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00:01All right, it is Wednesday, and that means our guy B. Scott's in the building.
00:07Brandon Scott comes in on a Wednesday at 440.
00:12Shout out to my man working hard, man, getting in the loop, sliding in here.
00:17Wouldn't miss it, man.
00:18At 10 to 2 feels a little different than that 6 to 10, though.
00:21It does.
00:21That makes it a little bit more easier to step in here from that 10 to 2.
00:25And there's something about your day being over at 10, you don't want to be bothered at 4.
00:30You know what I mean?
00:31You've already decompressed.
00:33I had enough time to knock out a couple of errands between the end of the show and coming in
00:37here now.
00:37It was decent enough.
00:39Whereas if you get off at 10, I mean, look, you are on the clock, whether it's relaxing or out
00:48and about,
00:49but you're not trying to be bothered about it.
00:51You're not trying to come back to work at 4, man.
00:52It's that getting up at 4, 30, or 5 to get here on time to start that thing.
00:56Hell at 10.
00:57Man, let me tell you, every time I do 6 to 10, I might as well just say this on
01:01the 2.
01:015 o'clock ain't going to do it, but you're going to be in here late.
01:03You got to get here.
01:04You better know where you're coming from.
01:06Hey, when I tell y'all that first hour is a sleepy hour, I feel like by 7 I'll be
01:11to hit my tempo.
01:12But that's 6 o'clock because you're still fighting off that sleep, man.
01:15Yeah, for a man that doesn't do it every day, it probably takes you a minute.
01:18I do it once a year here at Radiothon.
01:22I try to get myself real good juice.
01:24What did that first hour feel like to you?
01:25I try to get myself real good juice, but we've had Seth, and Seth is wired.
01:30That's true.
01:31He gives you a little energy.
01:34All right, a lot going on, but a lot not going on a bit.
01:39And we've kind of talked about this a little bit due to some of these lists.
01:44Thank God for these lists.
01:45Some of these lists that are rolling out.
01:49What would you say the Texans' run game needs to look like this year?
01:53Yeah, I think it needs to be – this was the response I got to a similar question.
02:00As a matter of fact, this was inspired by the question that y'all asked yesterday of could they have
02:04a top 10 run game if they don't have a top 20 running back, right?
02:08I put that out to the people on the B block just to see what they thought about it.
02:12And somebody responded to me, and forgive me for not remembering the name of who it was.
02:16They were like, man, if they could just go from 32nd, which in some rankings they were, like in some
02:22of the advanced stats, like run block win rate.
02:26If they could go from 32nd to, like, 15th, that would be massive.
02:31So we discussed this a little bit on In the Loop.
02:33Also a massive jump.
02:33That's what I'm saying.
02:34That would be a massive jump.
02:35That would be a massive enough jump.
02:37So it's like probably not.
02:39Could they do – to the question that y'all asked yesterday, could they do that, have a top 10
02:43rushing attack without a top 20 running back?
02:47Probably not.
02:47But then you also have to ask yourself, do they need to be – to your question now, do they
02:51actually need to be a top 10?
02:53If they could be top half, which 15 would be, that would work.
02:57That would work.
02:58And it would also – and, you know, this clinic, we all do if we follow football.
03:02Once you establish that run game just a little bit, just a credible run game, the credibility of it, the
03:07threat of it, that opens up so much more.
03:10And now we're talking about not just a credible run game, but a viable pass game as well.
03:16And I think you absolutely need that in year four of C.J. Stroud in year two of Nick Caley.
03:21Well, they – look, they have absolutely – not only do they need it, B. Scott, they have gone all
03:27in on it.
03:28You know what I mean?
03:28I mean, they have pushed all the chips to the middle of the table, and we are going to go
03:32sign guys that first and foremost move mass up front.
03:36Not decipher pass rushes and can pass off pass rushers and figure out the pressures and pick up the games
03:42up front.
03:43No, no, we're going to get guys that get their hands on people and maul people.
03:46At least we hope they can still do those things.
03:48Now, they're NFL linemen, obviously they're going to be able to figure some stuff out.
03:51But I think they've positioned themselves in a place top to bottom offensively where they've got to be able to
04:00maul folks.
04:01I think the big question, like it starts with not to be clear, it's going to come down to did
04:07this offensive line remake work?
04:10Like how good is it really?
04:12If it's along the lines of what it's been, then the answer is absolutely not, right?
04:16Like just clearly flat out.
04:18But if the offensive line and the remaking of it is actually effective, I think once we get to the
04:25running backs, it's more important to focus on the one-two combination, which I think is big.
04:30Like they got this one-two combination, not any one guy who's a top 15 or 20 guy necessarily.
04:37Do you think Woody Marks is going to be used a lot carrying the football?
04:39I think he should be.
04:40I think if they're smart about it.
04:42Now, if they want to be fools about it and just try to run David Montgomery into the ground and
04:47treat him like he's Joe Mixon.
04:48They said he's a three-down back, baby.
04:51Look, they can talk like that.
04:52He does it all, Clint.
04:53He can actually be a three-down back and not necessarily have to be the back on every three downs.
04:58He can have three-down back skills, but they also be smart about how they manage their assets and specifically
05:04their players.
05:05In this case, give Woody Marks some carries.
05:07Look, he can be a three-down back if you stay in third and short.
05:12You get into this second, eight, third, and seven type stuff, he ain't a three-down back.
05:16But I do want to ask you that question real quick.
05:19How do you think David Montgomery compares to Joe Mixon, the Joe Mixon that we got?
05:24What are we doing?
05:25Come on now, Clint.
05:26Right, right.
05:27I ask you the question to make sure I'm not crazy.
05:30So, just to be clear, it is not a comparison.
05:33He is a fine football player.
05:35Joe Mixon, I thought, and maybe we've even forgotten because he didn't play last year.
05:39Joe was better than I thought he was.
05:41Yeah, Joe was a different breed of running.
05:43And for me, it started at training camp.
05:46I had never seen Joe Mixon in person.
05:48And when I saw him, I was like, that's Joe Mixon?
05:50Dude was every bit of 6'1", a tank, and could move, was bigger than.
05:54And could get the edge.
05:55Was bigger than all the other running backs and faster than all the other.
06:00This was like, okay, this is a different type of.
06:02Everybody else just looked like a running back.
06:03He was a three-down back.
06:04Joe Mixon looked like a little bit of a superhero version of a running back, basically.
06:08Yeah.
06:08And I'm not trying to overplay it.
06:10That's literally what it was.
06:11I don't think that's what you're getting in David Montgomery.
06:13You're getting a solid veteran running back who's been really good, I think, for a decent
06:18amount of time.
06:18Who is going to absolutely need backup.
06:22And I do like the idea of Woody Marks being properly placed and cast as your second back
06:29as opposed to your lead back.
06:31And that being your second back as opposed to, say, a Nick Chubb who doesn't have as much
06:36left in the tank as I'm sure they would have preferred.
06:39I thought Nick Chubb was actually fine last year for his role.
06:43But Woody Marks should be a spark in that regard.
06:46Should be a much better second option.
06:48And I think that David Montgomery should be a much better first option than Woody Marks
06:52or Nick Chubb could have been last year.
06:54Brandon Scott with us live here on The Drive every Wednesday at 440.
06:59You can catch him tomorrow on In The Loop.
07:01Him and Reggie will hold it down.
07:03Sean, how real, as we switch gears a bit, and you cover the Rockets, you talk about
07:11the Rockets, in-season, off-season, you're at the games, how serious should we take the
07:18possibility of Kevin Durant not being a part of this team?
07:21Yeah, more serious than I would like to.
07:23Really?
07:23I think it is.
07:25It comes down to it, man.
07:27They got two salaries that are close to max level salaries.
07:31That's Alpern Shingun and Kevin Durant.
07:34Alpern Shingun, funny enough, even with his name being in trade rumors for no less than
07:38the last two to three off-seasons, seems to be somebody that they are committed to, not
07:43just now, but for the long run, much more so than Kevin Durant, right?
07:49And I don't buy into the reports that we see out there, or at least I meet them with a
07:56little bit of skepticism of, hey, he wants to go to Detroit, and Kevin Durant is kind of
08:00looking at his other options.
08:01I can't rule it out.
08:02I don't necessarily buy into it, because we don't see the big, like the reporters who
08:07would be reporting that, the people that Kevin Durant would be leaking that to, are not saying
08:11these things.
08:12So I think that there's some caution with the reporting, but you can't rule it out just
08:18because the salary and the fact that he is not clearly just by virtue of his age a part
08:25of their long-term plan, and we got to be real about last year.
08:28It was disappointing.
08:29I don't think Kevin Durant was disappointing, but the actual season with Kevin Durant was
08:34disappointing, and they got to do some real soul-searching on what they feel like their
08:38ceiling is with Kevin Durant.
08:40It's got to look different to them now than it did when they first got him a year ago.
08:44What do you, if they, as a fan, if I wake up one morning and Kevin Durant is no longer
08:50a rocket, what does that mean?
08:52What does that look like for the team?
08:54Yeah, see, so now you look at it, and you're trying to figure out, okay, what will we get
08:59back for Kevin Durant once the Jalen Brown trade?
09:02What I'm saying is, like, a lot of the ideal options for now are gone.
09:07So at this point, you figure, if you haven't traded him yet, if you didn't trade him when
09:12we had that breakneck stretch of trades and acquisitions and signings, like right before
09:18a free agency and right when free agency started, then what are you trading him for now?
09:23It would have to be something, like, really out of nowhere.
09:27You hear people talk about Kyrie Irving, right?
09:30But are you trading one old guy for another?
09:33Or if you were trading for Kyrie Irving, would you not rather, like, pair him up with the
09:37guy that he played with before and didn't really get a chance to really see what that
09:41looked like?
09:42Like, you would want to pair him with another star of his ilk.
09:46Like you're saying, though, it feels like, and I think Clint's probably getting to this,
09:50it feels like if that's a move you make, I don't know if you're starting over, but it
09:56feels like you're at least taking a step back in terms of, because as you're going through
10:01it, it's hard to think you're going to make a trade for Kevin Durant and then get somebody
10:05back that puts you in the same spot immediately of a contender, the level of contender you are
10:13with Kevin Durant.
10:14Like, if you, Detroit is the name that's popular.
10:17Who the hell do they have outside of Cade Cunningham, which they're not giving up?
10:22Not a soul.
10:22That would bring, they would bring back, and you'd be like, all right, we're competing
10:27in a different level.
10:28This isn't a Julius Randle and Kevin and Carl Anthony Towns trade where you're like, we're
10:34just kind of mixing up.
10:35It feels like if they make this move, this to me is a sign of this thing is maybe shifted
10:43to win over.
10:46Kevin Durant, at age 37, averaged over 26 points a game, played in 78 regular season games,
10:54and gave you 50, 40, 88 splits.
10:57So that's 50% from the field, 40% from three, and just short of that 90% from the
11:03free throw
11:03line with a poor 88%.
11:05Where are they going to get that type of production?
11:0878 games, 26 a game, second team all NBA, 50, 40, 88 splits.
11:14And so if the Rockets are serious about competing in 2026, 2027, there's no guarantee that Kevin
11:19Durant's going to be able to replicate that at age 38.
11:21But if they're serious about competing this upcoming season, he will be on their basketball
11:26team.
11:26I agree.
11:27I completely agree.
11:28Because if they don't, that's a different.
11:31And it's just, there's nobody else out there.
11:34There's no Brown.
11:35There's no, would you be here for Kyrie?
11:37Oh, I would, I would, I wouldn't give up Kevin Durant for Kyrie because I think that's
11:41like a swap for swap.
11:42Yeah, I agree.
11:42But like, if I could flip that, if for some reason, Masai Ujiri wanted to get the old band
11:48back together, and we saw he was trying to do this with Kawhi Leonard and facilitate
11:52a trade with the Clippers to bring him to the MAF, that didn't work.
11:55He ended up going back to Toronto.
11:56But if he's romantic about them old Raptors, and got like a heart for Fred Van Vliet, and
12:02we could somehow flip Fred Van Vliet and some cash or something like that for Kyrie Irving,
12:07I mean, that would be Dallas getting got twice in just three years.
12:11I don't think he's, I don't, I mean, you got it.
12:12You need Nico to be over the helm.
12:14Yeah, no, I don't think it's happening.
12:15You need Nico Harrison to be over the helm to get that done.
12:18In a fantasy world, I would absolutely do that, Clint.
12:21Yeah, they need, yeah, in a heartbeat.
12:23The Rockets need Kyrie to complete Durant in this group.
12:28Now, I will say this, because I think this is important.
12:31I don't think whatever you do with Durant, I don't think Durant has to impact the mentality
12:37of your timeline and where you're at, right?
12:40Because you've got these draft picks, you've got young players, but what you should absolutely
12:44be doing is maximizing your opportunity with Kevin Durant and not wasting the twilight
12:51of his career when he's still playing at an all-NBA level.
12:55Like, that's just opportunity cost.
12:57You can do that without saying, hey, we're rushing things and we're accelerating our timeline
13:02because we got Kevin Durant.
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