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The Commanders insider joins Kevin for his Friday appearance on The Team 980
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00:00Ben Standig is with us like he is every Friday and Monday at 12 noon, sometimes in between.
00:08He is reachable on X at Ben Standig.
00:12And he, of course, writes prolifically on his sub stack called Last Man Standig.
00:22Um, so let's just get the Brandon Ayuk stuff out of the way, uh, because it is getting to be
00:30a little bit nauseating, although I don't think in the same way that the Terry conversation did, because this is
00:36a big mystery and it's a potential game changer if they actually got the guy from three years ago.
00:40But I just, um, played a soundbite from a sports talk show host from San Francisco that appeared with Grant
00:48and Danny yesterday saying that his agent has left him.
00:53Uh, I know, you know, a lot of people in that agency, uh, you know, uh, with Mooligeta, et cetera.
01:01Have you heard the same thing?
01:02Is he a wall right now where people are leaving him left and right?
01:08Uh, so I wrote in the story I had this week, sort of a post draft notebook and focused on
01:15Ayuk.
01:15And I said in there that I had one GM tell me that, um, as far as he knows, like
01:20nobody's been able to talk to him.
01:22And that includes the agents.
01:24Um, I tried to reach out to the agent, had not, did not hear back.
01:28Now I've not seen that the agent moved on from Ayuk, but that would be hardly surprising if, you know,
01:34obviously you can't talk to your client.
01:36If he's not willing to, you know, play ball, not to mention as much as we've said, it's an insane
01:42look that Brandon and I blew up a four year, $120 million deal.
01:46Well, if you're the agent, that's, uh, you know, that's, that's not going to fly.
01:50So I can totally imagine that happening.
01:53Um, so I, yeah, I will look into that after we get off and see if I can tell that's
01:58actually accurate, but I presume it is.
02:01Do you think there's a cutoff date for Adam Peters and company to say, if it happens by this date,
02:10we'll move forward with it or we'll proceed with the possibility of moving forward with it.
02:15Um, and if it goes past that date, we're done.
02:18Um, well, I mean, you know, you mentioned the Terry thing, right?
02:24Obviously he missed all of, you know, OTAs and mini camp and training camp, at least he'd already been in
02:30the offense, right?
02:31So at a minimum, he at least had, you know, the, the, the working knowledge of it.
02:35I mean, you know, whatever he played with the Jaden Daniels seven years ago in college, that's not the same
02:40thing.
02:40He needs to get here, whether he's Brandon, Iuke or an underastic free agent, he's got to get here to,
02:45you know, learn the, learn the books, learn the playbook, learn who everybody is, all that.
02:50So, you know, I don't know if that, if that means by veteran mini camp, probably not by training camp.
02:57I mean, San Francisco doesn't have to do anything really until the start of the season.
03:00So you would think at some point in training camp and be like, Hey, we, we got to move on
03:04here.
03:04Right. I mean, part of what I wrote the other day was everybody seems insistent that he's coming here.
03:11Right. Just, and yet simultaneously, everybody acknowledges that Brandon, Iuke is not talking to anybody.
03:18So how do these things square? How do we know what actually he is going on in his head?
03:24I mean, he's giving no indication based on anything we have seen that he is training for football.
03:29He has not played in a game since 2004 following the knee injury.
03:33It was said that he was working hard in his rehab when he was with the Niners up until the
03:38point he stepped away.
03:40So, you know, maybe I presume he's healthy at this point, but I don't know what he's doing.
03:45And it's the weirdest part of this whole thing that everybody just keeps presuming he's coming here yet.
03:51Based on brain, based on what, if Brandon, Iuke is not actually talking,
03:55that seems like an important person to have any sense of what they're up to before assessing the Washington, they've
04:01come here.
04:01So I don't know where Washington's at, but you would have to think, not only do they need a plan
04:05B, you know,
04:06if he does come here, they may need a plan B if he's not going to come here.
04:12Yeah. So that's where I wanted to go next. Plan B. Plan B, let's start with this.
04:18Plan B is not essentially the status quo in terms of the receivers that are currently on the roster.
04:25You don't think that that's plan B. That might be plan C, but that's not plan B, right?
04:33Wait, say it again. What is plan B in your head?
04:36Plan B isn't, they're good. They're not adding anybody else.
04:41That might be plan C, but plan B is another player added to this wide receiver room.
04:48Um, I don't know. I mean, like if it's, if it's a player like a Jawan Jennings or a Stefan
04:55Diggs,
04:55somebody who's, you know, especially Diggs is obviously shown to be one of the better receivers in the league,
05:00but there's off the field issues with him that, uh, you know, partly why he's still available.
05:04That would be notable. But if you're just saying, Hey, they need another person in the Deami Brown,
05:11Traylon Burks level. Like, I don't know that that necessarily.
05:14No, I I'm with you on that. I mean, I don't think they're going to resign Noah Brown,
05:19you know, and bring him back, right. But, but, uh, so what is plan B?
05:27Is it Jawan Jennings? You reported on that the other day. I mentioned what you had reported.
05:32You had a source share with you that Washington has been in communication with Jennings camp.
05:40Um, you know, it's very possible that, you know, it's just contact. We're interested if,
05:47you know, the money comes down or whatever, what give us what, you know, give some up that,
05:52that report that you had and whether or not Jennings is an actual real possibility at this point.
05:59Yeah. I mean, it's been weird that again, I use getting connected here. It's not just Adam Peters.
06:05You have the Jane Daniels component too, but Peters also drafted Jennings. So you will,
06:09how come that one's not getting mentioned, right? Debo came here. I think everybody thinks it's
06:13coming here. So why not Jennings? And yet he's still out there, even if it's just, you know,
06:19apparently he, he sought too much money according to, you know, what the league was looking to pay him.
06:23And, and it's partly why he's still out there, but a lot of teams need receivers and he's still
06:27out there. Supposedly he met with the Vikings this week. I've not seen or heard of any type of,
06:33you know, resolution on that. Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see anything there. He certainly
06:37wasn't signed. So what is going on there? He's a, he's a little bit of an older, um, receiver.
06:43I mean, not, he's not, you know, he's not 30, God forbid, but, uh, you know, he's, uh, you know,
06:48he's not 24 either. And, you know, there, there's a reason why, you know, he's not out there and
06:53it's not just the money. So I don't really know that he is, you know, looking at the Niners aren't
06:58even like looking to bring him back. And he was pretty valuable for them the last two years.
07:02So, you know, I don't know what's going on with that, that, you know, so I can't sit here until
07:06that's plan B is if that's the fallback digs. I mean, you know, again, his, his off the field stuff
07:12to me would seemingly preclude him from being at a place that preaches culture, culture, culture,
07:18of course, if they're going to bring in Brandon Iuke, then I don't know what to make of that
07:21either. So I don't, I don't really know. And then after that, like I said, I don't, unless
07:25I'm forgetting somebody, it just, I don't know if there's much difference in what they already
07:29have. So I don't know that there's really a plan B per se, because otherwise, you know,
07:34to your point, why wouldn't you kind of get moving here? Let's put like Iuke aside. If you,
07:38if there's somebody else that you would want, wouldn't you want them here for any time that
07:42Jayden Daniels are practicing? I would think so. So if something doesn't happen sooner than later,
07:46I don't know if there really is a plan B in terms of the higher end guy.
07:50Is there any chance that Debo Samuel comes back?
07:55I mean, I guess there's always a chance, but it just seems unlikely to me. I mean,
07:59the biggest issue with Debo is he can't play on the outside. He's not a traditional receiver
08:05and that's what they need, which is why I think the Antonio Williams pick was sort of
08:10not off, you know, caught me off guard a little bit, but you know, he, he was primarily a slot
08:15in college. And, uh, you know, I know Peters has said he can win on the outside. I've talked to
08:19other
08:19people around the league who have said similar things. So if that's accurate, then maybe they
08:23have a guy that can at least play there somewhat, but you know, Debo, Debo is a guy who's primarily
08:30going to play on the inside. That would mean Williams would now be playing almost majority on the
08:34outside. That can't be the plan. So I would think the answer would be no, but you know,
08:40in a beggars can't be chooser situation, you know, I guess anything's possible, but I would still see
08:44that to be pretty unlikely. Is Terry McLaurin going to be happy going into this potential final year,
08:53um, in Washington? I know the contract says, uh, there's more time after this year, but Washington
08:59can get out of it painless, um, after this year, uh, you know, I always kind of felt last year
09:06that it was an unhappy Terry that eventually arrived with that, you know, extension that looked
09:15great from his agent standpoint, but really wasn't that impressive. What do you think of his overall
09:22sort of, I mean, this is a big year for him. If he wants to get paid next year, either
09:27by this team
09:28with the current extension or by somebody else coming off an injury season, which is essentially
09:34what their analytics people predicted and why they didn't want to pay him, uh, too much. Um, what do you,
09:41what do you think of Terry McLaurin entering this season? We just assume he'll be great
09:46and that he's happy. Yeah. I mean, the happy part, you know, uh, you know, it's hard to say
09:54what's inside somebody's head. I mean, the team did put out photos yesterday or video or photos
09:59yesterday of him at the facility, uh, working out. So, you know, it's a positive sign at least that,
10:05you know, he's there as many other guys are, uh, you know, Terry is generally speaking a pretty
10:11professional guy. Obviously last year was a bit weird because of the, you know, sort of the
10:16acrimony that comes with the contract negotiation, but Hey, he's still going to get paid some good
10:21money this year. And, you know, presumably if he has another good year, then whether it's here
10:27or somewhere else, he would still get, you know, a pretty good, um, a pretty good payday. I mean,
10:32to me, you know, look, obviously the offense was a total disaster last year, um, with all the injuries
10:37and whatnot, but I thought when Terry did play, particularly after the injury, that when he came
10:41back, that he was still pretty good. Like they was a lot of pretty good, you know, extrapolate that
10:47over the course of the season and we'd be saying, okay, you know, another good year. So, you know,
10:51oddly, I think on some level, his value showed even more because of how the whole season went
10:57with the passing game, just falling apart after his injury and now a Brown's injury. Uh, so, you know,
11:03again, what's in his heart of hearts. I don't know. I'm sure he would love to, you know, he's built
11:07his life here, you know, and it's not just football, you know, he's married and, you know, seems like he
11:12wants to, to be here and, you know, to continue this chapter of his life, but obviously that may
11:18not be the case. So I would imagine he's going to be in good, in good spirits and do what
11:23he has to
11:23do. But, uh, you know, beyond that, I've heard nothing about contract talks or anything. I can't
11:29imagine anybody's talking about that right now. So, um, you know, I would think he's in a good,
11:34in a good spot, but obviously it's gotta be weird knowing that, Hey, this could be your last year.
11:38Talking to Ben standing. Um, the story that you put out today has a stat in there that I, I
11:44had not
11:44seen, and I want you to, to explain it and talk about it. And that is the snap to tackle
11:50defensive
11:51stat, uh, from, uh, true media and how they tried to address that. So go ahead.
12:00Yeah, I was trying to figure out, obviously, you know, the getting younger, getting faster has
12:04been a clear, uh, approach for them this off season. And then, you know,
12:08seemingly, especially on defense, I've done a good job of that at all three levels. Um,
12:13and I was trying to figure out, like, is there a way to see, you know, who, who is the
12:17fastest
12:17or the slowest team? And it's not, you can't really do it. At least I couldn't find a way
12:21to do it based on like 40 times or things like that. But, uh, there was a stat that showed
12:28that how quick a team is or how slow a team is from the, from the snap to the, to
12:34the
12:34whistle in terms of getting a tackle. And, uh, Washington was about 5.1 seconds, which
12:40was amazing. Yeah. The third slowest, uh, in the league, Dallas and Cincinnati were the
12:47only worst ones. So, yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, you know, without knowing what any
12:52individual play is, it says, Hey, you know, it wasn't quick, you know, whether it was a run,
12:56whether it was a pass, what have you, they weren't ending that play quickly.
12:59And, you know, that's definitely a part of the, the speed factor. We saw too many
13:04guys, you know, running free last year, or, um, you know, just, you know, the inability
13:09to make tackles at times, what have you. And again, you know, just because you're
13:13fast doesn't mean you're going to be able to bring a guy down, but between Oway,
13:17Janal, Sonny Stiles, Nick Cross, um, you know, even guys like the Meek
13:22Robertson, like all those guys run, you know, sub four or five 40.
13:25If it's not faster, it's not a sub four 40 in some cases. So, you know, they
13:30definitely have gotten faster and hopefully that's going to translate to
13:33just simply, you know, ending plays quicker and, you know, hopefully more
13:37turnovers, you know, keeping teams out of the end zone, all that, but at a base
13:41level, if it means, you know, a play ends quicker, that's bode well. Um, and I
13:45think that's definitely, uh, you know, a big, whether that specific number or not
13:51mattered to them, some version of that had to be on their mind as they decided, Hey, we
13:55got to invest in getting more athletics faster, et cetera, especially on defense.
13:595.1 seconds from snap of football to actually the whistle blowing with a
14:05tackle, uh, by the defense third worst in the league behind Dallas and Cincinnati.
14:11Um, all right. Uh, just want to finish up with this because you put this list
14:16together. I know I've already asked you about Debo Samuel, but you put a little
14:19together, uh, the other day of all of the players that played here last year that
14:25are currently, you know, unrestricted free agents, but, but didn't sign through
14:30these first few waves of free agency. The list is 10, 11, 12 deep, something like
14:36that on this list of players who played on the team last year, uh, who are still
14:42currently out there and available who comes back? If anybody.
14:49Yeah, I think the two names to me, uh, one, uh, Antonio Hamilton, the cornerback.
14:56Now, look, I thought, you know, he had that giants in particular last year.
15:00He had some good, good moments. Now look, he's only, he's like 32, 33. I'm not
15:04remotely saying he's the answer to any of their problems. It's just purely that
15:08right now, if you look at the corner room, you've got four guys and then there's a
15:12bunch of practice squad type players. So at a minimum, they need more vets, more
15:17bodies one way or the other. And Hamilton, you know, at least for Dan Quinn, it
15:22looked like a guy that Quinn was, uh, you know, really appreciative of last year,
15:27whether they seem as a fit now for Durante Jones system, I don't know, but
15:30you know, again, just knowing the guy, you know, based on him being here, I
15:34think that would be one. Um, and another one, this one's going to be a little bit
15:38off the board here to a degree. I still wonder about Jeff Driscoll coming back.
15:43I know that he has drafted a quarterback, but so far in the two years under Quinn,
15:47not only have they kept three quarterbacks, everybody except for obviously
15:50game Daniels has been some type of veteran. You know, last year they kept, you
15:55know, Josh Johnson over Sam Hartman or anybody else. And, you know,
16:00I didn't, you know, you typically look at it and say, well, if you draft a guy,
16:04he's going to make the team, right? This is an interesting one because I don't
16:08know that, you know, if Washington doesn't draft the Rutgers quarterback,
16:12his name, I still can't say exactly. Uh, I don't, you know, I don't know that he
16:15gets drafted. I didn't hear what I was asking people around the league.
16:19No, he was like, Oh yeah, that guy was really promising.
16:21I can't believe who he got drafted in front of. I mean, he, he was drafted in front of
16:26Garrett Nussmeyer, who this time last year was supposed to be a top five pick in the
16:29draft. Crazy.
16:32Yeah. Very, very, very odd. So, you know, in order, if he were to get cut, that means
16:38somebody else would have to pick him up, put in sleep, wouldn't be on a practice
16:41squad. And again, we're talking about a seventh round pick at any level is not
16:45necessarily somebody another team is going to get, let alone a quarterback that most
16:50teams are probably going to feel pretty good about their quarterback. Right.
16:52So I don't know that I think it's, I guess my point is it's kind of conceivable.
16:56He can get cut and be on the practice squad. They move on from Hartman and bring
17:01Driscoll in, who not only has been here in parts of the last two years, he played
17:04with Blau in Detroit. So, you know, he's going to have familiarity and, you know,
17:09I don't, you know, I'm not saying that's going to put them over the top, but as we
17:13all know, if, if, if the S hit the fan and they actually had to go to the third
17:17string guy, they're probably going to go out and find somebody else before they use
17:21the rookie from Rutgers. So I don't, you know, I don't think it would be crazy to
17:26think that Driscoll could be back. You know, he's still out there. They've liked
17:30him enough to have him here two years in a row in some capacity. So I think that's
17:34one to keep an eye on.
17:36All right. Before you go, because your passion is football, but it's also
17:42basketball. And I saw you tweet out last night, I'm assuming during the Minnesota
17:48Denver game or shortly thereafter, uh, that maybe the wizards should have kept
17:53Tim Connelly when he was here. He's the GM of the Timberwolves. I, I did calls
17:58earlier in the show and I think you and I have talked about this, but I'm wondering
18:03what your answer is to it. Do you think Nikola Jokic is legacy slash reputation
18:09takes a big hit losing this series with the Timberwolves being so depleted over the
18:16final two and a half games? He has not been past the second round since the title
18:21in 23.
18:24Yeah, I think that the nature of the NBA in particular, the stars get the praise and
18:29the stars get the blame when things go wrong. So that's kind of comes with the
18:33territory. Now, if you look at it closer, I would say that Denver's ownership group,
18:41the Nuggets ownership group is absolutely shameful. Like Stan Kroenke owns like all
18:47these different teams. He, you know, built, built the, the, the SoFi stadium. He's got
18:52crazy, you know, they all have crazy money, but he's got crazy, crazy money and he has
18:57been unbelievably cheap with, with the Nuggets. Like, like the infrastructure, they're
19:03pretty, they're pretty thin in numerous ways compared to other teams, but it goes in
19:08terms of the roster. You know, the year they won the title, they were fortunate. They found
19:12like a guy like Bruce Brown, who was sort of a, you know, a random guy who turned into
19:16a legit top six, seven player in rotation. And that's how they've had to deal all this.
19:22That's how they've had to work. They've always working like one or two players short, it
19:25feels like. So basically if they don't hit on a, on a draft pick or whatever move they
19:30make in for agency or something doesn't completely hit, there's no plan B. You know, even this,
19:35like they traded Michael Porter this past off season. I was completely fine with that.
19:39I think Michael Porter, he played poorly. Yeah. Yes. You can't rely on him at all in
19:44the playoffs, but he gave them good size and athleticism. Okay, cool. But then, then,
19:49then they don't replace it. So Aaron Gordon, who was like, you know, the best athlete on
19:53their team by far is hurt. They don't have a plan B to just simply have another forward
19:59who's agile, is agile, can defend inside whatever. And Jokic is obviously as great as he is.
20:05He's not the most agile guy. So yes, Jokic is going to get the blame, but to me, it's
20:10pretty easy to look at that organization and it's really, you know, on them. I mean, even
20:15in the game last night, Jokic could have had like a five or six extra assists in the fourth
20:19quarter alone. If all of us open threes and layups he was creating with passes were converted
20:25and like none of them were in the last five minutes. So he'll get the blame because that's
20:30how it goes. But I, to me, it's much more of an organizational issue than I hit him this
20:35year. Well, that's fair in terms of the big picture of them competing for a title this
20:40year, but they played a completely depleted team last night. Now don't get me wrong.
20:45I'm so impressed with Jaden McDaniels. I was so impressed with Clark's defense last night.
20:50That is a tough, rugged, gritty, well-coached basketball team. But Jokic also should have
20:59ended up with 17 or 18 rebounds in this game. I mean, he gave up multiple offensive rebounds
21:06that should have been defensive rebounds, gave up multiple at the rim dunks and easy layups.
21:13And I thought, you know, and I'm a big joker guy. I thought last night once Murray, and
21:20who, by the way, was terrible in this series, terrible last night, but I give Minnesota a
21:25lot of credit for his lack of productivity. I mean, the defense on him was suffocating
21:32throughout, but I just thought there were so many opportunities for Jokic to actually score
21:37more. He did defer to your point. He could have had four or five more assists just in the
21:43fourth quarter alone. There were open looks for Murray that he created. There was an open
21:48look for Christian Braun. Cam Johnson knocked down some of them. But I think in a game like
21:57that, he had an opportunity to go get 36 to 40 and probably 15 to 20 rebounds. And he didn't
22:05to get by a team that was completely depleted. And that's the part that's tough for me to
22:12handle. He looked old last night, too. He looked old in this series. He looked old and
22:16tired. And I just, I think we've gone from two years, three years ago, this guy's going
22:22to win more of these and he's going to go down as one of the greatest to ever play. And
22:27I'm never going to forget that this is the best passing big man I've ever watched. And
22:32one of the great offensive centers in the history of the game. But this sport is measured on
22:38championships. And he's probably not going to go back to one unless he ends up somewhere
22:44else, which could happen. I mean, I don't know how much talk there has been about that,
22:51but he's got the same kind of Anthony Davis situation, 58 million next year, and then a
22:55player option the following year. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would demand it.
23:02Um, but I thought he could have done more. I, and I, I admit that no Aaron Gordon was crushing
23:10for them, but no Anthony Edwards was worse for Minnesota.
23:16Well, again, I mean, I think this is, it's a matter of depth. I mean, I don't, again,
23:23the, in this sport where one player makes all the difference, it is hard to just say, well,
23:27you know, give, put, put the, put the onus on somebody else. And I'm with you. I don't think
23:31it was his best series. I do think he looked a bit older. I mean, I do think that, you
23:36know,
23:36it's funny that Tim Connolly, who, you know, was the architect for the nuggets. He then goes to
23:42Minnesota, makes the big trade for Rudy Gobert. And part of why you think he was doing that was
23:47because Rudy Gobert would be a bit of a hindrance against his whole Jokic. And to, to some degree,
23:54I mean, look, Jokic still put up pretty big numbers all series, but when you have a guy like
23:58Gobert, who's primary asset is defense, it's just going to make it that much harder. And then
24:02when Jamal Murray is atrocious, Christian Braun, the last four games was abysmal. They don't have
24:08Gordon. They have, the bench is, is pretty thin. They have no other big, but again, I'm not saying
24:13it's on Jokic, but he, it literally comes down to the one guy has to get 35, 20, and 10
24:19every game.
24:20I mean, at some point that just can't be realistic. You actually have to have the other
24:24people do something. I mean, look, we see it all the time, right? Paxton and Kerr made shots with
24:29Jordan. Ray Allen hit the three for LeBron. Like it isn't just the one guy. It is all the,
24:36No, and it's been Murray for them. It's been Murray and Gordon, you know, and by the way,
24:42Porter a few years ago was a really good feet set open shooter, you know, off of a lot of
24:48what
24:49Jokic created, but the numbers for Jokic in this series, 25, eight, uh, 25.8 points per game,
24:5613.2 rebounds and nearly 10 assists. It's just, it doesn't tell the story. He just,
25:03he had a couple of horrific games. I mean, he shot 44% from the field and 19% from
25:09behind the arc.
25:10If he had just shot 30% or 28% from behind the arc, we're, we're in a seventh game
25:16at the very least.
25:17I mean, he was terrible from behind the arc in this series. A lot of them were open shots too.
25:24They just didn't go down. Yeah. So to connect this to the commanders, this is not necessarily a,
25:31you don't need to do that. No, it's just where my brain went. Okay. What the injuries last year
25:37for the commanders, that's not why they lost the season. Other than you could say James Daniels,
25:43but like it was because the injuries exposed, they had no depth. The receipt, I mean, you can't
25:48just lose Terry McCorn and then have no passing game. Like it just, there was nothing behind it.
25:53That's kind of where Denver is. If Jokic doesn't go for 35, 20 and 12 a night, their, their other
25:59guys
25:59didn't step up at all. Jamal Murray is the most inconsistent. I guess I wouldn't say he's a superstar,
26:04but he's the most like inconsistent star in the, he's been clutch in the post season though,
26:09before this year at times, but at times he completely, like when they have lost, it's
26:14often because he's vanished. Um, that's why they, Michael Porter was the same way. And again,
26:19they just don't have the bodies. I mean, to, to Minnesota's credit, how many teams could lose
26:24all the guys that they lost and still have all these other dudes who can step up and score 25
26:30points.
26:30That is, that is not normal. And again, kudos to Minnesota's again, Tim Connolly, the guy
26:37who helped put that roster together. They got athletes all over the place and guys who have
26:42a certain mentality that they are unafraid of the moment. That's a lot of credit to Anthony
26:47Edwards as well for helping to set that tone. But you know, look, I think, you know, if you're
26:52going to say like Denver is a bit soft, you could put up some of that on Jokic. I think
26:56that's
26:56reasonably fair. That is fair. He is hardly a rim protector. That is fair. Right? Yeah. But that's
27:04again, why you have an Aaron Gordon. That's why you need to have another athletic guy next to him.
27:09So again, to be, this is, this is more of a failure of management than it is him. But again,
27:13nobody, again, this is why for years I've been railing here against Leontis and everybody would
27:18always blame Ernie Grunfeld. I'm like, no, he's the guy that employs that guy. He's the one saying,
27:23no, no, I want this guy in here or Tom B. Shepard or whoever it was. And then he's saying
27:28to them, Hey, you need to actually get to the eighth seed. We can't, you know, it took forever
27:32for him to accept the fact that they needed to do what they've done the last three years
27:36and essentially tank. And, and, you know, it looks like they're coming out of it pretty
27:39reasonable on the other side. Denver's ownership is basically saying, yeah, we're not going to
27:43give you too many assets. Yeah. We may have the best player in the league. Go ahead. Here's what you
27:48got. And, and that is just an absolute disgrace to have that level of player and not, I don't
27:55know, that luxury tax or whatever, but just like they clean.
28:39Star. I mean, we have seen Jamal Murray in the postseason play like a star, score like a star,
28:45didn't do it in this series. And the funny thing is, is like, you're right. Occasionally he has
28:51just had off nights. This was defensive force throughout. I was so impressed with Minnesota's
28:58youth. Jaden McDaniels is, you know, a burgeoning star, two way star, uh, too. And, um, yeah. And
29:07Rudy Gobert's sort of been a bit of, you know, the butt of a lot of jokes at times, but
29:12he is still
29:13a defensive wrecker at the rim. And he really, really gave Jokic a hard time in this series.
29:20Uh, what are you looking forward to watching the most? Do you think here, here's a question.
29:25Do you think the Knicks have a better shot against the Celtics or the Sixers?
29:33I mean, probably the Sixers just because it's, you know, is Joel Embiid going to be able to stay
29:38on the court, you know, throughout the series? That's obviously such a massive what if, if he,
29:44if you told me he was, I mean, you know, Embiid is incredible. He just unfortunately has not been
29:50able to stay healthy. The Celtics, you know, they are, they don't have, uh, much of a big man
29:57situation inside. And, you know, some of their, some of their role players have not been playing
30:02as well. Jalen Brown has not been the same version we've seen the regular season, et cetera. So I
30:07would still say the Celtics would be the tougher team to face, but you know, again, if you tell me
30:11Embiid's playing at least six games in the series, then I think that would be, um, that would be pretty
30:18fun. Uh, to me, I think the most fascinating what we have today now is the Rockets going up against
30:26the Lakers. Not only are the Rockets have a chance to tie this thing at three after being
30:30down 3L, meaning they could be the first team ever to come back from a 3L deficit. They're doing it
30:35with Kevin Durant, not playing Kevin Durant's reputation. It's rare to see an all-time great
30:40player, like whatever ranking you had him as an all-time best 15, 12, 20, whatever. It's rare to
30:47see that number go down for reasons other than other people passed him. It isn't going down because
30:53of what's happened to him since Golden State and this whole, you know, he seems like he's
30:57just blew up that locker room and now they're playing better without him. But then simultaneously,
31:01of course, you've got the Lakers. Yes, they're missing Doncic, but to be up 3-zip and now,
31:08boy, they look like they could be into big trouble and that would be an unbelievable footnote
31:13to LeBron's career if he's the guy on the first team that ever loses a 3L deficit.
31:19He's got the young athletes to do it. Yeah, LeBron, if he blows a 3-0 lead. But going into
31:25this series without Doncic and Reeves, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that they wouldn't win
31:30this series. You know, the Durant thing really is kind of fascinating because Kevin Durant is not
31:39likable, you know, and I'm talking just a normal run-of-the-mill sports fan that's paying attention
31:45enough. There's just something unlikable about Kevin Durant. Now, his game is spectacular and
31:51he's going to go down as one of the great scorers in the history of the game. But obviously, he
31:57joined
31:57a 73-win team to get his titles. He was great on those teams, but Steph Curry was the leader
32:04on those
32:04teams. I actually think that series he played against Milwaukee and Brooklyn was the best he's
32:10ever been in the postseason where he went for like 48 and 50 in back-to-back games and literally
32:17carried them. And they were good enough, but they didn't get through that. Remember, his toe was on
32:23the three-point line and it was a two-pointer instead of a three-pointer. But God, the Phoenix
32:28time and now this thing in Houston, he looks grumpy. The team looked like they were done a couple of
32:37games
32:37ago. And if they come back and win this series with him not making another appearance, it's a bad
32:43look. Although, then again, he might play in the next series and, you know, go for 30-something on
32:49average. But yeah, there's something about him that's just never been truly embraceable, I think.
32:58It's something, I mean, it just feels like something flipped after he gives the MVP speech and points
33:04to his mom and says, you're the real MVP. It feels like something from that point on, it went a
33:09different
33:10way. Now he's the guy with all the burners. He's constantly yapping back at people on social media.
33:15You tell me not to be that little. That guy should definitely not be doing that. He should definitely
33:18not be doing that. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, look, I mean, even Phoenix, I know Phoenix bowed out in
33:24the
33:24playoffs, you know, somewhat meekly, but they had no expectations and they ended up being, you know,
33:29essentially the seven seed, right? Yeah. You know, and, and, you know, they part of that was built
33:37off of the assets they got back in that deal, but really was because teams seem to be better off
33:41without him. Yeah. They just seem to have a better chemistry. So, uh, you know, something is off with
33:47that. So anyway, so that's why this, this from a legacy standpoint, this series is so fascinating
33:51because depending on which way it goes, you know, could have a, you know, at least a footnote,
33:56if not, uh, uh, you know, uh, a big note for, uh, Durant and LeBron to a lesser degree. Cause
34:02like you said, they're missing people, but still, um, so yeah, it's a pretty, it's a pretty
34:06fascinating one tonight without question. I'll tell you what, Sengun's really good and, and
34:11they, he's, they, they don't, they don't, they don't have a good matchup for him and he was not
34:18good early in the series and he is good. Now they're a three and a half, four point favorite
34:22tonight. If they win and there's a seventh game in LA, that would be pretty dramatic on Sunday.
34:27I hope we get to see it. Uh, thanks. Appreciate it as always. Always man. See ya. Ben standing,
34:35everybody. Kevin Sheehan show the team nine 80.
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