Latest / Know Your Personnel Pod / KYP - Ep#11 - Draft Chaos: Teams That MUST Nail It + Wild Trade Scenarios

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KYP - Ep#11 - Draft Chaos: Teams That MUST Nail It + Wild Trade Scenarios · Know Your Personnel Pod

• Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, absolutely. And again, the Chiefs really do have to nail this draft. Patrick Mahomes coming off that ACL injury. You know you need that elite weapon. You know that you need to get some offensive line support. You've got the running back to help take some pressure off too, who's also great in pass protection. I love it. We're going to move on to the next team. The Baltimore Ravens need to nail this draft. They absolutely have to nail this draft. The last years for Eric Dacosta, You've had John Harbaugh, who kind of strikes me as a more conservative guy. And you've had a history of drafting defense. When you've tried to draft offense, it has not been very good. You had you tried to pick Rashad Bateman in the first round, didn't work out. You took Zay Flowers, 22 overall. Now Zay Flowers is great. He's an elite weapon, but he's not your number one guy. And you got to think about you could have replaced Mark Dandridge with Dalton Kincaid in that 2023 draft, or you could have drafted Jordan Addison. What's going on? Here we are. Back for another episode of KYP. We got the Miami t-shirt on today. ⁓ Jarod McInroy: What's going on, man? ⁓ yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: who was a Blintnikov winner. that's a guy that you maybe take over speedy receiver like Zay Flowers. I'm not sure, I'm not there, but they absolutely have to nail this draft. You've Lamar Jackson coming back, a similar situation to Josh Allen, have not been able to get over the hump. You've got a new coach, you went defensive head coach. You absolutely have to nail this draft if you are the Baltimore Ravens. Jarod McInroy: Draft day tomorrow, baby. Nathan Hawthorne: I know we are about to absolutely get into it. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 11th episode of the Know Your Personnel podcast. My name is Nathan Hawthorne. This is my cohost, Jared McEnroy, and we are here bringing you the best news in sports focused on one thing, knowing the players. Because if you know the you know the game. That's why we are KYP, aka Know Your Personnel. Again, my cohost, Jared McEnroy, what we going to get into today? Jarod McInroy: Yeah, and always been a team that they've really needed to do it in free agency, but it's forcing them to do it in the draft because they haven't been able to do it in free agency. Like the two biggest names, obviously they wouldn't got Derek Henry. like ⁓ but that's not your past game. That's, that's a whole different beast and ⁓ created an identity for the team. Great for them. And they've seen some success from it, but you do have to round that out with a good pass game and. ⁓ Just said it, it's draft day tomorrow baby. So ⁓ I'm excited man. This is one of the most exciting times in the NFL season. So we'll talk a little bit of draft stuff, do some hypotheticals. And then it's also NBA playoffs. These games have been pretty good. So ⁓ we'll break down a few things. We might've been right about a couple of things and we may have been wrong about a couple of things. So we'll break that down a little bit. But first and foremost, the two biggest names they brought in were like a super old Odo Beckham and an old DeAndre Hopkins. Like those are the only names I can think of, of note that they've really brought in in free agency. So yeah, agreed. It's, ⁓ to have to be done in the draft. If you want to give me the floor, I just have to address a certain fan base if you don't mind. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, and for Eric D'Costa, you've done a great job of some assets. You've got 11 picks in the draft this year and three of them are inside the top 100. So you've got an opportunity to kind of pick some of the best talent available to you. That defense kind of started is starting to get old and injured. Kyle Hamilton being that young piece that is the glue to that defense, that rangey physical safety. Marlon Humphrey, I'm not sure how much gas he has left in the tank. The floor is all yours now. I know you had this rant on the schedule. You gave me no context What's going on? I'm about to get this raw pause Give me the tape What do we got? Jarod McInroy: Okay, anyways, back on track here. Bill's Mafia, look at me. Just look at me. I'm gonna put away my Miami bias aside. I'm trying to help you out here. One thing you'll notice about, let's even talk about a similar franchise to your own, the Philadelphia Eagles. Very passionate fans. They're very critical fans. And I do not think you are all critical enough. I think you need to be pissed. You should be pissed off. And the reason being, Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: And really, since you let go of Patrick Queen to the Steelers, you haven't had this physical enforcer on your team. So if that's the mentality you want to have with Jesse Minter, you're going to have to get some physicality on that defensive side. But also you got Lamar Jackson, and he's got to stay happy. You're going to have to find a way in one of those first three picks to not just get him a weapon, but again, an elite weapon for him to be able to work with. The running game is the running game. You got Derek Henry, but you got to do it. You have to nail this draft. Jarod McInroy: You've wasted multiple years on Sean McDermott already. we what are there was seven years, right? Six with, or seven with Josh Allen, six with another one in their first rookie year, but that doesn't really count. I'm only here to talk about the last seven years. And I had, there was one commenter who was really wanting to know, ⁓ you know, what it was and why I didn't like the Joe Brady hire. And I don't think you should. I'm tired of this. Mm-hmm. Nathan Hawthorne: You decided John Harbaugh wasn't gonna be the guy. You kept Eric DeCosta on board. You didn't clean whole house. Again, this is one of those marriages where it's not necessarily two entirely new guys. How is this gonna work out for a mentor and a cost? I'm not sure, but you gotta keep Lamar in mind. You have to. Jarod McInroy: Yep. this one, just you say your spiel. I don't think I'm personally allowed to say anything about the bills anymore. I've got everything I need to get out. So give me a quick rundown on the bills and then we'll move on. Let's run it back. This is our year mindset because that's going to do nothing but waste prime Josh Allen years and it's going to put you into another rebuild before you know it. So let's just talk about the Joe Brady hire for a second. He's been with the team for three years now as an offensive coordinator, right? He goes and hires ⁓ P. Carmichael Jr. who was under Sean Payton for a while. He was his offensive coordinator when he was there in New Orleans. And frankly, he's a better offensive mind than Joe Brady. So you go and hire somebody that you can hide behind when your whole thing and your whole shtick is supposed to be, you know, you're this brilliant offensive mind, you're running the show while Sean McDermott was there, whatever. But then you go and hire a first time defensive coordinator in Jim Leonard. You want to talk about the defense that has happened with the Buffalo Bills in the last seven years? Let's go through it. Let's talk about the final game of the season. 2026, the Denver Broncos put up 33 points on you. 32 points from the Chiefs in 2025. That's a lot of points. Wouldn't you agree, Nathan? Nathan Hawthorne: The Buffalo Bills have to be perfect with their first and third round picks this year. You have no room to make mistakes. You did a great job acquiring Bradley Chubb in the off season. One of the biggest sticking points was inability to stop the pass and the run. That's the Dolphins fan coming out. I love that face. I would agree and that was a pretty poor offensive Chiefs team. Jarod McInroy: 27 points Yeah, let's keep it going 20 the year prior to that 27 points to the Kansas State Chiefs in the playoffs 27 points to the the Bengals the year prior to that 42 points to the Chiefs the year before that 38 from the Chiefs the year before that and even 22 points from the Texans the year before that so You're telling me that I'm supposed to believe in a guy who is an offensive minded guy Has never been a head coach before throw up. Nathan Hawthorne: You traded your second round pick for DJ Moore. Honestly, he's probably better than any second round pick that you're gonna find in the draft this year. So you love that for Josh Allen. But what you do, if you wanna immediately become a contender this year, you have to nail this draft. Tragic. You have to get somebody on that defensive, on the back end of your defense, right, that's been old and injured for a number of years. I love you, Micahide, but you're just not the guy anymore. Jarod McInroy: and is supposed to take this team to the next level when in reality, and then he goes and makes his first hire as a head coach, a first time defensive coordinator rather than going and getting somebody who actually might be able to reel in this defense and put something together. Now, of course, always take this with a grain of salt. You can always be wrong. I don't care. I don't think I'm going to be wrong. I think at the end of the season, you guys are going to be very upset with this hire and he's probably going to be on the chopping block again. If there's another, Nathan Hawthorne: You got to get somebody on that back end of your defense. And again, you need a physical enforcer. Gregory Rousseau has been great as that kind of spearhead of the defense for your team for a number of years now. He's kind of getting on that old ninja side. You kind of took the stab of Vaughn Miller a number of years ago. That didn't quite work out in earnest. So you just have to find a way to not start focusing too much on offense now that Joe Brady is your head coach, but you have to find a way to beef up that defense that has let you down. Jarod McInroy: coaching Carousel where there are better names in the field and all of a sudden he's gone. Stop it with the we'll get him next to your mindset. That's my message. Be more critical as a fan base. You're passionate enough. You all love the Bills. You go to all the games. You jump on the tables. Ra-Ra. Who knows what else? You have nothing else to do in Buffalo. I'm tired of it. Stop coming at me and start going at your team. Go at your owner. Go at your GM. Tell them to make better moves. Nathan Hawthorne: year after year after year. They're off to a good start, but there's more to be done. Jarod McInroy: You said it, said it, not me. The Tennessee Titans, I'm excited see what you have to say about them, mostly because ⁓ they are a team. They are a young team that ultimately the draft is very important to ⁓ get this rebuild going and now you've hired two coaches that you really believe in. So ⁓ it's a matter of to it right away. What does nailing the draft look like for the Titans? That's all I got for you, Nathan. Nathan Hawthorne: I tell you what, I don't like the Joe Brady hire in particular because of what it enables Josh Allen to do. We know for a fact, right? Sean McDermott did not pay a ton of attention to the offense. He was supposed to be a defensive head coach, which makes those playoff performances even more embarrassing, giving up all those points. With Joe Brady, the turnovers that were allowed, Nailin Jaff for the Titans. is kind of a tough one for me. So you got Mike Borgonzi, the general manager. This is his second year. Last year, I think he did a really solid job with Cam Ward. Ola Dejo from UCLA has been a great addition for them. The Alamayor, Alamaynor, the wide receiver, he's been an excellent pickup from them from Stanford. So he's got some pedigree of picking some elite, not necessarily elite players, but really solid players. were just so poor and not coached out of Josh Allen. Now, you have a guy like Josh Allen. You think about Brett Favre. You think about current guys, again, like even Patrick Mahomes. You can give them some turnovers. They're gonna take risks. They're gonna trust their arm strength and their ability to make plays. But bad fumbles, bad decisions, and turning it over in your own territory, and turning it over when it matters in the game, trying to do too much, that was never coached out of Josh Allen with Joe Brady. They're gonna have to do that again, at the four spot, there's so much chatter about whether them or the Cardinals are gonna end up taking Jeremiah Love. I'm just not sure that Jeremiah Love is the right pick. So with all that being said, For the Titans to be able to nail this draft, I think they probably either need to trade down or they need to make an aggressive move for a pass rusher. And that's why I think Mike Borgonzi is going to be the next great general manager in the NFL right now. It's just based off of what he did last year. He was with the Chiefs in Brett Veach from 2009 to 2024 before he took this job. And unless Pete comes in and now can coach that out of Josh Allen, what, eight years into his career, I have a hard time trusting that. Are you gonna have a bad offense? No, you're not, and we'll get into what I think the Bills need to be doing a little bit later. But I don't love that Joe Brady hit higher for that reason. I think you're right, he needed to surround himself with other high quality coaches. The thing I gripe about Nick Sirianni all the time. He knows how to build up a defense. He knows how to set up a player development team because he used to be head of player development. And I just think if he continues to get the right guys in the building that have the right mindset, you're going to be able to develop them. And then you can go and get those sweet cherries on top in that first round. So I think that they're going to go pass rusher if they don't trade down because I don't think that Jeremiah love as electric as he is. You're probably fine with Tony Pollard and Taj Spears. You can run that back. You don't need to take a risk on that. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: You have to get guys around you who have that head coach experience when you're new or when you're kind of a walk around guy. Obviously he's an offensive guy, but I would have loved to have seen, you know, a little bit more of an effort to get a defensive coordinator who had some experience. And it might not be the best defensive coordinator, but when you have a guy who has head coach experience already or is in that tenure of a position, it just frees you up to focus on what you need to focus on. Head coaching is so different. on that rookie running back. So again, think success looks like, and nailing this draft looks like you got yourself an excellent pass rusher. You found yourself, you found a way to get a better weapon for Cam Ward, not necessarily an elite weapon, a better weapon. He can cover a lot of those mistakes. And then again, just keep developing these guys. And that's what the success is gonna look like for the Titans. That could be its own segment in its own. Head coaching is entirely different than being a coordinator. Entirely different. Are elements the same? Yeah, but it is entirely different. I agree with you, I don't love the hire. He could very much be on the chopping block. I don't know if this was a, this isn't quite as bad as Gerard Mayo hire you to fire you. Not quite that bad, but yeah, I'm not necessarily a fan. Jarod McInroy: entirely different. only pushback is I don't think they should trade down and the main reason being is when rebuilding you want to make it go quick You need all of your assets and you need to make all of your picks and nail them Which is exactly what this ⁓ segment is This actually a situation where they it's kind of a win-win regardless You have three teams picking before you ⁓ whoever the but you five guys the draft that you would take all of them right away ⁓ obviously Mendoza's going one so take him out of the equation then you have But let me tell you something else, and this is why we need to be more critical, is because you just had that mindset gave you seven prime Josh Allen years to Sean McDermott. You trusted this man for seven years. Sirianni is a year removed from a Super Bowl and his head is already on a silver platter, ready to be served to the chopping block. Like he's almost out the door and he just won a Super Bowl. So why are we giving Sean McDermott all this leeway? Nathan Hawthorne: Mm-hmm. Jarod McInroy: Love, Arvel Reese, Bailey, ⁓ Styles. any of those names end up at Tennessee Titan, I think they're through the roof. So sit, make pick, let the other teams make their picks. And then, yeah, round and three, you have the third pick in the round and the second pick in the third. So make the picks, nail it. That's segment. ⁓ Okay. So. And now here you are and then you go and make that higher. So that's what I'm saying. It's just we need to be more critical. It's absurd I don't need to get any more into it than that, but just how to get that off my chest and Said comment or will be tagged in the comments this time around to make sure he watches this video Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, you've got plenty of, that's the segment. Make the picks, nail the picks, win Super Bowls. Jarod McInroy: So think love is going early? And I know the last thing we wanted to talk about was the Cardinals. Is them nailing the draft? ⁓ Is them taking ⁓ love or what is for them? Nathan Hawthorne: We'll tag you, we'll let you know. We'll even give you the timestamps and we'll let you know exactly what to look at. In fact, we'll clip it out, we'll email it to you. Okay? I'll export that onto a USB drive and I'll send it to your home address. Just let me know. KYP coming with it. Anyways, NFL draft coming up. I know we got a couple of thoughts, couple different segments here while we're kind of in this GM coach territory. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, we'll make it easy for you. Nathan Hawthorne: No, no, no, it's not them nailing the draft. I, again, he's an excellent player and it's really hard to look at a guy, arguably a generational talent that Jeremiyah Love is and pass on that. But to me, like the Titans, there's too many holes to fix to say, we're gonna spin this first round pick on Jeremiyah Love. I think that there are more, in modern offenses, Jarod McInroy: Well, I don't know if we have that kind of contact information, but... Huh. Yeah. Oof. Mm-hmm. Nathan Hawthorne: I did want to lead off the NFL draft segment with a couple of teams that, number one, need to nail this draft, I think more so than other teams, and then kind of talk about the dynamics between your head coach and your general manager, because sometimes both are new, sometimes only one is new, and figuring out how to mesh those things together is incredibly important. So I'm gonna give you five, first I'm gonna give you five teams. I'm gonna tell you these five teams really need to nail it. that have turned running backs, unless you're a tote the rock guy like Derek Henry, have kind of turned them into quasi wide receivers, right? And you can kind of make a running back like committee work with James Connor and with, ⁓ my goodness, who did they just sign? Then they went out and signed somebody else to be a tandem with James Connor and I'm blanking on the name. So you're fine at running back right now. ⁓ again, I think this is another trade down candidate. and then I'll kind of break down why I think they need to nail it and I'll get your raw reaction from that. Sound great? Great. Jarod McInroy: Yep, let's do it and also just in the back your mind think about that one clip of Mike variable when he hears that AJ Brown is traded on draft night and he's walking away That's the key. You gotta have your coach and the GM on the same page or else Things might get a little sticky. So let's get in who's the first team we're talking about Nathan Hawthorne: Oregon you go pass rusher for that defense last year your offense even with Jacoby Brissett was crazy Right and now you're bringing in Matt LaFleur a guy who wants to focus on offense in its entirety But the defense is just what made you not competitive in any way whatsoever You've got Buddha Baker on your roster at its safety who refuses to leave I'm not sure why he must love what they have going to going on down in, Arizona We're gonna have five teams the first team we're going to be talking about or not necessarily talk about we got the Chiefs We've got the Ravens. We've got the Bills funny enough We've got the Cardinals and we've got the Titans these are going to be the teams that absolutely Need to nail this draft some of them again have a long sustained and great head coach and GM relationship like the Chiefs You've got Brett Veach and Andy Reid and then other ones are new the Cardinals the Titans But goodness gracious, get yourself some help on defense and that's going to be the winning key. So I don't know if you down or if you stay, again, upfront at the top of the draft and get yourself one of those, you your your Reese, your Bailey, your styles, etc. ⁓ Jarod McInroy: Yeah, and Tyler Alashier, by the way, is who they signed, ⁓ perfectly capable back. Nathan Hawthorne: You're looking at some new mixing and matching that has to be done in order to essentially win your draft. I want to start with the Chiefs, because my thought process has changed here. The Kansas City Chiefs need to go all out for a wide receiver. Absolutely need to go all out for a wide receiver and get Patrick Mahomes another weapon. Why, you're asking their offensive line wasn't strong, da da da, that's fine. Tyler, so yeah, you're fine. Yep, capable. So again, like that's a lot of teams there, but to me, those are the five teams that really need to nail the draft. Like ⁓ a lot of other teams you can afford to make some mistakes, but some of those new head coach, general manager combos, and then some of those more tenured teams that really need to re-up and get things turned around, I mean, goodness gracious. You can patch up your offensive line and make it serviceable for a guy like Patrick Mahomes because his ability to move out of the pocket. So I'm not worried about offensive line. I don't want to reach for an offensive lineman too early in the draft. It's not necessarily a strong tackle draft. Let's not waste our time. Let's maybe trade up and get our get yourself an elite wide receiver. I like Rashid Rice. I like ⁓ I like Xavier Worthy, but they are not the guys that consistently separate based on skill. Jarod McInroy: Okay, I agree. I love that. Fully agree the Cardinals. I don't have too much to say about them, but I think you nailed What's the point, man? We get it with the running backs these days. ⁓ Running back is luxury, ⁓ and it's for that ultimately are well more equipped than the Arizona Cardinals. So think it be a rough pick for them ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: And based on skill set, Rashii Rice kind of got to scheme him open. Xavier Worthy, yeah, he can blow you over the top. No doubt about that. He can burn you on a crosser. But who's my guy that in that man to man matchup can absolutely win their route? Can get themselves open. Pat Mahomes can close his eyes and just throw it to him. That's why I'm saying they need to go out. And I don't care who you get in that first round. I don't care if it's Cardinal Tate. I don't care if you decide, ⁓ we actually like KC Concepcion better. We're going to reach Jarod McInroy: If they were, you know, like next draft, let's say they had a ton of assets, they had picks in the top a hundred, like the dolphins do this here, ⁓ in the next draft, then it's like, okay, nice. we get it. You go and you get the best guy right now because next year you're really getting things going, ⁓ but don't, they're, they're pretty average. I think they just have their picks and, who knows, ⁓ but. Nathan Hawthorne: You Yeah, and I do want to ask, I crazy for wanting teams to trade down? just, the top of ⁓ this okay, for a second, because I started kind of listening to myself talk over the past couple of teams, I'm like, yeah, you know, could trade down. I'm like, is ⁓ that to trade down? Is it an idiotic move to trade down in the NFL draft? really hard and pick, I don't care what it is. Just get yourself an elite, elite wide receiver for Patrick Mahomes and let him work with him. That's my take. Jarod McInroy: No, no. Well, let's... Okay, ⁓ and I'll present you with something else later, but for now. This is the perfect time to, yeah, this is the perfect time to move into my next segment, which is who hangs up first in this trade? I got some trade back ideas, not necessarily trade back. The first one is gonna certainly be a trade back though, and it's very relevant to the teams we were just talking about. So, who up first in this trade? I'm gonna present you with a trade You tell me, do both teams ⁓ to the Would it be good for both of them? Where does Kenyon Sadiq fall into this conversation to you? Is that a viable option to fill in or is this you need a receiver? It's flat out. Nathan Hawthorne: I think I think you need a receiver. I think you need a receiver and we we like the idea of taking Kenyon Sadiq and plugging him into that Travis Kelsey role. I just don't think that they're the same kind of player and that's not going to be a one to one fit. I like the idea of getting another tight end but also I think the the cycle of tight ends that they've had ⁓ between Watson and ⁓ who's my other guy between a couple of those guys they've had an opportunity to Jarod McInroy: Okay. Nathan Hawthorne: Hit me. Jarod McInroy: Or does one of them say, not necessarily, that that doesn't work for me? You don't have to go too crazy on why, just tell me what you think. My first idea, and this is gonna be a two-parter, it's one, things are staying in New York. The New York Giants and the New York Jets make a big trade. And that's gonna be, the Giants get pick two and 44, so they get this. Nathan Hawthorne: You got it. have a lot of playing time and get plenty of catches. So I'm not necessarily concerned about the tight end. You had a Hall of Fame tight end, that's great. You don't necessarily need to go try and replace him first. Plenty of teams have won the Super Bowl without having that tight end. But yeah, just, but just in general, ⁓ we want to see a gunslinging Patrick Mahomes. I've kind of, since they, since they had, ⁓ my goodness, since I had Tyree Kill walk out the door, they haven't had Mahomes be able to close Jarod McInroy: the Jets second second round pick and they move up to two and they sacrifice five and 10. This gives them two options. One, they love Jeremiah love so much that they go and they secure we're the ones who are getting them or two, we guarantee that we get our Val Reiss or whoever we think the best defensive player is in this draft. ⁓ you flip it. Nathan Hawthorne: Mm-hmm. close his eyes and just chuck that football. what I really, I just, we want to see that fun and exciting opened up offense again. And if you don't have that guy can, that can truly be a separator, man, you're going to need to. ⁓ but so yeah, fix, fix your own line. Other ways, get yourself a DB to replace, Jarod McInroy: Yeah. we take you know ⁓ fifth favorite player or our favorite player or do we that for a very deep drafts? You know in the second round we get that pick And and we go and get Art Vail Reese we get our guy who is going to be the guy alongside Abdul Carter and that insane defense Nathan Hawthorne: Trent Mcduffey. But then other than that, go, go be exciting. Be exciting. Mahomes is coming off that ACL injury. Like go be exciting. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. So my thought on it is one, Rashid Rice is that guy, let's be honest. On the field, we know what he can do, but he's not there. And he has, clearly has his issues. So we can't rely on him. And that just is what it is. ⁓ I look at their picks and I see nine and 29. And I think it's with Kenyon Sadiq, the reason I wanted to get your opinion is I feel like it's a little bit of fool's gold where it's like, you're going to get a nice receiver on the back end. Like over in 29, why not take Sadiq here? Nathan Hawthorne: The Giants are definitely the team that proposed this trade. if I'm... Jarod McInroy: So you don't think the Jets think, ⁓ we just turned a second rounder into the 10th pick just to move back three spots and we'll take anybody we can get in the top five anyways? The Jets need help now. They need a lot of help. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, that's a great point. Five and 10. two valuable enough for five and 10? And if you're the Giants, you just got your mittens on 10. You know what I mean? Jarod McInroy: take a receiver there. And I think to your point, it's because they need to go get like the guy they need to get their JSN, they need to get their puka. And I feel like that could be there. feel like that's where Makai Lemon could be a reach for them and be worth the reach. I again, like I like prospects like Jordan Tyson and Carnell Tate like a little better, but like similarly, where I feel like the with McKay-Lemon is ⁓ is the roof and But that's what I'm saying is, yeah, and the reason I proposed it, and you may be right, maybe that is very, that might not be worth it. Nathan Hawthorne: 44 just feels a little deep for me. it was like 33, low ⁓ I think I'd have an easier time taking that trade if I'm the New York Jets. Jarod McInroy: He's somebody that I could see being able to really ⁓ learn how to separate at the next level and be that route runner that's gonna go get themselves open, like you said. So ⁓ I don't mind it. I agree with you and I think you nailed it. And like we said, they have 29, they have 40. There's gonna be linemen available at those picks. like, I get exactly like you said, I get it. They need to fill in these other holes. They have picks to work with. Nathan Hawthorne: I'm sorry if I'm... Yeah, yeah, yeah, if I'm the Giants. Man. Jarod McInroy: The giants, yeah. But now you got Arvel Reiss, You got them on that team. got John Harbaugh just got signed. You know, we're cooking. We're cooking with gas. Nathan Hawthorne: I'm the Giants, I think... I take that because I just traded sexy Dexy. of the best. mean, looking at ⁓ not a great. No, no, don't take that because in terms of interior defensive line, I'm not sure that any of those top guys are the guys that I want. There's not a nose tackle to me that says if I get to two, I can get myself a nose tackle that is going to be than ⁓ Dexter Lawrence. Jarod McInroy: Okay. So you're saying, and you're not necessarily. Nathan Hawthorne: So I'm gonna focus on other areas, because I don't, it's not that you don't wanna have another pass rusher, but if you're moving up to there, it's because you're getting Reese Styles or Bailey, kinda some outer edge guys. Now Bailey's a little bit more diverse, he probably has a little bit more weight to line up inside if you wanted him to. Jarod McInroy: The whole point of this was to just make you think and there's no right answer. And I don't necessarily think that that's a, I don't necessarily think that's a great trade, but it's main reason I wanted to do this was is Arvo Reese that much better than the other defensive players in top five. Nathan Hawthorne: ⁓ And listen, I'm thinking. I'm thinking. Jarod McInroy: because they're talking about him like he is. And I think he is too. I think he's unbelievable. I think it's gonna make for some tough conversations. So said no, giants hang up, great. Nathan Hawthorne: I would say no. Yeah, I think the Giants hang out. I think they feel good about 5 and 10. And then who knows, maybe they trade 10 to get themselves somewhere, or another player, right? They could be doing a little flip and dip combo, who knows? But yeah, think I'd feel more comfortable having 5 and 10 versus 1 and 44. I like the players available to me. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. All right. and I, I agree with you with my vision for the giants and I'm not going to go too crazy here, but ⁓ vision for the giants is if Jeremiah love is there at five, they take them. And then at 10, they take one of Jordan Tyson, Carnell Tate, one of those guys, their offense all of a sudden is unbelievable. ⁓ would now have Jackson Dart. You now have Jeremiah love. ⁓ have, one those two paired with Malik neighbors and Isaiah likely like the offenses. Nathan Hawthorne: Here's. Jarod McInroy: ready to rock. again, we don't need to go too crazy. I got another one here for you. Let's talk about the team you just said needs to nail the draft and that's the Kansas City Chiefs. So the Kansas City Chiefs, look at their team and they're like, wow, you know, we got some good picks this year. But then all of sudden the Browns knock on the door and they say, hey, if you give us pick nine, pick 29 and pick 40, we'll give you Miles Garrett, the best pass rusher in the game arguably. Nathan Hawthorne: That would be pretty sick. Kansas City Chiefs. Jarod McInroy: anyone saying no to that? Do the Browns do that trade? Do the Chiefs do the trade? Nathan Hawthorne: You're the- Wow. ⁓ want Myles Garrett on my team, especially as the Kansas City Chiefs, I'm not sure whether they can afford him no matter what Black Voodoo, Cap Magic, Brett Veach is working on. Man, I think that's just a little bit too much to give up. I mind two first rounders, but then adding your third rounder, I'm like... know about that. Jarod McInroy: but it's mild scared. Nathan Hawthorne: But it's Miles Garrett. Are they gonna throw me a little bit of cheese back? Like, do I get like a late third or a fourth? Like, Miles Garrett and a fourth? Maybe that's something. to my point earlier about nailing the draft. He changes your team though. You can, he changes your team. He changes your team. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, he does. That's the thing is you get into the dog days of the playoffs, you get to the dog days of the playoffs, you get to the Super Bowl, and those big names are always year in and year out the names that make the difference of whether you win the big game or not. So that's why I'm like, very rarely are these young guys the ones who do it. So just quick yes or no, I need a final answer here. Nathan Hawthorne: And know, Chris, Chris Jones could certainly use some help. that's a good one. I'm still, I'm, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, yeah, I'm gonna, I'd take that. I'd take that deal. Jarod McInroy: Both teams take it. Done deal. Nathan Hawthorne: If I'm the Browns, yeah, because I feel like Kansas City is certainly getting fleeced here. No, they're not even getting fleeced. I like it. Jarod McInroy: No, that's pretty fair, man. mean, nine is where the value is. is great, but if you give them a pick next year, that pick could be higher than 29, so that could be worse for the Chiefs, you know what I mean? you what the numbers are. Take the value today. Yeah, I know you are. ⁓ Okay. In same breath. Nathan Hawthorne: I'm taking that deal. taking that deal. want Miles Garrett on my roster. And again, you don't have to double team, my God, ⁓ double team Chris Jones because you got Miles Garrett on the outside. ⁓ You don't need to draft a corner. It's not going to matter. Jarod McInroy: Can't do it. They can be on the same side of the center. luck. Nathan Hawthorne: can a guy for the first half second, which is all you need for Myles Garrett and Chris Jones to get back there. If your pass rush is it, I'm taking the deal. I'm taking the deal. Jarod McInroy: Cool. Same idea, same idea here. Except not both of their picks. The Cowboys knock on the Raiders door and they say, hey, give us Max Crosby. We'll give you 12 and a first next year. So the Cowboys still have the 20th pick of this year. So you still have a pick in the first round. You give up your 12th pick, which is the higher of the two, and you give up a 20-27 first rounder. So it's two first rounders. and you get Max Crosby. Nathan Hawthorne: If I'm Dallas and the Raiders called me with that, I would hang it up. I would hang it up because you've got just picked up Rashawn Gary to kind of be your guy on the D line. And I think that, again, having those two picks to be able to solve what needs more immediate help, which is the back end. I'm I'm all right moving on from Max Crosby from it from it from from a Jerry Jones standpoint. I tell you what we'd sell. We'd sell a lot of jerseys. We sell a lot. We sell a lot of Max Crosby jerseys. Jarod McInroy: Max That's what he's all about, bro. Nathan Hawthorne: sell out some more seats. I think that having those two picks, particularly for the Cowboys in the first round, helps them fix their defense. And you already got Jerry Jones talking about like trading, like trading down and out of that 10th pick to get himself an elite weapon. I don't know what he was rambling about on some local radio show. I just heard a snippet. But, Jay-Z, hey, listen, he's crazy enough to do it. He's crazy enough to make that trade. But ⁓ respectfully, would say that. I just think that dog will hunt. Jarod McInroy: Hey, it's crazy. He's crazy, but... Okay. All right. Love it. with that being said, I disagree. I think they would do it a hundred percent. I think they'd see that name and I think he's still bitter about like he's somehow somewhat feels they lost the Micah Parsons deal. Like losing that kind of name sucks. The injury makes better, but, regardless, I think his ego is going to step in and be like, ⁓ that's where the cowboys, we do we need to do. Let's go get the biggest name. the market right now. Don't man, Max Carlsby. ⁓ Next are you ready for more draft stuff? Last one. Nathan Hawthorne: wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. Give me some more draft stuff. Jarod McInroy: All right, here we go, here's the segment. We're doing, who's the better prospect? And just a quick of who think was, I'm gonna give you one person from this draft and one person who's in a similar position ⁓ in drafts. ⁓ And then you tell me, you tell me who's the better, and this is better prospects. So think about when they were coming out of college, what did we think of them? ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: ⁓ I love that. I love that. Jarod McInroy: We'll go from there. The first, was the better prospect? You got Jeremiah Love, who we're just chatting about. And then you got Ezekiel Elliott, who was picked fourth overall. Who was the better prospect? Nathan Hawthorne: Ezekiel Elliott. I don't think that one's close. Ezekiel Elliott. It's the it's the vision, and it's the size. And Jeremiah Love, I think, has a similar size, but he's a little bit more stretched out vertically in terms of that weight class, and I like it. But I like my running backs a little bit lower to the ground. I like my running backs having a little bit more putting, but still having that speed. ⁓ Elliott for sure. Jarod McInroy: Really? Nathan Hawthorne: And part of this is being a University of Oregon fan and watching him in the national title. like, this dude's the greatest running back I've ever seen. Jarod McInroy: the sawed-off jersey the tummy out bro is yeah that dude was cold Nathan Hawthorne: Oh, come on. Ezekiel, he was a grown man at the age of 12. Unreal. Jarod McInroy: And it's tough because you think about prospect wise you're like you think about the Saquon Barkley's the Christian McCaffrey's and these names you think about him almost like in a tier above and you don't think about Ezekiel Elliott that way because of how we've seen his career pan out but like he was that guy like he really the fourth pick man the fourth pick like let's let's not get it twisted Nathan Hawthorne: Rookie, rookie. The rookie contract Ezekiel Elliott was unbelievable. Was unbelievable. Jarod McInroy: Okay. Next name up. this one, I'm very interested because I feel like they both have, they both bonafide, number ones. ⁓ But the same time, they both kind of feel like a stretch. Fernando Mendoza or Kyler Murray, who's the better prospect coming out of college? Nathan Hawthorne: Okay. Who? Kyler Murray. Jarod McInroy: don't don't who me the color work Mary when a husband Nathan Hawthorne: Yes. Did he not? At Oklahoma? Yeah. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, he did. Yeah, yeah, and he was the bonafide number one pick. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Right. Jarod McInroy: What's outrageous about this? the same. They keep a national championship, what are we talking about here? Nathan Hawthorne: If talent and ability. Just my goodness. Okay, who else was in that draft? Well, the quarterback was in his draft What year was what here because Kyla Murray was was generational Jarod McInroy: Listen man, don't have to disrespect it. We're talking about... You're saying he was generational or? Nathan Hawthorne: You got Daniel Jones got no he as a prospect his ability to throw the football. I mean you had Dwayne Haskins rest in peace throwing for 8 billion yards at Ohio State. You had Daniel Jones the Duke legend himself. Now I'm not going I'm not even going to try to play that one. But honestly interesting that you picked those couple of names because they weren't in particularly strong quarterback drafts. But if you ask me to pick between the two. On draft day, not knowing what I know now, I would go Kyla Murray. I think today, if they were in the draft together, if like, you know, weird supplemental NFL draft, might take Mendoza just because I know that Kyla Murray's had some limitations in terms of quarterback development. But goodness, yeah, raw talent, raw ability, prospect, Kyla Murray. That dude spins it when he wants to. That dude spins it. Jarod McInroy: And I agree with you on that one by the way. Next name up, ⁓ I talked about him today too, Mackay Lemon or Odell Beckham Jr. Coming out of college. ⁓ And was the 11th pick he was the third wide receiver picked in that draft. Nathan Hawthorne: Who else was picked, who was picked ahead of Odell? Jarod McInroy: I will look it up while you give me your answer. I want to say it was two slightly bummy names Nathan Hawthorne: Man, you know, I like McKay Lemon at USC and it's kind of hard to the glam that Odo Beckham Jr. has had, but the things that he was doing at LSU, I think, were incredible. He was putting up dummy numbers. ⁓ my goodness, now I can't remember who was playing alongside him. ⁓ Jarvis Landry. Like those two, yeah, those two guys were killing it. Whereas, and think that McKay Lemon playing in that offense with Jarod McInroy: Travis Landry, come on man. Don't be crazy here. Nathan Hawthorne: Lincoln Riley probably a little bit different of a structure and a look a Like I don't I can't think of outside of outside of CD lamb I can't think of any of the Oklahoma wide receivers that played in that system with Lincoln Riley that did well in the NFL a little bit more of a college system but ⁓ LSU been known for running a pro style system and getting guys running pro style routes. So for that reason I'm looking at a guy who's got a polished route tree and incredible hands catching kickoffs one handed just for fun, Odo Beckham Jr. Jarod McInroy: Alright, and the two before were Sammy Watkins. two before were Sammy Watkins and Mike Evans, that's fair. ⁓ forgot Mike was one of the names. And Sammy was cold in college, but ⁓ didn't panic. Nathan Hawthorne: But that's, and that's, that one's close. Yeah, yeah, Clemson Sammy Watkins was unbelievable. He and he popped, he popped for a while with the bills, but he was part of some of those bad bill seems some bad, bad bill seems. And then he won a Super Bowl with Kansas City. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. But you admit that's pretty, yeah. Yeah, okay. But that's a pretty tough one, I thought. Next name up, we got two. And again, I'm trying to pick these up like player comps, but also kind of in the same area of the draft that they might go. Next name up, Caleb Downs or Minka Fitzpatrick out of Alabama. Nathan Hawthorne: Did he? Yeah, I think he did. Did anyone a Super League? Sure, sure, sure, sure. Jarod McInroy: and Mingo was taken at the 11th pick by the Miami Dolphins. Dude, he was cold there, but Downs is the guy. Nathan Hawthorne: ⁓ I like I like I like my boy Caleb downs I like my boy Caleb downs and both of them were surrounded with NFL talent too Which made their jobs easier, but you can't forget that as a true freshman at Alabama Caleb down started and then he said y'all are too bummy for me I'm gonna go win a natty at Ohio State and went and did that so I'm gonna go I'm gonna go Caleb downs and also I saw more physical Downhill hits from Caleb Downs than I did from Minka Fitzpatrick. Not saying Minka Fitzpatrick doesn't bang. I think Minka's maybe a little bit more high IQ, a little more, a little headier, but man, Caleb Downs. If you had the tune in the draft, Caleb. Caleb Downs for sure. Jarod McInroy: Do you not remember though, Minka's first year, they were doing early mock drafts before final year at Alabama. They were talking about him like he was one or two. And ⁓ you how DBs work. They quickly slide in the draft. Once the actual day comes, ⁓ you realize the is maybe not necessarily as valuable as other positions that you could be drafting for. my last one. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, they were. Jarod McInroy: We got him this year, Arvel Reiss or Abdul Carter. Who is the better prospect? Nathan Hawthorne: think Arville Reese. Now Abdul Carter, absolutely freak and he's proved that to an extent in the NFL thus far. Arville Reese is just bigger. And that was kind of one of the things about Abdul Carter, kind of in that Micah Parsons sort of deal where you're just not quite fully sized as that pass rusher and maybe you're a little bit of liability on that run side. But I think Arville Reese in terms of size and where and how I can line him up. Jarod McInroy: third pick overall. Nathan Hawthorne: Might just be a better prospect. that one's really close because that one's really recent. I'm taking our vote, Dude's got cannons for arms. Have you seen that guy? Guy's got absolute cannons. Jarod McInroy: Alright and there we have it Yeah, dude, he's an easy title. That's why I'm like dude the Giants that Giants jets trade I consider it for a guy like that man but Anyways, we draft this weekend. I'm excited tons of tons of now these I love it. I love you can just throw it on in the background while you're working while you're doing whatever well first round starts pretty late at night, but nonetheless easy to have on your phone while you're watching the playoffs. I'm excited. Do you got anything else on draft before we get into the NBA playoffs a little bit? Nathan Hawthorne: I'm just excited there's nothing more electric than draft day and you're seeing these guys they're on the phone you know they're trying to strike a deal they're moving they're saying like do this okay on let me call you back and you get the other guy on the line I love it I love what they got going on but ⁓ Jarod McInroy: I'm gonna be bumping Drake, Draft Day all day, Johnny Manzell. Nathan Hawthorne: You gonna be bumping Ice Man when it drops? mean, we gotta wait a while, but... That's Lysk- That's Lysk and Christmas! Yeah, that was disrespectful, but it's- it's drizzy. I'll- keep waitin'. He hasn't had a good album since Views, but... Whatever. ⁓ Jarod McInroy: ⁓ yeah, ⁓ my god, yeah I know, he played us. Yeah, we'll wait as long as we need to. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's a crazy take, but let's get into another crazy take. Last episode, I took a little bit of heat because I took our Portland Trailblazers to give the Spurs fits. And let's just get into little mini rant, if you will. I already ranted earlier, so don't have to go crazy here. I wasn't wrong. You can't look at me and tell me I was wrong. Nathan Hawthorne: Get it on. Jarod McInroy: Game one, we were in it the entire game until a big run at the end and we'll talk about that in a little bit, but we were in it. Game two, we were in it the entire game and won game. So it's one-one. All you gotta do on the road, everyone knows, steal one. Steal one and bring it back. We got him at the Moda Center on Friday and I'm excited. The place is gonna be jumping. And before we start this whole, hey, Wimby was out. Okay, he's. Nathan Hawthorne: Still. Jarod McInroy: His plus minus is minus three right now in the entire series every minute he's played on the court So let's not sit here and act like and that's not me saying he doesn't change the game. Of course You're better with him on the court. I get that but let we are in the game when he's on the court also that plus minus doesn't lie. It's a statistic. ⁓ we scoring and more than you are when he's on the court or not? Let's into the next thing the whole foul thing that i'm sick and tired. I've all I see is Spurs fans talking about, getting all these fouls, crazy foul calls, blah blah blah. The Spurs have drawn seven more fouls in game one, five more in game two, and they have ⁓ total free throw attempts to our 35. You're way more foul calls. Shut up. Next thing. Talking about the Blazers and what we need to do to actually have a chance moving forward. Our team defense and the adjustment we made in game two, huge, love it. we to continue to do that, especially when Wemby does come back. We schemed against them him very well, ⁓ and our team looked great. But help side on Cornett versus help side on Wemby is a whole different beast. And ⁓ Yeah, we just, we need to slow down their runs. making crazy runs, especially at the end of the game. They did it again. They got up 14 with eight minutes left. Luckily we came back, but, my, last, ⁓ last bit here going at the Spurs and these, fans, the what Vasell was about scoot, they need to play more physical and stuff. Go ahead. The whole point of this and what's going to let us back into the series and let us star like Denny be a star is. these other players drawing some attention. Scootwin got 31, Hewin got buckets, Drewwin got buckets, Robert Williams. are we doing? Like ⁓ want, it's ⁓ You proved to us it's working. You are going to have to up a little bit on Denny. Next thing you he goes and puts a 41 ball on you, ⁓ steals another game home. We're in this thing. I'm not saying. Nathan Hawthorne: Ha ha ha. Jarod McInroy: we're gonna guarantee win the series. And that more of me just trying to cliff farm on the last one. all was saying was it was gonna be competitive. We're in this thing. It's not as far apart as you think it is. ⁓ And are gonna give them fits and we have. So what'd you What'd you think about the first couple games? Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, well, think game one. Once we cut it to one, I just that the game won the Spurs just kept hitting every big shot that they needed to to stop our run or to prevent us from going on a run. And that's not typical or sustainable in the NBA like you. We know this. It's basketball is a game of runs. And when the other team gets on one, like it's one of the things that the Warriors were great at all the time. You hit a big bucket. All of a sudden they inbounds, they come back and they hit a three right in your face. And not that the Spurs were necessarily hitting threes right in the face, but they just had an ability to get the bucket exactly when they needed it. And so it just takes the air out of you when you make that little four point run and then they do hit a three or you make a great stop, you get a bucket, you get a stop again, and then you miss and then they score. It just like every single time. And so what I felt like in game two is they weren't going to be able to do that. again, granted, without Wimby in the second half, I kind of thought they played And better is not the word, but when you just let De'Aaron Fox, Steph Castle and Harper just run and be aggressive, their driving kick game is so hard to stop. They penetrate, they get deep in transition and then they kick it out to somebody for a three. And I just think that you can play that way. You live and die by the three. just, mean, and simple, they did not make as many shots and then Portland just made shots. I think that the Spurs played as good of a game as they can play in game one. And then game two was a step down from that. Blazers, meh, on that offensive side in game one and then just, yeah, showed up. And again, keep scootin', baby. I'm so happy to see him start to shine and what I do hope is, Scoot Henderson, please, please do not change your level of expectation of your ability. And I want you to know that you have the ability, but don't all of a sudden take and mount this pressure on yourself. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: Hey, I have to score 30 every single game for the rest of this series. I gotta get a bunch of shots up for the rest of the series. No, if you do, great, but keep playing within your game. I thought he did a great job of not forcing too many shots, but he's bouncy, he's quick, he's springy. Keep scootin', keep scootin'. used to like chuck the ball at the rim, kinda knuckled. It was not pretty, but that thing lookin' pretty. Keep scootin'. Jarod McInroy: doing his jump shot. Dude, he's clearly been in the gym with Dame. He's clearly, and that's the Dame effect I was talking about. to your point, the big thing, there's inverse of the matching also, and that's when you go and get a stop. the Trailblazers haven't able to go get a bucket after that. So it's been a stop and a stop and a score and a score. And in these games this talented of a team, like you can't do that. Like if you. ⁓ have to keep up scoring with them, but also when you go and get five, six, seven stops in a row, you have to get buckets in that time. That's how you make a run of your own and you get a lead of your own. We've playing from behind far too often or playing like in a tide back and forth, bounce back forth. Like ⁓ I would to see us at least one of these next two games go get a lead and really get after it ⁓ and build of that. So ⁓ yeah. ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: Answer this me now. I love the adjustments that Tiago Splitter made from game one to game two, changing how our defense looked. We were scrambling game one, game two we looked organized. Jarod McInroy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Nathan Hawthorne: Is he the Portland Trailblazers coach in 2027? Jarod McInroy: ⁓ it's so hard to answer that because like, dude, I, I like the guy. I do. And in one, one thing, he's, he's a young coach. Like ⁓ you can see where he's having his own growing pains, just like any player is going to have their growing pains. And he got put into it sooner than he probably expected. like, he's won a championship. So he knows how playoff basketball works. ⁓ He's. Nathan Hawthorne: or guess technically in 2026 later this year, is he is he the guy? Jarod McInroy: you know, he was with freaking Greg Popovich for, out of all people you can be with, that's a great person to play for. So like, um, he's got good bones. I like, I like his, his mindset, his ability to adjust. That's what drove us crazy about Terry Stotz for all of those years. That's what drove us crazy about Chauncey. Chauncey Billups, I don't care. He must've been doing it on purpose because he did not, he did not know how to adjust in a game at all. Nathan Hawthorne: He was actively tanking. No, he did. Jarod McInroy: I hope he never sniffs a basketball court for the rest of his life. Nathan Hawthorne: he did, he just knew how to make an adjustment that would favor the books, that would favor the book or the outcome that he needed. So he could adjust, just it looked dumb. Jarod McInroy: adjustment to lose the game. Yeah. But regardless. It's gonna be really hard to like I Mean Malone's obviously at UNC now, so he's off the table Billy Donovan's, you know a good option Stay away. I told you to stay away from Dock Rivers unless when he's on the flight from Milwaukee one or not when be honest if he honest is on that flight Alaska Airlines first class from Milwaukee to Portland with Doc sitting right next to him Nathan Hawthorne: Stay away. Jarod McInroy: I'm fine with it then. Then we'll talk. if he's not, stay think Splitter is a far better option than many of the other what-ifs. So ⁓ I be at it. There's a lot of talk, obviously, about our new owner and him a cheapo, but let's see the vision out. We've had terrible years, man. We've endured ⁓ some way worse than this. ⁓ got guy who's coming in. Nathan Hawthorne: some brutal years. Jarod McInroy: ready to make some changes. Let's give him a chance, let's not turn on him. Fans, stop turning on him. Give him a chance. You don't need a t-shirt. Your wife or girlfriend is gonna steal that t-shirt and wear it to bed every night anyways. You're not gonna wear that thing again after that playoff game. What do you need a t-shirt for? Nathan Hawthorne: Hey, you know who's nice though? Speaking of Blazers and what they've seen, CJ McCollum. love him rip the nicks up. made me happy. I love seeing that from CJ McCollum. Jarod McInroy: It gives me flashbacks to when he, Denver series he had for us, man, when him and Jamal Murray were trading buckets. I'm like, ⁓ CJ has always been cold. He will always be cold. Dude, what a fun game that was. I think the Knicks are gonna win the next three. Let's not get crazy. But ⁓ the ⁓ team looks great. was a fun game. Nathan Hawthorne: I don't know. Yeah, and Rockets are in some trouble. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, think we kind of knew that though dude this this Lakers team is pretty good man and don't know if you remember how the Rockets look last year, but in the playoffs they clearly and they didn't have Katie but they were clearly I know but they But that's in these playoffs It's way more than one guy and Kevin Durant's clearly on the very back end of his career Nathan Hawthorne: But they did, yeah, as I said, they didn't come to rent. Jarod McInroy: just, I don't know, man. I'm not bought in on Shen, Shen Yun ⁓ I'm not bought in on the rest of the roster. It's, it's interesting going on in Houston and it's going to be a sweep and it's going to make for some uncomfortable conversations. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, I think Thompson's great as athletic as he is, kind of like Darren Fox, just massively quick downhill. Doesn't have a great jump shot, you know, play off of him a little bit, just make it hard for him to get into the lane. You couple that with KD is kind of like a like I'm going to get mine and like I just kind of need you guys to do yours, not necessarily leading the on both sides of the ball. So. most interesting to series to me right now and this one might have to go seven game is the nuggets and the wolves Those teams don't like each other and that and that series is physical too. I love that series Jarod McInroy: Yeah, that's going to do. Get me the popcorn. Dude, it's awesome. That's gonna be a good one. think you're right. It's gonna go all seven. I know, man. If you had tell me, pick a winner today, like your life is on the line, gun to head, I wouldn't know who to pick. I would be so back and forth. I'd be like, give it to Denver, slight edge, because they've won ⁓ it all before. But ⁓ that Wolves team. The other ones the only other two that I felt were noteworthy one. I don't think we need to overreact to the magic Pistons Pistons are gonna come back fine. They're very similar to the spurs in that they've never they don't play off experience So this is all new to them. They'll they'll figure it out They'll get into it this they'll get into the same rhythm that they've been in all year And I just I don't think the magic are that good and now that I look at it. They're up 84 66 right now in the fourth Nathan Hawthorne: Mm-hmm. Jarod McInroy: They're almost up 20 points, so they're right back to it. But the other one. Nathan Hawthorne: Woo! Whoopin'. Jarod McInroy: I told you I have some paws with the Celtics and then they go and drop a game to Philadelphia. Was I right in that paws? Nathan Hawthorne: Whoa! I think so because I don't think that you're gonna get a 30 some odd point game from VJ Edgecombe every single time. Which is kind of the difference in that game. ⁓ do VJ Edgecombe and I think he's an excellent But I just, don't think that that's something you're gonna consistently get. It's the garden or the TD garden. Like things are always gonna be chaotic in there, high energy. It's not like Philly's not good enough to take a game, they're just not good enough to win this series. Jarod McInroy: And I'm not necessarily saying we be worried about this series. It's more in this playoffs. I think I some of teams in the Eastman. Like I said, I think the Pistons will start to put it together, but the Knicks and even the Cavs, man, Cavs are looking good. The Raptors are, I think, quite a poor team. I don't the Raptors ever had snowball's chance. So we'll really see what the calves are made made of in the next round. But dude, if they get rolling, let's say calves go to well, who would they play next? They would play the Pistons next, right? Yeah. So let's say ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: And that feels winnable. You got some vets on this Cavs team that I don't think the Pistons are ready for. They're not ready for that kind of ball. Jarod McInroy: And let's say they roll them. say they roll them ⁓ then the Celtics Knicks go into a crazy bloodbath of a series. Like, I would find it hard to think that the Cavs don't handle them comfortably. I don't know. We'll see. I just, just keep an eye on the Celtics. Just keep an eye out. Nathan Hawthorne: I just, yeah, I think that between Allen, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, who's the guy who's coming off the bench? Sam Merrill. I think you've got enough defense on this Cavs team. And if you can get these kinds of performances where you're getting 30 essentially from both James Harden and Donovan Mitchell, ⁓ and didn't look like it was hard for them to do that. It didn't look like, okay, I need to get my shot. Jarod McInroy: Mm-hmm. Nathan Hawthorne: Now I need to get my shot. And that kind of deal that everyone thought with James Harden wanting to be ball dominant, it's gelling pretty well. And I feel like these guys are so locked in on winning because of what people like me have even said. James Harden, like your team is better, but it doesn't make you contenders. I'm starting to feel like maybe they could be Eastern Conference contenders. I still don't think that they're better than Boston, but you know, it's, seeing something there. They could catch a groove, they could get hot. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. We'll see. Sweet. Well, we're gonna have some more NBA playoffs. It's kinda hard dropping these things weekly, because a few games go by, stories change, but we'll do our best to wrap it up. We're gonna get two more of these Blazer games under our belt, and we'll see where we're at. I might be putting a hand up next Monday when we record the pod, or maybe you'll be the one putting the hand up. All those people who said... One of them said, maybe you should watch some basketball. I'm gonna tag you in the comments too. I'll tell you what, I watch basketball. I see it. Clearly you don't. I don't know if you watch game one and two. Did you tune in? Nathan Hawthorne: Listen, Michael Jordan has a chance to come back in game three against the Cincinnati Bulldogs. All right, they're going to do it. I've got faith. Jarod McInroy: killing me man. us home. Nathan Hawthorne: Let's take ourselves home. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much if you have made it this far for tuning into KYP. My name is Nathan Hawthorne. This is Jared McEnroy. We are on YouTube. We are on Apple Podcasts. We are on Spotify. You can find us anywhere. Stay tuned for the next one and we will see you guys later.