unfolded under the East Coast spotlight, proving he thrives amidst the pressure cooker.
• Fred Warner's defensive brilliance is a masterclass; teaching ball-stripping techniques over lunch, now that's player development!
• The Niners' run defense silenced critics, holding the league's best to 60 yards. Who's laughing now?
• DraftKings' holiday cheer promises daily gifts; who knew NFL betting could feel like unwrapping presents every morning?
• Philip Rivers at his age still slinging passes—when does decades-long experience trump youthful vigor in the NFL?

Who speaks in this episode?

• Ryan Russillo (Host) · 1 h 23 min speaking
• Fred Warner (Guest) · 56 min speaking
• PJ Carlesimo (Guest)

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 15:00: DraftKings
2. 45:00 – 1:00:00: Shake Shack
3. 1:30:00 – 1:45:00: DraftKings, Golden State Warriors

Notable quotes from "Fred Warner on Purdy, His Toughest Opponent & AFC Contenders + NBA Christmas Preview w/ PJ Carlesimo"

• From the Spurs Thunder matchups that we could look forward to this next coming week. we go deep on a few different things on staggering players and then my quest to define the…

  about NBA · at 0:24

• The Big Shack is out now and it's a serious burger. We're talking two Angus beef patties, three buns, new secret sauce. It's stacked, balanced, and built the right way. You get everything you.

  about Shake Shack · at 46:17

• Two or three years and the Knicks right now are maybe Celtics kind of were a little ahead of the curve. the Knicks right now might be the best. They've analyzed and they know…

  about Boston Celtics · at 50:22

• Player. So, hats off to him. But they have some players who can match up with those wings that OKC has. They have about eight of them. it's to the point last year when Kessie…

  about Detroit Lions · at 54:08

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

Companies & orgs

• Golden State Warriors — Company · Referenced team · 1 mention · first at 1:38:27
  Mentioned in the context of NBA games and player performances.
  Quest to define the difference in the truths I guess the different truths of different generations of the NBA. We have a shalom update. So we didn't even get to life advice…
• Boston Celtics — Company · Referenced team · 2 mentions
  Mentioned in the context of NBA games and player performances.
• Detroit Lions — Company · Referenced team · 2 mentions
  Mentioned in the context of NBA games and player performances.

Concepts & topics

• NBA — Concept · Core topic · 2 mentions
  Central theme of the episode, discussing various teams, players, and strategies within the NBA.

Places & events

• COVID-19 pandemic — Event · Referenced event · 2 mentions
  Mentioned in passing, likely in the context of its impact on sports or society.

Sponsors

• DraftKings — Company · Sponsor · 4 mentions · first at 0:03
  Presented by DraftKings, the show discusses sports betting and promotions offered by the company.
  The Ryan Russell Show presented by DraftKings. Loaded for you again today.
• Shake Shack — Company · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at 46:27
  Promoted during the episode, discussing their new burger and holiday promotions.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:01 The Ryan Russell Show presented by DraftKings. Loaded for you again today. A lot of NFL with Fred Warner, what he thought of the Seattle LA result, his Niners win, Philip Rivers return. Uh, and also he gives us a great answer on who do you tackle really hard that never complains that loves it. He has a good answer for us on that one. PJ Carissimo, we're talking hoops. How do you stop the Thunder? Some of the things that we saw from the Spurs Thunder matchups that we could look forward to this next coming week. Uh we go deep on a few different things on staggering players and then my quest to define the difference in the truths I guess the different truths of different generations of the NBA. We have a shalom update. So we didn't even get to life advice until like 15 minutes of screwing around. So a very very big pod for you right in front of Christmas.

0:49 It's the most wonderful time of the year and DraftKings is making it even better. Yep, it's SGPX baby. the season of extra. DraftKings Sportsbook is handing out holiday cheer like Santa with a parlay slip. And you're going to want to get in on this. From December 22nd through the 25th, DraftKings is giving you a brand new extra generous offer every single day. That's right, four straight days of promos so you can slay your NBA and NFL parlays. You wake up, you check the app, boom, a fresh gift from DraftKings waiting for you. No wrapping paper, no batteries required, just straight up SGPX magic. Slay your parlays this holiday season. NBA, NFL, whatever your game is, DraftKings is making sure your bankroll jingles all the way. So celebrate SGPX with DraftKings. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app with code Ryan Ryen. Opt in and unwrap your daily extra offer from December 22nd to the 25th. That's

1:44 code Ryan Ryen in partnership with DraftKing Sportsbook. The crown is yours. Buy now and get the Rilo hoodie free. Call 1800 European theater of the week is the Oregon Dut. We need a big push here. He's going to join us throughout the season as we told you. So, visit number two with Fred Warner from the San Francisco 49ers and also the host of Real Ones the League. Uh, make sure you check out the episodes. The Duro and James interview is awesome. The Alex Smith one just went up. So, if you're a fan of just great interviews, you don't have to be if you're a fan of Fred, you're going to like it. But, um, I I really enjoyed them the last couple weeks and and digging through everything. So, it's good to see you, man. How are you,

2:42 man? I'm great. You know, I'm great. That Monday night, the night is on top, baby. Woo! Billing great man.

2:51 You do the resume here. They're the five seed, but they're 11 and4. You know, there's still a lot of things in play. Yeah.

2:58 So, they get the money nighter against the Colts. I can't wait to ask you about Philip Rivers, but first and foremost, let's start with your guys. Like, what did you see from the team and getting this done on the road?

3:07 Yeah, man. I mean, it's always unique when you have to go on the road for these night games on the East Coast cuz when you play a night game here on the West Coast, it's a 5:00 start time, right? It's it's I mean when you're later in the season that the time has changed. It's dark outside so it's late 5:00 start. You go on the East Coast, they start their their night games at 8:00 p.m. So it's like holy smokes. You're sitting at the hotel all day long just to get ready for this game. And you finally get on the bus at like 5:00 p.m.

3:34 to go to an 8:00 p.m. game. So it's just a long day. So you always kind of wonder like are the guys really going to be firing from the jump or is it going to take them a little bit because they're a little little groggy maybe from a long day. But to see the way that our offense came out and was hitting on all cylinders, I mean, I think that was Brock Pery's best game of of his career thus far. Like, he's he's had outstanding performances since he's been here with us, but that game showed just how how poised he is, how he's able to dissect defenses, deliver the football on any point of the field, rolling out to his right, to his left, delivering the football, throwing like finishing with six, not three. It was just unbelievable. And I think he was playing sick, too. Like you see it on the on the on the uh the broadcast on from the TV.

4:20 You see his nose is all red, man, because he's probably over there sneezing all game. But the guy is a complete baller. Best in the game in my opinion, of course. And uh yeah, man. I mean, we just we're just deadly out there on on offense. And defensively, it was it was good to see us take the ball away on special teams. My guy Jier Brown coming through with the the Fred Warner punch punch out, man. You know, we were we were laughing about it in the locker room just now cuz I told him I'm like he told me he's like, "Bro, I specifically remember you telling me elbow above the wrist because if you want that, you want that right angle. So when you're going through, it's like you got that little pocket in there for that ball to come out." So I guess he remembered a little something that Freddy told him, right?

5:01 So he goes in there, he punches the ball out on kickoff. My boy D Wyinners, man, just shout out to D Wyinners finally gets himself a pick and it's a pick six to the house to ice the game. Unbelievable. You know, we were going into the game with everybody saying that our run defense wasn't any good. Their run game was the best in the league and we hold them to 20 carries for what, 50, 60 yards. Like, it's unbelievable. So, um yeah, old Phil Rivers man was still out there hucking that thing like trying to just deliver that pill. It looks like It looks like he's over there, man. Just got that food on the platter and just is hucking it out there, man. But he's still doing it. And uh it's it's super impressive because I don't think people understand what it takes to really step out there because this is this is as violent a game as it gets. You see obviously what can happen in terms of guys getting hurt on any

5:48 given play. So the fact that he came out of retirement after five years not doing it is still throwing touchdowns fired up. You know, they're showing him on the on the broadcast just fiery a fiery cat. You man, you you can get behind that any day. So uh all in all, man, fantastic win for the Niners. a lot of lot of great ball ahead of us and I'm excited, man. It's a great time to be a fan of the game. The Rivers thing. Um it's amazing that he could look like when you would see the shots of him in the sideline in his uniform and maybe it wasn't the best uniform for for an older guy. I I would just have these moments watching him be like, I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe this guy has out there.

6:27 And then, you know, all you have to do is get knocked around a little bit and you're just you're a football player. you're in it and he's chirping and you know then there'd be a throw where I'm like all right well look it's always kind of been this weird delivery and then there'd be a throw that there was one to the right where it was like oh he didn't get enough on that and I'm like all right well is that because he's 45 or is that because he just missed a throw like anybody else would

6:48 I I do wonder if there's a bigger thing on display here now granted his relationship with that coaching staff and knowing the offense like this wasn't like they just said hey who's 45 that we can have playing games right now sort as this is there's there's at least we know when he's back there he's going to understand exactly what we're going to do and I'll forever as we get to know each other forever be fascinated challenged clueless definitive like any any way I could describe my feelings on quarterbacks where I'm like I think this guy's going to be good and then he's terrible and then a guy who I think is going to be terrible turns out to be terrific but I

7:22 is there something that we're we're realizing if Philip Rivers is coming into a game and at least being competitive where the knowledge is so much more important

7:32 than any of the physical stuff in that there's a there's just a development gap between what we ask of the NFL quarterback at the beginning of his career and what they're actually ready to handle every Sunday.

7:44 Yeah. No, I mean it's it's a super interesting uh topic that I know we've heard Tom Brady talk about it, right? He talks about guys not being uh as developed coming into the league because of the college game kind of changing. So they're unable to really dissect and read defenses as early on in their career. So then they have to learn that part of the game as they're transitioning to playing it at the highest level with all the speed and everything of that that nature. I talked with Alex Smith about it on on my podcast. He said that he thinks that this is the best the quarterback position has ever been in the entire NFL because he just feels like just the level of athlete that's back there. Um guys just throwing that throwing the pill around the field and he feels like this is the best it's ever been in his opinion. I mean, obviously his opinion means more than my opinion cuz I never played the position. Um, but yeah, I

8:31 think with with Phillip, it does it shows crystal clear, especially Monday night where everybody's tuned in, it's a it's a night game, prime time, and you see him get up to the line of scrimmage and they're sending motions. All right. Hey, hey, hey. And he's kind of just like kind of roaming around like just like just so like nonchalant about it. He just kind of like, um, hey, hey, let's go. And we're like, okay. Okay. Like, and there's so much time on the play clock cuz he's just like, he's obviously that efficient early in the in the in the down to be able to just be like, "Okay, hey, let's check to this." Boom, boom, boom. And I'm just going to huck it right here like in this little 10 yard pocket and it's just going to be a first down completion. We're going to move the chains. We're going to continue the drive. And it's like, did he do something fantastic with his feet, with his arm, with any like no, it was

9:15 because he was able to read read and dissect the defense to deliver the ball in the place that it needed to be delivered. And at the end of the day, you want to just get as high percentage chance throws on any given drive to get yourself in position to score a touchdown, right? Or to just put points on the board. And so when you have a guy that can put you in that position to stay ahead of the sticks, because you see where the issues arise, especially in this game, it was when they get behind the sticks where you're you get a TFL or you get an incomplete pass, you're in second and 10, you're in third and 10. It's like, well, there's not a whole lot of plays in your playbook repertoire to say, hey, we're going to go get a first down on on third and 10 versus, no, we're in third and four or or less. So, I mean, the combination of them not unable to get the run game going now puts a lot of and the def

10:00 their defense not being able to stop stop our offense puts a lot of pressure on Phil to be exactly right on every single play that he's out there where he has to check it correctly. He has to deliver the throw perfectly and it all works in unison. But if you don't have a guy at that position who understands what's going on, you're going to be constantly like, "Oh, let's hope that he makes a play with his legs or let's hope that it just works out instead of actually like meticulously working your way down the field where our defense feels like, golly, we can't do anything right. This dude just knows exactly what we're doing." It's like it's just deflating for a defense when you have a guy like that who knows what you're doing because it's like, "Oh [ __ ] should we do we need to start doing something different?" Because he knows what we're doing. So,

10:41 how different is it? How different is it like when you couple series and you're just you're with the defense, you're like, "This guy's lost."

10:47 You're talking about a quarterback. Yeah. There's I'm sure there's younger quarterbacks or quarterbacks that are Oh, yeah. Like how different is that?

10:53 Yeah. No, I've I've had experiences, you know, we went into uh what was it 2023? It was after our bye-week. We had just lost three straight. So, our backs are against the wall. We're going coming out of the buy. we got to go on the road against a hot Jacksonville Jaguars team who had won a ton of games up to that point and you know Trevor Lawrence we had seen on tape where you know they he wanted it to look a certain like for a quarterback you're going to either see two high you're going to see single high you're be okay I know where the ball's supposed to go in my progression based off the safeties and what and what the DBs are presenting me right so we're like okay if we can muddy the picture up for him pre- snap and then play something Let's see how that affects him. And we went into the game and we're like, "All right, we're going to start single high and then we're going to switch to two

11:40 high post snap." And you just saw him go from his first read, "Oh, it's not there. Okay, boom. Let me look at the rush." He's obviously progressed a ton since then. Is much much more developed in being able to to read disguises and understanding understanding scheme as a quarterback and his system and with uh Liam Cohen. But at the time we knew we had him because it was like you could tell just the panic set in within a quarterback, a young quarterback who was unable to understand what's what's going on from a disguise standpoint of like, okay, boom. Like now the timer in my head is quicker because as soon as he doesn't see his first read, my my cleats are on the ground. I'm all out breaking to go pick something off or get ready for when he's starting to run with the with the ball or take the ball down.

12:23 Yeah. cuz like on the other side of it, maybe if we' had like five shows together, I push back a little bit on you saying Brock's the best quarterback in the NFL, but I I've realized very quickly here you're the best teammate in the league, not only the best linebacker.

12:35 Um, but you know, with Shanahan for for us casual viewers, like I just expect there's a floor that's so much higher for every quarterback because of what Kyle's track record has been. And I mean, this goes back to like, man, they like Garopolo that much. And then I think I kind of figured out with Garopolo like there were it felt like there were some maybe limitations out on the field and that the offense could be a little predictable but then you'd have like again I don't know how many of these guys you were there for but like Nick Mullins has a nice little run. It was like CJ had a run and like Darnold comes in and everybody's like I kind of can't wait to see what happens with Darnold. And for everybody that's like, "How does the league miss out on a party?" And if you go back and watch him in college and like I watch a lot of college ball, you'd be like, "Hey, this looks like a smart guy who's undersized

13:16 and this is exactly where this guy always goes when he's drafted." And I would say even physically

13:21 some of the stuff that we really value and contend to overvalue. It's like, hey, I don't care how big your arm is if you can't get to a point of identifying some stuff and just being a decision maker that's not going to freak out or have some sort of pocket awareness

13:34 that Brock feels like he checks a lot of the boxes that are harder to evaluate on Saturday.

13:39 Yeah. So, you know, I think some people look at his success and go, "Oh, I wonder what he would be without Shanahan." But it seems like you

13:47 would would say, "No, no." Like, was there a moment with Brock where you're like, "Okay, this is actually different. like we we have a chance here to be even more dynamic in the passing game despite everybody giving the head coach all the credit.

13:57 No, I mean it was his the moment he stepped in to being the starter when Jimmy went down in 2022. It was 2022 2023 2022. He came in in that Miami Dolphins game when Jimmy went down and made some throws in that game because of course when you get a rookie quarterback in what is what does a defensive coordinator do on opposite side? He's like, "Man, let's send the house at him. Let's see if he can really make a throw or read a defense on the fly versus just hold on to it, crumble, and then take a sack." He's delivering throws that a 10-year veteran would make in terms of being able to process at the highest level and understand where that ball needs to go and delivering it in in the rhythm and the timing that needs to be delivered. I think there's baseline.

14:42 There's like for a quarterback, a starting quarterback in this league who wants to be, you know, a actually great player in this league, there's baselines in terms of athletic ability, uh, arm strength, you know, if you're going to be a shorter in stature, like there obviously these baselines kind of you you they bump up a little bit like they got to be a little bit better. And I think people take they don't they don't understand with like the savviness, the quickness, the quick burst that he has to be able to escape and roll out and and create with his legs. I think it's shocking when guys get on the field and they're actually playing him where it's like, "Oh, shoot." Like, "I didn't realize he was that twitchy." And I think he's joked around where he's like, "Yeah, I had a better 10 10 yard split on the 40 than Christian and Debo at the combine." And I'm like,

15:26 "Wait, is that true?" And he's like, "Everybody said that." He said that before. Like I'm pretty sure that's a real thing. Like he had a good 10 yard split. Like what does that mean? I don't know. But at the end of the day, like he he's got some twitchiness about him to then be like, "Okay, that's enough." Now, what's the what's the thing that's the the deal breaker? the processing ability upstairs to not like because the whole Kyle Shanahan argument of course Kyle is the best of course in my mind to ever do it in terms of head coach and play caller but at the end of the day you can only put a quarterback in a in the right position or the right scheme you know what what am I trying to say a quarterback at the end of the day when bullets are flying and he's out there in a game he's the one that got to make it happen he's the one that's got to figure it out and be able to to process deliver

16:16 the football do it over and over and over and over and over again in the heat of battle of like of what in what people are trying to attack him with. So you the people who don't want to get party is due like well you just obviously don't understand the game. You don't understand how football works. You don't know how the quarterback position is played and you need to go watch film because you go and watch that Monday night tape just now. You can't tell me that that's the that's that's music. Like that's that's that's beauty that at it at its core right there. What he just did what he what he just did and performed on on that on a national stage.

16:48 Yeah. I just looked it up. McCaffries was a 152. Heresies was a 155. So in the ballpark. No, but he said it. You're right. He did say

16:58 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, he's Listen, it was right there. You guys, there's no way anybody believed him when he first said that the entire time. The Debo one might be a stretch, but I don't I don't know if I have an official number on this. 10 yard, man. That little 10 yard burst. After that, it's like, okay, listen, you got what you got. You know, I'm I'm riding that same ballpark. It's like, all right, I'll lean on the 10 yard when I'm I'm I'm gloating about my speed and then once it gets to the 40, it's like, all right, listen. I'm I'm not anything special compared to anybody else.

17:25 Yeah, but I mean, there's an argument to be made that you'd rather be quicker at a 10 yard.

17:30 Oh, absolutely. And most positions on the field in an NFL game, you Yeah. You It's It's a 10 yard burst. The only time you're not in a 10 yard burst for my position is if you're burnt on something or you're you got beat and you got a whole you got a whole tail to go get run somebody down. You might have the best Well, look, there's going to be some corners that are faster than you. But I think one of my favorite things about you is there maybe your your 20 to 30 oh [ __ ] I got to get out on this guy speed is faster than everybody else where the quarterback's like, I got him. I got him.

18:03 my on every single play I run harder than the guy who runs the 44 or 43. He the guys who four run four four-3 they know they can kind of like coast and turn pick and choose when to turn it on versus me. I'm the 46 who's like I'm running that 46 every single play and so I got to make sure my gas tank is where it need to be to make sure I'm running that 46 every play. I got to ask you about the Seattle Rams game because you know this is if you're the Rams and I'm bringing this up because of the division and like what is still in play for you guys. So it makes sense. So

18:37 I'm sure you're I don't know where you were for the game. If you're texting with your boys, you're just going like, okay. Because I think a lot of people going to that game are like

18:45 based on the first matchup and Darnold's issues, they know what they need to do now. They get that big lead. the Rams have have gone into this 13 personnel thing which I do think is really interesting and how a lot of people have talked about it because it's like we're giving you a look that actually is not what we want to do. Yeah. But yet the running backs are stepping up and there's no Devonte. So then you're like all right well how often are they going to be going out of two wide receiver sets the entire thing. But I think before we get into some of the design stuff that's happening here with the Rams when the Rams are leading that game like the football sense made or the football world made sense to me at that point when it was that score. I'm like, you know, I think they're the best team in the league. They're going to be the one seed. They're going to win a division. They blow that game.

19:25 Yeah. What's the worst you've I mean, I guess it might be the Super Bowl loss, but that's going to be the kind of loss where

19:33 you're just like, how like that's going to feel like it was Yeah. It was like we had this so

19:40 wrapped up in a in a present. How did we let that one go? And I think it honestly speaks to uh the fact that they fired their special teams coordinator after the game. You know what I'm saying? Like that was a pivotal moment in the game where you have a guy I think did he fumb Did he fumble the the punt return or was it a kickoff return?

20:02 It was a kickoff return because they had just scored, right? Or no, was it No, it was the pick. They had thrown the pick and then they

20:08 No, no, no, no. was uh they we g they gave up a punt return touchdown to Seattle, right? The Rashid Shahiti ran a touchdown.

20:15 That was the first touchdown, right? That was the first touchdown that they got and then there was something else that happened on special teams.

20:21 Um I I don't know, maybe maybe not. But they had that was their when I remember when we were going into playing against them, that was their Achilles heel. They we talked about how we had an advantage against them in special teams because, you know, of course people never talk about special teams, but it's it's that's the third part of the game. You got offense, you got defense, and you got teams. So, you know, I think those one or two plays, like you talk about swings and momentum, and yeah, I mean, Seattle had to have a lot of things go right in that game for them to even have a chance to win it. Like, you talk about those two-point conversions that they converted on. I've never seen in my entire life a team who the ball gets thrown behind the line of scrimmage, they blow the whistle, their running back picks it up in the end zone, they're lined up to kick the ball off, and then all of a sudden they're

21:02 saying, "Hey, no, we reviewed it and it's actually a t it's actually a two-point conversion." And so it's like, "That was wild." And then you go on and they got to score the two-point conversion to tie it up and then a two-point conversion to win it in overtime. So, you know, a lot of thing had to go go their way in that game and to for them to win it. But, uh, all in all, the Rams, I know they're sick in their they're sick to their stomach right now because they they had full control of that game and they have full control over their destiny to to win the one seed. And now they have to have some things go in their favor in order to even have that happen. Now,

21:34 they also had the missed field goal as they were going back and forth once the score was tied up.

21:38 That's what it was. He missed the field goal. Yeah. I guess I just never I don't I mean there there'd be all 22 blocking stuff that somebody would have to explain to me to understand why it's a special teams coordinator's fault on that one. But um

21:50 I mean yeah you know like you can't just sit here and blame it on the special teams like you the Rams had their

21:57 that's something that we don't know the quarterback with the football at the end of the game where it's like if you guys get a first down you ice the game and this game is over. But they they I think they went three and out at the end of the game to give the the se the Seahawks another chance to take the ball and go score and then obviously they went for two to win it in overtime. So I mean you want to blame you want to blame people, blame the the offense for not icing it. Yeah. No, there was I I fully expected once it was the ridiculous two-point thing. I'm like, "Okay, it's 3030 and guess what's going to happen? Stafford's going to go down the field. They're going to set up because everybody gets into field goal range at the end of games now. It's like automatic

22:33 and everybody's kicking the hell out of the ball. So, I was like, they're going to still end up winning this and everybody's going to kind of forget about this collapse and they'll be the one seed and on and on and on because I felt like they were the most complete team.

22:43 Okay. Explain to me like I understand the numbers and I think most people listening understand 13 personnel where it's the one receiver. Well, it's like one three is the one back.

22:53 Yep. Three tight ends, which means the one receiver. Um, and as everybody's kind of gotten into this and you notice some stuff with Stafford McVey and and the appreciation people have for McVey is that he'll figure it out. He'll evolve. He'll look like a completely different team. What is it mean for you when you're out there going, "Okay, this is this thing they like doing is kind of taking the NFL world by storm here, but really it feels like they're trying to show us a personnel and then run out run different stuff as opposed to what this personnel would tell you they were doing."

23:24 Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's just unorthodox to what you're what you're accustomed to seeing around the NFL. When you see teams getting to 13 personnel, that means they're getting all big people on the field to do what? To run the football, right? Like they want to get their big guys in there and say, "Hey, we're going to now muscle you into running this football." So on and so forth. But the thing that's unique with the Rams is they got personnel and they got obviously a guy in McVey who can dress it up in certain in different ways to not only run the football effectively but to now pass the football because he has trust in these tight ends that they've now uh acquired like this guy Ferguson out of out of Oregon this year. He may have not been a guy who was getting involved in the pass game as much early on in the season, but now I'm seeing him get way more involved where he's getting tons of ops and

24:08 he's a freak. Yeah, I mean a freak in college. tells me that that Stafford now has a ton of trust in this kid to to be able to even just look his way and throwing the ball because if he didn't then he's like, "Man, I'm not I'm not even going to I don't want to look his way cuz what if I don't trust that he's going to run the right route if he's going to catch the ball, do these things?" You know, I remember uh lining up against him on that Thursday night game and it was he was out at number one when we were in man coverage out as a number one receiver and he ran a gold ball on me and usually I'm like, "The tight end's not going to run a go ball out here." He ran a go ball and he if had Stafford looked that way, I'm pretty sure he would have caught that go ball. But I think it just goes to show you that the kid has talent and now it's like developing that trust to then get get him the ball more and more. And when you

24:51 have that ability to throw the football and 13 personnel, it keeps the defense on their heels because now the defense is at a disadvantage because what are they going to do when you get 13 personnel on the field? You're going to go big guys on on the field. You're going to bring in more linebackers. You might bring in more D linemen to try to do what? To stop the run. And then so now when they're passing the ball, they kind of got these mismatches because they have athletes at at tight end to be able to expand the field and they still of course have one receiver on the field which is usually Puka who you're now getting him in a in a one-on-one matchup probably to to either, you know, get him open running down the field or across the field or to the flat or something.

25:25 You know, they just they hit you in so many different ways and all the pre-nap motions to try to get your eyes moving in different directions. It's so confusing. But um at the end of the day, they're just running simple concepts with with different personnel groups and different ways of running those those different plays.

25:42 And they're doing this without Higgby, too. So like they're also going like to the next three tight ends. And look, Kob terrific.

25:49 Um they had that play a few weeks ago. I forget who it was where they ran Puka left to right in motion and then they had him cut up in between the offensive lineman and then he's coming out of that and you're just going

25:59 bro I watched that play I was like why hasn't that been a thing for like 20 years

26:04 cuz no it's crazy cuz they'll they'll run that insert with Puka a ton where he's coming up into that C gap to now dig out a safety, dig out a nickel, dig out maybe even a linebacker. And so when you got a guy running in there, you got that safety thing and he needs to come in and fill that gap and then he just runs right by you for an over route, for a a corner route. It's like, oh my gosh, like these guys are unreal. Like there's just stuff coming at you in all different ways. I loved your conversation with Derwin James. Any of us that love college ball, you know, you're getting into the draft and you're like, how's that guy got not going to be special, right? Just watching him just ruin things. And then there's been a few miked up games that I've watched him on where then you like fall in love with him all over again because he's not

26:47 he's not like nasty talking [ __ ] He's almost friendly. Yeah. But it's it's friendly from this perspective of like I'm still

26:55 that dude out here. So like don't don't like make any mistakes that I'm not going to be out here and be like evil. And

27:02 y what I it was so clear that you guys were kind of like cut from the same cloth and like hyped. And I I was gonna share this with you because like I've always liked Tony Jefferson, right? And then Henley, who you guys had facetimed into your interview there, which is always the sign of respect because if you're like, "Hey, who do you want to facetime to have jump in the interview?" If the other guy doesn't answer, then you just look like an [ __ ] That's right.

27:23 But watching that Chiefs game and like we get what the Chargers are supposed to be under Harbaugh, right? Mhm.

27:29 They have Herbert and the O line has fallen apart and I think we all like Hampton a lot and the receivers have been kind of like great some weeks and other weeks, you know, whatever. At least there's some names there. But it's still like Harbaugh wants you to feel the punishment and [clears throat]

27:43 with all the new rules and and I'm going to factor you into this as well. Sure.

27:48 With the new rules and the way the game is called like when I watched that Chiefs game and granted Rasheed Rice had been getting torn apart in that game and he'd also gotten destroyed in the Houston game. I was just about to say that. I think it was like

28:01 he's been mad for like eight days. Oh my gosh. Yeah, he's feeling it right now.

28:05 Thornton gets hit by Jefferson and it ended up being a concussion. And look, we can all say like, hey, you know, the nice thing to say is nobody wants it's not the it's that wasn't the nastiest hit I've ever seen. And when the ball carrier goes lower as you're lining up the hit, you're there's nasty plays and they're just mean hits and Tony Jefferson laid them out. And so then Rice is mad at Jefferson and I think Rice is more mad because of what he had gone through as opposed to even the hit on Thornton. Yeah.

28:32 Like I I just wonder if you're ever like if you're one of these guys and you are one of these guys if you'll have afternoons with an offense where you just want to be like, "Hey, what do you think it is that we do here?" Like do do you so have you noticed this shift and like when it's physical when it's aggressive guys like the Chargers have like you have in San Francisco that you just feel like the offensive guys lose sight of like what your job is even though the rule changes have told you to try to figure out a way to safer way of doing this? No, absolutely. And you got to understand too, it's like no matter what the the time of uh I don't know like where we're at in football in the NFL these days, whether it was back when guys were getting folded up like lawn chairs or now where it's like it's a little more softer, the offense is going to be mad regardless if they're get if their guys are getting hit and knocked

29:19 out or not. You know, it's like, yeah, of course I feel like there's hits like that Tony Jefferson hit where it's like, what do you want the guy to do? But, you know, guys are taught on offense to protect their brother, right? because everybody's talking about, oh, you know, we're family, we're brothers, this, that, and the other. If your guys getting hit, like that's this is like the closest thing in my mind and like with with the way that our sport is played, how violent it is to fighting. Like you got to you got to stick up for your guys when you're out there uh you know, going back and forth with with each other. So, you know, I I'd always have have thought about it as I'm always trying to tow the line, right? I mean, yes, they've made the game uh safer with trying to take certain hits out of it, but at the end of the day, you can still be extremely physical, extremely violent in the right way to now impose like

30:03 because you want to impose your will on your opponent. You want to get not only through him physically, but you want to get in their minds mentally to say, "Oh my gosh, these guys are just all over us. They're they're flying around. They're hitting us. It just feels different than anything else we've ever encountered." And I feel like that's a huge part of my game. It's a huge part of how we play defense and how we play honestly football here with the Niners. Like we we're just we're just a physical football team and that's just how it always is. And that starts, you know, early in the year in training camp, guys going after each other. Um, of course, this is all in the right way. Like it's nothing's dirty, nothing's out of line.

30:38 But, you know, it's it's a mindset of like, man, it's either you or me, you know, because if I if I if I try to just let off and now an offensive player is is lowering his pads on me or ducking his head and I get folded up, it's like, man, I'm not I'm not about to put that on tape, you know, because this this whole thing is our resume at the end of the day. And everybody's watching every single play, every single game. And the moment that you let off the gas, you might as well go ahead and hang it up because then you you start tiptoeing around. It's not meant for you anymore.

31:06 So, um, there there is a fine line in there of like, man, what's too much? What's not enough? And you got to kind of you got to kind of tow that line when in terms of how you play the game these days. And it is what it is. Like, it's it's not cut out for everybody. Not everybody's built that way. But you see the guys who uh, you know, are the imposers out on the field like they they do tend to tow that line.

31:29 Yeah. Once I started working with more of the guys that played defense at ESPN,

31:34 like I used to think, like, is that necessary and I don't know. I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed. I think it was

31:42 Yeah. It might have been the Shawn Taylor hit in the Pro Bowl. Uhhuh. Yeah. And uh Darren Woodson and the audience has heard me tell the story, but I'm going to tell it to you again. And Darren Woodson just looks at me with like absolute disgust. And Woodson's the best. And Darren just looks at me and goes,

31:57 "You live?" like what? You're on the field. You're live. Like what what the [ __ ] are we doing?

32:04 And I was like, you know what? I was like, he's right. Like that's that's Is there an offensive player that you've gone up against? And I'm not going to ask you for the guys that complain too much cuz that might cause some problems for you.

32:15 Yeah. Um is there somebody that never complained? Like you can just lay them out and they're like good tackle for% 10,000% Joe Burrow through and through. Joe Burrow. I played him a couple times and we played him in 2023. They came over here. That was part of that that three-game losing stretch where I mean we were getting mauled by by a couple teams and uh they were one of them that came right before our buy and it was out in the open field and I just ran right through him and he delivered the ball anyway. It was on a third down and they converted. But I remember him just popping up like it was nothing. He's like, "Hey man, good hit." And I'm like, "Oh, what the heck?" Like I just ran through you. like it. I didn't even let up either. And uh you see it all the time though when you're watching him, you're watching games where against the Ravens where it's like it's it's it's just it's physical. Guys are getting

33:06 after him late hits that aren't being called and he's like instead of him just like flopping his arms and being like, "Bro, what the heck?" He's like he just kind of just just picking himself off the off the turf like you got his lineman kind of trying to lift him up and he just he's just a dog. Like he just for whatever reason, I don't know, his makeup's different than a lot of these guys in this league. And so my my hats off to him. He uh you talk about competitive spirit, he's got it through and through. And you can see why guys rally around him. And it's something that makes him special is that he got that that dog in him. Some guys got it, some guys don't. And uh you know, he shows it.

33:43 I want to ask about the AFC. On Monday's pod, I opened it up saying I give up. I don't know. Maybe there is no one special. Maybe it's all new and we're having a hard time with that because we know Pat's going to be out, Lamar's out, and you know, the Bills style have a chance at a higher seed here, but with that defense, you're like, okay, you know and

34:03 as I watch Jacksonville, a team that I think most people have a hard time saying, hey, I think the Jackson, if you're on TV on Monday, I think the Jacksonville Jaguars are the best team in the AFC.

34:14 There's going to be push back. And now that push back's starting to feel a little unfair because like maybe Trevor Lawrence isn't going to be the franchise changing icon that we expect with that profile coming out of Clemson and being the number one overall pick and having all the physical stuff. Uh this is probably been the best stretch he's ever played. So I'd have to see it be a little bit longer before I'd say okay year five it, you know, when everything clicks. But if you have a defense like this that has been playing this well now for like five weeks and then you look at the rest of the landscape in the AFC.

34:44 I don't know where you are. This is not a leading question. It's simply me expressing my own confusion at because we have so many of these stalwarts out including Burrow. Um all the teams that we normally are going to love in this conference. We have to get real comfortable with something new coming out perhaps if it's not going to be Buffalo.

35:02 Yeah. Yeah. And then we talked about it that first uh podcast we had last week where it was like that AFC is so wide open and even more so after this past weekend because yeah, Denver was slotted as the team to beat uh in the AFC. You know, they were they were the one seed currently and it was kind of them and the Patriots kind of battling for that top spot. And it's it's so tough to go on the road and play in Denver. And Jacksonville's kind of, you know, they've had a great year, but there's been some times where it's like, ah, can Trevor make that that next step to really being the guy? and leading his team to to these big time these big time wins in this in this league and he's I mean he's continuing to show it now. I I think like you mentioned, their defense has some real promising pieces to it where they're able to overwhelm Cats and I think

35:50 Denver of course has a really good defense as well, but there's a lot of pressure on Nick. There's a lot of pressure on Bo Knicks to to really operate and and get and will his team to victory cuz

36:03 you know their run game is, you know, so so obviously they've had injuries at at different positions. Running back um you know I it is wide open. I I like the Patriots a lot. I think I think their game against the Ravens showed a lot. I I think obviously Drake May is up there in the MVP conversation with Matt Stafford only in his what second season. It's unbelievable. Uh Velro seems to be just a complete players coach. Understands how to how to really uh fire his team up. Their defense is playing opportunistic. Um the run game's efficient. They they play they play the game the right way. Stefon Diggs seemed like he just the ultimate competitor leader for the team. Um yeah, man. I mean they they got a lot of things going in their in their favor right now. So I I don't know who exactly I would say, oh this is the the leader in the clubhouse cuz like you said, like I would have said Denver before last week, but then

36:53 Jacksonville does what they do. So that does that mean Jacksonville's now, you know, at at the at the lead or is it or now does it go back fall back to the Patriots? And then of course the Bills have a kind of like ah yeah, you beat the Browns but it was a tight game. Josh Allen hurts his foot. So what does that look like?

37:11 Yeah, I I'm almost going to make myself pick someone other than the Bills because I think I've seen enough of this Bills team where I'd only be picking it because of one guy. And you know,

37:20 this Denver defense, I'd like to see it be back to where it was the first half of the season. This has been about five straight weeks where it's not what you'd expect, but the personnel still out there. So if it's your Tan, if it's Bonito, if it's Zack Allen, like if it's [sighs and gasps]

37:33 Yeah. You know, it's it's like, all right, well, you going to just they're just not going to be good all of a sudden. Like that doesn't make any sense. Like Bo Nicks is a little bit easier for me to go like I don't like him as much as as this other group of dudes. But then Bo Knicks lights up the Packers when I was getting ready to do the this is why I don't believe in Bo Knicks segment and then the Packers blow that game and and Bo Knicks is that might have been the best game he's ever played. Like he was unbelievable in that game. So

37:57 I think I'll probably I'll probably ask you again at the end of the regular season. It's just not an original question, but it speaks to

38:04 I might rather have a right now. Yeah, but like I might rather have the really good defense than the average quarterback going

38:11 like we talked about before. Yeah. Exactly right. I think this time of year especially.

38:17 Okay, I'm going to do this. We're going to make sure everybody's, you know, cool about it. And I I sent it out. I asked X for questions for Fred. So, we're going to do just a couple.

38:29 Okay. Here, we tagged you on this. Very nice. Um, I'd like to hear his thoughts on the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. We're going to table that one. I didn't I didn't prep you.

38:40 Oh, man. That's great. Uh, do you have any plans to fight in MMA when you're done playing football?

38:45 Yeah, I mean it's it's up for it's up for debate. We might. Are we a well-rounded guy or we we strictly one discipline? Yeah, that's the thing is like I'd have to really get into the ground game stuff because I mean I've I've trained on the feet for years now. But so maybe maybe me and Jake Paul down the line we'll fight for 200 million and just get just get tons of views.

39:11 I could see you signing up for that. Um for 200 million he made how much money in his last fight against uh Anthony Joshua. Did you watch that fight?

39:20 I did. Dude, I mean to get in the ring with that cat, that guy's 66, 260, and Jake Paul's like 6'1, two 215. And yeah, of course he's not he's not engaging from this from the jump. He's kind of he's, you know, he's jumping around the ring and he's he's trying to tackle, buddy. But still to even get in the ring with that guy, like, hey, bro, much respect. And he made like 90 mil doing something like that. It's unbelievable. I've watched Joshua enough to to feel like like there's boxing people are going to be like, "What are you talking about? He's a heavyweight champ and he's had this many belts." It's like, "Yeah, but I mean generally the thought of what he would be at his peak, he never hit that." There was always some disappointing result that he would have and you're like, "What's going to happen here?" And the fact that he's got 30 plus pounds on him, he's got all that reach on him. He's an actual heavyweight

40:10 champion of the world. Dude, I didn't think I didn't think they were actually going to go through with it. I was shocked.

40:15 Yeah. I I think Jake, even with the falling down, trying to grapple a little bit thing and he was running around from him in the beginning, but like I thought Joshua was trying to knock him out for like four of those rounds and then he finally gets him and that's a nasty straight right hand breaks his jaw, but he didn't knock him out.

40:30 Correct. So, I don't care. You can hate. Look, the YouTube videos weren't for us, man. They were for kids. And just because Jake became a millionaire off of that and you're annoyed by it now, like he's

40:42 Bro, I have all the respect in the world for the same here. Tons of respect. All right, so how about how about we do

40:52 I need to screen these quicker. Um here's here's a real one. Can he explain the process of hearing the play call in the helmet and how he communicates it with the other 10 guys in the field in a timely manner?

41:04 Oh, good question. I mean, it's way I I from how I imagine it, it's way easier than what an offensive quarterback has to do in terms of getting his his whole crew lined up. But because our play calls are what, two, maybe two or three words. I give a two, three word call. But the key is is having everybody on the same page for the checks throughout the down, like pre- snap before the down even starts. Because yeah, they might line up in a certain formation and it's like, all right, boom, everybody's on the same page. But if this guy motions, then we're checking to this. But if he if he jet motions like super fast, we're not checking that. We're going to this instead. Oh, but if he jet motion, stops, lines up, and then they got two guys that and then they got a guy that shifts over here, then we're going to check and we're going to go to this now.

41:48 And we got to make sure I got to make sure that all 11 are on the same page. Because if one guy's off, then that's when you see bush and you get an explosive pass down the field. It's like, oh my gosh, like these guys just can't get it right. It's like, no, there's there's a lot that goes into the pre- snap communication before you even snap the ball. Like, I'm barking out all these things pre- snap. And now I got to line up. I got to get in my stance. I got to I got to see my indicators of like what the offense is trying to run.

42:17 And then they're hiking the ball. I got to get in my drop or I have to in in the run game, I got to shuffle. I got to strike a 350lb lineman, get them off me, boom, make a tackle, drive my legs to now pushing back rather than getting drove back in the pass game, get my cleats in the ground quick enough to then understand, is he trying to look me off? Is he trying to throw a ball behind me or is he checking it down, break on the ball to either make a pass break up or an interception or oh shoot, like it's just, bro, there's so much going on pre- snap to then post snap having to go make a play is completely different. like anybody can go out there and say all this stuff, boom, boom, boom, but then now go try and make a play on the football after that. That's where I feel like that's what separates the goods from the grades, right? So, there is a lot of pre- snap communication that's going on, but like

43:06 I said, I couldn't imagine on the other side as a quarterback all the verb, all the verbiage. I mean, some guys use wristbands, but all the verbiage you got to get out to the offense, motions, shifts, making sure guys are set, delivering play fakes, delivering even as simple thing as handoffs to then continuing to do the play fake to now draw the defensive end to make sure that he doesn't just close down the line of scrimmage to then make a TFL. It's like all these little nuances of the position. We can't even get started on throwing the ball. Like that's putting the ball in the right place, knowing where it's supposed to go, escaping out of the pocket. Do I step up? Do I evade to my right? Do I bait to my left? Do like protecting the football in the pocket. Just so much little things that go on for a quarterback. I can't imagine.

43:51 I can't believe they're not like at least three or four blown coverages a game considering how many snaps,

43:58 how many things they're showing you. Yeah. And now with defenses prioritizing all this pre- snap movement and shifting like you guys are inviting in a lot more chance at error

44:10 for the advancement like it just feels like this is where defenses are is like all right we're show we have to counteract what had happened the last few years. So now we are going to try to mess you up now the way you've been messing this up for years and when I see a blown coverage and the one time it maybe happens in a game I'll see it and like again this is me not maybe understanding like this is why you guys are all so special and if you want a smart team draft smart players but I'm of 70 plus snaps 80 snaps I'm I'm surprised there aren't like three blown coverages a game.

44:38 Hey me too. I mean, you go through so many reps throughout a week of practice of meeting time, walkthroughs, uh, practice time, more walkthroughs and more meetings where it's like you they're ingraining this stuff in your brain over and over and over again at a chance to see it in the game. And it may you may not even ever see that rep in the game. there. There's obviously stuff that comes up in a game that you haven't seen, but you still got to be able to think on the fly and make sure if we all mess up, but we're all messed up together. Like, all right, we can get through the down, but all the the problems arise when all right, we're all correct, but then this one guy's off and he doesn't understand what we're doing.

45:13 Then it's like, boom, that's when things now the defense is unlocked. And as a defensive coordinator, I'm sure it's like, oh my gosh, like what am I going to call if these guys aren't out there just executing the little things, right? Because yeah, I mean, I could try and put them in a in a simple a more simple defense, but that's now hurting your defense because a quarterback who knows what they're doing, they're like, "Oh, okay. Boom. You you this is this is this is just seven on seven now. I know exactly where the ball's supposed to go." Versus, you know, trying to make it muddy for them.

45:44 We'll do that every week, just a couple ones. Uh we won't hit you up on the Cold War or anything like that. We'll make sure you're you're prepped.

45:50 I'll do my research on on my history. Make sure you do your research as well. and check out his latest episode with Alex Smith who when we had on the pod like people that were on the fence about Alex Smith, loved him afterwards. We know the friendship means a lot to you. The Derwin James one was great. So Fred Warner, real one's the league. It's a lot of fun and uh he's a natural at it. So hey, get healthy and uh we'll be talking again soon. All right, Fred.

46:14 Yes, sir. Appreciate you, buddy. The Big Shack is out now and it's a serious burger. We're talking two Angus beef patties, three buns, new secret sauce. It's stacked, balanced, and built the right way. You get everything you expect from Shake Shack. Fresh ingredients. That toasted potato bun and sauce that pulls the whole thing together. It's big, it's fresh, and it's legit. One of their best burgers ever. I know I've talked about this in the holidays and a couple cheeseburgers and the kids and the whole thing. But you know what moms love is maybe not having to cook every single night with family in town. You know what everybody loves is a cheeseburger. You know what's great about this one is that it's easier to put together than Legos because they put it together for you. You're like, "Who built this thing?" You be like, "That guy back there." You're like, "Ah, this is great. I don't need to buy batteries

47:01 for this. It's ready to go as soon as it's out the box." So, think about Shake Shack and think about the efficiency and think about the taste and think about, "Hey, I didn't even have to put this thing together. They build it for me." If you've been waiting to see what all the hype's about, today's the day. Go to Shake Shack and order the Big Shack. Sounds familiar, made different. Let's talk some NBA. Uh, as you know, PJ Carlos Simo, a dear dear, well, yeah, maybe we're not that close, but you know how much I love this guy. I love talking about all the Big E stuff. I don't know if I'll have time for that today. A busy busy NBA schedule. Uh, for the Christmas viewers out there on ABC. He's got the middle game there, Maz and Warrior. So, it's good to see you, man. Merry Christmas.

47:40 Merry Christmas to you, Ry. Great to be with you. So, I wanted to start with OKC because, you know, look, they're even better this year. They have a million options. It's incredible that you can build a roster like this that the irony is kind of like, yeah, you can't really do this anymore with the rosters and restrictions and Prestige is able to kind of get this last version of it in here. Um, and also being on the competition committee, you wonder if he kind of was able to map this out on top everything else. So, look, um, if you had to game plan against him, what do you do? What are you talking to your assistants about? Well, you know, I mean, the the copot is you can't change too much. You got to play the way you're going to play and uh you got to take care of the ball first of all. They're they're I don't remember, we may have even talked about this last year at Christmas time. Um I don't remember a

48:25 team that has led the league in turnovers, fewest turnovers as an offensive team, and [clears throat] led the league in most turnovers forced as a defensive team, which I mean, people are aware of it, but they don't understand what that means. I mean, you're already starting the game. you're just giving them a whole slew of extra possessions to begin with. On top of that, they're the best or second best. They're one and two right now. I mean, it's a little early for stats, but they're one or two on points off turnovers. So, when you do turn the ball over against them, a they force the most. B, they're incredible. I mean, they just they score like in a split second. I mean, you're so happy when you turn the ball like on a violation or the ball goes out of bounds and it's a dead ball turnover because in transition they're just they're incredible the way how quickly they get down the floor. All their players can

49:13 run and catch the ball on the fly. All their players can pass the ball or shoot it. I mean, you know, they got two of the best passing bigs in the in the game, uh, w with Hartinstein and and with Chad Hungren, and they got a slew of about seven or eight wings that can all run, you know, long arms, they play defense, they run the floor, they can finish in transition, and they can shoot threes. So, it's like the number one thing is we got to take care of the ball. The interesting thing is they're not a really good rebounding team. So, you have that little dilemma right now.

49:45 are we going to send people to the boards and try and hurt them when we don't score in the half court against their you know their half court defense is excellent but they're not a very good rebounding team. So you you you're tempted or you're teased into well we got to go to the glass we got to hurt them on second chance points themselves and but then if you do that you're exposing your back court. So you got to walk that line. Uh but it is a way you can you can get at them. You can hurt them on the offensive glass, but you better get you better get the rebound and make them take the ball out of bounds because again in transition they're so good and there's a lot of teams that don't even send anybody to the glass. But it's funny in the last two or three years and the Knicks right now are maybe Celtics kind of were a little ahead of the curve. Um the Knicks right now might be the best. They've

50:30 analyzed and they know now they send guys to the boards from the weak side on the angle and they're they're coming up with a lot more offensive rebounds. So, it's kind of interesting right now. There's kind of a rebirth of offensive rebounding in the league.

50:45 Yeah, I'm with you. Especially with the Knicks because you have Mitchell who comes in who's just an automatic. He feels like he's

50:51 right. Um, you know, I there's certain players that you think you have a read on and then it really was for me like last year during the playoffs I was like this guy's better than you think he is. like he he's impacting possessions, you know, because I don't

51:03 Stephen Adams he and Stephen Adams are in one sense they're so limited in what they can do as basketball players and in the other sense the word you just said they impact the game more than most of the players in the entire NBA.

51:16 Yeah. I mean this is a whole different thing cuz like you know I was watching Minnesota and get that win against OKC, right?

51:23 Yep. Incredible. They got check or they got a going at chat. you know, it looked like something, you know, I'm watching stuff and wondering like especially when it's two teams, you could see each other in the playoffs. I was like, I wonder I wonder wonder if this is something that they're going to do cuz Ant got really stuck against them last year and you could tell there was moments of him not wanting to force it, but then that sort of evolved into like is a being passive of all people? Like I don't think I'd ever really worry about him being passive. But then, you know, it's this fine line of aggressive and and passive where it's like, well, what do you want the guy to do? dribble into three people and miss a shot to prove how intense he is, you know. So, you you can't have it both ways. But, you know, when I was thinking about Minnesota and OKC, I was just like the problem is even if Ant

52:08 gets the better of SGA, which is is asking a lot on a single night. It's like I need the rest of the guys

52:16 to be even, right? To be even. And if you're thinking of like the Chad Rudy part of it,

52:21 even if you still think Rudy's better defensively than Chad is, uh it's just hard for me to live with a guy who no one can pass the basketball to. You know, it's kind of back to your Mitchell thing. It's like, you know, how long can I get away with this thing that I also know is super important in some other category that I'm trying to win tonight.

52:38 And it drags him away. Like you say, well then don't put him on home, but you know, put him on Hartinstein or put him on one of the other guys. The other guys, they all they all go out to the three. Uh Hartinstein maybe is not an effective three-point shooter as as compared to anybody else, but he still in matchups and you can't dictate in transition against a team that's so good getting down the floor. You It's like, "Okay, we're going to guard him with this." Well, guess what? You can't control who's guarding who. A lot of times, a lot of possessions, there aren't that many dead ball possessions.

53:06 And it's interesting because Minnesota's played them decently this year. They had a single digit loss to them. I That's how ridiculous it is. People are talking about how many points you lose by the OKC.

53:16 They just them getting him once when when only it's only happened a couple times.

53:20 They had a single digit game the first time they played. They beat him the second. I was waiting to see what happened. Was it last night or the night before? They just lost by double digits again. But it appears to be a at least a decent matchup. They can hang. [clears throat] Other people are out of the game by late first quarter or the first time out of the second quarter. You're saying this game's over. I mean, unless OKC goes to sleep, the game is over. Uh, so it it's incredible. But, um, Ant is the key. There's no question.

53:47 Jade McDaniels is shocking me. I went to the University of Washington game last night. Um, living in Seattle, and I just think back to Jade McDaniels when he was at UDub. I said, "This guy's never going to make it in the league. He's he's not going to be a professional. He's too loose. He led the league in uh technicals when he was a freshman, the old pack 12. He's turned out to be one of the best defenders and an excellent player. So, hats off to him. But they have some players who can match up with those wings that uh OKC has. They have about eight of them. Uh it's to the point last year when Kessie and I were getting ready because we hadn't had them on that much. Uh bad on us at ESPN and I said I don't recognize some of these guys facially and they all look the same. They all play the same. They're excellent defenders. They get deflections. They run the floor. They make threes. Now at least I recognize

54:34 them all. But it almost doesn't matter. Mark Dagno just keeps w throwing guys into the game and one after the other just pick it up. They've weathered injuries better than any team in the league. They've had really a lot of injuries over the last couple years led by Homegrren. Uh and it doesn't matter. Some of these, you know, the AJ Mitchells, the Wiggins, these guys uh they just step up and uh they don't miss a beat.

54:57 No, I mean they've only had Jaylen Williams their second best player for only 10 games.

55:01 Exactly. And he's one of the best matter. you could make it case he's one of the best five six players in the entire league.

55:08 Something that I saw because San Antonio and the Thunder are going to go at it twice here where you know there's there's a version of events against the Nuggets in that seven game series where it's like well once they put Caruso on Jokic that change everything and like I've thought about dedicating an afternoon. I don't know that I have the time to do it, but going back to those possessions because how I remember is that Caruso is the initial defender and then it's just swarming people. So, the idea that like Caruso is just one-on-one taking care of Joic. Um, I don't believe that's what I saw at the time, but I feel like it's been played out a little bit because one team wins the series, the other one doesn't. So I've seen them there was a game last year against Wimyama where it just the attack dog defense on him where it's like he's so big the frame is so long that if he's even taken a second with a decision with

55:59 the ball in his hands just everybody just swarm on him and it's going to overwhelm him and he looked overwhelmed. the Spurs get him in that cup game and in that fourth quarter they went Caruso and they weren't really bringing doubles to him and I'm thinking like is Dagnel is he is he deciding like hey I'm just going to show you something here or I want to see how it looks because this is the absurdity of the Thunder is that I think even with this record and the performance they've had to your point like they're plus five in turnover margin second best team is the Celtics at like plus 24 so you're you're right on it like already going into it hey we're going to be down five plus possessions in this game. When you see something like that, do you think that that's hey, let's just see how it looks and experiment even though you could argue like why would you be experimenting this here now? And and

56:46 well, it's a cup game and it's supposed to mean a little bit more. Agreed. I I I think he does. I think he's if it's possible to be underrated to have accomplished what Mark's accomplished in such a short time, um he he's not a good coach. He's an excellent coach. Uh and and again I give go back Klay Bennett and Sam Prey deserve a ton of credit. Sam's been the G GM executive VP whatever his title is right now. He's the major domo obviously in OKC since 0708. He got the job in 0708. He's been on the job since then.

57:21 So the one thing that's really impressive about it is Klay Bennett and Sam Prey. Clay Bennett, the owner, primary owner, and Sam Prey have been in charge of that franchise ever since. And a couple years ago, they just broke it down. You know, after they had, you know, KD and Russell and James and them and different players in and out, it wasn't working. They broke it down. They went back to square one. Mark Dagnel had been the coach of the OKC blue, the G-League team, and they they gave it to him. He had a couple of terrible records initially. He's so smart. He's so calculated. There is no question. He tries things at times. He even tries them early in seven game series. We're gonna try and play this way and see what's going on. Um and and no, he's not. Obviously, he did care about winning. They were trying to win the cup because, you know, it was disappointing for them last year. You remember

58:09 Milwaukee destroyed them in the finals of the cup last year in Las Vegas. Um and now this team's a different team. They've won a championship. They're close to being at 100% right now. They're they're they're healthy. Yeah. I think for sure he was experimenting, if you will, or looking at different ways to play WBY. I think he will tonight uh and and and in the Christmas game because there's a good chance they're going to meet uh San Antonio somewhere in the in the Western Conference playoffs. There's a good chance they're going to meet Minnesota again. I I do think Minnesota's going to, you know, kind of get get their act together and they're going to be there, too. And um it it's going to be seven game series are interesting and uh the adjustments.

58:49 It we we've talked about this a number of times. It reminds me so much. It's like college. It's the only time the NBA is like college in terms of you get to prepare. You get to really do things in the next game. Uh and you play, you know, you play a little chess match with um the the other coach. Usually in the regular season, you don't have the time or the practices to change things. Do this, do that. You're you're on a backtoback. you're on a trip, whatever the heck it is. Uh, and injuries always plays their part, too. But that's again where OKC, but San Antonio also, the depth is a major factor. Um, OKC's depth is ridiculous. How many players he plays on a regular basis at key times in a game, although they key times for them is often the third quarter, not the fourth quarter. But, uh, he puts these guys out there in situations so that if he's got to put them in a playoff game, even in the finals, uh, they're

59:40 accustomed to it. and they're accustomed to playing with the, you know, with different combinations.

59:45 I've said it before, but I just can't believe like in the NBA, I accept it, right? I accept that especially with success, but usually youth and talent, there comes that [ __ ] phase where you're dealing with stuff that you're like, you know, can't we just lace them up and play, guys? Like, you're you're all going to get your accolades, you're all going to get your money, it's all going to happen. And I don't really like it's just kind of the timeline of the of the great young player where you're probably prioritizing the selfish things early on. And I'm not even being critical of it. It's just kind of the way of the world in this league.

1:00:22 Everybody in their contract year, how they play those those situations. Yep. I I just can't believe that you could get this group together, have them be this young, and you know, Sam can have a vision and culture, and Mark can be the most brilliant in-game guy. You know what I mean? Like, you can. And for Mark, I don't even think it's necessarily the in-game part of it. I think it's his long-term like this is what we're doing. This is what we're trying and this is who we want to be and these are the we want to be able to develop different options instead of just you know being who we are knowing we're going to have this huge advantage.

1:00:57 Uh this is just look it's it's one thing to say in the modern era of the NBA and roster building again they kind of got in under the the cut off last call of of roster building if they had to go out and just add all these guys now they wouldn't be able to do it. But to then have a personality where, you know, I don't I don't blame a lot of you guys for losing your minds because you're just going like, what are we about? Like, what are we about as a team? And if I have some of the wrong personalities, then I'm I'm fighting with my own team than I am more of the opposition on any given night.

1:01:28 And and that's the reality. There's a lot of teams, not a lot, there's there's a number of teams, a good number of teams as talented or has as good a roster. Um, but they they haven't figured it out. And I think that Sam is his own man for sure, but he be the first to tell you he took an awful lot from the San Antonio blueprint. And the the main thing he took, first of all, it's the continuity. what Peter Holt and Pop and RC Buford did uh in San Antonio, Klay Bennett and uh Sa Sam are doing uh in OKC, but they do their homework in terms of people and they and they make a mistake every once in a while, but they move the guy on. They have really quality people and these young guys have bought into what they're doing. Yes, they've just extended, you know, the the the big three and their payroll is going to go off the charts in the future, but SGA and the JDub and, you know, Chad Isaiah, I mean, the two pickups last

1:02:30 year, Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso were such incredible pickups. But those guys are about winning. I mean, I I think you could almost say one through 18, the 15 players and the three two-way guys, OKC is about winning. And yeah, I mean SGA is the best player in the league and he gets the most shots and Jaylen Williams when he's right uh is right there behind him. But the team's accepting of it. They know their roles. They know what you have to define roles. You got to have a leading scoreer. You got to you know who do you go to at critical situations. That team is on board and their culture the winning culture they have it. It's not rhetoric.

1:03:07 It's not cliches. It's what separates them right now. And I I think it's why San Antonio will be knocking on that door going forward because I think Mitch Johnson's doing a great job there. Obviously RC, you know, always, but um I I I think the Spurs Web is like that also when your best player cares more about winning than he does the individual things. And and you know, you do the job they've done with the rookie of the years with Stefon Castle. I can't believe how good Dylan Harper is. Uh Ry, he blew me away at the three games in. I I thought he was good when he was at Ruters. I had no idea he was this good this quickly. Um, San Antonio is those those two teams if you know health is always the biggest thing going forward that that may be a great an epic rivalry for the next four or five years at least uh in the Western Conference.

1:03:57 Yeah, I'm with you on Castle. Like I thought it was limited coming out which I think it was and then you know there's something about just aggression

1:04:06 you know I'm not telling you like the handle's the tightest. I'm not telling you the finishing package and all that kind of stuff, but I'm telling you right now, it's like if you're not squared up and ready for him defensively, he's going right through your chest.

1:04:16 He is relentless and he knocks his butt off on defense. Like he'll guard SGA in jail and he's going to get beat obviously as as anybody is sometimes, but he doesn't back down. He just got remember we used to talk about Bruce Bowen, how Bruce would like defend Kobe and Kobe would get 42 points and Bruce is working just as hard in the fourth quarter making him work for every one of those points. That's how Steph defends. He he may not be textbook perfect, but he ain't backing down an inch from the best players in the league. And uh he's really Danny Early was dead on. I remember going to the they were in Seattle to play Gonzaga to battle in Seattle and I walked into the practice and Danny goes, "Get down." I think he was wearing number five at Yukon also.

1:04:57 He goes down and you get down, check out number five, see what you think of him. And he was he's unbelievable. And in the final four that year, he could have been the MVP in the final four, Steph guest. Uh he was that good as a as a freshman at Yukon.

1:05:11 Yeah. And you're right. I mean, there's stuff with Harper where I I don't even care about the numbers. There's just little things with him where you look at his

1:05:18 like it was something you saw at Ruckers where you go, "Oh, wait a minute." Like, you thought he was stuck on the baseline and he's not stuck on the baseline. I missed it. I didn't real I thought he was good. I said, "Yeah, he's a good player." I had no idea he was this good this quickly. Uh he's amaz Mitch Johnson when I we had them earlier in the year against Golden State ironically and uh I said you know what about he was out at the time Harper he said you're not going to believe he said what he was doing first whatever it was games before he got hurt and he said he missed a chunk of the preseason he said he's going to improve pretty much significantly during the course of the year I mean you say rookies always do but these rookies are playing that's the thing about OKC's guys and San Antonio's guys They're playing big minutes. Cooper Flag's doing that. I know right now Dallas's record

1:06:06 isn't great, but this isn't like, you know, on a team that's tanking and he's getting meaning, you know, meaningless minutes. Cooper Flag is handling the ball, taking big shots at the end of the game. Dylan Harper is doesn't realize he's a rookie. I mean, he takes shots. He does things. Uh he did things in the cup that were just super impressive. Uh he's going to be a special player. And again, Harpson probably no surprise at all. him and his mother. Uh, obviously great blood lines there.

1:06:33 It looks like a guy that grew up as a little kid trying to score against an [clears throat] NBA dad.

1:06:37 Amen. You know, that's like I see some of these things in there where you're like, well, see, this is a guy that was a little kid that his dad just was like, I'm going to block your [ __ ]

1:06:46 and you're going to have to figure out some of these little things and he just he has this very advanced like you think he might be done on the possession and it's like he's not. Like he's still he is out. He's so big and strong, athletic. I mean, he's really a good player.

1:07:04 This leads me to Houston because when I look at the West, we all love OKC. Yep.

1:07:09 We love the idea of San Antonio, right? Um I still love Denver. No shock there. I'd say I even like

1:07:16 Houston. I like Minnesota probably better than the Lakers. There's, you know, the Lakers, if they're fourth, great. If they're sixth, maybe that makes a little bit more sense. Who knows? You know, again, if they're healthier than everybody else, they could they could be a three seed with this whole thing. But there's definitely some net differential stuff where you're like, how are they that high up than everybody else? Anyway,

1:07:34 as I say that about Houston, I watched them this past week and I went through all the games just trying to get caught up after football. So, I was like doing a deep dive on them. They they got Denver in the rematch. They lost the first game in overtime and those are back-to-back games. Not back toback on the schedule, but back toback games within five days in Denver.

1:07:52 They blow the lead to New Orleans. They lose to Sacramento on Sunday night in overtime. So, there's two overtime losses. I think the officiating is probably the first one in Denver where they'd have some legitimate excuses and I know Eay wasn't necessarily happy. But the constant that I've seen in those losses is, hey, we're going to double Durant. It's up to you guys to figure out now what you want to do off of these doubles.

1:08:15 Yeah. And there's probably too many possessions last year for Rockets fans where it ended up with Van Vleet and it was like up to Van Vleet to like is it gonna go in or is it not but you know this this point guard position that you know feels like every year we have less of these guys that truly understand what comes with that responsibility. Um and maybe it's nice that we have five guys that can score on the floor, but if there was ever a reminder what it means to have a point guard against how he I just can't believe that Houston it's like hey guess what they're going to double him again. they're going to double Durant like 30 feet and you have to figure out something and you know whether it's a men being reluctant to take that over whether it's Shingun not loving his matchup you'd think his ball handling and his vision and his passing that you know eventually like you'd want to get out of doubling Durant that hard

1:08:59 and Shingun would end up burning you but this isn't even a Houston thing you can make it about Houston if you want but just the shift of this game for so many years to get away from that traditional point guard and then seeing teams like like I mean, you know what would be nice right now?

1:09:16 Yeah. Is is Chucky [ __ ] Atkins, you know? I mean, again, like I'm I'm I'm being a little ridiculous with that name, but um there's just nights where like I couldn't believe watching the same thing happen to Houston over and over again in those spots and losing those games.

1:09:31 We had it was opening night, so it was a long time ago. The only time I had Houston in person and Reed Shepard wasn't ready. Uh then he's got he's gotten better. Uh oh, yeah.

1:09:41 He's he's he's he's doing things. I mean, they were attacking him, you know, mercilessly every time.

1:09:46 Well, that OKC opening night, he's going up against those guys, playoff ready defense. Like, I'm watching him going,

1:09:51 unfair. Yeah, exactly. You felt badly for him. He's improved a lot. Uh, and MA's still filling, you know, figuring it out and and good. I It's not I mean, Kevin's a Justin, too, but I mean Kevin is a superstar who is easy to play with. People can say whatever they want, but I mean like Kevin will give the ball up. Um and

1:10:09 totally. So, I think they I think they'll continue to improve as the year year goes on, but they're still a work in progress. Uh I don't think there's any any question about that. Uh and you know, it's like a lot of teams. I mean, the injuries that that's a whole I'm sure you've done show that's a show in itself what's going on with all the injuries in the league. But you just shake your head and say, "Boy, if they had Fred uh Fred the way he played last year, it'd be unbelievable to be underrated and be acknowledged as much as he is is underrated. He's I mean he doesn't he doesn't blow you away with some of the stuff he does. Like he doesn't always look graceful or anything, but he's such an effective player and a man is still improving. I mean, he's dramatic, I think, a level better than he was last year.

1:10:59 Yeah, it's just a matter of like are you going to have him initiate stuff if Fred can't come back this year? You know, are they going to be in the second round? And my guess would be they're not. But if you have Durant holding it 30, 35 ft away from the hoop and you've got a defender under him and then a second one shading at him. Like one of the great things about KD is he's not necessarily going to force it, but you could see him even in that Pelicans game getting really mad. He he was starting to get like really frustrated going like, [clears throat] "Hey, look, we've got to have some kind of plan. If the double if there's it's a hard double and they're staying with me, we have to have a better plan than you guys wondering if I'm going to try to dribble it from all the way out here because it's just hard for him at that size to get going with that kind of pressure as great as he is." And then there was one play where

1:11:41 you could just tell he's like, "I'm not even waiting. I'm just going." And then he dunked it and then it was like he was almost looking at his own team after the dunk instead of the opposition because it was like, "Hey, we've got to figure some of this stuff out." Um, I want to talk to you about staggering. Uh, because there was an Orlando game and they're dealing with all the injuries. Suggs is out now. Fron's been out for a while. You know, Mo's out too, but you know, he's in that that center trio.

1:12:04 And now we have Paulo back and I'd say in that Warriors game um last night like it was some of the bad Paulo like the frustrating possessions. Yeah.

1:12:16 Where, you know, he's trying to figure it out and they're staggering. Like there was a game against the Knicks in the cup where I felt like Mosley didn't stagger his guys. He staggered him in that third quarter and he and he was trying. You know, I remember look you barely had him Westbrook and Durant, but that was always kind of the thing where they didn't want to be staggered. Do is that something that you remember with different rosters that you had where it's like I understand you two guys want to like start and finish together. Yeah.

1:12:43 But like the best chance we have at least to keep up offensively is you know you're going to get all the priority looks if if you have 12 of your 35 minutes not with the other guy. And it seems like some teams or coaches are afraid of that or some of the players are like well hey I don't want my job to be harder out here.

1:13:01 No but you have to. There's no question. And I think of all the things all the challenges you have as an NBA head coach, figuring out a rotation uh especially what you the rotation it always matters, but what are you doing with your key one or two guys and and you know the modern NBA, what do you do with three? You can't win a championship supposedly unless you have three of them. How do you figure that combination out? Which guys do you have on the floor at the same time? Um yeah, I I think it's a major major factor. it's a big sell job to um you know an individual player and just say hey you're better off and and again it takes time to do it and all of you say well this guy's going to be better with this other guy because he doesn't command shots but for whatever reason it doesn't work you know he's not a guy they can throw it into and then move and uh you you got to figure out you know how how how some

1:13:56 guys play better I mean even some of the really elite players in the league are really good when they're with the other elite player and when you say, "Okay, now this is your time to shine." Like, "We got to rest this guy. He's on the bench now. You can take over the game." And guys aren't capable of doing that. You know, there are some guys that need even to be, you know, excellent players themselves, but they need to be on the player with the other alpha dog to to be effective. And and they're not real good uh player. That's why the commodities are those six men like the, you know, going back to the Jamal Craft Crawford and uh Sweet Lou and and those guys that, you know, people say like, well, you know, why do you keep that guy on the bench if he's so good, right?

1:14:37 Because guess what? He can bridge the gap when they're when they're resting the good guy or the good guys, a couple of guys and and he, you know, he can score points. He's good enough to do that himself. So sometimes that guy off the bench or a guy who is content or is able to just not get many shots and not play well when he's on the floor with the good guy and all of a sudden you're resting one of them and the guy, you know, the guy kind of takes the game over. So it's a I I think it's a major thing. I think it's a selling point.

1:15:08 Orlando's had so many injuries. I I really think Jamal does a nice job. That team just seems snake bit. It's like they never have all their guys available. I was impressed with them in Vegas. I and watching tapes of them before and then and then you know right away um Vagner's out. Suggs seems to be hurt all the time. Paulo for his big strong Paulo's a football everybody forgets Paulo when he was here in Seattle for OD was a quarterback when he was a freshman. Everybody thought he was out of his mind when he said I'm going to concentrate on basketball. Uh I'm not going to play football anymore. and they had this whatever he was 66 67 he was playing with Kyle growing up all the time in AAOU and against each other and he said that's it I'm not going to play football anymore and OD who's one of the best football programs in the country lost his 68 quarterback that everybody said well he's going to be a first round

1:15:58 draft pick and but it's worked out pretty good for him uh but he's still figuring out his game he he has like in the first half uh in in uh Vegas he was really struggling and then all of a sudden in the second half he just started dominating and doing uh special things. I I I like Jaylen Suggs a lot. I I think they haven't figured uh Desmond Bane into the lineup was a big thing. Desmond played really well in Vegas. He struggled early in the year. I I think they're still figuring out how do they feature Desmond Bane and that group that you're talking about staggering. I mean, when you start going Vagner, Desmond, Suggs, and [clears throat] Paulo, that's interesting how you're gonna who's you going to start? How you I mean not not necessarily who you're going to start, but when are you going to sub? How early are you going to sub? When are you going to start bringing guys in? You're clearly going to finish with them.

1:16:49 There's no mystery who you're going to finish with, but there's a big mystery uh in in the middle like 30 minutes of the game.

1:16:56 I want to talk about Draymond last night. Uh interesting even by Draymond Green standards. There was a play where he he throws the ball away. it's it's picked off and then they call a take foul.

1:17:09 And he immediately after the turnover and I looked at whatever angle I could find, I was like, "Well, somebody grabbed and that's why he's blaming the the ref for the turnover. It likely was probably something else that was already lingering in his head." And he lays into the ref and he's like, "Call the foul. Call the foul." He said, "It's six times." Um, they don't tech, they don't give him a tech because they're shooting a technical already. So, it's almost like they're doing Draymond a favor, which I always like Jeff Van Gundy nailed it years ago. He was like the leash that Draymond has is actually longer than any other player. So like the idea that he's targeted like they they're almost they've built up a tolerance to officiating Draymond where they let him go more than if other guys did that they'd be they' be getting teased.

1:17:50 The things he says and how he says them is unmatched in the league. Dylan Brooks is trying Brooks is trying to catch up with him but he's not there yet. [snorts]

1:18:00 It's not. So then the the tech is made off of off of the take foul again because I was watching it this morning and then Draymond immediately is like I'm not done and he goes back and he talks to the official but they go to commercial so you don't get to see the full part of it and it seemed like he was a little bit more under control than maybe he would have been. Spencer goes to grab his jersey and he's like no no I got it I got it and he ends up on the bench and then we realize like there's this altercation that he has to occur.

1:18:26 He doesn't come back in the third quarter because he goes in the back and then they go on a huge run. And then Kerr's like, look, and Kerr has had to play the same note all the time, right? Hey, this is our guy. He's helped us win because he knows he can't really go the other way with him because then it turns into something else. So, it's like, look, we just accept what it is.

1:18:45 Um, and Draymond was like, I had to go in the back and curse it. I wasn't going to go back to him anyway. It doesn't really matter. I I wanted to ask you about this cuz like you didn't have Rasheed during that peak here in Portland. was normal to me. He was great to me. He was bad on officials even then, but he he he later on he became I think the only guys that ever left the bench and I don't want to say it because he's coaching now. JR for sure and Strick may have done it one time. They they might be the only two. She was fine with me. Officials he was unbelievable, but Jr. and Strick were the only two that I ever had leave the bench.

1:19:21 Okay. But you didn't even have peak sheet cuz I was looking at his Oh, no. Not even close. Not even

1:19:26 40 41 texts in 77 games. And then, you know, my whole thing was that I felt like ultimately there's a line with it where it starts to feel selfish. It's like you just kind of want to do this. And when he went to Detroit, it wasn't like an completely different guy. Like he'd still be in the 20s, but 41

1:19:45 is an absurd number. Yeah. And [clears throat] you know, you had him in his first year in Portland. Yeah.

1:19:52 And I think it was only 11 texts. So, we weren't fully, right? But, you know, when you have somebody like that, like I think we both agree Kerr can't decide to get at the podium one day and just let Draymond have it because he knows there's no point. Like, even if it's the right thing to do and people would agree with me, there's no point. I know my guy and there's no point in doing this. So, it's like a bigger picture where I don't know that there's necessarily an answer. I think what I always find frustrating is you can when you see it that it's about to happen, it's like, okay, your main priority is not your team. It's not your teammates. It's not the outcome of the game. It's not the points because sometimes these techs are in huge spots.

1:20:30 You just have decided you want to do this. You could make the case there was a championship

1:20:36 uh involved, you know, influenced by this. Literally, an NBA championship may have been lost by that.

1:20:43 Absolutely. It's it's a completely fair argument and I've asked him about it. I remember I had him in Toronto the All-Star game and I was like is there any part of you that ever thinks like

1:20:51 I can be and he was like no I can't be and he was defiant about it too like he wasn't he wasn't he was fine. It was it was a good conversation. He wasn't like worked up cuz I was challenging him a little bit on it and he was like I don't have 70 million. I don't have the contract extension. I don't make a I don't get any of the stuff if I go into a game not like this then I'm not who I am. And you know, I I wasn't necessarily even like saying, "Hey, you're wrong." Cuz I cuz I I kind of get that part of it. But I'm just seeing like as he gets a little bit older here and this team's 500 and there's nights, especially with the defensive matchups and the playmaking where they desperately need him.

1:21:31 I just I you know, I already know the answer. It's probably going to get worse before it would I don't know how it's ever going to get better. Well, it's I you know who I always have the conversation with is Tom Isizo and my Kyle's at Colgate. He's a senior at Colgate and they opened up at Michigan State. So I went out and spent two days with is and always at some point anytime I'm with his five minutes to a Draymond conversation and he flies into town sometimes like he'll fly if he's got two days off he'll go and talk to Draymond.

1:22:00 Like it wouldn't surprise me after what happened last night is will find time before the Big 10 schedule gets going or something like that. Uh you know and he'll visit with him and it won't be a phone call. I mean he'll literally go see him. But I mean see I don't want to say deal with the devil. That's not fair to like I I saw him after I came back from the Michigan State game and we had him and he he donated 3.1 million. You got to see the weight room that he put in to Michigan I forget the President Center I think is what it's called. It's it's spectacular. and he knows my relationship with him has always been the same. Kind of like a lovehate thing.

1:22:32 And I go, man, I got to give you credit. Like what you did that was fantastic. But Steve sign that was a deal with the devil that was signed x amount of years ago. And there's a lot more good than bad that's come from it. But it's so far down the line now there's nothing they can do. And I don't I don't want to say because I can't speak for Steve. I don't want to say it doesn't bother Steve that Steve didn't think about it when he went home last night. But I I guarantee you, Margot, his wife, just said something like, "Steve, I mean, what what do we why are we talking about it? Is this is this something new? I mean, why do we even talk about it? It it is. Let's move on. Let's get to the next page." I'm dying to talk to him and Ray Ritter when I get into San Francisco. But that's Draymond. You know who else? And I I know you're aware of it. Luca walks that technical line himself with the

1:23:18 officials and even nights he doesn't get the text. I I I just think I I can't believe Officials are still humans. um the way Luca is with officials and and the times that he spends laying on the floor when he thinks he was fouled and it's a five on four at the other end of the floor. But again, you you take the good with the bad and uh Draymond's not quite as uh I don't think he's quite as bad anymore in terms of not playing. Luca will not play for five seconds and just the next defensive possession, they got no chance because he's not even involved and he's still barking at the officials and not concentrating on the defense. Draymond usually plays on, but the things he he says to officials and the times at which he gets technical fouls and for a guy who's intelligent, Draymond's very intelligent. For a guy who's intelligent, sometimes when he goes off at a critical time in a game, you just shake your head and say, "What

1:24:12 is he thinking about right now?" Look, we could I could do it all day, you know, and it was it was funny because it was like a big emotional weekend on officiating again here, right? And uh Mike Pereira, who is become a friend because he lives in Manhattan Beach when he's here doing work.

1:24:29 Yeah. And I'll end up sitting next to him at bar and getting some dinner at sleigh.

1:24:35 And I'm going to have him on. So I I really wanted to save when I was going to have him on, but the quote's too good and it works too well right now. And I know he's he's not going to mind, but he can expand on it when I finally have him on the show.

1:24:47 Is we were talking about like officiating and the constant complaint that it's never consistent. And I was like, I've accepted years ago that you're asking for something that can never be consistent to be consistent. So, you have to just give up. It's not going to be consistent the way you want it to be consistent. And you get to win every argument by saying, "Hey, it should be more consistent." You're like, "Yeah, no kidding. But it's not going to happen." And I asked Mike about like his officiating background and he started coaching high school basketball. And he goes, "I tell every NFL official or anybody that wants to get into football," I was like, "The first thing you knew you you need to do to become a great football official is officiate basketball because football is going to feel so slow." And so there's there's a lot of stuff like I have a generational question I want to ask you about here

1:25:28 before we say goodbye. But, you know, to your point on Luca, I like to go back and watch older games to remind myself of of how bad I think some of these arguments are generation against generation. But one thing that stands out is people didn't talk to the officials, you know, and Marcus Smart was upset because he's like, "Oh, you know, you go to talk to the official." And all I can think of is like, "Marcus, I've watched you play your entire career." Like, do you really think the official was like, "Oh, hey, cool.

1:25:57 Marcus Smart wants to just huddle here for a little bit and we have a state of the union and we can go over every call that he thinks cuz like here's what I do know watching even though there are certain specific issues I have with officiating in the NBA which maybe I'll get to the overall like who's right who's wrong if you want to start keeping track of like the player that doesn't think he's fouled or the player that thought that there was enough contact to garner the officials are more right so for them to sit there and say I'm supposed to talk to you after 2 hours you you've told me you didn't foul anyone and that you've been fouled every sing you've been wrong 15 times tonight but I'm supposed to stop everything again so that we can all huddle and like it used to be back in the day like maybe the superstar would go hey what's going on here if I'm here is this that and they would they and

1:26:46 then it was just on to the next and now it's like you know you're like are you on a two-way and you want to you want five minutes to yourself over here like it doesn't

1:26:56 there's No one ever wants to admit that part of the officiating. It's like these guys get treated like crap all night long by everybody have to talk to everyone. And on the overall keeping track, they're right more than the coaches and the players that are complaining about them every single night.

1:27:15 I love to get together with Monty and Joe Crawford and the guys that are are doing it now and evaluate them and everything. But as you well remember, it was so fun. In the old days, there wasn't every call wasn't being reviewed like before they even left the building and all that stuff. Those guys, you mess with those guys, they would just go, "Okay." And the call next call at the other end went against you and it was good. You got something else to say.

1:27:39 I miss it so much. That was it. And it was like, "No." and and they had the latitude, which again I I argue with Monty all the time and they they don't want to hit, you know, obviously some of the the great guys, but they knew if they blew a call and if there was an out- of-bounds call and and you know, in the next couple minutes, they could go the other way with, okay, there was the makeup. There was no question that's out the window now. I mean, none of that is tolerated. It's it's so different. But what they put up with from the from the players and and I got to say some coaches also is is mind-boggling. Uh it's so different and for the most part uh these guys do guys and girls I should say men and women uh do such a good job uh overall it's amazing but the scrutiny that they're under how every call is reviewed and this the supervisors and how they work with them and how people do continue to

1:28:32 improve. It's uh it's it's amazing. But boy, I I remember when there was two guys I and we used to fight every year at the beginning of the year, there'd be a meeting with the coaches and and they'd say I I'd go, "You got rid of the guy because he couldn't run two miles anymore. He was 68 years old or something like that." And we got all these young guys with the nice biceps or uh women in good shape and they can run the two mile and they give beautiful signals. I said, "You could put one of those old guys in a wheelchair at half court and they're going to get more calls, right, just because they know the game. They know the game. They understand. They see stuff. But it's uh you know, I I always lamented every year almost without exception when somebody would move on and we'd lose a guy and they said, "Well, he can't cover. He can't get up and down the floor anymore." So, I don't care if he can't.

1:29:18 If I when I walk out for a game, particularly a playoff game, I want to see that guy or that lady there. Uh, you know, I want to see them. I don't want to see one of the one of the new ones that gives the beautiful signals and runs a nice mile time and everything like that. I I want to see the judgment that that you used to have from the the older when it was only two officials and and they were the kings. They could do whatever they wanted to do and really nobody back, you know, nobody said anything to them. It was great.

1:29:45 I want to end on this because I I've thought about trying to like one day create the definitive generational debate, but I know going into the exercise there's no way I would come to a conclusion where I would get people to change their minds, right? And so, you know, I was watching a Piston Celtics playoff game from the8s and the clip that I sent out, there were some factors in it that, you know, thinking about it were unfair. But really what I was always focused on, like something that there's a couple NBA coaches that I'm friendly with now will like send clips to each other and we'll go like, "Look at the LA." Like, there's no help.

1:30:21 There's no double. Like, their help rules are just they don't even exist. It's like it's just you either have the guy or you don't.

1:30:29 Yeah. And the the thing that jumps out at you is like I think some of the physical stuff in comparison to today's game like people act like it's this Mad Max version of basketball and and I I think that gets overstated cuz

1:30:43 these guys are much bigger and faster and quicker and I think they're beating on each other and it comes down to this handshacking thing. So I'd say advantage like

1:30:50 you know the current generation, right? the current generation like maybe that gap of physicality isn't necessarily there. The way everything is packed in I don't know how anyone could watch basketball from the 80s and 90s and watch today's game and go like hey you can talk load management all you want but it might be just the sheer science of

1:31:08 look at how much ground you are covering. Look at what you are running to. You're cutting you're if there's a pick and roll ball side and the big is the roller. I'm on the baseline and I've got to figure out whether or not I'm going to come over and help against like a 610 guy who's already bigger than me and I've got to somehow figure out how to break up that lob or I have to worry that the guy in the corner is like 37% and my coach actually doesn't want me to help on the roller and then I've got to show that I might disrupt the lob and then recover all the way over here. the way that they'll blitz. I mean, again, the blitzing thing isn't necessarily new, but I don't know how anyone fair can look at these games separated by 30 or 40 years and not admit that the physical strain of what you're asking to do. And I understand nutrition and flights and all that kind of stuff. But

1:32:01 I got to tell you, PJ, like watching any of the stuff from back then, I can admire it. I can love it the way I did as a kid, but I have to be honest that it's just you're asking today's player to cover so much more ground. The tracking alone um makes it a different game

1:32:19 without question. And it it you know I some unfortunately we've lost so many of the guys but I would love to have had if if if we co-hosted a podcast and had guys like John had to guys who were levelheaded that that aren't going to be you know overly defensive or something like that. I'd love to hear guys like Havichek or, you know, some of those guys talk about what it would be like to play now, what what they, you know, what they would think it would be like to participate or what do they think of today's games because and and rightfully so. Some of these guys are very very some some of the great ones that are that are still around with this are very defensive about what people say, well, this guy couldn't play in in today's

1:32:59 but see look like the great ones would figure out like you know what I mean? Like you want to sit here and talk about guys throwing fast balls. I'm like I think Ted Williams, Willie Mays, I think they'd figure it out. Like I'm I'm I'm always like defensive of those guys. Like I wouldn't want to say, "Oh, Bird wouldn't be able to guard anybody or Magic couldn't [clears throat] shoot, so therefore like they would figure it out." I'm just asking anybody to be just be honest with what your eyes tell you and going,

1:33:23 "Hey, they bring it across the court." Like even in some playoff games, nobody's even really picking you up. Nobody's getting your face. Nobody's disrupting the first ball action. It's like, you know, nine guys got their foot in the paint. Like you're setting you're setting screens on like somebody catches it on the block and a center setting a screen for you on the block and your only move is to turn left shoulder into the paint and you're like oh my god it's it's like all right here and you're not worried about closing out like on any shooters except for maybe one guy.

1:33:53 Yeah. Okay. We agree on that. Now, here's a point for the older generation because as great as Jaylen Brunson is, as great as SGA is, um as great as Trey Young's numbers are, um in his career, the other part where I would ding today's guys is if you officiated these players the way they're officiated now. Yeah.

1:34:21 Like I I'll admit like everybody kind of makes the NBA Hall of Fame, but or the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame is what I should call it. Um, there's guys that I think are going to go from like terrific careers to Hall of Fame careers solely because of the benefits of today's officiate. And to throw in now this pivot foot thing, which apparently you can just change your pivot foot.

1:34:41 Wow. Which college gave into it. Now we got continuity in college. College rule now is if you've stopped your dribble and you get fouled, you get another step. and that the officials because it's new are all loving to call it but they've given in like the NBA's won it it now it's continuity and we want to have we want to have consistency so we're going to have continuity come on

1:35:04 so as great as Jaylen Brunson is like I have Jaylen in a tier above some of the other guy like look I've just mentioned SGA I mean he is the MVP may win it again this year

1:35:13 but their stuff they did they do today if they did it an 80 or 90s game expecting like you know if you could play the time travel game Everyone would look at you being like, "What did you just try to do?"

1:35:25 Yeah. You're crazy. Yeah. Exactly. What are you nuts? Like we're not It would be like if you tried to do it in high school when you were growing up was a travel and it was like no no no one thought to even argue about it. You can't do that. That's ridiculous. Uh you couldn't do that on a playground. It'd be a fight on a playground if you did it and say that's travel. You can't do that. Yes, you can. That's this is the these are the convers we need to do the the full retro like I would really like to dig into all the things that I think are fair you know pluses and minuses for both generations but I I can't every time I throw on something 80s9s I just go hey look it's okay to admit like they just don't have to move around as much and it's just all clogged up which actually speaks to like the greatness of a Jordan it's like look how clogged that is

1:36:15 like imagine that in today's spacing. You know what, and I I'll run on. I know we're rapping. I still laugh in the 70s. I went to because everybody was talking about the Knicks, are they going to hang a banner and all this nonsense? Um, I went to I was there in 70. I was undergrad in 70 at Ford and I was there in 73. I was an assistant coach and saw a whole bunch of those games in the finals. You know who was on the bench? Red. Danny Whan the trainer was next to him and Frankie Blush was like an official scoreer. That was it. There was it. Now the now when there's a play, they said they're looking at a second row and there's 11 guys in the second row. Six of them have iPads and they're trying to figure out whether there was do we challen do we challenge or not. I said like and I remember I'm saying I was sitting there Dustin Hoffman was the row in front of me like four seats to the left. Red Danny will it on the

1:37:04 bench. Denny Willen had a white Nick warm-up top on. Red had a suit on. That was it for suits on the bench in the NBA. and and [clears throat] he had Willis and Bill Bradley and De Busher and Clyde and all those guys and it was like, "Holy man, has this game changed a little." Every time I'm in the Garden, I I think of sitting there watching those Nick games in the playoffs going, "Wow, have we evolved a little bit?" And I'm not complaining. I I like I like when I was a head coach and I like when I was an assistant and had a whole bunch. When I went to Portland, I had three assistants. That was it. Dick Carter, Rick Carile, Johnny Davis, and then

1:37:38 when did that change? When did it go from like here are your three guys to like where are your

1:37:43 90s? Because when I went there was three guys and you were lucky if you had a trainer and a strength coach and the trainer did everything. Booked the travel the you know if you had a trainer, a strength coach and an equipment manager. We flew in a box 111. I think there was 22 seats and there was only two teams in the league that had planes. Detroit had round ball one and we had uh the Louisiana Pacific plane. Uh, right. Then it is uh Danny Green now who brokers all the planes. When do you see the next generation of planes that's coming into the NBA when the when the current ones it's time to replace them?

1:38:15 It's it's a new world. It's a new world, Bri. Um, I love talking to you, man. I love talking hoops. Love talking wherever we go with this. Make sure you check out PJ on ABC this Christmas. You can celebrate with him with a little Mavs Warriors.

1:38:30 We got a whole bunch of Hall of Famers, NBA players, MVPs. We got more accolades for the coaches and the players in that game. Their records might not be real good, but I I'm like, you know how you write your little notes for a game? There's no room for the notes for these two teams. There's so many rookies of the years led in steals, led in points, won Olympic gold medals, future Hall of Famers. It's incredible. It's a great matchup individually.

1:38:55 It also took it took Cooper like 18 games to figure it out. Maybe 15 games to figure it out. He is. Uh,

1:39:01 do you see he just turned 19 Sunday? Do you see the set of stats? It's only Kobe and LeBron. He's second or third in like virtually every cap, points assists rebounds.

1:39:11 There's only two guys that have ever done more. Dwight Howard beat him out in double doubles. The only other guys that have beat him out is Kobe and and LeBron. Nobody's done what he's done at the age of 18. It's amazing. Amazing. Cool.

1:39:23 Yeah, I can't wait. He's he's made that team like appointment viewing. And that's that's really how I feel about the league now. Like there's there's almost no team early on.

1:39:33 I mean, look, I could be mean and name a couple rosters, but I have I have there's interest level on almost every single roster for me, especially with how great this rookie class has been. So, I can't wait for uh

1:39:43 if you were at the Olympic Games when the young kids, the select team, and they put Cooper on the select team when he hadn't even played at Duke yet. You saw what he did against that Olympic team before they went to Paris. You know, it was like even I could figure out five minutes. People said like, "Well, how's he going to be in the NBA?" I said, "Are you kidding me? The guys on the on the Olympic team are going, "Man, this kid's for real. He hadn't even gotten to Duke yet. He's unbelievable how good he is. Unbelievable.

1:40:06 I know." And he could have he could have actually been in high school last year, too. Not Not that

1:40:11 he turned 19 Sunday. 19 years old. It's It's absurd. It's fun. It's a lot of fun. And uh always a great visit with you, my man. Thank you, Peter,

1:40:22 brother. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Basketball season is here, which means the excitement of being in the stands before tip off is here, too. The Game Time app gives the advantage back to fans. It's the hack for unlocking amazing tickets and experiences in a few taps. It's incredibly easy to use, and the Game Time Guarantee means you can trust you'll get 100% authentic tickets on time and at the best price. Plus, fees are always included, so what you see is what you pay. I was scrolling through the NBA Christmas Day games and I'm seeing Spurs Thunder tickets starting at $86. I know we have a lot of Spurs Thunder this week. Uh PJ Carlos Mo and I talked about it a ton, but I love watching the Thunder and what they do defensively and obviously we all love watching Webyama and trying to see what everyone's done defensively against him where it's finally like after a month of games this year, you're like, you know

1:41:10 what, I don't know if the Lakers are first. They're so smart with their advanced stuff, but they were like, "How about we put smaller, rugged players on Webeyama, try to mess with them on the catch more and then we can try to figure out how we want to bring help after that." And seeing that cup game where it was like, man, they had Caruso on him straight up. So, is that something they're going to default to? Were they testing it out during a cup game? Like, this is the cup. Uh, but that's the kind of stuff I absolutely love. talk about all the time whenever I'm watching two teams play when I think they're going to probably be on a path, not a certainty, but could match up in the playoffs.

1:41:43 Like, what kind of stuff are they going to try to prioritize here of the closing minutes in a close game? Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account and use code rillo r USS LL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. again. Create an account and redeem the code rillo ru ss i l l o for $20 off. Download the game time app today. Before we get to life advice, let's uh check in on the alliance uh because we do not have the props up. So sudi will uh will lead us and give us the scoreboard.

1:42:20 Yeah, we're recording this on Tuesday and we're going to have a alliance parlay for the Christmas day game. So the props aren't up yet. So we will have that up Wednesday. It'll be on the drafting sports book. It'll be on our social, so make sure you check it out there. Our three-legg alliance parlay. But I do have our record so far, boys. I am leading the way. I've got two pushes, which is weird. I'm 4-1. 4-1 with two pushes. Kyle is four and three and Ryan is three and four. Ryan on a three-game skid here. Looking to turn it around.

1:42:44 So, um, records aren't terrible overall. Still looking for our first hit in the Alliance, but we'll get there. I have

1:42:49 I check mine. I'm consulting with my guy who's been redot in the He's just a guy in the crown jewel. I don't want to give too much away, but he's been red hot on DraftKings. Uh, so until he fails me, we'll be using his stuff.

1:43:02 Yeah, I got arrogant about it, I'll admit. Yeah, king of the core. Nailed the first couple. You're like, "All right." Uh, all right. Life advice. Email address is lifeadvice. Rrrgmail.com. Kind of regret not doing what we just did. And we talked about lemons. Um, in a big meer lemon phase right now. Hoping to buy some fresh ones today. Yeah, I've been squeezing one into water. It's not because I'm trying to lose weight. I'm actually the heaviest I've been in a while. Um I'm not quite sure what I'm doing, what the goal is here.

1:43:37 Are you a cleanse guy? Do you ever do cleanses? No, but I've thought about a three-day fasting. Like I had a stomach virus one day and was like, "Well,

1:43:46 you already haven't eaten yet today, so you're already a third of the way done. Why not just do two more days? I'm afraid I'm going to lose like 12 pounds. And then it's going to take forever.

1:43:58 Told you that you you needed to, right? My doctor, I was I was getting an MRI in this torn ligament and he was like, "Do you ever thought about like losing a few pounds? Do we already do this or do we do

1:44:09 I don't remember if this was a phone call between you and I or if we I honestly together.

1:44:13 Kyle seems confused." So maybe it was a phone call. I I'm pretty sure it wasn't on the pot because I wasn't even sure I wanted to do it.

1:44:18 We could talk weight. We could we could do a three-way call if you guys want to talk weight. I mean, if you're just gonna do stats. I mean, I got NBA stats. I got nothing but you guys can always merge the call if we want to talk weight. Like I got stuff to say off air probably. But I was just like look I'm everything hurts all the time. And I couldn't I was like you know you might need to change things up here. And he was like you know he he's like have you thought about maybe just losing a few pounds cuz like every pound of weight you're carrying is this many pound. And I was like are you I gave him like a like [ __ ] what have you seen me?

1:44:52 Yeah. Like lose a few pounds. I'm not telling you to lose weight. Just go on the scale and subtract 10.

1:44:58 I'm not talk I'm not telling you to talk less. I just need the other host to talk more.

1:45:05 Side note, I'm probably going to be doing a a fast. My my stepdad did like a 10day thing. Like 30 pounds.

1:45:11 10 days. Dude, who are you? Come on. He's I Man, I don't know. I can't I couldn't believe it, but he did it like 30 pounds melted right off of him. He got my wife all jazzed up about it

1:45:21 and uh and and he was like, you know, it would be the best way to fast is together. And he looks at me and I'm like, oh man. So, I don't know if it'll be January. I was thinking about doing dry January, but like there's a lot of football going on in January. So, and then February playoff run dry January. Terrible ideas.

1:45:39 Maybe April. Maybe we could squeeze it in in April. But I think I should do a month boost free spree. But it's just getting nice out. You want to drink outside though? Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I think January is out and February is the Super Bowl. So, like that has to be out. Unless we could do like a half month, half month thing, maybe.

1:45:54 Yeah. Why can't you just do post post Super Bowl into March? Like 30 days is 30 days, man.

1:45:58 Yeah. And then the tournament starts and then I'm back in. Okay. Thanks. Yeah, that'll be good.

1:46:05 I do. No halftime. What kind of cleanse are you thinking? Pats at Broncos AFC title game. Yeah.

1:46:10 Hey guys, you think I'm watering a sculpin? Come on. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe my doctor saw those pictures from the Salt Lake show.

1:46:21 Angles, unfortunately, that could have been it. Yeah. Yeah. He was like, "What the [ __ ] is going on?" So, I Yeah. I gave him a He's like, "I'm not saying cuz you're out of shape. I just think it's kind of the Tim Duncan thing. It's not wrong. Imagine if I just shave off like 15 pounds and go, what's going on with him?" And it's like, "Pick up basketball." He was that worried about it.

1:46:40 It's knees. I haven't ruled out his knees. I haven't ruled it out. It's not a bad idea at all. I mean, yeah, like you know, your joints, you know, all that stuff. You know, you look nicer and even your face a little bit. Like I thought about that, you know, a face a little puffy, eating a lot of, you know, a lot of carbs lately. It's like, do I, you know, you cut back. But the problem with the juice thing though is like you just, it's not really like sustainable thing. Like you just kind of gain that back right when you go back to your normal lifestyle.

1:47:04 I believe in the cleansing fast thing. I just haven't done it. There's got to be something good about it. Charging your body and it starts eating stuff. I like I haven't looked into a ton of it, but that seems to make sense to me. I just don't think I'm going to do it.

1:47:18 Yeah, maybe I should. I'm just hungry and terrible, but I don't know. We'll see.

1:47:24 Can you work out? Probably should not work out. Yeah, I guess you can do anything.

1:47:32 Kevin Garnett's your oyster. Yeah. Uh, all right. Um, we we're going to get to the life advice emails. You want to talk about the most hated guy to email into the show? Super Saver. Just buckle up, buddy.

1:47:44 Got a ton, huh? No one likes you. Um, people are mad at us for not being meaner, which I think is probably fair. I think it just was kind of an understood like

1:47:54 he had some self-awareness, though. That was the thing. Like, it's he kind of was like, "Am I going to alienate people? Do I suck?" So, at least like he's he's asking for help. So, I'm trying not to be too mean,

1:48:02 right? But it's kind of like somebody's like, "I don't like to tip more than 12%." It's like, "Well, credit is self-awareness. It's like nobody's going to take his side on anything. Uh, but we have an announcement or at least Sir Rudy just wanted us. What? By the way, are you rocking an Ohio shirt?

1:48:16 No. Loos New Mexico. Yeah, my guy hooked me up. Shouts out to uh to New Mexico. Using them in my NCA, two-time national champs in my NCA franchise. No big deal.

1:48:24 That's right. So, they reached out to you and sent you some gear, huh? No, this guy. Yeah, he just hit me up and was like, "Hey, big fan of the show. Big New Mexico guy. Like, I want to send you some stuff." So,

1:48:33 yeah. Yeah. Is it a guy from New Mexico or is a guy like, "Man, give me your dress."

1:48:36 Really nice guy. We've been DMing. Um I think I think he's involved with some car dealerships, so I don't know.

1:48:42 Okay. I don't have a lot of answers. Maybe an auxiliary guy. Okay. Great gear. Uh

1:48:46 see if he can price out some brush guards. Yeah. I'm looking for rain guards. By the way,

1:48:50 he told me he was a VW guy, too. He listened to the pod and I said I had some VW, so he's excited about that as well. So, you know, it's good stuff. I'm not quite Stanford Steve level yet, but I am. You know, send me your free gear if you want. That would be an alltime alltime pivot if you went full

1:49:07 Stanford Steve. Um because then I would just be like where's that coming from? Like oh Gucci did a crossover with Liverpool. You guys sent me some stuff and like what? Uh yeah. So Shalamé, speaking of Liverpool.

1:49:21 Yes. Yeah. Speaking Yes. Speaking of Liverpool, our our guy SD kid, I don't know who that was before this whole thing happened, but have you guys been like following this at all? cuz I've gotten a lot of tweets about the Shalomay thing being like, "Hey, you were like this might might have been the thing you were most right about all time being me." And you know, I I'm not toot my horn horn. I've been wrong about plenty of things, but like I was just early on the Shalom thing. And it's he is absolutely peaking right now. Like I don't know if you guys are following what's going on. He's got the Marty

1:49:44 feels like a new peak. I didn't even know if this peak was possible. He's re Yeah, he's he's there's the second peak that we didn't even know was it was reachable.

1:49:52 Plate tectonics, you know? It's like, hey, that mountain's actually higher now.

1:49:55 Correct. It's like a volcano. just growing even more each time it erupts. Um, yeah, he had this rap video that like you would expect it to be terrible and it's not.

1:50:04 So, basically, for anyone who doesn't know, he's got this movie Marty Supreme coming out, which which looks really cool. It's a I think it's a it's a Safy movie, right? I think uh I forget which Sa Benny. Which one? No, Benny's in uh I think Benny's in the Odyssey movie. The other one's doing this movie. But anyway, so he's got this movie coming out to promote it. He basically did a did a remix uh on this like Liverpool rapper who everyone thinks he looked like for a while. He just decided to like I'm gonna do a verse on it and it was awesome. Like it was like a legitimately very good rap song. The video is super cool. It's only like you know probably a minute and a half long.

1:50:38 Probably a smart move that way too. Yeah. And then he's doing like stuff where he's standing on top of the sphere in Vegas making noises and he's spending like Tom Brady Marty Supreme gear. Like I don't I I mean the term white boy of the decade has been thrown around. I I I'm not

1:50:55 Wow. I I'm not the one to judge that, but the guy is like on an alltime run. And even if you don't like the Kardashian thing, which I don't really, it is cool to date Kylie Jenner, right? Like she's hot. Like there's no real We're not like beating around a bush here. Like the guy

1:51:09 there's a lot of dudes that would probably uh take her up on Yeah. I think pull my arm. Yeah. I'd figure it how I'd make it work. Um, he's just kind of living every dude's dream. He's like a movie star. He goes to Nicks games. He's a rapper now. He's dating this super hot chick. Like, I don't know

1:51:26 other than being like a professional athlete. I don't really know how much better it gets for a guy.

1:51:30 And the and the film guys are like, "Dude, you guys are so stupid. This is him promoting like he's grinding for these promotion." Like he's he's basically the Tom Cruz of this generation is like he's keeping movie theaters alive. So even like that crowd is like they're looking at it through a different lens like this is all marketing and it's hidden. So yeah.

1:51:47 Yeah. The the thing about Shalom too is like you you know we've accused guys being like fakers in the past. I'm I know I'm just like waxing poetic about my guy here. It's like hey dude like give it a break.

1:51:57 Yeah. His [ __ ] checks out like the Nick stuff you know he's a ball knower. Like he was talking about he was talking about somebody asked him in an interview years ago like what his favorite soccer team was. He was like oh it's St. Etien, which is like kind of not obscure club, but a smaller French league club. He starts naming players. I'm like, this guy's just like he's not just making [ __ ] up. Like he knows what he's talking about. And the next thing is not fake.

1:52:17 And like people kind of gave him [ __ ] cuz I think it I forget what was it the SAG awards. It was some award where he said like I want to be the greatest and I don't really care. Like this is what I want to do and I want to put it out there and people like oh that's lame. Like whatever. It's like no man I I kind of nothing that he does seems inauthentic and lame and it's just like I don't I don't know that I've ever seen anyone like that before. So anyway, the rap video is sick. Check it out,

1:52:38 dude. If he gets strong, can you imagine? Yeah, that's the only thing he's beat up or he just finds the right tone. Like not jacked, but he finds the right like you can see it through a t-shirt and you're like, damn. Okay.

1:52:49 I just don't know if he has enough frame there. Like when Tom Hardy started beating up dudes in jiu-jitsu and you were like this, too.

1:52:58 Yeah, but he's you were like that. I don't think I How tall is Shalom? The problem with Hart with uh with Tom Holland is he's he's like what five? He's short.

1:53:06 Tom Holland. Well, you're not talking about Tom. Oh, Hardy. TripleA ball. Yeah, about here.

1:53:12 They're both short. I think I think Hardy's what, 57? Yeah. No. Well, I don't know about that. I think so. I'm pretty sure. Let me look it up.

1:53:19 That sounds crazy to me. I I Hold on. I don't know. You know what? Let's leave it unknown. Don't even tell us cuz I don't want guys I don't want guys that are 5'7 listening to this podcast going into [ __ ] Christmas having a great week and then this one comes out. We're talking up all these guys and then we end it on this note where it's like, "Oh, he's 5'7" and then all three of us are like, "Fuck." You know what?

1:53:39 I'm only 510. So, it's not like I'm I I feel like Yeah, but I Let's not do that to the 5'7 and under guys.

1:53:43 That's fine. That's fair. Only 510 for the record. So, okay. All right. Yeah. Well, that's fine.

1:53:49 Party's below that. I'll just say that. Okay. Okay. Congrats on Sha. No, you're right. Congrats. I never was against him. I was just like, he can't be my 10 when we're rattling off tens. Not yet. Maybe. Maybe.

1:54:02 There's just no way that Kyle or I are allowed to like him as much as you. I don't care. I'm not one of those guys that's like, "Hey, I I stake my claim in him." Like, I'm invented him.

1:54:12 Wasn't even about that. I [snorts] buddy Seri invented Shalom. Why? Yeah. He was the first guy you knew.

1:54:25 Uh although I did bring it up too. Did you guys see the the Odyssey trailer? I watch everyone I could find. Awesome.

1:54:32 It looks really really [ __ ] cool. Theaters for that one. Maybe Ryan, do do yourself a favor. You should see that one in theaters, too. I don't know how often you're going.

1:54:42 No, I've been going. Yeah, that road scene really got you back on track in uh The Road Chase in one.

1:54:48 I I don't think that that is PTA's like best movie at all. I I think you you want to talk recency bias. I'm like, "Hey, how good is Drake May?" Um,

1:54:57 right. People trying to say that movie is PTA's best one. Like, it's great. I loved it. I love seeing in the theater. It's not in his top three.

1:55:06 There you go. Fine with me. Top three. You won't. Great road scene. Um, Boogie Nights. There Will Be Blood. Ghost Dad.

1:55:23 Now that we're going, we're just really off topic. Did you see Was that Tarantino um

1:55:28 Paul Deno thing? Was that real? I didn't like it. I can tell you that. I didn't like it either. Great in that movie.

1:55:35 I got out immediately. his his portrayal of that kid in Prisoners is so good and like you feel so bad for somebody that you also think may be the reason this guy's kid is missing. All that Hugh Jackman stuff like that to me is like, hey, there's a bunch of good actors out there and then there's a little reminder of like what the great ones can do and I I was bummed out about all that and then you're just kind of like, did he do something to him? Although, you know, in this industry where it's so hard that everybody's just super nice to everybody all the time and it's like this person's brilliant or this person's brilliant or this script is the most amazing thing of all time and you're like is it?

1:56:16 Um maybe somebody just not liking somebody was almost refreshing to hear because I think generally that industry doesn't doesn't ever want to be nasty towards anyone else because it is kind of a small world and it is so hard and it's like you don't want to be some guy who's like, "Oh, this show sucks and this movie sucks and this director sucks." It's like, "Oh yeah, where's your shit?" Um,

1:56:36 what did he say though? Was it like this would have been the best movie ever if Paul Dano wasn't in it?

1:56:40 It was nasty. It was like what? Yeah, I I I hard disagree. I mean, I respect Tarantino, but that's just an odd not that I'm not I think all three of us are we're fine with a little hate here and there. Like it you got to balance things out. I just felt unnecessary and wrong.

1:56:58 Look, if something really sucked, I I find it refreshing. You went off on what was it? Zack Ryan. It was like the You were just like that song sucks.

1:57:07 Yeah. I thought the lyrics are pretty forced on that one. I'm also not aspiring to be in the country music scene. So, it's a little safer, you know safer.

1:57:15 Yeah. It's not your lane. I think that ship is sill. I don't think that's going to happen. So,

1:57:20 don't don't put barriers on yourself, you know. I uh we're 16 minutes in. This is a really long pie.

1:57:26 Yeah. Anyway, sorry. No, I I I do that all right thing as if it's anyone else's fault other than my own. [snorts] So, we did it the other. We had one the other night where we were taping at night and I did it at K. I still feel bad about it. I was like, "All right, all right." You know, I got to eat dinner here or something like that. It was like, I'm the one

1:57:40 that's why don't you tape the ads then, guy. Yeah. Right. No, no, it was 100% I called myself out in the moment as I did it.

1:57:47 That was funny. Sounded really bad. And I was like, that's not what you're about. Let's let's make sure everybody knows. Luckily doing this long enough that I don't think anybody's going to get offended.

1:57:56 Okay. Um, I was going to do some extra ones today because of the holiday, but boy, I don't know. Maybe we'll just call this a segment in itself. Uh, addicted to saving. It's hard to express how much I hate this listener who wrote in about halfeaten hot dogs. I think he's delusional that his friends get a kick out of it. I bet they egg him on. So, he continuously makes an ass out of himself. He's missing the fact that he's not in on the joke. He is the joke.

1:58:26 I had that feeling. Great example of what Ryan always says. What if everyone did this? Capitalism would fail because nobody would want to start a business and deal with [ __ ] customers that operate at this level. [ __ ] this guy on every level, in every way imaginable. Love the show that um that's probably the best way to summarize the 20 plus emails that we got about uh that guy in there. So, I don't know if you know.

1:58:50 Yeah. I just would I wondered if the friend think like when he said my friends what did he say? I think it's performance art. It might just be like, "Oh my god, look, he's going to do it again. What a [ __ ] idiot." It could have been that instead of like like, "Oh man, wow. Wait, he that guy always saves a buck. Really incredible." It might just be like, "Yeah, we'll laugh at this for a couple minutes and we'll do whatever else we were doing."

1:59:10 There's also like factoring in cost. Like, [snorts] is it worth it to miss an inning or a half an inning?

1:59:16 Yeah. To then go like, I'm gonna get back in the line and bring him my supposed stale beer where then I get a half a beer for free. Then if I do it with a hot dog, it's like, okay, what are you actually doing? Now, there's another way to look at this. Maybe this guy is so cool and so incredibly well-liked that he does this thing that most people would be like, are you seriously going to do that again?

1:59:34 And in fact, he checks enough boxes in every other facet of life that they like, you know, there's usually wait in line, just walks right up.

1:59:44 That's the thing. He's check he's got friends, he's married, and he said he had a good job. So like he he might be fine in all the other aspects of life. Yeah. You want me dudes that take that?

1:59:57 A lot of dudes. A lot of dudes. All right. I'm worried my 11-year-old son is not cool. 38-year-old dad, NBA comp, Blazer Sean Kemp. I like that. Three boys, oldest of which is 11. He has a lot of oldest child traits. He's kind, hardworking, organized, thoughtful, considerate. You guys think I'm like that?

2:00:19 Yeah. Yeah, thanks. I haven't seen really the notepad. How how organized? But you have a notepad. That's good.

2:00:29 Consider considerate. Definitely. But I'm just You're saying organized. I don't know.

2:00:33 Yeah. All right. Also a bit anxious, high strong. He's a big kid. Plays Dline on the football team. The coaches are working with him to get a little more aggressive on the field, though. My wife and I have noticed that he doesn't have the trademark aloofness of most 11-year-old boys. He's always the one initiating hangouts. He's learning texting etiquette. And we're trying to teach him that his friends might not always text back right away. And to give them some time before sending a second text. That's going to be a weird conversation with an 11-year-old. Hey, just let it breathe, buddy. Just let it breathe.

2:01:03 Did you text toeer? All right. Don't send him a second one until Monday. Uh when he's with his friends, he brings energy and intentionally uh and is always really excited to see them. This is usually matched by a typical whatever attitude of most 11-year-old boys. I realize his thoughtfulness and kindness might be more appreciated once he's in high school or college, but I'm worried that his demeanor isn't terribly compatible with being one of the guys as he enters into middle school. I realize none of you have 11 year olds, but it feels like you're qualified to give insight. Wow, that's a shocker. Um, thanks. I think yeah, obviously we can approach this using the same wording as I did in the subject line. and the motivation is for him to make and keep friends as he enters into what can sometimes be a roller coaster like time of life. What do you guys think is the best way to help him out in

2:01:46 this area or are we overreacting? Um the first thing I'm asking here though is does he kind of have friends and maybe isn't the coolest in the friend group? Cuz that's what it sounds like.

2:01:57 Yeah, everybody needs those guys too. Yeah, if he has the other extreme is like there's no one to even text,

2:02:05 you know? He's not on any teams. No one like he's not showing up as the guy that's more friendly as opposed to maybe this one hit way too close to home with Steve just

2:02:18 but I I'd have to guess that like the fact that you you have somebody that has like a friend group is like I would worry about this way more if it was there's he's 11 he's on teams and nobody ever is talking to cuz there's also that.

2:02:39 Yeah. And sometimes dudes like the friend group that you're in like not that you're like a a super late comer, but some dudes could have been like gone to summer camp before you guys even went to school together or something and you're like, you know, they're just hanging out anyway. It's not anything wrong with you. They're just like they already got their own thing. So maybe he has to like sort of get in where he fits in. Um so the other thing I was going to say is like they're 11. You might be able to like not supervise a hang, but like if they're in the living room, they're not going to be like, "Dad, don't even be near us." Like, you might be able to just see like how he is with the with the dudes unless he doesn't know.

2:03:14 Not like sit down and play a game of Mario Kart with him, but like, you know, be an earshot and be like, is he is he saying some loser [ __ ] right now? Or am I just maybe maybe doing an overreacting helicopter pyramid? I don't know.

2:03:26 Yeah, I was you going to Monday morning quarterback your 11-year-old son be like, you should you shouldn't have said this. like you should have went the other way. Like I don't know. That's also kind of weird.

2:03:33 Don't tickle them, dude. Don't tickle him. [gasps and sighs] Um I I always just remember this one thing that I I think my mother-in-law said this about uh about like raising kids is like your peers will let them know. Like the the kid has to just like they learn their boundaries. like they kind of I know I know it sucks to see and like I'm going to probably go through it as a parent at some point too when you like when your kid gets disappointed or sad or let down by a friend or something happens and it sucks to see but like your kids kind of have to go through that stuff to know what the boundaries are and 11 is still really young where you're still yeah you're like you you still kind of need to figure out who you are as a person and like who you even want what what qualities you want in friends and who you want to hang out with. So I I you know I I would just lay out like I I just don't I don't I I think your job

2:04:22 unless like the kid is being like bullied or there's something like extracurricular that's going down.

2:04:28 Yeah. Like I I just think you kind of just got to let it run its course and there's a lot of game left. Yeah.

2:04:32 Totally. And like I I I I do think like being raising like a kid growing up and figuring out what their boundaries are, that's an important part of adolescence and childhood and that's how you learn like what you're supposed to do in social settings. So

2:04:42 damn, dude. Well said. Yeah. I I hate it. I mean, listen, I am a parent. What's up? As a father, you know, this is taking some notes over the years. But

2:04:51 but yeah, so that's I but again, I imagine that's hard. I know that's probably hard to like when you're seeing this unfold as a parent like that's not going to fly like should I say something. I know that's hard to like actually hold your tongue, but that's probably the best way to do it.

2:05:03 That's pretty good. I also wonder if he's the oldest of three, does the parent, like is our emailer really cool? Was he cool growing up? Sounds like Yeah, it sounds like he's he's picking up on a few things that maybe a not as cool parent would just be oblivious to. So, he's picking up on little things, but are the younger brothers like giving him a hard time? Is the middle guy the coolest? Which is always like a weird dynamic? Um because it's just like with three boys, it's like you can't you can't have that happen, but it inevitably is going to happen. Um the oldest isn't always going to be the coolest. There's something I was thinking about and it sounds like it's just kind of like you're worried about him entering into a danger zone. So, it's not like he's not again to the original point, he's not having zero contact with his peers. And Sud's line about the peers thing is so perfect. Uh,

2:05:49 so I'm not going to stay in this too much longer, but I didn't know if there was something that dad could do where it's like you were talking about the supervised hang. Could you take him to an NBA game like him and three of the guys and kind of see how it goes and tell them like, "Hey, don't sit next to me."

2:06:05 Like make sure you sit next to your buddies and then you don't sit next to your dad or you know um like that's what a cool guy would do. You know, I don't know if there's some different observations there where you would get a better understanding of how he fits in or if you provide access to something really cool. Do his friends maybe look at him a little bit differently of like, hey, that's that's so cool. Your dad was able to get us those tickets or whatever. And then maybe it raises your kid stock a bit, even if it feels artificial or crafted or whatever.

2:06:38 Um, I like that. Maybe. Maybe. Look inward, dude. What kind of snacks are you laying out? you handing out unsalted trail mix or like what do we got going on? Like

2:06:47 oh no, are there gushers out at your crib? Like what do what do you what can they expect? You know,

2:06:52 because I can tell you which houses we wanted to go to as kids and I can tell you first and foremost

2:06:56 fruit by the based on the health food situation at my house. Grape. I remember one of my friends just being like, I don't want to go to your house. And I was like, no, we have a full baseball field. Like let's go. He's like, there's never anything to eat there. And it all sucks and it like crushed me and I was like, he's right. Damn. But then I would go to his house and I would eat Egos in the morning and his dad would come out and be like, "Oh, I'm paying for you, too." And I'd be like "Oh hey."

2:07:21 Yeah. So, there's a flip side. How's it How's it going? Suck cuz he was just like the mom didn't care, the kid didn't care. I'm his friend sleeping over and I'd always wake up super early and I'd be like, "Oh, [ __ ] Eggos. Let's go."

2:07:33 And then I'd be sitting at You would just walk upstairs like alone and just start making Eggos in somebody else's house?

2:07:38 I was over there all the time. Yeah. It wasn't. But the dad always let you know that you were on his tab.

2:07:46 One o'clock rolls around and tell your [ __ ] friend to go home, too. I'm paying for your food, too.

2:07:52 Yeah. You know, then you always kind of want to be like, you're kind of the guy that presents himself as the rich guy in town, so you haggle over [ __ ] dollar ego here, Mr. Jag.

2:08:01 Super saver. We had a buddy who was he was doing it just to make you feel like he would it was the routine. It's what the routine was. He 100 percent wanted you eating the Egos. He just wanted

2:08:13 Yeah. I follow a guy on Instagram who is like his whole shtick is like your friend's dad who's like who ribs you for being over his house too much and uh really hits home. I'll see if I can send it to your ride because it's good.

2:08:25 His dad me. I was over there all the time. But all right. Off that though, we had a buddy growing up who like for some reason just would never tell his dad or really his parents, but mostly his dad and he would invite people over. So we would just show up at his house and he'd be like, "What are you doing here?" parents like, "Oh, hey, you know, so and so invited me over." And he's like, "Okay." And like, "What are you supposed to do?" Like, "I my parents just dropped me off. I don't have a ride back, so I guess I'm here. I could walk home." But it's like you and this this was like this happened multiple times. It's like, "Guy, can you just at least give your parents a heads up that we're coming over?"

2:08:52 Big non-confrontational friend you got there. Just let it go. Yeah. But I kind of love that that that kid was just taking over the entire scene. It was on him cuz like we had another kid a couple years later than that. It was like eighth grade into freshman year of high school where everybody was just going over his house every single weekend for whatever reason. It just turned into like, "Hey, we can go to his house." And it's not like we were even doing anything wrong. We were staying up not sleeping, playing RC car on Nintendo, never sleeping, getting yelled at. But what would happen is if you weren't there that one weekend and something went wrong, then you were blamed for what went wrong. And the dad would just lay into you the next time that you were there. And it was pretty weird that you started to even realize at like 13 or 14 years old, you're like, I just got to take it. and then not

2:09:32 listen to this guy and cuz he's wrong and he's just going to and he'd be like, "Were you here the last time when this happened?" Cuz all the guys said and then you didn't want to not be there any of the weekends because you were like something's going to go wrong and then I'm going to get blamed for it just by attendance.

2:09:47 Now you're a light bulb guy. [snorts] Yeah. You smashed the light bulb. You weren't even there.

2:09:51 But it was awesome kind of getting to that point of like that realization of like 14. You're like, "Hey, you know what? I might not have to listen to this guy. I don't live here.

2:10:03 I know he's a man and he's big and I'm a kid and but I don't I don't know if I'm gonna

2:10:08 What's he gonna do about it? Yeah. Yeah. Like at 11, you got me, man. 11 you're in my head. I'm freaked out. I'm scared of you. The whole thing. I'm like 14. I don't think then he used to have a brother would come down and tidy whies and tell us he was going to beat us up with all this karate [ __ ] that he supposedly knew. And you know, he had he had manh hair and he was in a band. So, I mean, we were kind of like afraid of him, but then we were like, "Hey, is there any chance his brother's

2:10:34 like full of shit?" Yeah. Is there any chance like one of us Tiger? Yeah. Wasn't going to be me, but one of the other guys maybe the flames like one day one of us got to do something.

2:10:45 Then you'd run into the guy like after high school a couple years later and you're just like,

2:10:48 "Hey, man. What's going on?" Did [snorts] you get that brown belt yet? Yeah. You still uh still up at that dojo? Did you make that by? Okay. Uh, last one. Should I accept a free car that has my sister's face on it? This is different, man. What? 23-year-old in the Southeast. 62 210. No gym stats. I do dumbbells instead of benching because of shoulder injuries. Pickup comp Ysef Nerkage. This guy's beasting on people. Here's a situation. I work for my sister's business and I drive a very old car in its last legs. I've been thinking about upgrading. My sister overheard and said that if I want a company car, she'll get me one, but it'll have her picture and the office number on it.

2:11:31 Realtor interior design only fans. No. Uh, in this circumstance, I would have no car expense because the business would pay the lease and the insurance. I was planning on trading my car in for something where I would pay 5K out of pocket and it would still not be a very new car. This would give me a brand new car and save money. But as a single guy in my 20s, I can't imagine what it'll do to my social life. Imagine driving to a date in a car with your sister's face on it. What do you think?

2:12:00 If I do it, then it'll be pretty awesome financially for me for the 2-year lease and I save her a nice car after and could make the dating life harder. What would you do in my shoes? This is a legit Yeah. dilemma.

2:12:14 Do you have any girlfriend prospects you want to just take get a jump on? Maybe you should be aware of circling each other.

2:12:22 Uh, I don't think I would considering everything that he told me. I don't think I would. But that's

2:12:26 I met him when he had his own car. Like, but that's my old like my younger brain working saying like I'm weighing, you know, I'm doing

2:12:34 weighing these things and I don't I don't think I'd want to do that. Um, unless unless you're like I could just do this for a couple of months, save save whatever three, four months of no, you know, no car [ __ ] But it sounds like his car paid off. No.

2:12:47 How old is he? He said mid 20s, I think. He said 26, man. 23. He's 23. I I would I would take it. Uh I mean, here's the thing. You got If you're going on Yeah, it's probably on the side door.

2:13:04 Right on the side door. Is that a whole car wrap? It's Well, if it's on the hood, is that different?

2:13:08 Totally. Totally. I don't know. Be different. I mean, your sister's her face is on the car. Does it really matter if it's on the door or the hood?

2:13:20 Well, is it like the size of like those little like town vehicles you see when you just get like the seal of the town like right on the right on the passenger side door?

2:13:27 No. What's the point? Yeah. I guess you can't negotiate with your sister about what goes on this car. Like, can you say, "Hey, can it can it not be your face? And if it has to be your face, can we can we strategically put it somewhere where it's not going to make me look like an idiot? Can I get a magnet?"

2:13:40 Yeah. Not a terrible idea. Like, does the business matter? Because if it's like, hey, how come you do catering and your face is on the company car?

2:13:50 Think of that. Can we put some pudo on there with a melon product on there? Yeah.

2:13:57 If it's as it stands though, I don't think I would do it if I I think I was really concerned getting dates back. Yeah, I think I was kind of concerned about it. I think, you know,

2:14:05 but you know, like dates, I don't know. I guess Yeah, that's what I was saying. Can you

2:14:10 You're saving money. You have to show out the car like this date. Can you finally bring the car out? You know, it doesn't have to be the first, second, third date, you know, fifth date, you kind of are comfortable with each other. She's probably like, if she likes you, leaving you for one little thing like that. I don't know.

2:14:23 Yeah. And like what town you're in, if you were in New York New York City and I'm like, you're out in the wild trying to go on dates. And granted, you wouldn't need a car necessarily in New York City, but if you were in there's certain cities where I would go, there's no point. Like the girl's not going to understand. Southeast, the American

2:14:38 Southwest. I think they'd beat Albuquerque. You'd do well. Um, those girls might think it's funny, too.

2:14:45 Well, there are going to be some girls that are going to think it's funny. I The best thing about this is I look, I wouldn't want to do it,

2:14:51 but you guys are making me feel crazy, right? If you own it, you're kind of the man. Like, if you're so self assured and you know, women do like confidence and you just go, "Yeah, what's up? My sister's face is on my car for free. You know,

2:15:06 this is the plan. I got a two-year lease. Not I don't have a car note and then maybe a

2:15:13 sweet little Mustang in two years. Really into helping my family. Just driving this around everywhere, you know, trying to get the word out.

2:15:21 You know, she's a good sister. She's a good kid. She needs, you know, she needs all the help she can get. I'm happy to do it.

2:15:27 I I think you do it, Kyle. I feel like you're talking yourself into the Yes. There's so many ways you could play this off as you being a good guy or you being funny or whatever that like I think the financial benefit sounds like you know five grand plus the car payment like sounds like you could use that money. I I I don't know.

2:15:43 I just remember the feeling of liking my car and it's [ __ ] awesome when you like your car. That's the one thing especially as a younger dude.

2:15:51 It's up to you. If you're going to be self-conscious about it, you're never going to be able to sell. Like I'm immediately thinking about the list of my friends in college who would pull this off and it would somehow work and it would be awesome.

2:16:02 Yeah. You know, it's always like the hot friend though. It's always like the guy who's like, you know, he has he never has problem with girls. He's always dating somebody and he has like it's like the I remember like the the friend in the group who like first wore like pink for the first time. You're like, "Oh yeah, of course he would. He would pull that off." And then everybody else starts wearing pink and it's like, "Oh yeah, okay. This kind of works. This is back in."

2:16:18 I definitely wasn't the first guy. Definitely wasn't the first guy. I was not. No,

2:16:21 I did wear a white suit. talk [ __ ] about that guy and then I don't know a year and a half later there I was

2:16:26 Thomas Pink I can see that cufflings the pink dress shirt thing was huge in the early 2000s not 2011

2:16:33 or 2001 I should say 2011 I don't know why I did it that way maybe this talk about the Odyssey uh [snorts] I hope you do it I hope you do it because I do think the girl that gets it

2:16:50 is going to be like such a keeper flirt. Just think about that. Like the girl that's like, you know, could you date a girl who had her brother's face on his car? Now, we would just go as men, how hot is she? And if she was hot and be like, I'll [ __ ] polish that thing every week cuz I don't care

2:17:14 about your car if I'm attracted to you. So, but like in reality though, just just really quick, like if he if he if the one worry is just meeting girls like what when is this going to bite him?

2:17:27 Probably one a. Yeah. Yeah. When when is it Yeah. Like it's not It's up to you to Right. to not have it be first impression, right?

2:17:36 Yeah. Cuz most of the time you'd be meeting somebody if you live in a populated area. Hey, we're going to go here, whatever. you know, set the vibe and then I'd say drop it off with valet

2:17:47 and then have her see it like the second or third time. Be like, "This is my car and that's my sister."

2:17:51 Yep. Oh man. Trying to help her out. I also think in mid20s having not having to pay that car money was pretty sick. I mean, I was doing the bus for a while there, but then once I had the car payments, it was like

2:18:02 size tax. God damn, didn't I already pay for this? Like really, son of a [ __ ] So that was, you know, that would be cool not to have to do that. So,

2:18:11 all right. That's a long show. Want to do that for you. Christmas week. Uh, next week, Monday, Friday, correct?

2:18:18 Yes. Monday, Friday. Uh, we might have a fun little idea for Monday. I think we have a great idea. I don't think it's a fun little idea. I think it's an incredible NFL idea that we will be doing on Monday's pod as we are uh a week out from wrapping up the NFL regular season. I think it works out well. I think looking at the slate of games and looking I think we needed to do something to juice that Monday a little bit. Um, so let's do that. Thanks Kyle. Thanks to Serudi. Thanks to everybody that works on the show. Hope everybody celebrating Christmas enjoys the time that they'll have with their family. And like I said, we'll be back next Monday. So please subscribe. Ryan Rossilla Show, Bars Network.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Fred Warner on Purdy, His Toughest Opponent & AFC Contenders + NBA Christmas Preview w/ PJ Carlesimo"?

Ryan Russillo (Host), Fred Warner (Guest), PJ Carlesimo (Guest).

What is "Fred Warner on Purdy, His Toughest Opponent & AFC Contenders + NBA Christmas Preview w/ PJ Carlesimo" about?

Fred Warner discusses his perspectives on recent NFL games, including his thoughts on the Niners' performance and key opponents, while also sharing insights about tackling and notable players. Additionally, PJ Carlesimo analyzes NBA strategies ahead of holiday matchups, particularly focusing on challenges posed by the Thunder, alongside ongoing discussions about different generational truths in…

What is mentioned in this The Ryen Russillo Show episode?

7 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including NBA, Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, Detroit Lions, COVID-19 pandemic. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Fred Warner on Purdy, His Toughest Opponent & AFC Contenders + NBA Christmas Preview w/ PJ Carlesimo"?

The episode runs 2 h 19 min; the transcript is about 31,541 words in 423 timestamped sections.

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