Latest / The So-Called Sports Analysts / Episode 12 - NFC South breakdown & NBA teams on the rise and decline

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Episode 12 - NFC South breakdown & NBA teams on the rise and decline · The So-Called Sports Analysts

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Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the twelfth episode of the So called
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Sports Analysts. I'm your host, off Phonsuportio. I'm excited to be back
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with you guys today and it is a Saturday afternoon. I'm getting ready to
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watch some college basketball afterwards, and I'm just watching it for fun. Now
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my bracket it's all busted. I had Houston and a Marquette in the finals.
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Obviously, both of those teams are out. I don't even know who's
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gonna make it out of those or out of the bracket. Because it's March
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madness. You never know what's gonna happen. It's just madness, like they
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say. But we're gonna go ahead and get into the episode. So last
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week we talked about the NFL free agency, and there were so many moves
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going on that I had to talk about the winners and losers in the NFL,
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so we weren't able to actually break down a division and see where they
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got better or where they need to improve on. And the division that we're
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going to talk about today is the NFC South. So the NFC South,
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in my opinion, they're the worst division in the NFL, and they were
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last year, but I could see them improving because they all have they all
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have areas where they were very young last year and they can improve on.
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And this division it was. It included the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who were eight
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and nine who lost to the Dallas Cowboys. I believe it was thirty one
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to twelve. I'm not exactly sure. Then you have the Carolina Panthers there
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were seven and ten, The New Orleans Saints were seven and ten, and
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that Atlanta Falcons were seven and ten. So if you just look at the
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base and you just look at the records, you're like, oh, okay,
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this is a competitive division. Nobody was really clear cut ahead of everybody
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else. But it was just that bad of a division where nobody could really
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win games. And when they were playing each other, they were winning these
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games not because they earned them, but because the other team sucked worse that
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day. But the first team that we're going to talk about is the Tampa
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Bay Buccaneers. So the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they really didn't make any moves
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in free agency. The only move that is important that I am going to
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be talking about is they signed Baker Mayfield, and they signed Baker Mayfield for
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a one year deal. I believe it was eight and a half million.
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And Baker Mayfield. We know this about Baker that if you put him around
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a good supporting cast, he could possibly be average, maybe good every once
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in a while. But if he's on a bad team, he will play
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just as bad or particularly worse than what he did play. You saw that
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last year with the Carolina Panthers. So they really don't have nowhere to go.
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And Kyle Trask he is there, and I believe he was a second
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round pick two or three years ago. But if he was that good,
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then they wouldn't have brought in Baker Mayfield to Pet to be competing with him.
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And also there's been some reports they have nine total draft picks this year,
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the nineteenth overall pick that they may trade up for a quarterback, potentially
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Anthony Richardson, a Bryce Young if he falls down, even a Will Levis.
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I don't know how much of those rumors and reports are true, but
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again that needs to be taken into consideration because it will show where this team
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is trying to go, if they're trying to just reboot for a year,
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or if they do draft a quarterback. They're going to be rebuilding and looking
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towards the future, But in my opinion, it looks like they're already looking
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towards the future because they had twenty three players this offseason heading into free agency,
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and they only resigned two were three of those guys, which is ridiculous,
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which Jamal Dean and Lavante David. Yeah, that was it. It
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was just two players that they resigned out of twenty three. So you're gonna
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have a whole lot of your players in your team from last year because that's
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gonna be twenty one players loss. That's almost half of the team right there.
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So you're gonna have to draft a bunch of guys looking towards free agency,
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get the cheaper contracts, and go from there. But you can kind
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of understand they want to go in a different direction. If you bring those
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guys back, you're still kind of in the TB twelve era and you're kind
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of just holding onto the guys that Tom Brady recruited. And you saw how
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Tom Brady's team did last year. They just weren't good enough and they weren't
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talented enough to compete even with the Dallas Cowboys and the Dallas Cowboys. There
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were a little bit below the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco forty nine ers last
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year, so they're far away away from reaching the Super Bowl, let alone
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NFC Championship game. But they're gonna have some sub decisions that they're gonna need
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to do. So I know they don't have any big names this year in
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free agency other than those guys they're losing, but they have Mike Evans who's
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going to be a free agent after this year. Devin White is also going
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to need a new contract. Tristan Works he has, he's gonna have two
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years left on his deal. Then Antoine Winfield he's gonna need to get paid
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next year. So you have four of those guys who are important pieces to
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the team and you could rebuild within the future, who are arguably top ten
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in their position that you're gonna need to resign. And for example, Mike
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Evans, he's making sixteen and a half million right now, he's probably gonna
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want the Tyreek Hill DeVante Adam's money, or even if he does go a
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little bit less, it's gonna be around twenty six twenty seven million dollars,
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which is still a lot of money. Devin White, he's a line he's
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a middle linebacker, one of the best middle linebackers in the league. Rokuan
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Smith just got paid twenty five million dollars. I'm not saying he's gonna get
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paid as much as Roquan Smith, but he could get up to twenty million,
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maybe twenty two, twenty three million dollars, which is a lot of
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money. Tristan Worse, who's one of the best right tackles. I think
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he's the best right tackle in the league. So he's gonna be getting paid
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a lot of money. I don't know if you guys saw, but Lane
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Johnson, who who there is a right tackle, signed a contract with the
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Eagles one year, thirty three million dollars. So if I was Tristan Worse,
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I would be asking for somewhere around that facinity because he's younger and he's
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already better than him. And then you have Antoine Winfield junior year, who
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yes, he had a down year last year, but it was more because
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of injuries. He couldn't stay on the field. But I believe he will
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bounce back. He's gonna be one in anywhere from eight to ten million dollars
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which is a lot of money. So just with those four guys combined,
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you could be paying up to one hundred hundred and fifty million dollars just between
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four of those guys. And with those guys right there, yes, I
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know it will be good. But four guys that doesn't build your roster.
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It takes arguably forty people, forty to fifty people on an NFL roster to
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at least win a championship. Look at the Kansas City Chiefs. They didn't
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have maybe the star names they did as years prior, but they had a
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lot of depth to go around. Look at the Philadelphia Eagles, Look at
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the San Francisco forty nine ers, Look at the Bengals, Look at the
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Cowboys. I know they didn't do as good, but they still had a
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lot of depth. Look at the Bills. So you have all these teams
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right here that are competing for a championship that have plenty of people on their
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roster. So I think it's gonna be a tough call. In my opinion,
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You're gonna only be able to resign two of these guys. What I
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would do is resign Tristan Worths and Devon White because Mike Evans, he is
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an older wide receiver. Maybe you do try to trade him, get some
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assets for him, maybe a first second round pick. Antoine Winfield, he
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is a good safety, but you can trade him, trade him, maybe
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get a second third round pick at most, and get another safety to fill
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in this spot, because it's not that hard to draft safeties, especially having
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a good coach like Todd Bowls. So I believe they do have a chance
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to have a very good future because after firing Byron left which they hired Dave
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Candles. So Dave Anne if you guys don't know who that is. He
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was a Seattle Seahawks QB coach and he helped turn around Geno Smith from looking
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like not that good of a quarterback to looking like a top fifteen quarterback in
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the league and did help him get paid as well. I'm not saying Geno
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Smith didn't play a factor into that, but it takes coaching and as far
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as the play calling involved, So Dave Cannell's he deserves some credit. That's
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why I think that they should draft a quarterback either this year or next year.
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If you want to wait out a year, you build up your team
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around him, maybe get some offensive lineman because you do need offensive lineman.
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You lost Shack Mason, Ryan Jensen's only getting older, and left guard spot
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it's unknown. Donovan Smith left tackle, you just released him, so your
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only solid point is Tristan Worse. So maybe you build up that offensive line,
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get some better skill position players around him. Then you draft a quarterback,
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or you draft a quarterback right now, you let him sit behind Baker
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and Kyle Trask and let him develop where the Dave Cannell's who's the offensive coordinator
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who knows how to put a quarterback in a right situation. So what do
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I think this team is going to be going this year? I think this
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is going to be the team that has the biggest drop off out of all
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of these teams in the division, which is not saying much because they were
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all bad anyways. But I believe the Tampa Bay Buccaneers they're gonna have anywhere
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from four to six wins. They're not going to really be that good of
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a team, even if they do draft a quarterback, because the quarterback,
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he's gonna either sit and develop or he's gonna have a tough time trying to
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go through this division. Because one thing I can say about this division is
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that they all improve defensively. But yeah, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it's
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more of a next year building towards the next year kind of thing. But
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next we're gonna talk about the Carolina Panthers. The Carolina Panthers, obviously,
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we know what they did. They made their splash move. They traded for
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the number one overall pick. They gave up a lot of assets. They
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gave up two first two seconds and then gave up DJ Moore, which is
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a lot for anybody you trade up for, even if it's a Pro Bowl
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level quarterback, that is still a lot to trade up for. And I
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believe it's between two quarterbacks that they're going to draft, and I'm kind of
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leaning towards one. So Number one, obvious it's Bryce Young Alabama quarterback.
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Heisman a little bit undersize, very accurate, has zip to the ball,
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can do whatever on the field, very smart. Then you have CJ.
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Stroud six two sixty three, has a good arm mobile and he can make
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the right place and he has a mold where he can last ten to fifteen
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years in the league. And the biggest concern I have as far as what
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Bryce Young is that he is a smaller quarterback. You see all of these
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smaller quarterbacks in the league, even in the past. They are always injured.
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Just look at Kyler Murray, he got hurt torn Aco. You have
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to a tongue of Valoa. He gets hurt very often. You have Russell
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Wilson, Drew Brees. So there's a consistent pattern as far as with these
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smaller quarterbacks getting hurt very often. So that's why I think they're leaning towards
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c J. Stroud, not because he has a higher ceiling. I believe
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Bryce Young has a higher ceiling, but CJ. Stroud he has the lower
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floor as far as he's least likely to be a bus potential, So I
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think that's who they should go with. I believe J. Stroud he has
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some things he can improve on, but he has a solid foundation for everything
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as far as the mechanics, his touchdown ability, accuracy, he's got some
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mobility to him. You could only improve with him. And you have Frank
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Wright as your head coach who you hired this offseason, and he can develop
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quarterbacks. I know with Indian Applus he did not have a good stint.
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As far as with Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan. But by the time those
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two quarterbacks got there, they were already broken and did not look very good.
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Then you had him have Philip Rivers who had one or he had one
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year left in the tank. Yeah, because he retired the next year.
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But he looked decent but not anything spectacular. So the only thing he's had
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to work with is these older quarterbacks who either have something mentally wrong or they're
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just not mobile enough. So it's gonna be good that they're gonna be draft
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in one of these two quarterbacks. Hopefully it's CJ. Stroud because you gave
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up a lot of picks and TJ. Stroud he is a safer pick.
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But one concern I do have is, like how I said, they traded
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a way DJ Moore. DJ Moore is arguably a top fifteen wide receiver in
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the league, and now you only have Adam thieland Hayden Hurst who you signed
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this off season. You also have Terrence Marshall, but that's not or those
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are not great wide receivers, are great skill position players. In order to
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have CJ. Stroud succeed, and remember, you gave up a second round
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pick for the next two years in your first round pick next year. So
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it's not like they'll be able to address that right away. They will have
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to wait a couple of years let these young wide receivers develop. Even at
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that in free agency, there wasn't that many good wide receivers in this draft
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class, so or not drift class free agency pool. So they're gonna have
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to just wait it out and let their young quarterback just develop as best as
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he can. But I know I have questions with the offense. One thing
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I don't have questions with is their defense. The defense towards the end of
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the end of the year, the past five six games, they looked like
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a top ten defense and they were finally starting to find their stride together.
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Maybe that was because of Steve Wilkes right there, because Steve Wilkes is a
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great I believe he could be a head coach, but he's a defensive coordinator
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right now in Arizona. But oh no, San Francisco, I'm sorry,
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but they have skill position players everywhere. You have Brian Burns, one of
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the best pass rushers in the league. You have Jack Thompson, a top
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ten linebacker in the league. Then you have J. C. Horne,
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who is one of the better cornerbacks in the league. And I know he
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has an injury concern, but if you just look at J. C.
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Horne when he has played, he's looked like a lockdown corner And I believe
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it's just been a bad stretch because with South Carolina, or while he was
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at South Carolina, he didn't have that many injuries. That's how he went
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so high, That's how he went ahead of Pat Certained. So I believe
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he'll bounce back. And this defense is only growing and building confidence, and
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that's what really let this Carolina Panthers team laid down the stretch to actually win
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some games and make a playoff push. So my concern is not the defense,
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it's just all offense and what they will be able to do. Will
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they be able to score twenty to twenty four points, because every once in
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a while you have your defense that has a bad game gives up twenty seven
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thirty points, So you'll need your offense to scores thirty points every once in
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a while, and I don't think they'll be capable of that. I believe
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there'll be in a spot where not to this extent, I believe a lesser
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version of the Chicago Bears a couple of years ago when they had a good
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defense and they had Mitch Trubisky as quarterback. I believe that it's going to
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be defensive oriented and they're going to just have to have to let their young
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quarterback just develop. When I think the team's record will be, I could
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see it be anywhere from five wins to eight wins. Kind of the same
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ceiling now as what they had this year because you had Sam Darnold, P
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J. Walker, and Baker Mayfield as your quarterbacks. I'm not saying c
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J. Stroud is going to be as bad as them, but he is
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a rookie. He's going to be going up against NFL defenses, and like
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I said, this division has very good defenses, so it's gonna be tough
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for him to really be able to score on these teams. But who knows,
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maybe he ends up being great rookie quarterback out of the gate. But
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again, I see this team rebuilding and looking towards the future. But one
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team that I don't know about is that a lot of Falcons. That a
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lot of Falcons. They're in a weird spot right now. I don't know
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exactly what they want to do. It looks like they're rebuilding, but it
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looks like they're trying to make the playoffs at the same time. And the
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reason why I say that is because they have no competent quarterback. And everyone
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knows, even the average Joe fan knows that you need to have a good
18:37
quarterback, sometimes great quarterback to make the playoffs. And all they have right
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now is Desmond Ritter, who looked average during the during the games. He
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did play when Marcus Mariota was out. Then you signed Tyler Heinekey. And
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yes, I know Tyler Heineke. It's a great story and everything, but
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let's be real. The average quarterback and with the average quarterback player, you're
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not gonna get nowhere. But you do have the eighth overall pick, and
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you have eight total picks, so maybe a quarterback does fall down to you,
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or maybe you try to trade up into the top five. You won't
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have to give up as many assets either as the Tampa Bay Bucks, for
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example, who have the nineteenth overall pick, because you have a top ten
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pick and you have some assets that you could give away while not killing your
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future. So maybe they'll end up with the Will Levice Bryce Young. I
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believe ct Strouds going number one, so I believe he's out of the question,
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or Anthony Richardson. And they have some good skill position players around them.
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They have Tyler all Gear, Kyle Pitts, Drake London who they never
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use, but those are still great pieces to start off with. And then
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your offensive line, they were one of the best run blocking offensive lines in
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the league. You resigned this offseason Kenla McGarry on a nice contract. I
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believe it's thirteen million dollars a year. You have Jake Matthews, you have
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Drew Dallman, and then you have Chris Lyndstorm, So you have good pieces
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right there as far as your offensive line, so you don't have to worry
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about your offensive line. Maybe you go try to get Lamar Jackson potentially.
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So I see their offense as just being a quarterback away, which is a
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big step away obviously from being a top three offense because Arthur Smith he knows
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how to call plays and last year there will be times throughout the season where
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they look like a top ten offense with Marcus Mariota at quarterback, which is
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crazy to say, but that's all credit to coaching. Right there. He
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is a good coach. And I know I said their offense is just a
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quarterback away, but their defense is only getting better. And I know towards
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the beginning of the year they did not look like a very good defense,
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but I believe it was against the Commanders. They still did lose that game.
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They went on a losing streak, but I believe they didn't give up
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over twenty points the rest of the season, and if they did, it
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was against Arizona Cardinals. I believe I could be wrong, but so that
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was about six games. The last six games of the season, they didn't
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give up over twenty points, So they were getting better. They were getting
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momentum towards the end of the year. And you have good a good young
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piece and Richie Gret as safety, and then you just signed Jesse Bates to
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a contract, so you have a very good secondary. And then you have
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a j Turrell. You have Rishard Evans who is a solid linebacker. You
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have Grady Jared who is a good defensive tackle and he could be Pro Bowl
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leve level player. So you have pieces there, and I believe they're only
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going to be getting better because you had younger players on the defense, who
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are going to develop, like a Lorenzo Carter who you drafted this year.
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And maybe you don't draft a quarterback this year, like Alice mentioned earlier,
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maybe you go get a Christian gonzale as a Joey Porter and you solidify that
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defense, or you go get a defensive lineman. So there's plenty of options
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they have, and I believe they have the most or one of the best
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constructive teams as far as for the future compared to everybody else in the NFL.
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So it's just a matter of if you have the quarterback. I believe
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if they did have a good quarterback, then they would be competing right now
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to be potentially represented the NFC. That's why I believe they should be making
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a push for Lamar Jackson. But again, maybe they know something we don't
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and we'll see what they do. It's gonna show a lot as far as
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if they get Lamar Jackson. If they get Lamar Jackson this offseason, then
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it's gonna show they're trying to compete, or if they draft a quarterback this
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year, they're gonna slowly ease into being a contender. For example, like
23:26
the Detroit Lions and they got Jared Goff and finally just eas into being a
23:32
contender. And look at the Lions now, they're actually going to be competing
23:36
for the NFC Championship or to be in the NFC Championship Game. But one
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team or the last team in this division that looks like they are trying to
23:47
compete for the NFC Championship game is the New Orleans Saints. So the New
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Orleans Saints. I expect this team to be the best team in the division
23:59
and represent is that them in the playoffs. So they just or they just
24:06
signed Derek Carr in free agency. I believe it was four years, one
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hundred and fifty million, so the average is out to about thirty five thirty
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six million dollars a year. And Derek Carr, he is not a top
24:19
five quarterback. At times, he could play like a top ten quarterback.
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He is a top fifteen quarterback, no question, and can sometimes will your
24:30
team to a victory. So it's just obvious that they should be able to
24:41
dominate this division. And I could see them going five and one or potentially
24:45
six and none in this division right here. Because you have the best quarterback
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you've had some Strawberries playing for the Saints, and you have Chris Olavy,
24:57
album Kamara, Jawan Johnson, Michael Thomas. If he stays healthy, then
25:03
you have a first round pick this year where you could possibly improve on.
25:06
So maybe they get a wide receiver like a Zay Flowers or Quinn and Johnson
25:12
from TCU. So there's plenty of options as far as improving the offense,
25:19
which I believe they are a good offense anyways, but it's gonna be a
25:25
matter of if their defense is going to be able to hold up. So
25:30
their defense, yes, I know they have some start names on that defense.
25:33
You have Damario Davis, cam Jordan Marshawn Lattimore. So you have a
25:41
Pro Bowl level, potentially all Pro level on every single level of the field.
25:45
But these players are only getting older and they're only going to be getting
25:51
worse. I'm not saying it's gonna happen this season, but they are older
25:56
and you are paying these guys a lot of money, so you're gonna have
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to have those top three guys right there keep continuing doing what they need to
26:04
do and having your young guys who you drafted or you got in free agency
26:11
to develop very nicely to complement those pieces. And I know towards the end
26:18
of the year they went on a stretch where they looked very good and I
26:23
believe they held their opponents under twenty points and they can be a top ten
26:29
defense this year. It's just my biggest concern is how healthy are these guys
26:33
are going to stay because all three of those guys miss some time this year,
26:40
and are they going to be staying at the same level that they were
26:42
last year? So that's my biggest concern right there. And with their first
26:48
round draft pick, I believe they should go defense. I believe if they
26:53
have a chance to get Elijah Cancy from Pitt, they should do that because
27:00
that will solidify their defense and bring some young energy. And I believe he
27:04
is one of the best defensive linemen, if not the best defensive lineman prospect
27:11
in this draft. Better than Will Anderson, better than Brian Brees, better
27:18
than Myles Murphy, better than anybody else that you can think of, in
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my opinion, because he is an explosive player and he is a game changing
27:26
type of player. So what to expect from this team? Like I mentioned
27:33
earlier on, they should make the playoffs and I believe they will make the
27:37
playoffs. So I see them being from selling winning twelve games to a floor
27:45
of winning nine games, and nine games in this division should be plenty more
27:52
than enough to win this division. And they need to win with all the
27:59
salary cap they they spent in the draft capitol they spent these past two years,
28:03
whether that's getting Marcus Davenport, Crystal Lava, spent the money to resign
28:07
all of these players on defense. So we'll see what happens. And now
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we're gonna go ahead and get into some NBA talk. So some NBA teams
28:18
that I do want to talk about is the teams. I'm going to talk
28:23
about two teams in each category. So there's two teams in each of these
28:30
categories, and those categories are the risers who have been rising as of late
28:37
and look to be making a serious push in the playoffs, potentially winning a
28:41
playoff series or maybe being NBA Finals bound, or potentially getting bounced out early
28:47
and being on the decline. But first we're gonna talk about as far as
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the risers of late, and this is obvious, it's the Philadelphia seventy six
28:56
ers. I know they lost yesterday to the Golden State Warriors. But the
29:00
Golden State Warriors, they were at home for some reason. The Warriors,
29:03
they cannot be beat at home no matter who they play, so I'm not
29:07
holding that against them. Joel Embiid he's been playing at an MVP level since
29:12
January. James Harden, he's been playing really, really good and in these
29:18
past eleven games they've went nine and two. And last night, obviously they
29:26
lost to the Golden State Warriors, but it was a very close game.
29:29
And like I mentioned, in Golden State, they just can't lose at home.
29:33
Then the other time they lost, it was in Philadelphia to the Chicago
29:36
Bulls. Hopefully they make the playoffs. I want to see my Bulls in
29:38
the playoffs. But anyways, it was in double overtime the Philadelphia seventy sixers.
29:45
They shot twenty seven percent from three. So I don't know how often
29:48
that's gonna happen for the Sixers. I believe that's going to be the only
29:52
time that happens the rest of the season, so don't expect that. But
29:57
they have been playing really good basketball, and they've been scoring the most points
30:03
as of late, so I believe they've been averaging one hundred and twenty five
30:08
points a game. So it's just ridiculous what they are doing. And they
30:14
have the good pieces around them. You have James hard and Joel Embiid,
30:18
you have Tyrese Maxie, you have pg Sucker, you have to Bias Hairs,
30:22
so you have those glue guys that you need in order to make a
30:25
playoff push. I believe that they are the biggest threat to the Milwaukee Bucks
30:33
as of now. Even at that the Milwaukee Bucks, we don't know.
30:37
Yannisy has been very brittle this year as far as with injuries, so obviously
30:42
hoping no injuries happen, but they do happen in the playoffs. At least
30:47
one key player goes down for a team in the playoffs. So maybe it'll
30:52
be the Sixers opportunity to reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in
30:56
a very long time. And it's gonna be very scary to see them and
31:02
what they could potentially do. And another team that's been on the rise of
31:07
late is the Oklahoma City Thunder. And in the Oklahoma City Thunders past ten
31:14
games, they have been eight and two or No. Seven and three.
31:18
I'm sorry they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers last night, but even at
31:22
that, that puts him to seven and three the past ten games. They
31:26
have been playing very good. Shad Gilgus Alexander. He is playing as if
31:30
he is a top fifteen basketball player in the league. He's averaging thirty two
31:36
points I believe in about six assists. Josh Giddy this entire season has been
31:41
playing well. He developed very nicely and it looks like a nice one two
31:45
punch to go along with Shay and he dropped twenty seven points against the Lakers
31:49
yesterday and the Lakers as of late, they have been one of the best
31:53
defensive teams, So that's saying something right there. And you have good pieces
31:59
around. You have Lou Dort, who's a good defender. Then you have
32:02
Jaylen Williams, number eight, j Jaylen Williams, not number six. There's
32:07
two Jelen Williams on that team. So I'm being specific. He's finally starting
32:10
to shoot the three a little bit more and it's becoming a little bit more
32:14
of a score because he is a defensive player. And they have a really
32:20
good coach. I like it's Mark Dogna or Dagnal. Sorry for butchering that
32:24
name, but he is a good coach. I didn't expect him to be
32:30
this good this early. He is thirty eight years old. He's younger than
32:32
Lebron James, which is crazy to think. But they've just been looking like
32:38
a really good team. They look somewhat similar to what the Sacramento Kings have
32:43
done this year as far as far as score a lot of points, not
32:47
really played defense, but still be able to win these close games. And
32:54
just the other day against the Clippers, they were able to make a key
32:59
stop on the Clippers and end up winning the game. They won that game
33:02
one to one to one hundred. So they're having spurts, especially since the
33:06
All Star Break. They've been showing spurts or they could play defense, and
33:10
that's why they've been on this winning streak as of late. And I believe
33:15
if they make it into the play in, because as of right now,
33:19
they are ranked the tenth team in the Western Conference, And if they find
33:24
a way to make it into the play in, then I believe that they
33:30
can win in the play in and beat either the Denver Nuggets or Memphis Grizzlies
33:36
take them to six or seven games. I don't believe they'll just be a
33:38
easy four game or five game series. It's going to be a very tough
33:44
game because this team can score some points. So I'm just saying be aware
33:50
of the Oklahoma City Thunders. And I'm not saying they're going to be pulling
33:52
an upset against one of those teams they do play in the playoffs if they
33:58
make the playoffs, but I'm just saying beware it's don't be surprised if they
34:04
happen to make it a six seventy game series and tougher for the one or
34:07
two seeds than they thought. And speaking of the one seed in the Western
34:13
Conference, one of the teams that it's that are on the decline as of
34:19
late is the Denver Nuggets. The Denver Nuggets at the beginning of the season,
34:25
or even going into the All Star break, there were consentuusly the team
34:32
to make it out of the West, and they had the MVP and Akolay
34:37
and their defense looked pretty good. But now towards the end of the season,
34:44
when you have teams who are playing their best brand of basketball, they're
34:47
starting to treat this like a playoff series of playoff games. Because now as
34:52
of late you're not gonna be playing really different teams like I believe you're gonna
34:59
have teams or the Nuggets. They have teams coming up where they're going to
35:01
play them twice in a week or twice in two weeks. So you're getting
35:07
familiar with this team because early on in the season you really don't have to
35:13
game plan as much against a team like the Denver Nuggets, or that goes
35:16
for anybody in general. So you have nicoleo kids being able to get to
35:22
the rat kick it out to his shooters and them looking very good, having
35:25
a team to play up tempo. But now that these teams, it's crunch
35:31
time for him. And even at that, they have been playing teams who
35:36
are good but not great teams they have been losing to them. So for
35:44
example, the San Antonio Spurs, the Chicago Bulls, the Toronto Raptors.
35:50
They're showing that there is a big weakness on this Denver Nuggets team. And
35:57
the biggest weakness is their defense. And I know the Denver Nuggets they have
36:01
statistically the third best ring defense, but if you just watch the game or
36:08
watch the games, it's not true. The Denver Nuggets. They give up
36:15
the fifth most points as far as points on the paint, and that's one
36:19
of the most or the most important area to block as or stop as far
36:24
as defensively, because if the three point shots aren't working for opposing team,
36:30
they're gonna have to drive to the rack and if you have an elite ring
36:35
protector, you'll be able to stop him. But since you don't have an
36:38
elite rim protector, you have NICOLEA. Yoki who is very good offensively or
36:44
not very good great offensively, let me fix that word. He's not going
36:49
to be able to do it on defense. And it's okay if NICOLEA.
36:53
Yoki he's not able to play defense because he does so much offensively. But
36:58
as far as for Jamal Murray, he's not a good perimeter defender. Neither's
37:01
Michael Porter Jr. Aaron Gordon. He's a smaller big Contavious Caldwell Pope.
37:07
He is a good defender, but he's not the defender he once was on
37:12
the LA Lakers two or three years ago. So they have flaws everywhere on
37:17
this team defensively, and I believe that's what's going to end up getting them
37:22
killed in the playoffs, because if they play a team like I mentioned the
37:27
Thunder with Lakers, Clippers, the Mavericks, Minnesota, It's gonna be very
37:31
scary for him because all of those teams have at least one player that can
37:38
drive to the rack and can drop thirty points on any given night. Anthony
37:44
Edwards, Lebron James comes back, Anthony Davis, c J McCollum brandon Ingram.
37:49
The Thunder they have shake Gilgus Alexander, like I mentioned Luke or the
37:52
Mavericks they have Luca don Chez, Kyrie Irving. So the Nuggets they won't
37:57
be able to stop those guys right there. And if your offense is not
38:00
clicking one hundred percent of the time, you're gonna be in for a long
38:07
series or potentially losing the series. And I'm pretty sure the Nuggets are hoping
38:14
right now that the Lakers or the Thunder or the Mavericks they find a way
38:20
to not be the number eight seed, because I believe they have a real
38:25
chance to actually beating the Nuggets. Well, not the Thunder. I believe
38:30
the Lakers and Mavericks to the Thunder, they could they can push them the
38:35
six and seven games, But the Mavericks and Lakers. They're just as good
38:39
offensively and better defensively that they can beat the Nuggets, which would be a
38:47
very disappointing season for them. So it's not looking good for them, and
38:53
I hope they're able to figure it out quick because you don't want to see
38:57
your one seeds go down, And obviously there are a one seed for a
39:00
reason. They've been the best team in the West throughout the entire year,
39:07
so I believe they need they need to turn it around a sap or else
39:10
they're going to be in some big trouble. And the team that I do
39:15
believe is in the biggest trouble as of right now is the Boston Celtics.
39:21
And when you hear what I just said, that may sound ridiculous to you,
39:24
but the Boston Celtics they are in the better conference, which is the
39:30
Eastern Conference, so they're gonna be having to go up against the Milwaukee Bucks,
39:35
the Philadelphia seventy six Ers, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Then you have sneaky
39:38
teams like the Knicks, the Heat, the Nets. You have the Hawks,
39:43
who have been playing good as of late, the Raptors. So it's
39:46
it's a loaded conference compared to the Western Conference, and I'm not saying I'm
39:53
not saying like the Denver Nuggets, that they're going to potentially lose in the
39:59
first round. They could take take care of business in the first round,
40:02
but as far as in the second round, they would potentially play either the
40:07
Sixers or the Cavaliers. And the Boston Celtics they have not been playing.
40:15
They're Brandon basketball since All Star break. The Boston Celtics are eight and six
40:21
since the All Star break. To put that in perspective, the Boston Celtics
40:28
before the All Star break, we're forty two and seventeen, So they would
40:36
be on a pace right now that would be a forty eight and thirty four
40:40
record throughout the entire season, which would not be as good as they are
40:47
right now. I know that would be a little bit lower than what they
40:53
are right now, but as far as that's projecting, as far as what
40:57
they would be. And defensively, I don't know what happened. They have
41:00
all the tools. Defensively. You have Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, Jason
41:05
Tatum, Jaylen Brown, who are all really solid pieces. You even have
41:08
Malcolm Brogden off the bench, who is a good defender. They just have
41:13
not been playing as good defensively and I can't explain it. I don't know
41:17
why. Maybe this comes into the fact as far as with coaching, you
41:22
have a young coach now with Joe Massoula. Maybe it's starting to affect them
41:27
just a little bit. So they're not streaking into the playoffs like they were
41:30
last year, and they have championship aspirations, So that's why that's why I
41:37
say they're on the decline. If this was a New York Knicks or the
41:42
Brooklyn Nets, we wouldn't be talking talking about them as far as them lowering.
41:47
But since they have the championship expectations, and they did have a seven
41:52
game lead over the Milwaukee Bucks at one point, and now there's a second
41:57
seat and looked like they could drop down to the third, it's not looking
42:01
very good. And some of these losses that they've had, it's been close
42:08
games, which are clutch situations, which they were very bad at last year.
42:15
So they did not improve on that from last year. For example,
42:19
you have them against Utah, you have them against the Houston Rockets where Jason
42:22
Tatum missed the lay up. The Cleveland Cavaliers. Then you had the New
42:27
York Knick Knicks and over time the Brooklyn Nets where they were up twenty seven
42:30
points against them and lost. Then they lost the Knicks again. So there's
42:37
a pattern going on from last year as far as they're not a clutch team
42:43
and they're not able to finish these games, and that's what let the Warriors
42:46
end up winning the championship. Or maybe it could be a situation with the
42:52
Boston Celtics where they're coasting into the playoffs and just ready for playoff basketball.
42:58
But still I believe you cannot do that at right there. I believe that's
43:00
just the wrong mentality, especially being in the better conference. So hopefully they
43:07
do get it turned around. I want to see the Boston Celtics and and
43:10
Jason Tatum again in the finals eventually because Jason Tatum is one of my favorite
43:17
young players in the league. But we'll see what happens. I'm excited about
43:23
what's gonna happen. It's end of the stretch playoff basketball. You're gonna get
43:28
a bunch of these teams going all in for a spot to change their futures,
43:35
whether that's winning an NBA championship, first team or first time get into
43:39
conference finals in a while, or winning a playoff series. So it's gonna
43:44
be very exciting. And that's gonna go ahead and wrap up this episode.
43:47
I appreciate you guys listening to this. You guys can listen to me on
43:52
Speaker, iHeart Radio, Spotify. You guys can follow me on Instagram underscore
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Alfonso zero three underscore that's Alfo Nso. Then you can follow me on Twitter
44:05
underscore Alfonso zero three Again, that's al Fo Nso. I appreciate you guys
44:10
tuning in. Next week, we are going to be talking about the AFC
44:15
South and then we're gonna be talking about the NBA as far as we'll have
44:22
a clearer picture as far as who's going to be in the plan, who's
44:24
not gonna be, and then we'll be able to see and predict who's gonna
44:32
end up winning the NBA Championship. But once again, I appreciate you guys
44:38
listening. You guys, take care. I'll see you guys soon.