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Sho-Time to Showtime: MLB’s MVPs and the NBA’s Early MVP Favorites · Rosters to Rings Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Roster Syrings alongside Ryan McDonough, I am Thad Levine. Ryan,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: We've got an action packed show today. We're going to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: talk about the all too early assessment of the NBA
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: MVP race. We're going to break down what happened in
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the American League MVP race in Major League Baseball, and
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: talk a little bit about free agency in baseball.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: But just kick this off.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: We've teased this in a few of the previous episodes
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: talking about the Memphis Grizzlies the twenty nineteen draft. But Ryan,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: let's get into it now. Break down the twenty nineteen
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: draft in the NBA.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that great to be with you. As always.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Twenty nineteen was a really interesting year in the NBA
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: draft because it was the first year the NBA had
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: flatter LODs odds DAT And what I mean by that
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: is previously the odds had been really slanted toward the
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: teams with the worst records at the top of the draft,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: meaning if you had the worst record in the league
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: going into the lottery, you had a twenty five percent
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: chance to get the number one pick, and the lowest
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: you could fall Thad was the fourth pick, So if
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: you went to eighty two. You had a twenty five
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: percent chance picking one, and the worst you could pick
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: was fourth. In a loaded draft, there are a lot
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: of reasons to lean that way into you know, lean
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: into the tanking and load up on ping pong balls
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: and all that if your mathematically based organization kind of
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: strictly playing the numbers.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Twenty nineteen was different.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: The NBA got tired of the tanking of teams leaning
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: into losing, so that it was the first year of
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: the flatter odds. In Memphis was slotted eighth coming into
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: the lottery, which means they moved up six slots when
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: the ping pong balls were drawn, and they ended up
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: with the second pick in the draft, which he only
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: had a six percent chance of doing. New Orleans did
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: even better. New Orleans was slotted seventh in the draft.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: The Pelicans also moved up six slots. They picked first.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: They had a six percent chance of doing that as well,
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: So you know, those teams really defied the odds that
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: ninety four percent that they were not going to be
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: on those pick slots. New Orleans ended up with the
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: first pick, Memphis ended up with the second pick, and
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: then with the third pick. The team that had the
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: worst record in the league the year before was the
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: New York Knicks. They were slotted first, that they dropped
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: two slots to pick third. They had a fourteen percent
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: chance of doing that, so I actually had a better
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: chance of that happening than either New Orleans or Memphis
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: moving up that here were the results the teams ended
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: up drafting. New Orleans ended up drafting superstar Zion Williamson
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: out of Duke had one of the best years in
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: college basketball history as a freshman. Memphis got a very
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: good player with the number two pick, John Morant, an
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: electric point guard out of Murray State, and then with
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: a third pick that was our j Barrett from Duke.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: So really that teams do tiering in the draft, and
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: imagine you guys do this in Major League Baseball as well.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: The gap between each player's ranking is not always even,
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: so what a lot of NBA teams will do is
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: put players in tiers. Well, in the twenty nineteen draft,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: most of the teams I talked to had two players
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: in the top two tiers, Zion Williamson by himself in
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Tier one, John Morant by himself in Tier two, and
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: then there was a gap to Tier three, which most
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: teams did have led by RJ.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Barrett.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: So that's the way it ended up. That jubilation in
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: New Orleans and Memphis, heartbreak in New York. Things that
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: look very promising on paper for both the Pelicans and
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: the Grizzlies.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Ran a few questions I'd have just coming out of that.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: How often is it that a player out of Murray
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: State would get that kind of recognition. How much does
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: strength a schedule factor into your evaluation of the college experience?
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, good question.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: It's relatively rare because I'd say of all the college sports,
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: basketball is the most heavily scouted in terms of these
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: kids on a national radar from twelve, thirteen, fourteen years
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: old and on. And so unless the guy's a very
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: late bloomer, which jam Moran I think would fit that description,
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: that the blue blood program. So name your college program
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: of choice, the Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, I could
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: go on. Usually they're all over these kids for a
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: young age. If you have a chance to be a
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: great player, never mind if you are, but if you
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: have a chance, they're recruiting these guys. Joe was a
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: little different, like I said he was a late bloomer.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: I think Murray State showed a lot of initial interest
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: from what I remember, and then as he got better
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: toward the end of his high school career, I think
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: some of the big boys came calling Fad, but he
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: was a loyal guy. He's stuck with Murray State. But
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: yeah'd answer your question more directly. If you look at
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: the history of the draft, it is rare that a
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: player from a school like that amid to low major
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: ends up as one of the top two picks, especially
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: in what was considered at the time a very good
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: NBA draft class.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: And it's the same in Major League Baseball. Our models
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: are driven in larger guard on off of strength to schedule,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: so you see a lot of kids coming out of
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: the ACC the SEC programs. It's much more uncommon to
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: see somebody coming out of the Northeast where they just
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: don't get a chance to play as much baseball, and
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: certainly not against really high quality competition. But as you reference,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: I think the NBA, the NFL, in Major League Baseball,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: they're doing a great job with these draft lotteries to
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: dissuade teams from tanking. It's had the same impact baseball,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: as some teams with very small odds to get to
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: the top of the draft have gotten there, and quite frankly,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: ever since they've implemented the draft lottery and baseball, the
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: team with the highest odds has not selected first yet.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Ran A few questions I'd have about that draft is,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: you know, baseball everyone makes such a big deal about
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: war as kind of this all in company set and
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: how we can evaluate players across different positions, pitchers against
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: position players and the like. I was looking up the
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: draft results from twenty nineteen and listing these guys by
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: wind share that they have garnered for their team since
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: being drafted, and there's an interesting group at the top
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: and their few guys nestled right above Zion and John
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: It was Daniel Gafford and Nick Klaxton, Darius Garland, Brandon Clark.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: You know, kind of moving down the list, you see
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: some of these other guys that show up on this list,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Cam Johnson and Terrence Mann and Jackson Hayes and Tyler Herro.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: How much does wind share factor in? Is that a
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: fair way to assess these guys? It seem like a
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: lot of guys who are clearing up the boards are
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: getting a lot of consideration the top of this list.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think wind shares can be somewhat valuable Thad.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: But if I think you and I were to rank
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: the best players from the twenty nineteen draft, or if
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: we were starting a team today and picking guys from
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: the twenty nineteen draft, I don't think Daniel Glatt Gaffer
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Nick Claxton would be the top two picks. And those
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: are the top two guys in wind shares. So it
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: can be slanted a little bit toward the guys who
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: rebound the ball well, as you pointed out, to the
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: guys who protect the rim well. With the shot blocking
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: metric and field goal percentage I think is heavily weighted,
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: and you think at the advantage for a rim running
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: dunking center, which Daniel Gafford and Nick Claxton both are,
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: they're not taking many, if any shots outside the restricted
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: area right around the basket, so your field goal percentage,
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: it's a lot easier to spike that if you're catching
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: and dunking, or catching and laying the ball in off
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: of a dribble penetration from a guard than it is
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: if you're the guard who actually has to dribble penetrate,
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: try to get to the basket against an NBA caliber defense.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: So I think it can be a little bit misleading that,
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: you know, team look at it, but I would I
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: wouldn't say they overweight it. But yeah, I mean going
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: back to twenty nineteen on draft night, if you said
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: who are going to be the top two guys in
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: any metric? You know seven eight years later, so what's
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: going to be Zion and jaw in some order? You
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: know one or both of those guys, And unfortunately that
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: both of those guys have had significant injuries and off
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: court issues that have led to their lack of productivity
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: and lack of availability so far. And unfortunately for the
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: head coaches and some of the executives who worked for
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: those organizations, they both had a lot of churn, a
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: lot of turnover along the way. Frankly, the guys who
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: brought Zion and Jaw in, most of them are no
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: longer with those clubs just seven years later.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Well, Ryan, let's dive into that. We've teased that a
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: little bit. Let's dive in a little bit further. Obviously
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: they're not singularly responsible, but when you draft players of
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: this magnitude. They can have profound impacts on your job security,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: whether you're a head coach or an executive. Willie Green
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: unfortunately loses his job this last week, probably the last
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: remnants of people who have been impacted by this. But
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: let's first go into the Pelicans, like, what is your
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: assessment of what's transpired there? Ever since Zion has been drafted.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: So in twenty nineteen, the future was extremely bright in
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: New Orleans, at least on paper. They had a new
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: general manager in David Griffin, who had previously won the
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: championship as GM of the Cleveland Cavaliers with the lebron
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: James Kyrie Irving led team that beat the Mighty Warriors
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: in Golden State in Game seven at an epic NBA Finals.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: They had an experienced, veteran NBA head coach in Alvin Gentry.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: It's been around the block, been a successful head coach
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: and an assistant coach, one of the most popular and
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: likable guys in the league, known as a players coach.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: Players tend to like Alvin, like playing for him wherever
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: he goes. And then that later that night New Orleans,
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: after picking Zion one, they also made a trade another trade.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: They went out and got an athletics center, Jackson Hayes
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: out of Texas a youngster. So as I look at
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: the team on paper, their potential and the uticism were
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: really off the charts. I mean said, wow, Like Zion
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: Williamson and Jackson Hayes catching lobs with their elbows above
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: the rim and you know, it's really exciting, and then
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: defensively protecting the rim, flying around blocking shots. This is
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: going to be a big time athletic team and one
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: of the most exciting teams to watch. Zion in particular
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: at Duke I think set some viewership records when he
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: played that he was must see TV with the win
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: Mill dunks, and you know, he looked a lot like
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: a football player playing basketball, just with his strength and power.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: You know, he'd lower his shoulder, Guys would bounce off
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: him in addition to his explosiveness. But that in reality,
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: it didn't work out that way. When the four year
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: contract that these guys sign as rookies ended, New Orleans
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: did not want back Jackson Hayes.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: They let him go.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: He's now a member of the LA Lakers, where he's
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: a backup or third string center, and Zion who was
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: supposed to be a prize a franchise player that you
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: could build around for a decade or so. That he's
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: missed at least twenty games in every NBA season except
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: for one. And keep in mind that he's now in
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: his seventh year in the league. He missed one season entirely.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: That was in twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: So far this.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: Year with New Orleans among the worst teams in the league,
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: and you just mentioned, they've already fired Willie Green, their
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: head coach, who's one of the most popular guys in
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: the league, a younger coach, you know, really popular with
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: the former and current players.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: He's out of a job in New Orleans.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: So that makes two head coaches now that in New Orleans,
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: Alvin Gentry and Willie Green, who have not been able
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: to get through it to Zion or you know, bring
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: the Pelicans the level of team success they had Hope
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: one general manager and David Griffin, who has since been replaced.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: And so that's the reality of it. And you and
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: I know this is a tough business. It's not always fair,
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: but with the hype comes a lot of expectations, and
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: New Orleans, you know what they thought they were getting
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: with Zion seven years back and what has ended up happening.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Unfortunately for your Repelicans fans, they're kind of polar opposites
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: with the position they're franchise is in.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: You know, I think all the models that we've built
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: to try to evaluate talent and help our selection process,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: the one thing that is so difficult to put your
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: finger on is health. And you know, we talk about
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: like the number one ability is your availability, and the
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: challenge you have when you have a player who has
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: missed as many games as Zion has due to health
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: issues is you're forever feeling like you would be trading
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: low on the player you reinvest in him. And when
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: you have a high percentage of your payroll invest in
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: a player who's just simply not available as frequently as
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: other teams star players are, you're playing at such a disadvantage.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: And it's this cycle that is really difficult, I think,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: to get out of. As an executive. You don't want
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: to trade that player because you don't want that player
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: to go and find the fountain of youth and be
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: healthy somewhere else. Because when they're on the court, they
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: are probably Permitutent spent one of the better contributors in
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: the whole NBA. But the reality is they're available so infrequently.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: We had this experience when I worked with Minnesota, Byron
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Buxton was unequivocally our most talented player, wasn't available that much. Now,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, he's getting healthier as he's kind
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: of found his stride in the game, and he's now
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: availing himself as a silver slugg or a goal glove player.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Guy who's getting MVP can't votes. This is the reason
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: you hold on to these guys because if they can
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: find the ability to stay healthy, they're undeniably one of
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: the most talented players. But the challenges when they're not healthy,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: it's really crippling to franchises.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: And that's what keeps you up at night as an
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: executive that, as you know, we all want to buy
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: low sell high. If you trade Zion Williamson now are
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: the Pelicans you may be doing the opposite of that.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: On the flip side, the same thing with the Grizzlies
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: with John Morant. That let's go into the history now
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: a little bit, because I think it's so interesting the
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: two parallels between the franchises with the top two picks
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: in the twenty nineteen draft. Memphis in twenty nineteen had
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: a new GM and head coach. They were both very young.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Zach Kleman was a general manager, Taylor Jenkins was a
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: head coach. In fact, this was the franchise that had
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: added a really promising big man the year before in
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: Jaron Jackson Junior played the one year at Michigan State,
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: and now appeared to have a franchise point guard and
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: a franchise big man potentially in Jaron Jackson Junior. And
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: the economics of this are really interesting too. That because
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: people coming into the draft. I hate that this is
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: part of the NBA discourse, but said, well, the Knicks
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: are awful. They're slot at number one. Of course they're
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: going to get either Zion or John Morant.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: And they didn't. And I thought it was great.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: And it parkens back to the late great David Stern,
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: who kind of built the NBA to what it is.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: As commissioner said, yeah, I stacked a lottery odds. I
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: wanted the best players in South Texas with the San
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: Antonio Spurs. I'm paraphrasing, but that's that's the market we had,
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: you know, lined up to deliver the league to great heights.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: But but I'm obviously kidding because you know, you have
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: New York up there, It's it's you know, it's the Mecca,
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: Madison Square Garden, the biggest media market all that, and
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: these two guys end up going down to the southeast
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: in New Orleans and Memphis and Zion Williamson and John Morant.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: So it was really I thought, good for the league,
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: are potentially good for the league that as far as
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: parody and some of the things we've talked about balance,
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: you know, big versus small market, giving the smaller market
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: teams a chance to contend. But like Zion Williamson, unfortunately
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: John Morant has been injured a lot. Also, like Zion,
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: he's had a number of off court issues. Zions are
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: more weight related and conditioning related. Frankly, Fad you know,
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: Jah is just a lot of foolishness things things with
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: guns and threatening people and all kinds of immature nonsense.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: I could, you know, go on a longer description of that,
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: but we'll leave it at that. But all that said,
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: the Memphis Grizzlies then went on and added a really
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: talented wing out of TCU, Desmond Baine, who was a
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: late round pick, an excellent pick, and you say, wow,
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: that's a good young big three. John Morant in the backcourt,
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: Desmond Bane on the wing, Jaron Jackson Junior in the
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: front court. They really might have something there that not
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: initially the short term, but for the next five or
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: ten years. You know, they could be the franchise Pillars. Well,
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: Moran's been in and out of lineup and suspended for
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: the aforementioned nonsense. Desmond Baine this offseason was traded to
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: the Orlando made a lot of that was financially related.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: They just couldn't afford to pay three guys at or
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: near the MAX. And Jared Jackson Junior, I really like him,
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: but he's making franchise player type of money and I
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: think he's best described as a very good player. Unfortunately
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: on a below average team. That's that's what he is.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: And situation Memphis is in so to recap that, Taylor Jenkins,
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: who became the winningest head coach in Grizzlies history, you know,
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: in large part due to the success or the productivity
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: those guys had when they played. And that's the tough part,
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: especially for Grizzlies fans. When Ja Morant, Jaron Jackson Junior,
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: and Desmond Bane all played, they were a very good team.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: But Taylor Jenkins has now fired the guy who replaced
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: him as the interim head coach, Thomas Islow, one of
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: the first European born head coaches in NBA history. He
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: got the permanent job this year.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: Thad.
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: He's already butted heads with John Morant, including some audio
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: we played on a recent Rosters to Rings where Jaw
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: was basically asking about his struggles and getting benched. He
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: kind of said, he ask the coaches, you know, essentially
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: that has nothing to do with me.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: It's ask them.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: They hate me, so they suspend a job once for
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: conduct detrimental the team.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: And the reality of it.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Is New Orleans and Memphis now maybe looking at other rebuilds,
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: and they're in the position none of us want to
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: be in as an executive right where they have talent.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: They do not want to trade the talent, but they
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: may have to trade the talent to move on. Knowing
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: that if Zion Williamson from New Orleans and if John
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Moran from Memphis goes elsewhere and figures it out, they
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: could be coming back and kicking your ass for years.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: And then you were the guy who just dealt low
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: because you got frustrated you weren't able to handle them
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: as an organization or as an executive. You moved on
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: from them thatad you sold low, and then the other team,
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: you know, reaped the benefits of it.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: You know, we're not trying to build the team that
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: has the most choir boys on it. We're trying to
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: win championships. But when you have your star player who
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: has somewhat of a divisive force in an undercurrent, the
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: rest of the team has to be clicking in all cylinders.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: And there was a time where I think Zach Leman
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: and Taylor Tankins were regarded as the class of the
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: game in terms of roster building and roster deployment. And
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: you know a few of the other guys that I
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: recall being on those teams, they did a great job
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: in those blue collar guys, the Brandon Clarks of the
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: world and Dylan Brooks, who is kind of a little
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: bit of an interesting enforcer on the court, and all
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: of that seem to work well together until it didn't,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: And you know, it just makes you revere the teams
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: that are built around the star players who also are
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: elevating the level of play around them. You know the
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: guys who are you know, high caliber character and high
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: caliber talent. Those are the guys that you never want
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: to let go. But you have to make a decision
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: sometimes when you're building a championship team when you can't
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: get both. Would you rather have the guy who is
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: extremely well regarded but isn't as talented or the guy
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: who's more talented but isn't as well regarded. It's a
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: balancing act. Because we are in the business of trying
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: to win. We understand that the person who's the divisive
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: force probably is going to not lead to a dynasty,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: so to speak, but they may end up helping you
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: win in the short term. Where's the guy who is
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: an extremely good human being but maybe not quite as talented.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Could help compliment a championship run, but they're probably not
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: driving you to a championship singularly.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: Great points to that.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: And if you say, well, why would you ever take
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: a chance on a talented guy with issues, Well that's
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: what the Dallas Mavericks did with Kyrie Irving, right.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: They bought low. They bought very low.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: Look at what they gave up to get Kyrie was
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: not a whole lot, and then they almost won a
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: championship with Kyrie irving as one of their two best
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: players alongside Luka Donsich. Obviously, a lot has gone wrong
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: in Dallas from the end of the twenty twenty four
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: NBA Finals till today. But that's why you cannot just
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: blanket say now we're not taking any guys with issues
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: or character. As you know that sometimes it'd be a
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: pretty short list of guys if you only took the
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: choir boys on your team. Sometimes you need to figure
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: out where to operate in the margins. But that one
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: of the things that I wanted to get into with
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: you is I know it's early, We're only a month
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: or so into the NBA season, but this is as
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: wide open an MVP race as I can remember early
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: on in the year. I know it's very early for this,
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: but that these are the guys who check all the boxes, right.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: These are the guys that you and I dream about
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: because they have talent, they have character, they're generally healthy
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: and available. So for me, it's wide open. I want
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: to list off six guys who I think all would
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: have a shot at MVP today, get your reaction to it,
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: get your thoughts, and then I'll react to it as well.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: But that as I wrote down potential MVP candidates, these
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: six guys stood out, and usually frankly, by now it's
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: maybe a two or three man race. Sometimes there's one
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: guy way ahead of the pack that I think you
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: can make an argument for any and all of these
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: guys to be holding the MVP trophy at the end
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: of the year. I'm looking at Shay Gilders, Alexander in okc,
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: Nikola Jokic in Denver, Jannis Addakumbo in Milwaukee, Luka Donsich
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: with the LA Lakers, Steph Curry with the Golden State Warriors,
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: and Victor Wemanyama with the San Antonio Spurs. Fad what
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: those guys are doing. They're all different, they're all special,
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: and to me, it really makes it fun because they're
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: all performing at an MVP caliber level.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: You Know what jumps out to me, Ryan is how
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: healthy the NBA is right now and how ecstatic they
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: must be to have this talent pool right now in
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: the NBA. And because you're talking about guys from all
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: different generations, right I mean You've got some guys who
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: are kind of in the twilight of their career and
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: a guy like Steph Curry there, But then you have
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: so many guys who are young and up and coming
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: and who should be, you know, the kind of backbone
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: of the NBA for the next foreseeable future that maybe
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: a decade and something I'd love to pick your brain
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: about on a future episode. Is just the overall talent
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: in the NBA right now seems exceptional to me, and
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: I wonder if it's somewhat transcended. And you know, Adam
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Silver's done such a great job of building out the
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: popularity of the NBA, But it's really the strength of
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: this talent pool that is in the NBA right now,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: because I'm sure there are another ten guys that we
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: haven't listed here who are, you know, all time greats
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: and will be all time greats by the end of
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: their career. And my guess is, if we have this
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: conversation in two months, some of those guys will be
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: on this list as well. But is there anyone here
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: who is jumping out to you as you know you're
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: going to, you know, hang your hat on. Who are
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: the one or two guys, you're going to be following
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: for the rest of the season thinking these are the
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: odds on favorites to actually pull this off.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Well, a couple of things stand out. Nicole Okic's stats
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: are the best every year. In segment two, just here
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: in a minute, we're going to get into an American
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: League MVP debate between Aaron Judge and cal Raley.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: I'm really interested to get your take on that.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: But I bring it up because if it's a statistical argument,
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: Joker is gonna win just about every time.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: He's won three out of last four m vps. You know,
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: I believe you know.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: Joel Embiid beat him a couple of years ago and
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: are somewhat controversial, but Mbid had a terrific year. But
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: if you look at the numbers, what the stat heads
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: will tell you is that there's nobody better than Nicole Okic.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: That not only is he the best player in the
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: NBA today, he's one of the best in the history
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: of the league, especially what he's done over the last
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: five or six years, sustained excellence and brilliant. So he
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: stands out. But then you can make a case for Shay.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: It's Gilgus Alexander too. We saw what he did a
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: year ago. The best player on the best team that
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: and that's what Okac is again, he's the best player.
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: Okac is by far the best team. I believe they're
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: twelve and one at this point. I have historically dominant numbers.
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: And keep in mind that when you watch the Thunder play,
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: arguably their second best player, Jalen Williams, has not played yet.
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: He's been out here. So that's how good they are.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: That's how loaded they are and how deep they are.
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: Imagine that team with their depth and their defense. Aj
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: Mitchell has really emerged as a talented perimeterive performer for them.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: Another Draft Nights steal by Sam Presty, Rob Hennigan and
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: company in the OKC front office. So those two guys
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: stand out that the other guys, you know, Luca, Jannis Staff,
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: the usual suspect Steph at thirty seven years old. We're
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: not supposed to have favorites, but he is my favorite
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: player to watch that I think he's the most exciting
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: guy to watch in the league. And then the player
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: I'm saving my money that you know, it comes flowing
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: in here from doing these rosters. The ring shows I'm
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: saving that to go watch Victor, Wim and Yama in person.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Thad.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: I've never seen him because I you know, he came
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: into the league just after I exited the NBA. I
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: think I'm gonna go watch Victor play this year because
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: it's just one of those things where I think on
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: TV it's one thing to see a guy who's seven
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: to five, maybe more than that, you know, going behind
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: the back, through the legs against pressure, throwing lobs off
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: the backboard to himself and dunking like you and I
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: do on our kids on a nerf hoop. He's doing
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: that on an NBA court. So I just want to
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: see that that because I know it's real, you know.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: And others said, you won't believe this guy. He's worth
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: the price of admission. But to me, Victor Womanyow, I
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: don't think he's gonna win the MVP this year. I
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: don't think he's gonna be quite good enough individually, and
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: the Spurs are gonna be quite good enough as a team.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: But that if he told me he wins five out
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: of the next ten MVP awards, I'm not sure if
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: I take the over under on that.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: That's how good.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: I think Victor Womenyow is gonna be He's gonna be
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: a dominant force on both ends of the court, offensively
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: and defensively. And if you're listening to the show and
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: you can afford to go, get a ticket and watch
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: him in the spurs when he comes to your area,
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: watch him. That's what I'm doing. This guy does things
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: in NBA court. I've never seen a player of that
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: size do before.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: You know, Ryan, I would like to hear your winnings
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: when you lay the all eighteen dollars you've earned from
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Ronsters to rings on when Bayama. A few things just
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: to echo what you said that just really are astounding
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: to me is looking at SGA's numbers last year to
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: this year. It's almost the exact same and he's got
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: a bulls eye in his back right. As you said,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: they're the best team out there, he's the best player.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Everyone's trying to shut him down when they play against
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: those guys, especially with Williams not yet to play yet,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: He's still putting up almost the exact same numbers. Just
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: the model of consistency in Lucas case, no Lebron there.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: He was a little bit maligned last year coming out
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: of Dallas that maybe he wasn't in shape, and all
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: he's done is really put that team on his back
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: with Austin Reeves and done an exceptional job. I'm sure
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: the league is a little fearful of what is that
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: team going to be when Lebron gets added back to
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: the equation. And then, as you mentioned, Djokovic is such
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: a unique player. He's a bona fide center who is
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: leading the league in assists right now. He's averaging close
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: to a triple double, if not a triple double. But
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: the number that just jumped out to me was the
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: fact that he's averaging double digit assists per game as
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: a center. It's just incredible. And when Bayama is such
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: a freak of nature, his ability to handle the ball
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: at his height and hit three pointers is exceptionally. You
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: just hope somebody like that could stay healthy for the
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: entire of the Year'll be just fascinating to see what
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: numbers he can ultimately put up over the course of
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: a season. Stay with us through the break. On the
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: other side, we're going to start talking about the Major
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: League Baseball American League MVP. Did the writers get it right?
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: Ryan?
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: And I will debate that coming out of the break
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: here on Rosters to Rings.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: Welcome back to Rosters to Rings everyone, Ryan McDonald joined
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: by Thad Levine. So that we just talked about the
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: NBA about a quarter of the way into the NBA season.
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: Now let's get into baseball. We're in the postseason now.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: Fascinating Major League Baseball season, especially the World Series, which
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: for me was an al teimer between the Toronto Blue
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: Jays and the LA Dodgers. You know what app on.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: The Dodgers won in seven games. The Most Valuable Player
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: awards were handed out that in both leagues recently, and
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: I want to get into that with you, Rander Herod
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: listeners that select members of the Baseball Writers Association of
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: America get to vote for the league MVPs. That we'll
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: talk about the American League here in a minute, because
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: that was a very spirited debate, but the National League
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: that was not a debate. It was an open and shutcase.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: And in this case, all thirty people who voted voted
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: unanimously for LA Dodgers superstar hitter, slash, pitcher, slash, all
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: time great show Heytani to win the National.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: League MVP and Ryan as you mentioned it. You have
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: thirty people voting, they get they get to submit their
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: top ten votes, and everybody put show hey Otani as
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: their number one choice, and as they should have. You know,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: this is his fourth MVP award that he has won,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: which is just spectacular, especially in light of the fact
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: that he spent most of the season as a DH,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: which means that there's a drag on his overall performance
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: because he's actually getting negatively impacted by his supposed defensive
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: contribution to the team. He starts pitching at the end
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: of the year. He is going to be a prohibitive
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: favorite going into next year to win his fifth MVP
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: because not only will he be doing what he does
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: at the plate, but he also will be doing it
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: on the mound, And what we saw in the postseason
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: was just a spectacular showcase of somebody who was dominating
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: on the mound and also doing it at the plate.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: I think there was always the thought that when he
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: was pitching, maybe his offense would struggle or vice versa.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: He was dynamic on both sides of the ball and
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: exceptionally deserving unanimous choice and likely will be so again
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: next year. Will certainly be a prohibitive favorite going into
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: the season, Ran, What were some of your takes watching
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Otani play both in the season and maybe more excitingly,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: in the postseason.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: This year, he's someone I have to get to go
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: watch in person, and I want to bring my son, Jack,
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: our six year old, has become a big baseball fan
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: just because he's a generational player, maybe a multi generational player.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: Guys like that don't come along often. We hear the
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: Babe Ruth comparisons, and so I think there are a
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: lot of different ways to define value. That right, what
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: is value is a statistical is it value to the team?
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: But for me, O Tani makes it easy. He's the
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: most valuable because he does things nobody else does with
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: being an elite pitcher and an elite hitter, and those
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: contributions are so unique and so overwhelming that as long
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: as to me, as long as he has even a
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: decent year on the mount of the plate, he should
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: either win the MVP or be in the top grouping
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: every single year because nobody else does that. Right, he
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: does something that nobody else does in sports. He's a unicorn,
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: and you're right, he's thirty one years old. So I
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: hope our listeners get a chance to continue to watch
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: him and enjoy his prime because to me, he's must
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: see TV. I think it was really great for the
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: sport that the Dodgers were there, he was showcased and
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: showed up on the league's biggest stage. We remember that
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: epic three home run ten RBI game against the Brewers
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: to put the Dodgers into the World Series, and then
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: having him on the biggest stage in the World Series
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: and epic seven game series against Toronto. I thought that
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: was just great for the sports that And to me,
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: there are only a few athletes you say, whatever you're doing,
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: you stop and watch when he's on TV. For me, show, Hey,
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: Otani is one of those guys. Another one of those guys. Frankly,
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: I don't think he's quite at Otani's level, but maybe
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: Aaron Judge, you know, one of the great right handed
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: hitters of all time.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: That.
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: But the AL voting for MVP was really interesting and
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: this one was very close.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: So let me give you the numbers.
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: New York Yankees alt fielder, the aforementioned Aaron Judge received
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: seventeen first place votes. The other thirteen first place votes
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: that went to Cal Raleigh the votes. Raley did not
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: get for first, he got for second. So it is
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: that on all thirty ballots these guys were one in
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: two in some order. But it turns out the giant
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: outfielder for the New York Yankees, Aaron Judge, edges out
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: the catcher for the Seattle Mariners cal Raley, who had
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: a spectacular season.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Well, I think if you ever wondered why wasn't I
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: a professional athlete or certainly in majorleague based, look no
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: further than the bodies of Aaron Judge and sho Hey Otani.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: These guys are superhuman. And another thing I think just
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: worth noting about both of those two guys in particular
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: is the fact that they literally have the most eyes
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: on them. I mean, Otani has all the eyes of
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Japan and the United States on him. Judge is one
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: of the most popular players in the game. They're so
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: cool under pressure. They they're resting heartbeat is that of
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: a champion. They don't know. Moment is too big for
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: those guys. But what an exciting race this year between
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: cal Raley and Aaron Judge. And you know, it depends
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: on how you want to dice this up as your Reference.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: They were one and two on everybody's ballot, and it
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: was relatively close, and it should have been on the
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: raw numbers, you know, kind of the more traditional numbers.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Raleigh led the American League and home runs and RBIs,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: which obviously is very important. Judge led in runs, batting average,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: on base and slugging percentage. And I don't know if
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: you like old school numbers or advanced numbers, but Judge
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: really had a huge edge when it came to some
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: of the advanced metrics. He led the American League in WAR,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: in WRC plus and win probability added, in championship probability added.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: He was just a.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Dynamic player this year, so exceptionally vital to the New
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: York Yankees. Raley was very high in those stats as well.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: He was second in WAR, third in WRC plus, fourth
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: and win probability added, and second in championship probability added. So, Ryan,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: I question I'd ask of you is, as you evaluate
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: whether it's NBA, Major League Baseball, NFL and you're looking
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: at MVP candidates, how much do you weigh some of
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: those traditional numbers versus some of the more nuanced numbers
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: that we're using. Nowadays to try to evaluate the whole
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: value of players in one statistic.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think when it is this close to that,
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: you have to weigh all of that information along with
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: the eye test to be honest, Because we talked about
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: the National Lavy in an open and shutcase, thirty voters,
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: all thirty of them agreed was it was Otani. There
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: was nobody, you know, it was like a close second,
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: even really in the conversation. In my opinion, this one
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: was close. I lean a little bit toward Judge just
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: when I watch him play the eye tests. He's one
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: of the most feared right handed hitters I've ever seen.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: He's a physically imposing figure, but he backs it up
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: obviously with the productivity that He's the kind of guy
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: that if I were on the mound, I'd be scared
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: to death, just given his size and control of the
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: strike zone and.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Power and all of it.
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: He's really a pretty complete hitter in my opinion. Now,
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: let me ask you this that when it's this close,
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: I think most Major League Baseball insiders would agree that defensively,
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: catchers a much more important position than right field. Do
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: you think that factor into the vote at all? Should
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: that have factored into the vote at all. And as
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: a second layer of that, that is the fact that
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: cal Raley plays in Seattle, you know, smaller market in
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: the Pacific Northwest, in their mid market, I should say.
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: And then Aaron Judge plays in New York, the biggest
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: market in the country, the famous you know Yankees, with
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: the history and all that.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Do you think that impacted this at all? Should that
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: impact this at all?
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: Along with the positional differences, I know I threw a
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: lot at you, but I think this one's very close,
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: and I like to hear you kind of take us
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: inside the weeds a little bit as far as your
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: thought process.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: And how this vote went down.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: Well well as somebody who has spanned both the traditional
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: view of this and the kind of more advanced new
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: progressive view of this.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: I want to believe that.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: The MVP voting matters more than just anyone singular statistic.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: I think I agree with you entirely, Ryan. I think
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Judge wins on the stats. I do think they're just
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: enough in his favor. He was a transcendent player in
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: the American League, and but for Otani, we would be
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: talking about him in some rarefied discussions but I think
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: the story does matter here. As you mentioned, we don't
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: really get a perfect justification from the voters as.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: To why they voted the way they did.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: We have a lot of writers out there who talk
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: about the people who are more analysts, but who didn't
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: actually vote for the award. So is there an East
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: Coast biased and a major market biased? Is there a
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: favoring of Judge because he's won the award before, so
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: he's kind of on people's minds, whereas Raleigh was somebody
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: who was not on their minds. But I'm going to
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: make an argument here for the story supporting cal Rally.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: The stats I think support Judge. I think the story
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: supports cal Rally in the following ways. Judge effectively put
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: up a season that he's put up before. We've seen
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: this out of Judge. We've never seen anything like this
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: out of cal Rally. He hit sixty home runs, which
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: which matches you. He's setting records for catchers. The previous
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: high had been forty eight. He beat it by twelve.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: He had beat his previous own high, which was thirty four,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: by twenty six home runs. He was the home run
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: derby at the Ulcro game. He wins the home run
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: Derby as the first switch hitter ever to do it,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: and he hit from both sides of the plate during
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: that event, which is just incredible. He set a record
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: in the major leagues where home runs by a switch
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: hitter previously held by Mickey Mantle, who's on kind of
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: the Mount Rushmore of Hall of Famers. He also, by
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: the way, led the American League in RBI while he
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: was doing it, and he caught one of the best
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: pitching staffs in the game and ultimately led them to
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: the ALCS. So I think for some of those reasons,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: and as you mentioned, he plays the most grueling position
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: out there, which is that of a catcher, and so
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: I look at it and say, these both these guys
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: are exceptionally worthy the Certainly the voting would bear that out.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: I think the numbers support Judge. I think kind of
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: the story and the folklore and how important it is
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: in the game that has been played for over a century.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: When you set records and when you do things nobody
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: else has done before, I think you deserve some significant consideration.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: I probably would have tipped a little bit in the
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: favor of Raleigh for those reasons. I certainly understand the
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: justification for voting for Judge. He was the superior player.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: I think Raleigh had the superior story. I would have
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: gone in favor of him in this instance.
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: That's interesting because we've seen those kind of debates go
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: both ways, going back to Michael Jordan when he was
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: in his prime, Carl Malone and others. I think the
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: team Elijah on won MVPs in there, but the people
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: who played with Jordan and watched Jordan and that era,
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: we watched him as fans say, well, he was the
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: best player.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: Every year. It's a joke that anybody else will win
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: the MVP. He was that good.
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: And obviously we know he won the sixteenampionship. So essentially
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: every year he played without the baseball break in the middle,
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: he was the best player and his team won the championship.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: But on the flip side of the NBA, we saw
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: kind of the opposite with Joel Embiid that that was
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: more kind of this that right where the numbers in
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: this one slanted toward Aaron Judge, the number was in
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: that one slanted a little bit toward Nicole kic Uh.
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: Joel Embiid was excellent, you know in Philadelphia. He was
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: also a guy that, let's be honest, given his health history,
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: there were questions about how long he'd be able to
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: sustain this, would he ever be back there, And frankly,
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: a couple of years later, he has not gotten back
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: to that level. He's not consistently been healthy. Whereas Jokic,
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: he does the same thing just about every year. He's
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: historically dominant.
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: He was years ago.
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: That's why he has three m vps, and we just
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: discussed in the first segment where he has a very
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: good shot to win his fourth this year. He could
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: make an argument, you know, he might statistically probably should
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: have won the last six, including this year, So I.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: Think you can make the debate either way.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: I think it congratulates to both the guys that the
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: fantastic years cal Raley, you know, like you said, out
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: of nowhere expected this from Judge, We expected this from Otani,
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: We did not expect this from cal Raleigh. Sticking with
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: the Seattle Mariners team that I wanted to ask you
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: about a teammate of cal Rally's, and that is Josh
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: Naylor was aquired in season via trade with Arizona and
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: the baseball offseason. Is that I want to get your
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: take too, on not just the Josh Naylor signing. He
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: resigned with the Mariners on a five year, ninety five
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: million dollar deal. For those watching the video, see Jeff
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: passon breaking the news there a former guest on rosters
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: or rings that what do you think of the Naylor
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: signing individually? And is this the start of kind of
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: a run of signings well other guys you think, you know,
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: I know, I'm askew to project, but do you anticipate
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: other guys signing quickly going forward? Or is this you know,
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: each signing in Major League Baseball kind of on its
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: own and there are different ebbs and flows as the
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: offseason progresses.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: Some important dates to consider here, Ryan is the fact
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: that the Major League Baseball had the Major League Baseball
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: General Managers Meetings this past week, and this is a
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: time where all thirty teams send their general managers and
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: some of their lead executives.
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: They meet.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: They discussed rule changes for the upcoming year, but it's
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: also designed to be a time to discuss with other teams,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: your needs, your surpluses, start the process of discussing trades.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: You also meet with agents while you're out there, and
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: typically the back and forth that happens in Major League Baseball,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure if this is the same in the NBA,
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: which is you go to the agents and talk about
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: the free agents and find out that the asking price
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: is astronomical. So then you go to the trade market
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: and you find out the prospect asked to improve your
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: team is offensive, and then you go right back to
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: the agents and you keep kind of pendulum swinging back
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: and forth until you find a deal that is palatable,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: so that even if you're throwing up a little bit
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: in your mouth, you can spray a little banaka in
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: there and get a great player and move on. And
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: so I think it's pretty rare to see a player
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: of this magnitude signed this early in the process. And
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: so in advance of this episode, I got on the
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: phone with Mark Peeper, who is extremely well regarded agent.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: He runs ies the president baseball operations for that agency
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: and he represents Josh Naylor, and I just asked him
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: for a little background that we could share with our folks,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: and some of the things he shared on Josh were
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: pretty unique. Is that he's a quality of life type players.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: So once he reached a certain threshold of financial security.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: He was all about trying to be in a championship
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: organization and one that he thought had a sustained chance
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: to win and win for the entirety of this contract,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: and he felt Seattle was just that he was extremely
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: impressed with his time there. He's also a player who
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: I think we've talked about these types of guys in
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: the past ryne which is you hope as a fan
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: every player wants to win as much as the next guy. Well,
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: this guy wants to win a little bit more. And
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: so Mark was very aware that he needed to put
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: him in a place where they were going to be
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: competitive year in and year out. Otherwise he just wasn't going
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: to be happy, and there was no amount of money
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: that he could be paid to be satisfied in a
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: less competitive environment. So I give a lot of credit
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: to Mark keep here for knowing his client as well
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: as he did. I give a ton of credit to
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: Josh Naylor for recognizing that he was willing to leave
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: a little on the floor. He didn't necessarily need to
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: shop this deal around. He felt that this was plenty
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: good enough, and he wanted to stay in an environment
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: where he knew he could be the best version of himself,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: which is somebody who has a chance to be that
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: gritty competitor who really elevates the level of play of
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: everybody around him, and that this was a wonderful fit
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: for him, he was a wonderful fit for them. And
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: I think the other thing of note here is Jerry Depota,
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: the longtime president of baseball operations for Seattle. Heretofore had
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: never signed a player for more than five years, so
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: this matches the longest term and we'll see exactly what
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: the dollar amount comes in at, but it's been rumored
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: to be somewhere between ninety and one hundred million dollars,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: So this will be one of the most significant investments
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: by the Seattle Mariners during Jerry's tenure, which I think
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: is noteworthy because what we saw at the trade deadline
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: was also a departure from his behaviors. He went out
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: and got in addition to josh Nan Nailor, he got
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: Aohenne Osuarez, two of the best offensive players in the market.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Those were moves that were more demonstrative than he had
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: done the past. At the trade deadline, ownership gave him
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: the green light to do it, he really improved. The
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: team took him all the way to Game seven of
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: the ALCS, a place they want to return to. Josh
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Nailer will help a lot in that cause, and the
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: fact that they have the chance to get there was
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: a real driving factor for Josh's decision. Ultimately, here a.
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: Really good point because what is valuable to each player
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: or each person individually is different and can change at
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: different times. Right, Because in the course of my career,
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: I've seen guys who are young and single and have
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: not made a lot of money. They'll play wherever just
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: because they want to make as much money as possible
• 41:38
  Speaker 3: because they have not made it yet, and they want
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: to secure their financial future in the future of those
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: and others or future family, kids, extended family all that.
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: Some older guys, you know, which especially those who have
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: made money, prioritize comfort and don't want to move their
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: family around. And to your point that describing Josh Naylor,
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: really want to compete. It's important to them that the
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: team they're on has a chance to compete, a chance
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: to win, whereas everybody says they want to win. But
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: you know, some guys would take a little bit more
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: money to play a team that's not as competitive just
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: because they want to maximize earnings. And if you win, great,
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: but if not, that's okay too, if you're maximizing what
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: we are. So I think it's really interesting that that
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: people have different ways to look at things, and you
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: put yourself in the shoes of a youngster, you know,
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: player coming into Major League Baseball or the NBA and
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: late teams early twenties, how that may be different career
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: wise than an established guy, a man potentially married with
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: a family in his late twenties or thirties. Those are
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: different things. I think, you know, a lot of our
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: listeners trobably emphasize with that depending on where they are
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: in the life spectrum, and certainly that I think we
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: have to keep that mind when we look at players
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: the contracts they sign, Why did they re sign with
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: the team they resigned in. What was the most important
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: thing to them at that point. With Nailor, it seems
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: like security knowing the situation in the alley's got a
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: good thing going there and being comfortable with the direction
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: of the Mariners.
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: Franchise, you know.
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: And Ryan, one other thing to consider is why did
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: the Attle acts so quickly and I think there's two
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: primary reasons. One is Naylor is such a fascinating player.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: He is such a versatile offensive player. So we talked
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: about wind shares, we talked about war. I'm not sure
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: there's one stat that really captures what he delivers. In
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: addition to the grid he provides in that standard of excellence,
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: he's at time is the most patient hitter in your lineup.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: He can take a walk, he can work account. He's
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: a great contact hitter, so sometimes when his single is required,
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: he can hit a single. He can also hit for
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: power when it's needed. And then, much to everyone's surprise,
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: he ended up going thirty of thirty two in stolen
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: bases this year. So it's an exceptionally versatile player. I
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: think looking at him through the lens of anyone statistic
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: doesn't do him justice. What he's delivering in the clubhouse,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: on the field, off the field is exceptional. But he's
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: also such a versatile player to add to that lineup,
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: which is pretty dynamic. In addition, and then lastly, one
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: of the things that Mark shared with me today too
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: was why he wanted to sign early was because he's
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: aspirational of what else the Sealo Meaners may be able
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: to account push this offseason. He knew by signing early
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: he was securing some of their offensive needs. It now
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: may allow them to go add at other places within
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: their team, and he wanted to give the team that clarity.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: So I think this was a rare example where there
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: was true partnership in this negotiation between Mark Peeper representing
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: Josh Nayler in between Jerry Depoto representing the Seattle Mariners.
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: That as much as guys like us like to think
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: that the most important recruiters are an owner, a general manager,
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: head coach, your manager in Major League Baseball, from my experience,
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: the best recruiters usually are the players in your locker
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: room or dugout. If Josh Nayler is now out proactively
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: calling and texting guys on behalf of the Seattle Manors,
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of value in that too, given who
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: he is and they respect people have for him around
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: the league. So that's something that I think we can't
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: understate as well, that player to player bond.
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: In recruitment can be very strong.
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: That we're going to take a quick break right here,
• 44:53
  Speaker 3: coming back the star of our show, or at least
• 44:55
  Speaker 3: the guy who thinks he's the star of our show.
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: That is our producer Wyatt.
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: We'll see if you know, doing question answers from listeners
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: has gone to his head after two episodes, So we're
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: going to take a quick right here. Coming back after
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: the break stick with us on Rosters to Rings producer Wyatt.
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: We'll have your questions just after this. Welcome back to Roster.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: To Rings alongside Ryan mcdonna. I am Thad Levine. After
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: a thorough buttering by Ryan, we're bringing back Wyatt, our
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: producer for listener questions. Wyatt kick it off.
• 45:31
  Speaker 4: Thank you that and appreciate the support from Ryan. This
• 45:35
  Speaker 4: first question is from Chris in DC, and we're gonna
• 45:38
  Speaker 4: have both of you guys touch on this. But Ryan
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: is the current Thunder roster one of the best constructed
• 45:45
  Speaker 4: teams you've seen in recent NBA history, And if so,
• 45:48
  Speaker 4: what other rosters come to mind as comparisons? And that
• 45:52
  Speaker 4: on the MLB side, what rosters, either ones you've worked
• 45:56
  Speaker 4: with or admired from AFAR stand out to you as
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: being built for both the met success and long term sustainability.
• 46:02
  Speaker 4: I can give you guys a little more context here
• 46:05
  Speaker 4: just on the Thunder's greatness so far the season. We
• 46:08
  Speaker 4: touched on it a little bit earlier in the show,
• 46:10
  Speaker 4: but they're thirteen to one right now, best point differential
• 46:13
  Speaker 4: in the NBA. They're winning each game by an average
• 46:15
  Speaker 4: of a little over fifteen points. And I believe they
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: have another first round pick from the Clippers in next
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: year's draft, So you know that, along with you know,
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: not having Jalen Williams to start this year, they're really
• 46:27
  Speaker 4: showing no signs of slowing down. But Ryan, do you
• 46:30
  Speaker 4: want to touch on this one first?
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all that is correct. Why.
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: I'd also add that the Clippers are off to a
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: very slow start with the injuries to Kawhi Leonard, James Harden,
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: and other there's a lot of pressure on that franchise.
• 46:43
  Speaker 3: Obviously the investigation into their owner Steve Baumer, Kawhi Leonard,
• 46:46
  Speaker 3: the aspiration scandal that we discussed here on this show.
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: That's a cloud overhanging the franchise as much as anything
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: that the Clippers just starret't defending as well. So I
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: bring that up relative to the Thunder because the Thunder
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: have their pick. Ironically, it's still from the Shake Hill
• 47:01
  Speaker 3: just Alexander Paul George Fay. We know Paul George is
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: coming gone, you know, to La leaving Clippers last off
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: season for the Philadelphia seventy six ers where he has
• 47:11
  Speaker 3: been injured, is about to return to the lineup as
• 47:14
  Speaker 3: a seventy six er. Yeah, okay See is historically well constructed.
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: I think what I would do today that if our
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: running NBA team is trying to find a pillar in
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: the back court, on the wing, and in the front court,
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: right kind of not necessarily a quote unquote big three
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: where you push a bunch of money at the best
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: three players you can find, but you know a guy
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: who can lead the team from the backcourt, a versatile wing,
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: and a big man. And that's what okay Se has
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: and the versatility in all those positions with Shake Gield
• 47:43
  Speaker 3: just Alexander the MVP on the ball in the back court.
• 47:46
  Speaker 3: That one of the remarkable things that we didn't talk
• 47:49
  Speaker 3: about earlier in the show when we did the NBA
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: MVP look early in the season is that Shake Guild
• 47:54
  Speaker 3: is Alexander is still I believe, the leading scorer in
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: the NBA if you take away the fourth quarter, because
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: usually case he's up by so much, he does not
• 48:01
  Speaker 3: play the fourth quarter, but if you take away the
• 48:04
  Speaker 3: fourth quarter, I think he still leads it to that
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: or maybe he's second. I know Tyres Max he's having
• 48:08
  Speaker 3: a terrific year as well, But that's how dominant he's been.
• 48:11
  Speaker 3: That's how dominant the Thunder have been. Jalen Williams has
• 48:13
  Speaker 3: not played, looks like he'll returned the lineup relatively soon.
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: And then cheded.
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: Holmgren's kind of the prototype modern big man. I can
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: play inside and outside, he can stretch the court, protect
• 48:23
  Speaker 3: the rim, you know all of that stuff. He's versatile,
• 48:26
  Speaker 3: high character, hard playing guy. So you combine that with
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: the depth they have aj Mitchell playing extremely well in
• 48:32
  Speaker 3: the backcourt, another gem mined by the Thunder scouting department,
• 48:36
  Speaker 3: and then all the versatility, all the optionality. So to
• 48:39
  Speaker 3: me that I think what's so exciting about the Thunder
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: and scary for the other twenty nine teams is how
• 48:44
  Speaker 3: good they are now, but also how well set up
• 48:46
  Speaker 3: they are. And that's where I'd give him the advantage
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: over historically great team like the Golden State Warriors had
• 48:52
  Speaker 3: eight to ten years ago when they had four Hall
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: of Famers Steph Curry, Klay Thompson Draymond Green. Then they
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: added Kevin Durant to that team. Well, that team was
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: historically great, and we know what they did, winning two
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: championships in three years, but we also knew that the
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: window was going to be relatively short, and it was.
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: And so I think, Okay, see, despite their greatness, their dominance,
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: their window is wide open. And that's why when the
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: Athletic did their survey recently of the best front offices
• 49:19
  Speaker 3: across sports, the number one across the four major sports
• 49:22
  Speaker 3: in this country was voted the OKAC thund.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: And Sam Presty, their general manager, longtime general manager, has
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: rebuilt multiple champions there, which is just absolutely historically epic.
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: I'm sure he'll be a first ballot Hall of Famer
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: when his vogue comes up, a beacon for all of
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: us in sports. On the baseball side, two teams come
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: to mind. To address the listeners question. You just can't
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: look past the Los Angeles Dodgers, and I guess there's
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: some version of the Golden State Warriors that you just referenced.
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: They've got four number one starters at the top of
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: their rotation. They have three or four guys who will
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: be Hall of Famers. On the position player's standpoint, it's
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: just an exceptional team. And oh, by the way, they're
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: drafting extremely well. They're infrastructure to draft and develop players
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: is as good as anybody's in the league. They've produced
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: the fourth most war out of the draft for the
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: last fifteen years, so they're doing that in winning in
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: the free agent markets. They're spending, they're spending extremely wisely.
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: They've built out one of the most robust infrastructures. It's
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: an exceptionally daunting team to play on all facets, and
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: they should be good for years to come. On the
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: smaller market version of that. We've talked about this team before,
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: but I think the Milwaukee Brewers deserve a ton of
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: credit similar to what you just described Ryan as the
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: Oklahoma City Thunder. They have a star in Jackson Surio,
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: probably not quite as well known as SGA is yet,
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: but he's a guy who will become a household name
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: in the game. They have Christian Yelich, who's kind of
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: their veteran anchor on their team, a number one starter
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: in Freddie Peralta. But they've got an excellent front office.
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: They have an excellent manager who's won back to back
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: Managers of the Year Matt Arnold. Their GM won the
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: Executive of the Year this year. They've been exceptionally disciplined.
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: They make very prudent trades. They don't get married to
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: anyone player, but what they get married to is championship
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: style play. Their manager has done an excellent job Pat
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: Murphy in terms of mixing and matching. They platoon as
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: well as anybody out there, So they got a lot
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: of unsung heroes. There's some of their parts is just
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: so much more valuable than any individual. And the team
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: a very dynamic club modeled after a little bit what
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: we saw with the Toronto Blue Jays, but a lower
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: payroll version of that. So I'm going to stick with
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers has two versions built
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: very differently, but both championship organizations.
• 51:38
  Speaker 4: Great stuff, all right, Next question is from Dan and
• 51:41
  Speaker 4: Denver just kind of touched on this, but Thad, how
• 51:46
  Speaker 4: important is it for teams to get contracts done before
• 51:48
  Speaker 4: spring training starts and is there a real competitive disadvantage
• 51:52
  Speaker 4: if negotiations spill into camp?
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: So, you know, as is the case in a lot
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: of sports, deadlines, try decisions and one deadline which is
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: kind of artificial, But you see a lot of players
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: sign around is the holidays, Specifically around the Christmas and holidays,
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: you'll see a lot of players sign because I think
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: players don't want to go home and sit around the
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: table and you know, they're carving the turkey and the
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: ham and everyone's asking, well, where are you going to
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: play next year? And your wife wants to know where
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: the kid's going to go to school next year, and
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: do we need to get a home, and all those
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: sorts of things. They want to know those answers. So
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: you see a kind of a crush of players sign
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: around there. What has become a little bit of an
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: unfortunate trend in the game of baseball is a lot
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: of players are not only going into the beginning of
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: the year, but some of them are actually going into
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: spring training unsigned they're pursuing the best deal that they
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: can possibly get. They believe they're not going to get
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: it until teams have no other alternatives. But similarly, teams
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: are willing to wait and sometimes wait into spring training
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: to determine, Hey, this guy no longer has any other alternatives,
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: so now he'll sign in a below market deal. So
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: I think for those players who are hunting the last
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: dollar and for those executives who are hunting the app
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: best deal rather than the best player. These deals are
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: starting to trail into spring training. Unfortunately, the stastastics would
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: support that those guys tend to get off to slow
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: starts in the season. There is spring training and preseasons
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: and all these sports for a reason. You're getting into shape.
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: You're getting to know the players on your team. You're
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: getting to know the resources you have to excel. And
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: if you delay that process or materially delay it, oftentimes
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: you see those players faltering at the beginning of the season,
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: and so the team that waited to get that good
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: deal sometimes then gets a player who only delivers five
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: good months rather than six, and then all of a
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: sudden that deal doesn't look quite as good anymore.
• 53:39
  Speaker 4: Good stuff, all right. Next question is for both of
• 53:42
  Speaker 4: you from Anthony in Columbus, Ohio. Which fan base deserves
• 53:47
  Speaker 4: a title the most right now? MLB or NBA, And
• 53:51
  Speaker 4: I did some quick research the longest championship droughts. If
• 53:55
  Speaker 4: this plays into your guys answers at all. For the MLB,
• 53:59
  Speaker 4: We've got the Cleveland, we got Cleveland Milwaukee, San Diego, Seattle,
• 54:04
  Speaker 4: and Pittsburgh. And then in the NBA we've got the Kings,
• 54:09
  Speaker 4: the Suns, the Hawks, and the Knicks.
• 54:12
  Speaker 3: Well, for me, it's easy, I'm going to go with
• 54:13
  Speaker 3: the Phoenix Suns. I lived there for a decade, was
• 54:15
  Speaker 3: a GM for five and a half years. Unfortunately, didn't
• 54:18
  Speaker 3: get close to when I was there, although some of
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: the guys we left behind, almost one in twenty twenty one,
• 54:24
  Speaker 3: Devin Booker, mckail, bridges, DeAndre eight And it was a
• 54:26
  Speaker 3: joy watching those guys go to the finals.
• 54:28
  Speaker 2: And that's what's so hard.
• 54:29
  Speaker 3: That they were up two ozho in the finals that
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: looked like they were going to win the first championship
• 54:34
  Speaker 3: in franchise history, and then sitting there as a fan
• 54:37
  Speaker 3: watching the mighty Giannasi Didacombo lead the Milwaukee Bucks back
• 54:40
  Speaker 3: to four wins in a row, an all time great
• 54:43
  Speaker 3: finals performance. Giannis had fifty points in the clinching game six,
• 54:47
  Speaker 3: just an unstoppable force. And that's what's so hard. We
• 54:50
  Speaker 3: talked about it relative to the Blue Jays. It's easy
• 54:53
  Speaker 3: to say, well, we'll be back, but the reality is
• 54:55
  Speaker 3: in pro sports, you only get a chance to be
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: near the mountaintop so often it's very hard to climb there.
• 55:01
  Speaker 3: You need to play exceptionally well, you need a lot
• 55:04
  Speaker 3: of health and luck along the way. You need some
• 55:06
  Speaker 3: other teams maybe to get injured or underperformed to clear
• 55:08
  Speaker 3: the path. All those things happened for the Suns in
• 55:11
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty one. They weren't able to get over the hump.
• 55:13
  Speaker 3: So for me, I think that's an easy one. Yes,
• 55:16
  Speaker 3: I'm I'm biased, but I'd really love to see the
• 55:18
  Speaker 3: fans there win a championship. Unfortunately, I'll take I think
• 55:20
  Speaker 3: it'll take a little bit of time, but I've really
• 55:22
  Speaker 3: enjoyed watching the team play this year, that they've been
• 55:25
  Speaker 3: one of the surprise teams to me, and after fifty
• 55:27
  Speaker 3: plus years and three trips to the finals, no championships. Unfortunately,
• 55:32
  Speaker 3: I'm going to be real excited whenever they do win one.
• 55:35
  Speaker 3: I just hope they saved me a ticket that I'll
• 55:36
  Speaker 3: fly out there. I'll put on some SPF fifty so
• 55:39
  Speaker 3: I can go outside in Phoenix in June and join
• 55:41
  Speaker 3: in on the championship arrade.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: That sounds wonderful. I think the easy answers whichever franchise
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: Ryan or I are working for would be would be
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: the one that we would hope would win. Second second
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: followed by whoever my son's rooting for just for the
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: health and well being of the household. But two franchises
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: jump out to me in Baseball. One you mentioned it,
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: Ryan and your I'm sorry why in your question, which
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: was the Seattle Riners have the only franchise in Major
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: League Baseball to never go to the World Series, let
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: alone win it. So for that franchise and that fan base,
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: they got so close this year. They got to Game seven,
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: they were up three to two going to Toronto. They
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: just needed to win one of those two games. They
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: played exceptionally well. They were so close. If they got
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: a chance to go to the World Series and then
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: ultimately get a chance to compete to win it, I
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: think that fan base deserves that opportunity. They've never had
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: it throughout the history of that franchise, it'd be wonderful.
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: And then two for me, I grew up a huge
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: Baltimore Orioles fan. They last wanted in nineteen eighty three,
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: and for them to get another chance, for the kid
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: in me, I would be rooting for the Baltimore Oriols
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: if they ended up getting back to the World Series.
• 56:49
  Speaker 4: Good stuff. And Ryan, I didn't really think about Arizona,
• 56:52
  Speaker 4: but you know they lost the Steelers in two thousand
• 56:55
  Speaker 4: and nine in the Super Bowl, they lost. The Diamondbacks
• 56:58
  Speaker 4: lost to the Rangers years ago. Right, so some tough,
• 57:02
  Speaker 4: tough close calls in Arizona.
• 57:05
  Speaker 3: Just the one championship, Wyatt, two thousand and one, They'll
• 57:08
  Speaker 3: never forget it. In Arizona, the Diamondbacks upset the Mighty
• 57:11
  Speaker 3: Yankees Mario and Or Rivera on the mound, Luis Gonzalez
• 57:14
  Speaker 3: with the kind of broken bat blooper up the middle
• 57:17
  Speaker 3: in all time great pitching staff led at the top
• 57:19
  Speaker 3: by Kurt Shilling and Randy Johnson. Yeah, that is the
• 57:22
  Speaker 3: one championship. As you mentioned, the Cardinals of suns have
• 57:25
  Speaker 3: been close but not gotten over the hump. And then yeah,
• 57:27
  Speaker 3: in twenty twenty three that the Diamondbacks right there lost
• 57:30
  Speaker 3: to the Texas Rangers a couple of years back.
• 57:32
  Speaker 4: All right, last question this is from me, producer Wyatt,
• 57:37
  Speaker 4: And since we're just almost through Week eleven in the
• 57:41
  Speaker 4: NFL season, who are your guys' picks to win the
• 57:44
  Speaker 4: AFC and the NFC and ultimately the Super Bowl?
• 57:48
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: Now, all right, So if I'm picking with my heart,
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: I'm going to support something that Tom Telesco said is
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: I'm still keeping my eye on the Baltimore Ravens come
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: out from the outside. But if I'm picking a little
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: bit more with my head, I'm going to go Denver Broncos. Here.
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: I think they've played exceptionally well. They've they've learned how
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: to win ugly, but they've also beaten both teams that
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: played in the Super Bowl last year, the Kansas City
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, which I think is pretty noteworthy.
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: I think they have probably what is going to be
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame coach at the helm. Their defense
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: has been exceptional, and I think they've got a kind
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: of cardiac albeit young, but a cardiac QB who just
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: seems to get better as the game goes along. Hasn't
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: put up gaudy stats, but his second half closing stats
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: have been exceptional. So I'm going to go with the
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: Broncos and with the Philadelphia Eagles. Watching what they did
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: last night. Our last two games really against Green Bay
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: and Detroit, two teams that have really really explosive, dynamic offenses,
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: their defense really just shut them down. Their offense hasn't
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: clicked on all cylinders, their defense seems to be dominant
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: right now, and we do know that they have a
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: lot of championship experience on that team. I think they've
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: got one of the best gms of all sports and
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: Howie Roseman Nick Yeary, and he's done a great job
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: at the helm there. I think they have what it
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: takes to get back. And I'm going to take those
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: two teams showing facing off in the Super Bowl this year.
• 59:10
  Speaker 3: So Thad we're in agreement on one of the two.
• 59:12
  Speaker 3: In the NFC, I'm going to go with the Philadelphia
• 59:14
  Speaker 3: Eagles as well. I know it's probably an obvious pick
• 59:16
  Speaker 3: given that they're defending Super Bowl champions and how they
• 59:19
  Speaker 3: played so far this year. You mentioned the two recent wins.
• 59:22
  Speaker 3: I also think that damn Tush push is so unstoppable.
• 59:25
  Speaker 3: I don't love watching it as a fan, but it
• 59:27
  Speaker 3: seems like anytime they get in a short yarded situation,
• 59:30
  Speaker 3: third down, fourth down, they line up in that thing
• 59:32
  Speaker 3: with the bruising quarterback in Jalen Hurts and just overpowered
• 59:34
  Speaker 3: the offense. It's almost like an automatic first down. So
• 59:37
  Speaker 3: I think that's a huge advantage for them, But you
• 59:40
  Speaker 3: mentioned the front office, the job they've done coaching, they're
• 59:42
  Speaker 3: really the whole package, probably the gold standard right now,
• 59:45
  Speaker 3: at least in the short term in the NFL, in
• 59:47
  Speaker 3: the AFC. That I'm going to go with what might
• 59:49
  Speaker 3: be a bit of a more emotional pick, but my
• 59:52
  Speaker 3: new England Patriots. You know, it's been a rocky ride
• 59:55
  Speaker 3: since Tom Brady left, Bill Belichick Robert Craft, the owner,
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 3: infamously kind of at each other's throats, sparring publicly. It
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 3: was a messy divorce there. Bringing Gerrod Mayo, the love
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 3: former player for a year, it does not work out well.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 3: They let him go after a year, a lot of
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 3: controversy and that since then last year so probably less
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 3: than a calendar year, they hire Mike Rabel, who I
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 3: thought was one of the best coaches in the league
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 3: in Tennessee and then especially a quarterback at Drake may
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 3: amatarhel So I watched him play a lot at the
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 3: University of North Carolina. About what he's done that he's
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 3: right up there on the short list of nv HE
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 3: front runners. In a recent development which is pretty neat
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 3: to I'm sure college football fan, especially Ohio State fans
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 3: remember what Trayvon Henderson did. I wasn't playing as much
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 3: early in the year for the Patriots. I started to
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 3: get the ball a lot now that he looks like
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 3: the guy who was dominant at Ohio State.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to go with the Eagles Patriots. You know, I'm.
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 3: Nervous with security at the event if that is the
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 3: super Bowl between those two fan bases, if it's my
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 3: maniac friends from Boston and the people from Philadelphia.
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 2: But I'm going to go Eagles Patriots.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 3: I'll reserve the right to pick a winner later at
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 3: that but I think it's gonna be a Northeast heavy
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 3: super Bowl if the Patriots can continue their momentum.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: You know, Ryan, just a quick thought is, if we
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: were asked this by Why four weeks ago, I think
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: you would have heard a lot of support for the
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: Chiefs and the Bills, maybe even the Ravens a little
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: bit before they went on their initial slide. It's amazing
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: how the times have changed. And we'll revisit this in
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: maybe three to four weeks. Our minds may have changed
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: at that point too, but the season has really taken
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: on a different complexion than anybody had projected it at
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: the outset of the season and.
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 3: I know what we're going to do Fad when we
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 3: see who's in the super Bowl. So yeah, we talked
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 3: about that in the previous episode. You can't find it anywhere.
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 3: You just have to take our word for it that
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 3: Ryan McDon and Thad Levine knew who the two super
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 3: Bowl finalists we're going to be for our producer, Wyatt
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 3: fur Thad Levine. Tune in next week, folks, we have
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 3: a very special episode. We got your feedback the listeners,
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 3: and we picked the best of the best on Rosters
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 3: to Rings, we have about thirty episodes are still recorded.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 3: Now we're going to take out the very best segments,
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 3: edit them together our producer. Why it's not going to
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 3: eat Thanksgiving dinner or have any alcoholic beverages. You's gonna
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 3: be editing all day and night. Get these segments to
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 3: you the listeners. So tune in next week and every
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 3: week right here.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: On Rosters to Rings.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: Please join me host bad Levine, Ryan McDonough and other
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: general managers every week for Roster Syrings on Apple, Spotify,
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.